Chapter 2 Different Kind of Exercise

How did my life end up like this?

I thought to myself as I swallowed another spoonful of my mint chocolate chip ice-cream. My not-so-kind boss was kind enough to give me the rest of the day off-which, now that I think about it, was weird. There was no kind of man who gave his secretary a day off because they caught their best friend making out with their ex. Maybe Joanne was right and Ashton did like me.

I shuddered at the thought and went back to scrolling my file explorer. Since I got home, I cried, ate ice cream and watched movies where the love interests couldn't get together. All in all, it was a very productive day. I stopped short when I got an Email, it was from work.

I looked at my Email app with small curiosity, I felt like it would be better to open the Email tomorrow, but with the stunt I pulled, I didn't have that right. Sighing, I clicked on the Email and my face twitched as I read the details.

"Work event? Mandatory attendance?" What was my boss thinking?

He expected me to attend a mandatory work event? I cringed at the thought. I couldn't. I wasn't going to walk in with puffy eyes and a food baby that looked like it was ready to be delivered any minute. I wasn't going to attend, no way. That was what I thought until something caught my eye.

"1200 dollars for attendance."

There was no way I was going to pass this up. I checked the time on my computer. I still had two hours before I needed to get ready, plenty of time to get rid of this food baby. At least I think that's how exercise works. After a bath and change of clothes, I made my way to the gym near my house.

It was a two minute stroll from my house and when I walked in, the receptionist, my neighbour, gave me this look like I had walked into the wrong place on my way to a fast-food joint. A few days ago, I would have given myself that look too. I mean, the last time I exercised was when I lived with my parents-if you consider babysitting my baby niece as exercise.

I walked around for a while, finally stopping when I reached the cardio place- or what I think it's called. I settled for an empty treadmill and turned it on, but stopped before I could get on, when I saw him. The same person I kept running into, my boss, Ashton Pierce.

What was he doing here? To me he never seemed like the kind of man to exercise, or at least that was before I crashed into his rock hard abs this morning. I shook my head and pressed my lips tightly together to stop myself from drooling. Our eyes locked and he gave me a small smile before he started making his way towards me.

This is bad. What was he doing? Did he think I would make small talk with him? The same man who had the power to fire me? The same man who had seen me cry before?

"Hello, beautiful," Ashton said, a fraction of a smile on his face.

Wow, seriously? Joanne seemed more right with every action this man took.

"H-hey," I stuttered and took a deep breath, as if that would help with the heat rushing to my cheeks. "t-that's not something that you say to your secretary."

He cocked his head to a side, a mischievous grin on his face. "Why? I'll compliment you even if you're my secretary," He leaned closer to me. "Besides," he muttered, his voice dropping to a seductive whisper. "It's the truth,"

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. Ashton Pierce, well-known playboy, he was probably trying to get me in his bed. "Thank you, but I'm not interested in hooking up," I turned and stepped on the treadmill, but the speed was unexpected and I lost my footing.

I yelped and closed my eyes, bracing for impact. So this was how it ended, a girl with so much potential, gone after a messy break up and rejecting her boss's advances. I yelped again when images of my mangled body came to mind, but the fall never came. I didn't realise what happened, until someone's biceps clenched under my torso and I was pulled away from the treadmill.

I could feel the person's breath on my exposed neck and my body went still.

"I wasn't asking you to hook up with me." Ashton's voice sounded and I squirmed, forcing myself out of his grip.

It never dawned on me that I needed to steady myself first, until my head collided with the floor. A pained groan sounded from me, and I quickly got up from the floor, adjusting my clothes. I glanced up at Ashton who only gave me an amused smirk. He irked me, I never thought that I could get angry at someone that I couldn't deny I was attracted to. I was ready to lash out when I felt something warm trickle down my forehead.

"Fucking hell?! I'm bleeding!" I yelled, giving Ashton an irritated glare. "This is all your fault!" I yelled again.

He raised a brow before laughing. "Sweetheart, you pulled away from me and do I need to remind you that it was you who set that treadmill's speed to the highest."

I felt heat rush to my cheeks. I'd only used a treadmill twice and I assumed the treadmill only had one speed. He was right, it was my fault, but stubborn me wasn't giving up so easily. "Well, when you caught me, you started saying all those things that... that..." I trailed off when he smirked.

He inched closer to me, his scent suffocating and alluring at the same time. "Those things that what, Sweetheart?"

I gulped and inched back. I felt a sharp pain from my head and everything around me started to spin. I lost my footing and tripped again, only to be caught by Ashton again. He wasn't smirking anymore and the worried look on his face made him seem more human.

"Tyra... we'll continue this conversation at later."

I wanted to give another snarky comment, but the world went dark as I opened my mouth to speak.