Wanting It All: A Naked Men Novel by Christi Barth Page A

hold the heavy bag while I wail on it some?” Riley offered. “Close enough for me.”
    “Done.” Knox moved into place. “Where’s Griff? I should apologize to him, too.”
    “Coming from Chloe’s place,” Josh replied, sitting down at the lats machine. “Which we know ’cause he texted us,” he added pointedly.
    “Yeah, yeah.” He’d be on the shit heap for a while. And he’d take whatever they piled on him. Knox thought about Griffin and his girlfriend of three months—a record among all the ACSs. “The two of them have turned into a pair of bedroom boomerangs. When are they going to just pick a place and move in together?”
    Griffin announced his arrival by whipping a jump rope against the floor. “When she has a ring on her finger.”
    Knox winced at the thinly veiled frustration in his friend’s voice. He’d given Chloe a diamond ring in a box, with the instruction that it was up to her to propose when ready. The sad, whipped truth of the man was that Griffin had been ready since he bought it. Knox liked Chloe. Liked her with Griff. But he just didn’t get this sudden need of Griff’s to tie himself to one woman for the rest of his life.
    Josh threw him a salute. “G-man, nice of you stop the Saturday snuggles long enough to come get your blood pumping. If you get lax on that Coast Guard physique, Chloe might leave you for one of us fine specimens.”
    “Only in your dreams—and you’d better not be dreaming about my girl.” Griff’s feet landing on the mat were almost as soundless as the jump rope cutting through the air. “Besides, who says I didn’t already get my blood pumping this morning?”
    Riley stepped back with a wince. Used his teeth to undo his gloves. “Don’t go there. We all respect Chloe. You two are in love. That means we can’t high-five every time you get her panties down. It isn’t right.”
    “Good point.” Griff crossed his arms in a move that had taken Knox twice as long to master back at seventeen, in the school’s weight room. Now, though, he could pace him like a mirror image. “But then, also, don’t ever mention her panties again.”
    Knox agreed. He just didn’t have to like it. “Dealing with one of us being in a committed relationship is a complicated pain in the ass. You’d better be damned sure she’s the right one.”
    “I’m sure. Now I just have to wait for Chloe to catch up.”
    The guy looked miserable. If he thought it would do any good, Knox would offer Chloe a million dollars to propose to Griff already. Hell, he’d give her two million.
    Griffin dropped the rope and pulled Knox into a quick headlock followed by a noogie. Since that was what happened when you all became friends before you even learned to drive. Some things stuck. “You were an idiot last night.”
    “I know. Sorry.”
    “Plan to tell us where you were?” asked Josh. “ ’Cause if you needed bail money, you know we would’ve gone through your drawers for spare Franklins and come down to the station.”
    “I was on a date.”
    Riley dropped his gloves to give a high five, but froze midair. “A date? Dates end when the bars close at three. Anything later than that is hookup territory.”
    “Call it a very successful date.” Since Riley didn’t seem inclined, Knox came to him to finish the high five. Because what he’d done with Madison last night definitely qualified for a high five. More like a high ten, upon further recollection.
    Rubbing his hands together, Josh beamed. “Nice. That means tonight you start fresh? Want to hit POV again, or do Local 16?”
    Riley squirted some water over his black hair. “The band playing there has a guitarist I’ve been checking out for a few weeks.”
    Typical Riley. He dated with the same methodical and measured approach he used in every other aspect of his life. Ry watched, assessed his options, waited for the perfect moment. But when he finally decided to act, it was like watching a shark go after a goldfish.