You ready for me to kick your ass, big brother?
We’d have a glorious audience of four people if Natalie stuck around.
The boxing ring was ready. It was usually where I faced both Darius and Avery. And Ryan, when he was in town.
The sound of the door opening made me look up, and I smiled automatically. “Well, hey. If it ain’t the client watching me from her window.”
She smirked and rolled her eyes. “You know what? I can be honest enough and say it’s not the first time.”
How about that.
I grinned and bent down to rest my forearms on the counter. “I’m gonna need more details.”
She huffed and trailed closer, albeit very slowly, while she pretended to find the nearby clothing displays interesting. “For the record, stalking isn’t the right term. I prefer to say I’m…sojourning.”
I burst out a laugh and shook my head.
She smiled impishly.
“Well, you can sojourn here whenever you want,” I assured her, still too amused.
But it was more than that. Being around her simply made me happy.
She finally reached the counter, and she raked her teeth across her bottom lip. A bit distracting. “Okay, full disclosure? I once saw a woman hit on you right outside, but it looked like you turned her down.”
I had no idea when that had happened, because a woman hitting on me wasn’t specific enough. I just couldn’t say that out loud without sounding arrogant.
“Taking a break from that scene means declining occasional offers,” I said.
She nodded slowly and brushed her fingers mindlessly over a display of supplement dispensers. “In this particular case, I can also imagine she wasn’t your type.”
I furrowed my brow. “What’s my type?”
“Who buys these?” She held up one of the dispensers.
I stifled my smirk. “People who take multiple supplements every day and think the pill boxes for meds are too small.”
“Oh. I guess that makes sense.”
Shewasn’t, though. She wasn’t making any sense at all.
“What’s my type, Natalie?” I repeated.
She scoffed and flipped her wavy hair over her shoulder. “How should I know? But I’m guessing, you know, fitness people. Women who do yoga every day and drink algae shots?”
Fucking hell, I wanted to laugh. For the record, I’d dated a few of those women, and yoga and algae shots hadn’t been the deal-breakers. But I almost wanted to ask, what was it about algae shots? It wasn’t the first time I’d been accused of liking that. I’d never in my fucking life taken an algae shot.
She probably saw you with Janette.
Shit. Could that be it?
Janette and I had gone to high school together. She came in from time to time to renew her membership, and then I didn’t see her for months again. Now she was on a keto kick, a restrictive diet that only worked long-term for certain people, and she wasn’t one of them.
“The woman you saw me with,” I said, “was she plus-size?”
“Ummmmm…” Natalie knitted her brows together, thinking about it, and went on to fidget with the QFC measurement tapes. “She might’ve been, yeah.”
I killed my smile before it could break out, because I was finally catching on. Natalie was uncomfortable for some reason. She was bordering on awkward, and it was fucking adorable.
