by Regina Cole
Silvio shrugged. “She does it for me. She’s nice, too. I liked her laugh.”
“Stay away from her.”
“Whoa, man, no need to take my head off. She’s not my client.”
Rob forced his fists to relax and took a deep breath. “No, she isn’t. Sorry. I just—” He couldn’t explain. He fully intended to break his own fucking rule, so how could he? “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it—it’s cool.” Silvio pulled on his jacket. “I’ll see you tomorrow, man.”
“’Night,” Rob said, watching as Silvio walked out the front door. Rob locked the thumbscrew behind him and flipped the neon OPEN sign to the off position.
“Are you keeping me in, or everyone else out?”
He turned. Stacey was there, a small smile on her face as she held her water bottle at waist height, fiddling with the lid, one hip jutted out slightly. Like she wanted to play the role of sex kitten, but wasn’t sure how to go about it.
He could have told her that she was doing just fine.
“It’s after closing time,” he said in answer, smiling back. “You’ve got my undivided attention.”
“What am I supposed to do with that?” She brought the bottle to her lips.
She was playing with fire, and he so badly wanted them both to burn. Easy, he cautioned himself, even though the wicked twinkle in her eye beckoned him onward.
“We should probably finish your workout. Just ten minutes on the treadmill or the elliptical, your choice.”
She sighed. “If the choice is between bad and worse, I’ll pick bad every time. Elliptical it is.”
He followed her to the bank of machines across the right side of the gym’s back wall. She mounted the one in the corner, and he stepped onto the one right beside her.
“You’re doing it too?”
“I’m not always a heartless dictator,” he said, turning the machine on.
“Pfft.” She snorted, her arms swinging as she began the movements. “I’ve known you for just two days, and I can already see how pushy you are.”
“You’re the one who hired me. Don’t whine because I’m doing my job well.”
Her mouth formed an O, and her expression of outrage made him grin. “I am not whining! You’re a bossy jerk.”
“And you need to speed up,” he said mildly, leaning over to punch up the resistance on her machine. “Come on, finish strong.”
She glared dark thunder at him, but gripped the handles tighter and quickened her movements without further argument. The machines made the only noise in the large room, and they worked out together in silence for a while.
He watched every move she made, his own body handling the motion of the elliptical without any thought.
Her ponytail bobbed, and her cheeks were rosy and glistening with the effort. The shirt she wore had a V-neck, and a drop of perspiration wended its way down her cleavage. He wanted to pull that shirt off and see exactly what path it took. Her breasts shimmied slightly, the sports bra she wore not quite enough to stop her movements. And her nipples, God help him, were still prominent through the pale purple fabric.
“Eight minutes,” she panted. “Just two more, right?”
“Yes,” he said, leaning over to drop her speed back down. “Focus on your breathing. Deep, slow breaths, that’s right. Ease your heart rate back down slowly.”
She nodded, and he matched his speed to hers. The seconds wound down, and when they were done, Stacey stepped off her elliptical with a relieved sigh.
“So glad that’s over,” she said, lifting her hair from her neck and closing her eyes.
He had to recite the Gettysburg Address in his head to keep from cataloging all of her tantalizing physical attributes again. Staring at the free weights across the room, he went through as much of it as he could remember.
And dedicated to the proposition that all men are—
“—a shower,” she was saying when he ran out of words.
“Say what?”
“I know the gym’s closed, but is it okay if I grab a quick shower? It’s so cold outside, I’d hate to go out with my clothes all sweaty.”
“Sure,” he said, hoping that his smile didn’t look strained. “I’ve got some paperwork to do in the office, so it’s no trouble.”
She thanked him, grabbed her bag, and walked to the women’s locker room.
He tried to forget that she was in there getting naked, in his locker room, alone.
He failed.
* * *
The cool water hitting her skin was absolute bliss, and Stacey tilted her chin upward to let it run through her hair.
She should’ve brought her conditioner, but she’d forgotten it in the haste of running home to pick up her workout gear. Oh well. Next time she’d be much more prepared.
As she quickly soaped up her skin, she took stock of her body. She felt good. Tired, that was for sure, but her muscles burned with a pleasant ache that reminded her that she had actually done something with them. It was a good feeling, not one she was especially used to. Not since college had she really worked out, and the reality of using her muscles again was nice.
The soap ran down her body, little white rivers circling the drain. She smiled down at her feet, wiggling her toes in the bubbles atop her shower flip-flops.
Rob was really smoking hot. She had definitely made use of the idea Hannah had given her at lunch that day, flirting as hard as she could. And surprisingly, he seemed to respond really well to it. She had definitely noticed him checking her out once or twice.
It was insane. Rob was surrounded by hard bodies all day, every day. Yet he still acted like she was someone worth looking at. Crazy, but she wasn’t about to question the fates about it. She would just revel in her newfound attractiveness, for however long it lasted.
She soaped up once more, then a quick rinse finished her shower. Upon opening the curtain, she shivered a little as the cool air hit her wet skin. The heat her workout had generated was gone now. She would be glad for a warm, dry towel and her fresh clothes.
Just as her fingers closed on her towel, a sudden popping sound was her only warning before darkness fell around her.
