by Joya Ryan
With a huff, Nolan finished his set and put the weights down.
Oliver smirked at him as he finished his own reps. “So do you want to talk about what has your shorts twisted, or do you just want to breathe hard and look at yourself in the mirror?”
Breathing hard and looking in the mirror sounded fine—if he had Ava with him. A thought he had no business having. He knew the rules. She’d been clear about those from the get-go.
“I’m just trying to figure out some work stuff.”
Work stuff? That was the best he could come up with? He didn’t want to come right out and say a certain blonde had his world tipping over.
“By ‘work stuff’, you must mean woman stuff,” Oliver said.
Okay, clearly his friend knew too much for his own good.
“What makes you say that?” Smooth. Real smooth.
“You’re never like this about Serve. Last time I saw you like this was…”
Nolan was glad his friend at least knew not to broach that subject.
“It is about work. And it’s about a woman.”
Oliver gave him a wide grin. “Oh yeah?”
Nolan shrugged. “She’s at Serve, Serve is work…” That counted.
“Uh huh.” Oliver set his weights down and looked at Nolan. “She with another guy?”
Nolan laughed. Honest to God laughed. How was he supposed to answer that question?
“Yes and no.”
Oliver frowned. “Are you high right now or something?”
“No, it’s just complicated.”
“Well, I can tell you that if the woman you’re into is even thinking of another guy, it’s fucking torture, man.”
Nolan nodded. Oliver had gone through his own kind of hell to get Eliza. But it had worked out for them. Still, Nolan’s situation was a tad different.
“She is with another guy.” He groaned. Anyone else and he would keep this to himself, but his friend wouldn’t betray his confidence. “The problem is that the other guy is me.”
Oliver frowned, then picked up the weights for his next set. “Drugs kill brain cells, you know. Might want to cut back.”
Damn it. “No, I mean, she came in wanting an anonymous man for anonymous sex—”
Oliver coughed. “And you thought you’d be the anonymous man.” He put down the dumbbells. “Do you see her outside of Serve?”
“Yeah, and that’s what’s getting to me. I’m two different people to her.” He picked up his own weights and started to do another set. “And she’s given me this choice regarding her, and I don’t know what to do.”
“What choice?”
Nolan would never give personal details away about anyone, especially Ava. But he needed advice from his friend. He’d just have to get it while staying vague.
“The choice is between having me, or Myth, prep her for the next scene.”
“Your alter ego is called Myth?”
“Yeah.”
Oliver looked up at the ceiling, as though considering the name. “I like that. Dark. Mysterious.” He picked his dumbbells back up and watched his biceps in the mirror as he lifted and extended. “Does she have any hard limits?”
“Only one. It’s that everything at Serve stays anonymous. She doesn’t know what Myth looks like, doesn’t hear his voice or anything.”
“Then you have your answer. Keep what happens in Serve between the woman and Myth. If you go too far as yourself, technically it’s not anonymous and you’re setting yourself up to dance a fine line with her hard limit. Like it or not, this is what she asked for. You have to respect that.”
Talking dirty with her had whetted his appetite. But that was talking, not touching. As Nolan, he could never go beyond that boundary. Except now she was practically dangling the opportunity to touch her as himself in front of him like a damn treat.
But Oliver was right, and Nolan knew it. Hell, he had been the one to tell her that no matter what, the hard limit would be respected by both parties. Which meant game over if he dared violate that boundary. And he sure as shit wasn’t going to risk a game over.
“Look,” Oliver said, and let the weights fall to the mat. “All I can tell you is that watching the woman you want walk around in front of you and not being able to take her is fucking frustrating and a little heartbreaking.”
“I’m not super serious about her or anything…”
“Yeah, sure, I can tell that by how you’re moaning and groaning and being an overall douche bag.”
“Fuck off,” he said with a laugh. “I’m fine.”
“Okay, while you keep telling yourself that, I’m going to tell you that giving up your woman to another, even a myth of a man, is hard. If you really want her, in and out of Serve, you should at least try to go for her.”
“I want her because I’m attracted to her,” Noland defended. Sure he liked her, but his wanting more of her was not as serious as Oliver was making it sound. Still, he found himself asking, “What if the woman doesn’t seem to want more than the myth?”
“You saw her outside of Serve, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Did she run away screaming about your God awful face?”
Nolan scoffed. “No, we had lunch.”
“Then she probably likes you at least a little. Not to mention, you’ve never seen a woman outside of Serve, which is a big deal. If both of you sat at a table and had a lunch date, that means you both wanted to be in the other’s company. Not rocket science, bro.”
Nolan laughed, because that’s what it felt like. Everything with Ava seemed to balance on a thin wire. At any moment, he could lean too much one way and fall on his ass. The thought of having more with her was an idea that had snuck in and out of his brain on a few occasions. But his whole life was structured around single encounters. And Ava had made it clear that when it came to sex, she required anonymity.
She was new to Serve and leaned on him for advice. That was it. Whether he enjoyed her company, inside or outside of Serve, was irrelevant. He had limited time with her no matter how he looked at it. But if he wanted to touch her, he could only do that as Myth.
