Sweet Spot (Summer Rush #1) (7 page)

Once.
“Not really. I don’t think I’m cut out for that life.”
In fact, I know I’m not.
“How about you?”

“No, I’m not looking for a husband either.” Rowan grinned when she elbowed him in the ribs. “Kids might be nice though.”

“You’re not going to tell me you’re one of those big, tough guys who turns to mush when you see a baby, are you?” And why did she find that prospect sexy as hell?

“Guilty as charged,” he said, raising his hand. “My little sister has a two-year-old, and I’m like putty in her pretty little hands. Anything she wants, she gets.”

She leaned her shoulder into his. “Aww, isn’t that sweet?”

“Don’t tell anyone,” he teased. “I—”

“Tenley? Is that you?”

She turned to see a customer she’d hooked up with a couple of times approaching, wearing a sharp suit and shades. She’d always thought he was sexy in a button-up, conservative way, but compared to Rowan, he just looked… vanilla. While Rowan was double chocolate fudge with sprinkles.

“It’s great to see you,” Andrew said, leaning in to kiss Tenley’s cheek when she stood to greet him. “It’s been a while.” He glanced at Rowan, who’d stood as well. “Hi.”

“Hey,” Rowan said, giving him a quick once-over.

“Rowan, this is my friend Andrew. He’s a regular at Walker’s place.”

Regular might have been a bit of a stretch. He’d come in once a week since they met two months ago. That was one month after Matt the asshat cheated on her, and she had been looking for someone to soothe her bruised ego. Andrew was the perfect man for the job. They had a good time together, in and out of bed, and neither one of them had had any expectations.

“Nice to meet you,” Andrew said, shaking Rowan’s hand as he narrowed his eyes. “You look familiar. Have I seen you at the bar?”

He’s clearly not a sports fan,
Tenley thought.

“I doubt it,” Rowan said, slipping his arm around Tenley’s waist. “I just started going there recently. Though I do intend to spend a lot more time there now.”

His meaning was clear—he wanted to keep an eye on her. She resented that he thought he had the right to “stake his claim” as if she were his for the taking.

Taking a subtle step away from him, she cleared her throat and smiled at Andrew, who looked confused by the interaction. “You haven’t been in lately. Been busy with work?”

Andrew and his sister each managed one of their father’s luxury car dealerships, which he claimed was more fun than other work since exotic cars were his passion.

“Yeah, I’ve tried calling you though.” His gaze drifted to Rowan. “I guess I don’t have to ask why you didn’t call me back.”

She didn’t want Rowan to get the impression their arrangement, whatever it was, was already exclusive, so she touched Andrew’s arm. “Sorry, I’ve been swamped too. Why don’t I give you a call in a day or two? Maybe we can grab some dinner?”

“I’d like that.” He grinned before leaning in to kiss her again. “I’ll talk to you soon. Nice to meet you,” he muttered to Rowan before walking away.

“What the hell was that?” Rowan demanded, planting his hands on his hips before turning to face Tenley. “You make a date with another guy while you’re out with me?”

His voice carried, and he’d already attracted the attention of a few kids playing with their parents and an elderly couple walking a small dog on the path, though he seemed oblivious.

“Would you please keep your voice down?” She was used to dealing with aggressive men, which meant she didn’t back down. Ever.

“Why would you want to go out with that loser?”

“You don’t know anything about him.”

Tenley knew it was his stupid male pride talking, but she hated people who made snap judgments. She’d had people looking down on her all her life. First because she was “trailer park trash,” and later because she struggled in school and fell in with the wrong crowd. She’d developed a thick skin and rarely cared anymore if people stared at her ink or trash-talked behind her back, but once in a while, someone said or did something to set her off in defense of a friend. Like now.

“Fine. You tell me what’s so great about him. Did he give you a few mind-blowing orgasms and—”

“I’m done,” she said before storming off. Not only was he making a scene, but he was making her feel as though she owed him an explanation. It took her back to another man and another time she’d rather forget…

“Tenley, wait,” he said, jogging to catch up with her.

Thankfully she was wearing running shoes and the studio was only a couple of miles away, so she kept walking. She didn’t need him to give her a ride. She didn’t need anything from him.

