Winning Love (5 page)

“Gayle, right hand, blue.”

Twisting her body away from Mac, she slapped her palm on the correct color.

“Uncle Mac, right foot, blue.”

Muttering another curse, he stretched his foot from its spot on the green circle to the blue, bringing his torso forward, so they were once again facing each other.

“Hello, handsome. Good to see you again.”

“Can’t say the same.”

She chuckled. “If you can’t handle the heat, you know what to do to end it.”

“No way in hell that is happening.”

“Gayle, right foot, green.”

She peered around the mat. Her right foot was currently on yellow. Left on red. Green was behind Mac. This could prove difficult. She faced forward, and came nose-to-nose with a smirk—
a smirk!
—twisting Mac’s usually cantankerous lips.

Oh. It was
so
on.

With some careful maneuvering, she stretched her right leg between Mac’s and barely tiptoed the green. And Mac wasn’t smirking anymore. He was blanching as the outside of her thigh pressed to the inside of his. Yet he didn’t waiver in his determination to win. Stubborn, stubborn man. He had no idea what a weakness that actually was.

And the game continued like that. No matter how provocative Gayle got with her move choice—at one time she straddled him—Mac refused to give in. But with each play, the tension slowly eased out of his muscles, a light air started to replace the dark, stormy aura he always seemed to carry, and before the new mood could be ruined, Gayle gave him what he wanted.

“Gayle, left hand, blue.”

She slid her hand out from under Mac’s back, then reached between her legs for the blue circle. Biting off a curse, she strained for the circle and then collapsed to the mat.

Mac shot to his feet with his arms raised above his head. “Yes!”

The grin that stretched his mouth wide, revealing his straight white teeth, made her breath catch hard in her chest as an excited jolt zapped her low in the belly. The curving of his lips took years off his face and erased the haunted gleam from his eyes. He radiated happiness.

He caught her staring at him and the smile faded. “What?”

“You should really smile more often, handsome. It suits you.”

And she planned to make Mac Hannon smile a whole helluva lot more. Even if it was against his will.

Chapter Three

M
ac rolled over in bed and groaned, from both lack of sleep and the constant whirling of his thoughts. That damned
woman
wouldn’t leave his mind.

Why?

Because after he’d perfected a stone-faced expression and only allowed the occasional small smile to those he called friends, Gayle had wrenched a fucking teeth-baring, shit-eating grin from him—
without
him being aware of it. He’d been so caught up in the moment, if she hadn’t pointed it out, he might have never realized it. But she had, and he’d immediately wiped his face clean of emotion. She hadn’t missed a beat, though. She just hopped up, clapped her hands, and announced it was time to roll the dough.

During the hour that followed, she’d acted as if nothing had happened, once again making him relax. He’d caught his lips stretching at her clever phrases so often he’d stopped fighting the impulse. By the time they were done with the pizza and Lance had shown up, Mac had grudgingly admitted to himself that Gayle radiated life in a way that drew him—at least, until she threw her sexual innuendo at him. The uncomfortable moments where he’d felt more like an amateur fighter facing his first big fight instead of a pro who’d won against countless opponents were usually few and far between. Not with her. And he hated how green she made him feel.

Not that he had any plans to act on a single one of her suggestions. The weird attraction troubled him, though. Right now it was easy to keep things under control because she was so outrageous, but if she changed tactics…

He shook his head. He couldn’t think about Gayle anymore. She’d already stolen too much of his damn sleep. She wasn’t going to steal his day, too.

Tossing back the covers, he jumped out of bed, pushing thoughts of the infuriatingly irresistible woman out of his head. What he needed to do was fix shit with Lance. After his buddy had returned home, he’d taken Skylar out on a daddy-daughter date. Gayle had gone home, and Mac was left at the house alone. Lance and his daughter hadn’t returned until well after ten. He’d taken his sleeping child upstairs, tucked her in, and gone straight to his room. The message had been clear. Lance wasn’t ready to talk.

Today, though, they needed to clear the air.

Mac threw on a pair a of black training shorts and red cotton tank, then hurried downstairs to the smell of frying bacon. As he stepped into the kitchen, he found Lance manning one pan with sizzling strips and another with scrambled eggs.

“Smells good,” Mac said.

Lance glanced over his shoulder. “I always make Skylar breakfast before she goes back to her mom. She’s getting dressed. Piper should be here in about twenty minutes.” A click sounded as four pieces of toast popped up from the toaster. Lance motioned to it with the spatula. “You want any of this?”

“Nah. I’m good. Going to make a protein shake in a bit.” Mac perched on one of the stools around the island, studying his friend’s back as he grabbed two plates from the cabinet and loaded each with food. It seemed like Skylar did a lot of back-and-forth between her parents, which was an odd arrangement. “What kind of schedule do you and Piper have worked out for Skylar?”

