Spar (Sweetbriar Lake)

by Rebecca Jenshak

  “What? You want to buy the apartment building?”

  Charlie shrugged. “Maybe. With the work you’ve done and the proper upkeep, it might be a good investment. There aren’t many rentals in Sweetbriar.”

  “You’re serious?” Chris studied Charlie. He could tell the wheels were spinning, and as far as he could tell, Charlie thought the idea had merit.

  “Think he’d sell if I was?”

  “For the right price, I think he’d sell his wife.”

  “Now that I’m not interested in.”

  “Good to know you have some standards.” Tori stood, her empty plate in hand, shooting a look at Charlie.

  “Ouch,” Charlie replied, but his eyes look amused as he smiled at Chris and winked.

  “Sweetheart, stop packing and come over here. You’re making me exhausted just watching you. I have guys that will come pack everything and move it back if that’s what you want.”

  “What do you mean, ‘if that’s what I want’? If you remember correctly, I never asked for you to move me in the first place.”

  “Has it been so bad?” he asked gruffly, catching her by surprise as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.

  He pressed up against her, and she gasped as she felt how hard he was.

  “Horrible,” she whispered in a breathy voice. She pressed back against him, her body aching for more. It had been too long.

  He ran his hands up and down from her shoulders to waist, brushing against her breasts with each pass.

  “I should shower. I’m all gross from the humidity.”

  He licked her neck, his warm tongue leaving a wet trail from her collarbone to her ear. “You taste clean enough to me.”

  Tori squirmed in his arms, a half-hearted attempt to break free. “I’m serious. Give me five minutes.”

  She squealed as he picked her up and carried her to the shower. He put her down inside the giant tiled enclosure and turned the water on, which blasted her with a warm pulsing stream. She looked down at her white shirt that had turned see-through. Her nipples were clearly visible through the fabric, and his eyes stared at them hungrily. “I can’t wait five minutes.” He moved his mouth to a peaked nipple, palming the other.

  She cried out at his touch and lightly ran her fingernails over his abs. The water had drenched him, too, and his muscles were outlined by the shirt that clung to him. She’d never get tired of the way his body felt under her touch. Hard, strong, big. The words didn’t do him justice.

  He pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it out of the shower. He went to work freeing her shorts next. He stared down at her with such intensity she forgot to breathe. God, she loved him, so much that it hurt to even think it. The words sat in her mouth, but she held them in. The timing was off. The situation was wrong. She didn’t want a sordid relationship with a man hidden behind closed doors. She wanted to be able to shout it from the rooftop and not have Ryan beat the shit out of Chris.

  She forced herself to be present in the moment, not a tough task as she watched him tug his own pants and shirt off. His torso still showed some signs of the fight with bruising along one side. She leaned forward and kissed along the purplish black marks. She took her time, thoroughly giving her attention to every inch that had been hurt before moving lower.

  He let out a guttural sound, and she smiled as she snuck a peek up at him. He was glorious. Head thrown back, eyes closed — perfection.

  She slid her mouth over his length, flicking her tongue at the head. His hands ran through her hair, guiding her without too much pressure. She wrapped a hand around the base and squeezed gently as he coaxed her slowly at first and then faster as his breathing became uneven and ragged. She felt close to her own release as she watched him unravel before her.

  He lifted her quickly and pressed her back up against the tile. The water continued to beat down on them from every side as she wrapped her arms and legs around him. She climaxed as soon as he filled her. He held her tightly, letting her come undone as he held her steady.

  Tori was in the closet pulling clothes from hangers and tossing them into a box that sat in the middle of the floor when Chris came out of the bathroom, towel slung loosely over his hips. He looked at the box and then the closet where her clothes had taken up a large section only minutes ago. “What’s going on in here?”

  Tori threw another dress into the box. “Tomorrow is my last day off until next week. I need to get as much moved as possible.”

  He moved between her and the box. “You know you don’t need to do that.”

  “What are you saying?” she asked, turning to face him. She couldn’t read the troubled expression on his face.

  He ran a hand through his wet hair, causing sprinkles of water to fall on his defined torso. “You could stay longer.”

  Her heart leaped in her chest at the implication, but she held her ground. If he was asking her to move in with him, then she wanted to hear the words. “Longer?”

  “Yeah. There’s no rush. Next week, next month…” He trailed off, breaking eye contact, and her heart dropped as she realized he was being kind, generous even, but he wasn’t asking what she had hoped.

  “What’s the difference if I move tomorrow or next week?”

  “The difference is I like you in my bed.”

  Her body heated as his eyes fell to her bare legs and up to where her thong was giving him an eyeful of butt cheeks.

  “Well, gee, when you put it that way.” She tossed a shirt at him and returned to her task.

  He moved closer, slipping a finger along the waistband of her panties and followed it around to the dip in her lower back and down along the thin scrap of material. “I’m serious.”

  With a few deep breaths, she steadied her heartbeat and fought the heat that was pooling between her legs. She needed to have this conversation without his penis being a part of it. Otherwise, she’d never know which head he was thinking with. She wouldn’t stay just to be a convenient lay. “I’ll be fine. You made sure of that with your enhanced security. That really wasn’t necessary, you know. Jake lives right down the hall.”

