by Marie Harte
“I’ll try to get with her today. I teach again Friday at four. Make sure you’re here.”
Mac blinked. “I’m sorry. Who’s the boss?”
She chuckled. “That’s supposed to be, ‘you’re not the boss of me.’ And well, big guy, you’re not. I can quit at any time, so watch your tone.”
His eyes widened, a comical sight, and she left him sputtering before he could ruin her exit. She left the gym whistling, determined to find out what Shelby had been up to so she could leave the gym and Mac Jameson behind before she did something really stupid.
Like sleep with the man.
* * *
Shelby hung up the phone, bemused and not sure what to do about her evening. Shane had asked her to lunch on Saturday. Not as a euphemism for oral sex, not at his place as a prelude to steamy sex, or in any manner which led her to believe he’d expect sex. They were having lunch this weekend at Pike’s Place Market. And it felt like a date.
Denise interrupted her worry. She left her newly renovated massage room with her client in tow.
Shelby rang the woman up and watched her leave with a smile on her face. To Denise she said, “Hiring you was a great decision.”
“Yeah, well, letting me have Mrs. Watson was a boon. She’s a great tipper.”
Shelby made a face. “I know.”
Denise laughed. “Hey, it’s time to go. Five o’clock on a Friday means the weekend is here. You don’t have anyone else, do you?”
Shelby shook her head. “Just cleaning up.”
“I’ll help.”
“Nah. Go home to Cupcake. I’ve got this.”
“Actually, I have a date.” Denise’s grin lit up her face. “Our contractor, Greg?”
“You mean Mr. Slow?”
Denise flushed. “He’s not that slow.” She bit her lip, then confessed in a rush, “He was taking so long on the work because he was trying to get the courage to ask me out. He told me so yesterday. And he’s not charging for any overtime or anything.”
That sounded familiar. Maybe this guy knew Bob, her other slow contractor. “There’s that at least.” Shelby nodded. “Good luck on your date, but if he turns out to be a jerk, I’m coming after him with a bat.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Denise gave her a mock salute, giggled, and took off like schoolgirl.
“Did she just skip?” Shelby watched her friend race out the door.
Grumbling to herself, she locked up and did her daily cleaning. Just as she finished, she glanced up to see Maggie cupping her eyes against the outside glass, looking in.
Hell. She pasted a smile and let her friend inside before locking up again. “Maggie. Just the person I was hoping to see.”
Maggie scowled “Yeah, right. Why are you avoiding me?”
“I’m not avoiding you. I’m busy.”
“Yeah. Busy avoiding me. But that’s okay. I realize your aversion is to the aerobics class you swore you’d come to, not to me exactly.”
Shelby groaned. “I’ve been busy.”
“Me too. But I talked to Denise, and she told me you’re free tomorrow.” Maggie smiled, her spry attitude grating yet charming at the same time.
“Terrific.”
“Yep. You and me, honey. Four o’clock at Jameson’s Gym.”
Shelby frowned. “That sounds familiar.”
“Yeah. It’s the place I go to work now. Remember me telling you about my new job, the one I want to keep?” Maggie looked hurt. “I know life gets in the way, but I could really use your support.”
Shelby sighed. “Of course I’ll be there tomorrow. I’ll swear up and down that your class is the best I’ve ever had.”
Maggie nodded. “And you’ll pretend not to know me and tell my boss how great I am, right?”
A game they’d played before, to benefit them clients. Shelby grinned. “You bet.”
“Great. I’d stay to chat, but I have to go. I’m behind on your birthday present.” Maggie darted away before Shelby could yell at her to hurry. September had rolled around pretty quickly, and before they both knew it, Shelby would be twenty-eight.
The next day, at five o’clock, Shelby felt all of her almost-twenty-eight years and then some. Her calves ached, her ass felt like one giant throbbing pain, and she’d tripped twice on her step but hadn’t fallen, thank God. The class had been packed. Shelby had to hand it Maggie, though. The music was stellar, and the beat had kept her moving long past her body telling her to quit. Because her friend took the time to introduce new sequences, Shelby hadn’t gotten too lost, either.
