“I always have time. See you when you get here.”
He waited until Grace drove away, her taillights disappearing as she turned the corner. He went into the opposite direction, and let a cheesy grin take control of his face. Once his car was secured in the garage, he went inside through the door connecting the garage to the house.
Mom was on the couch, watching some romance flick on the television. Addison was nowhere to be seen which meant she was probably in bed. Mom smiled when she turned away from her movie. “Did Elliot enjoy his banana bread?”
They had forgotten about it. “He sends his love back and says thanks. We didn’t eat any yet, though. You know Elliot. It’ll be gone by morning.”
She clicked the TV off and stood. Following Rally to the kitchen, she said, “It’s a miracle that guy stays as thin as he is.”
“I talk to him about his eating habits all the time.” He unwrapped a loaf of banana bread and sliced a piece. “Want some of this with me?”
“Absolutely. I’ll grab some glasses of milk.” She went over to the fridge.
As they worked on their own tasks in the kitchen, he said, “Now don’t freak out, okay?”
Her eyes widened as she held a hand to her chest. “Me freak out?” She shook her hand in his direction. “Never.”
After a soft chuckle, he said, “Yeah right. It’s nothing right now, but I met a woman. A really nice woman.” He caught the glance she swung at him.
“Oh really? I think it’s something if you’re telling me about her.”
He carried the plate of sliced bread over to the table. She joined him with two tall glasses. “I’m telling you because I’m scared shitless and don’t know what to do.” As he stared at the brown bread waiting on the plate, he told her everything. Nothing was left out, not even smacking Grace in the face and taking her to lunch. His mom sat quietly, listening to every word he muttered. At one point he glanced up to find that she’d finally started eating her own bread and her milk was half gone.
When he finished his story, he leaned back. With a shrug, he said, “And I don’t know what to do.”
“Son, what’s wrong with being attracted to a woman? To like her? Grace sounds like a wonderful person.”
He shook his head. “I look around here and don’t think I have room in my life for a woman. Yet, I feel it inside of me.” His hand opened and closed over his chest as if imitating a heartbeat.
A frown formed on her lips. “I don’t know what it is. You’re going to have to tell me what you’re talking about.”
Taking several minutes before he replied, he focused on eating his bread and then drained the glass of milk. Maybe Addison will wake up, causing a break in the conversation, so he wouldn’t have to explain what he meant. He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Feelings, Mom. I have them!”
“That’s not bad. The only real relationship you’ve had was that broad, Stella Angeline, and she doesn’t count.” Mom cleared the table and carried the dirty dishes to the sink where she started washing them and placed them in the drainer to dry.
“But I only care about you, Addison, and Elliot. That’s it, Mom. I don’t even have feelings for Stella. I should hate her for what she did but don’t. I just decided I’m done with relationships.”
She towel dried the dishes and stacked them on the proper shelves. “You’re a kind man, son. You always have been.”
“I love you, Addison is my little princess and my entire world, and Elliot is more than a best friend. He’s a brother to me. There’s no more room, damn it.” He slammed his hand down on the wood table, making his mom jump.
Whirling around to face him, she asked, “Want my honest opinion? I will give it to you if you stop acting like that and beating yourself up over this woman.”
As if all the pent up energy had been depleted from his body, he sank back in the chair. “Of course I want it.”
She put the last glass away before coming back to the table. Resting her hands on the back of the chair, she said, “People always seem better when you first meet them than they really are. I’m not being mean. It’s a fact.”
“You’re right about that.” Stella Angeline seemed like his dream girl when they’d first met.
“The solution to your problem is to get to know Grace. Spend time with her while she is here. That isn’t a commitment. It’s making a friend or possibly more. Maybe she has some deal breaking quirk that you can’t handle and won’t care when she leaves. Like what if she has a dog and dresses it up. Puts bows in its hair, pink glitter dress on it, and share’s every meal with the animal.”
