She smirked at her own private pun, since she came out of that shower squeaky clean.
“That took balls,” the partner stated, “and I can admire that kind of courage and guts. Let’s have a chat about your future with the firm on Monday when I’m back in town.”
She clicked off the phone, but it only stayed silent for a moment before an unknown number jangled through.
“Hello?” she answered again.
“So I made the call,” his deep voice rumbled.
“I know, I was just informed, and I had to explain myself,” she laughed.
“So how about that date?”
She shook her head. “Still got a little ache, hmm?”
He huffed into the phone. “Something like that. I’ll text you a time for tomorrow night.” And he was gone.
She shook her head and slipped the phone back in her purse. It was about seven in the evening on Friday and she was tired. Taylor tossed her suit into the dry cleaning pile and collapsed into her tee shirt and yoga pants. Several hours later, Taylor woke up on the couch and staggered to her bed for the rest of the night.
The next morning she awoke around 9:00AM to her cell phone chirping the alert that a text message had been delivered. All it said was “1:00PM.” Nice and cryptic, she thought. I’m a little afraid of what he has in mind. And 1:00PM? What kind of date starts in the middle of the day?
She decided that she would take the rare Saturday off, and sipped her second cup of coffee, curled back up on the couch still in her yoga pants. After about her fourth cup, she decided to take a nice long shower and get ready.
As the cool water soaked her long blonde hair and soothed her skin, she lathered and rinsed. She also carefully shaved everything below the neck, knowing that it would cost her dearly if she said no to Draco this time and wanting to make a good impression even for just one night.
With her hair wrapped in a towel, she stood in front of her closet, trying to pick an outfit for an unknown activity at an unknown destination. She finally chose a simple black shift dress and a light pink cardigan. It seemed casual enough just in case and dressy enough, also just in case. She also blew dry her hair smooth, and applied her makeup with a light but practiced hand.
Right at 1:00PM, she exited her apartment building as the car pulled up. It was the same gentleman who had delivered her to the penthouse building the previous day, and he closed the door softly behind her.
As they drove off, she tried to interrogate him. “Where are we going? Do you know what Draco has in mind?”
The driver stayed devoted to his employer and simply declined to answer. The tinted windows were so dark that she could barely see where they were headed. After about thirty minutes, they came to a stop and the driver walked around to let her out. She gaped as she shouldered her purse and stepped out. Draco was waving down at her from the metal staircase that led up and into the private jet that sat idling on the tarmac.
“Right on time,” he yelled over the background engine noise.
As she climbed the stairs and stopped facing him, his face broke into a grin.
“I wasn’t sure you’d come.”
She smirked at him. “Guess that’s up to you later…”
He wrapped an arm around her waist and ushered her inside. “I hope it will be the first of many.”
THE END
Passion Uncaged
Annie hid around the corner of the plain brown brick building, and tapped the toe of her tennis shoe against the still surface of the puddle on the ground. When the ripples shuddered away from the contact, she waved her hands to disperse the swarm of mosquitoes that took flight into the muggy air.
She took one last hard drag on her cigarette and listened closely to the sizzle of the cherry red end. As she exhaled slowly, she dropped the butt into the puddle and heard a satisfying hiss as it hit the water. She tapped the stagnant puddle one more time and watched the circular ripples spread and then fade. It’s now or never, she thought as she rounded the corner and pushed open the door to the dim, air-conditioned gym.
She still was not sure what made her sign up for this class. She considered herself to be in good shape for a runner and yet here she was in her oversized tee shirt and baggy sweatpants, almost ready for her first session at the mixed martial arts facility. Although if she admitted the truth, she was not so much ready as she was resigned.
In all of her twenty-six years, she had not done anything quite this spontaneous or this insane. Her sister thought she had lost her mind and her best friend had laughed at her. It was so nice to have that kind of support. She had showed up for the first session just to show both of them that she could handle it. The second one was to be determined.
The nights at home alone were particularly isolated since she was not single. Single would have almost been better because that circumstance at least did not come with any expectation of company or companionship. Not that she would have gone out of her way to find any, but at least as a single woman, she could have found temporary comfort in someone without the guilt.
But the years with Ken had done a number on her self-esteem, to the point where she could not even bring herself to leave him. Annie was certainly self-sufficient financially. In fact, she made more than he did so that was not what kept her tied to him. It was the comfort factor, versus facing the unknown.
The unknown. She silently laughed to herself as she stood at the front desk waiting for instructions. This is about as unknown as it gets, she thought.
The young woman at the desk finally hung up the phone and looked at Annie disdainfully.
“Can I help you?” she asked scornfully.
“Yes, I have my first class tonight. I don’t remember the name of my instructor, though. I’m Annie Michaels.” She tucked the loose strands of her long blonde hair behind her ears in a nervous gesture.
“Oh, ok. You’re with Tony tonight. He’ll be out shortly. Have a seat over there.”