More was for suckers. Deep down, he knew that. Didn’t stop his damn mind from giving him all these thoughts.
“Admit it. You like her,” Oliver said.
“When did you get all preachy?”
“Just giving you advice, man. I almost lost Eliza because I didn’t think I was capable of more, but in the end, none of my hang ups mattered. I had to tell her the truth about what I wanted, and that was just her.”
“Listen, you’re blowing this up to be more than it is.”
Oliver shrugged. “Okay. So you tell me what it is.”
“I can’t mess this up now. I can’t ruin my woman’s—” Nolan caught himself. “Her. I can’t ruin her fantasy now. She wants to be at Serve. Wants Myth. I couldn’t let anyone else take her because I was worried about her safety, so I’m in this. I won’t take her fantasy from her.” No matter how much it was tearing at his chest, like a tug of war between the real him and Myth. Who would win out today?
Oliver nailed him with a serious look. “You have to let go of what happened. That was years ago and wasn’t your fault.”
Nolan’s blood turned to ice thinking of the memory. Remembering the woman crying and in pain. “I set her up with an asshole that hurt her. He took her past her limits.”
“Right, but he’s the asshole, not you. There was no way you could have known. On paper, they made a good match. The interviews went well. You vetted him yourself. What happened once they were in the room wasn’t your fault.”
Nolan thought of her and hated himself every day for his mistake. Because Oliver was right—Nolan had vetted the man himself, and look at what had happened.
Nothing like that would ever happen to Ava. He’d never let anyone hurt her. Not while he was at Serve. Not while she was under his care.
Oliver clapped his back. “I’ve got to go meet Eliza, but I’m here if you want
to grab a beer later this week.”
“Sounds good, man.”
Oliver turned to leave, and Nolan couldn’t help but ask, “Hey, do you have any last words of wisdom?”
Oliver smiled. “Yeah, always have ouzo on hand. That stuff is magical.”
…
Nolan had gone back and forth on how to handle what was about to go down. His talk with Oliver the other day had helped. His friend had read him all wrong, but in a weird way, it had reminded Nolan why his relationship with Ava had to function within certain boundaries.
But tonight was the night. Ava would walk into Serve at any moment, and she’d be expecting a scene to rock her world. A scene with Myth.
He took a deep breath and downed his shot of vodka. He was off duty, but she didn’t need to know that. After their lunch conversation, he now knew he hadn’t even scratched the surface of the mystery that was Ava Webber.
She was a walking conundrum. She wanted to be taken over. Wanted to just feel and let him decide how to have her and work her body.
But in real life? That wasn’t the case.
The very idea of commitment seemed to make her shake. Not that Nolan could blame her. Commitment wasn’t practical for him either, but his aversion was a matter of practicality, whereas the word seemed to make her afraid. But he didn’t know why, and unless he understood her, he couldn’t protect her.
Like a siren’s call, he heard the faint tap of heels drawing closer. Her heels. Even over the music and people, he heard her, smelled her, felt her before she even reached him. He looked up to see her coming closer, her eyes fused on him.
Hol-lee shit…
She was wearing a black leather skirt and tall boots that came just over her knees and left the slightest glimpse of her thighs between the two. The white crop top gave just a hint of midriff, and her hair was down in wild curls. Damn, the woman knew how to tempt a man without showing off too much. In fact, it was the small peeks that got him instantly hard. Dying to see more, to feel her skin.
Myth. She wants Myth. Not me.
Either way, he’d get to feel her. Just not as himself. But her needs had to be met. And he had to deliver. Had to read between the lines to make sure she got what she wanted, all while sticking to her hard limits.
He slid his casual mask of charm in place.
“Looking good tonight, sweetheart. Let me find you a riding crop and the outfit will be complete.”
She snickered and glanced down at herself. “I rarely get to wear leather. Seemed fitting for this club.”
“You should wear it more often. I’m telling you, lot of guys in here would let you dominate them, especially dressed like that.” She had an air of confidence and sexiness that was so intoxicating he could barely breathe.
“What about Myth? It’s hard to dominate when I’m blindfolded.”
Nolan smiled. “He doesn’t want you to dominate him. He wants to consume you. Just like you want.”
She nodded. “Good.”
She bit her bottom lip and looked at him. He knew she wanted to know which of them was going to prep her tonight. Before she could ask, he stood and held out his hand.
“Are you ready to go to your scene?”
She nodded and took his hand. So soft and small. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d held a woman’s hand. It shouldn’t have been an intimate thing, but on some level, it was. It was something two familiar people did. Something a couple would do. Before he thought about that too much, he led her through the mouth, into the elevator, and up to the same room she’d been in before.
The lighting was already set low. The big bed was in the middle of the room and a mirror on the opposite wall. He stood her in front of the mirror. And then he pulled the blindfold out of his pocket.
“Is there anything you want to tell me before the scene begins?”
…
Ava opened her mouth to say a lot of things. To ask if Nolan was going to stay with her. Prep her. Or was Myth? Was her cryptic request really going to play out? She stood there, with Nolan behind her, his eyes glowing like blue fire. He’d been honest with her from the beginning. Time she was honest with him.