He tried not to laugh. “And the dog is a male Golden Retriever named Ruffles Mr. Truffles.”
Mom roared with laughter. Tears ran down her cheeks as she asked, “Where did you come up with that?”
Letting out a chuckle, he shrugged. “I don’t even know, but I couldn’t date someone who did that.” He stood. “Thanks for making me feel better. I appreciate everything you do.”
“I’m always here for you.” She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a healthy squeeze before stepping back. “Everything is taken care of around here, so you should get a good night’s sleep. Give me a call and let me know how tomorrow goes.”
He kissed her on the forehead before she headed out the front door, leaving him in the silent home. His gaze wandered over the furnishings, making his chest tighten. He owned the best of things and worked hard for each item. Second-hand items had been his world in the beginning but not now. Addison and he were fortunate for their blessings. He had never pictured a woman in his life after Stella left and still had a hard time doing so, but his mom was right. There wasn’t anything wrong with getting to know her without revealing any important information about himself, particularly sharing anything about Addison with Grace.
Chapter Six
The hotel hummed with life the next morning. A conference was going on and being right downtown, Garden Grove Hotel had been the prime location for the business people. It added a bunch of traffic up and down the halls. Voices and doors being opened and shut on both sides of her room floated through the thin walls and made her jumpy. Stupid nerves. Going running with Rally Brewer this morning put her on edge while the loud people outside pushed her of a normal level of patience.
She stood, with her hands on her hips, in the center of the room, eyeing the large maroon suitcase. Its zipper was open with the lid flopped over. Clothes spewed from the polyester material. She had a lot of clothes with her but nothing clean and no time to go to the laundromat. Slipping on her jeans and sweater she wore last night then she added shoes and jacket. Google told her that nearest discount retail store was located just on the other side of the bridge. If she hurried, she’d be able to shower and dress before Rally picked her up.
She tried checking out the scenery as she made her way down the one-way streets and turned over the bridge. It hadn’t started raining yet, but the fog blanketed the Willamette River, giving her the opportunity to roll her window down for some air. A recent rain, probably during the night, swirled the scent of fresh earth with the mist.
Grace found the store, with the help of her handy-dandy GPS, and hurried into a spot in the large lot. She’d never shopped so fast in her life. With the money that Rally had given her, she walked out of the discount department store with a new workout outfit, jeans and a t-shirt, and a suit to replace the old. Of course, she didn’t waste any time trying the stuff on in order to be completely ready when Rally showed up at the hotel to pick her up. She didn’t want anything to ruin the chance of a good time with him.
As she drove into the full parking lot, she wished she could’ve afforded a hotel with valet. Up one row of cars and down another. After circling three times, someone pulled out at the very end of the lot. She pressed the gas and sped around the corner, cutting off a driver attempting to snatch the same spot. She grabbed her shopping bags and purse from the passenger side and rushed out of the car, waving
an “I’m sorry” gesture with her empty hand as she hurried across the pavement. She chuckled when the other driver, an old business man, flipped her off. Same to you, buddy.
Her heart pounded in her chest outside of the slow moving elevator. Three floors to go before it arrived for her. She checked the time on her cell. Damn it! Thirty minutes. What woman got ready in such a short amount of time? Certainly not her and not anyone who was going out with Rally Brewer. Two more floors. She tapped the toe of her sneaker against the linoleum floor. One more floor. Finally the elevator let out an obnoxiously loud ding and the doors slid open at a snail’s pace. She hurried inside and pressed the close doors button and jabbed the circle that corresponded with her floor.
Just as the doors were going to close, a woman ran toward the elevator, yelling, “Wait! Wait.”
“In a hurry,” Grace said. She pressed the button again, but the woman stuck her arm inside to trigger the sensor that opened the door back up.
With the elevator door wide open, the woman turned back to a group just coming inside the hotel. “I got it for us,” she called out.
