Should I kiss him?
‘I mean,Iwould.’
What if he doesn’t want to?
‘He’s looking into your eyes like he wants it.’
But it could ruin everything.
‘Do it anyway.’
Tobias couldn’t think of a counterargument, and he closed the space between them, his lips meeting Chase’s softly, his whole body warming at the touch.
Their hands were still gripping each other, as if theyboth knew the moment would end if they dared let go. Chase inhaled deeply against Tobias, who had just parted his lips when Tobias’ phone began to blare, echoing in the empty gym.
Tobias flinched and pulled away from Chase, leaving Chase gobsmacked on the mat as Tobias ran for his phone. It was sitting on the ledge with his computer, the screen showing his mom calling.
Answering felt like a bucket of ice water was dumped over his head.
“Mom? Is everything okay?”
“Of course,” Grace answered. “Madison and I took a trip to the store together and I wanted to check if you needed anything while we were out.”
His heart would have settled at the relief in confirming Madison’s well-being if it wasn’t still racing from his kiss with Chase.
Holy shit. I kissed Chase.
Tobias spun back around. Chase sat upright on his mat, staring off into space and gently touching his fingers to his lips.
Fuck. What if Chase freaked out and quit on him?
His stomach dropped as he turned over all of the possible consequences in his head.
“Tobias? Are you there?”
“Yeah, I’m—” Tobias cleared his throat before he could continue, and Chase’s gaze sprung to him, worrywritten all over his face. “I’m good. I don’t need anything.”
Except maybe a diagram to figure out what the hell he should do now.
Tobias ended the call with Grace and pocketed his phone.
He’d never been more afraid to hear someone’s thoughts, so he decided to play it off like nothing.
“Uh, listen,” he started, but didn’t get to finish because Chase shot off the floor in a rush and talked a mile a minute.
“Don’t worry about it, boss. It was just a slip. We don’t have to make it a big thing. It’s probably the adrenaline of the seminar, so we can totally forget all about it.”
Tobias was torn. He didn’t want to forget. The kiss had ignited something in him that had long been dormant. But this was his employee, and this business was where he felt the most in control of his life, so he couldn’t risk that either.
Still, he spoke before his brain could stop him.
“Are you sure that’s what you want?”
Chase peered at him, searching for who knew what, and gave him a firm nod.
“Yeah, I think it’s best,” Chase said, his typical confidence nowhere in sight, and that was a knife to Tobias’ gut. “We’ve got the kids’ classes starting up andI’m sure you have to train for the alumni game. We don’t have time for anything else so we should focus on the business. Keep this professional.”
“Okay, then that’s what we’ll do.”
