‘Damn,’ Hawk said, his voice almost shaky.
‘Double damn,’ she agreed.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly by her ear. ‘All right?’ he asked.
‘I think so.’ Honestly, she didn’t know. She’d never done anything like this before. She’d just screwed a virtual stranger. What had she been thinking? They’d never even spoken before tonight.
‘Let’s move this to a bedroom.’
His pants suddenly started ringing. Actually, they were playing AC/DC if she listened carefully enough. Whatever the sound, it was jarring. It intruded on their little sexual cocoon, and she glanced at him in the mirror.
‘Shit,’ he cursed. He reached down and pulled his phone out of his pocket. ‘Yeah?’ he snapped.
His gaze caught hers in the mirror. ‘The battery. Uh, yeah. Right.’
Her jaw dropped. It was Jake. Her boss. She saw her face turn red in the mirror.
‘Winded? Me?’ Hawk said. His gaze flashed to the crookedly placed table. ‘Uh, Missy needed help moving some furniture.’
She laughed. Like that would be enough to take his breath away. She closed her eyes and buried her face into the crook of her arm. Even soft, she could still feel every inch of him inside her. With Jake on the other end of that call, it was embarrassingly intimate.
‘Give me twenty minutes,’ Hawk said with a sigh. He hung up and swore. ‘Fuck, I have to leave.’
If he stayed, fucking was all they were going to do. The implications were only now hitting Missy. She’d just had a one-night stand. With a tattooed tough guy.
It was definitely time that he left.
His arms came around her, and he slowly disconnected their bodies. As deliberately as he moved, she felt herself giving him up millimeter by millimetre. It made the act that much more suggestive.
‘Where are your keys?’ he asked.
‘My keys?’ She wasn’t giving him her keys. Yesterday, they hadn’t even known the sound of each other’s voice. One little mistake – OK, one huge blunder – didn’t mean she was going to give him the keys to her apartment.
‘For your car.’
‘Oh, that.’ His hands hadn’t stopped stroking her body. She blamed that for her lack of coherent thought.
‘What’s your schedule like tomorrow?’ he asked.
What did he want to know that for?
‘You need someone to take you to your car,’ he said, reading her mind.
She ran a hand through her hair. Darn, she wasn’t usually this discombobulated. Then again, she’d never been so well screwed. ‘Um. I’ve got a ten o’clock step class and I need to be at school for a test at one.’
‘I’ll pick you up at nine thirty,’ he said. Dipping his head, he brushed a soft kiss against her temple. ‘Just do one thing for me.’
The gentle kiss made her go weak all over again. ‘What?’ she asked hesitantly.
His hand cupped her breast. ‘Don’t let your “roommate” touch you tonight.’
Her mouth went dry. Oh, God. Danny. She’d forgotten all about him, yet evidence of him filled the room.
Hawk pinched her nipple hard and gave her one last hot kiss. ‘I don’t want him anywhere near you. Not tonight.’
Chapter Five
Two weeks later, Roma walked slowly across the parking lot towards the gym. A thaw had finally hit the city, and the warmer weather gave the air a fresh, invigorating scent. Spring was coming. Just the idea of it had everyone smiling – everyone except her, that was. At the moment, she was a bit miffed.
Slush from the melting ice and snow had mingled with dirt and mud to create that lovely mixture called sludge. That would have been a big enough problem by itself. As it was, it made her particular predicament even worse.
She couldn’t lift her feet more than two inches off the ground.
‘My poor pretties,’ she said, looking mournfully down at her new brown leather boots.
Feeling like an old nag, she waded through the grimy gunk. She couldn’t remember ever being so sore. It was as if rigor mortis had set in to her body early. A person usually had to die before they got this stiff.
‘Ow-ee, ow-ee, ow-eeee,’ she hissed as she stepped up onto the kerb.
Oh Lord, she wasn’t going to make it for three months. Two weeks and she was already incapacitated. She reached out to open the door and felt a pull between her shoulder blades. This was not good.
