“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.”