Friends With Way Too Many Benefits (Friends With… Benefits Series (Book 5))

by Young, Luke

  He chuckled. “I think I can handle anything you throw my way.”

  “All right, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  “Come here.” Holding back a laugh, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him.

  17

  On the opposite coast, failing to contact any of the principals from the movie, Jeremy succeeded only in securing the hot shot director’s address and the information that he was still in town. After relaying that information to his ungrateful and somewhat spoiled client, he was rudely hung-up on yet again as Natalie put her plan B into action.

  Staked out in front of Paul Ford’s gated Malibu house for more than three hours, Natalie sighed. She was dressed in an exquisitely matching yellow running outfit consisting of tiny running shorts, tank top and complete with coordinating headband and water bottle as she sat in her Denim Blue Volkswagen Beetle Convertible.

  Spotting his car in the driveway and convinced she saw him walking around inside the house, she was prepared to wait as long as necessary. After drifting off to sleep, she was jarred awake by the sounds of the automatic gate on Paul’s house swinging opening. Quickly she climbed from the car and started to loosen her leg muscles preparing to follow him on his daily ten mile run. As the Jaguar F-type convertible pulled out into the street she recognized the famous driver instantly and froze momentarily confused.

  Cursing under her breath, she jumped back into her car and sped off after him. With a quarter mile lead on her in light traffic she watched as he turned right on the Pacific Coast Highway. After blowing threw a stop sign to make the light, she stayed back and followed him for a couple miles until he turned into the parking lot for the Malibu Health Club with its spectacular ocean views. He turned left and she headed right in the lot then watched through the rearview mirror as he pulled his ninety thousand dollar car into a space.

  After waiting for him to enter the building, she turned her car around and pulled into a parking space three cars from his then headed toward the gym carrying her water bottle. Once inside the sparkling upscale lobby she scanned the room to find him.

  “Can I help you?” A young man in a tight T-shirt asked from behind the desk.

  “Huh?” Natalie craned her neck to see around a corner then sighed.

  “Can I help you?”

  “Sorry.” She shook her head and stepped up to the desk, preoccupied. “I’m thinking of joining. Can I get a tour?”

  “Absolutely. Can I get you to fill out this registration form?”

  “Um, yeah.” Grabbing the clipboard, she quickly scribbled her name, address and email address then handed it back to him.

  “Miss Fox.”

  “Natalie… and I’m sorta in a hurry, could we, um…”

  “I’m Brad.”

  Nodding dismissively, she walked away from the desk and headed down the aisle past the racks of workout apparel for sale toward the large room of cardio equipment overlooking the grand Pacific Ocean.

  Rushing after her, he said, “We have personal TVs on all our elliptical and treadmills. Infrared Sauna, um, Spinning, Yoga, Pilates, Body—”

  “Uh-huh.” Frowning, she scanned the mirrored room of weight machines and shook her head.

  “Is there some piece of equipment you’re looking for that we don’t—”

  “What?” Returning her attention to Brad, she put on a sexy smile. “Sorry, no, I just want to get a quick feel for the place to see if it, you know…”

  “Oh, sure.”

  Turning on her heels, she headed toward the opposite side of the building.

  “Over here we have our locker rooms and classrooms.”

  “Great.”

  “Our locker rooms have private showers and steam rooms. I can wait here if you’d like to have a look.”

  Suddenly, Paul Ford, emerged from the men’s locker room dressed in charcoal yoga flex pants and a bamboo logo sleeveless shirt.

  Reflexively hiding her face, she turned away until Paul walked down the hall. “Um, no, not right now.” She followed behind the hot director with Brad in tow.

  “What else would you like to see?”

  Keeping a safe distance from her target, she replied, “Just… this is great. I really love the vibe here.”

  “Yes, we’re a non-judgment zone here. We may be in the most beautiful part of the country surrounded by the most beautiful people in the world, but you don’t have to be… to be a member here. We take all—”

  “Wait.” Stopping in her tracks, she turned and looked at him, pointedly. “Are you saying I’m not beautiful?”

