Boycotts and Barflies (15 page)

Michael wiped his face with his towel and laughed. “Good. I’m glad you feel better, Grace. And see? We both accomplished something: you increased your stamina, and I worked on my strength.”

Her eyes wandered over his arms and chest, taking in the thick, glistening muscles exposed by his form-fitting tank top. His body was definitely built for both strength and sin.

“I … uh … see them,” Grace muttered somewhat incoherently.

Michael reached for her hand. “You can’t tell anything about muscles by looking at them, Grace. You really have to feel them to appreciate them.” Before she knew what was happening, he took her hands and ran them across his rock hard abs. “What do you think?” he asked innocently even though his actions were anything but.

“Wow.” Grace exhaled loudly as her fingers danced over his sculpted body.

The flustered look on her face must have been the reacti on he was hoping for, because the biggest grin came over his face. As Grace looked down, her hands were clinging to the sides of his tank top for dear life. She gasped in embarrassment and released his shirt. “We need to go, Bianca. Now.” Grabbing her friend’s arm, she whipped her around, heading for the locker rooms as quickly as possible.

Once inside, Grace sat down on the bench, her heart racing, and stifled the urge to squeal like a schoolgirl. Instead, she opted for the very mature, “Oh.

My. God!”

Bianca kept chanting “Manolo, Manolo, Manolo, Manolo” as she rocked back and forth, gripping the seat of the bench with white knuckles.

“Do I even want to know what Jack whispered in your ear? You actually blushed, do you know that? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you blush before,  Bianca.”

“When you said we were hitting the showers, he … he asked me if I needed any  help,” she said breathlessly. Grace couldn’t help but laugh, knowing it took  every ounce of Bianca’s self control not to throw herself at Jack right there in

the middle of the gym. If it wasn’t for the bet, security would have been called

to the women’s locker room by now for sure.

Grace heard her friend start to mumble as she grabbed her toiletries and

stormed off to the showers. “Stupid boycott. What  the hell was I thinking?”

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The time under the hot stream of water allowed Grace to clear her head and

focus on the task at hand: winning the bet. She just had to make it three more  weeks. Twenty- one simple days. She could do this. While she was conditioning  her hair, she decided that if she just kept at least a foot between herself and  Michael at all times, that would help tremendously. Her head would remain  clearer if she wasn’t inches from his face, and his lips —especially his lips. Bianca looked refreshed as she exited the shower, towel wrapped tightly  around her head, hiding her long red locks. They chatted about who they still  needed to shop for Christmas gifts for in their families, and decided to try and  squeeze in a quick trip to the mall sometime this week to finish up. Meg would  be thrilled.

Their hair dried and bodies moisturized, they went back to the lockers to put on clean clothes. A familiar song that now made her heart race started playing as Grace threw on her jeans. Bianca’s eyes were huge as she waited for Grace to

answer it.

“Michael?”

“Where are you?”

“In the locker room. Why?”

“Oh, good. I thought I’d missed you. I’ll see you in a minute.”

“What was that about?” Bianca asked suspiciously as Grace slipped the phone  into her bag, smiling.

“I have no idea. I think they thought we’d left already. He said he’d see me in a  minute.” Grace shrugged and finished dressing. With their bags packed, the  girls headed out of the locker room to find Michael and Jack waiting for them. Both men had showered and dressed too, their hair still damp on their heads.  They were leaning against the wall, their gym bags in a pile on the floor.

Big smiles welcomed the girls as they approached.

“You two are the slowest humans on Earth !” Jack laughed.

“Looking this good takes time, Jack. Are you complaining?” Bianca sauntered  over and leaned against the wall next to him.

“Nope. No complaints here. Come on, let’s walk.” He took Bianca by the hand  and led her toward the front door.

Michael gave a small nod to his friend and then turned his attention back to

Grace.

“I’ll meet you at the car,” Bianca called over her shoulder with a wave.

“So,” Grace nervously looked at the ground. “What’s up?”

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“Nothing. I just wanted to see you before you left.” He reached out and gently  took her hand in his and pulled her a little closer. They were barely Grace’s  recommended twelve inches apart, and her head was already starting to  swoon at the clean, spicy smell of his soap.

“Oh,” she mumbled. For some reason, when his fingers laced through Grace’s,  she instinctively tightened her grip on his warm hand. The smile on his face  grew bigger.

“Did you know that Meg gave Ryan a printed copy of the rules for your

boycott?”

Grace laughed and shook her head. “It doesn’t surprise me, though. She taped a  copy to my mirror this morning.”

“Wel , she did, and I’ve been studying them and have found a few loopholes.” There was a playful twinkle in his eye, like a child who was  about to go do  something mischievous.

