by Ann, Natalie
Loyalty. He wasn’t surprised to find she possessed that trait. “I can agree with that. Just so you know, you’ve heard I like to date. That women want to be with me. And I know it sounds conceited when I say that, but it’s the truth too. The Fierce men in my family have all been like this. Good genes,” he said letting out a laugh.
“You do seem pretty blessed in the looks front.”
“Just my face?” he asked. “Not my body?”
He knew he took a risk saying that, but he couldn’t help but notice her eyes roaming over him as much as his were hers. “Well now, I think you know the answer to that too.”
“Anyway,” he said. “I don’t cheat. I don’t date more than one person at a time. I don’t juggle women like many might think. It’s not the way I was raised.”
“Good to know,” she said and then let it drop.
“So if you were close to your father why didn’t you move here sooner?” he asked. “Or is that too personal?”
“No, it’s not. My father moved here when his job had an opening. I was in college and he felt like it was safe to do it. I wasn’t home with my mother much at that point.”
“So he was protective of you?”
“He was. He is. I lived with my mother because he did travel a lot, but when he was home, I was with him. I knew after college I’d move out on my own. I happened to get a job offer and I’d lived there my whole life. I took the job but came to visit often. My father encouraged me to take the boards here. To do what was needed to be licensed here if I ever wanted to move. I thought he was nuts, but I listened to what he said and was glad that I did.”
“Our parents tend to be pretty smart even when we think they aren’t.”
“Exactly. So I stayed and worked and loved my job. I was dating someone and...it ended horribly. I needed to just put it behind me. Some say I ran, but I don’t care. I did what I needed to do. I called my father and he found me an apartment close to him since I wouldn’t live with him. I put my notice in, packed up and made my way here.”
“You had no job?” he asked. That took guts to do. To even stay on her own.
“No. But I had money put aside and knew it wouldn’t be long before I found a job either. It wasn’t. I didn’t want to live with my father and Maggie. I’m a little too old to live with my parents.”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-eight,” she said. “And you?”
“I’ll be thirty-two soon.”
“Good age,” she said.
He wasn’t sure what she meant by that and didn’t have a chance to ask when the sky opened up and the rain came down in buckets.
“Shit,” he said. “Let’s head back.”
They both turned and ran back. They were a mile in at this point, but both kicked it into gear. He’d kept his long legs to the same pace as hers, faster than a jog but not a sprint. By the time they got to the parking lot, they dove under the roof of the restroom building.
“Well, guess I know why there aren’t that many people out today.”
“I want to say it’s a sun shower, but it’s coming down too hard for that.”
“Might as well hang out here until it lets up. Our cars are still pretty far away. I’d prefer not to jump in as if I climbed out of the shower fully clothed.”
“Not sure I have much of a choice either way,” she said.
They stood under the roof, both of them dripping wet. Her hair was plastered to her head, but she pulled a rubber band off her wrist and tied it back. It was starting to curl even more and he found his hands reaching out to finger the spiral lying across her back.
“I wondered how long this was. It’s pretty unruly. Kind of like you.”
She snorted. “It’s more manageable longer. But I just pull it back all the time. Guess I should have done that today too.”
“No,” he said. “I like it down.”
The rain started to let up a few minutes later to a steady fall rather than a downpour. “Not sure if this is the best we’ll get or not,” she said.
“I don’t know. Do you want to risk it?” he asked and pulled his shirt off over his head.
She stared at him. “Why did you do that?”
“Because it’s soaked. I’d rather not have it on when I jump in the car. I’ve got a change of clothes in the back and will put a dry shirt on and sit on a towel.”
“Do you always have a change of clothes in your car?” she asked.
“Yes. I never know when I’m getting called in. It’s not my on call week, but the clothes stay there. I always have scrubs and underwear. I need to shower when I leave the hospital for the day. No reason to put dirty underwear on.”
She started to laugh. “Only you would start talking about dirty underwear.”
“Come on. We’ve all been there. Even if I put my clothes back on from before I changed into my scrubs, if I’ve showered it defeats it to not have clean boxers on.”
“Boxers, huh? You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”
“Doing what?” he asked, grinning. He wanted her to say it.
“Flashing your abs at me and talking about what is on under your shorts.”
“Is it working?”
“I think you know the answer to that too.”
12
Competitive One
Adriana gave up trying to avoid the magnificent chest of Wyatt Fierce in front of her.
It was there and, however it happened, she might as well give in and gaze at it.
“You could take yours off too if you want?” he said to her.
She laughed at him. “Though I’ve got a sports bra on under my shirt, and I wouldn’t be embarrassed to show it, it’s just as wet so...it might be showing more than I’d like.”
She was pretty sure her nipples were pebbling through and though the sports bra was pushing them back, it was slightly painful too, letting her know how aroused she was.
