Page 5 of His Christmas Gift

Was this guy for real? I couldn’t believe he was coming in here with all of these complaints. He could’ve sent someone here to check out the building instead of coming out here himself. I bit my tongue, though.

“It’s been a few years as well,” I replied as I stood near Ethan in the doorway.

Ethan glanced over at me.

“So, what’s your position? Just an instructor?” he asked as his eyes swept over my black leggings and white tank top.

How he said “just an instructor” annoyed me to no end. These guys just saw me as some pawn that they got to play with now. There was still an opportunity for me to quit, and it was looking really nice right now. I wished Aunt Lisa didn’t create this gym from scratch. It would be easier to walk away if she didn’t.

“I help manage this place too,” I told him in a firm tone, doing everything in my power not to glare at him.

Dean turned to us with a hint of a smile on his face.

“Alright, moving on,” he said, his eyes catching mine for a second as he moved past me into the hallway.

My heart jolted a bit at the eye contact. I didn’t know why his gaze felt so intense or why I nearly shuddered when his arm brushed mine. I didn’t even want to be around this guy!

“I’ll show you to the offices,” I said before leading them down to the end of the hallway. I paused at Aunt Lisa’s office, frowning when I realized that she was going to give it up. “This is Lisa’s office. Mine is across the hall. There’s also a free room on the other end of the gym you can turn into an office.”

Dean glanced at Aunt Lisa’s office and then at mine, his faint smile morphing into a hint of a smirk.

“No, that’s fine. I’ll take this office,” he replied as he patted the doorframe of Aunt Lisa’s office. “I have to keep a close eye on this place for a while.”

“A while?” I asked him, wondering what he was even talking about.

“I like to stick around and monitor my new gyms. You can help me change some things around so that this place can actually make a steady profit,” Dean told me as he took a step toward me.

I felt frozen in place as he stopped a foot away from me. Having Dean in the office across from mine every day sounded like hell. I didn’t understand why he had to be here.

“You don’t have anything better to do?” I asked before I could stop myself. It was an honest question. I thought he was some big CEO. Why would he want to waste his time at one of his hundreds of locations?

Dean and Ethan exchanged a chuckle.

“There’s nothing more that I want to do right now,” Dean replied. He reached out to brush his fingers along the back of my arm. “Thanks for the tour, sweetheart. Can’t wait to get started.”

My skin tingled where he touched it, and I couldn’t even form a word as Ethan and Dean left me in the hallway to conduct their business. My reality didn’t even feel real anymore. I had to work with Dean Everard, but that wasn’t even the worst part.

He was also going to be my boss.

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