Page 50 of Ten Rules for Faking It
His friend nodded. “Every day. How’s the dating game going?”
Chris didn’t want her to feel put on the spot. “Aren’t you supposed to be instructing a class?”
Rob winked at Everly. “Someone needs to loosen up. Don’t apologize again if you accidentally hit him.” Rob made air quotes aroundaccidentally.
When he walked away, Everly laughed, and Chris sucked in a breath at the sight of her face filled with genuine happiness.
“It’s nice to not be the one told to loosen up for once,” she said, wiping her brow.
He started with slow, pointed jabs, pleased when she immediately raised her hands to block him. “Do people often tell you that?”
She nodded, stepped to the side, and jabbed again. “Yup. My favorite isrelax.When someone tells me to do that, I just want to say, ‘Oh, thanks, why didn’t I think of that? All better now.’”
Chris laughed, but it didn’t seem funny that people dismissed her feelings. “It’s always easy to tell someone else how to live their life.” He wasn’t referring to his own life, but the minute the words left his mouth, he thought of how often his father told him what the right steps were.
Everly executed a great cross and increased her speed. “You sound like you’re speaking from experience.”
Choosing not to answer, he focused on moving with her, blocking her punches, and then they switched. When Rob called time and dismissed the class, Chris walked out with Everly, avoiding his friend’s curious look.
“You don’t have to walk me to my car,” Everly said. She waved to the receptionist.
He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “One class and you’re a tough guy?”
That brought out her laugh, the one where her eyes lit up. “That’s right. Maybe I should walk you to your car.”
“My hero,” he teased.
The night had cooled off. It was his favorite time of the day. The remnants of sunset touched the clouds like watercolor paintings, and the air felt lighter.
“Will you come back?” he asked when she stopped in front of a four-door Honda Civic. He smiled at the car. Safe, reliable. Very Everly.
Her face scrunched, and he loved the fact that she considered the question so seriously. “I’m not sure. I liked it. I just don’t love crowds. Sometimes, though, like tonight, I can forget they’re surrounding me. Do you work out there a lot?”
Chris looked back at the building, then at her. “Now and again. I was feeling restless tonight, so I thought I’d work that out.” Which sounded a lot better thanI’m thinking too much about you and needed to get out of my own head.
She shifted from one foot to the other.
Don’t do it,he told himself. “Do you want to grab a drink?” He did it.Shit. You have no self-control.
Her eyes widened. “Oh, I should,” she started, looked down at herself. “I’m sweaty, and I have—”
Chris cut her off. He was sweaty, too, and spendingmoretime with her wouldn’t help him get her out of his thoughts.
“No worries. You’ve got lots going on.” He didn’t want to say good-bye and felt like an idiot for it. Which was the only reason he could think for why he’d blurted out the next part. “I was thinking about planning a staff get-together. I feel like a lot of the employees just pass each other at shift change. It’d be fun to hang out together. Get to know each other.”Before I take off.
Surprise flashed in her eyes. Clearly more comfortable, Everly nodded. “That’d be nice.”
“Would you come?”
She tilted her head. “Why wouldn’t I?”
He stuck his hands in his pockets, refusing to shuffle his feet. “You don’t like crowds.”
One side of her mouth tilted up, and his gaze caught there for a minute.
“No. But a work event is different.” She nodded, like she’d decided something in her own mind. “It would be good to do a work thing. Everyone already thinks I’m a snob.” She leaned against her car.
“Who thinks that?” Was the staff being hard on her? Their weekly staff meetings were pretty chill, and all of them seemed to get along, but maybe he was missing something.
