How excited she was for it to snow.
Which was funny because she hated being cold.
If I asked her to run outside, the girl hated it because it meant that she would be cold.
Which was hilarious to listen to.
That, and even her whining voice was sexy as hell.
Maria’s had literally felt like claws raking against the inside of my skull.
I hadn’t been able to stand listening to her whine, and the bitch did it a lot.
I hadn’t realized how much she’d done it until we were officially divorced, and I realized that there was a direct correlation between the number of headaches that I got, and the amount of time I spent with Maria.
I stood at the windows that separated the outside from the inside of the gym on the off chance that Fran was crazy and would arrive.
When the clock struck thirty minutes after five, there still wasn’t a single soul in the building besides me and the cat.
“Well, looks like I get to go home after all, Rogue,” I said to the cat. This weather would keep everyone inside today.
The cat picked his head up from the seat of the nearest rower and yawned before dropping it back down to his front paws.
I rolled my eyes and waited some more, convinced that nobody was coming.
Thinking I could go ahead and get some work done, I cued up some music and started to go through a series of stretches as I thought about what muscle groups I wanted to hit today.
I winced when the lights flickered and idly wondered if I’d make it through the workout with lights and music, or if I would have to work out in the dark and silence.
Just as that thought hit me, a pair of headlights filled the front window.
I looked at the clock and groaned.
It was fifteen minutes after the start of class, and there was no way in hell that they should expect me to…
Fran’s cute little ass streaked past the window, and suddenly she was inside, standing in the entranceway, dripping.
I started to laugh at her tortured expression.
“Lose the shirt, girl,” I teased as I walked toward her. “Why are you here in the middle of a monsoon that’ll shortly turn into a winter storm?”
She groaned and threw the backpack that I’d given her down on the ground next to her, before stripping out of her shoes and t-shirt. “I promised myself I wouldn’t give myself any excuses. So, rain or not, I’m here.”
I held in my groan at the sight of her tanned skin that the t-shirt revealed.
She was wearing a bra that came about halfway down her ribcage, only showing off just a small sliver of her belly before her high-rise leggings took over.
I grinned at her.
She looked absolutely miserable.
“You have any shorts or anything to change into in that bag?” I wondered as I watched her shiver.
She shook her head. “I have another bra, but that’s not what’s wet.”
I thought about that for a moment. “I might have some in the office but they’re a little shorter than what I’m sure you wear.”
She blinked. “You just have those laying around?”
I snorted. “Actually, kind of. We placed an order for shirts from a screen-printing place, and they sent out some shorts as a ‘complimentary’ item. They’re actually pretty cool and all, but they’re short as fuck, and we were kind of hesitant to hand out shorts to members when there’s a high likelihood that nobody will wear them.”
She grinned. “Let’s see them.”
I went to the office and she followed me after giving Rogue a small pat.
When we arrived in the office, I started searching through the bins of shirts that we kept inside the office for when the ones that hung outside in the small ‘store’ we had set up sold out.
Finally finding them at the bottom of the pile, I handed them over to her.
She grinned when she saw the shorts.
They were black with white lettering on the ass that said “Madd CrossFit.”
“Why, exactly, did y’all name it Madd CrossFit when there are two of you that co-own it?” she wondered as she shook out the shorts.
“Because Madd CrossFit is actually a shortened version of it. And when we were doing the sign, it was expensive as fuck. It’s actually ‘Madd Taos CrossFit,’” I explained.
She grinned and turned around, heading to the bathroom.
The sight of her leggings, plastered tightly to her ass thanks to the wetness, made my dick hard, and I had to count to a hundred as I waited for her to get done.
She came back out long moments later in the shorts with her CrossFit shoes in her hand hanging by the heels, and I felt my tongue lodge somewhere in the back of my throat.
Goddamn, was she beautiful.
Like so freakin’ beautiful.
I swallowed hard and grinned. “They fit.”
The words sounded more like a croak, but if she noticed, she didn’t say anything.
“Are you working out today?” she asked.
I looked at the rain pouring down outside through my office windows that I’d yet to buy shades for.
“Wasn’t planning on it quite yet,” I admitted.
“Were you going to work out at all?” she wondered.
I shrugged my shoulders and a bright idea hit me.
“Let’s do a partner workout,” I suggested as I walked to the front door and flipped the lock. “I need to get a workout in before leaving anyway, and with it raining and cold outside, we’re not going to want to go out there for the actual workout.”
I should’ve changed the workout at the beginning of the week when I realized that the rain possibility was high, but if I did that, I would have to change every single workout from now on. The chances of the rain actually ruining the workout was slim to none. The poor weathermen rarely got it right.
“I guess I could…” She hesitated. “If it’s something I can do.”
