Laying it Bare After a Loss

by L. E. Martin

  I rolled my eyes. “You are such a guy.”

  “As you have seen and experienced.” He winked at me before pushing through the door to the men’s locker room.

  Shaking my head, I stepped into the women’s one. After changing into the tank top and short mesh shorts I had brought, I stuffed my other clothes into my bag and walked out to the hallway.

  Mitch stood with his back braced against the wall and his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes traveled up and down my body and I felt it like a caress. “Definitely going to be a challenge. I haven’t seen you in anything that didn’t make you look hot as hell.”

  I waggled my eyebrows at him. “And you’re looking like every girl’s work out fantasy.” He had on a black muscle shirt that showcased his incredible biceps and a pair of mesh shorts that hugged his trim waist and muscular thighs like he was modeling gym wear.

  “Let’s get working so then we can get home and get playing. I’ll start you out fairly easy with the weights and then while I’m lifting, you can use one of the bikes or ellipticals.” He snatched my bag from my hands. “Be right back.” He stepped back inside the locker room and returned a minute later. He grabbed my hand and laced our fingers as we walked toward the main exercise area.

  “Are you sure it’s cool to hold hands in a gym with all of this testosterone flowing?” I gazed up at him with a teasing grin. Although I was kinda serious.

  “You are too hot to go walking through here without the other guys knowing you’re mine. They would be all over you. And I’m looking to work off frustration not add to it.” He kissed my forehead.

  “Now I know we shouldn’t be doing that.” I couldn’t stop my giggle.

  He leaned down to my ear. “Always so Cheeky.” He nipped my lobe.

  My giggle morphed into a sigh as his action elicited a shiver.

  We stopped at an interesting contraption. “What is that and how am I supposed to figure out how to operate it without breaking it or myself.” I eyed the metal machine warily.

  “I’m going to show you how to use it properly. You’re in good hands.” He sat me down on the small cushioned bench.

  “I like being in your – ”

  He put his finger to my lips. “It will be incredibly difficult for me to work out if I have an erection I have to keep adjusting.”

  “Sorry. Sometimes I crack bad jokes when I’m nervous.”

  “Nothing to be nervous about. I got you. I won’t let you hurt yourself and I won’t leave your side until I’m confident you are comfortable with what you’re doing. If it takes me a little longer to do my workout today, it’s fine. We’re not meeting with Mick until after seven thirty.” Then he placed my hands on the grips on the bars protruding from the machine in front of me and demonstrated the motion I should do. With my concentration on his instructions, I missed what he called the machine but I think it was a chest press. It would be nice if it made my boobs bigger but I doubted that was one of its purposes.

  “I’m going to add a little weight to this and then I want you to try a set, ten times or reps that will be one set.” After he adjusted the weight, he gave me a nod. Moving my arms as he had shown me, I met some resistance but it wasn’t overwhelming. After a few motions, I got into a rhythm. “This isn’t too bad.” And it wasn’t, but my voice betrayed my exertion.

  “You’re a quick learner and a natural.” Mitch’s tone was full of pride. “Stop when you get to ten.” He waited for me to finish. “Now take a little breather and then I want you to do another set while I work a bit at the bench press. And then take another breather, and do the same thing. I think that will be good. I won’t be far nor will it take me long.”

  “I can handle this.” Plus if I finished early, I could watch him work out. Incentive again.

  After he made sure I was set, he headed over to a longer bench and sprawled out. I returned my focus to my own machine and completed another set before taking a short break and completing another. When I was finished, I wiped the sweat from my brow with my forearm and I could feel a little bit of the burn in my muscles. Then I walked over to where Mitch lay pushing what looked like an excessively large amount of weight on a bar above his chest. Another guy was standing to his side spotting him. I wasn’t a weight lifter but that was a term I was familiar with, probably from television and books. I was careful to stay out of his line of vision so I didn’t distract him from his task. He seemed laser focused on the bar above him but I wasn’t taking any chances. His muscles flexed and the front of his shirt was damp with sweat. I was well aware of how fit he was but to see him in action intensified his hotness factor.

