Authors: Angela Verdenius
“Sissy game,” Alan announced.
“Not a man’s sport.” Tim agreed.
Grinning at the lean vet and the
lean cop, Sam swung open the door. “After you, princesses.”
“Arsehole.” Alan walked past him.
“Next time you bring SJ in for a
check-up,
you’re
getting the thermometer.” Tim followed Alan. “Revenge
is sweet,
princess
.”
Inside the gym music pulsed from
speakers. A Rumba class was underway, men and women in leotards, tank tops and
shorts sweating and grinding to the music.
Once Alan would have been ogling
the women, but now he simply picked up five kilo weights and started arm
curls. “So, anyone got any juicy gossip?”
“Cripes.” Tim leaned against one of
the weight machines and unscrewed the top off his drink bottle. “Is this a
ladies’ session or what?”
“Or what, is right.” Stepping
onto a treadmill, Marty started it at a slow pace, quickly picking up speed
until he broke into a small jog.
Sam started jogging on another
treadmill, warming up his muscles.
Tim swigged from the bottle.
“So are you actually going to do
anything?” Marty asked his brother-in-law.
“I’m checking out the equipment,
trying to decide. Don’t rush me.”
“Your shirt says you’ve got
balls. You have a lot to live up to.” Marty broke into a run.
“I get plenty of exercise. Your
sister and I-”
“Don’t make me bench-press you,
Tim.”
“Ooohh!” Tim shuddered in
delight. “Big boy!”
“Yeah, isn’t he,” another man said
wistfully, eyeing Marty.
“He’s taken,” Alan informed him
without blinking. “Sorry.”
“All the good looking ones are.”
The man gave Marty one more wistful look before switching to Sam.
“Him, too,” Tim said.
“Shit.” He walked away.
“I’m flattered,” Sam said to Tim.
“Really.”
Tim looked at the man walking
away. “Seriously? Him?”
“No, that I’m apparently taken.”
Tim looked blank.
“By you, dearie. You big protector,
you.”
Marty snorted a laugh, lost his
footing and almost fell off the treadmill.
Picking up two kilo weights, Tim
tested them out. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
Grinning, Sam broke into a run.
The pounding of his and Marty’s feet rhythmically hitting the treadmills was
soothing in its monotony.
After ten minutes of running, Sam
started bench pressing weights.
Tim, who was sitting on a bench
with a towel around his neck and not a weight in sight, said conversationally,
“I hear your new neighbour has a dog.”
“Crusher.”
“Oh, so you know who I was talking
about.”
“Yep.” Sam moved his arms
smoothly, enjoying the burn in his muscles.
“Huh. How about that.”
“Yeah,” said Alan, “how about
that.”
Catching the tone of their voices,
Sam lowered the weight and peered over at them to find them all watching him,
Tim sipping from his bottle, Alan lifting five kilo weights, and Marty arm
curling ten kilo weights with ease.
“What?” he asked.
“So what’s she like?” Alan queried.
“Carly?”
“Oh, my.” Tim fluttered his eyelashes.
“He knew exactly who we were talking about.”
Dropping his head back on the
bench, Sam took a deep breath. “So?”
“So what’s she like?” Marty
queried. “I hear from Alan that she’s built real nice.”
“Alan said that?”
“I may have ad-libbed.”
“Come on,” Alan said. “I know
you’ve met her. I know her dog went after SJ and then embarrassed himself.”
“SJ didn’t embarrass himself.”
“I mean the dog.”
“Where’d you hear all this from?”
“I get around.”
“Sophie know that?”
“I mean, dumb arse, I’m a cop. I
keep my ear to the ground.”
“No, you revel in gossip.”
“Hey, that’s a chick thing. I
gather information.”
“Sam’s avoiding the subject,” Tim
said.
“I noticed,” Marty agreed.
Sam set the weight in the frame
and sat up. “There’s nothing to avoid. I met her, she’s nice, the dog is
small, and SJ wants to eat it.”
“What about her skinny partner?” Alan
asked. “Or is he her husband?”
“Her uncle.”
“You are shitting me.”
“Late life baby, apparently.
They’re more like cousins.”
“Huh.” Tim scratched his jaw.
“So she’s single, then.”
“Yep.”
Alan’s eyes gleamed. “You might
have a shot, mate.”
