Floor Time

by Crowe, Liz

  “Sara, that was amazing,” he kissed her again, lightly. “I’m sorry to rush, but I’ll see you soon, I promise you that.” He touched her nose. She wondered if he would wash off the smell of her body before meeting his clients. He grinned that million-dollar grin he was famous for, brought his finger to his lips, and gave it a light flick with his tongue.

  “I’ve gotta show five condos to a newly married couple for the next two hours and they won’t know where the sex smell is coming from — me, or them.” She stared at him from across the kitchen as he finished tidying up and put the tray back where he found it earlier. He grabbed the grocery bag and hooked his arm out in invitation for him to join him on his way out the door.

  “See you Jack,” she said breezily. “Go on, I should close up here.”

  She turned away from him, with some effort. Sara’s chest tightened when she realized he was actually going to leave without saying anything else to her.

  Jesus the man was as bad as everyone said.

  Yeah, well what does that make you, Sara?

  She glanced at herself in the hallway mirror. Her hair was a mess, her face was red, and her linen shirt hopelessly wrinkled. Holding back tears at her own stupidity, unwilling to register her sense of extreme physical satisfaction, she slammed the house door shut behind her

  Once in the car, Jack opened all of the windows and cranked up the radio, letting the Stones drown his agony for the ride home.

  Fucking-A. The woman is going to mess you up Gordon. That much was guaranteed.

  What he didn’t know, for the first time in a long time, was what to do next.

  Jack had sincerely hoped that the days away from Sara would have cooled his ardor. Not that he hadn’t anticipated a long trip to fun-town with her that afternoon — and had planned and packed accordingly. But he could not get the vision of her standing in the doorway of that fucked up house out of his head now. He hadn’t seen a woman look that good in a while, and since he knew full well what her body was capable of — he took a deep breath.

  He loved how possessive she got about her listing. It occurred to him that perhaps one of the reasons she held such incredible appeal for him was exactly that — her extreme professionalism. She wasn’t doing this job for some extra money while her spouse made the real dough.

  Jack shook his head and cranked the music louder before flooring it, letting the powerful car ignite his senses in hopes of clearing his head. He knew that he reverted to discussing the property as a reflex. How many times had he walked into his own friend’s houses to play poker or pick them up for golf and automatically start to catalog the problems with the place in his head? He hadn’t gotten to the level of earning one-hundred-percent commission for nothing. And frankly, it helped him stay in control, to keep his body from doing what it wanted before he left, which was to tie her down and fuck her until she was spent, then wrap her up in his arms and kiss her until she begged him for more.

  The Stones switched over to classic Clapton. He clenched his jaw. With his level of experience, orgasms for his sex partners were a given. But boredom had set in with the usual manipulations and necessary effort. It had become…what? Mundane? Routine, even? Well, lucky for him, fate had plopped this female in his path to break that up. She brought out that other side of him. The side that needed to control.

  He shuddered, recalling the intensity of her responses. It collided with his need for distance, which had caused him to spout out such a stupid lie about having to work tonight. He had felt a reflexive need to move away from her, to protect himself from the feelings he had held down for so long. He had even let his real estate brain take over for a minute; anything to distract him from his bizarre impulse to sweep her into his arms and carry her off into the sunset.

  Something in him knew that it, whatever it was they had, could either kill him, or make him into something resembling an honest man. The conflict in his head about that threatened him with insanity.

  He pulled into his garage beside the SUV he used to cart clients around. Stomping into his kitchen he jumped when his phone buzzed with a text. It was Jason, confirming a showing and telling him an offer had come in on a commercial property. Jack threw the phone across the room, noting the satisfactory whomp it made against the far wall before he slumped down on his couch, as sights, sounds and smells of Sara tumbled around in his head.

  CHAPTER SIX

  As the sun baked her skin, Sara sighed and closed her eyes, shifting in her lounge chair. The past week’s events ran in a loop behind her eyes and she winced with a combination of embarrassment and lust.

