by Lexy Timms
Melissa shifted enough to look over her shoulder at him again. “I guess you really do know your stuff,” she said. “Yeah. I run. Three days a week, at least. Squats, too.”
She wiggled her eyebrows at him like he was supposed to be impressed by that, and Parker laughed. “I can tell.”
“I guess I'm doing something right, then.”
Parker turned her around with a hand on her shoulder, and this time he started at her ankles, slowly straightening up, though he bypassed the space between her thighs completely, instead moving straight to the slight curve of her belly, and then up to cup the weight of her breasts in his hands the way he had in bed, this time working the soap over them while she sighed and let her eyelids fall shut. “Okay. Rinse time.”
She sighed and he took it as a yes.
He turned her into the spray, and the soap slid from her skin and down the drain with the water. She turned again to face him, letting it do the same on her back. Then he pulled her back against him, spinning her as he went, with an arm around her waist, and slipped his fingers between her legs.
“You're really going to start something again?” she asked, in a tone that said she wasn't at all opposed.
Her arms lifted to curl around the back of his neck, fingers linking together.
“You're here. You're hot. I have a quick recovery period.” His fingers kept working, stroking over the lips of her sex until she squirmed against him, and tilted his hips to tip hers into the spray, letting the water run down over her and make her shudder with the added sensation.
“We're going to have to take a whole extra shower if you keep this up,” she said, breathless.
Parker tilted his head down to rest his chin against her shoulder, his cheek pressed to hers, and grinned down at the length of her body on display, his hand between her thighs. He was getting hard again, and he rolled his hips so that his length stroked against her slick, warm skin.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” he whispered against her jawline, pausing to press his lips to it while his free hand slid up and down her thigh. “We’ve got all night.”
Chapter 5
In the morning, Parker woke to his legs tangled in the sheets and a body wrapped around his own, one thigh thrown across his legs. Melissa's head rested on his chest, her hair spilling soft and still a little damp over his shoulder. It wasn't a bad way to wake up.
For a moment, he lay there just enjoying the early morning silence and the press of Melissa's form against his own. She'd been an extremely enthusiastic participant in last night's fun, and he was going to be a little sorry to see her go, if he was honest with himself. But not so sorry that he felt the need to consider adjusting his stance on relationships.
That didn't mean he couldn't keep her number in his phone, though. He had every intention of meeting up with her again for another roll in the sheets or two, if she was amenable to the idea. Somehow, looking down at her curled around him with a smile still on her lips, he didn't think she would have any objection. Though he'd need to be careful about letting her get too attached. The friendly joking was one thing. A girl who was looking for something he couldn't give her, and getting hurt in the process, was entirely another. Parker really didn't like hurting people. It was one of the reasons he'd decided not to look for a long-term relationship in the first place. The few he'd had were the sort that ended badly, and in the end he'd given up on them, because he was always going to be more dedicated to his career than to anything else. Most women he met didn't really understand that, and that was okay. But it was a pretty good reason not to be dragging them into something that would end with them crying and him feeling guilty. Better to just avoid all of that completely.
His alarm was going to go off any minute. Lately, he really only needed it after a night that he'd let himself go a little too much, but he always set it, just in case. He was a little surprised he'd woken without it, after how late they'd been up, but then, he always woke up feeling good after a night of great sex.
Unfortunately, the impending alarm and the call of duty that followed meant he was going to have to wake Melissa, who was sleeping so peacefully against his side.
He slid his hand up and down the length of her spine, and turned so that he could settle the other against her hip, thumb rubbing slow circles over the bone. “Hey there,” he said, gently. “Time to wake up, pretty thing.”
She stirred, but didn't quite wake, murmuring something that sounded like a protest against his skin.
“Come on.” Parker shook her a little, still careful. “It's a Thursday. We've both got to go in to work.”
She probably didn't have to go in to work quite as early as he did. But if he was going to give her a ride home, she was going to have to get up with him. If she'd brought her car with her, he could have just left her asleep in bed with the alarm set for whatever time she actually needed to be awake. Next time, probably.
“Melissa. Wake up.”
Her eyelids fluttered, and then she was tipping her head back to look at him, eyebrows drawing together in sleepy confusion. “What time is it?” she asked, voice a little rusty with sleep.
“It's 6:15,” Parker said, glancing over her shoulder at the clock. “I've got to be at work in about forty-five minutes, I need to drop you off.”
She sighed.
“It's not so bad,” Parker said. “At least the sun is already up.” He indicated the light spilling in through the windows with a lazy wave of his hand, and slipped out from under her embrace so that he could start dressing. “In the winter I'm up when it's still totally dark, and it feels completely like night time. Those are the worst mornings.”
“Damn,” she said, sitting half up with her weight on her elbow. “Don't I know it. I'm always up early to run coffee for the higher-ups, so I'm glad that your alarm was set.”
“I usually ask, but we were a little out of it by the time we went to bed last night.”
