Passionate Kisses 2 Boxed Set: Love in Bloom

by Magda Alexander

  “Well, Rally Brewer is my best friend. Training with him is my best memory.”

  What? She was sitting right next to Rally’s best friend. Holy cow. Rally’s best friend was on the borderline of flirting with her. Her. Grace Avery. And she was going over to this guy’s house tomorrow night for a photo shoot and dinner.

  She wanted to fire questions one after another about Rally at him but couldn’t. Her plan was to act like she didn’t have a single care in the world about Rally Brewer even though that was the furthest thing from the truth. Maybe when he got used to her being around, she would establish a friendship with him and he’d let her interview him once some trust was formed. And it needed to happen in two weeks. That time frame seemed so short when it came to a deadline. Who knew what else could happen between them… Focus! Get your mind off Rally and back to the interview with Elliot.

  The door to her left opened and Rally walked in. His hair was matted against his forehead, his shirt was plastered to his arms, chest, and his shoulders. His shorts were like a second skin over those sculpted thighs. She gulped down the ball of desire clogged in her throat.

  Rally focused his attention on Elliot without seeing her as he took long strides in their direction. “Hey, Elliot.”

  Elliot turned toward Rally. “Yeah?”

  “What’cha got planned for the next few days? We need to kick back and have a few beers.”

  “I’ll be having Grace over for dinner tomorrow night,” Elliot said. His grin lit up his eyes.

  Rally swung his gaze to her. Recognition splayed across his face. “Dinner with Grace?” His mouth turned down in a frown.

  “Sure am,” said Elliot, eyeing her. “Any other time is fine though. My house or yours, Rally?”

  “Um, mine, I guess.” His shoulders stiffened and he stormed past them before disappearing into another room.

  “Man, I wonder what has him jumbled up. He’s never like that.”

  She got up for another cup of water. When she finally found her voice again, she asked, “How did you meet him?” She chugged the cold water down while she waited for him to answer her question.

  “I was in foster care and started boxing at a local rec center. My first coach volunteered there. I loved the sport and it kept me off the streets where I would’ve ended up otherwise.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I went up against Rally for my first fight. Both of us were inexperienced boxers and were way over our heads. After I beat the snot out of him, I felt bad. He ended up in the hospital, you know. I sat in the hospital with him the entire time. We fight against each other now and then, but we keep our beefs with each other inside of the ring.”

  “Wow.” Her heart swelled. Sure, her dad was her best friend, but she’d never really experienced a friendship as deep as that with someone who wasn’t a relative and wondered how many people had. “Can I add that story into the article?”

  He shrugged. “Sure.”

  She wanted to ask more questions about Rally but couldn’t press her luck, so she stuck to the standard bachelor questions. “What is your less desirable trait?”

  His face flushed. “Do I have to tell you that? The women might not like it.”

  With a laugh, she said, “They won’t believe that you are a perfect man either. It’s better that we have something less desirable in there. Besides, if it’s a deal breaker, you should find out right from the start, right?”

  The door that Rally had gone through opened again. Now dried off and wearing fresh clothes, he came toward them, his heavy steps sounding against the linoleum floor. A duffle bag was slung over his shoulder. He didn’t slow down as he approached the bench.

  Rally was a few steps past them when Elliot asked him, “Done with training?”

  “Yep. Bye.” He tossed a wave over his shoulder without looking back.

  Grace stared after him, watching the way his workout pants tightened over his butt whenever he took a step. He’d probably feel even better under her fingertips than he appeared. If only she had the opportunity…

  “Grace? Earth to Grace,” Elliot said, waving a hand in front of her face and drawing her attention back to reality.

  “Oh sorry.” She nibbled on her bottom lip and glanced down at her hands. “What were you saying?”

  “It wasn’t important.” Elliot stood. He cocked his head in the direction of the men’s locker room. “I think it’s time to hit the showers. Can I get your card, so I can text you my address?”

  When she handed him the card, his smile returned. “See you tomorrow,” she said.