She froze. The drip of the showerhead was extra-loud in the dark. Okay, no biggie—she’d just wait for the lights to come back on.
But she waited. And waited. And they didn’t.
“What the crap do I do?” Her voice echoed against the tiles. She shuffled forward, blindly feeling for her bag in the dark. Where was it? The benches were over here somewhere, weren’t they?
“Ouch!” Her shin connected with the bench.
“Stacey?”
Oh God. Rob. She was naked; what the hell was she supposed to do?
“I’m okay.” Her voice was more croak than anything else. She clutched her towel to her chest. “What happened?”
“The lights are on a timer, and I forgot to override it since we were here late. The utility room keys are in my car, so it’ll take just a minute to fix the situation. Are you okay?”
Okay? No, she was not okay. She was naked, blind, shivering, and she didn’t know where the hell her clothes were. But how could she tell him that?
“Umm, I’m okay enough, I guess, if you hurry. How long will it take?”
“I’ve got a flashlight on my phone. Let me help you get situated, and then I’ll deal with the lights.”
Shit. Why did he have to be so helpful?
She sighed. Wrapping her towel more tightly around her, she gave a slight nod in the dark. “Okay, I’ll level with you. I’ve got my towel, but my clothes are across the room, I don’t know where. Can you help me find them?”
She could tell he was smiling wickedly, even in the pitch-dark of the locker room. “So you’re naked.”
It wasn’t a question, but she answered anyway. “Yes, I am, in fact, naked. That’s typically how I shower. I find it’s a lot easier to get clean without the clothes in the way.”
Her snarky comment earned a lau
gh, and a sudden light from the doorway drew her gaze. She rounded her shoulders, embarrassed by the sight she must present.
The dim glow of the flashlight didn’t offer much of a glimpse of Rob’s face, but the expression she could discern was one of interest.
“Your bag is here.”
Stacey reached for it, grateful. “Thank you. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize to me. I’m the one who stranded you in the dark with no clothes. I should be apologizing to you.” He turned the flashlight so she could see his face, and the wolf-like grin there made her heart thump hard against her ribs. “Although I couldn’t have planned the timing any better if I had tried. You wear that towel well, Miss Hough.”
Well, in for a penny . . .
“So, you like what you see?” She let one corner of the towel slip a little, giving him a better glimpse of the side of her breast. “You know, we are alone.”
What was she hoping for here? That he’d rip the towel off of her and they would do incredibly nasty things to one another on the locker room bench? If she was being honest—yes. All of that. More. And a bag of chips.
“I had better leave, or what happens next will definitely fall outside the bonds of our client-trainer relationship.”
“Who says we have to stay within those bonds?”
Rob closed his eyes, and Stacey held her breath to see what he would say next. It was all she could do to keep silent. But she had laid all her cards out on the table, and if he wanted to play, she would know soon.
Rob set his cell phone down, the flashlight beaming straight up in the blackness. He reached a hand forward and snagged the edge of her towel, not pulling, just holding. He stepped closer to her, not touching, but the heat from his body warmed her damp skin.
“Are you sure?”
Stacey slammed her eyes shut. Was she insane? Probably. But when was she ever going to have a chance like this again?
This was so far outside her comfort zone she was in another universe. She had never done this kind of thing before. Hell, she had only had sex with two other guys before. And those were months into their relationships. She had known this guy for two days, and here she was about to throw everything at him, when he was so far out of her league it was insane?
Yes. She was the one who wanted something different in life, and she was about to take the bull by the horns.
She dropped the towel.
Chapter 7
It worked. He hadn’t expected it to, it was a stupid idea in the first place, but God help him, it had actually worked.
Rob had remembered the lights’ auto-shutoff feature about three minutes before it happened. Plenty of time to go get the utility room keys and override the program. But then he had imagined Stacey in the shower and wondered exactly what she would do if confronted with a sudden blackout.
Was he a bastard? Probably. It had also been the single most brilliant idea he had ever had. And the worst. Because right now, in the dark, he held a damp towel—and a naked Stacey stood somewhere in front of him. But seeing her was nearly impossible.
He could only make out the barest outlines of her. The soft image of her pale skin in the flashlight’s dim glow was more than enough to whet his imagination’s appetite. Blood rushed to his cock, stiffening in response to her.
He dropped the towel on the bench beside them, stepping forward to bring her into his embrace. Bending down, he caught her lips in a kiss. Her skin was damp, cool from the moisture of the shower, and she smelled of flowers and soap. She leaned into him eagerly as his hands roamed her back, tangling in the wet ropes of her hair. She was delicious, sweet. Her mouth was open and inviting, her tongue questing into his mouth as if in search of hidden treasure.
With a groan, he gathered her closer to his body, not caring that her still-wet skin was dampening his clothes. She was soft, fitting so comfortably against him, as if she was made for him. His cock stiffened, eagerly pressing against the softness of her belly as he kissed her deeper, harder. His pulse rushed, his body straining with every nerve to take her—to make her his.
Pulling back, he looked down at her. God, why did that cell phone’s flashlight have to be so weak? He could barely make out her features in the darkness. Her face was tilted up to look at him, but her expression was unreadable.