  After he set the bar in the rack, he sat up and wiped the sweat from his face and chest with a towel before his eyes landed on me.

  “I was right. Watching you work out is sexy as hell.” My lady parts were humming.

  “Thanks Pete.”

  The other guy nodded and walked away.

  “Everything about me is sexy as hell, Sweetheart.” He shot me a wolfish grin before taking a long swallow of his water. “Are you ready to try another exercise?” He rested his elbows on his split thighs and gazed at me. “You’re glistening, just like a work out goddess.” Reaching down, he grabbed the other bottle of water and offered it to me.

  “Thanks. I didn’t think to bring one.” I took a few gulps. “Just have a little burn going on but I think I can do something else.”

  “Sometimes it’s easier just to buy a water bottle here so you can just toss it out, not worry about where you left it.” After he stood, I followed him over to another machine. “When you finish up here, why don’t you use the bike or Ellipticals? I think this is a good first time workout for you especially since I don’t know what all Mick has planned for us.” Once he explained how it worked and got me started, he headed over to his own machine.

  After I completed my three sets, I grabbed my bottle and headed over to the treadmill, thinking that was a safer and less grueling bet. I wanted to be able to walk out of here, not be carried. After downing the rest of the water, I set the controls and trotted along at a slightly faster than leisure clip.

  When my time was up, I wiped the sweat from my brow again and pulled my sweaty top from my chest before letting it suction back to my damp skin. Then I strolled over to where Mitch was working, very aware of more than a few of the guys ogling my body.

  He was just finishing up with his legs. Chests and arms were always alluring to me. So I never would have thought legs could be so damn sexy but drooling over his flexing muscles gave me a new appreciation for the limb.

  Spinning on the bench, he dropped his legs to the floor and smiled at me.

  “It doesn’t bother you that a lot of these guys are staring at me? Don’t they see many girls in here?”

  “Conceited much? Maybe they’re staring at me.”

  Rolling my eyes, I laughed. They very well could’ve been. Mitch was an incredibly good looking guy who had a phenomenal body.

  Standing, he gave me a quick kiss on my lips; the peck a little salty from his sweat. “Some of the girls work out here but most of them joined for the classes. But you’re stunning; they can’t help themselves. So they can stare all they want because you’re coming home with me. How do you feel? You’re not real sore, are you? Are you ready to go meet up with Mick?”

  “I think I can go a little longer. They just burn a little like I’ve been working out.”

  “That’s my girl.” He took my hand in his to lead me out of the main area, down the hall, and off to a little snack area. After exchanging hellos with the guy behind the counter and a quick perusal, he bought two more bottles of water, a granola bar for me, and a protein bar for himself. Then he led me over to a small table with two plastic chairs. “Even if you only eat half, I don’t want you passing out on me on the mat.” He took a bite of his bar.

  “I’m hoping I don’t pass out on you during my massage. I want to fully enjoy it.” I broke off a small piece of granola and pop
ped it into my mouth.

  “I have ways of waking you up.” He took a long drink of his water. “And I really need to focus on something else.”

  After tossing our wrappers into the garbage, we grabbed our waters and walked down the hallway to another decent sized room. A tall lean guy with his dark hair pulled into a ponytail was adding a mat to the stack already lining the far wall. The room was empty of equipment except for one lone mat on the floor.

  “Hey, Mick. Are you sure it’s no trouble staying a little later?”

  Mick twisted around to smile at us. “No problem at all, Mitch. Ah and this must be the beautiful lady.” He walked over to us and stretched out his hand. “I am Mick.”

  I shook his hand. “I’m Trinity. Thank you so much for helping me.”

  “All girls should learn how to defend themselves. I left one of the mats down. You guys will have to clean it before you put it away.”

  “No problem. We really appreciate this.”

  Mick led us over to the mat and wasted no time getting down to business. First he showed me the correct way to punch. Who knew there was a correct way? I figured as long as you hit your target and had some force behind it, you were golden. Then he demonstrated some ways to hit using not only your fist but other parts of your arm.

