Romance in Color

by Synithia Williams

  He took her hand. “Thank you.”

  The wrinkles returned. “For what?”

  There was a mess of feelings swirling inside of him right now. Be careful, man. She’d made it clear certain feelings weren’t welcome in this friendship. We take them to the grave, she’d said. And he’d agreed.

  “For showing me a good time while I’ve been here,” he said.

  That got a smile, though. “You just want to see the red bra again.”

  “Absolutely.” But it was more than that.

  He struggled to name it. Again, the voice in his head warned him against making too much of this. He was just happy. Here. With her. But he couldn’t stay. Whatever he was feeling ended there.

  She looked away—like she knew what he’d been thinking.

  “It’s going to be a great field,” she finally said.

  It was, but a little bit of his happiness had been driven away.

  “Does your underwear match?” he asked.

  “Yep.”

  That put his smile back. “Is it a thong?”

  “You’re going to have to wait until we get back to my place to find out.”

  Take what you can get, man. Don’t be greedy. If this trip home had taught him anything it was that he was already one lucky bastard. Why push it?

  • • •

  They were spending a little too much time together. That was all. The rush of strong emotion she’d felt when he’d told her his plan for the field was nothing but respect and admiration made extra confusing by how much sex she’d had in the last eleven days. Sometimes twice a day. That was not normal for her. That was messing with her head. And it was nothing a little distance couldn’t cure.

  She felt the scruff on his face against her inner thighs, and sighed. Just a little distance. She wasn’t going to do anything stupid like walk away … until she didn’t have a choice.

  Her body bucked when his mouth landed hot and wet on her center. She sighed again as she settled into her mattress.

  It was already March. He’d be leaving soon. She needed to cram as much of this into the next three weeks to prepare for the drought that would surely follow—it was going to take damn-near Superman to turn her on after this man.

  A thrill shot through her at the tip of his tongue. She whimpered, opened her mouth to release some of the pressure, and decided that starting tomorrow, she would limit herself to sex with Cam every-other-day. It would be the start of weaning herself gradually.

  Her alter ego scolded her. Could we just enjoy the man’s mouth while it’s on you?

  She smiled. Yeah, she could.

  But the next day, when he popped his head around her doorjamb to ask her if she could leave the building during her free period, he had that look on his face. She was actually relieved she couldn’t. Today was a no-sex day.

  Then practice rolled around, and he showed up there too.

  “Defense on the line!” Coach yelled. “Twenty-yard sprint, twenty-yard stride, twenty-yard sprint, twenty-yard stride. All the way down. Set!”

  Tanya watched her teammates launch off the line when Coach hollered, “Go!”

  Offense would be next. They’d already done it twice before. That was enough to make her legs shaky and her lungs burn, but apparently it wasn’t enough to keep her from stealing looks in Cam’s direction. He wasn’t even breathing hard. Impressive. And those calves. Ridiculous. And those thighs. Sinful. Maybe she could start the every-other-day thing tomorrow.

  “Offense on the line!” Coach yelled, and Tanya glanced at the ceiling. Thank you, God. Because she couldn’t ogle Cam while she was sprinting and striding one hundred yards. “Set!” She crouched, focused on the twenty-yard line, and cleared her head. “Go!”

  By the time she finished the drill, yanked off her helmet, and made it back to the huddle, she was brain dead. Her limbs were limp noodles. And she loved it—lived for it. She smiled at MJ, and MJ smiled back.

  “Nice work, ladies,” Coach said as he motioned for them to gather around. “Make sure you spend some time looking over the playbook tomorrow.”

  “I can quiz you,” Cam said in a low voice behind her.

  That could be fun. Maybe she could promise to lose a piece of clothing for every answer she got wrong as long as he lost a piece for every answer she got right. Wait. That would take too long, and she was meeting with Terrell and her father after this.

  Back to the original plan. No sex … today.

  When the huddle broke, she cut between her coaches and made a beeline for the locker room, a little space and a cold shower would help increase her resolve.

