Trust in Me (12 page)

“Hi, Mr. Rich,” the girl on the left
said.

Her sister followed it up with, “Can you show
us where the dance class is?”

“It would be my pleasure,” he responded,
placing the water on the desk so he could take each of them by the
hand. “Let me be your escort,” he said dramatically, as he led them
towards the dance studio.

When they reached the studio, the girls were
so excited they practically vibrated.

Roni was teaching a group of kids how to do a
plié. He watched as she leaned down to whisper to a little girl who
was having difficulties. The little girl smiled happily when she
executed the simple move, and Roni’s obvious joy caused his heart
to flip in his chest.

He was falling in love with her. She was not
only physically beautiful, but had a beautiful heart. The way she
was with her brother and their friends, showed how selfless she
was. He loved that she didn’t take shit from anyone, including him,
and that she always had a comeback. Seeing her dance and the way
she interacted with the kids, just introduced him to more aspects
of her, and so far, he was lovin’ all of them. She was the total
package.

Roni looked up and started towards him and
the girls. Rich felt frozen in place as he tried to register what
his heart was feeling.

“You guys here for a lesson?” She asked,
smiling at the twins.

They both nodded quickly and let go of his
hands yelling, “Thank you, Mr. Rich,” as they ran into the room
towards Roni. She gave him a small smile, then took the girls and
got them situated with the rest of the class.

The rest of his day went by quickly. The bulk
of it was spent making sure that everyone on staff had what they
needed, and his guests were having a good time. He did get a chance
to get in the ring with some of the teens who were interested in
boxing, which made the day even brighter. It really proved to him
that he’d made the right decision.

By the time the Grand Opening was finished,
he and the staff were ready to drop. They’d taught countless
classes and had been on their feet for over eight hours, but it had
been totally worth it.

Although he was tired, Rich walked around and
helped everyone clean up. He set up a time for them to meet and
discuss what worked and what hadn’t.

He was standing at the front, saying goodbye
to everyone as they left for the night, when Alex walked up.

“Thanks again for doing a great job today,”
he told her.

“It was fun,” she said. “And I think a good
number of the kids that tried the class will be contacting you to
sign up.”

“Great,” Rich replied. Then he remembered
Jason and decided to do some recon for his friend. “So, you got a
hot date tonight?”

Alex looked a bit puzzled and replied, “Nope.
I’m perpetually single.”

“Perpetually?” Rich asked with a chuckle.

Before Alex could respond, Roni cleared her
throat behind them. Rich looked up and wondered at the look on her
face.

“Everything okay?” He asked.

“Yup,” Roni responded. “I just need to get
going.”

Alex smiled unsurely at her, before turning
back to Rich and saying, “Well, thanks again, Boss. I’ll see you
tomorrow.”

Rich said goodbye, then turned to Roni as
Alex walked outside.

“You’re leaving?” He asked, disappointed that
she wasn’t planning to stay so they could talk.

“Yeah,” Roni responded, not quite meeting his
eyes. “It was a long day.”

“I was hoping you’d want to grab some dinner,
and talk,” Rich said, a little displeased by how needy he
sounded.

“Not tonight,” Roni replied. “We’ll talk
later.”

“Alright, but you can always give me a call
later, if you change your mind.”

“Okay. Goodnight,” she said as she walked
out.

Rich watched her leave, as Jason came up
behind him.

“Awesome turn-out tonight, Bro,” Jason said,
putting his fist out to pound Rich’s.

“It was better than I’d ever imagined,” Rich
admitted.

“I’ll be back early to get some training in
before we open.”

“Sounds good, I’ll warm up with you,” Rich
said. “Oh, hey… Alex is single.”

Jason stopped and turned to his friend, his
eyebrow raised. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yup,” Rich answered with a grin. “Told me so
herself.”

Jason returned his grin and said, “’Night,”
before walking out the door.

He locked up and did one last walk through,
stopping in the kitchen to grab the cupcake that Briana had saved
for him. He took it with him to his room, where he settled back on
the bed and let the day’s events replay in his mind.