She left the water fountain and headed back to Maggie, only to see her best bud dwarfed by some testosterone-laden giant. He was handsome in a blunt, hard way, and he seemed to hang on Maggie’s every word. She heard them arguing as she drew closer, which surprised her. Maggie was usually peaches-and-cream nice to everyone she met. Was this guy giving her a hard time?
Determined to defend her friend, she moved as fast as her aching body would let her and joined them.
They both stopped talking mid-sentence.
“Shelby, isn’t it?” Maggie’s grin was a bit worrisome, definitely forced. “Shelby is new to the class,” she explained to muscle man. “Mac Jameson, my boss.”
Ah, that explained the tension.
“I’ll be right back. I have some things to straighten before Jane’s class.” Maggie left, giving Shelby the opportunity to plug her friend.
She turned to Mac to see him studying her from head to toe. “Um, Maggie. She’s great.”
“Uh huh.”
“Her class was really easy to follow, and for a klutz like me, that’s saying something.”
His grin was unexpected, especially because it transformed his face from fierce to devastatingly handsome. If she hadn’t been so consumed with Shane, she might have given Mac a try. But still, even under his bright smile, Shelby couldn’t forget Shane’s kiss.
“You don’t look clumsy, Shelby.”
She grinned back at him. “Thanks. But don’t let the workout gear fool you. I don’t like exercise.”
“So what do you do to stay in shape?” he murmured, the compliment there in the way he looked over her curves.
“I like to walk and hike. The elliptical is great, and I use hand weights to tone.” She decided she might as well network while she was at it. “I’m a massage therapist, so I’m into good health and staying fit. Promotes strong muscles.”
He nodded. “Yeah, there is that. It helps you live longer too.” His subtle grin told her she’d missed the joke, but he changed the subject. “So Maggie did a good job?”
“Terrific.”
“Good to know. She’s new, but from what I hear and see, her class is fast becoming a favorite.” He glanced back at her friend talking with some guy behind the glass walled studio and frowned. “I’ll have to see if we can work more of her classes into the schedule.”
Shelby had the impression he didn’t like Maggie talking to the guy. “That would be great,” she said, glad when he looked at her once more and stopped glaring at Maggie. Oh man, was this guy into her friend?
She studied him, taking in his looks, his height, and the way the gym-goers smiled his way.
“You seem pretty popular.” Especially among the women. Not a good sign for her friend. A playboy would only break hearts.
“I own the place. Correction, my uncle owns it,” he said with a self-deprecating grin. “I run it for now.”
“Ah. So you’re Maggie’s head boss. Not just the manager.” Which Maggie hadn’t mentioned.
He shrugged. “I guess. Want some water? I have a few extra bottles in my office.”
She wondered if that was a line he used to get women, but the way he continued to look over her shoulder at Maggie told her not to worry about his attention. “Sure.”
She followed him down a hallway and entered a masculine office filled with Marine Corps pictures and placards. “You served?”
“Yep. Retired a few years ago.”
/> He didn’t look old enough to have retired, but she didn’t ask any questions. She accepted the water bottle he handed her from a small fridge and drank. That he didn’t close the door behind them eased her worries.
“You new to the gym? I don’t remember seeing you here before.”
She nodded. “A friend told me about your new instructor. I’d been meaning to check this place out a while ago and thought, why not?”
“Good. Glad you’re here.” He smiled, but the way he looked at her gave her the idea he had a secret agenda. Maybe he wanted to pump her for information about Maggie.
“Maggie’s great,” she said again.
“Yeah.” He leaned on his desk and crossed huge arms over his chest. Oh man, if Maggie saw that on a daily basis, her friend would be well and truly hooked. Maggie liked height, and she liked a nice body. Or was he too big for her friend?
He frowned when he saw her staring at his arms.
“Didn’t mean to stare. I was looking at the tattoo.”
