Dropkick My Heart: Powerhouse M.A. Series

by Winter Travers

  She threw her hands up in the air. “Then just take off the damn apron, and go get your man.” She thrust a box full of cookies at me and pointed to the door. “You have five seconds. Five…four…three…”

  “All right, all right,” I caved. “I’ll freakin’ go. It’s not like he’s going to want to see me.” I reached around and untied my apron. “If he wanted to talk to me, he wouldn't have left me with an empty storeroom and complete and utter confusion.”

  “No, he wouldn’t have,” Sage agreed. “But we’re talking about a man here, and half the time, they don’t even know what they are doing.”

  “Amen, sista!” The Moaners yelled.

  “When did my cafe become the Jerry Springer show with me being the main attraction and the Moaners the rowdy crowd? Huh, Sage?” I pulled my apron over my head and tossed it on the counter. “I’ll be back in five minutes. Have a huge pot of coffee and a tray of cookies ready for me to drown my confirmed heartache in when Kellan tells me to get lost.”

  Sage shoved the box of cookies she had packed up into my hands. “I doubt I’ll see you the rest of the day. Kellan isn’t stupid.”

  “Get your man, hon!”

  “Give the ol’ pow pow!”

  “Show him what you’re working with!” Each Moaner shouted.

  I made it halfway to the door and stopped. “What if he’s not there, and what is pow pow?”

  The Moaners cackled. Bess stood up moved her hips side to side. “That is pow pow, honey.” They all erupted into laughter, and I knew any advice from them was sketchy, at best.

  “Don’t make me have to count to five,” Sage shouted. She held up one finger, “One.”

  “Oh, for Pete's sake. You are all crazy.” I flounced out the door and headed around the building. Once I made it around the corner, I pressed my back to the building and looked up.

  “What am I doing?” It was Wednesday afternoon, and somehow Sage and the Moaners had worn me down, convincing me I needed to go and talk to Kellan. I hadn’t seen him since the meeting, and I wasn’t sure he was going to want to see me now.

  I had tried to act like nothing was wrong, and I was okay with Kellan and me not talking anymore, but it was killing me. I had no idea what I had done.

  “Molly?”

  Oh crap. I dropped my head and saw Roman standing in front of me. “You’re like a ninja.”

  Roman ran his hand through his hair and chuckled. “Um, thanks?”

  I shook my head, trying to get words to form that made sense. “I mean, I didn’t even hear you walk over, like a silent ninja.” Silent ninja? Sweet Jesus.

  “Oh, yeah.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at the box in my hands. “You heading over to Powerhouse?”

  My eyes dropped to the box in my hands. “I was just going for a walk, and thought I’d drop some cookies off.” Why did I always have to act like a fool in front of these guys? A walk, really?

  Roman smirked, and his eyes smiled at me. Yes, I swear they smiled at me. They just sparkled, and looked, well, happy. Roman looked younger than the other guys, and he just had a way about him that made me want to tell him everything. I clamped my lips shut, praying I would not spew my verbal diarrhea about Kellan all over him.

  “Well, I think I’ll head over to the cafe for a bit and grab a cup of coffee. Kellan should be able to take those cookies off your hands for you.” Roman winked and slid his sunglasses over his eyes. “Tell Kellan to call me.” He sauntered around the building, and I watched him ‘til he disappeared.

  Well, that makes one of the Powerhouse guys I made a fool of myself in front of today.

  Time to see if I was going to do the same in front of Kellan.

  **********

  Kellan

  Gum.

  Fucking gum everywhere.

  I was going to personally check every kid's mouth before they walked through the door. I had been pulling gum off the bottoms of the chairs the past half an hour, and I was slowly going insane.

  One second, I was moving chairs around, moping the floor, and the next, I was on my hands and knees with a damn screwdriver scraping the bottoms of the chairs.

  I managed to scrape a huge wad off, and I held it up. “And this is your life, Kellan.” Gone were the days of bringing home trophies and chicks throwing themselves at me. Now, I was a kid wrangler and gum scraper.

