Bodywork

Copyright ©
December 2011 by Marie Harte
Edited by S.M. Jacobson

Cover by Cover Quest Design

All Rights Are Reserved. None of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without express written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations used for reviews or promotion.

http://www.marieharte.com

Chapter One

Shane Collins scrambled to find the buffed, black leather o
xford to match the existing one
on his left foot.
Getting in at four a.m. had been hell, but waking t
hree hours later to
blaring rock music
,
courtesy of his
uninvited younger brother
who’d seen fit to sleep over
,
made his already sour mood worse. His head ached, his eyes burned, and he wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep.

Which he already had, before he remembered he
had an important meeting with the Graces this morning.

Son of a bitch.
He searched frantically
for his missing shoe
while tucking in
a
white pressed shirt
. He search
ed
under the bed, in the closet, even in the bathroom, for God’s sake.

Glancing
at his watch for the twentieth time
that morning, he ripped the shoe off his left foot
and threw on a similar pair
. Then he donned his sport coat
.
Clothes
, check. S
hoes, check. Now to find his briefcase.
He
thought
he’d left it on the coffee table
when he’d come home
.

Where the hell was it?
Desperation festered into annoyance as he spied an empty pizza box on the co
uch
.
His younger brother was such a pain in the ass
.
He cursed
George
to an eternity of high school as he spied
a
familiar handle sticking out from under the sofa.
Pulling it free, he
also
found his missing shoe covered in som
ething
sticky.

Not having the time or inclination to guess what might be covering it, he t
ossed the shoe
, grabbed his case and
hustled
to the door.
Where the
car
keys should have been hanging, a note had been punched over the hook
.
Swearing, he ripped it free and read it.

Hey bro, s
ince I have football
practice
early t
his morning and after school, I’m borrowing the car.
I’ll return
it
after practice.
Coach’ll skin me if I’m late again.
Hope you have a good day catching up on sleep.
Thanks a million.
I owe you one
—
Geo.

Angry
,
frustrated,
and at fault for
not clueing his brother into his last minute change of schedule, he forced himself to calm down.
He
ran a hand through his hair and thought hard about his options.
It’d be tough to get a cab this early in the morning during the early working commute.
Shane
needed a ride.

Inspiration sparked and he quickly dialed Mac
’s
cell.

H
is best friend answered
on the second ring
.
“Yo
.
”

Shane
heard
the sound of music in the background.
Please be close.
“Mac?
It’s Shane.
I need a favor
.
”

“Don’t tell me.
You slept through your alarm, your brother
crashed your car while you were gone,
and you need a ride to work.”
Mac’s rumble was laced with humor.

“
Close enough.
Man
, I’m begging. I need a ride like yesterday
.
”

“I’m next in line at
Sofa’s.
You got lucky this morning.”

“Perfect.
Look Mac, I’m leaving my place now.
Grab me a special and I’ll be there in two minutes.”
Shane
disconnected, pocketed his cell phone, a
nd raced out the door.
Sofa’s Coffee House
sat a
few blocks
from his house, and he
sprinted the entire way, grateful for
this
reprieve
and really needing a caffeine boost. The run to grab his ride was definitely worth a hot blast of java
.

He spotted Mac sitting in his car
outside the shop
and thanked God for
his
friend’s
caffeine addiction.
With his attention focused on
Mac
, Shane didn’t see the
woman standing in his way until
he ran into her.

She yelped against his chest before she stumbled
away
and righted herself
.

“
Shit.
” He
leapt back as pain hit him squarely in the stomach.
Plucking the scorching
fabric
from his body, he
noticed
a dark brown stain spreading over his once pristine shirt.
He cursed
again
and looked down into
amber
eyes filled with irritation.
“Thanks a lot, lady
.
”
He’d be lucky if he made it on time, and now this. B
efore she could tear a strip off his already late hide, he raced to Mac’s waiting car
,
fumbling at his shirt buttons.

Mac raised a brow as he slammed in
side
.

“Not now, Jameson,” he s
napped
.
“Just get me to Harmon
&
Sons as soon as you can.”

“Aye aye, boss.” The bastard had the nerve to laugh.

