Always the smartass. His apartment wasn’t that bad. Blake didn’t spend enough time there to worry about making it into a decent home. His time was spent sprucing up Rock the Gym and the obstacle course. Since Colton had a wife and kid, Blake often covered the evening shifts. The nights he was off during a decent dinnertime, he rotated his visits among his mom and siblings’ houses for a hot meal. They both worked on Thursdays when it was ladies night.
Because, well. Ladies.
Granted, he was there first thing in the morning as well, but mostly to work out or play on the course. Escaping for a few hours last week to go riding with Mackenzie reminded him of the five hundred other outdoor activities he loved doing. Which was what prompted his Mount Washington hike.
There wasn’t much he could do about his home right now, and since he didn’t have anything of value, he let it go. If Alyssa were around, following in her mother’s footsteps, she wouldn’t be a threat to him, just a nuisance.
Blake pocketed his phone, grabbed his wallet and keys, and headed out the door. Instead of running the course like he normally did in the morning, he spent some time stretching his sore calves and quads.
There weren’t any scheduled classes on Tuesday mornings, but the usual crew arrived, getting their workout in. Blake didn’t have a training session until ten, so he spent time in the office, periodically looking out through the large glass window to make sure the gym-goers were using the equipment properly.
“How was Washington?” Colton dropped his cooler on the floor and tossed his keys and phone on their shared desk.
“Good. We used to run that mountain a dozen times a year when we were kids like it was nothing. I only hiked it yesterday and my legs are feeling it.”
“You’re not as young as you used to be.”
“Says the AARP man.”
“What’s with the text? Looking for company?” Colton opened his cooler and took out a water bottle.
It must be nice to have a wife at home who packed a lunch for you every day. When Colton wasn’t looking Blake would often snag a sandwich—because Colton didn’t need three of them—or a muffin or something from his cooler. If he noticed, he never said.
Blake forgot to pack a lunch this morning so he hoped Ellie loaded Colton up today.
“Nah. It’s nothing.” He didn’t want to worry his brothers over something as stupid as a spoon and shirt out of place in a drawer. And if his sister was in town, he didn’t want to involve anyone he cared about.
Blake spotted his ten o’clock class and nodded toward the door. “Time to teach the kiddos.”
The group of geriatric best friends were a riot. The old men tried to one-up each other and Blake balanced between pushing them and making sure they didn’t have a heart attack on his course.
The rest of the day flew by, and when he closed up at seven he checked his cell for the first time. He had a dinner invite from Luke.
Perfect.
By the time Blake got to his brother’s, Luke had been called out to a small brush fire. He and Sage ate chicken fajitas, saving a good-sized portion for Luke, and watched an episode of Duck Dynasty together before he left.
His sister-in-law was cool like that. She complained about the Robertson’s beards and ugly wardrobe and he laughed at her repulsion. Knowing he had another long day ahead of him, he thanked her for the grub and headed home.
It wasn’t until he was home, propped on the couch flipping through channels that an unfamiliar wave of loneliness crashed into him. His brothers were probably lying in bed with their wives, and Rachael was with Jake. Colton and Ellie had their son CJ and Graham and Maggie had little Katie. Blake would bet his share of Mud on the Rocks that Rachael would be pregnant by the end of the year.
And then there was Lucy. Like him, she was flying solo and seemed to be happy that way. Sage had hooked her up with a good job and Lucy was quickly earning a reputation as a decent interior decorator.
Blake looked around his shabby place. Maybe he should invite her over, ask her to spruce up the place for him. He really didn’t care what his digs looked like, though. Roots hadn’t been something he’d planned on planting.
Although now with his entire life savings invested in the gym and the course, he should probably think about adulting.
Later. Maybe this fall. Summer would bring more new members to the gym and hopefully more sell-out races. While at the office today he’d come up with more ideas to bring in money. Instead of two or three big races in the summer, they could alter the course to a smaller, more popular 5K and offer it up as fundraisers for various local charities and programs.