“If you’re sure about this, then we’ll do it. If you say no, this stops right here.”
He waited, one heart-stopping second, for her answer.
“I’m sure.” She reached up and caught the back of his neck, pulling him down to her once more.
This time, he didn’t hold back. Crushing his mouth to hers, he pressed her backward toward the bench. Pausing only long enough to spread the damp towel on the bench, he then returned to her, kissing her deeply.
Her moans stirred him onward, giving license to his questing fingers. He wanted to touch her everywhere, to feel each part of her body as she eagerly responded to him. With every move he made, she met him. Each slide of his lips on hers, she echoed—each breath, each moan, each sigh. Touch for touch. He indulged them both, letting his fingers make their way down from her neck, to her shoulders, and then finally to rest against the softness of her breasts. She arched her back, pressing them firmly into his palms. They were full, so round they overflowed his hands.
He’d never imagined a woman could feel this way—so soft, so perfect. His ex was more classically beautiful, and physically smaller. But Stacey? His cock had never ached like this before. Ever.
Her nipples were pebbled against his palms, hard and begging for his attention. Gently, gently, he pinched, rolling them slightly between his thumbs and forefingers. Her gasp echoed in the darkness.
“Mmm,” she moaned, the sound reaching beneath his pants and wrapping around his eager cock. “Ooooh.”
“I want to see you,” he said. He let go, reaching for the cell phone on the bench. His palm covered the light, plunging the locker room into complete darkness again. “You feel so amazing, Stacey. I want to see you.”
“No.” His wrist was suddenly enveloped in a small but strong grip. “This is perfect.”
He wanted to argue, but then she reached forward and massaged his aching dick through the thin fabric of his pants. Her hand was hot, her fingers clever as they found and stroked his head in a slow, tantalizing circle. “Let’s stay in the dark for now. Please?”
God, he couldn’t deny her anything as long as her touch drove him this crazy. All he could think about was pressing her onto the bench and shoving his aching cock deep into her sweetness.
“In the dark. For now.” He let the cell phone go, and the dim flashlight showed him the barest outline of her.
It was enough. It had to be.
She tugged at the hem of his shirt, and he helped her remove it. Her breaths were quick, her movements jerky. He stilled her, calmed her with hands and mouth and breath over skin. She trembled against him, kisses and touches becoming bolder with each passing moment.
The touch of her breasts against his bare chest was intoxicating, and he wanted so much more. Lust licked him up and down, and Stacey wielded it. He reached down and cupped her ass with both hands, bringing her high and hard against him. God, his pants were still in the way. He wanted his cock against her body in the worst way.
“These,” she said as she ran her fingers beneath his waistband, “need to go.”
Never one to disappoint a lady, he removed them as quickly as he could before pressing her back down on the locker room bench. Their breaths were loud and anxious in the silence.
As he knelt between her spread legs, a sudden, terrible thought struck him.
“I don’t have a condom.”
He knew what was the right thing to do, but damn, he hated it. He wasn’t the kind of guy who would just take what was so freely offered without a thought. God, he wished he was, but he couldn’t.
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not. Not at all. Next time, I promise. For now? I just want to thank you fo
r this.”
With that, he knelt between her legs and buried his face between her thighs. Her shocked cries echoed off the ceiling as his tongue found her, surrounding her tender clit, flicking and stroking her softly.
Her fingers tangled in his hair, pulling in concert with his motions. She was so sweet, so wet, so ready for him. He had to make this good. God, she’d asked for this, together they’d decided, and the lack of a condom would not leave her wanting. He would make sure of that. Carefully, gently, he inserted a finger in time with the motions of his tongue.
Her hips twisted and bucked beneath him, clenching and twitching as her movements and his quickened. His balls ached like a toothache, his cock dripped precum, but still he could not stop. He would not stop. This might be all he could give her, but he’d be damned if he would let it go.
“Rob, I . . . I . . .”
He didn’t lift his head to answer, just added a second finger and lightly nipped her clit. The extra pressure did it. Lifting her hips on a scream, Stacey shuddered and came.
He fell still, not moving as the remnants of her orgasm shuddered through her. Her gasps were ragged, the skin beneath his hands shivering.
“Oh my God,” Stacey said, breathless, unevenly. “That was—I’ve never—”
“I’m about to split my skin here,” Rob couldn’t help but tell her. “You were delicious, you were incredible, and all I want to do is fuck you so hard right now.”
Her fingers were there, searching for his hand. “It’s okay, you can—”
He stopped her, not wanting to hear her affirmation. He couldn’t take her up on it, but what he wouldn’t give for a condom right then. “I won’t, but God, I want to.”
On his knees at the end of the long bench, Rob closed his hand over his aching hardness. His fingers still wet with her, the taste of her still on his lips, he closed his eyes as he tilted his chin skyward, reveling in the feeling. It wouldn’t take long like this, too close already, but then a soft, questing hand felt its way up his thigh to cup his balls, and he moaned aloud.
“Let me.” Her breath was on his cock, and he dripped even more. “I want to return the favor.”