He relaxed. “Oh.” He flexed and showed off his snake. “I have an EGA too.”
“A what?”
“Eagle, globe and anchor. It’s a Marine Corps thing.”
Nice. Shane didn’t have any tattoos. Then again, he didn’t need them to decorate that sexy body.
“So your massage place. What’s it called? We get folks in here all the time needing a place to go. Or do you only do that feel good crap?”
If she had, she wouldn’t tell him now. “No feel good crap. I’m all about deep tissue. More clinical stuff.”
He nodded. “Had a knee problem when I left the Corps. Surgery helped, but my PT recommended I see a good massage therapist.”
“Did you?” She looked at the knee he rubbed. He wore athletic shorts, and she could see a few scars over his knee.
“Yeah. He didn’t help much, though.”
“Too bad. Scar tissue builds, and therapy would help.”
He brightened. “Great idea.”
“What?”
“Can I make an appointment with you?”
“I wasn’t angling for work.” Now she felt awkward. “I just meant—”
“No, no. I always put this shit off. Give me your number and I’ll make an appointment.”
“I, um, okay.” She wrote down her number with the pen and yellow sticky note he handed her.
He looked pleased. “Great. Maybe I’ll be up and running again after a visit.”
“It takes more than one,” she warned. “You have to continue to work the area and over time retrain the muscle.”
“Hey, if you can work your magic, I’m in.” Mac grinned. “Oh hell. I need to talk to Maggie again. Want to take this outside?” He walked her to the door and back into the gym, his hand at her waist. Nothing sexual about his touch, oddly enough.
He was gruff, liked to swear, and interested in becoming a client. According to Maggie, that meant he wanted her. She stopped him before he could nudge her any farther.
“You okay?” he asked.
“You aren’t hitting on me, are you?”
She could tell her bluntness had shocked him, because he blinked at her.
“No, should I be?” He seemed interested.
Great. Now she’d created a problem for herself. “No. I just wanted to be clear about that. I’ve been told I’m as dense as a brick when it comes to understanding men.”
He chuckled. “Who told you that?”
“My best friend,” she grumbled.
“So if I was interested in more than therapy, you’d say…”
“Nope.”
“Because?”
“I’m seeing someone.”
“Ah. My loss.”
They smiled at one another.
Shelby liked the guy. They made more small talk before he called Maggie over to discuss scheduling. She left them and mouthed to her friend, “You owe me big.”
Maggie nodded absently, frowning at whatever Mac said. Shelby didn’t know if he’d call her or not about the appointment, but she’d left her number. With luck, he’d pass it on to needy gym patrons. And now she could put a check in the box; she’d finally shut Maggie up by coming to support her.
Now if she could just get past her worry that accepting Shane’s invitation tomorrow hadn’t been a colossal mistake.
Chapter Fourteen
Shane waited at the front of the restaurant, cursing the fact that he’d been late. Fifteen minutes after he’d said to meet her at the café, he saw no sign of her in the lobby or inside the bistro. He wondered if he’d annoyed her by not calling ahead of time, but she hadn’t answered her phone when he’d realized how late he’d be. And he couldn’t blame George this time. It was his own fault for losing his friggin’ keys.
After another ten minutes, he decided she wasn’t going to show and turned to leave, swallowing his disappointment.
He’d just exited when she ran up to him.
“I am so sorry I’m late,” she said, breathing hard. “My mom needed a ride since her car broke down. And then I couldn’t find my phone to let you know I was running behind. I think I left it with her by accident.”
The relief he felt that she hadn’t ditched him made him smile. “Hey, no problem. I was a little late myself.” A lot late. But hell, he’d let her wallow and be magnanimous.
They were seated right away, having come at just the right time. The cozy seating area inside more than made up for their near miss.
After they were handed their menus, he just looked at her, wondering what it was about this woman that got to him so completely. The sex was too obvious. Great sex would have been easy to enjoy then forget. He didn’t have to wine and dine her for physical gratification. But he wanted to talk to her, to know her.