A slight shrug moved Lance’s shoulders. “What we can fit in. I wasn’t supposed to have Skylar yesterday, but I had the afternoon off. Since those are so rare, I had Piper drop her off with Gayle before she went to work, so I could spend the rest of the day with her when I got home. Thankfully, I have an ex-wife who makes sure I get to spend more than a few minutes with my daughter.”

“Why don’t you cut back on a few of the jobs you take?”

The muscles in Lance’s shoulder bunched. “Some of us don’t have the luxury of being choosy, you know?”

This wasn’t the conversation Mac wanted to have this morning. Seemed he was making things worse, not better. He just needed to get to the heart of things. “I’m sorry about the other day. No matter what you think, that wasn’t me.”

“I pushed your buttons.” Lance faced him, leaning back against the counter. “I’ve had time to think on it, too. I shouldn’t have come at you the way I did. You’ve spent the last four years dealing with your grief in your own way, and you’re not with me for an hour and I’m all in your face about it. So, yeah, you exploded. I probably would’ve done the same in your shoes. In fact, I’m pretty certain. I felt anger rising just now at you asking why I didn’t cut back my hours.”

“Hey, man, I didn’t mean to upset you with that.”

“I know, but it did. The same way you got upset with my remarks.” Lance remained silent for a moment, then said, “About a year after you left Kansas, Skylar was diagnosed with leukemia.” Mac shot to his feet in shock. Lance held up his hand, shaking his head. “You were going through your own shit. She’s in remission now, but Piper’s insurance sucked, and so did mine. The approved treatments weren’t working, and the hematologist recommended something different. Of course, insurance denied coverage. But I wasn’t going to let anything happen to my little girl, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to happen because some suit in an office was denying her healthcare. So I found the money.”

“How?” Mac sat back on the stool, stunned by what he’d just learned. How had he not known? How could he have not been here for Lance?

“Piper thinks I took out a loan. In a way, I did, just not a traditional one. The truth is, money like that isn’t given to a guy like me by a suit in a bank.”

Unease curled in Mac’s gut. “Who did you borrow from?”

“There’re a few guys I used to gamble with. Remember them?”

Mac closed his eyes. “You didn’t.”

“I’d die for her, Mac,” Lance paused and swallowed. “Going to two rich-ass goons was an easy-peasy decision. I think you, of all people, would know something about that.”

Yeah, he did. He would’ve done anything to save Ally if he’d had the chance. Unfortunately, that chance had never been given to him. “How much do you owe?”

“A lot.” Lance shrugged. “It’s not like the movies, though. They don’t come banging on my door in the middle of the night and crack their knuckles, threatening to take out my kneecaps with a baseball bat if I don’t get them paid back on time. We have a loan agreement, just like I would with a bank. I pay a set amount each month, about the price of a really nice home. As long as I pay, we’ve got no problems. Except…” He sighed. “I’ve been doing this for two years…and I’m getting tired. But there’s no end in sight.”

Mac would never have believed he’d ever hear those words come out of Lance’s mouth. Mac surveyed his friend’s face, really studied it. The other day, he’d been too caught up in himself to notice anything except surface things. Upon closer appraisal, dark circles and bags aged his friend’s eyes. Deep grooves bracketed his mouth. Lance did look tired…exhausted actually.

“I can write a check right now, Lance. Help you out.”

“No.” Lance shook his head sharply. “Absolutely not.”

“This isn’t the time for pride.”

“I pay my own way, Mac. I always have. I always will.”

“If it’s that big of a deal, we’ll set up an arrangement like you have with these guys. Just a lower interest and stretch out the life of the loan for a few more years.”

“No. We both know how fast shit can happen. If you ended up needing the money you let me borrow, I’d never forgive myself. All I want you to do is help me train so I can win this fight and hopefully get a shot in the CMC. Things would be a lot easier if that dream came true.”

“Why don’t I just talk to Ethan Porter? I might be able to get you a fight without all of this.”

Lance’s jaw tightened. “No. I do this my way or no way. Got it? I don’t want to be known as the fighter who got into CMC because of a favor. I want to get in because I earned it. If I’m not good enough, I’m not good enough. All right?”

Inhaling, Mac nodded. Although at this particular moment he didn’t agree with his friend, he understood his need to prove himself and take care of his own. “Okay. We’ll train our asses off, then. How about we start right after you feed Skylar?”

A grimace contorted the other man’s face. “Got to go, bro. I have a repo out in Wichita. Big job.”

“How are we going to train if you’ve always got to drop everything for a job?”

A look of helpless determination gleamed out of Lance’s eyes. “Pipedream, right? It’s what I want, but real life has to come first. We’ll train. I was hoping to have my bills squared away before you got here, but it was slow at the beginning of the month, which put me behind. So I’m cramming in everything I can to make my bills. I’ve almost got it all. Once I do, we’ll get busy. Just give me a few more days, okay?”

