by Nadia Aidan
Lena's eyes flashed with mischief. “The question is, what didn't we do?"
Maia chuckled softly and shook her head. “All right, lady. I can tell I'm not going to get much out of you,” she said as she leaned forward to shove a forkful of sashimi salad in her mouth.
"There's not much to tell. We're enjoying our time together, and as I knew it would be, the sex is amazing."
"So, did you talk about what would happen after the bet was over?"
Lena pursed her lips into a tiny pout. “No. I'm not trying to spoil our time together. We're supposed to be having fun."
Maia let out a deep sigh. “Okay, Selena but—"
The sound of Lena's phone ringing halted Maia's next words. “Give me just a sec,” she said pulling her phone from her purse. Her shocked expression must have been pretty evident when Maia asked, “What's wrong? Who is that?"
She lifted her gaze from her phone screen. “It's Jason,” she said with a note of disbelief in her voice. She hadn't spoken to him in months.
Maia shook her head. “Girl, do not answer that phone."
She instantly pressed the end button to silence the incoming call. “I wasn't but I wonder what he wants.” She shoved her phone back in her purse.
"Let him leave a message and then you'll find out."
Lena started to launch into asking Maia about her weekend when as if on cue, Maia's own phone buzzed, signalling an incoming text message. Maia's face remained impassive as she scrolled through the message. When she was done she slipped her phone back in her purse and opened her wallet to throw down a twenty dollar bill on the table.
"Where are you going? Who was that? Was that Jason?” Lena accused.
"Hell, no. That creep knows better than to call me to try and get to you,” she snapped.
Lena narrowed her eyes. “Then who was that?"
"I'll tell you later,” she said and stood to her feet. She grabbed her coat and leaned down to place a quick peck against Lena's cheek. “I gotta go, but I'll call you later.” And with that she whisked out of the restaurant door and was gone.
Lena stared after her friend with suspicious eyes. Maia had been acting strange during the entire lunch. She'd wanted to ask her about why she seemed so nervous and jumpy, but before she could, her phone had gone off.
Lena suspected what was up, but she hoped she was wrong. The only time Maia acted weird and secretive was when she was involved with Chad again. Chad was a great guy and individually, he and Maia were wonderful friends, but Lena always had her reservations about their casual relationship. For some reason they shared an intense and undeniable physical attraction to each other, but neither of them understood the value of commitment or compromise which were essential components to a healthy relationship, something they'd never been able to manage.
The sound of her phone vibrating drew her attention and she glanced down at where it was nestled at the top of her purse and flipped it over to look at the screen. She had a new message. She released a ragged breath and pressed the voicemail button. What on earth could Jason possibly have to say to her after all this time?
* * * *
Chad was sitting behind his desk when she sauntered in. The first things he noticed were her devil red heels and matching pencil skirt. She wore a white blouse tucked inside the high-waisted skirt that showed off her slim figure to perfection. His gaze lingered for an extra second in the area where he knew her small but firm breasts were encased in a lacy red bra before finally travelling to her face where her light eyes blazed with annoyance.
"You cannot just summon me like a genie. I was at lunch with Lena—” Maia said shutting his door.
"Yes, Dylan mentioned as much—"
"Where is Dylan? If he sees me here he's gonna start with the questions. You know he thinks we're bad news for each other and—"
Chad shifted out of his chair to come around his desk and lean back against it, with his arms and ankles crossed. “Relax. Dylan has a lunch meeting, which is why I called. For the rest of the day I am all booked up in meetings so this was my only free moment without him being here."
"What was so urgent that I had to rush straight here to your office? I could have just met you at your house after work."
Chad instantly stiffened at her words. He held her gaze, his blue eyes turning icy cold. “You made it very clear the last time you were there that you didn't plan on ever returning."
She drew her lips into a tight frown and crossed her arms over her chest. “That's not how I meant it and you know it. I just asked that we slow down,” she said quietly.
