Page 11 of Sturdy & Dirty

“Good idea.”

“What else?”

“I don’t know. Maybe end the night at the lake? When it’s clear, the stars are nice from the end of the pier.”

Marcus frowned in thought.

“Friday night though. It’ll be busy there.”

“Yeah, so?”

He rolled his eyes before dragging a towel over his face to mop up the sweat.

“Swear to god, you got no game.”

“I don’t want game. I want…” I want her to like me.

He tossed the towel aside. “What? You want what?”

Shit.

He didn’t need to know what made my throat close up. It was none of his business what I wanted.

“Maybe I should cancel,” I said, more to myself than to him.

“What?” Marcus stared at me like I’d lost my mind. “Fuck no, are you kidding me? You’re not cancelling. All I’m saying is you wanna take her somewhere more… private.”

“No, I want to take her somewhere that will make her happy.”

He blinked. “That’s what I said.”

“You’re no help at all.” I launched my towel at his head and he caught it before it hit him. “I wanna get this right. If you don’t have anything helpful, then why am I telling you this shit?”

I pushed past him to head for the locker rooms, and he fell in line beside me.

“Yeah, yeah. Okay, the stars are a good idea. But… what if you could watch them from a boat?”

I snorted. “I don’t have a boat, Marc.”

He grinned like a shark. “Ah, but we know someone who does. I bet he’d let you borrow it now that he’s not living on it anymore.”

“You talking about Vance?”

The man was a Chub Club trainer who’d recently settled down with a lady of his own. He’d lived on a pretty sweet boat until they built a house north of town. I’d done all the brick work for it and the adjacent dog rescue complex.

“Yeah, Vance.” Marcus glanced over my shoulder, an annoyed frown dipping his brow. “Hit him up. I’m sure when he finds out what you need it for, he’ll be all in. I’m gonna go see about those flowers. Catch ya later.”

“Sure. Good luck,” I called after him.

The boat wasn’t a bad idea, but I wasn’t about to tell another one of these yahoos about my date with Holly. All I needed was them running a pool on my odds with her.

Or worse, her finding out about such a pool.

I pushed into the locker room and collapsed on a nearby bench to catch my breath.

Marcus was right about one thing. Cancelling was not an option. That was just nerves making me doubt myself.

I closed my eyes, remembering her playful grin when she suggested she’d collided with me on purpose. Sometimes sacrifices need to be made to get a man’s attention.

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