  I chucked it in the trash with the other pieces. Gum was now outlawed at Powerhouse.

  It was half past two, and I still had the other half of the chairs to look over. Thankfully, Roman had said he would come in early to help clean. Little did he know he was going to be in charge of checking the rest of the chairs.

  I stood up, arching to stretch my back. The damn mattress at the hotel had fucked up my back. I had meant to get to the chiropractor all week but never seemed to remember until I was in the middle of class, or they were closed.

  Even bowing onto the mat made me cringe. I laid down on the edge of the mat, behind the half wall separating the chairs from the mat, and stretched my arms over my head.

  I heard the front door open. “About time you got here, fucker. You get the honor of scraping the rest of the gum off of the chairs.” His footsteps sounded on the floor, and I closed my eyes, ready for his smart-ass come back.

  “I brought cookies.”

  My eyes snapped open, and Molly was standing over me, biting her lip. “Shit,” I whispered.

  “I always seem to make a fool of myself in front of you, so I figured I might as well start embracing my awkwardness.” She held the box out to me. “Hi.”

  I grabbed the box from her hands and set it on the mat next to me. “Uh, hey. Sorry I called you fucker. I was expecting Roman.”

  “He’s over at the coffee shop. I saw him on the way over here.”

  She was leaning against the half wall, and I couldn’t stop staring at her. Molly was like no other woman I had ever met. She looked just like she had the first day she had walked over with cookies—her dark brown hair piled on top of her head, skin flush, and her gorgeous green eyes trained only on me. The only difference was she didn’t have her usual apron on.

  “Don’t tell me you could hear me cussing all the way in the cafe,” I joked.

  She went back to biting her lip and shook her head.

  “Need a new name for a drink? I’m sure the mocha-latte-whip-a-bullshit is your best seller.”

  A smile spread across her lips. “I think I have that covered. I don’t think I can call all of my drinks whip-a-bullshits.”

  I gingerly sat up and leaned back on my arms. “I can keep guessing all day if that’s what you want me to do.”

  She cleared her throat and looked anywhere but at me. “I thought I would just come over, and you know, talk,” she mumbled.

  “We got something we need to talk about? I thought everything got taken care of at the meeting Friday night.” I was damn glad she had come over, but I had no idea where this was going.

  Her hands were clasped on the wall, and she shook her head. “I actually wanted to talk about before the meeting.” She pursed her lips, and finally looked at me. “If you want to,” she added.

  “Talk, cookie.”

  She sighed and reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear. “So, when Sage had called me out front when we were in the closet, um, you know.”

  “Kissing, Molly. I was kissing you.” A blush flooded her cheeks at my words. I wasn’t going to act like it didn’t happen. I’m sure she was here to make sure I didn’t mention anything to Gavin when he was in class. Finding out the chick you just started dating had been making out with some other guy probably wasn’t a good start to a relationship.

  “Yeah, you were. But when I came back, you were gone.”

  I shook my head and laid back down. “Are we really going to do this, Molly? I was gone because you agreed to go out with Gavin. I promise I won—”

  “What?” Molly gasped. “I did not agree to go out with Gavin.” She wrinkled her
nose in disgust.

  “That’s not what I heard.”

  “What do you mean? I’m pretty sure I know what I said to Gavin. The man asked me out two times, and each time I told him no. The last time at the cafe, he finally got the hint that I’m not interested.”

  “Molly, I heard you say that you would love to.”

  She shook her head and leaned over the wall. “I told him I’d love to, but I have to wash my hair every night for the rest of my life. If that’s not saying no, then I don’t know what is.”

  What? That did sound like something Molly would say. She was a bit awkward, but it was cute as fuck. At least, to me, it was. “That’s not what I heard.”

  “How long did you stick around for?”

  “I heard you say you’d love to, and then I booked it out the door.”

  Molly rolled her eyes. “You probably should have stuck around for the rest. He got pissed off and left without paying for his coffee.”

  Holy fuck, how did I get that so wrong?