  “We will save kicks for next time. I want to make sure you get ample time to work on this tonight.”

  With Mitch as my punching bag, Mick helped me throw punches and hits – not at full force – correcting me as we went along. When it looked as if I had those movements down, he had me lie on the mat, with Mitch pinning me down.

  “Pinned to the ground is a very bad situation to find yourself in. It’s very hard to get a punch or kick in, so I want to show you some tactics for getting out from under your attacker.”

  “I don’t mind being pinned by him.”

  Mick chuckled. “You will have to find a way to not want to be under him, my dear.”

  Without warning, Mitch shoved his arm pit into my face. “Still want to be under me, Sweetheart?”

  “Shit, Mitch, you smell terrible. Get that out of my face.” I squirmed and tossed my head around trying to get away from the stench.

  Mick laughed even harder. “If I didn’t have a date in an hour, I’d stay and watch the two of you torment one another. Although, I’m thinking Mitch does smell worse than you.”

  “That’s okay. I’m sleeping in his bed this weekend.”

  “Mitch, are you sure you want me teaching her any more self-defense?” Mick raised his eyebrow.

  “It will make things interesting for us.” Mitch winked at me and my cheeks heated.

  Kneeling down beside us, Mick demonstrated ways for me to use my hips or my head to strike the attacker to get him off balance or distracted enough that I could get a punch in or wiggle a leg free to kick. “And when you strike with your hand or your leg you want to put as much power behind it as you can and don’t hesitate. Now try, but in slow motion. I don’t want you maiming Mitch just because he made you smell his body odor.”

  I didn’t want him maimed either because then I would miss out.

  After a few rounds under Mick’s instruction, we were confident we could practice and he could go get ready for his date.

  “Thank you again, Mick. I really appreciate it.” Mitch shook his hand.

  “Sometime the end of next week, we’ll go over kicks and such. But feel free to practice any time I don’t have a class going on in here. Nice meeting you, Trinity.” With a wave, he walked out of the room.

  We practiced for another half hour before heading back up the street to our cars and I followed him back to his place.

  After we stepped into his entry way, Mitch turned to me. “You can shower first if you want. Everything you need is in there in the small linen closet. But I can help you if you want.” His lips turned up into a mischievous smile.

  “I’m too looking forward to that massage. Shower sex tomorrow night? Besides, I’m sure the naked massage will turn into sex.”

  “Fuck yeah it will. But I’ll make sure you are thoroughly massaged first. Before I forget again, I need to text Jeff about tomorrow.” He slipped his phone from his pocket.

  “What are you guys doing tomorrow?”

  “I need to let him know we’ll have to meet up another time for golf.” He started to type out a message.

  “Hey, hold on a minute. You can go golf with your buddy. It’s not like we were planning to go away somewhere and now you’re bailing on me. I can head home for a while or hang out here if you don’t mind me being here when you’re not. Besides, we’re staying at each other’s houses since we spend every night together anyway and so that I feel safe. I don’t want it so that you don’t do things with your friends. I will still have dinner with Charity every week to hang out with her like we were used to doing.”

  “I don’t think you know just how perfect you are, Cheeky. We like to go early on before it gets too hot, so you can sleep in tomorrow. I want you to stay here if you’re comfortable with that.” Cupping my face in his hands, he gave me a tender kiss. Then he led me down to his bedroom and connecting bathroom. “Are you hungry for anything? I can see what I have to make while you shower and then whip us up some food after I get cleaned up.”

  “Whatever you want to make; I could eat. As long as it’s not a four course meal.” I grinned as I walked into his bathroom. After I showered, I hung up my towel and wash cloth, pulled on a pair of lounge pants and a Cami, and then ran my rake comb through my hair. It was so much easier to fuss with my new hair style. Before heading out of the bathroom, I sniffed my arm and a section of my hair. I know, juvenile, but I liked smelling like his soap and shampoo.