  She’d had an amazing string of successes at work. Written three sales agreements and negotiated two others on her own listings. It proved her long standing belief that real estate was a series of Karmic events strung together, testing your resolve and rewarding the tenacious. On the other hand, her body was on fire since her last encounter with Jack Gordon. She couldn’t stop thinking about him, although he’d remained mostly silent ever since their little Open House encounter. It made her antsy, made her skin crawl with anticipation and nervous energy that she in turn channeled into work.

  She sighed again, and readjusted herself, pissed that the thought of the man made her tingle from head to toe. Damn him anyway. She didn’t need him, especially not the drama that seemed to accompany him wherever he went.

  Sitting still was not something she had ever excelled at, but Blake and Rob had insisted she join them for the long Fourth of July weekend at their place on Lake Michigan. She really was too busy to take this little break but went anyway. The fact that her brother and his partner knew her much too well made it especially difficult to be around them.

  When she would disappear for hours to “sit on the beach” they’d stare, disbelief in their eyes. She knew they would figure it out sooner or later and was not ready for that particular conversation. So, she avoided them as best she could in a seven-hundred square foot lakefront cabin.

  She drifted off, the sun and sounds of the Lake Michigan summer afternoon easing her into sleep. Then she heard him, the low growl of his voice insistent and familiar.

  “Sara.”

  “Hmm…” She crossed her legs.

  “Sara, kiss me.” The deep voice was insistent.

  “No, I can’t.”

  “Yes, you can.” The mild lake wind caressed her skin like a lover.

  Sara reached her arms up over her head and stretched, as her body reacted to the half-waking dream. Squeezing both eyes shut, she imagined his hands as they moved up her legs, to her hips, across her stomach and to her breasts. Aware on some level that her pussy was dripping wet, her nipples rock hard and if she touched herself right now she’d probably come, she flinched.

  “Sara?”

  She shook her head, unwilling to respond even in her own head. He was so incredibly wrong for her. She knew it. Why couldn’t she stop?

  “Sara!”

  She uncrossed her legs and bent them, to allow the wind to cool her more heated areas.

  “Earth to Sara!” She sat up, nearly banging foreheads with her brother.

  “Jesus, what?” She frowned at the man who could pass as her twin.

  He plopped himself down on the chair and stared at her. She closed her eyes again, determined to ignore him. The last thing she needed right now was an interrogation from an overprotective sibling.

  “What is with you anyway?” He grabbed her cheeks in one strong hand and pinched them, pursing her lips just as he used to do when they were kids.

  “Get off me,” she pulled her face away. Her eyes filled with sudden and alarming tears.

  “Nope, sorry, I’m sick of you avoiding me. Since when do you want to sit on the beach, I mean really?” He pushed her over and she half fell onto the sand. Blake’s gaze bore into her. He patted the chair in front of him, and she sat, but avoided any more eye contact, pulling her hair up into a ponytail, contemplating what in the hell lie she could tell that would convince him t
o leave her alone. Her phone buzzed. Blake sighed and tried to grab the device before she could reach for it.

  “Fuck off, I’m a busy realtor you know, let me work.” She held the phone out of his reach over her head, but he was much stronger. Restraining her with one hand on her shoulder, he pressed hard, rendering her immobile as he looked at her phone.

  “Ow, damn it,” she yelled and watched his face change once he read what flashed on her screen.

  “What,” she reached for it again.

  Blake looked up at her and held the phone out of her reach so she sat back down, defeated. His mouth was set, his eyes hard.

  Shit, Jack’s just sent another completely inappropriate text like he’d been doing all weekend long.

  Blake shook his head, lowered the hand holding her phone and dropped it into her lap. She shrugged. He could have as many opinions as he wanted to about whom she dated. Of course she wasn’t exactly “dating” Jack Gordon, her brain helpfully reminded her. She had let him fuck her in two public places with little or no resistance and would have likely let him right there on the beach chair if her wet bikini bottoms were any indication. She wanted him to tell her what to do, when to come, needed to feel his hands on her day and night. Not something she felt comfortable sharing with her brother.