  She actually looked forward to spending time with Elliot. Not because she was attracted to him or to get to know him better. She didn’t want any of those things. He was a well of information about Rally. With any luck, more stories about Rally might slip out. Elliot also made one great bachelor for her article. Her trip just might be productive after all.

  Chapter Four

  Rain again. Rally wished it would let up-or stop completely-for a while. He’d been traveling for a month and had forgotten what it was like to run three miles a day in nearly a constant downpour. A shiver raced over his skin even with the heater blasting from the car’s vents. Welcome back to Portland, he thought to himself as he turned onto Barbour Boulevard. Once the congestion of the slow moving traffic wafted away, he tightened his grip on the steering wheel and pressed his foot on the accelerator. Rally wasn’t ignorant. He realized that driving on wet, curvy roads at fifteen miles per hour over the speed limit wasn’t exactly safe, but it let his steam out. He only did it when anger roared in him and never with a passenger in his car. He’d never risk anyone’s life but his own. His sports car whipped around a sharp curve, and slaved to swerve around a slow moving minivan full of children and the stressed out mother laid on the corn. Another series of turns up the hill to his neighborhood. His hands should’ve loosened, his shoulders relaxed, his mind cleared. None of that happened.

  Driving so fast let him arrive home several minutes after leaving the gym. On a slower paced day, he would’ve made the trip in fifteen minutes at the most. He pulled into the garage, and using the remote, shut the door behind him. Usually, driving so fast helped him with whatever problem he was having, but when he stomped into the kitchen and slammed his duffel onto the kitchen floor, he yanked Fern’s and his daughter’s attention to him. His baby girl opened her mouth and let out an ear-piercing wail. Apparently, he’d slammed the bag down too hard. He realized that he needed something beyond the fast driving to get his mood in check.

  He rushed to her side. “Come here, princess,” he said as he lifted her off the floor. “Daddy didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “Is everything okay, Rally?” Fern asked, concern written across her face. She put the broom and dustpan in the closet by the door as she waited for his answer.

  Addison pressed her cheek against his shoulder and her cries slowed down enough for hiccups to take over.

  He held up a hand. “I’m okay.”

  “How was the gym today? Did you get a good workout in?” She laughed at her comment. “Stupid me. Of course you did.”

  He patted his daughter’s back as he bounced her up and down. Making sure to keep his voice low, he said, “Stop worrying about me. Don’t you have a movie to get to?”

  She nodded. “I just need to change my shirt and then I’m out of here. Should I text you if I’m out late? I know you worry.”

  “Please do.” They’d established that Rally wanted to protect her even though Fern was only a few years younger than himself. She wasn’t from this country and he couldn’t help himself when it came to the women in his life. He was responsible for her and he was all that she had in the United States. They’d learned all of that the hard way when she’d first became employed by Rally. She decided to go out to experience the nightlife for the first time as an adult. Afterward, she’d stayed the night with a friend. Rally was sure that the friend had been a male, but that didn’t fall under his business, so he never menti
oned it. Somehow, Fern lost her phone and couldn’t check in with him. Her parents had called from England and when they didn’t hear from her, they called Rally to check in. A small slip that she never came home caused a shit storm of worry across the sea and in his home. It never happened again even though Fern had the right to go where she pleased and to stay away on her days off.

  “And Fern,” he said. “Have a great time.”

  Fern’s disappearance into her room left him alone with his thoughts. The gym. When he replayed his day at the gym in his mind, he couldn’t get past seeing Grace with Elliot. And when he walked in, Elliot seemed awfully comfortable with his beginning stages of flirtation. Rally knew the game. First was to get a little closer… like a hand on the back of the bench. But Elliot had moved away from her as soon as he’d noticed Rally. Elliot didn’t want his best friend to know he was interested in a woman. Since when? They’d always staked claim to someone either were committed to their pact. Never mess around with the other’s woman. It didn’t matter if the woman returned the attraction or not. Their friendship came first for so many years, Elliot better not let Grace interfere.

