Back in my ridiculously oversized hotel suite, I shower and slip into bed feeling good – something I haven’t felt in a long time. Lily’s smile keeps me company as I drift off to sleep, a perfect combination of exhilarated and exhausted.

***

Opening the door to the gym, I’m greeted with a smile by Lily. Now that’s a face I could get used to seeing every day. “Morning,” I smile back.

“Good morning, Jax.” Jax, not Jackson or Mr. Knight. I told her my friends call me Jax, yet I can’t help but think how much I’d like to hear Mr. Knight roll off her tongue. Perhaps in a breathless throaty voice between pants.

Stepping up to the desk she sits behind, I peer over at what she’s working on. She has her sketchpad and a narrow charcoal pencil, working on the start of something with fluid curved lines, but I can’t tell what the subject is yet.

“So when do you want to do it?”

Lily’s face pinks up. I hadn’t thought about the multiple ways my question could be taken, but I like the way she’s thinking.

She coughs to clear her throat and takes a sip from a bottle of water before speaking. “Do what?”

“Draw me.”

“Oh.”

“What did you think I was talking about?” I arch an eyebrow suggestively and the pink in her face darkens to a crimson shade of red.

“Oh…I…it’s okay, you don’t have to. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“I don’t mind.” I won’t tell her I’ve spent half my life posing for pictures. The fewer people that know the details of my life here, the better.

“Well…I…”

The door behind me opens, interrupting us. I know who it is without turning, just from the look on Lily’s face.

“Can I help you with something?” Shoulders back, Caden steps between me and where Lily’s sitting, looking like he’s ten seconds away from exploding. This guy must have radar, he seems to show every time I come within ten feet of Lily.

“Nope. All good.” I stand my position, completely aware he is trying to intimidate me and is not so subtly telling me to get lost.

“Lily’s busy. She’s trying to work here.” Caden folds his arms over his chest.

“Caden,” Lily warns. “I’m fine here. Why don’t you go do whatever it is you came in to do.”

“This guy doesn’t seem to understand you’re trying to work.”

“Then why don’t you let her work. We were just scheduling something.” Jackson suggests sternly, but Caden ignores what both of us are telling him.

“Whatever you need, you can schedule it with me.” Caden walks around the counter.

“I need a sparring partner for tomorrow,” I lie. Well, I do need a partner, but that’s not what I was trying to schedule.

A twisted smile on his face, I know what the ass**le’s answer is going to be before he opens his mouth. “It would be my pleasure.”

Chapter 4

Lily

I met Reed Baxter the first day of middle school in art class. Even at thirteen he knew exactly who he was. The boy already had style back then. He didn’t care that he looked different. He wanted to look different, aspired to be truly who he was. I admired him instantly.

At sixteen, when my first boyfriend broke up with me to go out with Candy Lattington because I wouldn’t let him get to third base, I cried on Reed’s shoulder. He held me and told me Candy was a slut. At nineteen when I drank too much liquor and could barely walk, Reed came and got me at the bar. He held my hair back while I threw up and then brought me home with him and tucked me into his bed. At twenty-four when my father died at only fifty-eight years old after a massive heart attack, he held my hand as we made funeral arrangements and spooned me for two days, holding me until the last sob racked through me. Reed Baxter is the best friend I’ve ever had.

“Love the blue dress. It brings out the color of your eyes.” He’s so good for my self esteem.

“Thank you.” I reach up and kiss his cheek. “Caden bought it for me.” I smirk, knowing what his response will be.

Reed crinkles his nose. “Maybe the dress isn’t that nice after all,” he teases. These days, I’m starting to wonder if I should’ve listened to Reed’s opinion on Caden a year ago.

Reed surveys the gym, it’s filled with its usual assortment of muscular men in various shapes and sizes. “Tell me again why I don’t come pick you up from work every day?” He sighs, looking around like a hungry lumberjack at a smorgasbord.

“Because you hate fighting.” I smile, pointing out the bigger obstacle, “And Caden.”

“Speak of the devil,” Reed mumbles. I turn to see Caden approaching.

“Reed.” He nods his head curtly in the general direction of Reed. The two men have a severe dislike for each other. But Caden has always known Reed is a deal breaker, so he keeps his distance and minds his manners. Well, sort of.

“Caden.” Reed mimics the head nod and curt gesture, but Caden doesn’t even notice he’s being mocked.

“Call me when you get in tonight,” Caden orders dryly.

“It’s probably going to be late.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Caden nods to Reed again and attempts to kiss me on the lips before walking out the door. I turn just in time and he gets the corner of my mouth. Luckily Caden misses the salute that Reed offers to his back.

“Didn’t you dump him? Why is he kissing you still?” Reed questions with sincerity.

Pensively, I bite my bottom lip, “He’s not exactly accepting of our break up.”

“What does that mean? He doesn’t get a choice to accept it or not. You dump him. He’s dumped. It’s pretty simple actually.”

“It’s a long story.”

“We have all night. I can’t wait to hear this one.”

Before he begins the lecture I’m positive is about to come, I grab my purse and take off toward the back of the gym, “Going to run to the ladies room to freshen up. You can stand around and take in the sites.”

A few minutes later, I round the corner from the ladies room and find Reed leaning casually against the front counter, ankles crossed, elbows supporting his weight. A crooked smile and sparkly eyes, I’d know that look anywhere. He’s crushing on someone. I just hope it isn’t one of the muscle head gym rats who’ll get physical when he realizes another guy’s hitting on him.