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Emma crossed her arms. “How is that me supplying the meal?”
“Have to take it up with Flora—her rules.”
She hated feeling like a charity case, but even though she’d not been friends with these women in school, they were her friends now and she treasured that more than she could say.
Take a chance. Let them in. Have friends. “Okay. It’s a deal. Let me deliver this and I’ll give her a call to set up a date.”
“Perfect.” Dawson held out a hand toward her daughter. “Let’s get going, Greer. We have a lot of work to do.”
The girl bounced over to her, waved, and called out, “Bye, Mama,” before heading out the door with Dawson.
After tossing her hair up in a ponytail, she swiped the bags and went to her car. When it turned over with ease, she nearly cried with relief. She owed those women so much more than just dinner. With a wave at Greer, she backed out and drove through Rock Falls to Linc’s house.
Her heart skipped a beat when she noticed his large truck parked in the drive. Pulling in behind it, she took a deep breath before shutting off the engine. After retrieving the shirt from the bag, she climbed out of her car and walked up to the door.
She licked her lips and took a deep breath before pushing the doorbell. Mr. Conner answered.
“Hello, my dear.” He waved her in and she stepped inside before realizing she should have just handed the shirt to him.
“I was just dropping this off for Linc.”
Mr. Conner smiled at her and walked off, making a gesture to follow him. So she did. The man stopped at the door leading down to the basement where the gym was. “He’s working out.” A pat on her shoulder and she was alone in front of the door.
Not at all how she thought this would go. With a groan of frustration—or was that anticipation—she opened the door and walked down the stairs. Music she couldn’t even begin to name the artist of pounded in the space and she almost just tossed the shirt onto a bench and bolted.
That plan went to shit the second she saw him. Working out. Why she was stunned motionless she didn’t understand. It wasn’t like she didn’t know he was down here. But knowing it and actually seeing him, stripped bare to the waist, sweat dripping down the hardened planes of his body, was something else entirely for sure.
Holy manna from heaven.
And she thought she’d lost her thoughts seeing him running the baseball field. This was so much more. His burgundy shorts stopped above his knees but didn’t hide anything from her perusal. And there was a lot.
His muscles had muscles but even so, he wasn’t huge, like he took steroids or anything like that. He was just fucking gorgeous.
And she felt even more frumpy and out of his league than normal.
This wasn’t a good idea. She was about to step back and just leave the shirt on the stairs when he looked up from where he stood by the bench, one knee on it as he bent and lifted a weight. God, his hair fell forward and she didn’t even mind it was sweaty. That he was sweaty.
His leg didn’t move and she was mesmerized by the ripple of his muscles and the intricate tribal tattoos which snaked around his biceps and triceps—the more colorful ones on his forearms.
Whatever he was doing worked.
His dark gaze skimmed over her as he grinned and set the dumbbell on the bench.
“Emma.”
One word and it wasn’t fair. Low and deep, it rumbled through her. Making her not only think about but want things she didn’t need to consider. Chewing on her lower lip for a moment, she thrust the shirt toward him.
“This is yours. You know, from the other day, when you gave it to me.”
He stood and walked toward her, using a towel to run over his face. A whimper escaped her before she could clamp down on the needy cry.
“You didn’t call me last night.”
“Dreamed about you.” The words slipped free before she could stop them. She squeezed her eyes shut and thrust the shirt toward him again. “Take it.”
He curled his hand, that large strong hand, around her wrist and tugged. Eyes open now, she noticed him looking down at her with a smug grin on his face.
Damn it! She hated how he made her flush. How he made her long for things she needed to relegate to reading about in romance novels.
“If it’s any consolation, Emma, I dreamed about you too, but why are you giving me this?”
Was it a consolation? Nope. Not even a teensy bit.
“I’m out running errands. Dawson said you had a thing with Mitchell tonight and I didn’t want to leave it out on the steps. So I came here first. Now I’ve given it to you, I’m going to leave. I have to take my uniforms to the diner. So, there you are, and I’ll see you on Monday.” She slid to the left but he mimicked her move, keeping himself directly in front of her. “Excuse me,” she murmured.
