Chapter 14
Maisy tried Brittany’s number again for the millionth time after she returned from the restaurant with Chloe, eager to share the news of her new job. And again, like all the previous times, it rang and rang till it went to voicemail. Maisy knew Brittany was probably busy, away from her phone, but she really wanted to share her news with someone. She was about to give up and go to bed when she heard her phone ring, thinking it was Brittany calling back after seeing her missed call. She pounced on her phone. “Hey, why weren’t answering your phone?”
There was a small pause, then a voice she was all-too-well acquainted with said, “I normally would if it asked me a question. Evening, Maisy, this is Carter. I was calling to tell you that I need to go somewhere tomorrow morning. So, can we move our session to evening? Or, better yet, you can come to the gym in the morning and work on your own, then we could still meet up in the evening.”
Maisy’s cheeks flamed in embarrassment. “Sorry about that. And no problem. Guess I’ll be seeing you in the evening.”
“All right then, and maybe next time you could check who’s calling before picking up the phone. You never know who you might be telling where you hide your gold stash.” He sounded playful, but his voice held a thread of seriousness in it, and it made Maisy wonder if he was trying to be protective of her.
“I usually do, but I needed to talk to a friend of mine, and I’ve been calling her since morning, and she isn’t picking up. Then when the phone rang, I naturally assumed she was calling me back, so I answered without looking at my phone.”
“Oh,” Carter said, and Maisy realized she may have spoken too much. When Carter still didn’t say anything, she got nervous and continued.
“You see, the thing is, I got a job today, sort of. I mean, I’m still meeting tomorrow to talk things out with the head chef, but he already said I had the job.”
“That’s great; didn’t even know you were looking for one. So where is this place?” Carter seemed excited at her news, and Maisy felt a little more comfortable talking to him about it.
“It’s at this restaurant Chloe took me to, Ralph’s. It’s just about five blocks from here. Wait, you’ve lived here long enough, I’m sure you know where I’m talking about.”
“Yes, Maisy, I know the place. Even worked there for a while after I came back.” A short pause, then, “So, you work there now. Well, I know Ralph only hires the best, so I’m thinking I’ll be stopping by to see how good you are in the kitchen.”
Maisy smiled a little at that then, feeling a little bit naughty, said, “If you wanted to know how good I was in the kitchen, all you needed to do was ask, and I would have shown you. Then you can thank me by showing me how good you are in bed. Oh wait, I already know that.”
“You may think you do, but trust me, Maisy, you have no idea,” Carter replied in a voice dripping with sex and a not-so-subtle hint of forbidden pleasures. Maisy’s body went hot all over, and she had to force herself to keep her mind on what they were talking about.
“Now you’re just teasing me,” she managed to say in a voice low with arousal.
“Maybe I was; but, really, congratulations on your new job.”
“Thanks. I’m a little bit scared, though.” Maisy finally admitted the reason she was so frantic to get across to Brittany. Why was she talking to Carter about it when they never really got personal with each other?
“Scared of what?” Carter sounded confused and concerned all at once.
“I work as a pastry chef. I literally work with the very thing that could ruin all the hard work and progress I’ve made these past few weeks.”
“And you’re scared that going back to work would mean you would gain back all the weight you lost?” Carter asked, and Maisy nodded to herself, almost afraid to even say it out loud.
“Let me ask you a question: exactly what does your work mean to you?”
Maisy didn’t even have to think before she answered, “It’s the one thing I have always wanted to do since I was a kid. I never wanted to be a movie star, or singer, or doctor, or any of that. I’ve always loved working in the kitchen, mixing recipes, coming up with new ones, and all that. Quite simply put, I’m happiest when I’m cooking and baking and stuff.”
“Then go ahead and do it,” Carter stated. Then he added, “I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, and I can almost bet that you may fall a few times along the way. But what’s important is that you get back up and keep working hard at it, and in a way, it just might help. Because the key isn’t to deny yourself something that you really want but isn’t good for you, but to work till you only want the things that are good for you.”
“So, you’re saying I should go for it?”
“Yes, Maisy, that’s what I’m saying. Tell me, do you think your former weight was a function of the fact that you cook?”
“Well, not exactly. I mean, knowing how to whip up a three-layer chocolate cake without actually thinking too much sure doesn’t help. But I wouldn’t say it was exactly the reason why I was that fat before,” Maisy answered, trying to be as honest as she could be.
“Then what would you say the problem was?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t use to be really like, fat or anything. I mean, I used to eat a lot, sort of, and I guess not working out at all sort of meant I never lost all the weight I gained. But I think I ate mostly when I was unhappy. Actually, cramming the sweetest thing I could find was my default reaction to any situation that made me unhappy.”
“There you go. So just try to stay out of scenarios that make you unhappy. It may not always work, but when you feel you’ve eaten more than you should have, you should just put in extra work in the next workout.”