Or early this morning. A little out of it was a bit of an understatement. But shit, it had been worth it. Melissa laughed like she was thinking the same thing that he was.
“Lucky me, then.” She swung her feet over the edge of the bed, and a moment later she was standing, hunting around the room for the clothes that he'd stripped off her the night before. “I’ve never been late to work before, and I really don’t want to start now.”
“I've still got some time before my first class, but I like to get in well before that, just to make sure everything is running smoothly,” Parker said as he pulled on a pair of athletic shorts. “And I might try to get a workout in myself, though I can do that in the evening just as well. Morning for me always has a little extra bounce in it.”
“I used to go to the gym all the time,” Melissa said. She was fastening her bra. “But then I started this job and I'm just so busy. So I mostly just do a quick run around my neighborhood and a few at home sorts of things. But maybe one of these days when I feel a little less like I'm drowning in a pile of paperwork I'll start looking for a real gym again.”
“You’re always welcome to check out mine,” Parker said. He pulled his shirt over his head and grinned at her. “I’ll give you my number, just in case.”
“Oh, really? Just in case, huh?”
He put on an innocent face Jackson had told him more than once was ‘“Utterly unbelievable, Parker. No one is going to fall for that.’”
“Just in case,” he said again.
She laughed. “Give me a minute to find my purse and I’ll take it down.”
***
Half an hour and one coffee stop later, Parker dropped Melissa off, sending her on her way with a wave and a grin. She blew a teasing kiss at him as she pulled out of the lot, and Parker shook his head and turned the opposite direction down the street, headed for his gym.
When he arrived there was a decent group of regulars spread out through the room, all of them getting their workouts in before they headed off to whatever desk job awaited.
“Dude.�
� One of the other trainers appeared at his elbow, looking flustered. “I need to—”
Parker's phone rang. “Sorry, Daniel. I need to take this. Just one moment.”
Daniel looked at him a little helplessly, mouth opening like he wanted to say something else, but Parker lifted the phone to his ear.
“This is Parker. What can I do for you?”
“Parker,” a woman's voice said in his ear. “Oh, good. I'm so glad I got a hold of you. I've got a bit of a personal training emergency, and I need to step up our sessions, and maybe see if you can change my meal plan? My husband just surprised me with a cruise for my birthday, and I'm not going without looking my best, so if we can move our timeline forward that would be great.”
Parker tipped the phone away from his mouth and let his breath escape on a quiet sigh before he spoke. “Okay, Mrs. Jacobs. I'm going to have to sit down and talk to you about this at our next appointment, because we're already pushing the limits, and much faster starts to get into territory that really isn't safe, and won't do you much good in the long run. Changing your body is a slow process. Fast change might seem nice in the beginning, but you're way more likely to gain back everything you lost if you're doing it in a rush.”
“I can't wait for three more days. I need to schedule an appointment with you this afternoon.”
“I'll have to take a look at my schedule, Mrs. Jacobs, and see what can be arranged. There's a lot going on lately. Let me do that, and I'll give you a call again a little later.”
There was an annoyed huff of breath from the other end of the line, but Mrs. Jacobs didn't argue, thankfully. He really wasn't ready for a full-on debate with her this early in the morning, and it always was one with Mrs. Jacobs. Her husband was a lawyer and in Parker's opinion she'd watched him in court, and likely argued with him outside of it, a few too many times.
“Probably the soonest we're going to be able to get you on the schedule is tomorrow, but I'll see if there were any cancellations.”
“I suppose that’ll have to do, then. Thank you, Parker. Call me as soon as you know when you can see me; I need to set up my calendar for tomorrow as soon as possible.”
“Will do, Mrs. Jacobs. Have a nice day.” Parker hung up, and ran a hand through his hair.
“What's she want now?” Daniel asked beside him.
The way Parker's eyes rolled upward wasn't entirely voluntary. “Her husband is taking her on a cruise and apparently she wants to move her goals up. But we're already moving about as fast as we're going to move. So she may just have to deal with it.”
Daniel nodded his understanding, and opened his mouth to speak again.
Parker, his eyes moving over the room, almost tripped over his own feet.
Jennifer Leandra was laid out on her back on one of the weight benches, doing incline dumbbell flys in his gym.
What the hell was she doing in his gym, and why hadn't anyone warned him that she was there, for fuck's sake?
He turned to look at Daniel, and realized that was probably exactly what the other trainer had been trying to do.
“What's she doing here?” he hissed, trying to keep the whisper too low for the woman less than twenty feet away to hear. It looked like she had headphones in, so it was likely she couldn't anyway, but he wasn't taking any chances.
“I’ve no clue,” Daniel whispered back. “She just showed up, asking to take a test run of the gym. It wasn't like we could turn her away.”
“No.” Parker sighed. “This day just keeps getting better.”
It had started promisingly, back in the warmth of his own bed with a beautiful woman wrapped around him, but apparently that was a thing of the past.
“You going to brave it now?” Daniel asked. “Or wait?”