“Well, I’ve got an extra T-shirt in my car along with my scrubs. I’ll give you the T-shirt and put the scrubs on. That way you can have a dry shirt to drive home.”
“Really?” she asked. “That would be nice. I’d appreciate it. My shorts aren’t quite as wet, but the shirt, yeah, it’s like we walked through a car wash.” He laughed, his nice white straight teeth coming through. “So do we make a dash for it since it let up?” she asked. “I’ll race you. I know you were going slow for me, but I can sprint pretty fast and make up for the leg distance.”
“Oh, you’re a competitive one, aren’t you?” he asked.
“I am. What’s the fun with playing if you don’t play to win?”
He held her stare and she realized that he might have read a double meaning in those words and as much as she wanted to take it back there was the devil on her shoulder grinning and slamming the end of the pitchfork down in excitement.
“You’re on,” he said. Before he could say another word she was off the steps and dashing around the puddles. He caught up fast like she’d expected. “Not fair.”
They were both laughing. He’d already had the trunk popped open of his car and they were both kind of bending under it while he pulled out a T-shirt and handed it to her and grabbed the top of his scrubs.
“If we stand here too long we are going to get these dry shirts wet.”
“Yeah. I suppose so. It just cut our day short.” He dropped his head to look at the watch on his wrist. “Not even an hour.”
She was kind of bummed too, but they both resembled homeless people caught out in a storm. There was no way she was going in public anywhere looking like this. She didn’t figure he would want to either.
“There is always tomorrow,” she found herself saying.
“There is,” he said. “I don’t have racquets but could borrow a few if you want to try racquetball?”
“That sounds great. Do you know a place we can pay for the day to do it? I’m not a member anywhere.”
“I’ll text you an address later,” he said, pulling th
e scrubs top on. “Your turn.”
She laughed at him. What the hell. Her car was parked a few over, she wouldn’t get too wet if she swapped them out.
She put her hands down and tried to pull her shirt over her head, but it was so wet it got caught on her elbows and he had to help. She’d heard the gasp from him but pretended like she hadn’t.
He grabbed the wet shirt out of her hand and she quickly put his T-shirt on. It fell to mid thigh on her and if she wanted to she could take her shorts off in the car and it’d be like wearing a dress. She might even do it since her underwear was dry but her shorts were pretty damp.
Not that she’d tell him that. He was gasping helping her take her shirt off, if he knew her shorts were going to be dropped... yeah no.
She was almost afraid steam was going to rise from her body as it was standing next to him with his shirt off.
Reluctantly, she turned and said, “Text me later.” She felt that was better than just saying bye.
“I will,” he said, shutting the trunk, and she turned and ran to her car, wishing she’d climbed into his instead.
* * *
Wyatt walked through the front door of his condo on the third floor of his building. Talk about a date getting busted.
Guess he should have checked out the weather forecast. Of course if he did then he wouldn’t have been able to help Adriana out of her shirt and he’d take that as a win even if it wasn’t meant in a sexual context.
He was no idiot either. He’d seen the look in her eyes and the intake of her breath when he was helping. Not to mention the stare when he pulled his own shirt off.
Had he done that on purpose? Hell yes. And it worked.
But now here it was, not even lunchtime, and he was home alone. He had planned on offering to take Adriana to lunch, maybe show her around, drive to other trails. Anything he could to drag the day out.
That hadn’t gone to plan.
But he had an idea that he was hoping worked in his favor for tomorrow.
He sent her off a text of the address to meet tomorrow and told her to bring a change of clothes for when she was done.
He was damn well going to get a longer day out of it.
He was clicking through the TV in hopes of finding something on but knew that’d never happen.
When his phone went off he was hoping it was Adriana texting him back, but it was just Noah thanking him again for giving him the night with Paige. At least one of his brothers got lucky last night.
Hell, he’d bet his other brother did too. The same with all his cousins. Ryder was sure to have a date on a Friday night.
He tossed his phone back on the table and grabbed his laptop to see if he could find anything to do in the city that he hadn’t done before.
When nothing caught his eye, he grabbed his keys and phone and went to the mall. He needed some new shorts anyway and it’d get him out of the house.
“Fancy meeting you here,” he heard and turned.
“You pretty much live here, don’t you,” he said to his sister Jade. He looked down and saw four bags in her hand. “Light day?”
“I just got here. What are you looking for?”
“I’m not sure I want to tell you. You’ll decide you need to shop for me then.”
“I will. I’ve got good taste and you know it. Besides, if you are here alone that means you’ve got nothing to do on this rainy day and can’t stand your own company. What’s the matter? You started to talk to yourself and dozed off?”
“Very funny,” he said. The “putting people to sleep for a living” comments got old fast.
“Then why are you here?” she asked.
“I could use a few pair of shorts.”
“Follow me,” she said. “Workout shorts, or everyday shorts?”