“Loopholes?” Grace probably sounded more excited than she should have, but  if he found loopholes, then there was a chance they might be able to spend  some more time together without losing the bet. Even more importantly, it  meant that Michael was looking for ways to spend time with her. Just knowing  that made her knees weak.

“Yes. For example, you can’t go on a date with me, but there’s nothing in the  rules that says I can’t just show up every single place you go and join you.

Like today, this was totally legal. I didn’t invite you here; I merely suggested a  remedy to your ailment, and our paths crossed.”

“Amazing how that keeps happening. So basically you’re going to become my  stalker?”

That made him laugh. “Yes, your own personal stalker. I’ve also made a few  other discoveries about the rules, but I’ll tell you about those later,” he teased. “Well, I’ve also been thinking about the boycott, and I have a few ideas myself.  Care to hear them?”

“Absolutely.”

“I know we still technically have three weeks until New Year’s Eve, but that’s

only if no one wins before that. If I could, you know, knock out my competition,

then it wouldn’t be that long until I could go on a real date with whoever may

want to ask me.”

“I like how you think. Maybe we could combine our efforts and see who we

should try to crack first.”

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“Sounds like a plan. Who’s your weakest link?” She asked the question, but

there was really no need to; she already knew the answer.

“Jack, of course. Yours is Bianca, I assume?” He laughed.

Grace nodded to confirm his guess. “She is, but she’s also the most devious, so  no one can know our little arrangement or God knows what they’ll do to me in  retaliation.” Her eyes grew wide with fear, remembering back to this morning  and her sleep talking. If they shared information like that with Michael, Grace  would die. “Actually, all I think we need to do is have them spend more time  together and they’ll naturally cave on their own.”

“Are we a team?” Michael leaned closer, breaking through her self-imposed

safety zone.

“Definitely,” she said quietly as she gave his hand a reassuring squeeze to

confirm their pact.

“Let’s go check on the two of them. With any luck they’re making out in the

parking lot already.” Michael laughed as he picked up Grace’s gym bag as well

as his own and carried them outside, never letting go of her hand.

Bianca and Jack were snuggled together next to her car. When Jack saw

Michael, he jumped back and rubbed his hand against his beard. Bianca

pointed at the trunk. “It’s open,” she said brusquely to Michael so he could put

Grace’s bag in it.

“We’d better get home before Meg sends the troops out looking for us.”

Grace leaned back against Bianca’s trunk and smiled.

“I’ll call you later, if that’s all right?” Michael asked.

“Absolutely,” she murmured, dazed by his sexy smile and the fact that he kept

moving closer to her.

He put his mouth to her ear and whispered, “Bye, Grace.” As he moved away,

his lips grazed her cheek, making her shiver.

If she hadn’t been leaning all of her weight on the car, she probably would have

fallen over, her body turning to jelly. Grace closed her eyes for a minute to get

herself under control when she heard Michael chuckling.

“What’s so funny?”

“As much as I hate to say it, I need my hand back, Grace.”

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She looked down and saw that she was still clinging to his hand, their fingers entwined. Immediately, she released her grip on him and turned bright red.

“Sorry!”

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He raised his newly freed hand, brushing it against her face. “Don’t be. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye,” she said numbly as she held onto the car, watching them walk to the truck and climb in, laughing about something Jack said.

“Grace, come on,  we need to get home,” Bianca said sharply, breaking her out of her trance.

When they were in the car, Grace dug her nails into the dashboard as Bianca peeled out of the parking lot. “What’s the hurry?”

“I need to get home. I have something to tell you,” Bianca said cryptically as she stopped at a red light, clutching the steering wheel.

“Oh my God! Tell me you kissed Jack!”

She looked at Grace and nodded her head slowly, her eyes dancing with joy. “Meg is going to flip out.”

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Chapter 10

S he so wants you .” Jack laughed as they climbed into the truck. Michael turned and final y got a good look at his friend, surprised by what he saw.

“I wouldn’t talk, man, if I were you. Pink’s a stunning color on you.”

Michael didn’t even try to hide his laughter at his friend’s sparkling lips. Jack grabbed the mirror and examined his face, wiping the gloss away with his sleeve. Michael’s head turned when he saw Bianca’s car fly out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell.

“Follow them.” He motioned to Jack as he pulled  out of the parking space.

“Care to explain your glossy lips?”

“I don’t know what to tell you. One minute I was talking, and then next she had me pressed against the other car. She said something about how she renegotiated the rules and had one real kiss to last her until New Year’s that was totally legal and that I shouldn’t make her regret using it. And then she was all over me, but in a really good way, you know what I mean? It was one hot kiss.”

“So, Bianca got Meg to change the rules. Interesting.” Michael couldn’t help but  smile when he realized this meant that he too had one kiss with Grace, one kiss  with those pouty lips to last until New Year’s Eve.

