With an artful flourish, he pulled her into his arms and against his body. They both froze a moment and moved a bit apart. Swaying slowly, they chatted about town gossip as Reba sang over the stereo speakers.

That night when she finally got home, sore feet and all, the small of her back still tingled where his hand laid when they’d shared a dance. “I must be ten kinds of fool for even entertaining the thought,” she mumbled to herself as she tossed and turned.

But her dreams had other ideas.

Chapter Two

Marc happened to find himself standing in the front window of The Sands looking through the glass at Liv Davis as she reached out and touched the cheek of another man. The affection in her eyes startled him. He would have felt jealous but the man was clearly thirty years older than she was and the touch wasn’t sexual at all. There was something else there he hadn’t seen with Liv before, a sort of yearning.

When she looked up and saw him, surprise won over her face followed by a smile. There was nothing else he could do but go inside after she looked at him that way.

“Hi there, sugar.” He strolled up to her table.

“Hi Marc. Listen, I want you to meet my dad. He’s visiting my sister in Atlanta for a week or so and came out to see me as well. Dad, this is Marc Chase. Marc, this is my father Bill Davis.”

Marc shook the other man’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Davis. Liv has spoken of you often. How’s life in Florida treating you?”

“Sit down, boy.” Bill Davis gestured to the place next to Liv, and Marc liked the man even more as he sat. “Florida is good, my lungs are much happier now, although I miss my baby girls. I was just trying to convince Livvy here to move down to be near me.”

Marc didn’t like the feeling in his stomach at the thought of that desk in the mayor’s office being filled by someone else.

“But what would we do without her, Mr. Davis? Maggie might expect me to listen to all that girl talk if Liv wasn’t around.”

Liv snorted. “If I moved down there all his little girlfriends would be put out. He’s the king of his senior community. He thinks he wants me and my sister there but he’s got a harem to take care of him and they’ll put up with a lot more than we will.”

Marc stayed for pie and had to get moving. He had a meeting at the bank about a small business loan. But as he sat waiting to speak to the loan manager, his mind kept returning to the night of the anniversary party. It’d felt good with his body against hers, his hand at the curve of her back, holding her there, warm and soft, the scent of her in his nose. The itch to taste her rode him hard, he’d wanted to kiss her pretty bad but his father had cut in, stopping him before he did it.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t thought of asking Liv out before. At first she was freshly broken up with Matt and it was too soon. But the year mark had long passed and he’d brought it up to her and she’d deflected it. She didn’t seem to take him or his advances seriously and he’d never really tried to make it more clear. They called him into the meeting and he cleared his mind and got it back on business. In the end, the papers were relatively simple and Marc signed on the bottom line, in triplicate, and took out a loan he tried not to think about the size of. Some minutes later a few blocks away, he signed the lease on a space that would hold his gym and where he’d also run his personal training business from.

“When do you need me to help paint?” Kyle asked from the doorway. Marc turned to face his brother. “Don’t offer if you don’t mean it. I’ll put your butt to work.”

“Of course I mean it. This is your dream, Marc. I’m your brother. You helped me on weekends how many times when I was getting the landscaping business up and running? That’s what family does.” Kyle came into the space. “This is a good spot. Central. Good lighting.”

“This your place now?”

“Hey, Matt.” Marc waved and his heart warmed to see Shane darken the doorway as he followed Matt.

“Well, now. This place is nice.” Shane looked around the room.

“The paint is waiting at Pete’s to pick up. The mirrors are ready. The floor people delivered the supplies to Pete’s as well. I took off all next week.” Marc walked around, envisioning just where he’d put everything. It wouldn’t be a large gym but focused on the personal needs of not more than ten people working out at once. The space had been a gym some years ago so there were already two dressing rooms in the back with showers and lockers. He didn’t plan on a juice bar or water aerobics. His place would be simple. But he would work with others to refer out as needed. He could help his clients with nutritional counseling but he’d been in contact with a woman in town to help with cooking classes or even meal delivery for his clients on an as needed basis.

“Okay, we’ll strip the walls before we get the flooring down. Get the paint up, the mirrors in and then do the floors. Where’s the equipment?” Shane, ever the organizer, made Marc smile.

“Murph is letting me store it there until I’m ready.”

“When’s your last day at Murphy’s?”

Murphy’s was the gym in Riverton that he’d worked at for the last five years as a personal trainer.

“The end of the month.”

“Well, tomorrow is Saturday, let’s get in here first thing and get these walls cleaned up. You’re coming to Momma and Daddy’s before The Pumphouse tonight, right?” Kyle asked.