Happy Ever After
Page 49

“Give me five minutes.”
She took little more than that to change into a sexy red tank and pants that hit just above her knee. She pulled her hair back into a tail. And hooked her phone on her waistband.
“How many days a week do you put in on that body, Legs?”
“Seven.”
“Well, from my perspective, it’s worth it.” He gave her ass a quick pat that had her blinking. “In memory of Uncle Henry.”
Laughing, she guided him to her gym.
He stopped in the doorway. He’d seen their setup at their beach house in the Hamptons, but that was small change compared to this.
Two treadmills, an elliptical, a recumbent bike, Bowflex, free weights, a bench press—not to mention the huge flat-screen and the glass-fronted fridge holding bottles of water and juice.Towels, he noted, neatly folded, alcohol wipes, killer view.
“Convenient,” he said, “and efficient.”
“For years it’s mostly been Laurel and me using it, with Emma and Mac making the occasional visit. But recently it’s been getting a lot more traffic. I think we’ll add another elliptical and bike, maybe a rower. So.” She took a towel from the pile.“I catch up on the morning news while I do a couple miles, but there are a couple of iPods if you want music.”
“Of course there are. I’ll take a run with tunes.”
Different world, he thought as he set himself up on a treadmill. It beat the hell out of the setup he had at home. Classy, sure, but it damn well was efficient. He had a fondness for efficiency.
Plus it wasn’t a hardship to take his run while Parker took her strides beside him.
He put in a solid three miles before moving on to the free weights. While she used the Bowflex, they sweat in companionable silence.
He hit the fridge for water while she unrolled a mat and started some sort of yoga deal and seemed to flow from one tricky position to another.
“You’ll have to show me how that works sometime.”
She rose from basically bending herself in two and moved into some sort of long, fluid lunge.“I’ve got a really good instructional DVD for beginners.”
“Of course you do, but I think I’ll let you do the instructing. You’re f**king beautiful, Parker. I’m going to grab a shower, okay?”
“I . . . Sure. I’m going to be about fifteen minutes.”
“Take your time.”
He walked out, his mind full of her, then spotted Del, dressed in sweats, heading toward the gym. Del stopped, an almost comical freezing of motion.
Here we go, Malcolm thought and kept walking. “Hey.”
“Hey?” Del goggled at him. “That’s all you have to say?”
“Nice gym. I slept with your sister, and you can take a swing at me like you did at Jack over Emma, but it’s not going to change it. It’s not going to stop me from sleeping with her again.”
“For f**k’s sake, Mal.”
“I gave you fair warning, and I didn’t push her. And I can tell you that part wasn’t easy. She’s the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, and that’s on every level I can come up with. If you’ve got a problem with it, Del, I’m going to be sorry, but that’s not going to change anything either.”
“Just what the hell are your intentions?”
“Jesus.” Malcolm dragged a hand through his hair. “That’s a serious question? My intentions are to be with her as often as I can, in bed and out. She’s beautiful and she’s smart and she’s funny even when she doesn’t mean to be. And goddamn it, she’s got me by the throat.”
Del took a minute to pace back and forth. “If you screw this up, if you make her unhappy, I’ll do more than take a swing at you.”
“If I screw this up, you won’t have to take a swing at me. Parker would already have flattened me.”
He left Del muttering to himself and hit the shower.
He’d just finished dressing when Parker came in.
“Should I apologize for my brother?”
“No. If I had a sister I’d probably punch first, discuss later. It’s cool.”
“Our relationship’s more complicated than most siblings’. When our parents died, he . . . Del feels he has to look out for me—for all of us, but especially me.”
“I get it, Parker. I can’t blame him. More, it’s part of who he is, and who he is is a friend of mine. He give you some grief?”
She smiled now. “In his Del way, and I gave him back some in my way.We’re fine. He’s your friend, too, Malcolm.”
“That’s right, so I think we’ll just get this one thing out there now, before we go wherever we’re going. I don’t care about the money.”
Her eyes chilled. He thought no one did cold disdain quite like Parker Brown. “I never thought you did, nor did Del.”
“The thought’s going to jingle eventually, so let’s just head it off. You’ve got a hell of a place here, and I don’t just mean the house.Your place, Parker, around here. I’ve got to respect the time, the effort, the smarts that earned you, the Browns, that place. But I make my own, and that’s how I like it. I take care of myself and my mother because that’s my place. I don’t see money or status or what’s it—pedigree—when I look at you. I just see you, and you need to know that.”
As she had the night before, she walked over to the terrace doors, opened them to the air.Then turned to him.“Do you think I’m slumming?”
He considered her a moment. Not just angry, but a little hurt. As he’d been with Del, he was sorry for it, but it didn’t change anything. “No. That’s beneath you. I’m clear on that. I want to make sure we’re all clear, on both sides.”
“Apparently we are.”
“You’re a little pissed.” He moved to her. “You’ll get over it. Want to catch a movie tonight? They’re doing a Hitchcock deal. I think it’s Notorious tonight.”
“I really don’t know if—”
“Well, I’ll call you, see what’s up.”
“You’re welcome to coffee and breakfast in the kitchen,” she told him, absolutely, perfectly civil.
“Sounds good, but I’ve got to book.” He grabbed her, just grabbed her and gave her a quick reminder of what they had between them. “See you later,” he said as he headed for the door.