Wanting It All: A Naked Men Novel

by Christi Barth

  “Cocktail hour…and then cock hour?”

  “Why limit ourselves to an hour?”

  Madison really, really liked his style. And she couldn’t wait to see if she liked his staying power just as much. He’d just vaulted from a one-night hookup onto potential husband list.

  Not that she’d tell him that.

  Yet.

  Chapter 5

  Josh dropped the heavily weighted barbell with a clang onto the rubber mat. “About time you dragged your ass in here, Davies.”

  Yeah, Knox knew he’d take some heat for not going to the gym with his roommates. It was their usual Saturday routine to start the day with a long workout, a swim, and a sauna. Good way to get rid of the toxins from whatever fun they’d had Friday night, and rev up to go again on Saturday. He’d set his alarm. He’d just also hit the snooze button seven times.

  As usual, the ACSs had the back corner, filled with the serious free weights, to themselves. A heavy bass thumping leaked from the aerobics room on the other side of the wall—a place he and his roommates would never venture into. Here there were no speakers for bad 90s club music, and no posers.

  Draping his bamboo towel over a well-used bench with a few duct-taped patches, Knox shot back, “That twenty-minute head start still won’t give you muscles as good as mine, Hardwick. So shut up and lift.”

  In a silent response, Josh gave an exaggerated bicep flex in a body builder pose. The response amped up when he lifted his water bottle and squirted it on Knox.

  “Hey—too early for the showers,” Knox spluttered as he wiped off his red Under Armour compression shirt.

  “That’s for making Riley worry.” At the raised WTF eyebrow, Josh continued, “You didn’t leave a note.”

  Shit.

  They were grown men. Nobody had a curfew or anything lame like that. But they had a few basic rules they’d cobbled together over the years for sharing a house.

  You answer the door, you tip the pizza guy. Even if you aren’t the one who ordered it.

  Every time you go to the store, buy at least one package of condoms and toilet paper for the house. Every. Time.

  No poaching women. Whoever makes the first move has sole flirting rights until otherwise rescinded.

  No matter how drunk, if you’re going to miss an all-house activity, leave a note on the kitchen counter.

  The worst part was that Knox himself came up with that fourth rule. One week Josh skipped their workout. Nobody heard from him for more than a day. Weird, since they texted as much as anyone with thumbs and a phone. Riley had been ready to go all NTSB agent on that shit, and scour the roads for car crashes. Turned out Josh had dropped his phone in an Atlantic City toilet. Then he hit a hot streak on the tables and passed out at dawn.

  They all got it. But having come a little too close to death once, it was more of a real possible scenario to all of them. Enough to freak out Ry…and the others, even if they didn’t admit it. The ACSs felt responsible for one another. They’d gone through a stupid, teenage ritual of becoming blood brothers before the accident in the Alps. Those three days they spent actually bleeding together in the snow created a bond far deeper.

  Four days later Griffin missed a midweek soccer game. No note, no text. No big deal, to most people. But since Griffin was a Coast Guard rescue chopper pilot, it was all too easy for them to assume the worst. Riley wasn’t the only one pacing holes in the field with his cleats that day. Knox hacked into more than a few servers, trying to ascertain his safety. That delay ended up being a Department of Homeland Security communication blackout due to a potential terror threat that was exposed as a prank before they made it home to dinner. Which they made Griff pay for.

  Still, those incidents put together left them…unsettled. And then feeling like goddamned helicopter moms. Even more unsettling, and freaking embarrassing. So Knox added the rule to calm everyone down. It worked. Or it had, until he’d acted like a thoughtless idiot last night. They had one more hard-and-fast rule. If you broke any of the house rules, you paid for dinner at Filomena’s. The best Italian in D.C. came at a hefty price tag. It was worth it, as the pasta mamas in the front window churned out fresh ravioli and gnocchi around the clock, but was expensive enough that it kept you from forgetting a rule for at least a year.

  Knox looked over at Riley, quietly doing chin-ups in his ironed Princeton tee. No grunting. No counting the reps out loud. Ry kept everything buttoned up and under control at all times. The sweat dripping from the dark hair at his temples was probably the noisiest thing about him. “I’m an idiot.”

