"I know." She nodded down at herself and rushed to explain. "I need something dry and it's not like there are clothes in the breakroom." Feeling wicked, she asked, "Anyone else down here?"

"Just me."

As he walked toward her, one hairy, muscled thigh playing peekaboo with that loosely wrapped towel, she quickly backed up a step.

Expression mocking, he reached past her for a locker, drawing out jeans, a T-shirt and Captain America underwear.

She stared at the bright briefs, inadvertently imagined him in them, and snorted a laugh even as her face went hot.

Lifting a brow, he asked, "Plan to stick around while I dress, or you want to give me a little privacy?"

From behind her, Denver said, "She'll give you privacy."

Cherry went rigid. She locked eyes with Armie, taking strength from his amusement, and finally turned to Denver. "Excuse me," she said, as haughtily as she could, and she stepped out of the room. But since she still needed a change, she only went to the other side of the door and leaned back on the cool, painted concrete block wall.

For a few seconds, no one said anything. Then a locker closed and that seemed to break the silence.

"Listen," she heard Denver say. "That shit earlier-"

"You," Armie said, "better start apologizing to her."

"I figured I'd start with you."

Yes, Cherry thought, he did owe Armie an apology.

Apparently Armie disagreed. "Not necessary. Desperate men do stupid things. And you, my friend, are desperate."

"What are you talking about?"

Armie snorted. "One look at you and anyone can see you're a man fighting a losing battle."

What battle? Cherry wondered.

"Yeah," Denver said as if making a grand confession. Then, "Fuck."

"Sucks, I guess," Armie commiserated. "But I hear tell it's easier once you give in."

"Somehow, with Cherry, I don't think it's going to be easy no matter what I do."

Cherry was so put out by Denver's forlorn tone that she pivoted from the wall and right back into the locker room.

Where Armie stood naked.

She squawked.

He jumped and quickly covered his goods with big hands.

Denver jumped in front of her and just as quickly covered her eyes with his hand. "What the hell, Cherry?"

She sputtered. Didn't matter what Denver or Armie covered-the image was emblazoned on her brain. "I thought he'd gotten dressed!"

Suddenly Armie cracked up. His roar of laughter bounced off the walls of the locker room.

Cherry just stood there, Denver's palm covering the top half of her face.

"It's not funny," she groused.

"Maybe a little funny," Denver told her. "How much did you see?"

Her shoulders slumped. "Everything in the front."

Armie got it together long enough to ask, "Did you want me to turn around and give you another peek?"

Cherry bit her lip.

Denver stiffened. "Damn it, girl-"

"No!" She cleared her throat, blindly reaching out to find his chest and pat it. "No, I don't. Truly."

"See, there, Denver. Truly she's not interested."

"You're not helping, Armie!" Cherry wanted to smack him. "I'll be embarrassed for the rest of my life, thanks to you."

"No," Denver told her. "You won't-because you're going to forget what you saw."

Once Armie stopped laughing, he said to Denver, "I see what you mean about it not being easy."

"Shut up, Armie!" she and Denver both said almost in unison.

Putting an arm around her, Denver ushered her out of the room, saying over his shoulder to Armie, "Get dressed."

"Spoilsport," Armie called after them.

Outside the room she was finally able to face Denver-and got a good look at his scowl. How dare he?

She shored up her umbrage, ready to give him a sizzling piece of her mind-and people crowded into the hallway behind her.

Cannon, Gage, Harper-and Leese.

Good Lord! She flashed a look up at Denver, but he didn't appear surprised by Leese's presence. Confusion left her blank.

Cannon glanced at each of them. "What's all the commotion?"

Armie stepped out, now in jeans and a mostly ragged gray T-shirt that said: I like girls for their hearts. Their big, bouncy, jiggly hearts. Another T-shirt hung loosely in his hand. "Cherry got an eyeful, that's all. Isn't that right, Cherry?"

New heat suffused her face. "If you didn't go prancing around naked-"

"Don't start rumors, hon. I do not prance."

Harper laughed. "He's shameless, Cherry. Don't let him make you blush or he'll forever be teasing you."

"Harper doesn't blush," Armie said. "She punches instead."

Gage kept Harper at his side when she started to step away, then said to Armie, "Nice shirt."

Leese even grinned over that.

Unable to take the suspense or the teasing a minute more, Cherry said, "Hi, Leese. What's going on?"

Denver hugged her. "I invited him."

"You did?" That was news to her. She knew they'd talked, but not that they'd...gotten friendly? Or just less hostile?

