Fool For You

by Megan Noelle

  I slipped on a pair of black running pants with a skin-tight grey racer back tank top. It took me longer than I cared to admit to find my black and purple Puma running shoes. There were multiple times I took up running as a hobby but it’d never stuck—not that I hadn’t splurged on cute running gear as if it was all I did in my spare time. Even though the weather was a little nippy with the beginning of September just days away, I decided to skip a jacket, figuring once I began running I’d warm up.

  On the way to the nearby lake with a beautiful running path surrounding it, I stopped for gas. While I was inside paying, I was also swayed into purchasing a pack of cigarettes. At least if the run didn’t ease my mind—I had a backup plan.

  The air remained chilly, the sky gray and gloomy. A light fog swirled around the trees. I loved running in that kind of weather. My body screamed at me before I even began—it had been way too long since I’d done this. After lifting my arms to the sky to stretch my back, then dropping them to my toes to stretch my knees—I took off.

  The feeling was exhilarating. My body moved in lengthy strides, eating away each step of the pavement. The air in my lungs tightened and my legs screamed in protest at the foreign movements. I was clearly no longer in runningshape, and that thought was depressing as hell. By about four steps in, I was ready to give, but pushed myself until I completed a lap and a half. When I came to a stop, my body hurt and I couldn’t hold back the deep coughs from the chill in the air.

  Maybe buying those cigarettes remained the right choice after all. I pulled out the pack from the inside strap of my top, put one to my lips and lit up, as I continued a much slower pace around the lake. My second drag caused another coughing fit to rise to the surface. I bent at the waist, trying desperately to catch my breath between coughs, as the sound of a familiar laugh approached from behind me.

  “You know what they say, Dani, running is bad for your health. Oh wait no, I think that’s smoking.” I stood and faced Corey, inhaling another drag of my cigarette. This wasn’t the first time I realized how good-looking the man’s body was, but it looked especially delicious now. His legs were clothed in a gray pair of running pants with a black stripe down the side, a black beater that drew attention to his toned and tattooed arms. Sweat clung to every inch of his exposed skin and I wanted nothing more than to trail my tongue from his neck, down the middle of that delicious body. To keep myself from jumping him right there, I put my cigarette to my lips once more. “It’s been a rough couple days.” Corey took the cigarette from between my fingers before it reached my lips for another puff, and then dropped it between us on the ground. I looked up at him, wondering if that was done on purpose. When his classic black and white Adidas shoe stepped down on the cherry, it confirmed my suspicions.

  “Smoking’s bad for you.” There was an admonishing tone to his voice, as he reached out for the pack of cigarettes bulging from the strap of my top.

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously,” Corey confirmed without wavering.

  “But I just bought them—that’s a total waste of five bucks.” When Corey’s hand didn’t drop from its position, I crossed my arms over my chest protectively. He mimicked my pose, holding my gaze.

  “No Corey, I’m not giving you my smokes.”

  With that he let out a sigh, and snatched them from my top; letting his fingers graze across my pushed together cleavage. A shiver shot through my body, making me forget that I was in the middle of feeling like a child.

  A smirk touched his lips. “I’ll reimburse you,” he said, pocketing the cigarettes before continuing on with his walk. Grabbing my hand and bringing me along with him. “What’s made the last few days rough for you?”

  My only response was a shrug of my shoulders. I was trying to forget about it and the last thing I wanted was to dive back into my issues. Yet, I was surprised when my mouth opened to spew out things I thought were locked away.

  “Just crap with my mom. I should be used to her drama by now but…” My voice trailed off as my shoulders gave a half-hearted shrug once more. Corey linked his arm around my neck and pulled me into his side.

  “I don’t want to overstep here by saying this, but I’m sure it’s difficult to know she’s locked away. If you think about it though, she can really get the help she needs in there. Things were getting bad with her here and nothing was going to change but now it can.” I let my eyes wander from the sidewalk up into those penetrating blue eyes. My suspicions were correct. Corey knew my mom and what was happening with her. Even with that knowledge he wasn’t sitting here shoving it back in my face, mocking me and taunting me with what he knew, like Oliver had. The things he had said made sense and I hoped more than anything that—he was right—that she would get better.

  “I just want her to be healthy again,” I whispered out. Corey placed a kiss against the top of my head; for a moment I reveled in the unspoken support I felt, I was receiving.