  Instead of getting his anger to simmer down, it flared up even more. Why was he so mad? So what if Elliot was talking to a female and didn’t want him to know? Rally paced the kitchen and smoothed Addison’s thin baby hair. Her cries had stopped and her hiccups were almost gone. Her small hand was curled in a fist, her knuckles rubbing against his neck as she did when she was tired. She would be asleep in minutes.

  Fern, wearing a sweater and jacket instead of the food crusted t-shirt, reemerged into the kitchen and hurried over to Rally and Addison. She stood on her tiptoes to check his little girl. “She’s asleep now. Want me to put her to bed before I go?”

  He shook his head, and whispered, “I got this. Enjoy your evening with your friends. And no talking about babies. Be nineteen tonight.”

  Fern giggled. “But what do nineteen year olds do?”

  “Check out guys. Gossip-just not about me-” he winked at her, “and talk about clothes and nail polish.” All he had to go on in order to make that assumption was the way Hollywood portrayed it in the movies.

  “Rally, you must’ve been a girl in your past life,” she sang out, but caught herself before she woke Addison, and with a quick wave, she rushed out the door.

  He chuckled as he carried his sleeping daughter to her room. After switching on a nightlight with his free hand, he gently placed her in the light pink crib and then covered her with her favorite Care Bear blanket. He eyed the room. A bookshelf loaded with what the parenting magazines claimed were age appropriate books sat along one wall. A dresser stuffed with clothes against another. The rest of the room was filled with fun items, most not used. A giant toy box, a table for projects she did with Fern even though they usually ended up in the kitchen anyway, a doll house he’d purchased on a whim and she didn’t play with, and a giant rocking chair that he loved cuddling her in.

  Man, when they’d first came home, he didn’t know what the hell to do. Without any experience with children… let alone babies, he’d been lost. His mother told him to go out for a crib first and he did but damned if he’d had Addison sleep in it. He’d tried every night. After putting her down to sleep, he stood by the door and listened. Whenever she made a small peep or whimper he pulled her back into his arms and off to his bed they went. He’d snuggled her in soft Care Bear blanket and they both fell right to sleep. At that moment each night, parenting seemed easy and right for the first time in twenty-four hours. They had come a long way since those days. He smiled down at his baby girl before leaving the room, keeping the bedroom door ajar in case she woke during the night.

  After grabbing a beer from the kitchen, Rally went into the family room and flipped the television on. Brightly colored cartoon characters sang from the screen. He switched to the sport channel. The highlights of the last football game. He didn’t follow football, but the sport was better than watching puke green and snot yellow puppets singing to him, the news was too depressing, and his mind wasn’t focused enough to settle in with a movie. He grabbed a beer from the fridge, kicked off his shoes and sank into the recliner.

  Elliot. Grace. Elliot sitting with Grace. Damn that stung his gut. He took a long pull on the beer, savoring the icy drink against his dry throat. Why did that thought consume his mind? Elliot was free to date anyone he wanted… even that gorgeous woman from the boxing magazine. He hated relationships and he hated sports reporters. He took another swig. If that was entirely true then why was he so pissed? He finished the bottle and thought about chucking it into the fireplace but held back. He’d forget to clean up the mess and that wasn’t fair to Fern or safe for Addison. He put the empty brown bottle on the end table next to his recliner and pulled his cell from his pocket. One click of a speed dial button and Elliot’s name lit up on the phone’s display.

  A second later a gruff, “Hey,” came over the line.

  Rally took a deep breath and slowly let it out to calm his nerves, but that didn’t work. “What’s up with you and that chick? Since when do you hang out with reporters?” He even heard the biting tone in his voice, surely Elliot caught on to it, too.

  “What does that mean, man? We were doing an interview.”

  Rally shook his head even though Elliot couldn’t see him. “Nah. I noticed how you were looking at her. You were even doing that sly, back of the chair move when you first meet a pretty lady. Your game is freakin’ obvious.”

  “So you think she’s pretty? Is that what this is about?” Elliot spat back.

