Change had come knocking again, and yet again, it was digging a foothold in the one place I felt the safest. The one place, outside of my family, where I felt the most comfortable.
This was the one thing I worried would test any of the metal-strong barriers I’d put up.
He was.
But because I respected Amy, and I wanted her to be able to get an offer so good she couldn’t refuse and be able to travel the world with her wife, Renata, like they’d always dreamed, I nudged her shoulder back.
“I trust you,” I told her.
“Thank you.” She sighed. “I dreaded telling you the most.”
That had me smiling. “Why’s that?” I asked.
“Because you’re stubborn as hell and don’t think I don’t know you probably had his matches memorized because you watched every single one, and you’ll hate that now that he’s your boss and you feel like you did something wrong.”
Cue me choking on the bubble of hysterical laughter trying to push up my throat.
She had no freaking idea.
My stupid cheeks burned stupid hot for the eightieth time since I walked in the door, and I refused to look at her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Amy snorted. “Like you’d share if you did. Promise me you’ll give him a chance, all right? He’ll need you more than anyone else here if he’s going to pull this off. I already told him you’d be his biggest ally.”
His shadow, tall and broad, moved in the office, visible behind the closed shades, and the sight of it—the sight of him—had the knots pulling tighter and tighter in my stomach.
Give him a chance.
To what, exactly? My options were slim. Either he was nothing like I imagined, or he was better. I’d already tripped over myself in front of him, so this whole boss/employee dynamic was off to a fantastic start.
“Iz?” she prompted when I didn’t answer.
“I promise.”
And I’d keep it. But it was the scariest promise I’d ever made because the feeling it gave me made it perfectly clear that my sleepless night was just the beginning. Change was here, and his name was Aiden Hennessy.
Chapter Three
Isabel
“You’re acting weird, and you’re hiding, and I don’t know which of those two freaks me out more.” Kelly’s voice came from over the large stack of boxes I was sitting—i.e. hiding—behind.
Ladies and gentlemen, the unfortunate side effect of knowing my co-workers incredibly well was that they had no problem calling me on my shit—even if I was their manager.
Without sparing her a glance, I pushed aside a stack of sweat towels and marked them on my inventory sheet. “I’m working, Kell.”
“You’ve been back here since the minute he walked in the door.”
The top of her blond ponytail poked up over the tallest box in the stack, but I couldn’t see her entire face.
What Kelly McKendrick lacked in height, she made up for in boundless energy and enthusiasm. So much so that I wanted to dislike her for it, but I quite literally could not because she was one of the nicest people I’d ever met. “Normally, you work in your office on Wednesday mornings. But since your office is empty … I figured you were avoiding him, and I wanted to make sure you were okay in case you needed to talk about it.” She sighed. “Not that you ever want to talk about what’s bothering you, but there’s a first time for everything.”
When I rolled my eyes, she climbed behind the boxes with me, bracing her back against the wall and stretching her pink legging-clad legs in front of her as she started folding the towels. The gym had a handful of part-time employees, and Kelly was the one who’d hung around the longest of that group. “I’m quite sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I murmured. Before I reached for the next box, I handed her the inventory sheet.
“I couldn’t believe how sad I was after the meeting yesterday.” She sighed. “Amy is such a good boss, and he’s so …”
In her pause, I found myself holding my breath. I could certainly think of a few words to fill in the blank, but I wasn’t entirely certain how I wanted Kelly to answer.
“So what?” I asked. I took the clipboard back as she began unpacking the box of new gloves.
“Serious,” she whispered. “I don’t think he smiled once yesterday while she introduced him.”
Kelly’s comment, which was totally accurate, had me serving myself a stern mental pep talk.
Yes, she and I were the same age.
Yes, I considered her a friend because we’d worked together for five years.
And yes, I desperately wanted to talk to her about this entire thing. I wanted to tell her how I was hiding from the hot man who now signed my paychecks and covered my body in butterflies, and at one point in my life, I practiced signing my name as if we were married. The embarrassment was so real.
It was so bad that I hardly spared him a single glance during Amy’s meeting the day before.
Not one.
But I couldn’t tell her any of that because I was not in friend-mode for this particular conversation. I was the manager. I also didn’t tell anyone anything if I could help it.
I chose my words carefully. “Seems like he’s always been a pretty serious guy.” When she gave me a curious look, I shrugged. “I watched his fights, so that’s my guess, as much as you can judge someone you’ve never met.”
“I’ll have to take your word on that. I can’t stomach watching professional fights, so I didn’t even really know who he was when she introduced him.” Ohhhhh, to have that problem. “Isn’t he supposed to like, win us over?”
“Actually, I think it’s the other way around,” I told her. “He’s the new owner, Kell, and it’s up to us to show him we know what we’re doing.”
“Even if he’s physically incapable of smiling?” she asked in a glum voice.
I tossed her some gloves. “Even if.”
“These are some badass motherfuckers right here,” she said, pulling the plastic sleeve off so she could admire the matte and glossy black design. “Can I try a pair?”
”If you’re paying for them.”
She laughed. “You don’t think Mr. Smiley would let me have them for free?”
As the words hung in the air between us, his giant, non-smiling shadow appeared. My face fell, and Kelly started coughing—a horrible, hacking sound that did nothing to erase the fact that she’d just called our new boss Mr. Smiley.
My stomach pitched sideways as I saw the muscle in his jaw—which looked carved straight from a mountain—clench dangerously.
“Morning, Mr. Hennessy,” Kelly said.
His eyes flipped from my face back to hers. “McKendrick, right?”
She nodded.
Because half of his body was covered by the boxes, I didn’t know what he was looking at when he glanced down at his hands. But when he came around the side, he was holding a disposable coffee cup, capped in a white lid, with her name scrawled on the side. He handed it to Kelly, who, after taking it carefully, sniffed at the opening.