by Natalie Ann
“I smelled the coffee,” he said when they were walking to the gym. “I ended up stopping and getting breakfast on the way to work. I stopped at Bryce’s wife’s place. It was well worth it.”
“Did you get Payton’s donuts?”
“Two of them with a large coffee and a muffin.”
“You eat a lot,” she said.
“They all looked too good to pass up. She recognized me from the wedding and the party. I told her I wished her cookies were there for the day but there was nothing yet.”
“She puts them out in the afternoon. Muffins, donuts, cinnamon buns, things like that she does in the morning.”
“If I stop there too much then I’ll need to work out more.”
When Jade swiped her card, she looked in through the glass at the pool and saw someone swimming laps. “Hot tub is empty if you want to try it out when you’re done.”
“After you said what you did about not knowing who was in it? No, thank you.”
“If you’re waiting for an invite to my tub, that might be a bit premature.”
He laughed at her. “I’ll end up in it at some point.”
“Now that is a challenge,” she said, flipping her ponytail over her shoulder and moving toward the bike again. He got on the treadmill a few over, put earbuds in and started at a walk and then a jog.
She was trying her damnedest not to stare at him because she was positive he’d be able to feel her eyes on him and she didn’t want to be caught.
When her thirty minutes was up, her legs felt like rubber and there was sweat dripping down her face. If she was here to work out, she was putting everything she had into it.
Brock got off the treadmill the same time she moved off the bike. “Where are you going?” he asked her.
“Arms today,” she said. “My legs can’t take much after that workout.”
He looked at her arms in her tank top, then her belly that had a nice big wet spot from the sweat. She wasn’t going to be embarrassed over that. She figured he’d be someone who could appreciate a woman giving it her all in the gym.
“Guess we are at opposite ends today. I’ve been doing upper body at home with free weights, pull-ups and pushups. It’s harder to do the lower body though at home. Squats only take me so far.”
“They look like they are taking you far enough,” she said.
The two of them got to work and finished about the same time on the mat doing sit-ups. By the time they were walking back to her place, he asked, “Do you mind if I use your shower again?”
“If you’re having breakfast with me then I insist.”
He bumped shoulders with her, a move she didn’t expect. “Maybe the same goes here too.”
“You’re one of the few men who has seen me sweat other than family or strangers, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit across from you and eat. Not only that, I can barely stand myself right now, I can only imagine what I might smell like.”
“Sweet,” he said. “You smell sweet and floral and nothing like a man when they are sweaty.”
“You’re smelling the lotion on me from after my first shower. It lingers more than anything. I suppose it’s better than sweat though.”
“I still think you’d smell sweet without it.”
“Now you are trying to butter me up for that breakfast.”
They got back to her place and she opened the door while he got his bag out of his truck. “Why don’t I take you to breakfast instead,” he offered.
“That’s nice, but if you don’t mind, I’d rather make it. I’m not one for going out all the time so I limit it as best as I can.”
“I find it hard to believe you watch your calories,” he said, his eyes moving over her and heating her up even more.
“Hardly, but I work hard to look like this and if I ate out more I’d have to work even harder.”
They both went to their bathrooms, showered and got ready. By the time she came down, Brock was already sitting at her island with a cup of coffee. She was glad he’d felt like he could help himself.
“I hope it was okay to make a cup,” he said.
“Of course. I wouldn’t want you to wait and I set it to start so it’s ready when I come downstairs anyway.” She fixed her own cup and then asked, “Omelets with ham and cheese work?”
“Sounds great. Anything I can do to help?”
“Nope. Keep me company.”
“Sure. What do you want to talk about?”
“You know, most men wouldn’t ask that. They’d just sit there and stare at their phone.”
“Then I guess you have been with the wrong men if they haven’t seen you sweat or carried on a conversation with you over breakfast.”
“I haven’t been with all that many, but I can tell you they were all wrong.”
“Care to explain why?” he asked.
“No, unless you want to say why you’re still single. And using your military career isn’t going to cut it.” When he picked his coffee up and sipped, his eyes grinning over the rim she knew he wasn’t talking. “That’s what I thought.”
“So, what are your plans this weekend?” he asked.
“Not much. Chores around the house. I might start a little Christmas shopping.”
He started to cough on his coffee and she turned from where she’d been getting the eggs out of the fridge. “Seriously. It’s barely October.”
“So?” she said. “I don’t like to rush around and it takes time to find the right thing for everyone.”
“I only buy for my parents, so it’s not that hard.”
“That’s sad.”
Brock shrugged. “It’s life.”
She decided to let that drop. “So, I know you mentioned looking at houses. You really didn’t narrow down things too much, but I have a client that mentioned a month or so ago they were moving and putting their house up soon. Not sure if it is, but it might be good for you.”
“Why’s that?”
