Marie Harte - Working Out

“I can’t believe you,” Shelby whispered in a mean voice. “Maggie is totally pathetic. She’s planning to be the next neighborhood cat lady, for God’s sake.”

“Relax.” Ron slicked back his hair. He looked so handsome and so happy, mostly because of the perpetual smile he wore since he’d begun dating Shane’s boss, Justin. Personally, Shelby thought things might grow serious between them. She wondered how her mother would handle her best friend finding a happily ever after without her.

Ron continued. “What your mother meant is that we’ll find Maggie a man since she’s so busy with her career. Isn’t that right, Mimi?”

“Reads me like an open book.” Mimi laughed and gave him an air kiss. “Now this Jameson. He’s rarely stuck around when I’ve been near. Why is that?”

Shelby wanted to crow with satisfaction. “Probably because he works a lot.” And no doubt Shane warned him to steer clear of you if he wanted to retain his sanity. “He’s a terrific guy. A little too buff for me, but he’s exactly Maggie’s type. Problem is she won’t open up and give him a chance. And he really seems to like her.” Shelby saw Maggie exit the hall to the restrooms and lowered her voice. “Shane seems to think his friend is head over heels for her, just too stubborn to admit it.”

Mimi glanced over her shoulder, saw Maggie, and whispered back to Shelby, “Then you sit back and let Ron and I handle this. That’s if Justin isn’t taking all your free time?” she asked with a sneer.

“Green with envy, yet still beautiful.”

“Don’t get that tone with me,” Mimi warned him.

“Maggie’s coming,” Shelby reminded them.

“Fine. I’ll handle Jameson.” Mimi huffed. “You two keep your men happy and I’ll stay out of your lives. But Ron, if Justin breaks your heart, I’ll break him in half.”

“Oh, so sweet. No wonder I love you.”

Mimi sighed. “All the good ones are either taken or gay, I keep telling you. Be thankful you have a good man, Shelby. Now let’s help our spiritual daughter find some testosterone to love.”

They were toasting and laughing as Maggie reached the table.

“Guess I missed all the fun.”

When they laughed harder, she frowned. But that suspicion wouldn’t help her. Shelby shook her head. Once her mother scented a man, she never stopped until she bagged her prey. Poor, poor Maggie.

Payback was a bitch.

Maggie spent the next week trying not to obsess about Mac. When he wasn’t ripping her a new one for some imagined infraction at the gym, she didn’t see him. Both relieved and upset about it, she threw herself into work. She hadn’t lied to Mimi and the others about needing to deliver.

She had three projects near completion, and two she’d recently turned over to Kim. With only two weeks left until Christmas and so much more to do, Maggie shouldn’t have had time to worry about a man she didn’t classify as date-worthy, even if she had been in a dating frame of mind. Mac would be great at sex, but she couldn’t see him catering to a woman’s emotional needs. Though he’d surprised her by being deeper than she’d first assumed, she still couldn’t envision going to a movie or a bookstore with him as anything but painful.

From what she’d seen, he was a man’s man. A tits and ass, muscles and fitness ex Marine who liked cars and guy things—which still baffled Maggie. The Speed Channel and vehicular fun had never done a thing for her.

And why the hell am I thinking about him again? She huffed a frustrated breath and finished with her latest sculpture, a shifting piece in blues and greens that made her think of the ocean. Maggie did her own framing, and she finished tacking a nail into the back of her frame and set it with the others.

One down, two to go. A glance at the clock convinced her to take a break until tomorrow. After she trudged back inside her apartment and had a quick shower, she threw on her robe and dried her hair, unable to sleep on a wet head during the winter. She hadn’t done much more than blow it dry. A glance in the mirror showed a sleepy looking blue-eyed blond in a soft but tattered purple robe that all but swallowed her in it. Pleased she would make her deadline next week, she decided to treat herself to some wine. Looking forward to her first free Saturday in a month, she decided to celebrate.

She’d poured herself a glass and started a fire. Her favorite television show aired in another ten minutes, and for once she wasn’t asleep or behind on work, so she’d enjoy it.

Settling under a warm blanket with the wine by her side on the table and the low murmur of the television, she’d found Nirvana.

And then someone knocked at the door.

“Damn.” Probably Shelby wanting to hang out. Shane must have ditched her. The guy spent every waking moment with Shelby as it was, so Maggie didn’t begrudge him his private time. But that left Shelby at loose ends, and Maggie had really been looking forward to having her own space tonight.

The knock came again.

“Hold on,” she called out and tossed off her blanket. She trudged to the floor in wool socks and peered through the peep hole. She froze. After a moment, she opened the door. “Yes?”

Mac Jameson stood in the communal hallway of the aging Victorian looking edible in jeans and a black leather jacket. In the hall lighting, his bright blue eyes glinted with some indefinable emotion.

“Here. These are for you.” He held out a bouquet of pink roses.

“Ah, what?”

The intensity on his face faded, and a smile took place of his frown. “That is one ugly robe.”

“Hey!”

He stepped forward and would have trampled her if she hadn’t moved back. Before she knew it, he’d entered her apartment and closed and locked the door behind him.

“Nice trick.”

“It’s called being persuasive.” He put the flowers in her hand and closed her fingers over the smooth stems.

“You brought me flowers?” Mystified, she didn’t know what to think. Was this another part of his nonsexual dating technique?

“You want them or not?”

“Yes, yes.” She hugged them to her when he moved to take them back. Flowers. When was the last time a man had brought her roses? “Such an ungrateful gift giver. Thank you. I love them.”

She turned and rummaged in the kitchen for a vase. After she’d arranged and watered them, she put them in the center of her dining table. “So pretty.” She glanced up to see Mac right in front of her. “Mac?”

“Yeah. So pretty,” he rumbled and tugged her to him using her belt.

Her robe parted just as he planted a warm, hungry kiss on her mouth. Maggie could only kiss him back, caught up in an inferno of unfulfilled desire. Everything inside her hungered for the magic of a man who didn’t hesitate to take what he wanted.

He broke the kiss and ran his mouth down her neck. “What are you wearing under this?”

“N-nothing.”

He tensed and pulled back. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“I just took a shower.” She frowned, wondering what it took to break the man’s resolve.

“I am so screwed,” she thought she heard him mutter under his breath. In a louder voice, he said, “I came over to say hi. You’ve been avoiding me this week, and I wanted to make sure we were still good.”

“I was only keeping my distance from a crabby boss with control issues.”

“Yeah, about those issues… Thing is, I want to fuck you.”

“O-kay.” The man’s thoughts shifted like the wind. “And this makes you crabby because…?”

“Because what I want from you is a little different from what you’re probably used to. I want us to get to know each other better so you’ll feel better about sleeping with me, my way.”