I snorted. “You’re capable of doing almost everything. Even if we have to modify it slightly,” I admitted. “I don’t think I’ve ever had someone come in here with so much potential before.”
Her face flushed with excitement as she walked toward the bar.
“Well, I just have to say that I’m really good at sucking in.” She patted her belly. “And the invention of these shorts that are high-waisted do an excellent job at hiding all the imperfections. But, you’re right. I have potential. I notice that I do. But I think the driving factor in all of this is my dislike for your ex-wife.”
I couldn’t help it.
I burst out laughing.
The laughter built and built until I had to lean over to catch my breath.
When I finally got myself under control, I looked up to find her smiling and warming up on the rower.
The rower that Rogue was now glaring at her for kicking him off of.
“Uh-oh,” I teased. “You’ll never be his friend again.”
She shrugged. “I’ll live.”
I pulled a rower down beside her and got on. “Let’s go for five hundred meters.”
Then I explained what the workout would be.
Ten minutes later, we were five minutes into our workout and I was watching her do burpees.
The lights went out, but we continued to work out, even cycling back to the rower without problem. The only thing lighting our way was my phone that was now playing the music as well as hers that was face down with the light shining in the air.
I could hear her heavy breathing, and it was fucking turning me on.
Thank God that the lights were mostly out, and she couldn’t see my erect cock bouncing with each movement we performed.
“How many more minutes of this?” she gasped, the rower sounding around us.
I looked at my watch in between wall balls. “Five minutes.”
She cursed and I couldn’t help but smile at that.
We were halfway through the five-minute set when a pounding sounded at the front do
or.
Both of our attentions were caught, but neither one of us moved toward the sound.
Mostly because it was more than obvious who that person was.
Maria.
I would not, under any circumstances, go and see what she wanted.
I was working out.
It was half past when class was supposed to start.
And I didn’t fucking like her.
So that was exactly what I did.
Left her there to get rained on.
That might make me a callous man, but Maria was just not going to be something I dealt with this morning.
No matter if it was pissing freezing rain or not.
“I hate her,” Fran panted through labored breaths.
I chuckled and finally finished my set, heading to the rower with my phone as I said, “Switch.”
So we did, staying like that until she finished her set, too.
Then, when we were completely done, we collapsed next to each other.
Her head hit my thigh, and her sweaty arm landed precariously across my sweaty chest.
But neither one of us moved.
“That was awful,” she whispered. “I’ll move off of you in just a second. I can’t breathe.”
I snorted out a laugh, causing her arm that traveled up the length of my chest to slip slightly to the side. Only my large hand catching her small one kept it where it was.
I didn’t know why I did that.
Honestly, we were both really gross, me more so than her, and sweat was pouring off of me in waves because Madden insisted turning the heater on was the best move for our members—I disagreed. I felt like it was better to be too cold than too hot. But whatever.
Regardless of our states, I liked her exactly where she was.
If she’d move just slightly to the right with her head, my dick would practically be poking her in the face.
“Why do you think she showed up that late and expected someone to still be here?” she asked curiously.
If there was anything that would make the need go away that I was feeling, it was talking about my ex-wife.
“Honestly?” I asked. “Because she likes to make my life difficult. Showing up late would’ve made her the center of attention in the class. I would’ve had to acknowledge her, which I don’t do all that often.”
She hummed then stood so swiftly that I missed her almost before she was even gone.
“Do you want your water?” she asked as she moved toward our drinks.
“Yes,” I replied. Though, I would’ve rather had her stay where she’d been. Fuck being thirsty.
My eyes were glued to her ass as she moved toward the bottles, then on her tits that were practically spilling out of her sports bra when she made her way back.
She handed my water to me when she reached my side, and I reluctantly sat up, taking it from her.
I swallowed large gulps from my bottle before looking at her and realizing that her eyes were on me.
“What?” I asked, spilling the water slightly and feeling it run down the length of my chest.
She followed the length of the water, and then swallowed. “I was thinking we should probably turn off the lights to preserve the batteries since we’re probably not going to get power back anytime soon.”
She was right.
We were generally the last ones to get power since we were off the beaten path in the grand scheme of things.
Our town, though healthy and thriving, was also one of the smaller ones on the grid.
Fewer people equaled less urgency to get things rolling in the power department.
“Probably a smart thing to do,” I admitted. “But don’t you not do well in the dark?”
That had been why I’d turned on my phone instead of just leaving hers to light our way.
I knew that she had problems with the darkness, and I wanted to make it as comfortable for her as I could if I had the ability.
And I’d run out of phone battery all day long if it meant keeping her comfortable.
“Yes.” She paused. “Though, lately not with you.”
Something soared in my chest.