“I want…”
He waited. But she couldn’t say it. Because what she wanted was a piece of Nolan. And that wasn’t a good idea. It went against her hard limit of keeping her sex life at Serve anonymous. A limit that, if broken, would end everything. On a heavy inhale, she went with another truth.
“I’m a little nervous.”
He nodded and cupped her hip. “That’s understandable.”
They continued to look at each other through the mirror, and it was somehow erotic, connected yet detached, and just what she needed. She looked at him in the mirror, able to see him without having to face him.
“You like explicit, sweetheart, so that’s what I’m going to give you.” His hand trailed up the back of her thigh, and tingles surged from his touch. When he stopped on her cheek, he gently squeezed. “Do you want to be fucked here?” His finger traced the seam of her ass, across the thin lace of her thong.
“Y-yes,” she breathed.
“Then understand that it will feel different. There will be some discomfort. But then it will feel so fucking good, love. I promise.” She glanced at him in the mirror, and he finished with, “I know Myth very well. He won’t hurt you. He’ll take you over, demand that your body meet his. There will be slow moments and hard, rough moments. But you’ll like it. And you always have your safe word if you want to stop.”
She nodded. She believed him. But he was speaking for Myth, which meant…
“You’re leaving?”
He held up the blindfold.
“I’m not going far,” he said. “But Myth is in charge of your body and your pleasure. Start to finish.”
With that, the soft silk met her eyes, and her world went dark.
Chapter Nine
“It’s better this way,” Nolan mumbled to himself as he twisted the door handle and entered the room. He’d left Ava blindfolded, and she was still standing in front of the mirror, just as he’d left her.
Like last time, he’d removed his clothes, then put on only a pair of worn jeans and his tongue ring.
He tried not to think about the look in her eyes before he’d blindfolded her. If he didn’t know better, he’d think she’d looked momentarily disappointed that he wasn’t going to be the one to prep her. But he did know better. She might be tempted by the thought of Nolan, but it was Myth who would fulfill her fantasies. And she was waiting.
Waiting for Myth to take over.
He walked behind her, just like before. Only this time, she couldn’t see him. But he could see her, from the back and the front thanks to the reflection from the mirror.
“You’re warm,” she said.
Interesting statement, since her arms had little goose bumps all over them. If he were honest, he had a few himself. Because she was fucking breathtaking.
He’d thought it was just him who came into this room wearing a mask, but he saw the change wash over her. Miss Webber was good at wearing her own mask. This was her fantasy, and she knew how to play it.
And he’d play right back.
He lifted her shirt over her head and tossed it on the floor, then unclasped her bra. It fell next to her discarded shirt. The leather would stay on. But he reached beneath the skirt and snatched down her panties.
There. Perfect.
Seeing her topless, wearing nothing else but leather boots and a skirt, was the hottest fucking thing he’d ever witnessed.
He growled and palmed her ass.
“You like the skirt?” she asked.
He gently slapped her ass again, and she smiled. Did she like the idea of pleasing him? Just the thought made his cock impossibly harder, and he hadn’t even tasted her yet.
He grabbed her wrists in both hands and raised them to the mirror. He knew it was sturdy, and it also bent her over nicely. With her high heeled boots and short skirt,
her ass came on display, and he couldn’t wait to get his hands, mouth, and cock all over her.
Her shoulders tensed a little. Did she think he was going to plunge home already? Shit, he needed her relaxed before he’d even consider taking her ass. But he couldn’t say that. So he’d have to show her.
He knelt and lifted her skirt to bunch around her hips, and then he peppered kisses along her toned legs. Once he got to the fleshy part of her inner thigh, he bit down, and she gasped. He could smell her arousal already rising.
He wanted to tell her she looked beautiful. Looked like a damn sex dream come to life. Even though he was on his knees behind her, he could still see her face and breasts in the mirror, her expression as he leaned in and licked just once along her folds.
“Oh!” she gasped. Her delicate brow rose. She wiggled, signaling she wanted more.
Of course she did. So did he. This hot little piece was right in front of him, and he wanted to devour her. Best of all, there was nothing stopping him.
He leaned in and stroked his tongue back and forth along her folds. Every swipe parted her more, and he tasted her heat until finally he skimmed his tongue ring along her clit. She moaned. God, he loved that sound.
“So good,” she said.
He gripped her thighs and spread her wider. He was done with mercy. Done with holding himself back from his desire for her. As Myth, he had no need for such boundaries. He drove his tongue into her soft sex and fucked her as hard as he could.
“Oh yes!” she cried. Her hands splayed more on the mirror. He flicked his tongue and surged deep inside her. She was on the brink, but he needed to feel her on his cock first.
He rose quickly, grabbed a condom from his pocket, and sheathed himself.
He grabbed her hips, rubbed the tip of his cock between her legs to let her know his intentions, and then drove into her.
She gasped and rocked forward, then tried to reach back to touch him. But he slapped her ass, and she brought her hands back onto the mirror.
Good girl.
He fucked her with all of his strength. Watching them in the mirror. Watching her lips part around short breaths. Her breasts bounced so wildly that they slapped against each other, and the sound made him fuck her harder.