He already had quite a few families’ sign up
for classes and they’d sold a good number of items in the resale
store. Eventually his thoughts turned back to Roni and the way
she’d reacted the night before. He couldn’t help but wonder what
was going on with her. He hoped she’d call so they could talk about
it.

She never did.

Chapter Eighteen

Roni had a raging headache. She really hoped
the aspirin would kick in quickly. She was on her way to the
center. She knew she couldn’t keep putting Rich off; she needed to
talk to him. She’d done a lot of thinking last night, and she
realized that she couldn’t continue to have a relationship with
Rich. Not even a casual one. Because it didn’t seem to be as casual
as it had started out to be.

Last night, when she’d heard Rich talking to
Alex, she’d been slapped in the face by jealousy. Roni knew what it
was like to be cheated on; she couldn’t help but think of how Hank
had slept with anyone that had given him the slightest
invitation.

She didn’t think that Rich was actually
hitting on Alex, she believed him when he told her that he wouldn’t
cheat on her, but she didn’t relish the feelings of jealousy. It
brought back memories of the person she used to be.

Rich flirted with girls without even thinking
about it, it was just his nature. She’d realized that even more
after she’d met his parents. It’s like he’d been brought up that
way. She’d thought she was used to it.

But when she’d seen the cute little Karate
instructor responding to Rich that she was single, she’d been
overcome by the green-eyed monster.

She didn’t like it. She and Rich were just
having a fling, emotions shouldn’t be involved. And the fact that
they seemed to be, meant she needed to take a step back.

She needed them to maintain a good
relationship, since they were going to be working together.

Roni felt a pain in her heart at the thought
of telling Rich they needed to stall their relationship. She was
surprised to realize that she was going to miss being able to touch
him and be with him.

She checked his room first, but it was empty.
She smiled at the site of his unmade bed and his clothes piled into
a ball in the corner. He was such a guy.

That just reaffirmed that she was getting too
involved, she thought, she should not think his messiness was
endearing.

Roni shut Rich’s door and made her way
towards the back. She figured he was either in the fitness center
or the boxing gym.

She heard them before she saw them, the
grunts of guys and the sound of flesh hitting something. When she
rounded the corner, the site before her stopped her in her
tracks.

They were both shirtless, with boxing shoes
and trunks on.

Jason had the boxing mitts on. His toned body
glistened with sweat. His dark hair and strategically placed
tattoos made a striking picture, but Roni only had eyes for
Rich.

His muscles rippled underneath his naturally
tanned skin with each punch he threw. He anticipated Jason’s
movements and met the mitts with his gloves, his hits fluid. The
noises that he made seemed to resonate in the pit of her belly
causing heat to pool there.

“They’re something, aren’t they?” Alex said
as she came up behind her, causing Roni to jump.

“Oh, my gosh,” Roni said bringing her hand to
her mouth. “You scared me.”

“Sorry,” Alex said, stopping next to Roni to
watch the guys who were oblivious to their audience. “I thought you
heard me walk up.”

Roni just shook her head, then turned to the
other woman with her hand extended.

“I don’t think we’ve officially met, I’m
Roni.”

“I know… You’re the boss’s girl,” Alex said
with a smile as they shook hands. “I’ve seen you around, but I
guess we’ve just never had the opportunity to talk before.”

“Oh, I’m not Rich’s girl,” Roni denied with a
shake of her head.

Alex just smiled at her and shrugged her
shoulders. “I think he would say differently.”

They stood quietly for a moment, enjoying the
sight before them. When the guys took a break and Jason put his
head back to squirt water in his mouth and over his head before
running a towel down his chest, Roni heard Alex’s intake of breath
and looked over at her face.

Roni smiled at her look of longing. Alex
turned and blushed when she realized she’d been caught. She
shrugged again and said, “I can’t help it, he’s pretty
amazing.”

Roni nodded her agreement, “And he’s a really
nice guy. You should go for it.”

