Working up a Sweat

by Working Up A Sweat (lit)

  And now here he was, wondering if Calli Howard was as special as she seemed or just another woman who was good at playing games.

  Calli wasted no time brushing her teeth, washing her face and working the tangles out of her hair. She thought about changing but decided against it. The plan to seduce Leo with a sexy outfit, waxed and perfumed body had already flown out of the window.

  She headed back to the living area and stopped at the balcony door. Leo looked so far away, lost in thought, that clearly were not happy thoughts. His eyes looked so sad. What could a man who looked like him, who was obviously secure in a job, smart and personable, have to be sad about?

  “Hey, you okay?” She stepped up behind him and put her hand on his broad shoulder.

  “Yeah, fine,” he said with a smile that seemed a little forced. “Just thinking.”

  “Penny for your thoughts. Or nickel—inflation and all.”

  He chuckled. “I’m not sure my thoughts are worth much.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I’d be willing to bet they are. Hey, are you hungry? I’m starving. I was going to call and order room service. Do they have decent pizza here?”

  “It’s not bad.”

  “Pizza okay with you then?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay.” She headed in and placed their order then took a seat on the sofa where he was now sitting.

  “So, do you have a work in progress?” she asked.

  “Yeah, sort of.”

  “What genre?”

  “Urban fantasy.”

  “Cool. How’s it going?”

  “It was going great. Until I hit a snag.”

  Calli tucked her feet up under her, pulling her t-shirt over her legs. “Okay, so let’s talk about it and see if you can get past the snag. What’s the problem?”

  “Well, the main character, Blake, has had a thing for this woman, Sydney, for a long time. Only she was jerked around bad by her ex and so she’s totally gun shy. She has feelings for Blake, but she’s been hesitant to let him get really close.”

  “Okay.” Calli closed her eyes to try to form an image of the characters and situation. “And the problem you’re having is…?”

  “Sydney had kind of a close call with an evil guy that’s changed her thinking. Now she wants things to progress with Blake. They’re at her apartment and…and I’m not quite sure how to write it.”

  “Can I read the scene leading up to this?”

  “Sure.” Leo called up the file, scrolled to the right place and handed her the laptop.

  Calli read the lead-in to the scene. Leo wrote very well and from what little she read, had a distinct voice and style.

  “Okay, so she’s just asked him to stay the night. Something I assume she’s never done before?”

  “Correct.”

  “Well then, put yourself in his shoes. What is Blake thinking right now?”

  She handed him the laptop, watching his brows draw together and his eyes narrow as he thought about it.

  “Well, he’s surprised.”

  “So write that.” She scooted over closer as he set the computer on his lap and started typing, reading the words aloud that he keyed in.

  He opened his mouth then closed it, looking at her with a perplexed expression on his face. “Let me get this straight. You want me to stay here—with you—tonight?”

  Leo looked at her. “Sound right?”

  “Perfect. Now, what does she do?”

  “She…ah…she…shit, I don’t know. I told you, I suck at the romance and sex stuff.”

  “Okay, no problem. I’ll be Sydney. Let’s see. I know. Write this…”

  “Yes,” she whispered. Her fingers worked up his neck to caress the side of his face. “Very much.”

  “That’s good.” Leo smiled and typed. “And he’d say…”

  “Why? I mean, just a few days ago you said…”

  Calli considered it for a moment. “How about this?”

  “Just a few days ago I was still running. But I’m not now. I’m through running, Blake, and more than anything I want you to stay here with me tonight. If you want to, that is.”

  Leo nodded, typing as she talked. “Perfect.”

  “Maybe the part about if you want to is too insecure,” Calli said. “Unless the character hasn’t been all that secure up until now.”

  “It’s perfect. Okay, so …”

  Blake looked at her for a long time, searching for an answer in his eyes. Relief washed through him. The answer was there. “Yes, I want to. But only if you’re sure.”

  “Now what?”