Shot? He’d had more than a shot,
but he wasn’t going to admit that, not to these bozos, friends or not. “Some
of us have more on our minds than scoring, Alan.”
“Bullshit. Scoring with my woman is
always on my mind. Scoring is always on the mind of every man.”
Marty looked at him. “It’s not
always on my mind.”
Alan just looked at him.
“Not
all
the time.”
Tim raised his brows.
“I have five minute gaps.”
Picking up the towel, Sam wiped
his face. Unfortunately, they hadn’t finished with him.
“Maybe you should go out on a date
with her,” Alan suggested.
“What?” He’d already long-gone
past the date stage. He’d hit home base without the date first.
“Date.”
“What is it with you three?
You’re married and suddenly you have to start match-making your friends?”
“Yeah,” Tim said. “We have to
wreck your life as well. Misery loves company.”
Tim looked about as miserable as a
miser who’d found a hidden cache of gold under his bed. Sam knew for a fact
that he was besotted with his wife.
“I’m a big boy, I can take care of
my own love life.” If he could get a handle on it.
He actually didn’t have a love
life. Was one session of hot sex a love life? No, that would imply more than
one session.
He’d like to have more than one
session with Carly. Yeah. Hell, yeah.
Marty’s eyes narrowed. “Huh.”
“Yeah, I see it.” Tim nodded.
Alan’s eyes widened. “You dog!”
“What?” Sam stood up.
“Have you dated her already?”
“No.”
“Then you’re thinking about it.”
His friends were too wily. If he
didn’t put brakes on this conversation they were going to find out the truth.
All three of them had been real rogues in their single lives, it wouldn’t take
much for them to realise more had happened than he was willing to admit.
“Maybe.” He stretched. “I
thought about it.”
“And?” Alan queried.
“And Debbie brought around her
friend. Hot brunette in a slinky dress and an ‘eat me’ attitude.”
“Whoa.” Alan’s eyebrows rose.
“So you’re taking her out instead?”
“Maybe.”
No way
. “No.”
“Why not?” Tim asked.
“I’m scared.”
Marty burst out laughing.
Alan shook his head. “Don’t
embarrass me.”
“Hey, you asked.” Sam packed his
towel in his gym bag.
“You ladies had enough?” Tim
patted his face with his towel.
“You’re wiping your face?” Marty
looked at him. “Seriously?”
“What?”
“You did nothing but sit on your
arse and gossip.”
“Your point?” Tim pointed at his
t-shirt. “Man, remember? I don’t have to prove anything. This says it all.”
“Hi.” A blonde with a cute
ponytail and freckles across her nose sidled up to Marty. “I’m Bunny.”
Alan’s eyes crossed.
Marty smiled. “And I’m married.”
“So?”
Tim choked.
Getting up from his squat beside
his gym bag, Sam saw Bunny’s eyes light up when they hit on him. Her gaze went
to his hands and her smile widened.
“Bunny.” She neatly insinuated
herself between the men, her attention focussed on Sam. “You are…?”
“Scared,” Tim said, followed by a
muffled ‘ooofff!’ when Alan elbowed him sharply.
“Sam.” He picked up the gym bag.
“Nice to meet you, Bunny.”
When he took a step to the side,
she matched him, bouncing in her small sneakers. “I’m a little thirsty. Would
you like to join me for a drink?”
“Sorry, I have to get to work.”
“Oh.” She ran her hungry gaze
over him. “My, you are built. What line of work are you in?”
“SAS,” Tim said. “He’s on a
secret mission.”
“Yeah,” Marty added. “Wheels up
tomorrow morning.”
Alan looked at Marty. “You got
that line from Sophie’s book.”
“How would you know?”
“Because the only wheels you know
are on your car, and the only way you’d know when they go up is when it tips
over.”
Bunny was practically slavering at
the mouth. “You’re a soldier?”
“No.” Sam frowned at his
friends. “I’m a nurse.”
Her expression went from awed to a
whole lot less, but then she brightened. “You save lives?”
“Uh…” Sam startled to sidle away.
“Don’t be shy,” Alan said.
“Bunny, Sam does important work.”
Uh-oh
. Sam glared a warning
at his friend.
Completely ignoring him, Alan
added, “He works in the sexual health clinic.”
Oh God
. “Alan!”
“Hey, she needs to know the truth.”
Alan smiled. “He knows his way around the human body.”