Grace checked the time again. Twenty-five minutes and the people planning to join her in the elevator weren’t in a hurry. They chatted casually while the first woman continued to stick her arm against the door each time the door tried to close.
“Can we please go? I’m in a hurry,” Grace hissed.
The woman put a hand to her chest, her eyes wide. “Oh, dear, so are we. Just give my friends a minute to get over here.”
Grace forced her voice to stay calm. “I don’t have a minute.” Another check of the time. Three more minutes had gone by. “Your friends don’t seem to be in any sort of rush. Can’t they catch the next one?”
“See? They’re here now.”
Grace sighed with relief as four women stepped in with her and they finally let the door close. Her companions chatted happily about their vacation in the Pacific Northwest. She couldn’t help but feel their excitement and agreed about the beauty that Portland held.
The elevator let out a ding again when her floor number lit up. The women were crowding the door. “Excuse me,” she said, a lot happier now that she arrived on her floor. The women looked around confused.
“Who’s getting off?” one asked.
“Not me,” another said.
“Me,” Grace said, shoving past a heavyset lady who didn’t stop chatting to her friend the entire time they’d been in the elevator.
She sprinted down the hallway to the last door on the left. One swipe of her key card and then she was locked inside, stripping down to her bare skin for a quick shower. Ten minutes later, she was back out and dressed in her new workout gear. Some lip gloss and mascara were applied and then she moved on to her hair, finishing by brushing her teeth. Finally ready to see Rally. Luckily for her, the trip to the lobby was much less eventful.
She picked at her nail as she waited for him to pull up. He’d almost kissed her last night. That’s what he had to have been planning when he’d kept moving closer to her. Even his hand had reached for her. She’d wanted it so much that her knees threatened to give out under his touch. Then the interruption came, breaking any chance of the kiss from happening last night. Hopefully they wouldn’t have any of those today and she could see where this was meant to go with Rally. Maybe with his lips on hers by the end of the day?
His BMW swerved into the lot and pulled up in front of her. His head and shoulders came into view first. Then his shoulders and were revealed, taking her breath away. His snug white t-shirt hugged each curve of his muscular set of shoulders and biceps. Heat burned her cheeks as he turned to her and smiled.
“Ready?” he asked, his smooth voice turning her insides into melted butter. He jogged around the car, opening the door when he reached her side.
She slowly nodded. How the hell could she jog beside a man like this? He almost made her speechless.
*****
Rally climbed back into the driver’s seat and needed a moment to calm his nerves and to get the tremble in his hands to leave. Was this what dating was really like? Hell, he didn’t even know if this was a date. She might view it as two people-friends-out exercising together. Besides, who exercises on a date? Not any of the guys he knew.
“Do you work out often?” he asked, instantly regretting the question. Damn, he was not good at this dating thing. Sure, throw him in a boxing ring or with his daughter. He had talent when it came to being a daddy. Not dating.
“I try to work out every day but figured out that I don’t have enough time when traveling.”
He nodded, knowing all too well what she was talking about. He had to train while he was on the road for a match but each location usually required at least one appearance. Fern brought Addison along, too, which was a job all in itself.
“How much do you exercise each day?” she asked.
“I train for about six hours a day with one relax day a week.” He usually would’ve taken his time to answer, formulating the perfect response in order to prevent any future articles written based on what he said. Not right now, though. The walls he’d built around him seemed stupid when he was with Grace. He shrugged. Who cared if she knew how long he trained for?
“The schedule must be tough, but no wonder you look as good as you do.”
Surprised at her comment, he glanced at her before making the turn that took them to his favorite running trail. Just on the edge of his neighborhood, it only took a few minutes before they arrived. His mouth turned up in a slow smile. “So you think I look good?”
A crimson hue brushed over her cheekbones and settle around the bruise covering the bridge of her nose. “I do.” She swallowed. “You look really good.”
He reached over, placing his hand on hers, giving her a gentle squeeze. “You look really good, too.”