  “Now they make love,” Calli replied.

  Leo grimaced. “I’m pretty sure I can’t write that.”

  She studied his face. He wasn’t kidding. Something was definitely blocking him from writing the sex. But what?

  “Can you help?”

  Calli turned her attention away from wondering what had him so inhibited about writing sex and to the scene itself. “I’ll try.” She closed her eyes for a moment, thinking, and then opened her eyes, the words spilling out.

  Dex’s fingers flew over the keyboard, trying to keep up as she dictated.

  “Very sure.” Her voice was little more than a soft breath as she looped her arms around his neck and moved to straddle him.

  Their lips met and she felt her breath catch as desire rose inside her. Blake’s hands moved to her shirt to pull it up. Their lips parted only long enough to pull the t-shirt over her head and toss it aside. Then he claimed her with another kiss.

  The kiss soon became frenzied. Clothes were pulled off and thrown across the room. They explored each other’s body with hands and mouths, tasting, touching and experimenting with one another. Blake rolled Sydney off his lap and pressed her back on the couch. Running his hands down the length of her slowly, he followed with his mouth. He wanted to taste every square inch of her milky skin. She ran her hands through his hair, letting the silky strands slide through her fingers. He kissed her stomach and moved slowly down to her hips. His mouth created currents of fire that moved through her body. His hands found their way to her wet core and dipped into the wet heat.

  Sydney pulled his face back to hers. “I want to feel your body next to mine,” she breathed and seared him with her kiss. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her to him and together they sank into each other.

  Leo caught up, stared at the screen for a moment then looked at her. “That’s pretty hot.”

  “It’s supposed to be. They’re about to consummate an important step in their relationship. It’ll be the first time he’s ever made love to her then slept with her. They’re taking things to the next level and you want your readers to go with them. To feel their need and the heat between them.”

  “To be honest, I’m feeling a little too much of their heat.”

  “What?”

  He smiled and set aside the laptop to take her hand. “I’m afraid that writing with you gives me more than just ideas to put on a page.”

  A sharp shard of excitement pierced her. She was feeling a little worked up herself, and it wasn’t just from the scene. Sitting next to Leo, feeling the heat from his body and remembering the feel of him from the night before had her wanting more than just to work on a sex scene for a book. It had her wanting to enact one of her own.

  And that gave her a wicked idea. “Then maybe what we should do is become Blake and Sydney and see how this scene should really play out.”

  Leo’s eyes widened. “Role play?”

  She gave him a smile. “If you’re game, why not?”

  “Oh yeah, I’m most definitely game. So how do we start?”

  “Well, I guess where we left off.” Calli climbed onto his lap, straddling his body.

  Leo grinned then pulled her to him for a kiss that had her nerve endings sizzling. His hands rubbed down her back to grip her ass. Suddenly he rolled back on the couch, pulling her on top of him.

  Calli helped him work free of his t-shirt betw
een kisses, then rose long enough for him to take off his shorts. Once he was nude, she stripped off her t-shirt and undies.

  “Ummm.” He reached out to stroke his fingers lightly over her nearly bare pussy. “Soft. Sexy.”

  And exactly what she’d hoped he would think. At least the torture hadn’t been in vain. With a smile, she straddled him again, taking his hard cock in her hands to stroke him for a few moments. His eyes closed in what she perceived as pleasure.

  She released him and leaned down, letting her hair fall over his skin as she explored him with hands and mouth. She worked her way down his body to his cock and started to take him in her mouth, but he pulled her back up for another kiss.

  When she pushed back into a sitting position, she took his cock in hand, stroking slowly but firmly. Two voices warred within her. One screamed a warning. She might think she was acting out a fantasy but she knew herself better. She wasn’t someone who could indulge in casual sex. There had to be an emotional component.

  The other voice whispered seductively, encouraging her to indulge in the fantasy and live it to the fullest. Who knew if another opportunity like this would ever come around again? Forget silly notions of romance and love and just enjoy the physical pleasures Leo had to offer. Play it cool. Don’t be a sap and let on that you’re crazy about him.

