He looks down at me in confusion before realization crosses his face. He laughs out loud. “I’m sorry; I shouldn’t laugh, but…but I just realized how that sounded. Okay, let’s try this again.” He straightens, holding his hand out once more. “Hi, Helena, I’m James Whittaker.”
My mouth rounds into an O. This is my new boss?
Schwing!
Still holding out his hand, he explains, “I recognized you from the photo you sent for your identification tag, which I actually have in my car.” I bite my lip to hold in my laugh and look anywhere but at him. He cringes. “Yeah, okay, I heard it that time too. Creepy as hell.”
I laugh and step forward. “I’m sorry for freaking out, but you sounded a little stalkerish. Sorry.”
I place my hand in his and we shake, smiling all the while. He releases my hand then puffs out a breath. “I probably should’ve just let you be. I’m sorry if I made our first meeting awkward.”
“No, it’s fine. My friend owns this club, so I was just catching up with people.”
His brows rise. “You know the Leokovs?”
My nose wrinkles in an attempt to be cute. “Yeah, Nik married a close family friend, Tina. My sister Nat is married to their adoptive brother, Asher. So we’re all a tight knit little family of sorts.”
James smiles warmly. “That’s really cool. So you know Max Leokov then?”
Before I can stop myself, I sniff. “Yeah. Him, I’ve met.”
James’s smile declines. “You don’t like him then?”
I don’t answer. Instead, I ask, “How do you know him?”
He leans on the bar and explains, “His daughter Ceecee is a client of mine.”
Fuck. Of course she is. I’m such a dick.
I smile genuinely. “I love Ceecee. And Max is okay, I guess, when he’s not sleeping in my bed or throwing pizza at me.”
Oh noooooo! Why did you say that, you social disgrace of a homo sapien?!
James’s eyes widen. My entire body heats in embarrassment. I sputter, “Oh—oh no! It’s not like that, I swear. He sleeps in my bed when I’m not in it, is all.” Yeah, that wasn’t any better. Try again. “What I meant to say is that Max…he’s…I mean—” I suddenly blurt, “I don’t know how to make this better!”
To my absolute surprise, James tilts his head back and roars with laughter. He laughs ‘til he’s hoarse. “Oh man, I thought I was bad. Why don’t you just leave it there?”
Biting my lip, cheeks flaming, I nod once.
He smirks at me. “I think we’re going to get along just fine.”
Holy shit, that was brutal. My shoulders slump in relief. I clear my throat and change the subject. “How often does Ceecee do PT?”
He nurses then sips on his beer. “Depends, you know? Sometimes, she’s okay to go without it for weeks, because she’s doing her exercises at home, but sometimes she needs a session or two a week. She doesn’t exactly like her exercise program. She says it’s boring, and because she doesn’t like doing it, she pays for it with spasms and aches.”
My face softens. It must be hard for her. “She probably just needs the right motivation.”
James looks me in the eye. “Max…he’s tried everything short of forcing her. She listens sometimes, but not often enough.”
A sudden thought floods my mind. “Has Ceecee ever had a say in her exercise program?”
His eyes narrow in confusion. “How do you mean?”
I step forward and sit on the stool in front of him. “I mean, she’s a teenage girl. I know there are exercises she’ll need to do, but has anyone asked her what she likes to do?”
James open his mouth to respond, but he pauses. His mouth snaps shut. “No. I…um—I don’t think I have asked her.” I raise a brow. He grins in response. “I like it.”
I return his grin. “She’s a young woman who’s been told all her life what she has to do. It must be tiring.”
Suddenly, his brows bunch. He mutters, “Yeah, it must be.”
A wild hair reaches into my brain, and before I can stop myself, I ask, “Would you like to come upstairs and meet my sister?”
A look of surprise flitters across his face before he beams. “Yeah. I’d love to.”
Oh, this is so crazy awkward. I have no idea what I’m doing. “Cool. Come on up.”
As soon as we reach the top of the stairs, Nik calls out, “Whit! What’s up, man?”
James takes his hand in a rough, competitive man-shake that looks more like an assault. “Not much, Nik. Just met Helena here.”
Nik looks down at me. He loses his smile. Throwing James an acid look, he states, “She’s off limits.”
James looks over at me, trying to hide his smile. I roll my eyes and shove Nik in the gut. “He’s my new boss, Niki. Ease up.”
Nik looks over at me, smiling a brotherly smile full of pride. “Seriously? You’re working at the center? That’s awesome, kid.”
I blush. “I know. I worked my butt off for it.”
Nik wraps his arm around me and pulls me close. He says to James, “She’s family, ya know, so you better treat her good.”
Oh God, no.
I shrug Nik’s arm off and tug James by the wrist towards the stairs. “This was so not a good idea. I’m sorry. We should go back down.”
But James just grins. “Are you kidding? This is the highlight of my night!”
Oh, he’s pushing it. I lean in and hiss, “At my expense!”
He leans in closer to me. “Just go with the flow, Helena. It’s never as bad as you think it is.”
That’s when Nat calls out, “I remember when Helena was three and took off her diaper. She peed on the furniture ‘cause she wanted to be like our dog.”
Holy mother of God!
I cover my face with my hands and mock-sob. “It’s always as bad as I think it is.” James turns away from me, but I see his back shake in silent laughter. I narrow my eyes at him and whisper, “It’s not true, you know. What she said, I mean.” It’s a poor attempt at saving my honor, but it’s worth a shot.
He faces me, eyes smiling. “Yeah. Yeah, it is.” My face flames, but he just bumps my shoulder. “It’s okay, Helena. You were three. If you did that last week, then yeah, I’d be a bit worried.”
My pride already out the window, I sigh dramatically. “I guess I shouldn’t tell you about last week’s incident then.”