  He continued the torture with his fingers, moving them down and pushing his pinky inside. “I don’t like the idea of you needing to rely on another man to keep you safe.”

  She closed her eyes and gave in to the sensation of his expert fingers. “You’re going all caveman on me, huh?” she rasped.

  “Something like that,” he whispered in her ear, nipping at it softly. “Stay.”

  She moved her head side to side. “I don’t live that far away. Maybe, if you’re lucky, I’ll invite you to sleep over at my fancy new apartment.”

  He tossed his towel aside and pressed her up against the wall. “I like my bed.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Charlie and Travis were standing in front of the window, peering out, when Chris came down the stairs. He was running late, but the morning activities had been worth it. He frowned at the thought of Tori not being there tomorrow morning.

  “What are you two staring at?” Chris asked, falling in beside them. His eyes found Tori shoving a large box in the trunk of her car.

  He felt Travis watching him, but he focused on Tori. A lump formed in his throat. He’d known it was coming. Hell, he’d watched her pack the box last night, but it was something else entirely to watch her remove herself from his house.

  “You’re really going to let her leave?”

  “We weren’t living together, Travis. She was crashing while her apartment was being fixed.”

  “Hmpf.”

  Yeah, he wasn’t convinced either.

  Chris turned away from the window and pulled a mug from the shelf. This day was going to require coffee. Lots of coffee.

  “I need to run by all the jobsites today. You feel up to coming with me?”

  “Actually, I thought you could come with me today.” Charlie tucked his hair behind one ear and looked from Travis to Chris.

  Travis visibly relaxe
d at the second invitation. He nodded at Charlie and turned to Chris as if waiting for approval. He was going to have to give a little if he wanted Travis to stick around Sweetbriar long-term.

  “Good, that’s settled.” Chris filled the mug with coffee and felt a little of the tension in his shoulders relax as the aroma of the French roast filled his nostrils. His eyes fell to the silver key lying on the counter, the key he had given Tori. Fuck, she is really leaving.

  He plucked the key up in his palm and wrapped his fingers around the cool metal. “Heads up,” he called and tossed it at Travis.

  “So, that’s everything then?” She beamed at her brother, barely able to contain her excitement. “I can’t believe you were able to get that many fights scheduled. This may be the first fundraiser in the history of this town that people actually want to come to.”

  Ryan leaned back in his chair and tossed the papers down on the desk in front of him. “Thank Chris. I don’t how he did it, but he got Benny to help recruit.”

  “Benny?”

  Ryan nodded. “Yeah, nearly half the list is filled with fighters from his gym.”

  “He didn’t mention it,” Tori admitted and looked down at her chipped fingernail polish.

  “I heard the apartment is ready. You moving back in?”

  She looked up quickly, surprised at the suggestion. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

  Ryan cocked an eyebrow at her but didn’t respond.

  Tori scooted to the front of her chair, ready to flee, but wanted to get Ryan’s opinion on one last thing she’d been mulling over. “Anyway, I spoke to Susan earlier this week. She’s so excited and said they’d be here. I was thinking, though… maybe there’s a way we can continue to raise funds for kids and adults in need of sensory therapy. I have most the equipment already. We just need the funds and a permanent space for it.”

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “A monthly fight-night held here at Fit Club. It doesn’t have to be as big of an event as this one is, just one or two fights each time. We charge admission, give the winners a small cut, and the rest goes into a scholarship fund.”

  “I don’t know,” Ryan said, picking up the papers in front of him. “That sounds like a lot of work to plan one of these every month. Besides, even if we had more sensory clients, where would you train them?”

  “The Group Exercise Room.” She stood and held up her hands before he could protest. “Hear me out. We have three exercise rooms. Why can’t one of them be dedicated to therapy? Or at least the primary function. We could set it up so the equipment can be moved when we need it for other classes.”

  “It’s not a terrible idea, but right now, you only have the one client. It sounds like a big time-and-space investment. Let’s see how the fundraiser goes first, and then we can talk about it.”

  “Hey, sorry to interrupt.”

  The sound of his voice caused butterflies in her stomach. She turned to see him standing in the doorway. His tall and built body leaned against the doorframe, blocking her view of the busy gym. It had only been a few hours since she’d seen Chris, and she already missed him in the worst way.

  “No worries. Come in. We were just talking about Friday night. This roster is incredible.”

  “How did you get Benny to help you? That seems extremely unlike him.”

  “He owed me a favor.” Chris shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

  “I’ve got a class in five. Think about it?” she pleaded, looking at Ryan.

  He nodded, and Tori stood. She let her gaze sweep over Chris who hadn’t moved from the doorway. She brushed past him, grazing his arm with her breasts.

  “What was that all about?” Chris asked when Tori was gone. She’d had a wild look in her eyes and the body language of a woman with a mission. He guessed only part of that was aimed at him and the things he hoped she wanted to do with him.

  Ryan shook his head and motioned for Chris to sit down. “She wants the gym to host a monthly fight-night to raise money for more sensory clients.”