  That thought gave her a mental jolt. She’d been trying hard not to be that interested. Could she really be emotionally attached to him so soon or was it simply some hidden need to be attached to someone that had her emotions rising to the surface?

  She didn’t know the answer, but did know that now wasn’t the time to analyze it. So she chose to heed the advice of the seductive and play the game of living out a fantasy.

  “I believe right about now, Blake and Sydney would be so eager for one another they’d forego the foreplay. Only we can’t exactly do that because unlike a good little scout, I’m not prepared.”

  Leo smiled and fumbled around on the floor for his shorts. “Lucky for Blake and Sydney, I am.”

  “Let me do that for you.” Calli smiled and plucked the condom from his hand as he pulled it from a pocket on his pants.

  She unwrapped the condom and rolled it on slowly. He was hot, hard and ready, and for once she didn’t feel shy about taking the initiative. She rose on her knees and with one hand at the base of his cock and the other guiding the head around the edge of her wet sex she lubricated him with her own juices. Then slowly she sank down on him.

  Calli gasped as her pussy stretched to accommodate him, trying to shove aside the near orgasmic waves that washed over her. She wanted this to last. Bracing herself with her hands firmly on his chest, she started a slow, sensual dance, rising up his entire length before sinking back down. God, did that feel good. She’d forgotten just how much she enjoyed sex. But now it was coming back to her. Fast.

  Leo’s hands covered her ass, his fingers digging in, guiding her down more firmly on each down stroke. Calli tried to hold it in check, not to come, but it was too good, too powerful. She rode him through the climax then slowed.

  “You’re beautiful when you come,” he said softly.

  She hadn’t expected pretty words from him, but what a thrill it gave her. With ever-increasing speed, she rode him again, feeling a tension come into his body that signaled he was close.

  Just when she thought he would come, he sat and laid her back on the couch, slipping free from inside her. She let him position her as he slid off the couch and knelt, spreading her legs.

  Calli nearly came off the couch when his tongue lapped at her pussy. God almighty, it was like she’d grown extra nerve endings. If she’d known waxing would provide this much added sensation she’d have tried it long ago.

  His tongue, worked up and over her clit. She moaned, digging her fingers into the fabric of the couch. He backed off, moving down to drive his tongue inside her.

  Just as she started to hum with the onset of a climax, he switched his attention back to her clit. Calli didn’t know whether to scream in frustration or pleasure. Every time she would get close to release, he’d ease off. She was ready to spontaneously combust.

  “Please,” she moaned, not caring that she begged. She needed to come. Badly.

  Leo focused his attention on her clit, licking and sucking it. It didn’t take much for her to tumble over the edge. And when she did, she screamed his name.

  As if in answer to some need she didn’t know she’d voiced, he pushed her legs up over his shoulders and slid her onto his hard cock. Calli screamed again, her pussy clenching on him as he pounded against her. Faster and harder, they strained to come together in an almost savage need.

  He tensed, his hands gripping her hips in a near-painful grasp. She felt him pulse inside her and it evoked another orgasm. Together they crested the wave and were sent plummeting into the depths when it crashed down over them.

  Leo blew out his breath and moved her legs off his shoulders so he could lay his chest on her body, wrapping his arms beneath her and holding her close. Calli was too limp with satisfaction to do more than run her fingers through his long hair.

  After a few minutes he raised up to look at her. “That was—”

  Just then someone knocked on the door. “Room service.”

  “Food!” Suddenly Calli’s stomach was grumbling, reminding her just how long it’d been since she’d eaten. As Leo got up, she rolled off the couch, grabbing her discarded t-shirt, and headed for the door. She paused long enough for him to disappear into the bedroom then opened the door.

  “Hey, thanks. I’ll take it from here.” She signed the receipt, adding a generous tip, and wheeled the serving cart into the living area.