  “So, is that why you left? I was five seconds away from letting you take me right there on the storeroom floor. You really think I could do that with you, and then agree to go out with someone else in the next breath.”

  I ran my hand through my hair. Now, I looked like a complete ass. Did I think Molly could kiss me then go out with someone else? No. But I didn’t know what else to think when I had heard her talking to Gavin. “I’m an ass.”

  Molly laughed. “Yup, I think we established that before.”

  “So, this whole time, we could have been doing a lot more kissing instead of avoiding each other, huh?”

  Molly pushed off the wall and headed towards the door.

  “Molly, wait!” I shouted as I sprung up. “Don’t leave.” I had been a fucking idiot before. I didn’t want to make the same mistake again.

  She laughed and looked over her shoulder. “I’m not,” she whispered. She slipped off her shoes and pulled off her socks. “I can’t come on the mat with my shoes on, can I?” She shouldn’t, but at this point, I would let her do anything as long as she didn’t leave. She slowly walked back to me, her hips swaying side to side. “I don’t want to piss off the karate gods.”

  And that right there was a perfect example of what drew me to Molly. She said what she wanted, and didn’t care if she sounded like a nut. Although, from the cringe on her face, she might care a little bit about what people though. “Karate gods?”

  She flitted her hand around. “You know, karate gods.”

  I chuckled and reached my hand out to her. “No, I think you’re going to have to explain that one to me.”

  She gently rested her hand on mine, and a blush rose on her cheeks. She slightly bowed and stepped on the mat. “Sometimes, it’s just best to go with whatever comes out of my mouth.”

  “I’ll have to remember that, cookie.” I pulled her close, rested her hand on my chest, and wrapped my arm around her waist. “So, you forgive me for being an ass?”

  She quirked her eyebrow and shook her head. “I think there might be some groveling in your future. You did, after all, think I was some hussy kissing you and going out with Gavin.”

  “I didn’t think you were a hussy.”

  She smirked and shook her head. “Mmhmm.”

  I leaned in and pressed a kiss behind her ear. “So, tell me what I need to do to make it up to you,” I whispered.

  She hummed and tilted her head. “I think maybe you could start with a date. Dinner?”

  I trailed my fingers up and down her back. “Are you asking me out, Molly? I thought I was supposed to be the one groveling here.”

  She smacked me on the chest. “I wasn’t the one doing the asking. You asked me what you needed to do to make it—”

  I pressed a finger to her lips. “Shh, cookie. I’m just giving you hell.” She gave a little growl, and a grin spread across my mouth.

  “Gee, I never noticed that you liked to give me shit. I had a stray straggler come in the other day wondering if I still owned my sailboat.”

  I scoffed and buried my face in her neck. “I really need to delete that dating profile.”

  She wrapped her arms around my neck and leaned back. “Please do. I think that will be step one on your path to redemption.”

  “Path of redemption, huh? I think you might be enjoying this idea of groveling more than you should.”

  “I promise it won’t be a long path. Just a couple steps.”

  I cradled her face in my hands and looked down at her. “And this path ends with you?”

  She closed her eyes and leaned into my hand. “If you’re lucky.”

  “I’m feeling damn lucky, cookie.” I pressed my lips to hers, and she melted into me. Her arms tightened around my neck, and she delved her fingers into my hair. This was what I fucking needed. I had been planning on going over to the cafe tomorrow, because I was desperate to see her, even if she was dating Gavin.

  She moaned against my lips, and my tongue slipped into her mouth. Molly responded to my touch, her body yielding to me. “Wrap your legs around me,” I mumbled against her lips.

  “The last time you said that, you left two minutes later.”

  I grabbed her ass, and she lifted her legs. “It’s gonna end a whole lot differently this time.”

  **********

  Molly

  I landed on the couch in the office, and Kellan covered me with his body. “What if someone comes in?” I gasped as his mouth assaulted my neck.

  “We’ll hear the door open.”

  I didn’t know how true that was. If Kellan was touching me, all I could focus on was him. Once I had laid my hand in his, I knew coming over here today was the best decision I had ever made.