"No, you asked that we go back to being just friends—again.” His voice was harsh when he spoke and he knew he'd struck a nerve when she dropped her gaze to the floor. “But you don't get to have it both ways,” he said in a low voice.
Her eyes snapped to his face, anger brewing in their depths. “Is that why you called me over here? To talk about us?"
"There is no us,” he said quickly and turned around to fumble through some papers on his desk, hoping she wouldn't see that he believed his words no more than she probably did. Maia was still convinced that he would come around, but he was no longer cut out for the roller coaster relationship ride she had them on with her inability to make a decision about whether she was his lover or his friend. One minute she wanted sex and the next she wanted a platonic friendship. This had been going on for years between them and it had been fun when they were younger, but now he found he was getting too old to play these games with her.
He continued to rummage through the stack of papers until finally he found what he was looking for and turned back around. He stared down at the single paper, not meeting her eyes because no matter what he saw in them right now it was going to affect him, and when it came to Maia he had to at least try to keep his distance. “I actually called you to talk about this.” He shot his arm out to hand the paper to her.
She quickly skimmed over it before lifting her head, her eyes filled with shock.
"How did you get this?"
He shrugged his shoulders with casual indifference. “Friends."
She rolled her eyes at his cryptic tone and set the paper back down on his desk.
"What's interesting is that Jason called her right before you sent me that text. I bet his call has everything to do with what I just read."
Chad stood up straight. “Do you know what he said?"
She shook her head. “Lena didn't take the call.” Then her face darkened with fury. “What an asshole. Why can't he just leave her alone so that she can be happy?"
"That's why I called you over here. You have to tell her to stay away from him and let her lawyers handle everything—"
Suspicion flared in her gaze. “Why don't you tell her yourself? You don't need me to do it—"
"First off, I'm not even supposed to know about this. I can't be connected to this in any way or else I could lose a client who just happened to let this information slip. And besides, you know Lena hasn't gotten around to exactly trusting me again sine I'm the one who introduced her to Jason in the first place—"
"So you want me to do your dirty work?"
He narrowed his eyes at her. “I don't see what your problem is with this. Lena is your best friend. I would think you would want to tell her what is going on before she gets blindsided or worse yet, before Jason has a chance to weasel his way back into her life—"
Her eyes flashed with indignation. “Lena's not going to fall for Jason's bullshit."
"But Jason can be very persuasive—"
"She's not a fool, Chad—"
He abruptly reached out to grab her by the arms halting her next words. She wasn't listening. “I know she's not a fool, but if she's still in love with him then his tricks will work.” He'd seen more women drop like flies when it came to Jason's charm, and even Lena hadn't been immune to his appeal, since she'd fallen harder than most and married the notorious player.
Maia struggled to escape his grasp, but he hel
d her firmly. “Trust me. She is not in love with Jason.” She shot him an angry look when he didn't release her.
He relaxed his hold on her to skim a single finger across her lower lip. “Well then use this pretty mouth of yours and tell her to stay away from him until her lawyers can straighten everything out. Don't let her think she can handle this all by herself."
He felt her shiver. “I—I will t—tell her,” she stammered in a breathy voice.
Her eyes slid closed then and she tilted her head back slightly. As if on cue his head began to lower toward her welcoming mouth, but his common sense returned to him at the last second and he stopped. He abruptly released her and retreated back to the other side of his desk, struggling to calm his wildly beating heart. What was it about Maia that drew him like a moth to a flame?
"Yes, well I have a lot of work to get done, but I'll call you later.” He then pulled out a folder, his gaze glued to the paper inside, although his eyes didn't read a single word.
"Whatever,” she snapped angrily before she stormed out of his office, slamming the door behind her with a loud bang.
He blew out a long breath and flopped down in his chair. He knew she was pissed that he'd pulled away, but he had to. He'd made a promise to himself and he was determined to stick to it.