  “Oh, no. I, just meant—”

  “Good.” Resuming the pursuit, she quickened her pace and watched as Paul entered a yoga classroom.

  Brad cleared his throat. “We offer free yoga classes. Our instructors are—”

  After peering into the room, she turned back to Brad. “I’ll join.”

  “Okay, great. I just have some forms for you—”

  “I want to take this class,” she shot back like she was fired out of a cannon.

  “Well, they, um, start every hour on the hour from—”

  “No, this class, right now.” She gave him a tired look.

  “It starts in five minutes and I’m not sure—”

  “Where are these forms?”

  “At the desk.”

  “Great.” Rushing past him, she headed toward the lobby with him scurrying after her.

  As Brad walked behind the desk, she browsed through a rack of yoga apparel making faces and groaning. “Is this all you have?”

  “What?”

  “Yoga stuff.” She rolled her eyes.

  “No, there’s another rack over there.” Brad pointed the way.

  She headed toward the back of the room and smiled, locating a tiny pink bra top with matching boogie shorts. Yanking them off the rack, she marched to the desk. “And, I’ll take these.”

  “We have a number of membership options that—”

  “I just need one that lets you take a yoga class.”

  He smiled. “Well, actually there are three that—”

  “Brad.” After taking a deep breath, she placed her hand gently on his forearm and said in a sexy tone that surely put a strain on Brad’s shorts. “How about I sign your form, hand you my credit card and whatever else you need and make this class. After the class I’ll finish the form. Do you think that would be okay?”

  “Um, sure.” Flipping through to the back page, he handed her a pen.

  She placed her license and credit card on the counter then scrawled her signature on the form. After ripping the tags off the clothes she placed them on the counter and rushed away saying, “You’re the best, Brad.”

  “Thank you.”

  Inside the locker room, Natalie ripped off her clothes and changed into the sexy pink yoga outfit. After stuffing her things into a locker, she ran to the yoga classroom with her water bottle.

  Slipping inside the room, she located three unoccupied mats in the far corner and Paul in the second row far away from them doing warm up stretches. She frowned then set her sights on the mat directly in front of her target and walked around the room with purpose. When Natalie reached the petite blonde currently camped out there, she smiled. “Hi.”

  “Uh, hello.” The woman gave her a hesitant look.

  “You see I have bad eyesight and I really need a spot in the front of the room, so do you think I could—”

  “No, I don’t think—”

  “People…” The instructor loaded a CD into the music system. “Let’s get started.”

  “Please, I really am—”

  “Hey, this is my spot. Get away from me.”

  “Okay, everyone.” The instructor slipped down to her mat in the front of the room. “Let’s begin with some basic movements.”

  Looking down to her water bottle, Natalie let a slight grin slip from her lips before squeezing her hands together and shooting a stream all over miss perfect petite’s w
hite cotton outfit, drenching her.

  “You!” The woman’s eyes flew wide open. “I can’t believe you…”

  “Sorry.” Natalie shrugged.

  Covering her chest, the woman rushed to the back of the room and out the door.

  Glancing around nervously, Natalie took her position and smiled. “She left her lights on.”

  After giving her an odd look, the instructor sighed. “Now we can start.” Standing tall she began, “Hands under your chin. Stretch your elbows up… everyone together… exhale.”

  The class of twenty students followed her lead with Paul working directly behind Natalie. She stole glances at him looking through her spread legs as they moved into some basic warm-up yoga poses.

  About fifty minutes into the class during a King Pigeon Pose, Natalie knew she had her target’s full attention as Paul’s eyes were glued to her cleavage and his once roomy yoga pants were now boasting an unmistakable bulge.

  As she moved into the Upward Bow Pose they shared a smile. The class went on with Natalie striking every pose with precision even though her previous yoga experience was nothing to brag about. What she lacked in practice she more than made up for in her complete command of her body, gravity and unparalleled flexibility.