  When I walked back out to Mitch’s room, he was standing there typing on his phone but gazed up at my entrance. “You’re not wearing pajamas are you?” His lips twitched with a grin.

  “They are lounge pants. I can’t sit at your bar naked while I eat.” I lifted my brow.

  “You could but I wouldn’t be eating food then.” His grin widened and my cheeks heated. “But I promised you a massage first. I’m meeting Jeff at nine tomorrow and then we can do whatever you want to after. I’ll be taking you to dinner but the rest of the day is whatever.”

  “After that workout, I might need to just lounge at home tomorrow.” My shoulder and arm muscles were already starting to tighten.

  “We can do that. I’m gonna grab a shower and then make us omelets. Sound good?”

  “I’ll go rummage through your kitchen and set everything out for you that I can find.” I headed out to scour his fridge for ingredients and grabbed a skillet from under his bar. Once I arranged everything nicely at the side of his stove, I grabbed dishes and set the bar for us. Then I grabbed a carton of orange juice thinking that went well with omelets.

  “I see you found just about everything.” Mitch walked into the kitchen in a pair of low hanging sweat pants and nothing else. His damp hair made me want to run my fingers through the strands to get lost in their softness.

  “You’re surprisingly neat for a bachelor. Your home doesn’t even hint at bachelor. Maybe I watch too much television because it’s not like I’ve been in a bunch of bachelor pads but yours is clean, organized, and comfortable.”

  “I’ve never liked my room dirty or messy, even when I was growing up. My older brother is the same way. My mom was lucky like that.” He got to work whipping up two omelets and after we finished eating we retreated to his bedroom.

  When I started to remove my clothes, Mitch stopped me. “Let me reveal your beautiful body.” Leaning down, he pressed his lips to mine in a soft kiss while his hands found the hem of my Cami. His mouth left mine as he lifted my top over my head and dropped it to the floor. Trailing his fingers down to the waist of my pants, he drew them along with my panties down my legs and I stepped out of them. “Crawl onto the center of the bed and lay on your stomach, Cheeky.”

  After I situated myself on my stomach, Mi
tch climbed up onto the bed and sat down beside my prone body. When he pressed his hands into my shoulders and began to knead my tight muscles, I sank farther into the bed and groaned.

  “Your hands, even when you’re not doing anything sexual, are so amazing.”

  He chuckled. “I’m just getting started.” He added the perfect amount of weight to different spots on my upper body, causing my nerve endings to rumble. Rubbing down my back and legs, his hands moved in short and long strokes of varying pressure. My body started to warm from his attention. “Your skin is so soft and silky. I love running my hands all over it.”

  “I won’t tell you to stop. Thank you so much for this.” My words ended on a moan as he hit a particularly sensitive spot.

  When his mouth joined his hands, he shot me straight into the stratosphere. His lips pressing barely there kisses along my overheated skin while his hands found every erogenous area on me had my insides taut like a stretched rubber band. And when it snapped, it flung tingles across every nerve ending and culminated in my center, resulting in an explosive orgasm that plowed me over like an avalanche minus the coldness of the snow. My body was an inferno of heated and sensual sensations. Evidence of my release dribbled out along my inner thigh.

  “And I thought I’d fall asleep during this. It’s relaxing and stimulating all at the same time.” I panted the words out since my air had yet to return after the gathering of vibrations had rushed over me. “You spoil me.”

  “Not possible.” As if he sensed my arousal had leaked out of my pussy, he pressed open mouthed kisses along the damp skin there, his tongue swiping at the juices. “I know I keep saying this but you taste so fucking amazing.”

  After every muscle and nerve ending along my backside was a pliable mass of sated contentment, he gently rolled me to my back. His green eyes locked on mine as his hands continued squeezing and working every inch of my body. The eye contact stirred up even stronger tingles as they pulsed along my skin. Leaning down, he took my mouth in a searing kiss before trailing his lips across my cheek to my ear and then down the column of my neck, his mouth loving every inch of my skin.