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He was positive he was going to need more than this one beer after not only her dropping the mic on her comment about him dressed up and moving along, but also having to sit this close to her and smell the soft perfume floating around her.
She wasn’t paying much attention to him at the moment but rather talking to Tori on the other side of her and then going back and forth with Ryder who was sitting across from her with Marissa. He’d run to the bathroom when they got here and when he came back the only open seat was by Megan. If he didn’t know better he’d think someone did that on purpose, but since they’d both grabbed their seats at the same time, it couldn’t have been the case.
“How is work going?” his father asked, who was sitting across from him.
“Good,” he said. “Crazy busy. I’m thinking of taking on another personal trainer. I can’t seem to do it as much anymore with training the fighters.”
He noticed a movement next to him and turned to see Megan looking at him and starting to listen in on the conversation. “That’s great, Jonah,” his father said. “Sounds like things are falling into place much faster than you realized.”
“I’m hitting my goals quicker than I thought I would.”
“Do you think you are ready for another location?” his father asked.
“I’m looking into it and trying to run the numbers.”
“You should have told me,” his mother said. “I can look at things with you.”
“I’ll let you know as I get closer. First order of business is a location and the cost of that; then I can dig deeper and run numbers and talk with the accountants and stuff.”
His mother had an accounting background and worked at a bank doing risk assessment or loans or something like that. She started out doing his books for him, but then as he grew he was able to hire a firm to take over the more in-depth stuff. There was someone in-house that did day-to-day activities, paid bills and did payroll. Those things. It was easier that way and cheaper too in the long run and freed up his time to be spent with clients.
“Are you getting a lot of clients?” his mother asked. “More than you thought you would in terms of the fighters? I’m just glad you’re training and not actually fighting anymore. My heart can’t take it.”
Neither could his. Nor his body or his head.
That night seven years ago that his gut told him to not go in the ring...yeah, he should have listened to it. He’d taken a cheap shot in the back of his head. He’d won that match because Rodney had been disqualified and he’d later found out Rodney had been considered a dirty fighter but had gotten away with things.
When Jonah had seen stars with that jaw punch, he’d turned his head to get his bearings and the kick got him defenseless. One major rule was no spikes to the back of the head and that was blatant. He’d paid the price and wasn’t sure he’d ever recover from it.
Years later, he was glad to say he only had a few problems now and again and kept that to himself because the last thing he wanted to do was worry his mother yet again.
“Training only, Mom,” he said. “It’s a big moneymaker. The gym is holding its own though and I’ve got ideas to expand more services. Guess I should consider that too before another location.”
“Like what?” Megan asked him. “Do you do yoga or Pilates there or is this just a big rough and tumble gym full of men pumping iron and boxing?”
“There are plenty of women there,” he said. “A lot of bodybuilding going on, but there are aerobic-type classes offered upstairs.”
“Oh,” she said.
He reached his hand to her arm, and felt her bicep. “Doesn’t look like you lift many weights, but you’ve got a muscle there.”
She flexed under his hand and he felt she had a bigger one than he thought. It was probably wrong to touch her, but there was part of him that wanted to test himself and maybe her after she’d commented on him looking good.
“Just my own body weight.”
“Yoga and Pilates?” he asked.
“Yep. That’s me. I can do them at my place. I’m not one for gyms. Too many meatheads there.”
There was a round of laughter at the table from that comment and she blushed a little. “That would be Jonah,” Trent said.
“Sorry,” she said. “I really didn’t mean you, but if I saw you at the gym I might think it. I’m a little intimidated by the weights and the men lifting.”
“I didn’t get the impression much intimidated you at all,” he said.
“Not really. But I don’t like to be thought of as the little lady that needs a man to spot me or show me how to do things. I’ve gone to the gym a few times and had to deal with that.”
“Guess you’re going to the wrong gym,” he said. Though he knew it did happen at his place too so he shouldn’t have said that. Lots of men hit on women when they were working out, but he put an end to it fast if he saw it happening.