“It’s close to the outside of town but still in the city limits. Has about an acre of land, so there are neighbors but not on top of each other. I’ve been in it before. Just the first floor. It’s a lot of space, probably too much for you. I noticed they had a pool in the back and a pool house, but not sure about a hot tub. I couldn’t tell you much more about the price or anything else, but I can give you the address if you want to at least drive by it.”
“Sure,” he said. “I can do that when I leave here. It’s a start at least.”
“Just like today, right? A start.”
He laughed at her and lifted his cup up in the air to signal he knew she was referring to something with them. “That’s what I’d like.”
“Then I guess we are thinking the same.”
14
Dressing the World
When Brock left Jade’s he was full in his belly, but empty everywhere else.
He enjoyed her company more than he thought and was shocked that he hadn’t wanted to leave.
But they had the start of something, even if he wasn’t sure what it was. And staying there longer than necessary would probably hinder more than help.
The element of surprise or anticipation might be needed.
So he left and drove by the address of the home she’d told him about.
The area was nice, much nicer than he’d be looking for, at least in his eyes. But it appealed to him for sure. He liked how the houses were spaced out. They didn’t look like new construction, but he wouldn’t put anything older than forty years either. Some most likely much newer.
When he got back to his tiny little apartment on the other end of town, he pulled up Realtor.com and plugged in the address. He’d seen a few houses for sale in the area and it’d give him an idea of where the prices ran.
Cheaper than he thought they’d be, but then he realized the houses in general were much less than what he thought. He’d been thinking of what his parents paid for their house in Annapolis. And though his parents’ was smaller and in a
more upscale area than what he’d seen today, he still didn’t think the houses were nearly as expensive overall here.
He pulled his phone out and sent a text to Jade that he’d like to see the house if her clients were going to move. He noticed it wasn’t listed yet so maybe he could work something out without a realtor.
He had less than a minute before his phone rang in his hand. Most communicated by text even if he hated it, but he’d thought that she was probably busy since she’d said she had some plans.
“Hi, Brock. That was fast.”
“More like fast that you called me back. I thought you had things to do today.”
“I do, but I’ve been cleaning around the house and doing laundry, making a list of ideas of gifts, moving my own clothes around.”
“Dare I ask why you need to move your own clothes?”
“Checking to see what is out of style, what I don’t wear anymore, what I might need.”
He started to laugh. “I have a feeling you need nothing. You probably have more pairs of black pants than I’ve got jeans in total.”
“We won’t go there,” she said. “But I do donate a lot of my clothing too.”
He shouldn’t be surprised that she wasn’t as superficial as many might think. She’d joked about the water bottles and how she didn’t buy them and since he went into her fridge he’d seen that was the case. She wanted to invest in his project when it was done, and now he found out she donated what he suspected were extremely expensive and barely worn clothes.
“Where do you donate them?” he asked out of curiosity.
“There is a not for profit for homeless or poverty-stricken women returning to the workforce. Those that don’t have the means for the proper attire and may not get a job because of it. Not all careers require a woman to dress up like I do, but they should at least have good interview clothes.”
“And I’m sure you donate your casual clothing too which is still work attire for many.”
“I do,” she said.
He’d bet she donated money on top of it. “Is that a passion of yours?” he asked. “Dressing the world?”
She laughed a little. “I wouldn’t say I’m dressing the world. Let’s just say that looking nice makes a woman feel good and confident about themselves too. Men probably don’t get that or understand.”
He didn’t to the extent she was saying and had to wonder if she’d ever lacked confidence a day in her life. “I’m sure for you it has more to do with looking nice and feeling good rather than needing a confidence boost.”
“Everyone needs one in their life from time to time,” she said.
Didn’t he know that. Not that he’d admit it to anyone though.
He’d never lacked confidence. He’d always been a take-charge type of guy.
He’d gotten it from his father. And though he didn’t think he had the diplomacy of his father to move up in the military ranks, he had the leadership and ability.
But that explosion knocked more than his body out of whack. It knocked his personal security of who he was and what he could do. Or could do to the extent that he’d done in the past.
It was a hard bitter pill to swallow knowing he’d never be a hundred percent again and had to make the difficult decision to hang it up. He’d never lead his men to do anything he couldn’t do himself.
Those days were just done.
Now it was more about dodging interns and kiss ass employees all over campus.
Political skills had nothing on this. He’d never thought it’d be this hard and had been rude to some, he was sure, even if in his eyes it was direct and honest.
“Anyway,” he said, not wanting to get into any of his own personal issues, “I drove by the house. It’s nice. Big. Has a lot of what I’m looking for from the outside but it’s not listed yet. You offered to reach out and see if they were still interested in selling...”
“I can do that. Brenda and Tom were nice people. Brenda wasn’t the client as much as she worked for the client. She’s an engineer and I believe she was trying to transfer out of the area closer to her husband’s family. This was a few months ago. I doubt the house has been sold in that time.”