As Mac drove, Shane hurriedly changed out of his ruined shirt
and undershirt
into a clean
set
he saved in his briefcase for occasions like these.
Wrinkles he could handle, but the coffee stain wouldn’t fly. At least his coat
w
ould hide most of
the rumpled mess.
He only hoped Mr. Grace wouldn’t be on time for this morning’s appointment in
—
he swallowed
hard—
twenty minutes
.

Then he inhaled and took in the heavenly scent of coffee.
Mac nodded him to the second up sitting in the cup holder.
After a hesitant sip,
Shane guzzled the brew
like a thirsting man
.

“
You’re welcome
.”
Mac’s eyes twinkled as he put his foot down on the accelerator.
“
Don’t worry, buddy.
You need to be somewhere in a hurry, I’m your man.
Just remember, that’s another one you owe me.”

*
*
*

Shelby Vanzant stared morosely at her crunched coffee cup bleeding all over the cement sidewalk.
Sh
e’d
been dying for a mocha latte
. Yet
the only one satisfied with her purchase was a yappy little Chihuahua tied to a nearby tree licking up her spilled drink.
She
frowned
at the rat-sized creature in distaste.
“I didn’t know dogs liked coffee.”

Her best friend joined her
and
sh
ook
her head at the dog still licking the ground.
“This is Seattle.
Everyone and everything in this city loves coffee
.
Tough break,”
Maggie
sympathized
.
“I’ll wait while you get another one.”

“I don’t want to wait in line
again
.”

M
aggie placed her hand
s
on her hip
s.
“We’re not walking anywhere together until you’ve had your daily fix.
No coffee, no conversation.”

Shelby muttered under her breath but returned minutes later with a smile and a steaming cup.
She rejoined Maggie
,
and they crossed the street to resume their
bi-
weekly walk around Green Lake.
As Shelby drank, she couldn’t help seeing the humor in the situation.

“
Considering this is our day to discuss the idiocy of men, I’d say I’m off to a good start. My first client today is a woman, at least. Nine o’clock on the dot, and she’s never late. Not like that moron running like his shirt was on fire.”

“After running into you it might have been.” Maggie chuckled. “Sofa’s makes their coffee
hot
.”

“
Good. Serves him right.” They moved to the side while a trio of joggers passed. “Why is it whenever I run into a man, I get a frog instead of the prince? Even this morning, i
nstead of Mr. Tall, Dark
,
and Handsome, I g
o
t Mr. Tall, Clumsy
,
and Rude.
Why is that?”

“Who knows
? But
at least your rude man was
sexy
.
I mean, did you happen to check him out when you were giving him third degree burns?”

“I didn’t burn him
.
”
Not on purpose.
Shelby flushed.
“It wasn’t my fault
.
He flew out of nowhere and bumped into
me
.
Then he acted like it was all my fault and stormed off before I could say a thing
.
”

She
slurp
ed
her coffee
.

They walked in silence
, and
Shelby’s thoughts shifted from Mr. Rude to appreciate the clear blue sky.
Seattle had a clear day
. M
ark that one for the books.
The weather wasn’t
as dismal as was commonly thought
. W
hen
it turned
as warm as
it had been
lately, she
took
advantage of the
August
heat wave
—
heat wave
being
a relative term.
This morning notched in at
a comfortable sixty-eight degrees.
If they were lucky and the weatherman guessed correctly, the temperature might reach a high of
eighty-two
.

Too bad she had no one at home to show off her new red bikini.

She sighed.

Maggie groaned.
“After two years of these walks, you’d think I’d be used to this three mile
loop.”
Another painful groan.
The woman could exaggerate misery like nobody’s business.
“I know we need our exercise
,
but I distinctly recall telling you aerobics
is
my thing, not walking.”

“Considering my line of work, you should be used to my healthy habits.
I’m just glad Shantell lets you work a later shift every Tuesday.”

“Me too.
Shantell’s a gem
,
a
nd working at her gallery is a g
odsend.
But some
day I’ll be my own boss, like you.
Bodyworks has really flourished since you opened it.”
Maggie rotated her neck.
“Maybe I’ll book an
appointment
soon.
I think I might have strained my neck the other day.”