Page 135 of Theirs to Take

“I didn’t know that you come to this gym,” she said. “I mean, I haven’t seen you here before.”

“Um, I just joined,” he said. “I was kind of a slug before I took the job at McTavish.”

She looked him over, and he had to admit, he loved the way that her eyes lingered on his body. “I doubt that,” she said. “You look like you’re in pretty good shape.”

“You’re being kind, but you don’t have to say that,” Eli said. “How was your date last night?” he asked.

“My date?” she asked. “Oh—um, it went well, I think. You know how hard first dates are.” He hated that she had a good first date with anyone besides him, but he wasn’t going to be an ass about it.

“Sure,” he said, “I’m happy that it went well,” he lied.

“How did your date go?” she asked. That was a very good question. Did he want to go with the whole, my date sucked lie, or it went well and she’s at my place right now, lie?

“It didn’t work out,” he said, going with the former lie. It would at least give him the opportunity to ask her out—if he could get up the nerve.

“Sorry to hear that,” she said, even though she didn’t look sorry at all.

“Well, I’ll let you get back to your workout,” he offered. He turned to walk away, internally kicking himself for being a complete chicken. Eli turned back as she started to run again. “Would you like to grab some dinner with me, after the gym?” he asked. Mina stumbled off the back of the treadmill and he nearly caught her in midair.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m such a klutz. I’m sorry,” she said. He had his arms wrapped around her and not one single bit of him was sorry that he had to catch her and hold her against his body.

“Not a problem,” he said.

“You just caught me off guard,” she said.

“I didn’t mean to,” Eli said, “I just wanted to take you out to dinner, Mina.” She sighed and looked up at him, and for a second, he thought for sure that she was going to tell him, yes—but she didn’t.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Eli. I work for you and if we go on a date, and things didn’t work out, I’d hate to lose my job.” Yeah, he’d never fire her, but he had a feeling that she wouldn’t believe him if he said that now. He was going to have to backtrack and do some creative lying if he was going to make things less awkward between the two of them.

“Oh—you thought I was asking you out on a date?” he asked.

“Well, yeah,” she said. He released Mina and gave her his best smile again. If he was going to pull off this lie, he couldn’t be touching her. His traitorous body would give him away.

“No, I just thought that we could get a bite to eat together—you know two friends, hanging out, outside of work. I mean, you are best friends with my sister-in-law, and that practically makes us family now. I just thought that you’d like to hang out if you don’t already have plans.”

“Now, I’m embarrassed. I’m sorry that I jumped to the wrong conclusions,” she said.

“No—don’t be embarrassed,” he said. “It’s not a big deal. So, how about it? You want to catch dinner after your workout?”

“Oh, um, sure,” she said. “I’d like to hang out as friends. Thank you for inviting me, Eli.”

“Great,” he said, “where would you like to go?”

“Um, how about if you come back to my place to hang out? We can order takeout and watch a movie. I know it sounds kind of boring, but I’m watching my new neighbor’s dog and I can’t leave her alone for too long, or she’ll tear my apartment apart,” Mina said.

“I’d love to help you dog sit. How about if you text me your address and I’ll pick up some takeout? Does Asian sound good?”

“I love sushi, so sure,” she said. “I’m not too picky.”

“Great,” Eli said, “how about if I come over around six?” That would give him enough time to run home, take a proper shower, and put on something besides sweats.

“Six sounds perfect. I’ll text you my address now,” she said, pulling her phone out of her pocket. They had exchanged phone numbers during their first day at work. She told him to call if he needed anything from her over the weekends. Mina insisted that she didn’t mind working on Saturday or Sunday if he was heading into the office. He didn’t like working weekends, but he appreciated her extra effort.

“There,” she said, “I’ll see you at six.”

“Great, see you at six,” he agreed. She got back on the treadmill and started her run again and all he could do was stand there like a fool, watching her.

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