  “Martin!” Cam called.

  She hesitated. “Yeah?”

  “You hungry?”

  Always. She faced him.

  “How about dinner?” he asked.

  “I already have plans.”

  “Why do I get the feeling you’re avoiding me?” He walked to her, glanced around the field house, and then lowered his voice. “Did I do something wrong last night?” He grinned. “Because it sure sounded like I did it right.”

  She smiled. “I can’t complain.”

  “Good. I was starting to get a complex.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Big baby. I’m just meeting with my dad and brother. I want to get to the bottom of the financial situation at the gym. We’re going to raise all this money and pay the mortgage debt, but I need to know if that’s going to be enough.”

  Cam nodded. “You want me to go with you?”

  Why? She wrinkled her face. No. That wasn’t necessary. He was just the guy she was having sex with. He was also the guy who was being exploited in order to save her father’s gym, but that didn’t give him a free pass to family dinner. Did it?

  “No, you should be home with your mom. You’re spending too much time with me.”

  “Never.”

  Oh, that made her tense even as warm fuzzies bubbled inside. It was nice to be wanted. It was. But it was temporary.

  “Besides,” he said. “She’s working again.”

  Cam’s mom had worked multiple shifts for as long as Tanya had known him. The hazard of being a single mom. And yet, she didn’t have the same financial worries now.

  “She works a lot,” Tanya said.

  “Too much.” A concerned frown bent his lips. “She says it makes her happy, but I don’t know how.”

  Maybe that had something to do with why he wanted his mother in Boston. Maybe he was worried about her. Or maybe his frown had more to do with being tired of sitting around an empty house while he was home.

  She could feel a change of mind coming on. “So, you’re just going to go home and watch TV?”

  He nodded. “While I eat cold leftovers.”

  Okay, maybe that gave him a free pass to family dinner, because it was sad.

  “Fine. We’re going to Ramsey’s,” she said. “You’re welcome to join us.”

  “Not Mary’s?”

  “Nope. I don’t want her involved in this conversation. When she’s around, my father gets weird.”

  “Parents,” he said.

  “Tell me about it.” She angled herself toward the locker room door. “So I’ll see you there?”

  He nodded. “Did you cave because you feel sorry for me not having anything to do tonight? Because if you did, that’s sweet.”

  She rolled her eyes to combat the hiccup in her heart. “I caved because you’re nicer to look at than my brother and dad.”

  Which was easily the truest thing she’d ever said once she was sitting beside her sullen-faced father—and across from Cam—in the quiet, dimly lit restaurant. “I said yes to this meeting because the gym was supposed to be your legacy,” Pop said. “But maybe I waited too long to pass over the reins. Maybe it’s too late.”

  “It’s not,” Tanya said. “The bachelor auction is going to bring in the money we need to pay off the mortgage, and then we will make a plan to grow the business from there.”

  “We already sold seventy-
five tickets,” Terrell said. “I deposited almost four grand into the account today.”

  “That’s a long way from thirty grand,” Pop said.

  Cam intervened, and by the time he was done telling Pop about his bachelor auction experience, her father looked hopeful, and she was certain bringing Cam to dinner had been a great idea.

  “See? You don’t need to hand over the reins yet,” she said.

  Pop moved his water glass an inch to the left and patted his silverware. “I want to.” He still didn’t look up. “It’s time. The last week has been … good.”

  Ugh. That made her think of the night she stormed his apartment only to find him not home, and the phone call that followed. And the friend.

  “Fine,” she said with a nod, not wanting the gory details of why things had been so good.

  A waitress approached, saving Tanya from the slim chance that her father would open up without being encouraged.

  “Excuse me, sir,” the woman said to Cam. “But that table of women near the window is convinced you play football. I’m not much of a fan, so I didn’t know. They wanted me to ask.”

  He looked at Tanya, and then said, “I’m sorry to disappoint them.”

  The waitress smiled. “And I’m sorry for the interruption.”