“I’m sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have said that.”

Her pace slowed, but she didn’t stop. She heard his footsteps cease. He was clearly waiting for her to give in, but she turned to face him, walking backward instead. “No man is ever going to disrespect me again, Rowan.”

Rowan was taking his frustrations out on the heavy bag when his brother walked into his home gym, eating an apple.

“Hey,” he said, straddling the weight bench. “What’s up?”

“What does it look like?” Rowan said, pummeling the bag.

“Looks to me like you need to get laid.”

He glared at him. “When are the painters gonna be done at your place?” He braced his hand on the bag as he caught his breath. “I’m getting sick of looking at you.”

“I thought you were going out for lunch with that hot little bartender,” he said, tossing the apple core into the wastebasket in the corner.

“I did.” Reaching for the water bottle he’d tossed aside, Rowan said, “But we kind of got into it.”

Reese chuckled, lying back and eyeing the weight on the bar before hoisting it over his head. “Why am I not surprised?”

Rowan watched him do ten reps, wondering if his brother was right. Maybe he should stick to one-night stands. “She made a date with some dude right in front of me.” He knew he wasn’t wrong to be pissed about that, but he should have been mature enough to take it up with her when they were alone and he’d calmed down.

“Seriously?” Reese asked before doing another set. “Guess she was trying to send you a message, huh?”

Rowan would have agreed, but he knew how to read women. Tenley was definitely into him. “Anyone else and I would have said she was doing it to make me jealous. But Tenley isn’t into games. She’s a straight-shooter.” And he loved that about her.

“So why do you think she did it?” Reese struggled with his last rep, so Rowan moved closer to spot him.

“I don’t know.” He thought about what had led up to it. He’d slipped his arm around her waist, trying to send a message to her friend that they were together. Maybe that had set her off. “We were getting along great. Then some jerkoff shows up and she turns on me.”

“You didn’t go all bat-shit crazy on her, did you?”

His brother knew him better than anyone. Reese knew Rowan got jealous when he was really into a woman. Which wasn’t often.

“What would you have done?” Rowan asked, reaching for a towel to wipe the sweat off his forehead. “Kept your mouth shut and let her—”

“I wouldn’t have acted like I owned her, and I’m assuming that’s what you did.” Reese sat up, rolling his eyes when his brother didn’t respond. “Of course that’s what you did. Isn’t that what you always do? You’re such a dumbass.”

He’d fought with his last girlfriend plenty because they were both jealous hotheads and didn’t trust each other. Turned out he’d been right not to trust Elle since she cheated on him.

“This girl’s different,” Rowan said, sinking onto the leg press machine. “She’s not like Elle.”

“But you treated her like she was.”

“Yeah.” Rowan barely knew Tenley. They’d only been out a couple of times, shared a few kisses. He sure as hell didn’t have the right to assume he was the only guy she was seeing. He knew that, but when he thought about her with someone else, it made him crazy. “So what do you think I should do now?”

“Is she working tonight?”

“No.”

“Perfect. Go to the bar and talk to her brother. You said he seems like a pretty cool guy.”

“He is, but how is Walker going to help me—?”

“Who knows her better than he does, right?”

“I guess.” Rowan considered his kid brother’s advice, wondering if it would make her even more upset if he talked to Walker behind her back. She hadn’t been very forthcoming about her past, but after a couple of pseudo-dates, he didn’t think he had the right to expect to know her secrets. “You think she’s hiding something from me?”

“I think you’re paranoid because of what happened with Elle,” Reese said, moving on to the universal gym. “Not all girls are gonna screw you over, you know. Though why you’d wanna get tied down with just one is beyond me.”

Rowan was thirty. He’d been single a long time, had more than his fair share of women, and he couldn’t shake the feeling it was time for something more serious. He thought about his recent conversation with their old man…

“Dad said something to me recently. He said losing Mom nearly killed him. Had it not been for us, he wouldn’t have survived it.”

Reese swallowed, looking as affected by those words as Rowan had been. “What’s your point?”

“Don’t you ever want to feel like that about anyone?”

“And risk losing them?” he asked bitterly. “No thanks, I’ll pass.”