“It hasn’t,” he said. “I checked and from the information on Realtor.com it hasn’t been sold in five years. I have no idea what they want for the house, but I checked out the prices of some close by for sale.”
“Let me just shoot her off a text and find out. I’ll get back to you when I find out more.”
“Thanks,” he said and hung up. As much as he would have liked to stay on the line to talk—which was a shock for him—he wasn’t going to hold her up and make her suspicious.
He tossed his phone down and noticed it wasn’t even eleven yet and he had nothing to do today. Maybe it was time for a trip to see Travis, so he sent him a message to see if he was home.
Two hours later he was stepping into their massive house, Ella opening the door and giving him a hug. “You are glowing,” he said of his best friend’s wife. Jade’s cousin. Shit, maybe this wasn’t that great of an idea.
Here he was thinking he could have some one on one with Travis and talk about a few things...maybe even Jade. And now he realized he’d completely faded on the fact it was Travis’s wife’s family.
“Thank you. I think it’s just happiness more than anything else. I feel great, which was a good thing so I could hide it from the family as long as I did.”
“Why did you feel the need to hide it?” he asked as he followed her to the back of the house. “Because of Violet?” Violet had been Travis’s daughter that hadn’t survived the premature birth after her mother died.
“Yes and no. So much can happen in the first trimester.”
“Your mother wasn’t too happy you waited,” he said of Jolene Fierce. He’d heard about her lecturing Ella from Travis. Hell, she lectured Travis and very few people would consider doing that.
“My mother loves to find a reason to lecture us. No one listens to her though,” she said, laughing.
“That’s the truth,” Travis said, coming out of his office. “Sorry, I just needed to check on a few things. Glad you could make the drive here.”
“Hope I’m not interrupting any plans.”
“Nope,” Travis said. “Ella is going shopping with her mother and Jessica for baby stuff.”
“Only Jessica?” he asked, surprised that the other girls weren’t jumping in too.
“Aimee, Nic, and Alex are working today,” Ella said. “I was in the office earlier, but I’ve been told a few hours is my limit and got kicked out by Nic who was prepping some desserts for tonight while Aiden stayed home with Anthony.”
He shouldn’t be surprised that even though none of those women had to work they all did, or their husbands stayed with the kids. “Guess shopping runs in your family,” he said before he could stop himself.
Ella smirked at him. “Jade?”
“Yeah,” he said and didn’t say anything else.
Ella grabbed her purse, gave Travis a kiss and him one on the cheek, “Have fun, boys.”
“Try not to fill your vehicle up just yet,” Travis said. “We don’t even know the sex yet.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Ella said. “That doesn’t mean anything to my mother.”
Once Ella was out the door, Travis said, “Jade? And how do you know about her shopping?”
“You know I’m working with her right now,” he said.
“I do. But shopping is a personal topic. What is going on?”
“I have no freaking idea anymore,” he admitted, then told Travis about the flirting and the gym workouts. The start of something he wasn’t even sure of and the house he was hoping to see.
“You’ve been a busy boy,” Travis said.
“I hadn’t really planned on talking to you about Jade like this. I guess I had hoped it might come up.”
“So, what did you want to talk about?” Travis asked. “Sleeping okay?”
“As best as I can. Y
ou know how it is.”
“I do,” Travis said. “But what I lost was different than what you did. I made the decision to leave because of guilt; you didn’t feel you had much of a choice.”
Travis left because he felt he let his family down. He wasn’t there for his fiancée or his daughter and lost them both. He couldn’t live with himself and left to help his father care for his ailing mother and take over the family business. Something he’d always known he’d do, just not so early in his life.
Brock would suspect Travis didn’t regret anything now in his life.
“I could have stayed in another role, you know that.”
“One you would have hated,” Travis argued.
“True. Nor did I need the looks and questions on if I was fine.”
“Are you fine?”
“As fine as can be. I feel like I’m blending back into society for the most part. Even the idiots that I’m surrounded by at work most days. The petty women are getting on my nerves.”
“That’s because you are thinking of Jade who is anything but petty.”
Travis was right on there. “I’m sure that is a big part of it. Anyway, once I get my own place and have some space I’m sure I won’t be as uptight.”
“Sounds like you might be more uptight in your personal life though. What’s the next step with Jade? And are you telling anyone?”
“No clue on the next step and right now there isn’t anything to say. Why would we? That would be her call or decision as it’s her family.”
“Have fun with that,” Travis said.
“You seem to be fine with it. Jolene is much worse than Jade’s parents are.”
“She is that. Speaking of the Fierce family, want to go to the pub for some lunch? I’ve got nothing but sandwich meat here.”
“Works for me. I planned on swinging by the brewery and filling up too. I can’t get everything I’d like around town and hoped they’d have it there in their store.”
“You know I’ll do one better and shoot Mason off a text to get you what you want. Tell me and he’ll have it ready. He’ll probably walk us through and let us taste anything he’s working on too.”