  Surprised and curious, Tanya leaned in when the waitress had gone. “Why’d you do that?”

  He shrugged. “You have important things to discuss. I didn’t want you guys to have to deal with the intrusion.”

  Thoughtful. Her gaze lingered a little too long and the air between them heated. She looked at her plate of deep-fried appetizers for a reprieve.

  “I’m happy to run the gym,” Terrell said.

  She looked up and managed not to roll her eyes. “As long as you don’t run it into the ground.”

  “Jesus, sis, your belief in me is crushing.”

  “Stop,” Pop said. “Terrell needs a job. I gave him a job. That’s all it is.”

  “So there’s enough coming in to pay him?” She highly doubted that.

  “Not exactly.”

  She rubbed her hands over her face. “Does the gym break even at the end of the month?”

  Her father shook his head.

  “Not even close,” Terrell said.

  She gave him a look.

  “What? I look at the books now.”

  A little too late. But she couldn’t fault him for that any more than she could fault herself. “Okay, then that’s where we need to put our focus, because I firmly believe this bachelor auction is going to bring in at least thirty grand. Now, we have to figure out how to turn a profit going forward.”

  Pop sighed. “If I knew, I would’ve been turning one all these years, but it was never about the money for me.”

  That was one of the things she loved and admired about him. She just wished it hadn’t taken such a toll. He looked older than sixty, and that scared her. Maybe it was a good thing for him to hand over the reins after all. She and Terrell could make the decisions that he found so hard to make. Like maybe borrow some money from Tag to update the place and make a real push at increasing membership and turning a profit that would allow them to easily pay back borrowed money.

  She glanced at Cam. He’d probably wonder why she didn’t ask him. But he was doing enough already. Besides, by the time the gym was back on its feet, he’d be gone. And she wanted it that way. No strings.

  She just had to keep reminding herself that.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Knock her out, Aunt T!”

  Tanya took her eye off MJ for a fraction of a millisecond, but it was enough time for MJ to tag her beneath the chin.

  Jace was here, and Pop was with him. It was the first time she’d seen her father in the gym since he’d put Terrell in charge.

  MJ leaned over the ropes and tapped her gloved hand on Jace’s head. “I would’ve knocked her out if that had been a full-strength uppercut. Put your money on me, kid.”

  Tanya bumped MJ out of the way with her hip. “She got lucky, because you distracted me.” She smiled at Jace so he knew she’d been teasing. “What are you guys doing here?”

  “Pop’s going to teach me to fight.”

  “To defend,” her father said. “He’s old enough.”

  True, but something else was up. Tanya could tell by the way her father stood stiffly with his hands in his pockets.

  “You want me to help?” she asked.

  “I want her to help.” Jace pointed at MJ.

  Tanya split the ropes and rushed the kid to put him in a playful headlock.

  “You’re going to warm up first,” Pop said. “Ten minutes on the bike.”

  Jace groaned.

  “Come on,” MJ said. “The new bike is open. Let’s get you on that before someone takes it. The older bikes are harder to pedal.”

  Jace didn’t waste a beat running off after her.

  Tanya loosened her gloves and stripped off her headgear. “Hey. What’s up?”

  Pop nodded. “I just needed to get him out of the house and into something positive.”

  God, how many times had she heard that said about any number of kids over the years? But her own nephew? A heaviness settled over her, and she frowned.

  “Is he getting into trouble?” She hadn’t heard anything at school or from other family members.

  Her father kept his head turned in the direction of Jace and MJ. “No. And that’s the way I want to keep it. I’m going to walk around for a little bit.” Off he went, hands still in his pockets, face carefully neutral. Maybe she should walk with him, trying to pry something more out. He seemed to have a lot on his mind. Maybe things weren’t going so well between him and his friend this week. But she just stood there.

  “Hey.” Cam. He squeezed her shoulder, and then moved on to her neck. Usually, his touch made her smile, but it was no match for the growing worry she felt as she watched her father walk around the gym he built, the gym he still could lose if this bachelor auction didn’t produce.