“Oh… no,” Alex said with a small smile. “He’d
never go for a girl like me. I work for the mayor and do Karate in
my spare time. Not exactly his type, I’m sure.”

Roni was surprised at the other woman’s
evaluation of herself, but Rich noticed them before she could take
their conversation any further. He nodded and gave her the
one-minute sign.

Alex turned to leave and said, “Well, I’m
going to go check the messages and see if I’ve gotten any more
sign-ups. I’m hoping to get my first class going by the end of the
week.”

“Okay,” Roni responded with a smile. Then she
turned and called out, “Hey, Alex. We should hang out
sometime.”

Alex smiled broadly and said, “Yeah, I’d like
that.”

Roni waved at Jason and turned to Rich who
was walking up to her with a towel slung around his neck. She
couldn’t help but notice how perfectly toned his abs were, and she
loved the cut of his muscles as they disappeared below his
trunks.

Shit, she needed to focus.

“Hey, sunshine,” Rich said with a beautiful
smile before he leaned in and kissed her softly. Careful not to get
any sweat on her.

“Hey,” she responded, regretting the fact
that she was about to lose the ability to kiss him softly.

As they walked towards his room he asked,
“Did you have a good night last night?”

“Pretty much,” Roni said. “I went to sleep
soon after I got home. I was pretty tired.”

“Yeah, it was a great day.”

Roni hated to wipe the smile off of his face.
She started to feel hot and sweaty all over, her hands dampening
with the thought of hurting him.

Rich threw the towel in the corner with the
other clothes, then walked over to the bed and threw the comforter
up over the bed, trying to make it look more presentable, before
turning to her.

“Sorry, the place is a mess.”

“That’s okay,” Roni responded. “Do you have a
minute to talk?”

“Yeah,” Rich said, gesturing for her to sit
next to him on the bed. “I have to grab a shower before I open the
doors, but I have some time.”

Roni sat next to him on the bed, her hair
falling and covering her face, giving her a moment to compose
herself and think about how she wanted to begin.

“Hey,” Rich said, pushing her hair back over
her shoulder so he could look at her. “It’s okay. You can tell me
anything.”

“I don’t think we should see each other
anymore.”

Chapter Nineteen

Rich felt like he’d been punched in the gut.
He’d been so happy when he’d seen Roni standing in the gym talking
to Alex. His first instinct had been to go to her and take her in
his arms. He’d hoped her coming in early meant that she was ready
to talk to him.

He’d never imagined she’d come to end it.

“Why?”

“This was always supposed to be a fling,”
Roni said in a tone that made him wonder if she was trying to
convince him or herself.

“Well… it turned into more than that,” Rich
responded, hoping there was still a chance he could convince her
not to do this. That she hadn’t already made up her mind.

“Look, Rich,” Roni began, “There are things
you don’t know about me.”

“Tell me,” he said simply.

“I’m pretty messed up,” Roni said, pulling
her hair back nervously and pulling it back into a bun. She looked
so vulnerable, it broke his heart.

“Tell me,” he said again.

“I told you that I was married, and that my
divorce just came through, but… there’s more to it than that.”

Rich didn’t say anything. He gave her a
moment to gather her thoughts. It was obvious that what she had to
say was tough on her, so he put his hand on her leg and squeezed
it, offering encouragement.

“The first time Hank hit me was the day after
we got married,” Roni began. As her words registered, Rich’s body
tightened in response. He’d never imagined she’d been abused. He
guessed he should’ve, after her reaction the other night, but he’d
never been impacted by that type of behavior, so it never even
occurred to him. He tried to calm himself down so he could hear her
words clearly.

“I’d been putting my things away and he’d
said something about making sure I put everything away neatly. I
made some smart ass comment, just like I always do, without even
realizing it. Hank came up behind me and pulled my hair, then
smashed my face against the dresser, causing a cut right above my
eye. I’d been so shocked I didn’t know what to do. He’d apologized
profusely and said he’d never damage my face again. It didn’t
register at the time, he didn’t want to hurt my face, but he didn’t
say he’d never hurt me again.”