Annie nodded, and perched on the edge of the plastic chair to wait. She fiddled with the straps of her purse and looked around the small waiting area. The hard plastic chairs were far from comfortable but then neither was she. The magazines on the scratched and dented coffee table looked about as recent as those you would find at a doctor’s office. Of course, these subscriptions were not for “Better Homes and Gardens.” She had never heard of these before, but the once-glossy covers all held pictures of heavily muscled men and women in various threatening poses and glares.
She half-expected this Tony to look like Conan the Barbarian and to come bursting through the wooden door like a high school football player through a homecoming banner. She clenched her purse tighter as though it would protect her from the pictured assault.
Instead, Tony the instructor came strutting through the door quietly but wearing arrogance like a prize fighter would wear his trophy belt. He walked up to her and stared down at her. She felt overweight and frumpy under his gaze and tried not to fidget in her chair.
Dammit, she thought. Of course he would have to be hot. Of course Tony couldn’t be a pudgy woman in her fifties. She looked all the way up his six-foot-plus frame and into his calm brown eyes. He had that air about him that said he knew he was hot. She sighed as she stood up, realizing then that she only came up to his chest. She tried not to notice the intoxicating aroma of deodorant and masculinity. He ran his palm over his shaved scalp and sighed deeply.
“You have to be Annie. I’m Tony. Guess we better get started because I have my work cut out for me.” He turned on his heel and headed back through the door with Annie scrambling to keep up.
He gestured to an open door on the right and let her pass through first. “Here we are.”
The cinderblock room looked pretty small, since it was filled with thick blue pads and a variety of equipment. She dropped her purse in the corner of the room where he pointed.
“Did you need to change clothes?”
“N-N-No.”
“You’re going to do
this in those?”
“Y-Y-Yeah. I guess.”
“You may want something a little more form-fitting next time. The baggy clothes will hinder your movements.”
Annie nodded, unsure if she would be comfortable showing up in tighter clothing.
Tony had been wearing an oversized hoodie with his gym shorts but he shed it quickly and tossed it on top of her purse. She tried not to stare open-mouthed at the cut of his body underneath the trim tank top. He did not have a barbarian bulk, but instead he had the lean muscle that probably offered more agility than the bulk would have allowed him. His arms and chest were perfectly defined and she strongly suspected she would find chiseled abs under the shirt. She couldn’t study his legs without appearing obvious, but she was certain they were firm and fit as well.
All of those hard-earned muscles made Annie feel even dumpier in her tee and sweats, especially since she had already begun to sweat in the muggy atmosphere. And it also seemed to stir a different heat inside her belly that she had not felt in a long time.
“So have you ever done any sort of physical contact sports before?”
“N-N-No, I haven’t.”
“Hmm, starting from the ground up.” He circled her like prey and she felt dumpier by the minute.
“I guess we’ll just figure it out as we go along. Everyone has certain parts of this that they gravitate towards or are more physically capable of than other parts. We’ll start with a few basics. We’ll try a little bit of everything before we see where your strengths are.”
“Strengths? I don’t think I have any. I’m a runner so my inclination is to flee before a fight breaks out.”
He twisted his full lips into a wry grin. “Everyone has something. It can even be as simple as a frustration that you want to let out. Someone’s face that you want to dent permanently. I can guarantee you have something. I’ll find it.”
She furrowed her brow at him but nodded in agreement mostly because she was afraid to not agree. Her body felt flush but she was not sure if it was his words or his proximity.
“Have you ever watched any of these fights?”
“I watched a couple of videos last night, before the class.” She smoothed the loose strands back into her long blonde ponytail.
“What did you notice about them?”
“Besides the blood? Because I’m not too keen on bleeding today.”
Tony laughed. “Yes, besides the blood. I don’t plan to make you bleed, at least not today. What else did you notice?”
“It seemed that most of the fights ended up on the ground eventually.”
“Exactly. So why don’t we start there?”
“On the floor?” Annie was startled and more than a little nervous.
Tony nodded, and lay down on the floor in a position that resembled a June bug on its back. He instructed Annie to lay with him, in the all fours position. She took a deep breath and tried to assume the position he described. She could not even remember the last time she had been this close to her boyfriend Ken, let alone a complete stranger. Check that. A completely hot, complete stranger.
He dug his large hands into her hips to guide her into the proper position and she felt her body tingle as he maneuvered her so that she was right up against him. She knew her face was turning pink but she hoped he had not noticed.
What Annie did not realize was that Tony was less aware of the color in her cheeks and more aware of her breasts pressing against his stomach. He always wore a cup during any practice session, and while it did mask his twitching cock, the stiffening made the cup extremely uncomfortable. He shifted his hips in order to ease the pressure but unfortunately the movement only made his body move against hers, which ultimately worsened the problem instead of alleviating it.
His voice sounded a little hoarse as he gave her step by step instructions through the motions and movements including locking his ankles behind her waist. While he was performing them without any real pressure against her, she soon found herself in a very compromising position pressed against him and between his locked legs. Any slight motion from either of them led to more friction which led to more pink in her cheeks and more swelling beneath his protective cup.