  “Not at all. You’re hiding stuff from me. Since when did we treat each other like that? You’ve always told me if you were interested in a chick, so I don’t make a play for her. It’s our bro code, remember?”

  “I never forget the bro code. Where’s Fern and Addi?” Elliot had called Rally’s daughter Addi since her birth and she started calling him Unckie about a month ago. They assumed she was trying to say Uncle Elliot.

  “I gave Fern the night off and Addison is in bed.” He wanted another beer but fatigue was slowly took hold of his muscles.

  “I’m coming over for that beer you offered. Be there in ten.”

  They both owned houses in the same neighborhood and hung out several times a week. Rally didn’t need to be at Elliot’s house to know that the junk food addict was lounging in sweats on his couch with a pile of unhealthy snacks. Rally was always on his ass about that stuff, but to no avail, Elliot never listened.

  Ten minutes on the dot, Rally’s front door opened and closed. Rally didn’t even bat an eye at who might’ve came into the house. The only people with keys were Elliot, in case anything happened while Rally was away, and Fern for obvious reasons.

  The fridge opened. “Need another?” Elliot called from the kitchen.

  “You bet,” Rally said.

  “Got anything to eat?” Elliot asked. The fridge closed and a cupboard opened.

  Leave it to Elliot to want to pig out at Rally’s. He chuckled, and then said, “I don’t keep your kind of food here. You shouldn’t have it at your place either, man.”

  Elliot carried two frosty beer bottles in the family room and motioned toward the empty one sitting on the end table. “See that? I knew you started without me.”

  “Before I even called you.” Rally took the beer and twisted the metal cap, flinging it onto

  the end table.

  “Nice one,” Elliot said, raising his beer in sign of appreciation.

  “Thanks. Have a seat.”

  Elliot sat on the couch and flopped his feet up on the ottoman. “So you want to tell me what has you so pissed?”

  “I don’t know, man,” said Rally. He grabbed the bottle cap and moved it between his fingers to keep busy. He would pace the room if he wasn’t so damned exhausted.

  “Obviously, it’s Grace, but why?”

  Rally shook his head. “Notice that broken nose? I did that to her.” He tossed the cap
onto the table again. “Doing that sort of shit in the ring is one thing, but outside? I feel like a complete ass.”

  “You did? On purpose?” Elliot frowned, shaking his head. He said, “Had to be an accident.”

  “It was, but that doesn’t make me feel better about it.” Add to the fact that the attraction swarming through him threatened to break him every time he was around her. Those eyes drew him in and the way that they stared at him, hinting that she could see straight into his heart. Those legs of hers; lean, tanned, and barely covered by her skirt. He’d always been partial to blondes and she wasn’t an exception to that rule. Her hair fell to her shoulders in soft beach waves. He’d do almost anything to run his fingers through it. And the way she’d clung to his arm when he smacked her with the door, as if he’d turned into some knight in shining armor to her when he’d been the one who’d hurt her. See? The opposite sex did that to each other… made everyone wonky brained. Damn! What has gotten in to him? He raised the bottle to his lips. Ralph Brewer hated relationships. Ralph Brewer didn’t fall for their charm anymore. Ralph “Rally” Brewer wasn’t going to fall in love with Grace Avery.

  “No wonder you’re mad. I would be, too.” Elliot emptied his bottle and grabbed Rally’s extra off the end table. “Want another?”

  “Two’s my limit. Feel free to have as many as you want, but you’ll have to sleep in the guest room if you can’t drive.” If Elliot was blessed with a hangover tomorrow he probably wouldn’t want Grace over. The idea of her at Elliot’s made Rally cringe. He wanted her with him at his house. Rally bit back a groan.

  “Thanks.” Elliot retreated to the kitchen.

  “You know, I have a great idea. You and Grace seem good together,” called Rally, not wanting to lose the nerve to tell Elliot his idea. The lie rolled effortlessly off his tongue, but his heart pounded as he said, “You should date her. She seems really nice.”

  Elliot returned with another bottle. “I don’t think I heard you right. Did you suggest I date Grace?”