“So, why am I following them exactly?” Jack asked as he cut across traffic and

made a sharp left.

“I don’t know. I just wanted to know where they live, and I’m thinking about  doing something nice for Grace.”

“Aw, you’re falling for her. That girl has you wrapped around her little finger.  You know, Bianca told me she loves flowers. Let’s find out where she lives and  you can send her some. Women love romantic gestures like that.”

As much as Michael hated to admit it, Jack was right. Grace would like the  flowers, and then she’d call to say thank you and he could ask her about this  change in the rules—and the possibility of a kiss. A wicked smile crossed his  lips as he urged Jack to drive faster.

They followed behind the women at a distance until they pulled over in front of  a brick apartment building. Jack wrote down the address, and the men headed  to the nearest florist. A sweet older woman was behind the counter when they  walked in. She heard the door chime and looked up from her magazine.

“Hello, boys, I’m Mary. May help you?”

“My friend here is trying to impress a young  lady he wants to date. Can you

help him pick out a special bouquet of flowers that might help him get the

girl?” Jack asked in his most charming voice. The woman glowed with  excitement and eagerly took Michael’s hand.

“For a young lady. Oh, I see … Can you tell me something about her? That will  help me pick the perfect arrangement.” She smiled as she took her thick

framed glasses off her face.

“Well, she’s beautiful, and smart. Witty and charming and clever. Very clever.  She makes me laugh whenever I’m around her and she constantly keeps me on  my toes. And when I have her in my arms, I never want to let her go.”

Michael stopped for a minute, totally stunned by his own admission. Jack was  smiling next to him, nodding his head as Michael rattled off random things  about Grace.

“He usually isn’t so sappy,” Jack joked to snap Michael out of his stupor.

“She sounds like a very special young lady. I know just what to make for her.”  She led them over to a table where she had a picture of a spectacular  arrangement full of rich, colorful roses. She smiled as Michael nodded his head  in agreement.

“That’s perfect,” Michael muttered.

“Do you want to take it yourself or have us deliver it?” Mary walked behind the  table to start on the arrangement right away.

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“If I had you deliver the flowers, when would she get them?” he asked, hardly  hiding his urgency. He really wanted Grace to get them as soon as possible, to  let her know he was thinking of her because he didn’t know when he would get  to see her again otherwise.

“Marty!” she yelled toward the back room. An older gentleman walked out,  smiling, a sandwich in his hand.

“Yes, Mary, my dear?”

“This young man is getting a beautiful flower arrangement for his young lady. I  think he would like h er to get it right away. How soon can you deliver it?” she  asked sweetly, smiling at him and casting Michael a quick wink.

“As soon as I finish the delicious dinner you made me, dear.” He waved his  sandwich at them with a twinkle in his eye before returning to the back of the

store.

“Thank you very much. She’s very special to me,” Michael said as Mary finished  up the arrangement.

“I can tell dear, I can tell,” she said as she patted his hand.

Mary finished the most spectacular bouquet in record time, and Marty was  already waiting for the address before she handed it to him. Jack went over and  gave him all the information while Michael tried to fill out the small card that  would accompany the flowers. He sat there for a long time, struggling with  what to write. He didn’t even know how to put his feelings for her into words;  they were so new to him.

“It gets easier when you finally admit it to yourself,” Mary said quietly as she  put the finishing touches on the flowers with a knowing smile. “Until then, why  don’t you just let her know you’re thinking about her? She would really like to  know that.”

Michael fil ed out the little card and handed it to a smiling Mary. She tucked it  safely into the arrangement, closed the clear paper around the flowers to  protect them, and handed the bundle to Marty who happily headed out the  door.

“Thank you so much for everything.” Michael reached down and lifted her hand  to his lips giving it a small kiss.

She grinned brightly. “You’re quite the charmer, aren’t you? That young lady  doesn’t stand a chance.” She shook her head while Michael smirked guiltily.

“I hope not.” He reached into his wallet and paid for the flowers, adding a hefty  tip for Marty for the quick delivery. Mary started shaking her head to refuse.

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“Have him take you out to dinner on me, for all your help. Please,”

Michael insisted.

“Thank you, dear. Good luck with your endeavor.”

Jack started walking to the door after thanking Mary once more. As Michael

was about to follow after him, Mary stopped him and took his arm, whispering,

“There is nothing more wonderful than falling in love.” She gave his arm a pat

then sent him on his way, smiling.

y

“Meg! Meg! M eg!” Grace and Bianca screamed as they threw open the door to  the apartment and tore inside. Their roommate had been sitting peacefully on  the couch, going through her purchases, but their screams scared her so badly,  she fell onto the floor.

“What the hell are you shouting about?” she spat at them as she climbed back  to her feet. Her friends simply clapped and squealed like lunatics.