“Both,” he admitted. He didn’t really shop that much. He hated dressing up and was thrilled he could wear scrubs all the time at work. He went in in jeans or dress pants and a button-down shirt. Not much dressier than that.
“This is going to be fun,” she said. “Here, carry my bags for me while we look for you.”
He tagged behind his twin sister prepared to suffer through a shopping day because he really had nothing else better to do and she was right—he would have most likely put himself to sleep if he stayed in his place alone.
13
Energy To Burn
Adriana followed the directions her phone was spitting out to her from the address that Wyatt had texted her yesterday.
This had to be some mistake. It wasn’t a gym but an apartment building. More like condos.
She looked down at her phone again and then looked at Wyatt’s text. Yep, it was the right address.
Rather than text him, she parked and called to see if maybe she had the wrong place.
“Hello,” Wyatt said in his sexy voice that she’d woken up wet to in the middle of the night. Not wet like sweat, but wet like she needed a man and needed the one on the other line.
“I think you gave me the wrong address,” she said. “I’m in front of some condo building. Is the gym in a building around back or something?”
“You’ve got the right place,” he said. “Come in the front door. There’s a gym on the main level.”
“Oh. See you in a few.”
She shut her car off and grabbed her bag from the passenger seat. She figured she’d change there but had a change of underwear so she could shower after too. She had no idea of Wyatt’s plans, but if she could prolong the day, she would. She didn’t want to be stinky doing it though.
When she walked in the front door, Wyatt was standing there in athletic shorts and a fitted T-shirt. “This doesn’t look like any gym I’ve been to before. I’m assuming you’re a member?”
“I live here,” he said.
She narrowed her eyes at him feeling like she’d been played. “I hope there is a gym here and this wasn’t a way for you to get me in your place.”
“Of course there is a gym. What do you take me for? Follow me,” he said with a huge grin on his face.
She had no choice but to at this point.
They got to the back of the building and she noticed there was a big gym full of exercise equipment and weights behind the glass windows.
“This is huge for your place.” She’d love something like this in her apartment building and could only imagine what the cost of it might be to live here.
“It is a nice feature. Locker rooms through there to change. I’ve got racquets in the room I reserved.”
“How long do we have it for?” she asked.
“I signed it out for two hours, but we don’t have to stay that long. It could be a lot considering I know how competitive you can be.”
“Two hours is perfect,” she said. “I’ve got energy to burn.”
And two hours later she was panting and covered in sweat. She’d bet she was wetter than when they were poured on yesterday. Wyatt looked just as hot and sticky as her.
You’d think it might turn some women off but not her. She could tell by Wyatt’s eyes he wasn’t turned off in the least seeing her like this.
“I need a shower,” she said. “That was great.”
“Of course it was great,” he said. “You beat me two out of three.”
“What can I say,” she said. “Guess I’m just better than you.”
He laughed. “I’ve got no problem losing to a woman. Especially one as good as you. I’m going to shower at my place. You can too if you want. In my spare bathroom,” he offered. “Your choice.”
She let it weigh back and forth in her head. If she went to his apartment to shower she could see his place and then maybe she wouldn’t have to leave so early. It was just after one and she was starving.
“As long as you stick to your bathroom,” she said, trying to put some rules in place.
“Not a problem. I know I’m hungry enough to eat a horse. You?”
“I could eat a cow myself. I’m sure you know of some good places
to get a burger.”
“Burgers happen to be my thing,” he said.
She went to the locker room to get her bag and met him back in the hall, then went to the stairs. “What floor?”
“Third. I figured you weren’t someone to ride in an elevator if you could walk.”
“That’s me. Plus I’m afraid we’d stink it up so much they’d have to spray it down after we got out.”
He laughed. “That thought had crossed my mind too.”
They got to his floor and moved to the end of the hallway. “How many places on each floor?”
“Four,” he said. “Two on each side. All four are around twelve hundred square feet.”
“Holy cow that is a decent-sized place.”
“It is,” he said. “Two bedrooms, two baths, and I’ve got a small office. Lots of entertaining space, but I don’t have people over often.”
She wasn’t sure what to say to that. She’d bet he had women over a lot but now wasn’t the time to make a comment like that.
“This place is huge. It doesn’t have a condo feel to it either. Nice and quiet.”
“It is all of that. Easy convenience for me here and low maintenance.” She followed him down the hall. “Bathroom is right there. Help yourself. We can shower at the same time. The water pressure is fine. If you need anything, I’m across the hall in my room.”
“Thanks.” Now she just had to get through the fact they were both going to be naked with only a few walls separating them.
* * *
Wyatt kept the grin from his lips until he was in his room with the door shut.
He was pretty proud of himself for getting Adriana in his place and knowing she was going to be naked.
Of course that wasn’t helping his cock growing in his pants at the moment especially since he wasn’t going to be getting anywhere near her.