  As the class moved into their final pose with the expert students going with an Upward Facing Two-Foot Staff while the less experienced were asked to strike the King Pigeon variety, Natalie pulled it off without a hitch as she stared into Paul’s eyes. As one of her nipples escaped partially from its pink confines, he gasped then lost his balance tumbling to the floor. She giggled quietly then gave him a smile as he returned to his mat covering his mouth and shaking his head, embarrassed.

  “That’s it everyone. Great work.” The instructor called out as she turned off the music and most students collected their things.

  Natalie held her difficult pose, her head hanging just a few inches from the floor as she supported her weight on her elbows and forearms with her body bent back completely in a “U” shape and her feet flat on the floor. Grabbing his water bottle, Paul scooted a little closer to her as the rest of the class headed out of the room. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before.”

  Without moving a muscle, she said, “I’m sure you haven’t.”

  His body was only three feet from hers as he stretched his leg out and lay his body down flat on it stretching. “Why’s that?”

  “I just joined today.”

  “Well, that makes sense. You’re incredible. How long have you been doing yoga?”

  “What time is it?”

  Glancing to the clock on the wall, he narrowed his eyes. “Three thirty.”

  “Oh, about an hour.”

  The instructor shot the show-off a dirty look. “We’ve got another class coming in a few minutes so maybe you could wrap it up, Gumby.”

  Craning her neck toward the voice, Natalie smiled. “Oh, sorry. Almost done.”

  Scoffing, the instructor sulked from the room.

  “Gee, she’s a bitch,” Paul whispered.

  “I know, right.”

  “I’m Paul, by the way.”

  “Natalie.” She replied, still perfectly content holding her position.

  “Are you in any discomfort at all right now?” He narrowed his eyes, shocked.

  “Not really. I can hold pretty much any position for pretty much any length of time.”

  “I don’t believe it.” He chuckled. “If I were doing that, I think I’d need to go to the hospital.”

  “Well, if miss stick-up-her-ass wasn’t throwing us out, I could prove it here.”

  “It doesn’t have to be here… necessarily.” He flashed her a grin.

  She returned a giggle.

  “I just want to see you get out of that position without hurting yourself. I’ll move back so you can—”

  “I don’t need you to move back… In fact, move closer.”

  “What?” He lifted his hands high above his head and stretched.

  “Move closer. I promise I won’t fall on you or anything.” She gave him a wink. “Unless, of course, you want me too.”

  They shared a laugh and her body began to shake. She said, “Now it isn’t easy to laugh in this position.”

  “I’ll bet. Okay, I’ll move.” He slid a little closer to her spreading his legs wide and holding back a laugh. “I’m so glad I came to this class today. I was totally going to blow it off, but, uh—”

  “Closer.”

  The flirting pair was no more than a foot apart with her smiling face still a few inches from the floor looking right between his spread legs as he glanced self-consciously toward the door.

  “Closer,” she repeated.

  “Come on.” He scoffed. “You can’t be serious.”

  “Do it,” she commanded.

  Closing the gap to six inches from her, he sighed gazing mesmerized at her tight supple scantily clad body.

  “Now, don’t move.”

  With complete control, she gracefully lifted her feet until they were pointing straight to the ceiling. His eyes traveled slowly up from her breasts stopping on her tiny shorts and he swallowed hard. “Wow.”

  “You see.” She held the position almost effortlessly.

  “I, um, really don’t understand where you can go from here. You sure you don’t need me to move?”

  “Positive.”

  Spreading her legs apart, she dropped them parallel to the floor and he gasped.

  “Come on what are you an Olympic gymnast or something?”

  “Ballet.”

  “Oh, ballet…”

  “Maybe you’re right. I don’t think I can… um, could you just bring your legs together and duck your head down like two inches.”