Logging on to his laptop, he typed up a plan and sketched out new trails. Making these changes would bring in more media, more hype, more members. Which meant Blake would be sticking around for a long time.
Maybe he was planting roots.
Chapter Nine
Mackenzie
Between long hours at Coast & Roast and stopping by to check on her mom almost every evening, Mackenzie hardly had any time to think about anything other than the task on hand. She could finally walk like a normal person again and didn’t wince when going down her stairs in the morning. Trudging down was way worse than going up.
After tugging on her sports bra and Lycra workout shorts, Mackenzie sat on the edge of her bed to lace up her sneakers. She and the girls had a lot of fun at their every-other-week girl’s night at the Rock the Gym.
It had been a week and she hadn’t heard from Blake. Not that she’d expected him to call, or had been waiting by the phone. She’d wasted enough years being that person, the one who waited to be called on, the subservient woman worshiping her boyfriend because he worked harder and made more money than her.
She worked her ass off to break the mold of the woman her mother wanted her to be. It wasn’t Renee’s fault and it wasn’t bad parenting, it was simply the way her mother believed relationships and families should run. She was a product of the fifties, though born a decade later, and raised her children well, treated her husband adoringly, and ran a tight ship at home.
With such a big age difference between her and her brothers, Mackenzie was often overlooked when she was younger, and when Richie graduated from high school and moved out, she finally earned her mother’s attention, being her right-hand helper. Back when she was a kid, she loved the attention, but when she got into high school she started questioning her mother’s path for her. Still, she didn’t want her mother to be disappointed, and fell in love with a boy who had all the qualities her mother had said were important.
Financial security, respectable family name, a hard worker, and a nice person. Yes, Chad Warner was all of the above, but not honest. Sure, he’d treated her well when they were together, bringing her out to eat, bringing her gifts, taking care of her, assuring Mackenzie she’d never have to work a day in her life and that he’d support her.
Just like her mother had always wanted for Mackenzie. It wasn’t until Chad started working longer hours, missing dinner, and leaving for work earlier in the morning without saying good-bye that she began to question their relationship. The shiny bauble on her finger was supposed to reassure her that things were fine. Or at least that’s what Chad would say.
Maggie, her only sounding board, had left for college and didn’t offer advice when they’d talk on the phone, but listened and asked questions. The typical therapist best friend, making Mackenzie reflect on what she wanted in life, from a relationship. How she pictured her future.
And that was when she realized she wasn’t ready for the big house Chad had picked out for them to move into after their wedding, or the four children he said he wanted them to have. She didn’t like staying home all day in their apartment, keeping it clean and orderly, preparing meals that Chad would often miss.
She was only twenty-two and she was bored, had nothing to look forward to, and wasn’t happy. Kelly Berghoff showing up on her doorstep four months pregnant only weeks before Mackenzie and Chad’s wedding had been
a blessing in disguise.
More pissed off that she’d been such a fool than heartbroken over losing Chad, she’d packed up her few belongings and moved out. At the time, Maggie had recently moved back to Maine and bought a cute little home. Mackenzie had crashed there while she’d figured out what she wanted in life.
She applied for a job at the Main Street Coffee Shop and worked her way up to assistant manager, eventually buying the place when Winnie Missick put it up for sale. The woman sold it to her for a bargain and Mackenzie worked her butt off to modernize the old place, turning it into Coast & Roast.
After five years, the place was still thriving and Mackenzie had never worked harder or been so satisfied with her life.
Until Blake came into her world, tipping it just a tad to the left. She’d never craved adventures or the outdoors but she was liking it more and more. It had nothing to do with the dark-haired sex god leading her on these fantastic journeys. Sure, they had fun on their hike, but she’d made it clear that whatever was going on between them was purely sexual. She could have sex with a guy and still do stuff together and not be in a relationship.
Totally.
