and maybe I’ll do it,” I said, grinning from ear to ear. I wasn’t sure how I’d lived without this—this comfortable companionship—for so long.
“Have you even used the credit card I gave you?”
“Just for the new bedding in the master,” I said, my smile turning wicked. “Wanna go try it out?”
He leaned down, his lips brushing mine just as the doorbell rang.
I frowned, thinking immediately of another time I was in his house—our house, I corrected myself—and the doorbell rang with bad news. I didn’t want any more Alexa-sized surprises.
“You expecting someone?” I said.
He furrowed his brow, shaking his head as he stepped back, glancing down the hall. “No.”
I followed him across the hardwoods, strangely nervous. There was no way he had two wives, so why did I dread the moment that door opened?
Landon glanced through the peephole, and when he stepped back, a smile turning up the edges of his lips, I relaxed. Whoever was standing on the other side was a welcome visitor.
He yanked the door open.
“Julius,” he said, in a welcoming voice. “Trevor. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Hey, boss,” the guy on the left—Julius—said, reaching out to shake his hand. It turned into a bro-hug, with slaps on the back all around, as the three said hello.
“Come in,” Landon said, motioning to the house. “Meet my girlfriend.”
His words made me blush. It was the first time he’d introduced me like that, and the label felt like a giant badge of honor. Landon was no longer just a guy I was seeing; he was my boyfriend. I knew that, but hearing him speak it out loud somehow made it more real.
“Hi guys,” I said, reaching out a hand. Julius ignored it, enveloping me in a big hug. I felt like a tiny little kid wrapped up in his enormous arms.
These two were athletes, that much was clear.
“Come on into the kitchen, I’ve got beer if you’re done at the center for the day.”
“Oh we’re done alright,” Trevor said.
His words made Landon raise a brow, but he waited until he’d opened a round of beers for all of us, and we were sitting around the big island in the kitchen before he pressed for an explanation.
“So what’s going on, guys?”
“Alexa is a nightmare, bro. She’s going to run that place into the ground is what’s going on,” Julius said. “She’s trying to put her stamp all over the place, but it has no rhyme or reason.”
“How so?” I asked, taking a swig of the beer and trying to figure out how Landon was reacting to the idea of his pride and joy getting turned inside out. He’d told me he didn’t think she could run it the right way, but hoped his board of directors wouldn’t give her enough rope to hang herself.
“She suggested I see the nutritionist,” Trevor chimed in. “Said it would help me get my weight under control.”
Landon snorted.
“What?” I asked. I mean, the guy was a tank.
“He plays left tackle,” Landon said. “Weight is an asset to what he does. He has to be huge and strong. He protects the quarterback, and being big makes him harder to run through.”
Oh. “And Alexa suggested a diet?”
Trevor nodded.
“She wants to add yoga and Pilates,” Julius said. “Because she thinks our flexibility will benefit us on the field. Like I’m going to do the splits in the end zone or some shit.”
I laughed.
“Some of her ideas are good,” he continued, “But she doesn’t bother asking any questions, just bulldozes around implementing changes without feedback. She moved my machine down the hall. You know I’m superstitious about not changing my routines after a win.”
Landon took a long pull on his beer bottle, his eyes narrowed, his mind somewhere else. He was thinking of his center—of the legacy he’d built, and what it would look like if he didn’t do anything about it.
“You still own stock in the company,” I said softly. I didn’t want him to think he had to stay away from her. That going back to the center meant betraying me.
I would never expect him to stand back and watch her destroy what he’d built.
But he shook his head, setting down the empty bottle. “It’s her company now. I won’t be her employee. I know how she is, and she’ll take the advice she likes, and ignore everything else.”
We were all silent as reality set in.
“You could build a new place,” Trevor said. “We would follow you there. The others would.”
Landon shook his head. “It’s