Sweet on You (The Wilde Sisters #1) (2 page)

“First time?” She released his hand and fought off the temptation to squeeze his biceps.

“What?”

She laughed at his nervousness. “First time taking a Zumba class?”

“Oh, yeah.” He lifted the bottom of his shirt and used it to wipe off his face, revealing an amazing set of washboard abs. She blamed the moisture between her legs on the intense morning workout.

Between his hair, damp with perspiration, the scruff on his face, and the amazingly vivid deep-set green eyes, the man was simply breathtaking.
Too bad.
Damn ovary crusher.

“Trent…my name’s Trent.”

“Well, nice to meet you, Trent. I hope you come back to another class. Or if you didn’t find Zumba to your liking, we offer many other classes: yoga, Pilates, kickboxing, swing dancing—only you’d need to bring your partner for that one.” She smiled at her creative way of sneaking the partner bit in.

“Yeah, okay. Um, I think I’ll stick with Zumba for now and see what happens.” He turned and headed for the door. “It was, uh, nice meeting you, Rayne.”

She watched him leave and couldn’t help noticing his spectacular, tight booty. What a shame it didn’t swing her way.

***

Trent

“You’re in early.”

“And I’ll say the same to you, Marie.” Trent looked up briefly from the tray of wild berry muffins he was filling and eyed his best employee.

“I thought you weren’t coming in until after seven, so I came in to do the muffins. Had I known you’d be here at four even though you—” Marie stopped short when he lifted his head and scowled at her. “Oh, dear. I’m not supposed to know about that, am I?”

“You won’t miss your son when I kill him, will you? He’s easily replaceable. You can be my mom instead.”

Marie laughed. “You’ve always been a son to me, dear. Toss your batch of muffins in the oven and then go. You don’t want to be late for your morning workout.” The twinkle in her eye didn’t go unnoticed as she carried her stout, five-foot-nothing frame toward the swinging doors to the front of the bakery.

“I still have time to whip up a batch of whoopee pies. I’ll need you to fill them, though,” he said to her retreating back.

Trent hadn’t told Brian about the hot instructor, so there was no way Marie knew about her, but he didn’t expect his
former
best friend to squeal about their stupid bet to his mommy. It was embarrassing enough having his sister Claire know and tease him mercilessly. But Marie? She was his employee, dammit. Although she often didn’t act it. He’d never admit it, but he actually enjoyed it when Marie tossed an order or two at him. God knows he never had anyone around to dish it out at him growing up.

Sighing, he measured out flour, sugar, and cocoa powder and the rest of the ingredients he knew by heart, and incorporated them in the mixer. He cleaned up his mess while the cakes baked and after an hour, untied his white apron and tossed it in the laundry bin. Already dressed in running shorts and a t-shirt, Trent thought the three-mile run to the fitness center would help take his mind off Rayne.

Although in truth, the run actually gave him
more
time to think about the way her tight black shorts molded to her butt and thighs. His hands itched to be trapped between her bright pink spandex sports bra and what promised to be soft breasts.

Trent pushed his legs harder and faster, willing Junior to stay low and in control.

***

By the third class, Trent had a few of the routines almost down. Granted, he sucked. Sucked big time, but being forced to stare at the sexiest gift God ever created for one hour three days a week wasn’t so bad. He had three more classes next week before he’d be done with this stupid bet. And then he would ask Rayne out.

He couldn’t date her while taking her class. It felt…weird. After brushing off the unwanted advances of Zoe and her clan, he hung around and helped Rayne pick up stray water bottles while she Swiffered the floor.

“Thanks for your help. Keep this up and I’ll throw in an extra week for you.”

“No,” Trent said a little too quickly. “Six classes are enough.”

“Six? Why only six? I’m not saying you’re not in excellent shape, but you should try sticking with it for a while. It gets easier to follow each time. Promise.”