“Bianca kissed Jack. She has to kiss and tell! Come on! Hurry up and move that  stuff off the couch,” Grace said, waving her  hands over the seat. “Sit, sit, sit.”  Grace commanded Bianca to the couch. Meg instantly flung her shopping bags  across the room and was now bouncing in anticipation. They sat on the floor  like two school children, waiting to hear a story from their teache r.

“How was it?” Meg begged, unable to stand it another second. Bianca took a  deep breath as a dreamy smile danced across her face.

“Amazing …” She sighed and blushed.

“Bianca Quinn, are you blushing?” Meg gasped. Grace laughed in the  background of course, having already seen her blush earlier at the gym, but  Meg was floored.

“Oh stop it, Meg! It’s an involuntary reaction. I have no control over it.” “Details, Bianca, we need details!” Grace pleaded.

She quickly explained how she and Grace had run into Jack and Michael at the  gym and the highlights of their workout. Then she got to the good part.

“After we left Grace, we walked out of the gym and found his car so he could  put his bag inside. Did you know he has one of those big ass trucks?” A  mischievous gri n spread across her face as she paused in her story,  remembering the amusing details. “And did I mention it was the most  spectacular shade of blue?”

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Meg and Grace exchanged knowing smirks. Bianca had countless tricks up  her sleeve when it came to men, but her most potent and unexpected was her ability to sexualize the most mundane things—especially colors.

“What did you do?” Meg shook her head in disbelief, knowing that smile on  Bianca’s face was nothing but trouble.

Unashamed, Bianca shrugged. “I told him how much I liked the color of his car.”  Lost in the memory, her eyes glazed over as she began telling them about her brief, romantic encounter with Jack ….

“Let me throw my stuff in the car,” Jack said as he led her over to his truck. Bianca stopped in her tracks when she saw the sun gleam off of the perfectly waxed blue paint job. Not a fingerprint or speck of dirt could be found on the thing; it was impeccable. She ran her hand over one of the oversized wheels as he opened the door.

“This is yours?” she asked in amazement.

“Yep.” He chuckled when he saw her dazed expression. “Do you like it?”

“Yeah. It’s gorgeous. The color constantly changes in the sunlight. What shade is it exactly?” she asked, bending down to examine the flecks of green that faintly mixed with the vibrant blue.

“Blue?” Jack said more as a question that a statement of fact.

Bianca’s lips curved up into a sinful smile. Shaking her head in disagreement, she lightly caressed her fingertips over the side of the truck. “I work with colors all day; it’s what I do. A shade this spectacular wouldn’t be called something as boring as blue.” With a little extra sway in her hips, she walked around the truck and bent over to take a closer look—and give Jack a better view of her body. “A color like this is more … sensual,” she whispered as Jack stood gaping in front of her.

A long moment passed while his eyes hungrily raked over Bianca’s body, taking in every exquisite curve she was proudly showing off. Finally collecting himself, Jack snapped out of his trance. “Well, since you’re the expert,” he said as he made his way up beside her, his bo dy purposely brushing against hers, “what would you name this color?”

Bianca paused, ran her tongue over her bottom lip, and then smirked when she noticed he was holding his breath, waiting. “This color is exotic, like a cross between a sensual sapphire,”  she stepped closer to him, allowing her chest to nearly touch his, “and an emerald erotica.” Her smile widened as Jack’s lips parted and his hands fisted at his sides.

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As she stared at his full lips, all Bianca could think about was her one free kiss. God, he’s sexy. Do it already! her body screamed . Stop with the naughty fantasies, girl. Think about the shoes, her head screamed right back. Somehow sensing her inner struggle, Jack wrapped his arms around her, pressing  his body to her until there was no space between them. Bianca could feel every rope of muscle in his chest and began wondering how decadent his skin would taste.

“Well,” Jack lowered his head and whispered in her ear, “what would you call

the color of my truck, then?”

She heard the husky tone of his voice, but Bianca’s mind was a million miles

away. I get one kiss. That’s totally within the rules. Why not now? His hair is  wet and he smells so good. Plus, I know his body is cut from marble perfection. “P-peacock lust.” The words fell from her lips in a rush, and he grinned  wickedly as his hands began to slide down lower on her back, settling firmly on  her hips.

As if propelled by an unknown force, she allowed her body to melt into his, her  legs nearly going limp from the feel of his strong arms wrapped around her  waist. Jack took a step backwards, pinning himself against the car behind him.  She gently pressed her body against his, fisting a handful of his sweatshirt in  each hand.

“So listen, I did some renegotiating of the rules and basically I get one real kiss,  with no boundaries, between now and New Year’s when this ridiculous bet  ends. Don’t make me regret using it. Understand?” She grinned seductively as  she inched closer and closer to his lips.