  “You’re a card-carrying genius,” Riley corrected with a specificity that annoyed and amused Knox in equal parts. “What you were was thoughtless.”

  “Guilty as charged.” Knox felt lower than absolute zero.

  These guys deserved better. They’d pulled him out of his friendless state of fifteen years. They’d given him the literal clothes off their backs with school uniforms they’d outgrown to help his mom save a few bucks, had him over for dinners, taken him along on family vacations. They’d taught him how to change a tire and unhook a bra with one hand and basically everything about how to be a man.

  They never got all girly and talked about it or anything. But Knox didn’t ask them to share his house—well, mansion—simply because there were more rooms than he knew what to do with over the four floors. He did it because he genuinely wanted to hang with Griff, Josh, Riley, and Logan whenever he could. Because they were brothers. And Madison must seriously have her hooks in him to make him forget that for even a second.

  He crossed to Riley. “Wanna take a swing at me? The offer goes for you, too, Josh.”

  After more than a few seconds of eye-scrunching consideration, Josh shook his head. “I’m content with taking a hit out of your wallet when we order dinner. Thanks, though.”

  “How about you hold the heavy bag while I wail on it some?” Riley offered. “Close enough for me.”

  “Done.” Knox moved into place. “Where’s Griff? I should apologize to him, too.”

  “Coming from Chloe’s place,” Josh replied, sitting down at the lats machine. “Which we know ’cause he texted us,” he added pointedly.

  “Yeah, yeah.” He’d be on the shit heap for a while. And he’d take whatever they piled on him. Knox thought about Griffin and his girlfriend of three months—a record among all the ACSs. “The two of them have turned into a pair of bedroom boomerangs. When are they going to just pick a place and move in together?”

  Griffin announced his arrival by whipping a jump rope against the floor. “When she has a ring on her finger.”

  Knox winced at the thinly veiled frustration in his friend’s voice. He’d given Chloe a diamond ring in a box, with the instruction that it was up to her to propose when ready. The sad, whipped truth of the man was that Griffin had been ready since he bought it. Knox liked Chloe. Liked her with Griff. But he just didn’t get this sudden need of Griff’s to tie himself to one woman for the rest of his life.

  Josh threw him a salute. “G-man, nice of you stop the Saturday snuggles long enough to come get your blood pumping. If you get lax on that Coast Guard physique, Chloe might leave you for one of us fine specimens.”

  “Only in your dreams—and you’d better not be dreaming about my girl.” Griff’s feet landing on the mat were almost as soundless as the jump rope cutting through the air. “Besides, who says I didn’t already get my blood pumping this morning?”

  Riley stepped back with a wince. Used his teeth to undo his gloves. “Don’t go there. We all respect Chloe. You two are in love. That means we can’t high-five every time you get her panties down. It isn’t right.”

  “Good point.” Griff crossed his arms in a move that had taken Knox twice as long to master back at seventeen, in the school’s weight room. Now, though, he could pace him like a mirror image. “But then, also, don’t ever mention her panties again.”

  Knox agreed. He just didn’t have to like it. “Dealing wit
h one of us being in a committed relationship is a complicated pain in the ass. You’d better be damned sure she’s the right one.”

  “I’m sure. Now I just have to wait for Chloe to catch up.”

  The guy looked miserable. If he thought it would do any good, Knox would offer Chloe a million dollars to propose to Griff already. Hell, he’d give her two million.

  Griffin dropped the rope and pulled Knox into a quick headlock followed by a noogie. Since that was what happened when you all became friends before you even learned to drive. Some things stuck. “You were an idiot last night.”

  “I know. Sorry.”

  “Plan to tell us where you were?” asked Josh. “ ’Cause if you needed bail money, you know we would’ve gone through your drawers for spare Franklins and come down to the station.”

  “I was on a date.”

  Riley dropped his gloves to give a high five, but froze midair. “A date? Dates end when the bars close at three. Anything later than that is hookup territory.”