It hit Rowan suddenly, like a sledgehammer upside the head. That was the reason his brother was still single. He didn’t want to risk falling in love because he was afraid of losing someone who meant everything to him, the way they’d lost their mom when they were kids.

“What happened to Mom,” Rowan said, his head down. “It was a fluke, man. Most people don’t die in their thirties.”

“But some do.” Reese put himself through his usual paces, barely breaking a sweat.

“You can’t go on being afraid, you know. Mom wouldn’t have wanted that for you.”

“I’m not afraid of shit,” he said, breathing between reps as he moved on to pull-ups.

Reese was pretty fearless when it came to most things. He’d gone skydiving, rock climbing, white water rafting. Hell, he’d even driven his buddy’s race car at death-defying speeds and lived to tell about it. But he’d never been in love, and Rowan been too self-absorbed to ask why. Until now.

“Why haven’t you ever gotten serious with anyone?” Rowan asked, thinking about the dozens of beautiful women his brother had introduced him to over the years, women who would have done anything to be Reese’s one and only.

“Don’t need the hassle,” he said, reaching for a clean white towel from the stack Rowan’s cleaning lady kept on a shelf in the closet.

Rowan made his way over to the water cooler. “Maybe you’d be happier,” he said as he filled and drained a plastic cup before tossing it in the trash. “You wouldn’t be drifting like you are. Mad at yourself and the world.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” he asked, looking at Rowan as though he suspected his brother was high. “Where is this coming from?”

“You’re so cynical. Down on women, your profession, your neighborhood, everything. Everything sucks. You ever consider maybe you’re the problem?” Rowan didn’t want to be cruel, but somebody had to call Reese out. As his best friend and brother, he was the logical choice.

“Worry about your own life,” Reese said, tossing the sweat-drenched towel at Rowan. “I’ve got mine under control.”

Rowan reached for his phone when it buzzed, hoping it would be Tenley. No such luck. “Hey, Ace. What’s up, man?”

“I just got off the phone with your girl. Is she as hot as she sounds?”

That was when he remembered he’d texted Ace when he and Tenley were at the deli, suggesting he call her roommate because he thought they might hit it off. The beautiful blonde was just his friend’s type.

“Yeah, she’s hot. You guys getting together, or what?”

“Yeah, tonight. You and Tenley wanna come?”

“Uh, I don’t think she would wanna see me right now.”

“Uh-oh, what happened? I thought you were really in to her.”

Rowan rarely talked to his friends about the girls he dated, but Ace got him the way few other people did. Ace knew he was ready to find a good girl and stop chasing tail.

“Apparently some other dude’s just as into her,” he said, clenching his fist as he paced the gym, remembering her interaction with the guy in the park.

“That’s no surprise,” Ace said, laughing. “I’m sure lots of guys are into her. She’s a rocket, man. Not to mention where she works. She must get hit on all the time.”

“Yeah, but it happened right in front of me, and she didn’t blow him off.” Rowan raked a hand through his damp hair. “In fact, she was the one who suggested they get together for dinner next week.”

“So you’re thinking she might be another Elle? If so, better you found out now, right?”

“No, she’s not like that,” he said, thinking about his ex and how different she and Tenley were. Elle was flirtatious. She fed off attention from other men and got off on Rowan’s reaction. Instead of instigating a fight, Tenley had walked away.

“How can you be sure?”

He headed down the hall to the bathroom, planning to take a shower. “I knew right off Elle was bad news. Hell, she dumped her boyfriend to get with me. I ignored my gut ’cause she was so hot. I won’t make that mistake again.”

“So where do things stand with you and Tenley? You think you’ll see her again?”

Rowan closed the bathroom door, leaning against it. “I want to.”

“You gonna call her?”

“I don’t know. I might give it a couple of days, let her cool off.” He considered his brother’s advice. “Reese thinks I should talk to her brother, try to get a feel for where her head’s at before I get in too deep. What do you think?”

“Might not be a bad idea,” Ace conceded. “If you think she’s worth the trouble.”

“She’s definitely worth it. No question about that.”

***

Walker was slammed when Rowan walked into the bar that night, yet he still made his way over and shook Rowan’s hand. “Hey, man. Good to see you again. My sister isn’t in tonight, if you’re looking for her.”