“All right. If there’s anything—”

“Just be here when I’ve got everything squared away.”

“I can do that.”

Lance turned, lifted the two plates, and walked over to the kitchen table. “Skylar! Breakfast!” he yelled, then went to the refrigerator and grabbed out a carton of OJ “How did things go with Gayle yesterday? I was surprised she stayed over here. I thought she’d take Skylar back to her place.”

Mac shook his head. “You were right. She doesn’t have a filter.
And
she knows how to goad the hell out of me.”

“What do you mean?” The caution in his friend’s voice was unmistakable. Damn. Lance still wasn’t certain how Mac would react to stress. A pang thumped him hard in his chest.

“She’s able to throw challenges at me I can’t resist.” He watched Lance pour two glasses of orange juice. “She got me to play Twister, of all things.”

Lance blinked as he slowly lowered the carton to the counter, then guffawed. “No shit! I would’ve paid good money to see that.”

“I bet you would.”

“She’s good people. She has this way with life. She just goes with it. Doesn’t sweat things. It’s rare.” Lance inhaled then yelled, “Skylar!
Break
. Fast!”

“I’m.
Coming
!” came the child’s voice from upstairs.

“Gayle most likely never had any reason to sweat anything,” Mac said, once Lance stopped chuckling at his daughter’s irritated tone.

It was the only thing that made sense to him. People who’d gotten raw deals in life had the scars to prove it. And they showed. Every last one of them. His did. Lance’s did. Gayle came across as a person who had never been touched by anything bad. If she hadn’t, good for her. She was able to embrace life and all it had to offer—without knowing there was a dark side that could snatch the good away in seconds.

“Maybe,” Lance agreed. “Funny, now that you mention it, I don’t think Gayle and I have had a serious conversation about either of us since she moved in six months ago. Hell, she doesn’t even know about Skylar’s illness, unless Skylar has told her. Gayle is always clowning around, and you just have a fun time with her.”

Not shocking. He didn’t think this woman took anything seriously. “Does she really have a doctorate in meteorology?”

Not that she seemed dumb by any means, she just seemed the sort that didn’t stick with something for very long—a little on the flighty side.

Lance snorted. “She does.”

“And she actually works in her field, or is she like a career student?”

The career student would fit the way she came across.

“She actually works in her field.” The feminine voice behind him had Mac twisting around.

Gayle stood on the top step outside the screen door. His eyes locked on the black spandex shorts hugging the swell of her hips and barely covering the top of her thighs.
Holy shit
. He slowly lifted his gaze. A matching black tank top with bright purple trim encased her torso and breasts.

Typical workout attire he’d seen numerous times in the past on the women at the gym, but on Gayle…she wasn’t a tiny wisp of a woman. She was lush, curvy, and filled out her clothes in a way that made his gut clench.

He cleared his throat, trying to shake off the reaction. Hadn’t he just decided he didn’t need another catastrophe in his life? And Gayle would most certainly bring catastrophe.

“Hey,” he finally managed. The one word had a husky edge to it that dismayed him.

A grin curved her lips as she opened the door and stepped into the kitchen. “So…should I be honored or offended that I’m the topic of two sexy men’s conversation this morning?”

“Honored, of course,” Lance said. “Mac was just letting me know how you got him to play Twister.”

Mac shot a scowl at his friend. Why would he tell her that?

“Was he, now? And what did handsome have to say about it?”

“That he can’t resist your challenges.”

What the hell was Lance
doing
? This would just feed her impulsiveness. Not that she needed any help with that, but this would definitely not curb her clever tongue. Thankfully, the pounding of little feet sounded on the stairs and, seconds later, Skylar roared in like a whirlwind. Mac breathed a sigh of relief at the distraction as the little girl kissed her dad on the cheek, then ran to hug Gayle.

“Hey, cutie pie,” Gayle said, squeezing Skylar to her side but staring right at Mac. “You don’t say? You like my challenges, handsome? Want some more from Gayle’s bag of dares?” She winked at him and that dreaded jolt hit him low in the gut.

Fuck.
How was the woman always so
on
? She never missed a beat. Never got flustered. And it flustered the hell out of
him
, especially since she caused this new need to spiral up in him. One that seemed to be growing stronger the more he was around her—if his reaction to her sudden presence at the door was any indication.

He needed to get control of this right now, before the woman got any ideas. “What are you doing here so early?”

“Go eat,” she said to Skylar. She waited until the little girl was sitting at the table, scarfing down her breakfast, before she returned her attention to Mac. “I came for you, handsome.”

At the unexpected answer, his mouth dropped open as his stomach clenched tight again.
Came for him.
Did she have any idea how damn erotic that sounded? Of course she did. She was Gayle. Was she fucking with him again? She’d enjoyed the hell out of that yesterday.