  “My dad’s here,” she said. “With Jace.”

  “That’s cool.” He rubbed her back, and then gave her a hard look. “It’s cool, right?”

  “Yeah. It is.” Whatever had brought her father here, he was here, and that was where he belonged. Like Aunt Grace would say, she didn’t need to be borrowing trouble.

  “Good. Now, tell me you have nothing planned tonight or tomorrow morning, because I have something planned for you.”

  “Cam … ”

  “What? You’ve been stressed. I want you to have one night with no worries.”

  Her eyes narrowed. That sounded a lot like something mushy and romantic people in long-term relationships would say.

  “Fine.” He lowered his lips to her ear. “I want you to be my sex slave for twelve hours. Better?”

  “Better.” She grinned.

  “Good. Then we have plans at eight o’clock. You hear?” He gave her ass a pat. “I’m going to go have some fun with your nephew.”

  Despite the tiniest hint of warning bells, Tanya joined them after she dumped her sparring gear into her locker. Cam was on the bike beside Jace, challenging him to ride five more minutes. MJ was making fun of how small the bike looked beneath Cam’s weight. Pure fun.

  “Okay. Grandson, come with me.”

  Jace hoped off the bike and joined her father.

  “That is so cute,” MJ said.

  It was, and she hoped it was something she would see for years to come, but the move to Chicago was still hanging over the kid’s head. It was yet another reason why she and Terrell needed to pay off the debt and stabilize this place—so Jace had someplace cool to hang when he came back to town to visit his dad.

  “Cam, my man!”

  Tanya turned to see Terrell walking toward them with a striking, familiar-looking blonde.

  “I have someone who wants to meet you,” Terrell said. “This is the one, the only Katerina Kloss, anchorwoman extraordinaire, and former Miss Ohio. Go
tta throw that in there.”

  He made a cheesy move with his hands, like lights were flashing somewhere, and Tanya rolled her eyes. At her brother. Not at the woman who wanted to meet Cam. She had no reason to do that. Really.

  “Wow, that’s some introduction!” Katerina grinned at Terrell.

  “I’m a fan.” He was practically panting.

  Disgusting. Tanya glanced at MJ to see if she was taking this all in.

  “And I’m a fan of you, Mr. Simmons.” Katerina held out a manicured hand.

  “Call me Cam.”

  “Cam.” It was breathy and full of admiration.

  Oh barf! The woman could be complimentary without going all fangirl.

  “Katerina, this is my sister, Tanya, and her friend, MJ,” Terrell said.

  The woman greeted them with a little less excitement than she’d greeted Cam with, but she was still very nice. Actually, she was flawless. Even her hands were perfect. Soft. Not a single workout-related callus.

  Suddenly, Tanya had the urge to invite her into the ring.

  “So a bachelor auction,” Katerina said. “Tell me all about it, and I’ll make sure you get the coverage you need.”

  Cam was on like a game-time JumboTron. Bright eyes and killer smile.

  “How much are you trying to raise?” Katerina asked.

  “Thirty grand,” Cam said.

  “Done.” The woman laughed. “I’ll write you out the check right now provided you take me to dinner.”

  Ooh. Ballsy. Normally Tanya admired that, but not when it was directed at her man.

  Her man. Where had that come from? He was her friend, and her temporary booty call. That was it. And while this woman was flirting with him, she was also offering publicity that could make the fundraiser a success and save Pop’s gym. That was what Tanya needed to be worried about, not whether or not Katerina had the hots for Cam. There was no room for jealousy in this arrangement. No way. She wasn’t going to start that crap. She’d been the one to say if either one of them developed feelings, they’d take them to their graves. And she was a woman of her word.

  “I’m flattered,” Cam said. “But I think a lot of people would be disappointed if we called off the auction now, and a few of them are here. Fellow bachelors, in fact. Let me introduce you.”