“That kinda makes sense now, and here I was blaming myself for putting on so much weight during my relationship, and it was actually the bastard’s fault.”
“Sorry, who’s the bastard?”
Maisy startled as she realized she had spoken out loud. “Sorry. I was talking about my ex.” Then, feeling the need to explain further, she added, “I just got out of a nasty relationship.”
Something in her voice suddenly made Carter ask in a low, menacing, and definitely protective tone, “Did he put his hands on you?”
“No, nothing like that. Eric was more the type to use his tongue to hurt someone rather than engage in a brawl with them.”
“So, he’s verbally abusive then?” Carter asked, and from his tone, Maisy gathered he didn’t really see the difference between verbally abusive and physically abusive. Basically, she got the notion from him that he would have confronted Eric had he been anywhere near him.
“Yes, and I guess the more I stayed with him, the unhappier I was. And the unhappier I was, the more I ate. The more I ate, the more he made fun of my weight and laughed at me, calling me names, and doing some other things I would rather not remember.”
“That bad, huh?” he asked, and the way he said it with just a hint of barely- contained fury aimed at Eric, and totally sympathetic to her plight, Maisy just kept talking and talking. She told him everything, about how sad and depressed she had been after the breakup and in a way how it was why she had started thinking of losing weight in the first place. Then she told him that was before, and now she had started to learn little by little to do it for herself.
He said little in between, mostly listening to her. But he did say that it was good she had stopped making Eric the reason and motivation for her weight loss because holding on to something like that could be toxic for her. Then he said if he ever saw Eric, he more than likely would punch him in the face, hard. And that made Maisy blush and feel warm all over. But not in an erotic way, more like in a warm, mushy feeling in her heart sort of way. Feelings Maisy really liked. Liked so much that she instantly sat up from her bed. Feelings she wasn’t supposed to be having for Carter.
Their relationship was supposed to be purely physical — no emotions involved. But it felt so good to talk to him. So good, in fac
t, that Maisy stayed on the phone with him till close to midnight. He made her laugh a lot and talk about herself a lot. Then by the time she dropped the phone, he had already made her scared. Scared because now she couldn’t deny she had feelings for him. Scared that her feelings for him would end up hurting her. But not because he would ever do anything to hurt her, but because he didn’t have those same feelings for her.
Chapter 15
Maisy groaned as the shrill sound of her phone alarm pierced through what was turning out to be a particularly good dream. She blindingly reached out to turn it off, cursing when she only managed to knock it to the floor, where it continued ringing. Getting down from the bed, she picked up the phone and turned off the sound, then smiled guiltily as she remembered what she had done the night before while she was on the phone with Carter. They talked a lot on the phone at night now. It started at first with Maisy always looking for an excuse to talk to him, then slowly it developed to a point where there was no use for excuses. It didn’t matter who initiated the call, Carter or Maisy, they always found themselves talking on the phone, usually on days when they met earlier in the day as opposed to in the evening. And Maisy had never liked talking to anyone ever as much as she enjoyed talking with Carter. Maybe except for Brittany, but then Brittany never made her moan over the phone, or bite her pillow as she tried to hide her orgasms from him when he had given her strict instructions not to orgasm. Of course, he always knew when she came and then made sure to punish her for it the next day, usually by making her orgasm again.
Last night, he had asked her if she owned a vibrator, and when she said no, he had told her to use her fingers. Then, whispering in her ear the whole time, he had made her come so hard Maisy was sure Chloe had heard her screams of pleasure in the next house.
Now she walked to the kitchen and made herself a cup of coffee as she sat down at the island. She thought about making toast, then decided she would have a proper breakfast after she came back from the gym. Besides, she was getting weighed again this morning, and Maisy didn’t want anything that would affect the results in any way. Frankly, she knew at this point, what she weighed was basically a formality as she could already see the massive change her body had undergone. It was about twelve weeks since she started training with Carter, and she had already had to change most of her wardrobe. Even though she wasn’t ready to wear a thong to the beach just yet, she still remembered how it had felt the day she had tried to wear a pair of her jeans and found out they were too big for her. She was so happy, the first thing she had done when she saw Carter in the gym that evening was drop to her knees and take him into her mouth. Remembering it now made Maisy grin, and, suddenly, she wanted to get to the gym as quickly as possible. It wasn’t like they had sex every day or every time she went to the gym, but they did it enough times that Maisy considered it a small miracle they had yet to be caught.
She went back into the bedroom, and after a quick shower, changed into her workout clothes. Then she poured the rest of the coffee into a thermos travel mug and set off on a brisk walk to the gym. She got there early enough that she found Carter wasn’t yet around, which rarely happened. Letting herself in with the spare key he had given her after one such occasion before, she went straight to their workout room. She let out a deep breath as she looked at the surroundings that over the last few weeks had become more familiar to her than even the walls of her bedroom.