Annie was distinctly aware that Tony seemed uncomfortable but she just assumed that it was because she had no idea what she was doing. In her head, she was already failing at this sport and it was only her first training session.
He released the awkwardly intimate hold and she stuttered out a suggestion that they take a break for some water. He nodded and hopped up from the floor, quickly turning his back to her and reaching for his water bottle.
She took his dismissal as a sign that she had not done the moves correctly and she sighed deeply. Tony turned to face her.
“Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”
“No, that’s not it. I just… I don’t know if I’m doing that well at this. I have no idea what I’m doing.”
He chuckled. “Well, if everyone already knew this stuff, I would be out of a job as a trainer.”
The corners of her mouth turned up slightly. “I suppose that’s true.”
After their break was over, he guided her back into the same position, showing her different varieties of the same general hold as well as a couple of methods for escaping. Her hands grappled his body as he instructed, but she was more aware of his firm muscled body than any sort of lesson she was supposed to be learning.
Both Tony and Annie tried to ignore the close proximity of the other, but it had been a long time since a man touched Annie in any way close to this, and Tony was very aware of the heaviness of her full breasts against his body and the brush of her ponytail against his arms and legs.
After the session was over, Annie gathered her purse and made a quick exit, hoping that he was still unaware of the pink in her cheeks, or could at least chalk it up to the physical exertion. Luckily, with the baggy clothing, she had managed to hide her stiffened nipples, and she tried desperately to ignore the tingling between her thighs. As she hurried out the door of the gym, the irritating front desk girl tried to confirm her next session but Annie was already gone.
Once she cleared the room, Tony reached inside his shorts and tried to adjust his swollen cock to a more comfortable position. He had been a trainer for several years now and he had not experienced this sort of physical reaction from a female client before. As he thought about the trim young blonde, he discovered that instead of adjusting himself, he had begun stroking his thick shaft. From his manipulation of her body, he knew that she did not have a figure that needed to be hidden away. He hoped that for their next session, she would wear something that was more conducive to both the activity and the groping. He slipped into a stall in the men’s room and finished himself off, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from groaning as his cock twitched its release in his hand.
Annie rested her forehead on her steering wheel, grateful that she had no one waiting for her at home. She had reacted more to the feel of Tony’s strong hands on her body than she would have ever expected. She could imagine him pinning her to the bed or the wall or the floor or…just about anywhere really.
It was later than she thought, so she slipped into bed as soon as she got home. As they had done so many nights before, her hands slipped between the sheets and under her panties. Even she was surprised at how slippery her smoothly shaven pussy was, and her finger massaged her aching clit until her whole body convulsed at the thought of Tony’s body against hers without the clothing in between.
The next session was a few days later, and Annie was both nervous and excited this time. After work, she had stepped to the ladies’ room at the law firm and changed out of her business suit into something that she hoped was more appropriate for the time with Tony. She was not looking for a drastic change, but she remembered what he said and had selected something more form-fitting, but hopefully not something that made her curves too obvious. Her pussy whispered a long forgotten need at the thought of his legs wrapping a
round her waist again.
Tony was reviewing his schedule for the day, and felt a twitch in his cock when he saw Annie’s name as his last session for the day. He knew he had to remain professional, especially as nervous and as shy as she seemed. But he could not help the way his body was reacting to the idea of seeing and feeling her again.
Annie stepped over the puddles easily as she approached the gym, smoothing her tee shirt and leggings out of nervous habit. The girl behind the front desk did not even recognize her at first, but when she remembered Annie, she looked surprised at the change in clothing.
It was all irrelevant when Tony walked through the door. His eyes widened at the sight of the blonde woman on the chair. The tee shirt hugged her form more closely, and despite the minimizing effect of the workout bra, he got an eyeful of her full breasts. Her legs were long and lean under the tight leggings. He had been hoping for the baggy sweatpants again but found himself pleased at the sight of her.
She smiled up at him, and thrilled at the wide-eyed stare she was receiving. She stood when he motioned to her and her pussy tingled as she walked past him towards to the training room. He really did smell delicious, like the outdoors and cologne and masculinity.
The session started with a review of the previous movements. She found herself anxious to not only be entangled with him again, but eager to show him that she remembered. This time he felt certain that she could feel his muscles twitch underneath her flat stomach but perhaps she would just write it off to friction or proximity.
As he held her in the choke position, she attempted one of the escape moves he had reviewed last time, but instead of letting her loose, he rolled with her momentum until he was on top of her and between her thighs.
She gasped at the sudden flip and he found himself frozen in that position, staring down at her full lips and flushed cheeks. His hips had their own ideas as they ground forward into her ever so slightly. Annie gasped again when she realized what he was doing but made no efforts to pull away. Instead, she attempted to lock her ankles behind his waist and pull him back the other direction.
Taken By The Forbidden Highlander (Scottish Highlander Romance) Page 56