  “God this smells good.” She opened the first platter and sniffed the heavenly aroma the pizza gave off. She was halfway through her first slice before Leo appeared, a towel secured around his waist.

  “It’s delicious,” she mumbled around a mouthful and popped the top of a soda.

  Leo couldn’t help but grin. Clearly, she had no inhibitions when it came to eating either. She was gobbling away, humming and groaning like it was food from heaven. He swiped at a glob of sauce on her chin.

  “I’m a slob when it comes to food. The messier the better. When I was a kid my favorite night was fajita night. That’s the night you could eat with your hands and make a real mess. It was wonderful.”

  Leo laughed and transferred the pizza and sodas to the coffee table. As they ate he keyed in the sex scene. Several times she corrected him, giving him the feelings and needs of the female character. He found himself wondering if the feelings she described were really just fiction or there was something of herself in there.

  The fact that he wanted it to be the latter surprised him. He barely knew her. How could he be wishing that she was falling in love with him? That question had him freezing, his hands poised on the keyboard.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  Leo shook his head, unable to look at her for fear that she’d see the lie he was about to say. “Nothing. Just trying to make sure I’ve got this right.”

  Relief washed over him when she nodded and grabbed another slice of pizza. He was safe. At least for the moment Calli had no clue that to his shock he’d realized that he was falling for her.

  Chapter Four

  Calli peeled off her wet workout clothes and headed for the shower. She and Leo had enjoyed a late workout after his shift was over, and he was going to meet her at her villa as soon as he cleaned up. As had become their custom, they’d order room service, work on Leo’s book, and if she was lucky, have incredible, mind-blowing sex followed by cuddling and sleeping wrapped in his strong arms. Heaven. That’s the only word for it in her vocabulary.

  As the warm spray of water cascaded down over her, she thought about how much fun it was working out with Leo, or working on his book—or eating or just talking. She could do that every day of the week and not get tired of it.

  That thought brought a sudden
rush of tears. It wasn’t long before she’d have to go home. Suddenly home didn’t seem as appealing. Going home meant leaving the fantasy behind and returning to the real world.

  How was she ever going to go back to the way she’d been before she came here? How was she going to be able to forget Leo and what she’d shared with him? She tried reminding herself that this thing between them wasn’t real. It was all just part of a fantasy she was living out. But her heart had gone beyond fantasy. Despite all efforts to the contrary, she was in love with him.

  She worked shampoo into her hair, savagely scrubbing. She couldn’t allow herself to feel that way. It would only lead to hurt, to heartbreak. Besides, they’d exchanged no words of love, made no promises. This was just fun and games. Period. She had to remember that and shove those unwanted emotions aside.

  Right after she had a good, long cry.

  The cry cut into her time and she was barely out of the shower when Leo tapped on the door. With a towel draped around her body and another wound around her head, she ran to open the door.

  “Well now, this is the way I like to be greeted,” Leo said with a smile.

  He grabbed the towel around her body and used it to haul her in against him, then let the towel fall to the floor. When he lowered his lips to hers, she almost dreaded the kiss. Not because she wouldn’t enjoy it, but because every time he kissed her she felt she could erupt from the desire it evoked. And then there was the issue of her unstable emotions at the moment.

  Nevertheless, her lips parted for his as his hands unwound the towel from her hair and tangled in the wet tresses. God, he was addictive. She couldn’t get enough of him. As if of their own accord, her hands moved to unfasten his shirt. His skin was hot to her touch as she moved her hands over the muscles of his chest and then down his ripped abdomen.

  His lips moved to her neck then down its curve to the hollow of her throat. Cassie felt like she was on fire as his hands traced down her back to cup her ass. He pulled back from the kiss, his lips trailing over her chin and down her neck. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered. His lips were soft and warm as they traveled lower.

  She gasped as his tongue circled her nipple slowly. “Leo…ahhh…”