Chapter Twenty-Seven

Zoey

The phone only rang a couple of times before Ryder answered. I looked at the clock to catch the time—he was still at the gym. Crap. I didn’t want to pester him, but I needed feedback.

“Hey,” he said. “Are you going to surprise me? I’m looking around the gym, but you’re not here.”

“No, I’m not there. Still in New York.” I sighed. “I had questions about the shorts. How are they?”

“I don't know…” Ryder said.

“Well, do you like the fit? Are they too tight? Is the material okay?”

“Honestly, the material feels a little…girly,” he whispered the last word.

I chuckled. “I do need for you to be honest! I need you to let me know what you don't like, not just what you do like,” I said again for the twentieth time this week.

“I like that it's absorbent as fuck, but it still feels like panties, and that makes me think about you, and then my workouts go to shit.” He sighed.

I giggled. I couldn't help it.

“It’s not funny, but I'm glad you're amused.”

“It's not funny,” I agreed. “Okay, maybe it is a little funny.” The laugh broke through before I could pull the phone away.

“I like the design and the way it fits, but the material is weird. I guess I can continue to wear it and see.”

“Maybe it’ll be different once we get it doubled up,” I said. I knew he was trying hard to stay focused, and I tried to talk only when we were both in bed at night. Our relationship had become a texting marathon. But I needed some feedback on the trunks.

“We have a set of trunks in black and red with your branding on it. The material has been doubled up. I'm going to send them over to you. We had them made for the fight, but only if you like them.”

“I'll wear them because you designed them,” he said in a rush.

“I don't want you to do that. They have to be comfortable and you need to be able to move freely in them.”

“I’m sure they’ll be great. Plus, if I win and they get popular, people will buy them. I mean, you have seen these people pay a hundred bucks for a hoodie? It's a freakin’ hoodie,” he said.

I could hear his feet hitting the platform of the treadmill. How he wasn’t breathing heavy was beyond me.

“Call me later, okay?” I asked. “I know you’re still at the gym, I just wanted an update before we move forward.”

“M’kay. Love ya, babe,” he said.

“Love you, too.”

I hung up the phone and pulled out my tablet and started working again. I also got on the phone with the fabric manufacturer and gave them the few concerns that Ryder had. Apparently, a few other men had the same concern. He said he would send the new fabric sample overnight and as long as the material was approved, he only needed four days to get the trunks ready before the fight.

“Awesome, I'll be in touch.” I hung up and immediately called Amy.

“Hello?” Amy answered. I was calling from my office phone which I never did, so I'm sure she had no idea who I was.

“What up, homey!” I tried to disguise my voice, but I started to laugh.

Amy sounded like she was stifling her laughter. “Zoey, what in the world?” A second passed. “Excuse me,” she said in a muffled voice then I heard shuffling as she was walking. After another couple of seconds, she said, “I was in a meeting and busted out laughing in the middle of a presentation.”

“Oops, sorry.”

“No worries, it was a boring presentation. Needed a little life, anyway. What’s up?”

“Ryder is worried about the material. It seems that it feeling like panties is a distraction.”

I heard her laugh. “Well, we’ve had this discussion. It kinda does, but functionality should trump that.”

“I know, but he said it interrupts his workouts.”

“What does?”

“The material.”

“We can have the cuts adjusted to fit better and maybe even make it a bit lighter.”

“It's not the cut.”

“Then what is it? Does he not like the color or the design?”

I tried not to laugh as I explained. “He said that when he feels them it makes him think of me, and then he can't stop thinking about my panties, and then his workouts suck.”

I had to hold the phone away from my ear. She was howling with laughter, and I heard Tristan talking over her trying to figure out what she was laughing so hard at. “Ryder,” she managed to get out, then the following words came between bouts of laughter and her trying to catch her breath enough to talk.

“Oh my god—Ryder—Panties—Distractions—”

“What in the hell is going on?” Tristan’s voice came across the phone. He’d given up on getting any explanation from Amy and taken the phone from her.

“It's nothing serious, just Ryder’s input on the clothing line,” I explained.

“Why is he messing with that before his fight?”

“Chill out, Tristan. He was wearing it while he worked out to make sure it would be comfortable during the fight and giving us feedback. You wouldn’t want him fidgeting with his trunks in the big fight, would you? It’s not a big deal.”

“Well, keep it that way,” he snapped and was gone, and Amy was back on the phone. I heard her say something to Tristan and he was leaving the room, and then I heard her swoony voice come across the line.

“What was that all about?”

“Nothing, except I told Tristan he wouldn't be able to work out either if he felt like he was wearing my undies.” She giggled and then we returned to business, talking about the Italian factory again.

Ryder had expressed the desire to keep the retail costs at a minimum. While his father had never struggled to pay bills, there was never a ton left over to spend on expensive name brand clothes. He saw this with so many kids that came to the gym, and he wanted to make sure that everyone could be a part of his team. We wanted a product that everyone could afford, but we didn't want a cheap product. So, production costs were a factor.

The logo brand was an R shaped like a mountain. It was a play on the nickname the media had given Ryder—the Mountain. He didn't like it but was rolling with it anyway.

Amy and I finished our conversation and I went about my day completing the last few things I had to do before I finished up. I didn't want to go home. Annette and her boyfriend had been on the brink of breaking up for days, and it was like walking into a cat fight every afternoon. I knew I needed to have a conversation with Annette, but I didn't want to stick my nose where it didn't belong. She loved him but he was a snake, and I had told her as much multiple times. She just didn't see it. Sometimes love really is blind.

Every time I brought any of it up, she immediately brought up Ryder and his past with other women. What she missed was that all of the pictures that were posted were before me and there had been nothing since. Unlike what her current boyfriend was guilty of. I wasn't going to let my insecurities get the best of me. Ryder had done nothing but love me and prove over and over again that he was in this.

Personally, I had a hard time not just thinking about the sex, but I also wanted to make sure that he knew I wanted him for more than that. I wanted it all. The husband, the two point five kids, and the white picket fence. He had sent me a picture of some property that he was thinking about buying after the fight and asked my thoughts on it. It was beautiful and it made me feel important that he was sharing his future plans with me. We hadn't talked about the future in that way specifically, but I had a really good feeling we were both on the same page.