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I shoot Candy a text message to make sure my accomplice will be in place for Phase Two: Gym.
She replies she will be there. Asks why we’ve changed gyms.
I consider a devil emoji, then an angel one. I settle for a hopping bunny. Let her make of it what she will.
Checking myself in my small makeup mirror, making sure my lipstick hasn’t smeared and my hair isn’t sticking out in the odd direction, I make my way to my supervisor’s office to discuss a few matters.
Of course I pass outside Ryan’s office on my way. I glance inside quickly through the open door, and my heart skips a beat. There he is, typing at his keyboard, gaze fixed on the computer screen.
Those bright green eyes, that golden hair, that square jaw… Sigh. I could look at him all day.
Then he glances up, as if sensing me there, and I’m caught like a deer in headlights. My pulse hums in my ears, at the base of my throat. My mouth goes dry.
He’s so handsome it’s unreal.
And I’m probably drooling.
“May I help you?” he asks, the deep timbre of his voice lifting the fine hairs on my arms. A light shadow of stubble covers his jaw, and he looks just as good in a suit as he did in the tight T-shirt he wore at the gym the other day.
“Oh no.” I shake my head, force myself to look away. “I, um. I thought it was my office.”
“You can’t find your own office?”
“Of course I can,” I snap, offended, and look back at him. Oops, mistake. Now I can’t remember what I wanted to say. “The doors. The doors are similar.”
“The doors are all open,” he says, way too reasonably.
“Exactly. And therefore any office could be my office.” I’m warming to my topic. “How could I know this was yours?”
He’s studying me with those bright eyes. “Well, you know now.”
Is this a hint?
“You can close it behind you, if you like,” he goes on, his low voice hypnotic. “The door. As you leave.”
It’s not until I’ve pulled the door closed and I’m standing outside his office that my mind clears.
It had been a hint, all right.
Fudge.
I shake my fist at his door. “This round isn’t over yet.”
I have secret weapons.
Adjusting my boobs in my bra, I turn away and stalk off, my chin held high.
Never give up. That’s my mantra. If I survived my childhood, it’s for a reason, and since then I decided the only way to go is keep fighting.
Ready for Phase Two.
***
“So why the new gym?” Candy asks, unzipping her hoodie and shrugging it off. She has a hickey on her neck. Not an unusual sight, these days.
“I heard about it and thought to check it out. It’s much bigger than the one we used to go to.”
“And the music louder,” she grumbles.