He and Maia had years of unresolved business between them, but until she admitted the truth of some things to herself he had to stay away from her—he glanced down at the bulge in his pants and grimaced—no matter how much it pained him.
* * * *
Maia gunned the engine of her BMW 3 Series red convertible toward Buckhead where she owned her own contemporary art gallery. As soon as she got on Route 400 she let it rip, knowing Atlanta cops never frequented the corridor leading to the most affluent neighbourhood in the city.
She frowned at that thought. Somehow it just didn't seem fair that the hardworking people who probably needed every bit of money they made were the ones targeted for tickets and not the people who could actually afford to pay them.
She gave her head a quick shake, momentarily pushing aside her thoughts of the injustices in the world to focus on her own sense of injustice—the one where Chad got to play her like a yo-yo on a string. She glowered into her rear view mirror. Okay, to be fair she was the one who'd been trying to play him until he flipped the script on her.
They'd started hooking up every now and then since their senior year of college and then later over breaks during grad school. It had just been about having fun. Chad seemed to understand her inability to commit because he too had the same problem, so no one got possessive or jealous and no feelings were hurt. It had been a perfect arrangement.
When she moved from New York to open her own gallery in Atlanta two years ago they'd somehow fallen back into their same routine, but before she'd realised it things were moving from casual to serious at lightning speed. Chad hadn't taken it so well when six months ago she'd put the brakes on their affair. He'd accused her of being a coward, which was partly true. She was afraid of falling in love. She had no desire to be vulnerable to any man ever again, and when it came to love there was no way to avoid it. Not if you truly gave your heart.
Chad was the only man she'd allowed in her life on a consistent basis and she knew if she looked harder at herself she'd find that there was a reason why no matter who was in her life, she always ended up drifting back to him. The realisation that she could possibly fall for him had freaked her out and so she'd done the only thing that had made sense at the time—she ran.
But of late she was having doubts about not facing up to what was going on between them and the more she saw him the more she missed him. But Chad wasn't making this easy for her. He'd made it clear that if she wanted them to be lovers again then she was going to have to make a serious go at the relationship part, which was something she wasn't sure if she was prepared to do.
She groaned aloud when she braked at a light and felt sticky wetness coat her panties. Christ! Just being in his presence for five minutes had left her wet and aching. That was one of the reasons why this wasn't going to work. When it came to him, he made her feel needy. Which was something she didn't want to feel with any man, but especially not him because it transformed what used to be purely physical into an emotional connection.
Chad was just going to have to realise that what they shared in bed just didn't translate well into a relationship. When the light changed to green she pushed down on the accelerator and glowered when more wetness seeped out. Now if only she could get her wanton body to accept the decision her mind had made.
* * * *
"Shit Lena! This thing is not coming off!"
He heard her giggle from her bedroom. “You have to be completely soft,” she yelled back.
His eyes shot daggers in the direction of the open door. He was soft.
Five minutes later, after some serious deep even breaths and a good amount of Vaseline, he'd managed to remove the cock ring. He hurriedly cleaned off and walked back into the room.
"Tip number twenty works, but it's hell trying to get it off.” He slipped into bed beside her and pulled her into his arms.
"Oh, tip twenty definitely works. We must have gone at it for two hours.” She purred softly into his ear. “We have to do that one again."
He stiffened. “Hell no. It took me fifteen minutes to get that thing off and I thought I would never be able to father kids during that entire process."
She lifted her head from his chest and smiled down at him. “We'll try a bigger ring next time."
He frowned up at her. “Maybe we can find a compromise on that one."
She placed a quick peck against his lips and bounced off of him. “That was the compromise,” she said and scurried off to the bathroom to clean up.
He chuckled after her. She was insatiable.
His smile slowly disappeared then and he leaned back against the bed, his hands behind his head as he tried to beat back the apprehension that had begun to steadily grow in the pit of his stomach. They'd just finished their last tip tonight with three days left on their bet. Lena kept hinting about doing some of the tips again, but thus far she hadn't expressed any inclination that after their bet ended they would take their friendship to the next level. Like him, she was having fun, but he knew he wanted more when the time on their bet came to an end. He couldn't say the same for Lena and that's what had him on edge.