Except when she had something to do, she was almost always here in the gym. Either working out alone, or she joined a group when she felt like it or wanted to learn something. Already she was making new friends with some of the women in the gym and had even helped Linda, the trainer, handle a class when she had to leave during a workout session to attend to her son. She had stopped working exclusively with Carter and now came in to the gym anytime she wanted to work out. But she never missed her sessions with Carter, either late in the evening or in the morning.
Maisy placed the now-almost empty cup on the counter in the front of the room, then went to the locker at one side wall to take off the pullover she had worn over her workout clothes. She came back to the center of the room and spent the first few minutes looking at herself in the mirror, still surprised, as she almost always was, by the transformation. The image in the mirror was the only motivation she needed as she got on the floor and started stretching. She was just about to hit the cycling machine when Carter strolled into the room, carrying his bag and looking sinfully gorgeous.
Aware of the hitch in her breath she always got when he entered the room, or looked at her, or when she thought of him, or the million other scenarios that had to do with him, Maisy said a casual hello to him.
“Morning,” he replied. Then he reached for his waist to pull off his vest, which meant he was most likely going to be working right alongside her. Which meant Maisy was going to be having a hard time choosing whether to concentrate on her workout or the flexing of his muscles as he lifted this or pulled that. Swallowing hard, she got on the bike and started cycling, noting from the corner of her eye that Carter had gone to the weight rack.
Two hours later, Maisy’s clothes were drenched in sweat and felt even heavier than the twenty-five-pound dumbbells she struggled to get back on the rack. Beside her, Carter was just as sweaty as she was, but whereas she was panting and breathing fast, he looked calm, relaxed, and like he could do a repeat of the last two hours all over again. So, she wasn’t surprised when he grabbed her by her waist and kissed her hard, nor was she surprised when she found the energy to return the kiss with almost equal fervor. She moaned when he slipped a finger inside her panties to tease her pussy to life, but the kiss had already done that, and his fingers came back sopping wet. He grabbed her shorts and panties and pulled them both down at once.
Understanding him, Maisy reached for the waistband of his pants, freeing his erection. The sight of his engorged cock made her want to go down and take him into her mouth, but she didn’t complain when he spun her around and slammed into her. He started thrusting into her immediately, and then reached forward to clasp his hand over her mouth to muffle the sound of her orgasm. Then he turned her right around with her back against the wall, and this time it was Maisy who grabbed his cock and shoved it into her as he kissed her hard. When they both came this time, their groans of ecstasy were muffled by their kiss.
Still reeling from the shock of the orgasm, with her legs around Carter’s waist, Maisy looked into his eyes, seeking, searching. Hoping to find even just a hint of what she saw in her eyes when she looked in the mirror as she thought of him. Just the slightest hint of any feelings in his eyes apart from lust, or sexual satisfaction. And came back with the same result she had gotten the last few weeks. Nothing.
Chapter 16
Carter took a seat beside Jesse at the bar, glancing at the TV screen above them to see they were showing highlights from the game the night before.
“Well, well, well. So, you’re still alive,” Jesse joked as he motioned to Steve, the bartender. “I was beginning to think you were buried under one of those ridiculous weights you like showing off with.”
“Just because it almost happened to you doesn’t mean it would happen to me. Besides, you don’t drop by the gym anymore. Why?”
“Been busy at work; business has been really good. Which actually means work has been crazy lately, so I don’t really have the time. Besides, I sent you all those messages, and you never replied to any of them. Not even once.” Now Jesse sounded a little accusatory.
“Well, you could say I’ve also been kind of busy lately, too,” Carter replied, feeling a little bit bad for having abandoned his friend like that.
“This thing you’re busy with the reason you’re always on the phone at midnight when I try to call you?”
Carter quickly took a drink of his beer in a bid to hide the guilty look that crossed his face. “Not every night.”
“Well,” Jesse said, not picking up on any of the guilty cues Carter was dropping, “every
night I called, you were always on the phone. Also wanted to tell you that a new gym is opening across town. You know Brad, from Brad and Brooke Real Estate?” Carter nodded, indicating he remembered Brad who was a former classmate of both Carter and Jesse. “Yeah, Brad sold them the place some months back, and they’ve been renovating since. But I think they’re opening the place next week.”
Jesse waited for some sort of reply from Carter, and when he got none had to ask, “You’re not scared of the competition? Okay, maybe scared is the wrong word. How about concerned?”
“Nope,” Carter answered nonchalantly, appearing for all intents and purposes to not care. “I mean, why should I? This town is big enough for us all. Besides, I’m quite confident that almost none, if at any at all, of my clients would leave me.”
“You’re probably right about that. So, tell me, how have things been at the gym lately?” Jesse seemed animated, ready to hear some juicy tale about who was coming on to Carter, or any new gorgeous chick who just joined the gym. Carter quickly wondered if he should make something up, but felt that anything he made up would hit too close to home, so he said instead, “Been pretty boring; nothing really interesting to report.”
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