“Really?” I asked, feeling my throat rasp with the words.
She grinned and downed her bottle of water, getting up to throw the empty in the trash before coming back, with our phones this time, and watched as I turned my light off first before answering.
“I think that first time you helped me run outside in the dark, my mind associated you with nothing dangerous. As a protector more than a person I should be afraid of.” She paused. “I’ll tell you the why of the fear of darkness one of these days… just not today. Not in the dark.”
I grinned when she readjusted the shorts that she was wearing, which in turn made my cock hard. Again.
CHAPTER 11
I refuse to join a gym that would have me as a member.
-overheard conversation
FRAN
My heart was pounding, and I didn’t know why.
But there was something about being this close to Taos, listening to his rumbling voice in the darkness, that had my heart going wild.
And not in a bad way.
In a very, it hurts so good, way.
“One day you can tell me,” he agreed quietly.
I looked over at him just as I was in the process of turning off the light on my phone and saw the state of his shorts.
They were doing nothing to contain the bulging cock that he sported just before the entire room was plunged into darkness.
Now there was no light whatsoever surrounding us except for the red lights that spelled out “EXIT” above the front and back door, and the green lights that were on the security system and I wasn’t scared. I was quite the opposite.
I felt nerves pulse to life in my belly as I thought about how he’d looked right before I’d turned my light off.
What I’d been able to see.
And let me just tell you something, that cock of his was definitely something to see.
Taos by himself was the sexiest man I’d ever encountered in my life. But Taos with a hard cock?
I wanted to ride him like a horse.
In fact, if he wasn’t careful, I definitely would.
I was sex deprived.
I wasn’t a virgin.
But after the accident, and what had almost happened, I’d been reluctant to form relationships. I couldn’t get past the ‘what-if’ factor. What if the man I chose ended up being like that man in the park?
That man in the park had asked me out six separate times. Six times I’d smiled at him, laughed off his compliments, and said ‘thanks, but no thanks’ before I’d gone about my business.
What if I chose someone that was a bad person underneath that calm exterior?
A loud boom of thunder had me jumping, and just like that, I was practically pressed up against him without realizing that I’d done it.
“So is it the dark, the dark and the thunder, or just a little bit of everything?” he asked curiously, his wide, rough palm hitting the inside of my thigh as he pulled me in closer to his body.
I went willingly, only realizing how intimate the position he now had me in was as his hand settled even deeper between my legs.
He wasn’t touching me intimately. Not technically.
But the man might as well have been with how I was responding to an innocent touch.
I licked my lips as I replied with, “Dark. Straight up dark. If I were outside right now, I’d really be freaking out.”
He hummed. “What are your plans for today?”
I snorted. “Everyone that had errands today were told, very carefully, that nothing was going to be done today due to weather conditions. And since I get hazard pay if I have to do shit in rain and inclement weather, they were more than willing to wait until Monday.”
He squeezed my thigh, and I felt him still. My guess was he finally realized where his hand was at.
He went to move it away, and I
just… reacted.
One second, I was on the ground, his hand moving away from me, and the next I was leaning completely over him and latching my mouth to his.
The first move was mine as I felt his lips press against mine.
The second move was his as he reacted like I’d cocked a shotgun in his face.
I was leaning over him, and the next I was on my back, with him hovering over the top of me.
I wasn’t really sure how it happened so fast, but before I could do much thinking on the matter, I had my bra gone, and then my shorts.
Shortly after that, hands and mouths were moving everywhere, mine particularly were making their way to the promised land—the massive cock that I could feel pressing against my now naked core.
I arched up when his mouth met my turgid nipple, and then he growled as I finally caught my hand around his shorts and pushed them hastily down.
His cock slipped from the confines of his fabric prison and slapped against me sharply, causing me to gasp all over again.
God, he was big.
Just the sound of that meaty thud of him banging against me was enough for me to cry out with need.
He growled, bowing up slightly so that his cock lay between us against my slit at a more comfortable angle for him.
Then I decided that he should come with a warning label.
I mean, the man had it all.
Nice abs, a great ass, a beautiful sounding voice, and hands that were firm yet careful.
It should’ve been impossible that he won the genetic lottery as he did.
But the cock that I could feel against my pussy let me know that he somehow had won the lottery.
He was perfect in all ways.
So…
He growled right before he nipped my chin.
“You’re not paying attention,” he groused.
I wasn’t.
I couldn’t.
Not with that monster pressing against me.
“You want me to stop?” He pulled back.
I was already latching onto his shoulders that were still quite sweaty.
I didn’t want to think about how sweaty I was.
Instead, I dug my nails in and said, “No!”
He laughed, coming back down so that he was giving me some of his weight, pressing my body fully into the black mat beneath my back.
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