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“I wasn’t chewing. I was thoughtfully sucking.” She turned away to reach for a tissue.
If she kept up talk like that, I’d need one too for a whole different reason.
“Pens are for writing, not for putting in your mouth.” God, I hoped she couldn’t hear how strangled I sounded. Air was in short supply right now, and most of the blood in my body had detoured below the belt.
“So I have an oral fixation.” She picked up a bag of gummy bears, the same candy she’d been toting around since childhood, and popped a handful in her mouth. “So sue me.”
Yeah, I was dying a slow, torturous death. Death by purity was a real thing. I knew it was, because she’d been hammering the nails deeper and deeper since I’d known her.
Not that I’d been perving on her that whole time. Hell no. For one, I’d met her when I was eleven and she was eight. Twelve long years ago that sometimes felt like twelve minutes.
I hadn’t started noticing her as, well, a girl, until years later. We’d hung out together a lot as kids caught between childhood and our teen years, and I’d viewed her mostly as one might look at a younger sister. Guessing, because I’d never had one. Never had any siblings except Lily, who wasn’t my relation at all.
No one would ever mistake us for family, that was for sure. She had green eyes to my blue, light brown hair to my black. She was petite and curvy and I’d grown up to be tall and…well, broad. I worked hard to stay in shape, but I’d been granted a few gifts from Mother Nature that hadn’t been apparent back when I’d been getting whaled on every day by assholes in the neighborhood.
Assholes like that bastard who’d taunted me about the heavy bag. Assholes I delighted in mopping up the ring with.
Assholes I would never let touch my Lily as long as I lived.
“I’d rather eat some of your bears.” I grabbed her bag of candy, hoping she didn’t realize how long I’d just resided in the gutter thanks to her innocent comment.
The problem with innocent comments when you have the hots for a girl? They get you harder even faster than dirty talk would from someone else.
“They’re yours, Hands. I’ve already had enough for today.” She yawned and reached for her to-go coffee cup. “I’m wasting the rest of my extra calories on my double-foam mocha latte.”
The nickname made me smile as I tossed some of the gummy bears in my mouth. She’d started calling me “Hands” back when I’d had that crazy growth spurt at thirteen, and I’d shot up a foot in a matter of months. Around that same time, her dad dragged me down to his gym.
You’re a man now, and it’s time to learn to defend yourself.
I’d learned, all right.
“Don’t forget the calories from your ink explosion,” I teased. “Wonder how many they have?”
She made a face. “Funny guy.” The phone rang and she held up a finger for me to wait while she answered it.
She’d been The Cage’s receptionist for about six months now, and she did the job as she did everything else—capably and quietly, with smiles and friendly conversation for everyone who passed her way. She’d told me she was signing up so many new members that her boss had mentioned a possible raise soon.
It didn’t surprise me. Lily was impossible not to love. I knew that better than anyone, and I was the guy who didn’t.
Love, I mean.
It wasn’t that I was incapable of the emotion. I just expected a lot from people, and they invariably didn’t live up to it. That wasn’t their fault. It was probably mine. But after losing my dad—who I’d adored in spite of all his issues—and then dealing with my mom, who tried her best but ultimately wasn’t really cut out to be a parent, I took guarded to a whole new level.
Only Lily—and Lance—had pierced that iron-clad cage I’d built around myself for self-preservation. Which was why I would never risk hurting either of them.
I’d hurt myself first.
“Another prospective client.” Lily hung up and made a notation on her pad. “He’s coming for a gym tour in an hour. Guess I better clean up first, huh?” She sighed and stared down at her skirt. “Good thing I have an extra pair of sweats in my locker. Not really professional for the front desk, though.”
“I’ll take you home to change at lunch,” I said quickly. Lily’s rustbucket of a car was on the fritz again, and she hadn’t scraped together the funds to get it fixed yet. Her dad wanted to help her, as did I, but she was stubborn and insisted on saving up for the new transmission herself.
She grinned and leaned across the counter to kiss my cheek. “My hero.”
A clatter sounded in the doorway, and we both glanced up to see someone struggling with a pair of ladders and a sawhorse. “Hey you two, feel like giving a hardworking guy a hand?” JC O’Connor’s brown eyes twinkled under a careless mop of blondish-brown hair. He always looked as if he’d rolled out of bed and shown up in whatever state he’d awakened in. “I’m down a few crew members at the moment.”
I’d made it halfway over to him when I realized his flannel shirt was open over his chest. And he wasn’t wearing any-damn-thing underneath it. Yet again.
I was used to seeing tons of shirtless men on a daily basis at the gym. This one, however, affected me in ways most of them did not.