  She tucked the phone back in her bag without looking at it. Blake still stared holes into her. He opened his mouth to speak.

  “Hey kids,” Rob called out. “It’s beer-thirty.” He joined them and set a tray of drinks and snacks on the large sawed off tree trunk that served as a table between the chairs.

  She took the ice-cold glass he handed her. Blake still hadn’t spoken or moved from his spot at the foot of her chair so she swung her legs around to sit facing Rob.

  “Thanks,” she took a sip.

  Blake took his beer from the tray and drained half of it.

  “Ok, then,” Rob said as he settled himself on the chair next to the two of them. “Guess I should have brought you a few more, huh?” He glanced at Sara before he looked at Blake, and they both waited for him to speak.

  Sara did not like keeping anything from him. Blake’s inflexibility with her these days, his judgmental attitude, made her unhappy to put it lightly. She missed their usual, easy camaraderie. They had hardly ever fought, even as teenagers. A united front in the face of their parent’s turbulent relationship had always trumped any sibling conflict. Sara sighed and wiped her sweaty palms on the towel.

  “So,” Blake stared at her but spoke to Rob. “Seems your buddy Jack Gordon has taken a shine to my sister.”

  Rob looked at Sara. She rolled her eyes and shrugged but her heart fluttered in her chest. Blake had a real knack for making her feel like a naughty high school girl. Fighting the anger rising in her chest, she leveled what she hoped was a neutral expression at him.

  “And do you think he’s a good choice for her?” Blake continued. As though Sara didn’t already know the answer.

  Rob contemplated Lake Michigan a moment then turned to Blake and Sara.

  “Hard to say,” he drained his own beer.

  “No, I thought not,” Blake stated, avoiding his sister’s gaze, ignoring Rob’s noncommittal response. “But hey, you know, I’m sure he’s a lot of fun, eh Sara,” Blake finally looked her way. His deep green eyes snapped with anger. “I mean that’s all that matters to you, right?”

  Rob reached over to touch Blake’s arm. They had never been much for public displays, so when they did touch, it made Sara glad for her brother’s good fortune in the relationship department. But, her temper still flared. His bullshit comments couldn’t go unanswered.

  She started to stand, but Blake held in her place. The three of them sat for a minute like that — connected by the touch of a hand. Rob spoke first.

  “Blake, calm down, Sara is a grownup. She can make her own choices.” He didn’t take his eyes from Blake’s face.

  Sara pulled her arm out of her brother’s grasp.

  “Look, I know you mean well,” angry tears collected in her eyes. “We can’t all be so lucky to find our soul mate you know,” she leaned over to Rob who kissed the top of her head. She needed Rob on her side at least a little or she’d never be able to control Blake’s increasing overreactions. “Yes, I know him, but we aren’t ‘together’ or anything like that. I mean we work for the same company. We have a difficult transaction going. We’re bound to talk…or whatever.”

  “Um, based on the text I read, I’m willing to guess you guys are doing more than working your deal,” Blake looked at her. His eyes had softened, much to her relief.

  Her phone buzzed again, rattling her bag. She lifted an eyebrow at her brother and ignored it. Blake ran a hand across his face, put his elbow on one well-toned thigh to prop up his head. Rob patted his leg.

  “There, there,” he said and smiled his gorgeous, Nordic god smile. “Our Sara is a hottie, after all, and has been without the company of a man for a while. My old friend, Mr. Gordon, is a sucker for that you know.”

  “Yeah, thanks, that really makes me feel so much better.” Blake drained the remainder of his beer. He stood up and took the tray up to the cabin for refills as Sara pulled her phone from the bag. She tried her best not to blush but the message set her nerve endings on high alert.

  “Next time I’m going to put one of the creamy strawberries inside your gorgeous pussy and lick you until you purr.”

  She glanced at the previous message. “I need to smack that luscious ass again. You game?” was the prose Blake had read.