Ouch. Okay, so she noticed he sucked. Not a great first impression to make. “No, it’s just that I, uh…” Since when did his mouth struggle to form a cohesive sentence or, hell, a smooth line for a beautiful woman? “I have a pretty busy work schedule coming up and this was something I wanted to try. I committed to six classes and I’m not a quitter. Zumba isn’t my…thing.” He tossed the bottles in a recycling box by the door.

“Oh yeah?” she said, smiling. “What exactly is your
thing?
”

Was she flirting with him? If so, it would be the first time all week. “Well, for workouts I usually run, rock climb, kayak in the summer, ski in the winter. That sort of thing.”

“Cool. I’ve never been rock climbing. It’s definitely on my bucket list.”

“I’ll take you. There are plenty of great spots around here.”
Whoa, did I just ask her out?

“Sure! Great, that would be fun!” Rayne’s ponytail swung as she zipped through the room, dry-mopping the floor.

If she could be casual, so could he. “Yeah, let me know when you’re free and I’ll arrange it.”

“Cool.”

Cool as in
I can’t wait to rip your clothes off
cool?
He wanted to ask her. Trent followed Rayne out the door and toward the front desk, where he was shocked and embarrassed to see Brian.

“Hey, man. Thought I’d check out the fitness center. See the class you’ve been raving about.” Brian smirked while rocking the baby stroller.

Trent hadn’t mentioned the class and he definitely hadn’t mentioned which fitness center he went to, or anything about the hot instructor who was currently the subject of Brian’s scrutiny. The beaming smile and knowing expression on his face pissed him off.

“Pardon my man’s manners. I’m Brian.” He reached out his hand to Rayne, who immediately accepted it and didn’t seem fazed when Brian held on longer than appropriate. Her eyes were focused elsewhere. The baby overshadowed them both.

“I’m Rayne,” she said with little interest in the men, then squatted down by the stroller. “And who is this beautiful girl?” She stroked the baby’s cheek with her knuckles and seemed to forget about everyone else in the room. Brian was right. Babies were a total chick magnet.

“This,” Trent said as he reached down to unbuckle his goddaughter, “is Faith.” He scooped up the tiny baby, held her to his chest and kissed her sweet-smelling, downy hair. Maybe he was scum, using Faith as a ploy to weaken Rayne, but it seemed to work.

“Oh, she’s beautiful,” Rayne cooed.

“Would you like to hold her?”

“Can I?” she questioned, her gaze darting from Trent to Brian.

“Sure.” The hand-off was exactly as he hoped. Rayne’s fingers caressed his arms as she reached under the little bundle and scooped the baby to her chest. Okay, so maybe she didn’t
caress
his arms, but the touch felt close, nonetheless. And electrifying.

Brian and Trent stood mesmerized by the sight. Perfection.

“Excuse me, Rayne?” the receptionist called from behind the front desk.

“What’s up, Sarah?” Rayne looked at the receptionist and continued to stroke the baby’s head, rubbing her cheek against Faith’s soft hair.

“Your seven-thirty private lesson cancelled. Seems Ms. McIntyre is down with the flu.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. I guess I’ll do some paperwork until my nine o’clock class starts.” She returned her full attention to Faith.

Brian cleared his throat. “Yeah, uh, Kip, did you get my message? I got called in to work. Think you can watch the baby for a couple hours?” Brian smirked, looking from Rayne—who was oblivious to the world around her except for the baby in her arms—to Trent. And just like that Brian made it back to Best Friend status.

“Sure. Take your time. Faith and I will go for a walk around the Back Cove.” He waited for Rayne to say something, but she was too caught up with the baby magic. He’d have to try harder. Trent caught Brian’s gaze, then nodded to the door. When Brian left, Trent turned back to Rayne. “Since, ah, you’re off, want to go for a walk with us?”

“What?” Rayne lifted her chocolate eyes to him and his knees nearly buckled. Damn. Zumba was turning him into a freakin’ girl.

“I’m on babysitting duty for a few hours. Feel like going for a morning stroll around the cove before your next class? Unless you have a lot of work to do…”

“Oh! I’d love to. Can I push the stroller?”

