Glass Jaw - Falling for my Alpha Boss

Not so funny little lady

Max

I feel the lack of rest the next day when my grumpy, tired a** is trying to figure out why the f*ck he can’t seem to wrap his hands the right way. I’ve been trying to finish the prep for my first workout of the day for minutes and still haven’t gotten it right.

In fact, I have taken so long that Teagan has made her way over to the gym with her briefcase full of paperwork to make sure I finish on time and we’re not late for our appointment.

“You know you take all the fun out of my day, Teags?”

“Grow up, Cummings.”

Now she’s sitting ringside, her brows scrunched up as she reads over some performance report… and I’m sure it’s not the first time she took a look at those numbers. But my publicist is just thorough like that. Actually, I have no idea WHAT position she doesn’t hold at the moment. So, calling Teagan my publicist is the grossest understatement of the century. She’s my household manager, babysits my younger brothers and has for years, works on my public profile, basically is the reason the pack is running as smoothly, because she manages all my calendars… the list goes on.

This is her newest obsession: Broadening the profile of companies the pack invests in/ buys into. Teagan spent hours, if not days, chewing my ear off about possibilities for better investing the funds my old man secured and that I brought in with all the wins over the years of my professional career. Now, these morning boxing sessions are the only thing left of my old life. That and… My eyes rest on my publicist again. I vividly remember the first time we met.

I wasn’t expecting her. I’d heard all about the Alpha of Gladstone and his sons, the tragedy that befell his family. But somehow, his daughter was never really spoken about. So when a T. Hurst applied for the position, I was intrigued and invited them for an interview. Although I was convinced, I’d be meeting with one of her brothers. Never have… not one of her siblings has come to visit. She never introduced me to her parents. The picture of professionalism. Which is fine by me.

“Dude, I’m telling you, I know what I’m doing.” I’m so easily distracted today that the man puffing out his chest in the ring beside me catches my attention. He’s one of the newest pack members. I remember swearing him in a couple of days ago while Teagan was on her annual trip to see her parents.

“OK… if you’re sure.” His partner doesn’t seem convinced, and when the peacock gets ready for his first kick, I can see why. Just from this one move, I could tell him about six things that I would improve. But this is not my problem. I need to get my workout in and finish on time, so I don’t have my publicist ready to pounce on me.

So, I ignore the two guys and focus on my sparing partner. And when the little bit of sweat is finally running down my temple, I have already forgotten all about them and how sh*tty my night was. Just on the way to pick up my water bottle and check the clock on the wall for the time, I see Teagan’s knees bop and her brows scrunched to a maximum. She’s trying hard, but she can’t hide how irritated she is by the two dudes in the next ring over, who are still butchering any and all moves.

“You have to turn, and your knee needs to be loose. Do you feel me?” The peacock prepares to demonstrate a move when my publicist’s sharp voice cuts the air.

“Wrong. Please stop this. You guys are going to hurt each other.” She hasn’t even looked up from the stack of papers on her lap, but I see the vein on her temple pulsing a little. Peak irritation… and I smirk to myself for a minute. Hmmm, interesting. It seems like someone other than me is riling her up today.

“Oh, yeah?” The dude looks down at Teagan, still ignoring him, and sneers. “You think you know better?”

“I’m sure I do.”

He and his friend cackle, and it’s the first time my publicist is looking up. “You’re funny, little lady.” He chuckles, rubbing a hand over his buzzed blond hair. “Go back to your papers, we know what we’re doing.”

“You don’t.” And now he’s getting angry.

“So what? You wanna give us a demonstration?”

“Sure.”

Both of them are too perplexed to stop her when she takes off her heels, enters the ring, and takes her place across from them.

“You were practicing a spinning backkick, right?” One of the guys nods and has barely enough time to raise his hands before Teagan takes a step across with her leading foot, spins, and kicks him in the ribs hard.

“Ouf…”

“See? You want to keep your knee as tight as possible. And aim for the ribs. Not the gut.” She demonstrates it swiftly again, the blonde’s jaw slightly slack. “Helps if you step slightly across with your leading foot.”

“I-

“The other one you tried to do was a spinning hook kick?” No answer, and I’m close to laughing out loud. It took three months of Teagan sitting on sweaty gym mats watching me fight with her button nose scrunched up in disgust… three months before she came to me and said: ‘Teach me. Might make it less boring.’ And I will definitely take credit for her form and how GOOD she has become over the last five years.

She is. Good, I mean. Demonstrated as she spins, hooks her leg, and has Blondie take a step back to avoid being kicked in the chin.

“What the f*ck! You almost-

“You wanna hook your leg as early as possible.” She shows them again. “The longer you leave it straight, the easier it will be for your opponent to block it or at least see what you plan to do.”

Teagan demonstrates how you have to bring in your elbows when you spin, and I delight in the blonde dude’s deepening tomato shade while the other seems mesmerized by my publicist.

When she jumps out of the ring and puts her shoes back on, I saunter over to her and grin when she looks up at me.

“You’ve been holding out on me.” Teagan snorts, plugging her briefcase off the bench. But I’m not done yet. I like the light blush on her cheeks.

‘She’s pretty, right?’

I push my wolf back. Tegan is the last woman he should make those remarks about. And I have no idea why he did just now. That was never a thing for the last five years and definitely won’t be moving forward.

So I grin even wider, elbowing her as we leave the gym. “Looks like you’ve added a new member to your fan club.” I waggle my brows.

Her blue eyes sear into me, and I can’t help but smile when one of her eyebrows hikes up. “Oh yeah?”

“For sure.”

“I’ll get that thing closed down.”

Laughter bubbles out of me. “Don’t. You’ll undo all of Patrick’s hard work.” I duck away fast enough to evade the hard elbow coming to my ribs.

“Your brother doesn’t have a crush on me!”

“You stay in your delusion, Teags!” I skip ahead of her. “Race me to the car. Last to get there is a delulu girl!” Sprinting, I gain a tremendous head start.

“Childish, Cummings. CHILDISH!”