  He thought about that. He wasn’t surprised she was already looking ahead to service more people. She loved the work she did with Autumn. It meant something to her to help someone in need. He recognized that urge in her. He’d had that same drive when he’d started the construction company. “Not unreasonable. What else does she want?”

  Ryan scrunched his eyebrows at him and then shook his head with a smile. “You know her too well. She wants to turn one of the exercise rooms into a sensory room full-time. I’m not sure how I’m gonna pull that off. The rooms are in high demand as it is.”

  Ryan stared out the window of his office with his hand on his chin. It reminded Chris of how close the siblings were and how much Ryan was willing to do for his sister.

  “You should give her this office. It’s nearly as big as the exercise rooms.” Chris glanced around at the office. His work trailers didn’t really compare. Then again, he wasn’t spending a lot of time behind a desk, either.

  “Actually, that’s a great idea.” Ryan stood and opened the door to his office.

  “I was kidding.” Chris stood to follow Ryan out.

  Ryan’s face lit up, and he smiled as he waved toward the office next to his. “Tori’s office shares a wall with Exercise Room Three.” He walked quickly down the hall and paced outside the rooms. Tori was standing inside one of the exercise rooms, and a group of women were filing in for the next class. “We could knock down that wall, making the space larger and then split it in the middle. That exercise room would be smaller, but it doesn’t completely eliminate it for group classes.”

  Chris pried his eyes away from Tori and studied the space to see if what Ryan was suggesting was possible. “What about Tori’s office?”

  “That whole room can be her office. She doesn’t spend much time in there anyway. We can move her office stuff into a corner, and the rest of the space can be used for her clients.”

  “By we do you mean me?” Chris asked, knowing Ryan wasn’t going to drop the idea.

  He smiled and patted Chris on the back. “Apparently, you know me too well, too.”

  Claire sat on the bed in Tori’s room with poster board and markers laid out before her. “I don’t know if I should be having a second glass,” she said, holding her empty glass up. “I don’t think my drawing skills are going to improve with wine.”

  “I insist.” Tori filled the empty glass to the top and sat the bottle on the nightstand. “I have to unpack and organize my closet, and I hear drinking alone is frowned upon. How did you get roped into helping anyway?”

  “Ryan went all ‘But you’re so good at this kind of thing’ on me. And it was the only way I could think to help that didn’t involve being in the same room as Jake.”

  “You’re not coming Friday?”

  “No. I have a very hot date with Reed.” Then she said his name a second time and drew each syllable out slowly. “Rr-r-re-eed.”

  “Oh, God. You’re not going to say his name like that every time you talk about him, are you?”

  “Rr-r-re-eed,” she said again and winked.

  Tori laughed in spite of herself and opened the first big box waiting in her closet. She pulled out a dress and was hit with the familiar smell of Chris. She threw the dress back in the box and joined Claire on the bed.

  “I’ll do the round cards,” Tori offered

  Claire passed the black marker. “You’re avoiding unpacking.”

  Busted. Her normal need for control and organization was being overtaken by a greater pull to leave everything boxed up and pretend she hadn’t just moved out of the only place that had felt like home. “I hate organizing my stuff. That closet in there is way too small.”

  Claire didn’t look convinced. “Is that the only reason?”

  “Alright, I might miss Chris a little. Ugh. I hate being this girl.”

  “What girl? The girl in love?”

  “Love schmove.” Tori went to work on round cards
for the fundraiser.

  “What did Chris say when you moved out? I can’t imagine he took that well.”

  Tori focused on keeping her lines straight, already wishing she’d just bought cards for the event. She wasn’t nearly neat enough to pull these off without looking sloppy. “He was the perfect gentleman. He said I could stay as long as I needed, and even offered to have his guys move me back if I wanted.”

  “I’m surprised he let you go without a fight. This whole Travis-thing must really have him out of sorts.”

  “I dunno, maybe. I can’t help feel like I’m his secret hookup buddy.”

  “Secret?” Claire looked up from her poster, marker in hand. “Honey, it’s hardly a secret. Everyone knows you two are crazy about each other. We knew before you two figured it out.”

  Tori thought about that and wondered how it was possible everyone had known before she did. She was usually good at reading the vibes guys sent out, especially if they were interested in her. But Chris hadn’t given any indication. If anything, he had treated her worse than everyone else. He’d picked fights. He’d been standoffish. Was that some sort of revert-back-to-childhood thing where boys were mean to the girls they had a crush on? She didn’t like the idea any more now than she had in second grade. It was stupid.

  “Everyone but Ryan.”

  “Ryan’s not an idiot.”

  “No, but if he knew...” Tori cringed at the thought. She didn’t want to cause trouble between Ryan and Chris. They had been friends longer than she could remember.

  “Knew what? That you’re in love? Isn’t it better just to tell him the truth than to let him assume you two are just hooking up?”

  “I’m not so sure.”

  “You need Elle.” Claire’s eyes sparkled as she picked up her phone and began pressing buttons.

  Elle showed up ten minutes later with more wine and Chinese takeout. They plopped down on the living room floor with half-finished signs and markers scattered around them.

  “Ryan dropped me off on his way to the gym. I have one hour. What’s the emergency?”