‘Hey, Roma,’ Tito called from his post at the front desk.
‘Hiya, Tito.’
‘You all right?’
‘Oh, sure. Never better,’ she lied through clenched teeth. If she could shuffle as far as Jake’s office, she could sit down and stop moving. It only hurt when she tried to move. Unfortunately, moving seemed to be a necessity of life. The good thing was that this was a rest day for her. She was just here to work on the books. No squats. No free weights. No treadmill. The most strenuous thing she had to do was lift a pencil.
‘But you’re walking kind of funny,’ he persisted.
‘Blow it out your ear, Tito.’
‘Gotcha.’ The kid wasn’t stupid.
Through sheer determination and quite a bit of internal swearing, she was able to make it to her destination. She closed the door behind her and her shoulders immediately sagged. ‘Pain,’ she said. ‘Oh, big pain.’
How did people do this? The chair. She focused on it like a finish line. Once she sat down, the world would look rosier. Gathering her nerve, she set her briefcase on the desk and shrugged out of her jacket. Just lifting it to the hook on the wall cost her. ‘Ei-ya! That hurts.’
She reached for the desk and used it for support as she shuffled around it. With a heartfelt groan, she plopped down. The ergonomic design of the chair made it press into her lumbar region. She let out a long breath and relaxed. Oh yeah, this was better.
Unfortunately, she knew from experience that if she sat still for too long, things would only get worse. With little enthusiasm, she turned to face the piles of paperwork waiting for her.
Oh yeah, this was better, she thought derisively as she looked up, and up, and up. She’d been working on those piles for the better part of two weeks now, but they didn’t seem to be getting any smaller. Not ready to face them yet, she swivelled around in her chair. She deserved a treat before she engaged in battle.
She glanced out the office window to see if the coast was clear. It was. With an eager grin on her face, she grabbed her briefcase and opened it. Pushing back a flap to a secret compartment, she found her prize. A Snickers bar! She tore open the wrapper like a child on Christmas morning. At the first taste of the chocolate delight, her aches and pains were forgotten.
You are so bad.
Stuff it, sister. It tastes too good.
Her devilish side was definitely going to win this argument. She hadn’t had anything to eat since lunch, and she’d learnt that when her brain and her stomach vied for her attention, the stomach always won. She’d never get anywhere with the books if she didn’t eat something. It was just a coincidence that the only food she had on her was chocolate.
Pure coincidence.
Unfortunately, they didn’t make these candy bars big enough. Within five bites, it was gone. She licked her fingers, savouring every bit she could. Somebody walked by the window and she ducked. Hiding the evidence, she crumpled the wrapper and stuffed it back into the compartment.
With a sigh, she sat up straight. It was time to face the menace. She set her briefcase on the floor and started to clear herself a space of desktop, but stopped short when she came across a slip of paper. The familiar pink ink and loopy handwriting made her scowl.
‘You’ve got to be kidding me. Another one?’
She plucked up the note by the corner and held it as if it were poisonous – which actually wasn’t that big of a leap. The notes this ‘Liz’ person liked to leave for Jake were so sickly sweet, they left her ill. Thank you notes, scheduling notes, personal notes…you name it, Liz left them on
his desk like it was her personal mail service. Unfortunately, now that it was her desk, too, Roma had come across more than her fair share of the bothersome messages.
‘What is it today, Liz hon?’ she said with a sigh. ‘Flipping out over a hangnail? Need to schedule extra ab work? Complimenting Jake on his new haircut?’
The woman did everything within her power to hit on the poor guy. It was so obvious, Roma couldn’t help but be embarrassed on behalf of the rest of the female race. She started to crumple the paper into a ball, but stopped when she realised that this note was different.
Very different.
Can’t wait for tonight! Liz.
Roma stared at the five simple words.
Uh, oh.
Pricks of uneasiness settled between her shoulder blades. Had she missed something?
After that first interrupting phone call, she’d done a bit of rudimentary detective work and concluded that Liz was just another one of Jake’s clients. A few strategic questions to Tito had left her with the impression that her sexy trainer was single and available. Of course, his blatant come-ons had been another not-so-subtle clue.