  “Call it a very successful date.” Since Riley didn’t seem inclined, Knox came to him to finish the high five. Because what he’d done with Madison last night definitely qualified for a high five. More like a high ten, upon further recollection.

  Rubbing his hands together, Josh beamed. “Nice. That means tonight you start fresh? Want to hit POV again, or do Local 16?”

  Riley squirted some water over his black hair. “The band playing there has a guitarist I’ve been checking out for a few weeks.”

  Typical Riley. He dated with the same methodical and measured approach he used in every other aspect of his life. Ry watched, assessed his options, waited for the perfect moment. But when he finally decided to act, it was like watching a shark go after a goldfish. Swift and simple.

  If only this next conversation could be so simple. Knox knew his friends were about to go ape-shit once he made his announcement. A big part of him could barely believe it himself. But last night hadn’t scratched his itch for Madison. It’d just made him desperate for more.

  He picked up a glove from the mat and crammed it on. “Actually, I’ll be checking out of the club scene for a while. I’ve got a hot one on the line.”

  Blue, gray, and green eyes swiveled to him with an almost audible snick.

  “Riiight,” drawled Griffin. “And the whole reason the Nats didn’t go all the way last season is because I forgot to wear my lucky jersey to their game against the Phillies.”

  Josh just kept blinking at him like a damn owl. “You don’t do repeats.”

  “No,” Riley corrected, “what he calls it is his No Leftovers policy.”

  “Is she a gymnast? Does she have a twin you’re trying to talk into a threesome?”

  “Look, I didn’t get my fill of Madison. No big deal.” Knox punched the bag for emphasis. Then he kept going, because it was better than watching his friends stare at him like he was a zoo animal. “I’m not turning into a walking heart-on like Griffin. I just think we could have some more fun together.”

  He heard scuffling behind him. A bunch of shoe squeaks. Knox wasn’t tempted in the slightest to turn around and see what it was about.

  Finally, Griffin cleared his throat. “Why don’t you bring her to the Nats game on Friday?”

  They sure didn’t have anything like Nationals Park in Alaska. Madison would probably get a kick out of adding something else to her new experiences list. He stilled the bag and faced them. “You guys’d be cool with that?”

  “You’d be doing me a favor. Chloe would love to have someone to talk to in the box. Last time she hassled me about”—Griff made air quotes—“ ‘ignoring her to watch the game.’ But she was so cute pouting, I didn’t have the heart to tell her that was the whole point. You know, the stuff happening on the field.”

  “That’s six whole days from now. No way Knox is still—” Josh cut off abruptly when Riley’s arm flew into his stomach with a soft thud.

  Knox didn’t like the thought of Chloe being bored and lonely on Friday. The least he could do was set her up with some company. That wasn’t at all the same as synchronizing calendars with Madison, for God’s sake. Beer, babes, and baseball. Nothing out of the ordinary. “Good idea. I’ll ask her.”

  “Got something else for you to add to your to-do list. How’s about you send up a satellite to find Logan?” Riley grabbed a pair of dumbbells from the rack along the wall and started a set of bicep curls. “He’s been off the grid too long.”

  Ry worried more than all of them put together. In fact, if Riley woke up one day with nothing to worry about, he’d worry about that. Still, he brought up a good point. One that had been scratching at the back of Knox’s brain for a while now, too.

  A frown set up residence across Griff’s forehead. “Nobody’s heard from him?”

  Knox looked around the group. Met eyes that looked as clueless as he felt. Thought back. “Not since that phone call I got…what…six weeks ago?”

  “Where was he then?”

  “Tibet. Earthquake leveled a village.”

  “Which means he could be anywhere by now, helping to clean up another natural disaster.” Griffin snapped his fingers. “Anyone checked the news to find out the latest hot spot?”

  “I will,” Riley offered. He’d probably go to work and use all the resources of the NTSB. Their computers weren’t quite as good as what Knox had jury-rigged to perfection with his three at home, but they got the job done.

  With a grunt as he restarted his set, Josh said to Knox, “Then you could send one of your snazzy modified drones to poke him in the ass.”