Mackenzie pulled on a tank top and brushed her hair back into a ponytail. She spritzed herself with a squirt of vanilla essence and grabbed her keys on her way out the door.
She noticed Lucy and Sage’s cars already parked outside the gym, and was thankful she wasn’t the first one there, nervous she’d jump his bones if she was alone with Blake.
“Hey, friend.” Rachael came up behind her as she opened the door to the gym. “You ready for the strawberry festival in a few weeks?”
“Me? You’re the one who does all the baking. All I do is stand behind the counter and sell coffee and your baked awesomeness.”
“And you never get to enjoy any of the fun because you’re always behind the counter or bustling around the shop.”
“I like being busy.”
“I hear you’ve been extremely busy lately.” Rachael winked as she swung her arms around, warming up her body for their workout.
“Hey brats.” Lucy plopped herself at their feet, slipping out of her flip-flops and reaching in her bag for her socks and sneakers.
“Nice hair,” Sage teased from behind, looking perfectly put together as always.
“I’m an artist. I need to look the part.”
“At least it’s not as punk rockerish as when I first met you.”
Mackenzie liked the look on Lucy. Her hair had grown out to past her shoulders but was pulled back today. The bottom two inches of her dark ponytail were dyed a deep purple.
“I like it.”
“Thanks, Kenzie. I knew I liked you better than my sisters. And sister-in-law.” Lucy sneered teasingly at Sage.
“Ladies, welcome.” Blake greeted them, offering a kiss to the cheek for each of his sisters and a quick nod of his head to Mackenzie. “Since you’re all now trained and somewhat experienced with each obstacle, I’ll run through the circuit I designed for you tonight and let you have at it.”
Blake completely ignored Mackenzie, checking in with each sister to make sure she understood the pattern of the obstacles.
So that’s how it was going to be? A total brush-off when she’d spent every night tossing and turning, smelling him on her sheets until she couldn’t take it anymore and tossed them in the wash? The man would pay for haunting her dreams every night.
Stripping her tank top so she stood in her sports bra and short shorts, Mackenzie jogged in place and whipped her arms back and forth across her chest, warming up for tonight’s workout.
Blake’s gaze darted to her then dropped to her chest. Plenty of women exercised in just a workout bra. Her boobs were more protected than in a bathing suit. When his jaw tensed and she saw the effort it took for him to swallow, she smirked and walked past him, purposely bumping her shoulder into him.
“I’ll go first.”
Mackenzie did a few squats and then reached down and touched her toes, knowing her ass looked pretty damn good in her shorts. She jumped on the mini trampoline and hopped a few times before leaping out to the rings, grabbing hold of one and swinging like a monkey.
Her arms were limp noodles by the time she reached the end, but she did it. Jumping on to the landing, she hollered out a whoop and did a fist pump before turning and supporting the other girls.
The girls cheered for each other while Blake stood to the side, a pained look on his face as he stared at her. Just for fun, she adjusted her boobs and smiled wickedly at him.
When everyone reached the end—Sage being the only other one who didn’t fall—Blake walked around the ring pit, making his way to the group.
“You ladies seem to know what you’re doing. Push yourselves, encourage each other, but be safe. I’m going to work with them.” Blake nodded toward a group of ladies contemplating the salmon ladder.
“Where’s Colton tonight?” Mackenzie asked Maggie, realizing for the first time that Blake’s partner in crime wasn’t here. Normally Colton led Ellie and the girls around.
“CJ isn’t feeling well so Colton stayed with him tonight,” Ellie said, a sad smile on her face.
CJ’s kidney transplant last fall was scary and beautiful at the same time. Colton had recently returned from his tour of duty, after losing many of his fellow marines and his own leg, and learned he had a nine year-old son. He stepped up and donated his kidney to CJ and fell in love all over again with Ellie. It was a happily ever after story Mackenzie could get behind.