But could she have been wrong?
She transferred the note to her other hand as if it had suddenly become a hot potato. Over the past two weeks, she and Jake had been flirting to the point that it might as well have been foreplay. With as much attention as he’d been paying to her, she’d assumed she didn’t have any competition. This, though…this ‘can’t wait for tonight’ thing had her flustered.
The door suddenly sprang open, and she jerked. Feeling guilty, she let the note drop and grabbed for her pencil.
As expected, it was Jake. ‘Busy?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ she replied, keeping her nose buried in the paperwork. She knew better than to look at him right now. If she looked up, she’d get distracted. And now was definitely not the time for a distraction. She needed to figure out what this new note from Liz meant. Tonight. What was happening tonight?
Why don’t you just ask him? her reasonable side said.
And admit you’ve been reading his personal correspondence? No way.
‘Are you sure you’re busy?’ he pressed.
‘Yes,’ Roma said, rubbing her head. It was the only thing that hadn’t hurt when she’d woken up this morning. Unfortunately, it was now aching just as much as the rest of her.
‘Absolutely?’
Realising she wasn’t going to win this battle of words, she put down her pencil and looked up at him. That was mistake number one. He was wearing a tank top. Not only did she get a good view of his muscular arms, she got a great look at his shoulders and that sumptuous chest.
‘Did you hear me?’ he said.
She blinked and quietly chastised herself. What had she just told herself?
‘Hawk is at it again,’ he said conspiratorially.
The unexpected news threw her off guard. ‘Really?’
‘Come look.’
Roma wavered. There was more than one mystery going on at this gym, and she’d been dying for an answer to the Hawk question for days. But the note…she couldn’t help it – the Jake and Liz thing would have to wait.
She hopped out of her chair to go spy on the bodybuilder, but that turned out to be mistake number two. The muscles in her thighs and buttocks clenched, nearly rendering her helpless. Fortunately, Jake was looking over his shoulder and didn’t see her difficulties. Skipping across the room on tiptoe power alone, she joined him. ‘I can’t see,’ she protested when he didn’t get out of the way.
He opened the door a few inches further and hooked an arm around her waist. He pulled her in front of him so she had a better view, and her breath caught.
This was not the touch of an unavailable man.
His hand was spread wide across her stomach, and he’d pulled her close against him. A hot shiver went through her. He’d touched her a lot recently – usually correcting her form on free weights – but she’d yet to get used to it. She tended to get all tingly when their bodies came into contact and, at the moment, her back was flush against his chest. It was a regular tingle-rama.
‘There,’ he said, pointing. ‘Look at him.’
Hawk was lifting weights just outside the glass window of the aerobics room. He could see in and Missy could see out. And boy, was the guy working it to the hilt. He was doing military presses straight over his head with impossibly heavy free weights. His muscles would bunch and strain, seemingly ready to pop. After each set of repetitions, though, he’d stop and go through a rigorous stretch.
Roma gawked. He was something to look at, but with the way he was preening, he should have been hanging out with the flirty women on the cross trainers. ‘Could he be any more obvious?’
‘Missy’s not any better,’ Jake said close to her ear.
Roma fought to ignore the goosebumps that rose on her neck. ‘What are you talking about? She’s not even looking at him.’
‘That’s my point,’ he said, rubbing his palm in a slow circle across her belly. ‘Every other woman in the gym is. I think she’s protesting too much.’
Over the weeks, it had become apparent that Hawk had a vicious crush on Missy. Roma had been the first to notice it, simply because the beast growled at her whenever she blocked his view of the beautiful brunette. When she’d first mentioned it to Jake, he’d acted like she was crazy. Then he’d remembered the night that Missy’s car had died.
Hawk had been out the door to help her before Tito had even relayed Jake the message that she was having car problems. When he’d finally returned from taking her home, he’d been so out of sorts he’d nearly hooked the new battery up wrong.