  Knox whipped his head around. “Not here, okay? Still sort of classified. Not that drones exist, obviously. But what it is that I’m doing to them.”

  “Don’t be such a tight-ass. Nobody can hear us. Or come close to understanding your techno-babble even if you did go into details. What do you care—I thought you were selling the company?”

  “I was. I mean, I am.” Except, he wasn’t at all sure anymore. And he never lied to these guys. “Maybe.” Nah. He wasn’t that far down the road to changing his mind. Stupid to give them the wrong idea. “Probably.”

  “Want some maple syrup for all that waffling?” Griff asked with a grin.

  Shit. “Okay. Perhaps I’m having second thoughts about selling. Maybe not second thoughts. We’ll call it mulling. No, prudent consideration.” That sounded more like it.

  Again, three pairs of eyes targeted him like they were in missile lock. Their matching expressions of shock sent him right back to the heavy bag.

  It didn’t provide the escape he hoped for, though. The guys rushed over to encircle him.

  Griff threw out the first pitch. “What the hell, Knox?”

  “Since when do you have second thoughts about anything?” Josh thumped him on the back of his head. “You’re Split-Second Decision Guy, thanks to that oversized brain of yours.”

  True. Mulling wasn’t something he ever did. It took him no time to size up a situation, assess the pros and cons. Knox pounded another combination into the bag. But the rest of the world did it. Why couldn’t he mull something over for once? Add it to his very own new experiences list?

  Riley piled on. “You decided to do this weeks ago. You announced it at the Memorial Day barbecue on the roof deck, remember?”

  Josh grabbed the bag to still it. “You said you’d rake in a huge profit and have time to find something more fun to do.”

  Griff stopped the volley of words with a sharp glare around the circle. Then he directed it straight at Knox. “What the hell turned off your business radar?”

  That was just insulting. “I told you. It’s a prudent reconsideration of all the facts. My radar’s working fine.”

  “What facts?” Josh’s tone was way more confused than combative. “Besides that you’ll make more money on this deal than I’ll make in my lifetime?”

  Knox dropped his arms to his sides. Because it was exhausting defending a decision that he
wasn’t even sure about. “The fact that maybe there’s a bigger picture to be seen than simply how much money I’ll make.”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Since when do you think about anything beyond the bottom line?” Riley tilted his head sideways. “Do you even know there is something beyond the bottom line?”

  For fuck’s sake. Usually when Knox even mentioned his work, they all put their hands over their ears and ignored him. Now they suddenly had opinions? The one single, solitary time he was the slightest bit unsure of his own?

  He paced over to the padded bench and took a seat. “No. It hadn’t occurred to me. But Madison brought up a few points that are worth at least thinking about for a couple of days.”

  Griff threw his hands up in the air. “That explains it.”

  “Yep,” Josh nodded meaningfully. “It’s the Pussy Pause.”

  That got a reluctant laugh out of Knox. “What the hell is that?”

  “When you pause something in your life to impress a woman.”

  “You made that up,” Knox said with a certainty.

  “Yeah, but it works.” Josh took a swig of water before continuing with his explanation. “Maybe a guy temporarily quits watching baseball games every night, or switches his charity donations from Little League teams to saving feral cats. When the pussy goes away, the pause ends and life gets back to normal.”

  It made sense. A lot of sense. And made Knox reconsider his reconsidering. “We should talk about it on the Naked Men podcast tomorrow.”

  “Interesting. ‘Do you put your real life on pause for a woman? Or does the right woman fit into your real life?’ ”

  “That sounds like something out of a women’s magazine. Just call it the Pussy Pause. Gets right to the point.” Josh snorted. “Trademark pending.”

  Riley cut a hand across in front of his throat. “Don’t even bother telling your lawyers to put a hold on drawing up those sale contracts. The minute Madison is out of the picture, you’ll come to your senses.”

  “And with or without the trip to Nationals Park, we know this Madison has an expiration date stamped on her undoubtedly bodacious booty.” Josh swung his arm into an umpire’s You’re out gesture.