Bunny flushed a little, her gaze
growing eager. “Really?”
“Yep. He’s had his digit up so
many bums checking prostates that he actually strained it last week.”
Marty grinned.
“Had to have a splint,” Tim added.
God help me
. “Do you
mind?” Sam said.
“Of course not. That’s why we’re
still your friends.”
“Even though our little bum cheeks
clamp together when you’re behind us.” Alan smiled at Bunny, who was looking a
little sick. “So, shall we leave you two alone to get acquainted?”
But Bunny was made of tough
stuff. She took a deep breath. “Sure.”
“Sorry. Work.” Seven though his
every instinct screamed
run!
Sam smiled kindly.
“Okay. Wait here.” She hurried
off.
“What is it with you and chicks?”
Alan queried. “You’re more a rabbit than her name.”
“I don’t like being treated like a
piece of meat.”
“I loved it.”
“
You
chased
them
.”
“And I scored every time.”
“Not all the time,” Marty
drawled. “Once we were in here with Mike, and I got this card from a cute
sheila who-”
“Jesus, Marty, no one likes a
braggart.” Alan inclined his head. “Wait. Juliet is coming back for Romeo.”
“Hold your position, soldier,” Tim
said.
“No deserting in the face of the
enemy,” Marty added.
While Sam wasn’t happy with his
situation, his friends were getting a lot of amusement from it. They watched
happily while Bunny handed him an embellished card with her name emblazoned
across it in gold.
“Call me,” she said throatily.
“Ill give you a special discount.”
Alan choked, Tim’s mouth fell
open, and Marty actually took a step backwards. Sam was speechless.
Bunny winked and strolled away.
“Give me that card,” Alan
demanded, and snatching it away from Sam, he studied it. “Good God, I think
you just got propositioned by a hooker.”
“Is that legal?” Sam goggled at
it. “I don’t think that’s legal.”
“She’s not a hooker.” Tim took a look
at the card. “She’s an estate agent.”
“Oh.” Alan handed the card back.
“But are you sure her discount was for a house?”
“Maybe it’s rental on
her
property,” Tim suggested.
They snickered.
Except Sam. He gave the card a
look and sighed. Man, didn’t any woman see him as more than just a good body
with a pretty face? He wasn’t blind, he knew he was attractive to women, but
the way some approached him, it wasn’t seductive, it was downright sleazy.
Taking one look at his face, Alan slapped
him on the back. “Come on, Sam. Let’s treat you to bloke hour. Forget the
chicks, have some fun times with your friends instead.”
“Yeah.” Marty headed out of the
gym. “Let’s go to my place and have a beer.”
“That’s not fun.” Tim followed
him. “That’s degrading. You dress your dog in pink and it gives me the
creeps. Men shouldn’t dress their dinky poodles in pink.”
“Says the man who has a cat for a
son.”
“Al’s tough. He respects me.
Your dinky poodle doesn’t respect you.”
“She loves me.”
“And that’s not creepy?”
They bickered all the way to the
car.
“Cripes.” Alan got into the car.
“How about we go to my place instead?”
At the mention of seeing his
cousin again, Sam brightened. “What’s Soph doing?”
“Writing, I expect. Actually,
she’ll probably see me in my manly, sweat-drenched gym clothes and want a piece
of me. And who could blame her?”
A sock flew over from the back
seat and hit Alan right in the ear.
“What the hell…? Okay, which
dirty bastard threw that at me?” Grabbing the sock, Alan wound down his window
and threw it out. “Shit, the things you pricks do.”
“Hey!” Tim yelled. “That’s my
sock.”
“Then it needs to stay out there
until it’s been fumigated. Cripes, you work with cows. You’ve probably got
foot and mouth disease.’
“We don’t have foot and mouth in
Australia, you ignorant arsehole.”
Marty looked at Sam over his
shoulder. “Bloke hour. Think you’ll make it?”
Sam smiled. “Yeah, no worries.”
Because it was just what he
needed, a relaxed time shooting the shit with his friends. His muscles were
already a lot less tense.
After a pleasant couple of hours
at Alan’s home, Alan dropped Tim and Marty off at Tim’s home where Belle,
Marty’s wife, was visiting Cindy, then he headed for Sam’s house.
Sitting in the front seat, Sam
rested his elbow on the window sill and gazed out at the passing trees.