  She sighed, embarrassed, thrilled, mortified and horny all at once. A state that had been a constant for her since Jack had taken her up against the wall of her office earlier that summer.

  Rob put a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him, her face flushed.

  “Sara, please, just don’t take anything seriously with him,” he told her. “I’ve known him a long time, and witnessed his bullshit first hand. Hell, I helped him perpetuate it on occasion.” Blake returned then, bearing fresh drinks for them all. Sara picked hers up and sipped at it, leaning back on her chair. “Just be smart.”

  “I don’t know a thing about him really other than through company gossip,” she said, hoping Rob would open up and spill some of Jack’s history. Watching the tall, blond Adonis of a man, she had a brief flash of regret that he’d chosen the other team. But her brother had so been unhappy, his last female relationship ending in disaster, the details of which he still hadn’t shared with her. He’d told her he was bisexual back in high school when they’d gotten high together during a particularly difficult separation period their parents had endured. Sara had no end of friends madly in love with her handsome, intense, athletic brother. The new wrinkle in his personality hadn’t bothered her, other than to make her worry for his ultimate happiness.

  When he and Rob had met at a beer festival in Chicago, Blake had never looked back and Sara was truly happy for him. Their gastro-brewery-pub was one Ann Arbor’s hottest eateries right now. They were an amazing team.

  “Of course,” Rob interrupted her thoughts. “The guy hasn’t always had it so easy.”

  Sara tried not to act too interested. Blake scoffed into his second beer.

  “He definitely knows the meaning of hard work. He used to come back every summer and handle construction jobs for his dad’s company,” Rob motioned for Blake to come sit by him. Sara realized he was trying to humanize the man Blake had demonized. “Talk about a ball breaking bastard,” Rob chuckled. “Jack used to dread when he’d get a call from his dad. His mom was a classic Irish princess; alcoholic by the time Jack’s sister was in middle school. You know Keystone Construction,” Rob looked at her. “That’s Jack’s family.”

  Sara’s eyes widened. Blake rolled his.

  “Yeah, so Jack partied like a maniac during school but had nearly a four point oh all the way through. His dad wouldn’t accept any less and, as much as he hated the old fuck, he wouldn’t do anything that might displeas
e him,” Rob finished his beer. He sat back tried to pull Blake back against him. Sara smiled. She knew her brother’s stubborn streak mirrored hers. He wouldn’t melt that easily. Rob shrugged.

  “He met Jenna in law school,” Rob said, as they both ignored Blake. “What a bitch,” he sighed. “Truly, I never got what he saw in her, beyond the obvious fact she was built like a fucking Penthouse pet and smart as a whip,” Blake looked back at his lover and shifted back in the chair. Rob smiled and put his feet on either side of the chaise so Blake could lean back against him. Rob pulled him close, put his arms around her brother’s shoulders and kissed his neck.

  “Hey, finish, would ya, before you get all moony on me,” she demanded, her heart racing at the thought of getting some real insight into the man who haunted her dreams.

  Rob smiled and leaned back, letting Blake fall back against him. “Well, let’s say she wins the prize as the one who scored Jack Gordon’s whole heart, then stuffed it in a shredder before torching it. The two of them were into some pretty out-there stuff. Had gone to a bunch of BDSM parties. I went with them once.” Sara raised her eyebrow at him. “It was some intense shit. It affected Jack in a big way. They’d deemed him a ‘natural Master,’ whatever the fuck that means. It was like he didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing but, Jenna loved it. Wore some kind of crazy necklace thing she called her ‘collar’ declaring herself Jack’s official submissive.”

  Sara felt her heartbeat in her ears.

  “He isn’t that bad really,” he ran a finger down Blake’s neck, across his shoulder and down his arm. “He feels deeply about women, wants to make them happy. He’s gotten so good at making them that way on the surface, it’s hard to get past that in his own head,” Rob insisted when Blake shifted in his seat. “Every single woman he was with — and there were plenty — had his full, complete, undivided attention, until he found the next one. Until Jenna.”