Free For You (The Shore Book 2) by S.E. Brown Page B

Babe.”
    She tried to ignore the flutter she felt in her stomach at his use of “Babe.”
    Madison shifted her feet and slowly built her intensity. She wasn’t pissed off this time, so there was no particular face on the pads.  
    “Come on, keep going. Move your feet,” Declan coached. “That’s it.”
    As the instructor called the last combination, Madison put everything she had into it and punched out the last hook.
    “Nice!” Declan exclaimed, ripping off the pads. “You’ve got a great left hook.”
    “What can I say?” she answered while trying to catch her breath. “I’m a lefty.”
    By the time class was over, they were both drenched and completely energized. Admittedly, Madison’s hands were a little sore. Not only were her palms red from the impact of Declan’s punches, but her knuckles were looking bruised. It felt great while she was doing it but her knuckles were going to be a light shade of purple by the next day.
    “So, what’d you think? You like the class?” she asked as they walked back to the locker rooms.
    “Yeh. I have a couple of things I want to talk to Michael about, but I think he ran the class really well.”
    “Good,” she smiled. “Meet you at your office?”
    “Okay,” he answered as he swatted her ass with a towel and turned to walk into the men’s locker room.
    “Hey!” she turned and smiled at him.
    Guys had it so easy sometimes. Declan walked in, shucked his clothes and made his way to the showers. Within ten minutes he was clean, smelled great, and was wearing dry clothes.
    Madison, on the other hand, tried to wrangle her hair into some semblance of order, wipe off as much sweat as she could and rinse her face with water before meeting up with Declan again.
    “Seriously? I look like a drowned rat and here you are, all fresh and bushy-tailed,” she commented upon seeing him.
    “Bushy-tailed?” Declan asked with a chuckle. He thought she looked absolutely beautiful.
    Madison looked down at herself and shook her head.
    Oh well…
    “I was thinking of going to shoot some pool tonight. Obviously I need to go home and shower first. You want to join me?” she asked, once again not realizing her mistake.
    “First of all,” he said as he wrapped an arm around her and placed a kiss on her neck, “you look great. Second of all, I already took a shower.”
    She slapped him playfully on the arm, rolling her eyes. “That wasn’t what I meant.”
    “I’d love to shoot pool,” he smirked, changing the subject. “How much time to do you need?”
    Madison pulled out her phone to check the time. It was just after six. “Want to pick me up at seven-thirty? That should be enough time to get home and hop in the shower.”
    “Sure thing,” he smiled. “I’ll wrap up some things here and see you in a while.”
    Madison smiled back at him and leaned in for a quick kiss before heading to her car.

Chapter 7
    It was seven-thirty, right on the button, when Declan rang the doorbell to Madison’s house.
    “Come on in. The door’s open.”
    It was Madison’s voice, but it had come from above him. He walked back down the steps and looked up, just barely making out her face in the upstairs window. “Do you always leave your front door unlocked?”
    “Only when I’m expecting company,” she answered with a smile in her voice and lowered the window with a thud .
    Declan walked back up the porch steps and opened the door, letting himself in. As the door closed behind him, he looked up the stairs to find Madison hiding behind a wall.
    “I’m really sorry. I got distracted when I got home.”
    Noting her wet hair and the towel he could barely see but knew was wrapped around her body, he didn’t say anything. He just looked at her and drank in the sight.
    “Help yourself to a beer,” Madison said with a grin. “I shouldn’t be more than fifteen minutes.” Then she disappeared around the wall.  
    Declan snapped out of the spell seeing Madison in a towel had put him in