Laughing, Trent took Faith from Rayne’s arms and strapped the baby back in her carriage. “Sure.”

“Great. Let me clear a few things here first.”

He waited in the lobby area while she talked quietly with Sarah at the front desk and then she jogged over to him wearing the biggest, sexiest smile he’d seen in ages.

“Move over, papa. This mama bear wants a turn.” She elbowed him away from the stroller and pushed it as if she did this every day.

“I never thought to ask…do you have any kids?” Damn if he’d tangle himself with a single mother looking for a stand-in father. Trent held the door open as she followed the stroller outside into the warm June morning air.

“Me? No. I do want a big family someday. Lots and lots of kids. I love them.”

Too bad.
“I can tell.” He’d rather know up front what the woman’s expectations were. It made things less complicated later on. Knowing she’d be the type, Trent tucked his thumbs in the waistband of his shorts and sighed in disappointment.

“You’re pretty good with babies.” Her cute dimple and infectious giggle perked him up—the upper and lower extremities.

“And you know this how?” He laughed.

“You’re a natural. A woman can always tell when a man is nervous around kids. It’s obvious how much you love Faith.”

“She’s the best. I’d never been around babies before, hell, any-aged kid, but Faith makes it easy.” And not being responsible for her welfare and happiness helped his aversion to having kids. He could be the loving uncle, but would never have a child of his own. He came from bad blood. Bad genes. And refused to pass them on to someone else.

Rayne stopped walking, put her hand over her chest and glanced up at him. “Wow. I think I’m in love.”

Trent pulled back, fear and trepidation cinching his chest. Of course a girl like Rayne would want more than he could offer. Too wrapped up in staring at Faith again, Rayne didn’t seem to notice his hesitancy. She continued walking and laughing, waving a hand in the air as she pushed the stroller, asking questions about Faith and telling him about the other classes she taught. Trent would have hit the ground running as soon as she started talking about babies and the white picket fence, but she wasn’t pressuring him into being her other half or hinting that she wanted anything to do with him other than smother his goddaughter with attention. Part of him was offended that she wasn’t falling all over him. And then she stopped, squatted in front of Faith, and made the same ridiculous raspberry noises with her mouth he’d often see his sister do.

The instant attraction morphed into something else unrecognizable to Trent. Appreciation? Admiration? He hadn’t a clue.

They talked and laughed during their hour walk around the cove. He couldn’t remember having such a relaxing time with a woman. She wasn’t hitting on him and he wasn’t hitting on her; they laughed and enjoyed each other’s company. It’s like they were becoming…friends.

***

Rayne

Her heart danced and twirled during their walk. If Trent Kipson wasn’t gay she’d be desperately in love…again…and running to Macy’s to pick out a china pattern…again. Maybe he was a gift from heaven. Rayne knew she had issues and fell in and out of love too easily. She wanted to marry and have the house full of babies she so desired. Soon.

Owning and running her fitness studio paid the bills, but her heart wouldn’t be complete until she had a child of her own.

Rayne liked being in a relationship, but men seemed to shy away when she started talking about starting a family. She’d fallen for two men who said they wanted the happily ever after with her, yet when it came down to deciding on venues and dates, they got cold feet and strayed. Thankfully falling out of love wasn’t hard to do when the men she dated had cheated, didn’t want children, wanted no-strings sex, or bored her to death.

However, Trent was different. He was adorably handsome and panty-dropping sexy holding his daughter. It was totally inappropriate, thinking about sex when holding a baby, but wasn’t that how they were made? God knew what he was doing when he made Trent. And his boyfriend wasn’t too hard on the eyes either.

They talked about sports, movies, Maine, and fitness as they walked. It was a relief not to have to hold her heart at bay or be constantly wondering when he was going to try to shove his hand down her pants. Instead of pondering how long she’d have to date Trent before he popped the question and they had oodles of babies, she focused on getting to know him. Without the added pressure of hoping he’d be her soul mate, Rayne let loose and giggled and snorted like she was hanging with her sisters, not worrying about making a fool of herself.