Heck, all the Rileys’ love stories were sweet. But sweet wasn’t what she was after. There were things Blake did to her body that she needed him to do again. Soon. As in tonight.
For the next hour she laughed a little louder, called attention to herself more than usual, and smiled brighter every time Blake looked, or rather, scowled, her way—which was often. She could feel his dark, brooding gaze on her all evening.
Served him right for acting like their sex was nothing but…sex.
Damn. It was exactly what she wanted and here she was acting all girly and put out because he didn’t…put out. As soon as their hour was up, Mackenzie said quick goodbyes to the girls and hightailed it out of there, not once looking over her shoulder to see if Blake was watching.
***
Blake
The woman would be the death of him. Flaunting her body as if he didn’t have every inch, every curve, every freckle memorized already. He worked like hell to stay away from her, keeping their relationship on the down low, on the sexual level only.
Not that he’d had much time to do anything other than work and sleep, but he’d squeeze in a round or two of sex if she’d offered.
And she hadn’t. Blake had been the one to initiate their four-wheeling outing and the hike up Washington. He’d hoped she’d call with an offer to do anything. Stroll along the beach, hike, bike ride, go four-wheeling again, or more sweaty sex. Hell, he’d settle for coffee and donuts.
Ideally the morning after a night of sweaty sex. Blake wanted Mackenzie any way he could get her, and watching her work out in his gym when he had to keep his hands and dirty comments to himself was not what he had in mind.
After showering in the locker room and locking up the gym, he got in his truck and headed home. Only he turned left instead of right at the intersection of Harris Road and Main Street.
Next thing he knew he was pulling into her dark and vacant parking lot. Blake turned off the truck and looked up into the second floor windows above Coast & Roast. The lights were on.
Like a beacon calling out to him, a sign that she too wanted him to come up. He’d hoped the outside door would be unlocked, another sign Mackenzie wanted him to come over tonight, but it wasn’t.
She should have heard his truck or seen the lights from her window, so he waited for her to come down and let him in.
She didn’t. He knocked, not sure if she could hear him from the apartment. Still, he waited. Finally he took out his cell and se
nt her a text.
I’m in your parking lot. Can I come up?
Blake waited for a reply. Nothing. And then the sound of footsteps and the doorknob turned. Mackenzie stood in the doorway, dressed in loose shorts and a tank top.
“Did you want something?” The little bit of attitude she threw off turned him on more than it should have.
“You.” Blake stepped inside, slamming the door behind him with his foot and crushing his mouth to hers. He backed her against the wall and slid his hands through her damp hair, pressing his hard body into her softness, wanting her to feel just how badly he wanted her.
Soft protests turned into sexy moans and Mackenzie reciprocated, clutching his back and hopping up onto his hips, wrapping her bare legs around his waist. She pushed her pelvis into his stomach and did the same with her tongue in his mouth, riding him, taking and driving him mad with lust.
“Mack.” He lowered his hands to her waist and slipped them under the elastic of her shorts, cupping her naked ass in his hands. “I can’t make it up the stairs.”
“Take me here.”
Blake cursed as he moved his hand from her ass and brought it to his back pocket, praying he was prepared. Mackenzie bunched up his shirt and tried to pull it over his head, but his hands were busy holding her and searching through his wallet.
“Condom.”
“Hurry.” The urgency in her voice unraveled him and he nearly dropped her.
Since she couldn’t get his shirt over his head while his hands were busy, she grabbed hold of the bottom of her tank and whipped it off.
“Holy shit.” She wasn’t wearing a bra and her boobs were level with his neck. Lowering his mouth, he licked the top of one breast and she hoisted herself higher on him so he could have better access.
Mackenzie banged her head on the wall behind her. “Hurry up with that condom, Riley. I’m dying here,” she panted.
Blake cursed again and had no choice but to drop his hands from her butt and rip open the condom. “Damn.” His jeans were still on, buttoned and zipped, and he had a condom ready to go. “I need some help here.”
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