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She started out at a slow jog, for which I was grateful considering I had just finished ten miles. Plus it made talking easy. I wanted to demand an answer about why she hadn’t called me, but I had a feeling what her answer would be, and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like it.
“So I guess you’re feeling better? Suzie said you had a cold.”
“I think it was just allergies. I was being overly cautious. I know Andy has to get sick sometime, but hopefully not in his first week of life. And I definitely didn’t want to be the cause.”
“I get it.”
“I wasn’t avoiding you.”
I was about to respond with something devastatingly witty, but her watch beeped before I could figure out what that would be. She tightened her ponytail. That should have been my first clue that something terrible was about to happen.
She took off, dust flying in her wake.
Jesus.
I lengthened my stride and picked up the pace, but it wasn’t enough. I spent the next three miles chasing her perky butt around the fence that bordered the green pasture. Not that I was complaining. It wasn’t a bad view, if somewhat hazy from the sweat dripping into my eyes.
We arrived back at our cars, panting. Well, I was, anyway. She was breathing hard, but recovered quickly. I gulped down another bottle of water and stripped off my shirt to soak up the rivers of sweat running down my face.
“Those were six-minute miles,” I said accusingly. “And you thought you might be tooslow?”
She sent a meaningful look to my bare abs. “You don’t get a body like that with leisurely strolls.”
“I prefer long and slow to hard and fast, kitten.”Wall bangs notwithstanding.
Acknowledgment of the innuendo flickered across her face and her gaze took a languid journey down my body. I leaned against my truck to give her a better view, trying to make it look casual and not like I was a preening jackass. I felt like an idiot. Her face was already flushed from her run, and I couldn’t see if posing like Mr. July in a Ford calendar made a difference.
Then she sighed and looked away. “I deeply regret not getting you naked when we…”
She couldn’t say the words. I grinned. She was an odd contradiction of brazen and prissy. It was cute. It also made me want to hear those words on her lips in the dirtiest way possible.
I stepped forward, crowding into her space as much as possible without actually touching her. She didn’t give ground.
“You can rectify that mistake right now,” I said hopefully.
“I can’t.” But then her hands were on me, skating over my chest and shoulders.
A thrill of triumph surged through me.She touched me first.I was a sweaty mess, but judging from her hungry expression, she wasn’t bothered by that. “You can. I’m halfway there already, and I promise these shorts come off easy. Elastic waist. No buttons or anything.”
“No, I mean I don’t have time. I have an interview with someone who lives an hour from here. I need to shower, take Brandon for a quick walk, and hit the road.”
I nodded, understanding. Suzie had told me that Nora worked for a non-profit, and that most of her job consisted of interviewing clients to see if they met the requirements for disability. It entailed a lot of driving, because most of their clients were not very mobile.
I ground my teeth in frustration. Both of our schedules revolved around caring for other people. Nora had her job, I had Suzie’s kids and my parents. It didn’t leave much time for a personal life. But I was determined to make it work. We deserved sex, dammit. I just needed to get creative with time management.
“I run pretty much every day,” I said casually. “I’ll be back here tomorrow. I’m thinking I might get here at six instead of six-thirty.”
She tilted her head back, squinting to look at me in the bright sunshine. “Michael West. Are you suggesting that I, a responsible adult, break public decency laws by engaging in car sex with you, a man who is supposedly also a responsible adult?”
“I’m notnotsuggesting it.”
“Hm.” Her lips twitched. “I’ll be here at six.”
She gave me a little wave as she slid into her car. I waited until she was out of sight before collapsing in my truck with a long groan. I had just run the equivalent of a half marathon—the last three miles of which had been pure torture. I would be lucky if I could walk tomorrow, which should make our next run interesting and obscenely painful.
I grinned.
Totally worth it.