The guy’s mind had definitely been elsewhere.
Roma could relate. She could barely think with Jake’s circling caress sending vibrations down to another, more receptive, part of her anatomy.
‘Do you really think there’s something going on?’ she asked, desperately trying to keep focus.
‘Hell yeah. There’s so much electricity jumping between those two, I’m afraid to see my utility bill this month.’
He cupped his hand over her hip bone, and she nearly groaned aloud. Talk about electricity. They were working up a surge right here.
‘Has he said anything?’ she struggled to ask.
Jake let out a snort. ‘If you haven’t noticed, Hawk’s not really a talker. What about Missy? Does he have a shot?’
Roma looked at the ‘maybe’ or ‘maybe not’ couple. They were just so different. Missy was young and fresh, whereas Hawk was rough and tumble. The only thing they had in common was the gym – but two more perfect specimens you’d never find. When it came to the physical, hormones had to be flying. The possibility made her uneasy. ‘Do you think we should warn her?’
‘Warn her?’ Jake’s hand stopped moving, and he cast a curious glance down at her.
‘Well, he’s kind of scary,’ she said cautiously. She knew the two men were friends, but she didn’t know how much Jake really knew about the guy. ‘You don’t think he’d do anything, do you?’
‘Do anything?’ Jake’s forehead rumpled. ‘Roma, if she gives him the go sign, he’ll be charging out of the starting blocks, but I guarantee he’s not going to hurt her. Hell, he washed and detailed her car before he gave it back to her.’
She turned. ‘He washed it? It was like twenty degrees that night.’
‘Tell me about it. I was out there freezing my nuts off trying to make sure he didn’t blow out the electrical system. It made no sense. The guy’s a contractor. He’s into that detailed stuff.’
The nuts comment threw her. ‘Contractor?’ she said absently.
‘He builds houses.’
‘You mean like with a tool belt? Oh, boy.’ She glanced back to the aerobics room. There was just something about a low-slung tool belt that set a gal’s heart to racing. ‘Missy’s in big trouble.’
Jake nudged her. ‘What’s your problem with him?’
Roma didn
’t really know. The guy just made her shake in her shoes. Her eyes narrowed as she analysed him from across the room. ‘Maybe it’s that bald head.’
‘Are you serious? You’re really afraid of him?’
‘Well, he growls at me.’
Jake chuckled. When she glared at him, he started laughing so hard people turned to stare. Awkwardly, she extricated herself from his embrace and shooed the exercisers back to work. When he caught his breath, he caught her again and gave her a quick squeeze. ‘He’s just teasing you.’
She tilted her head back to look at him. ‘You call that teasing?’
It was difficult to keep her mind on topic. With the way he was hugging her, the tingling sensation in her body had become a definite zing.
‘Goldie, do you know how many times he’s saved you?’
‘Excuse me?’ She couldn’t fathom how that tattooed creature could have possibly saved her from anything.
‘How many times has he caught you when you’ve tripped?’
‘Well, if he didn’t leave his barbells lying around, I wouldn’t have that problem.’
‘What about when he plucked that extra weight off the stack on the hamstring machine? It was ready to fall on your head.’
‘He’s the one who put it there in the first place.’
Jake reached down and tweaked her nose. ‘He rescued you when you had your bench set up wrong for step class on Monday.’
Impatiently, she swatted his hand away. ‘Case in point. He growled at me, physically picked me up, and moved me away. He was just trying to impress Missy. He didn’t care that my risers were crooked. He wasn’t even there to take the class, for heaven’s sake. He was just peeking through the windows like a peeping Tom. Which, in fact, is exactly what he’s doing now.’
‘Whoa!’ Jake quickly pulled back. ‘Hurry, close the door.’
With his arms around her waist, there wasn’t much Roma could do but move with him. She hiked herself up on her tiptoes and hopped as quickly as she could. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked through gritted teeth.
‘Talk about peeping Toms – I think he caught us spying.’ He moved past her to close the blinds. ‘Were we too obvious?’
High School Reunion Page 8