He wanted to keep holding her hand but their trail came into view. He pulled over to the side of the road, reached into the backseat for some water bottles and handed her one. “We’ll keep the run light, but you still need this.”
“Of course,” she said. She climbed out of the car and waited for him as he locked up.
The dirt trail snaked through the dense trees in front of them, slowly disappearing in the distance. The early morning fog gave off an eerie feel as the sun started to rise but didn’t hold enough power to do the job. He considered the area a private place for him, not sharing it with people outside of his small group of boxing friends. He’d found the place by accident a few years ago. A different area close by had been recommended by Ajay. “One of the hot spots only locals know about,” the younger guy had explained. Rally always wanted to try out new places to do his cardio. He’d set out to find the hidden gem and found this one instead. He still didn’t know where Ajay had been talking about, mostly because he didn’t ask for directions a second time. He figured Ajay could have that one and saved this entirely for himself.
Rally turned to Grace, who stood next to him, stretching her calves. Yes, she obviously had some fitness knowledge, but her running gear, all name brand, looked new. Either she didn’t do this regularly and didn’t pack the clothes for the trip to Oregon or she wanted to impress him. Rally preferred for her to impress him by dressing nice and joining him for a cocktail or an elegant dinner. A real date, something he hadn’t had in a very long time. But he couldn’t yet. She didn’t know about Addison and he hadn’t figured out how to handle the secret he never intended to reveal.
“Let’s go,” she said, revealing her amazing smile that he could never get tired of seeing. She took off down the trail. With the dense trees around them, the trail itself had stayed dry, providing them with the perfect place to run. She set the pace, easy enough to hold a conversation but hard enough to make his heart pound.
“Thanks for coming with me today. I wasn’t completely sure that this was a good choice.”
“It’s great and I needed a good run.” Sweat dotted her forehead and he couldn’t imagine he
r any sexier than at that moment.
They stayed side by side as they went down the curvy hill through the woods. Not a single soul was out there with them. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad date after all. And… just maybe… Rally would get the opportunity to kiss her.
“You know, there’s something I’ve been wondering.”
Oh no! He didn’t like her questions. The chemistry brewing between him and this woman threatened the stable life he’d established for his daughter. “Yeah?”
Her breaths came out faster. “I watched the fight between you and Elliot.” She paused to do another series of fast breathing. Maybe she needed a break. “Frankly, I’m shocked that you are such good friends. Almost like brothers, you know?”
“That’s true.” Slowing down the pace, he wiped some sweat from his forehead and then took a sip of the cold water. “What do you want to know?”
She followed his lead, taking a longer drink. Her quick breathing increased. This was obviously more of a workout than what she was used to. He ran this trail on every rest day, and even then, his calves still burned.
The trip back up hill was one hell of a run. She might not even make it. He gulped down more water, savoring the coolness in his throat. Walking up was fine today. He’d get the chance for a normal conversation with her.
“But how can you beat the snot out of Elliot in the ring and then go to his house for a barbeque?”
“It’s nothing personal in the ring. We don’t do anything shady and it’s always a clean fight. One of us has to win and we go out there with all we can. Did he tell you how we met?”
She shook her head. “He refused to tell me anything about you beyond the fact that you’re his best friend.”
“I’m sure Elliot told you about how he got into boxing. Well, we belonged to different gyms at the time and he was far more experienced in the ring than me.” Should he stop talking? Would this end up in the magazine? He sure hoped not, but for once, he wanted her to know him. No, this couldn’t be happening. Hopefully she showed the imagined dog with pink dresses soon, so he didn’t have any problems turning around and walking the other way without a backward glance in her direction. Right now he just wanted more. More of her touches. More of her smiles. More of her voice. Fuck it. He wanted everything from her. Any more time with her and he’d need it all.
Passionate Kisses 2 Boxed Set: Love in Bloom Page 19