"Come on. We're blocking the hallway." He got her several feet before she stopped. "I'll explain it all to you in the break room."

She didn't budge. Cannon and Leese went around them and disappeared into the locker room. Gage bent down to give Harper a soft but passionate kiss, then said, "Be right back," before following them.

Watching him go, Harper let out a long sigh.

Armie nudged Denver. "Guess the honeymoon hasn't worn off, huh?"

Harper sighed again, then handed Cherry a pair of shorts. "I keep extra clothes here because I hang out so much." She eyed Cherry's chest concealed beneath Denver's enormous shirt. "Sadly for me, we have very different builds, so I'm pretty sure none of my shirts will fit you."

"Your husband will tell you that your build is fine," Armie said, then with a flourish, he handed over his extra T-shirt. "I have one for Cherry."

She shook it out, read the front, and threw it back at him.

Grinning with anticipation, Harper snatched it from him so she could read it aloud. "Less hugs, more head."

Denver took it from Harper and turned it inside out. "It'll fit better than one of mine."

Cherry sent him a mean look. "I'm not keen about wearing yours, either."

Taking that as her cue, Harper grabbed Armie's arm. "Let's go. You have a visitor waiting on you."

"Who?"

"Havoc."

"He's early!"

"So prance on up there and tell him so."

Armie pretended to smack her butt, but she bolted away. Once Harper was gone, Armie turned back. "You should know, Denver. Cherry's car died this morning. Vanity gave her a lift to work and I picked her up." He leveled his brows. "She didn't want to bother you."

"Armie," Cherry protested.

Denver just let out a breath.

"I was going to take her home and check on her car, see what the problem might be, but with the downpour she didn't want me to, so we came here instead. Even with an umbrella, we got soaked to the skin."

Denver nodded.

But Armie wasn't done. "If I'd known you were going to be such a bully to her, I wouldn't have brought her here."

"Armie," Cherry said again, this time scolding him for using that tone. The last thing she wanted was a conflict between him and Denver.

"Thanks," Denver said, as if Armie hadn't just insulted him. "I appreciate it."

"No problem. But seriously man, get it together." He winked at Cherry and, with a somewhat lagging step, headed out front to meet up with Havoc.

As soon as they were alone, Denver tried to take Cherry's hand. "You can change in the office."

She held back. "I'm not sure I want to go anywhere with you."

Resigned, he stepped back from her. For what felt like forever, he searched her face before asking softly, "Will it help if I apologize?"

"I don't know." Crossing her arms under her breasts and cocking out a hip, she tried to disguise her hurt with annoyance. "Try it and see."

A small, sexy smile teased his mouth, but he looked at her with those beautiful golden-brown eyes and said with touching sincerity, "I'm sorry."

Damn it, her resolve crumbled. Dropping her arms, her throat swelling with a lump of emotion, she asked, "How could you do that to me?" She didn't give him a chance to answer. Not yet. "You humiliated me, Denver. And not just in front of people I know."

"Please don't be embarrassed. Like Armie said, it's on me and most everyone in the rec center will know where to place the blame." He touched her cheek. "If it's Pamela you're worried about-"

"She's your stepmother." Remembering the humor and disdain in the woman's expression as she'd looked her over, Cherry went hot again. "With your help I just made a terrible first impression."

His brows came together. "She's not a nice person. Don't worry about her."

"But I am nice, and the way you treated me..."

"I know." Tentatively, he gathered her against him, his big hands open on her back, his chin on the top of her head. "I really am sorry. It's been...a difficult day."

"Tell me about it."

"I'd like to."

Surprised, she pushed back to see his face. "Really?"

His hands cradled her face. "Stack is filling in for me, but I should really get back to it so he can take off. Would you mind hanging around? I won't be much longer, then we can spend the rest of the day together."

Did that mean he wouldn't be staying the night? She never quite knew with him. "You'll tell me about Pamela?" That alone would be worth swallowing her pride. She had a feeling the crux of Denver's possessiveness stemmed from that woman.

"Yeah, I will." He released her to put his hands in his pockets, looking uncharacteristically unsure of himself. "And we can discuss the birthday party for my dad."

When Cherry heard Cannon, Leese and Gage returning, she nodded. "I'll stay." Going on tiptoe, she gave Denver a quick kiss and started to hurry away.

He caught her hand, drew her back for a longer, more satisfying kiss, then steered her in the opposite direction from where she'd been headed. "There's a room at the end of the hall where you can change. The door locks. And Cherry?"