  “You’re serious?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Following her instruction, he held perfectly still, his lips now three inches from her bare stomach and waist band of her tight shorts. He breathed in her perfume and his eyes fluttered closed before opening wide.

  Slowly she brought her legs half way back up in a V position and without moving her torso forward, curled her legs over his head, planted them securely on the floor, then gracefully allowed her upper body to glide upward smiling at him as their faces passed one another as if she were rising on an elevator.

  “Holy shit.”

  “Told you.” After stepping back, she walked to her mat and retrieved her water bottle and sensually placed the rim to her lips.

  He rose to his feet and shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like that before and I’ve been to Cirque Du Soleil… twice.”

  She shrugged then took another sip of water.

  In a trance-like state, he said, “I’m leaving for Miami in the morning and I’ll be gone for three months. Have dinner with me.”

  “Oh, I’ve heard that before. I know how this works.” Shaking her head, she walked toward the front of the room and grabbed a towel.

  People started spilling into the room as Paul moved to her. “No, I’m serious. I’m shooting a movie there and I know we’re going to be working weekends and it’s… I have to see you before I leave.”

  She flashed him a smile. “Can I think about it?”

  “Sure.”

  She headed for the door and he took off after her. “But don’t think too long because I—”

  “How about I meet you in the parking lot in twenty minutes.” She dabbed the perspiration from her neck. “I just need to get out of these wet clothes and take a shower.”

  “Yeah, sure. Twenty minutes.”

  “I’m driving the baby blue beetle convertible.” Moving to him, she pressed her sweaty towel to his chest. “Wait for me by my car, okay?”

  “Yeah,” he mumbled then lifting her towel close to his face, he subconsciously breathed it in, watching captivated as she walked toward the locker room. She didn’t look back, she didn’t need to— as she could feel his eyes on her body. She disappeared into the locker room wearing a wide gr
in.

  Twenty eight minutes later, Natalie emerged from the gym to find Paul’s Jaguar now parked next to her car with him inside on the phone. As he spotted her nearing the car, he said, “Call you back.”

  “Sorry, I took so long.”

  “No, don’t, uh…” Tossing the phone down to the seat next to him, he smiled and looked her over. “My God… You, you must be an actress.”

  “No, I’m a model.”

  “But you must have some interest in being an actress?” He climbed out of his car and leaned back on the door.

  She shook her head. “No, not really. I’m happy doing what I’m doing.”

  “That’s refreshing because you wouldn’t believe how many girls out here think they can be the next Reese Witherspoon. There just aren’t that many jobs. It’s an incredible long shot.”

  “Tell me about it. I mean, I have friends who are trying to break into the business.”

  “Sure. So, dinner. As I said, I’m leaving tomorrow and I… it’s not often that I meet a woman like you. Have you been to Moonshadows?”

  “No.”

  “It’s just south of here on the PCH. It’s great. It’s where Mel Gibson had that crazy incident.”

  “Oh, yeah, I heard about that.”

  “Meet you there at what? What’s good for you… eight?”

  “Eight.” Smiling, she headed to her beetle and clicked the key fob to unlock the door. He hurried behind her and pulled open the door.

  “Thank you.”

  “Natalie, it was great to meet you. See you later.”

  Climbing into the car, she smiled up to him. “Nice to meet you Paul.”

  He closed her door, walked to his car and got inside. As she backed out of the space, he gave her a wave.

  As Natalie pulled onto the PCH, she dialed Jeremy telling him to end his attempts to get her on this film. She had the matter firmly in sight.

  18

  At the Wilde residence, Jillian, Brian, Victoria and Jim enjoyed a relaxing Saturday out by the pool. Kaylie had spent the previous thirty minutes giggling, kicking and splashing around the pool along with the four adults in her Baby Spring Float complete with sunshade canopy. Exhausted, the one-year old was now sleeping, well, like a baby, inside the air-conditioned house. The baby monitor was on high alert and sitting on the table by Victoria next to her ice tea.