“This feels like a date,” she said, staring back at him.
“Call it whatever you want. We’re honest about not wanting relationships, right?” Actually, he didn’t think that was the case anymore, on his part.
“True.” She seemed uncertain, and he took that as a good sign.
“So we have a nice thing going. And we’re going to talk and know each other better. As friends,” he quantified, which seemed to make her feel better.
“Yeah. Friends with benefits.” She smiled at him, and her grin made him feel ten feet tall.
His heart pounded and he lost any appetite for food.
“No reason we can’t do what we want. Besides, I like this place. They have great juice.”
He agreed. They spent the next half hour eating and drinking and enjoying one another.
“Your mom sounds terrific. I’d love her to meet mine.” Shane chuckled. “My mother runs the house like a general. My father is retired military, but she orders everyone around. I swear, I have to remind her on a daily basis that she’s not my commanding officer. And that I’m thirty-one, not seven.”
Shelby grinned. “Well, my mother thinks she’s God’s gift to the lovelorn. She keeps setting up her clients.”
“A matchmaker, eh?”
“Yeah. The problem is, most of the people she’s interfered with are still together.” She frowned. “She didn’t like my ex at all, or so she told me after we broke up.”
She sounded confused, but not bitter, so he asked, “Why did you break up again? Because he cheated, right?”
She nodded. “He and I met at one of the many festivals around this town. I forget which one now. It was fun while it lasted, but looking back, nothing I did was ever right for the guy, who was, and this still makes me laugh, a doctor.”
Their eyes met, and Shane clearly recalled their first time in her massage room. “Oh hell.”
She laughed. “Trust me. That was the best thing that’s happened to me in months. And I’ve never thought about the word doctor since then without a mental image of Dr. Collins giving me my medicine.”
He saw the irony of it. “I’m surprised you didn’t laugh my ass out of the room.”
She leaned closer and whispere
d, “You mean, before you licked me to orgasm or after?”
“Shit. Don’t talk like that in public.” He groaned. “It’s too hard to hide what you do to me. You’re lucky. When you’re turned on, it doesn’t show.”
She smirked. “My nipples get hard.”
“Stop, please.”
She laughed again.
“So, your doctor?”
“He’s not mine anymore. Thank God. The guy had the nerve to constantly criticize everything about me. He was subtle, but when I look back, I see how much I changed for him.”
“If he wanted change, he should have had someone else.”
“Exactly what I ended up telling him. But the kicker was finding him in bed with his secretary.” She grimaced. “She was on her knees and… well, you get the picture.”
“Ouch.” He hurt for her.
“Yeah. A pretty blond with big boobs and no brains.”
He gave a mock sigh. “The perfect woman.”
She grimaced. “Jerk.”
“Yeah, well, I learned that not only was my ex cheating on me with some tattooed bastard, she tried cleaning me out when she moved out.”
“No way.”
“Yep. The cheating was a big problem. I’m big on loyalty. Like you.” She nodded, and he felt that closeness with her deepen. “Then stealing from me? Hell no. I kicked her ass out and haven’t seen her since. The hard part was that I thought I loved her.”
She didn’t say anything for a moment, then asked in a softer voice, “Did you?”
“I thought I did. The good times we had were nice. I liked being part of a couple.” Hearing himself out loud, he knew the time had come to change the subject. He sounded like a sap. “But that’s the past.”
“And the past should stay buried. I’ve heard it all before.” She took a large swallow of water and continued, “But trust me, it rises up to bite you in the ass when you least expect it. The hardest part for me was that I trusted the jerk.”
“I should have seen Lisa for who she was.” He nodded. “We both had lapses in judgment.
“Kind of makes it hard to trust again, you know?”
He did know. “Which is why you and I are friends. We know each other, well, carnally, but this. I like this, us having lunch. I’m not trying to impress you or anything.” Okay, that was a lie. “And I don’t need to make up stories to get into your pants.”
