Jameson wiped sweat from his forehead and hung the towel on the rack. The music playing in his ears drowned out the noise of the gym. Laying back on the bench he closed his eyes for a second to center himself. Lifting weights wasn’t exactly rocket science but if you didn’t focus you could seriously fuck things up.

A light touch on his shoulder jolted him. His first thought was maybe she’d come back. Except she hadn’t and even if she had Candy wouldn’t have known to find him here. The woman looked at him expectantly, like he should know her name. He thought they might have talked once or twice. She had chatted him up when they were doing laundry because his dryer was busted. She looked like she could use a good meal and a bath. He’d never understood self-tanner when it looked like floor stain. Her name was… Sharon? Rhonda? Fuck if he knew?

“Hey.” That seemed to cover all the bases.

“Hey? Did your girl give you your... clothes?”

“I haven’t got a girl.”

“You live in 155, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I came by this morning and some woman answered the door. I gave her the clothes you left in the dryer.”

“Oh, my underwear!” Half the gym turned to stare. Good thing most of the younger guys were afraid of him. He knew all that barking and snarling would be useful someday. “You’re the one who came by. Candy’s not my girl.”

“Oh.” Fuck, the look on her face turned way too hopeful. The woman was all sinew and bone, Jesus, it would be like curling up with a dude. Now Candy, she was good for curling up with. His body started reacting like she was standing next to him instead of across town.

“Well, thanks for dropping those off.” He moved like he was going to go back to lifting when she sucked in a deep breath. Oh fuck.

“Wanna go get coffee later?”

“Ugh, she’s not my aide or anything but we’re kinda seeing each other...” He let the words hang in the air until she got the message. Unfortunately, the truth buried itself in his gut and took root. What the hell did he want? He’d been burned but good for his saving the damsel in distress tendencies. Candy was about as far from Mysteri as two people could be. The thought of Mysteri baking was enough to make him grimace. The woman in front of him got the message and backed off. Some other guy would probably be all over her.

The woman was probably nice enough but, he still had the sense memory of holding Candy all night. He’d held his breath when she tried to get out of bed in the middle of the night. A little tug and a simple ‘come back here’ and she tucked herself in around him again. He’d spent half the night with a face full of curls, not that he was complaining. Yeah, he really needed to sort himself out if he was becoming a guy who liked cuddling. He grabbed another ten pounds and added it to the bar. A little extra work would fix whatever ailed him.

And if it didn’t? Shit. He should let her go. It was the sane thing to do. She had baggage that would fill a warehouse so why the fuck was he smiling just thinking about her. His gunnery sergeant always said he didn’t know when to quit. Seems like that hadn’t changed, he’d just gotten a lot smarter about how he went about things. Candy looked soft, talked soft, and tasted sweet but she needed to be handled like a homemade bomb. Again a smile crossed his face. Oh yeah, he knew just how to handle her.