Page 53 of Putting Out
“You know I’m…not interested in you that way.”
“I know,” she sighed. “I thought maybe I could sway you over to the dark side.”
“Sorry. I’m pretty happy where I am. Now if your brother could be lured…”
Reilly sat up and groaned as her muscles rebelled against any sort of movement.
“Sorry. No go there, either. Kenny is heterosexual all the way down to his dirty socks.”
“Pity.”
“What do you say to some breakfast?”
It was early Monday morning and Reilly had finished what Pierce liked to call her warm-up workout session. An hour of stretching, muscle strengthening, and pain. In her opinion, warm-up was somewhat of an understatement.
“As long as we’re talking about cottage cheese, some tofu sausages on whole grain bread, fruit, and green tea.”
“I was thinking more along the lines of eggs and bacon with a side of pancakes.”
“That’s not the breakfast food of champions.”
Like she had to say a sorrowful goodbye to the idea of Pierce ravishing her this morning, so, too, did she let go of the pancakes.
Bundling up in winter coats first, they made their way out of the barn and through the well- trod path in the snow that had fallen in the past couple of days. Because of the snow, her training had been confined to the barn and she was getting a little anxious about it. She’d never gone so long without hitting a club and she had an irrational fear she would forget how to do it.
She did have to give credit to Pierce. It had only been five days, but already she was starting to notice a tightening in her stomach that hadn’t been there before.
“Hey,” she mentioned as they neared the house. “You don’t think by the end of this I’m going to have one of those ripped six-packs do you?”
“Six weeks to a six-pack. That’s unlikely. However, you will be so tight in your core, I dare say you’ll be walking around and asking people to punch you as hard as they can.”
“Cool.”
They walked up the steps to the porch and Reilly could hear the buzz of morning conversation over coffee. She picked up her step when she heard Luke’s voice.
“Hey. I thought you were coming in last night?”
He lifted his head from the letter he’d been reading and nodded his chin in her direction.
“I did, but I was late. I checked in on you but you were out like a light.”
“What were you doing checking in on her?” Kenny snarled. “What are you? Her father?”
Luke glared at him. “Would you please drink your coffee before attempting conversation with anyone? You’re like a bear with a squirrel up its ass in the morning.”
Pierce casually leaned down to whisper to Reilly. “What about him?”
“Sorry,” she shrugged. “He’s all dark side too.”
“Damn.”
“I’m sorry I don’t think we’ve met.” Luke interrupted the whispered conversation and walked over to stand between Reilly and Pierce.
“You didn’t get engaged while I was gone, did you? I mean, four days would be a record, even for you.”
“Haha,” Reilly said even as she rolled her eyes. “Luke meet Pierce. Pierce, this is Luke Nolan.”
“Oh, sure. I’ve heard of you. You do those commercials for that credit card.”