  “Where’s your apron?”

  His teeth tugged on the lobe of my ear, and I gasped. “My apron?”

  “Yeah, Cookie. I’ve been dreaming of taking the damn thing off you and having my way with you.”

  I giggled and ran my fingers through his hair. “You do know, if you take my apron off, I still have clothes on.”

  He lifted his head and looked down at me. “My fantasy was more of you wearing only the apron.”

  I mentally made a note to bring an apron home. “Fantasy? About me?”

  He smirked, and his eyes heated. “Mmhmm, that one, and then there’s this one we’re working on right now. You and me, breaking in the couch.” His hands went to the hem of my shirt, and he slowly raised it.

  “I didn’t have this on the path to redemption.”

  He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my stomach. “Detour, Cookie.”

  A shiver ran through my body, and I gasped as he lifted the shirt higher, exposing my bra. “Kellan, I don’t think—”

  His head came up, and he licked his lips. “Just a taste, Molly. I just need a taste to hold me over.”

  His tongue circled my navel, and his hands went to the button on my pants. All thought fled as the button slid from the hole, and he worked the zipper down. “Lift,” he ordered.

  I raised my hips, and he slid my pants down, exposing my panties. I frantically searched my mind, trying to remember what panties I had put on today.

  “Is that…are those…My Little Pony?”

  Oh, sweet heaven above, today had to be the day I wore these panties? I closed my eyes and wished I would sink into the couch and disappear. Kellan’s body shook with laughter, and I knew my disappearing act wasn’t working. “Can we just move on from this and never talk about it again?”

  His hand cupped my pussy, and he pressed a kiss to the inside of my thigh. “Not likely. Although, it makes me wonder what other panties you have.” He hooked his fingers in the waist of my questionable underwear and worked them down my legs. “I’m really more into what’s under them.”

  Kellan sat back on his knees and pulled my legs up. “Kellan,” I gasped.

  “Drop your legs open.”

  I opened my legs and set one foot on the ground. “Are you sure?” I whi
spered. This was exactly what I wanted to be doing, but I didn’t picture it would happen here.

  “Shh, just a taste, Cookie.” His hands trailed up my thighs, and he leaned down. “A taste will never be enough, though.” He hooked his hands under my thighs and tilted my hips up.

  Anticipation surged through my body as he parted the lips of my pussy, and I felt his breath on my skin. I threaded my fingers through his hair and held on as his tongue found my clit.

  He rolled the bud around on his tongue, my hands gripping his head. He wound his arms around my thighs and held me down. “Easy, baby,” he whispered.

  “Kellan, please,” I begged.

  “You taste so sweet,” he mumbled. He buried his face between my legs, licking, sucking and tasting me.

  He flicked my clit with the tip of his tongue, and my hips rocketed off the couch. Holy fuck, did Kellan have a talented tongue? “Holy fuck,” I breathed out.

  “You like that, baby?”

  I moaned my appreciation, and put my arms behind my head. Kellan’s hand snaked up my body and pushed up my bra. The cold air drifted over my skin, and my nipple puckered under his attentive fingers. He sucked my clit into his mouth and swirled his tongue over it.

  “Sweet mother Mary.” My hands grasped the arm rest under my head, and my fingernails dug into the fabric. “Kellan,” I gasped, feeling my release approaching.

  His palmed my breast, squeezing as he nipped my clit with his teeth. “Are you going to come for me, Molly?” His voice was low and vibrated against me.

  I bucked my hips up, yearning for his mouth to touch me again. “Kellan, please,” I begged. This man was driving me insane, and I swear to God, he just laughed at me.

  “God damn, baby. I love when you beg.” I felt his lips smile against me for a brief second, and then his tongue flicked my clit. I slammed my eyes closed, feeling a full-body tremor rock through me.

  I bit my lip, arching my back, never wanting Kellan to stop. “More,” I purred.

  His hand skated down my body, sending goosebumps along my skin. His tongue sped up, flicking my clit, while two fingers drove into me.