“Where’s Paige?” I asked.
“She had to stay home with Emmett. He wasn’t feeling well, and Logan is at training camp.” Molly held up her phone and snapped a picture of me. “But I promised I’d send her pictures.”
As her fingers tapped out a text to our sister-in-law, I took a seat on the large ivory ottoman in the middle of the room. No one else was in the dress shop with us, so I leaned back on my hands and listened to the laughter of Lia and Claire as they struggled to close up Lia’s dress.
Out of nowhere, I felt very, very lonely sitting in that room with my sisters.
Molly was getting married.
Lia was living with her boyfriend, Jude. With the addition of their son, and Jude’s new gig playing soccer for Seattle, I knew it was only a matter of time before they made it official too.
Even Claire, the shyest of the four of us, found her person in bad-boy snowboarder Bauer Davis.
And none of this was new; none of their relationships were new. Was I allowed to blame Aiden for this? I tried to imagine his face if I came back to work in a rage.
Yo, bossman, seeing you has me all twisty inside, and I don’t like it. And when you’re nice and thoughtful, it makes it worse, and I start feeling like a lonely petulant teenager around my very wonderful, happily-in-love sisters because I’d rather gouge my eyes out than explain it to them. Please stop. Thanks.
“What are you smiling about?” Lia asked.
Belatedly, I noticed all three of them staring at me.
“Nothing.” I cleared my throat.
Molly nudged Claire. “She’s terrified of her hot new boss. Did I mention that yet?”
Lia’s eyes widened. “Oooh, are you?”
“How hot is he?” Claire asked.
Molly held up both hands, all ten fingers wiggling. Claire laughed.
I gave her a steady look. “Are we deciding on dress colors or not?”
Lia held her hand out to help me off the ottoman. “Sorry, Iz. We’ve never been able to tease you about a man before.”
Molly snickered. “Yeah, because normally, she eats them alive once she’s done with them.”
The words I muttered under my breath would’ve set a nun’s ears on fire. Lia was the only one who heard and started laughing. The idea of me as a man-eater, casually licking my fingers after I’d had my way with them was so laughable. But immediately on the heels of that was a startlingly clear mental image of Aiden lying on a bed, spent and wrecked with me equally spent and wrecked next to him. My heart rate jumped at the vivid picture in my head. But that kind of inner-vixen reaction would be welcome after how I’d started off with him.
The tripping, coffee-spilling me was nothing like they imagined me.
It was so much easier to let them think it. Let them believe it.
“Fine.” Molly sighed. “Let’s get this done so she can go back and hide from him for the rest of the day.”
With a deep breath, I shoved down everything they’d just brought up. Way, way down. “You’re going to be missing your maid of honor if you keep this shit up.”
Molly held up her hands. “Fine, fine. I’m done. Ladies, show me what you’ve got.”
Chapter Four Isabel
Until I started working at the gym, leading classes, and working with clients, I never understood exactly how deep my sadistic streak went. But when one of my favorite clients limped up to me after class, shirt soaked with sweat, it was the only time in my life I was all hearts and rainbows and smiles.
Sally’s eyes narrowed in a glare. “I don’t know who hurt you, Isabel, but I can’t tell whether I should set you up with my therapist or give you a hug.”
I laughed, running my sweat towel along the back of my neck. “Is that your way of saying you liked my class today?”
As she dumped her gloves and tangled hand wraps back into her bag, she snorted. “Something like that.”
“I added those extra burpees just for you.”
Straightening slowly, she rolled her eyes and slung her bag over her shoulder. “Next time? Don’t.”
“Bye, Sally.”
She waved.
My mood felt light, probably because I’d yet to see any glimpse of Aiden. For the day, at least, my office was my own. And it wasn’t like his presence weighed me down; it was simply that added awareness and the way my skin vibrated at a different frequency when he was in the building. It was something I was going to have to get over because Aiden Hennessy was here to stay.
A college-aged girl approached as I started wiping down the bag I’d used during class. She slipped in just before I started, so I didn’t get a chance to speak with her like I liked to do with new members.
“What’d you think?” I asked her.
She exhaled a small laugh. “That was … intense. But one of the best workouts I’ve ever had.”
“Excellent.” I held out my hand. “I’m Isabel, the manager.”
“Brenleigh.” She pointed at the ring in the center of the gym. “I was just glad you didn’t make us hop up in there for some ass-kicking.”
“Nah, we wait until at least your second class for that. You bought the ten-class punch card, right?”
Brenleigh nodded. “I came in yesterday after I saw one of your Insta posts about the special you’re running.” Her cheeks were already flushed from class, but when she glanced around, the red deepened even further. “Is it true that Aiden Hennessy is the new owner?”
“That is true. We’re very excited to work with him.”
Excited. Terrified. Hiding from him. Whatever.
She licked her lips and lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Is he, like, taking one-on-one clients or anything? You know, like, private training sessions.”
Ahh. The fangirls were starting to descend. Now this was something I hadn’t anticipated. I knew he had plans to do some training sessions, but no formal coaching like some speculated he might
