No Strings

He groans, grabbing a pillow and placing it over his face. I snag it and toss it onto the floor.

“I’m not kidding. Get up.”

I enter the gym with a bounce in my step, knowing that I’m early and will get my treadmill. But when I turn the corner and find her walking on my treadmill, I growl under my breath.

“Hey!” She waves with a cheerful smile. “You’re here early.”

“So are you.”

“Yeah.” She nods, taking a sip of her Starbucks coffee before setting it back down. “I couldn’t sleep, so I figured I would start my day early. Got coffee and then came here.”

My gaze slides down to her shirt of the day: If you love Southern women, raise your glass. If not, raise your standards.

“How many of those shirts do you own?”

She looks down and laughs. “A lot. There was a gift shop in the quad of the college I attended, and every time my friend would see a new shirt, she would buy it for me as a joke because, as you can tell from my accent, I’m a little Southern.” When she winks, I can’t help but smile, despite my workout being ruined yet again. Something about her is sexy, and it’s not just her looks. Maybe it’s her carefree attitude.

“Where did you go to school?” I find myself asking.

“Tennessee.”

Wait a second…

“What’s your name?”

“Savy.”

“Short for Savannah?”

“Yep.”

Well, shit, either it’s a small world or a coincidence. Lucas told me about her before he left. Said she was a friend of Brianne’s from college, and he hired her as his new CFO. Apparently, she’s some sort of math genius. I skim over her once more, a bit confused. It’s got to be a coincidence.

“What’s your name?” she asks.

“Benjamin.”

She grins, showing off her perfectly straight white teeth. “Benjamin, huh? Mind if I call you Benji?”

“It’s Benjamin,” I repeat. No respectable businessman would agree to being called Benji.

She snorts. “How about Ben?”

“Benjamin.”

This time, it’s a giggle that shouldn’t shoot straight to my dick but does. “Benjamin is so long and formal. How about…?”

“Benjamin,” I repeat.

At the same time, she says, “Benny?”

“Benjamin,” I deadpan. “Ben-ja-min.”

“We’ll see,” she says, stopping her treadmill. “You can have it. I’m done for today.” She takes one last sip of her coffee, then chucks it into the bin on her way out, leaving me standing here speechless.

“Brody, let’s go!” I yell, checking the time. It’s seven thirty, and we need to get going. I scheduled an early meeting, and it looks bad when the boss is late.

“I’m coming,” he groans, stepping around the corner. He’s wearing a beanie on his head, a hoodie with a skateboard across the front, also covering the top of his head, and jeans with more holes than material. He looks more grunge than professional, and if I had time, I’d make him change. How did I not notice the way he dresses until now? Maybe because his private school required a uniform.

“What?” He glances down when he catches me staring.

“You look like the homeless guys under the bridge. Your mom lets you dress like that?”

He rolls his eyes. “It’s a vibe, Dad. You don’t get it.”

“I make enough money for your vibe to be a bit more polished than that. Appearances speak volumes, and yours says you don’t care.”

“Because I don’t,” he says as he walks past me and out the door.

I grab my briefcase and lock up behind me. Once we’re downstairs, I nod toward Fred, so he can hail us a car. As I’m opening the door and sliding in after Brody, I hear a woman yell, “Hold, please!”

I glance out from inside and see Savannah running out the door and straight for our car. Oh no… This won’t do. I have a schedule to keep and can’t be sharing a car. There are a million cars in the city. She can’t grab one of those?

But before I can tell her this, she stumbles in, knocking me into Brody, and slams the door shut. “Whew, thank you! I’m running late.”

“Must’ve been that long workout,” I mutter sarcastically, annoyed that now I’m going to have to be a gentleman and allow for her to be dropped off first. This is going to set my entire morning back.

Savannah laughs, the sound melodic and carefree. “Probably. I might need to get up even earlier if I’m going to make working out part of my routine once I start working.”

Well, at least if she does that, she’ll be out of the gym before I arrive since she doesn’t seem to walk more than ten minutes.

“Hey, Savy,” Brody says, sounding more chipper than I’ve heard him the past several days.

Savannah looks around me. “Hey, you. I didn’t see you there.”

“You two know each other?” I dart my eyes from her to him.

“Brody showed me a delicious restaurant to have lunch at the other day.”