The sound of the phone ringing interrupted his thoughts. He glanced toward the bathroom where she was taking a shower. Then he looked at the phone. They had separate phone lines in the house that went directly to their rooms. It wasn't his place to answer her phone, but he couldn't silence the voice that nagged him to peek at her caller id. Just one quick look. It was probably Maia anyway. He leaned over and glanced down at the flashing green back light of the caller id at the same time the phone stopped ringing. He froze when he saw the name flash across the top. Jason Wells. What the hell did that bastard want—he looked at her bedside clock—at ten at night?
He didn't know why he did it but he erased the incoming call and rolled back over just in time to see Lena saunter into the bedroom wearing a white towel wrapped around her body and a sexy smile. When she dropped the towel all thoughts of Jason instantly vanished.
* * * *
He pushed out his last set of bench presses, re-racked the bar and stood up from the bench.
"What's gotten into you? You've been a maniac all day,” Chad said as he laid down to start his set.
Dylan waited until he pushed out the ten reps before he answered. “Jason called the house last night."
Chad froze in the middle of sitting up and whipped his face around to stare up at him.
"What did he want?"
He shrugged. “I don't know. Lena was in the shower when he called and he didn't leave a message.” He averted his gaze to the floor. “And I kind of erased his name from her caller id box."
Chad stood to his feet, wiping the sweat from his brow
. “Why'd you do that?"
He let out a quick sigh. “Man, I'm not sure. I guess I don't want that jerk coming around her right now when we're just starting to get somewhere."
They grabbed their water bottles and headed toward the locker rooms. “So, are you going to ask her why Jason is calling her?"
He shook his head. “For the moment, no. I trust Lena. And right now that is enough."
"I don't know man. If I were you I would be careful with the whole Jason situation. They have history, you know."
His nostrils flared in anger and he turned his back on Chad to open his locker. Something in his friend's voice told him that Chad knew more than he was letting on, but he didn't press it. Chad was entitled to keep his secrets, besides he knew if it was that important he would tell him. They'd been friends for too long and Dylan knew he could trust him. Just as he knew he could trust Lena. It was Jason who he didn't trust.
He closed his locker harder than he intended and turned around to face his friend. “So, what's up with you and Maia? I haven't heard you talk about her in awhile.” He asked, needing to change the subject. Enough about his relationship problems when Chad had plenty of his own.
Chad's face instantly transformed into a blank mask. “That's because there's nothing to tell,” he said simply and turned around to open his own locker.
Dylan narrowed his gaze at his friend's back. Something was up. “So, you two are done hooking up then?” He hedged.
Chad shrugged. “Yep."
"And you're cool with that?"
He abruptly slammed his locker shut and spun around, his expression hard. “I have to be,” he said brusquely and stalked off toward the showers.
Dylan's wide eyed gaze trailed after him as he stood there in shock. Normally women didn't get to his friend. Chad was a notorious player who enjoyed the chase until he bedded his newest conquest and then he would move on. Unfortunately, Maia was just like him and he was sure that in this case like attracted like. It seemed that those two always ended up coming back to each other somehow. Dylan had shared with them both that he thought their situation was more than a little dysfunctional, but for a long time the relationship had seemed to be what they both wanted, so he left it alone. But Dylan knew Chad was growing weary of the relationship and he sensed his friend's feelings for Maia had somehow changed. Now it seemed every time her name came up he couldn't change the subject fast enough. Dylan shook his head as he strolled toward the showers with a smug grin on his face. It was high time Chad found a woman who could bring him to his knees and he knew Maia was just the woman to do it. But he had a feeling Maia was going to learn to humble herself in the process. His grin grew wider. Those two, in all their dysfunctional glory, truly deserved each other.