That was a good question. Jackson probably would have told him that he should wait, and assess the situation to see whether or not there was a chance for negative publicity to come out of it. But Parker was in his own gym. The place he’d built, some of it with his own hands, and he was not going to let himself be intimidated by some little slip of a brunette just because she wore spandex that showed off every ripple of her muscle. Lots of women he'd had through here wore spandex. Lots of the women he'd taken to bed wore it. He wasn't going to be overcome by workout clothes.
Parker squared his shoulders, and started over toward the bench where Jennifer Leandra was working. As he got closer, he could hear the huff of her breath, going in and out with the rise and fall of the weights. Damn, he wished he'd been able to get a workout in before the day devolved into crazy.
As he approached, Jennifer pulled herself smoothly upright, leaning over to set the weights down. She then sat, perfectly relaxed, with her hands resting on her thighs while she straddled the bench, and waited for him to approach her.
If Parker had thought she was hot in the video, that was nothing to how good she looked in the flesh. She had to be 5’10”, all lean muscle and smooth curves. He’d never wanted to be a weight bench so much in his life.
“Jennifer,” he said, offering his hand. “It’s nice to meet you in person.”
She must not have been at the bench too long. There was no sweat darkening her clothes. Her hand closed around his with a grip as firm as he had expected it to be.
“Parker,” she said. There was no warmth in her voice.
“Why don't you walk with me?” Parker offered. “We can go back to my office and talk.”
She swung one long leg over the bench and stood up, the top of her head even with his shoulder. Definitely tall.
“So,” he said as he started toward the back of the building and his office with her at his heels. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your presence in my gym?”
Jackson wasn't going to be happy. He would have wanted to speak, and to set up their social media strategy before anything got decided. But Parker could always tell her that he needed time to make a decision on whatever she had to say. He did have business partners, after all. Jackson had to be consulted.
“I wanted to speak with you in person,” Jennifer said.
Parker opened the door to his office and stepped back to let her through first. She strode in, glancing around it like nothing there interested her, and dropped into one of the chairs across from his desk. One of her legs crossed over the other, and then she waited, regally, as though she were the one sitting behind the desk and waiting for him, and not the other way around. Parker closed the door, and took his own seat.
“What did you want to speak about?” He thought he knew, but better to ask and have her tell him for sure than to take a guess and be wrong.
“Oh, I'm sure you know already. You must’ve seen the video I made.”
Parker chuckled, leaning back in his seat. “Yes. I saw it. I saw how many views it had, too. Good strategy.”
“I was serious.” She leaned forward a little, hands curled around the ends of the armrests. “I'm calling you out, Parker. I want a challenge.” Jennifer finally smiled, and it wasn't very friendly. “I want a real challenge. I'm not sure if you're really up to the task or not, but you seemed the most likely to be, so I picked you.”
That set his own pride prickling a little. He was more than enough of a challenge for anyone. Certainly enough for Jennifer Leandra.
“I'm sure that any challenge you set I'll be more than able to meet,” he said before he could stop himself.
He really ought to wait for Jackson.
“We'll see about that,” Jennifer answered.
“What exactly is it that you're wanting to do?”
She lifted one hand, tapping at her lower lip with her finger like she was thinking. Parker was sure that she already knew exactly what she was going to challenge him to.
“I want,” she said finally, “to test that tag line of yours. You say you can make anyone fit, so prove it. Pick someone. They have to be totally out of shape. I'll pick someone, too, and you can vet them. Same for me. When we've both decided on satisfactory second parties, we'l
l run a fitness contest. Whoever gets their person the most fit by the end of it, wins.”
Parker stared across the desk at her. “That's a fucking terrible idea.”
Jennifer's eyebrows shot upward. “Excuse me?”
“Look. As much as I pass myself off as this drill sergeant, you can't just use people as props in a contest. Especially not when it concerns something as important to them as their health and fitness. The whole reason that I can get anyone fit is that I'm patient. I start small and keep them going. You know as well as I do that you can't rush fitness if you want it to stick.”
She laughed. “I'm not talking about weight loss. I'm talking about which of them, by the end, has the most endurance. The highest improvement since getting up off the couch. Which of them feels the best. If they lose weight along the way, then good for them. If that's their goal. But I’m not looking to ruin my clients’ health any more than you are. I do have a business to maintain, you know?”
Parker sat back in his chair again. He'd straightened a little when she'd brought up her idea, his irritation getting the better of him. “So, basically, whoever feels the most satisfied with their results?”
“Close. There has to be something objective. That's where things like stamina come in. Someone who didn't want much might be very satisfied with minimal results. Someone else might be unhappy with the best.”
That was true. Parker had dealt with enough clients who were constantly unhappy that he couldn't magically give them what they wanted overnight with some secret elixir or workout plan.
“Fair enough. We'll have to further discuss the metrics of the contest. I want to make sure that no one gets hurt.”
Jennifer waved one hand in the air like she was waving the words away. “Of course. I wouldn't want to hurt anyone either. I actually do have a heart, you know.”