  “Is that the point of your walk today? To get that stuff off your mind?” “Well, it started as a run, but it’s been a while since I’ve done that.” The sudden amusement dancing in Corey’s eyes worried me.

  “Then let’s go. I was in the middle of my own run.” He released me and started jogging in place next to where I stood.

  “Uh yeah—I’m good, but you go ahead.”

  “Come on Danielle—I’m not doing this alone!” He continued pumping his arms in preparation to run. Instead of motivating me, the gesture sent very dirty thoughts about what those arms could do—through my brain. If I wasn’t already sweaty from the run—I sure would be now.

  I threw my hands into the air, letting them fall and hit my thighs. “You just were!”

  “But I’m not leaving you alone, now that I’ve found you.”

  “Corey.” I whined. This didn’t faze him in the least. He grabbed hold of my hand and took off running—pulling me along behind him. I felt completely ridiculous being yanked around like a puppy, but I couldn’t deny the warmth he was giving me. A natural smile that had been missing from my face the past few days spread carelessly.

  At one point I retracted my hand from his and sped off in front of him. My strides became more effortless, as I easily put distance between us. The sound of Corey’s steps grew louder as he closed the increasing space. As my left hand pumped backwards, his latched around my wrist, slowing me down.

  “Cheater!” I yelled behind me, as Corey’s laugh echoed through the trees. When he released my wrist this time, he managed to move ahead of me. While I didn’t mind the view of him from, behind, I still hated to lose. So with one more burst of energy, I bolted forward and leapt onto his back; my arms wrapped around his neck so I wouldn’t fall backward.

  Corey was still laughing as he slowed to a walk, his arms linked around my legs to keep me against him. My chin rested on his shoulder, as the soft chilly breeze was a refreshing relief against my heated face.

  “That was definitely the most fun I’ve had running in a long time,” he said, making me smile.

  “I hate exercising but that wasn’t bad. I enjoy going for a run, oh about…once a year I’d say.” Corey let out a deep laugh but in an instant his façade changed to a non-joking attitude.

  “I can think of a better way to work out the body, if you’re looking for one.” His head turned slightly, so he could get a look at my expression.

  My heart rate was already racing but now it was going wild for a completely different reason. “When exactly were you looking for another round of exercise?”

  Corey smirked before responding. “As soon as you’re interested.”

  I looked up to see we made it back to the parking lot. “Well, now seems to be the perfect time.” Corey released my legs slowly, so I could regain my footing before letting go of him completely.

  “That sounds like a pretty damn good idea.” The husky tone in his voice had me already ready for him.

  “Follow behind me,” I breathed out; trying to keep how anxious I felt out of
my voice.

  We walked to our own cars—Corey had a black Jeep Wrangler soft top, that I made a mental note to get a ride in at some point. In a few minutes we were on the road back to my place and all I could think about was—why didn’t I just go to Corey in the beginning? As much as I needed time to myself—everything just felt better with him around.

  * * * *

  The hot water streamed down in my excessively steamy shower. Except, that time the steam had nothing to do with the temperature of the water. It was a direct effect of the incredible sex that came to an end just thirty seconds prior. In the past, whenever I was naked in the shower with a boyfriend, I immediately felt over-exposed when ‘the act’ came to an end. For some reason with Corey standing in there with me, I never felt any embarrassment. I was in need of a shower before work and there was no point dancing around the ‘awkward’ after-sex moments. Time was money.

  Corey raised an eyebrow as I picked up the bottle of shampoo and began lathering my long blonde hair. My shoulders shrugged and I held out the bottle to him.

  “You’re welcome to get out and dry off if you wish. I need to shower though and get ready for work.” He waited in silence for a minute, waiting to see if I was serious. When he decided I was, he too began washing his dark tousled hair.

  While washing up, I decided it was time to talk about a few things weighing on my mind. “So, I’ve been meaning to ask you; I was reading the notes about events and it looks like not only do you provide the alcohol but also the servers. We of course, take care of the food but the bartenders and such is all you; did I understand that right?” Corey lifted his hand to silence me, cocking his head to one side.

  “Are we seriously talking work right now?”

  “Yeah?” “Right after we just…and now we’re just diving head first into work talk?”

  “Listen, I’m a busy woman and if I have a question for you and have you here—what’s the problem?”

  Those tempting lips twitched up at the corner, as he shrugged with amusement. “Nothing I suppose, just wanted to be sure I understood that right.”

  “Okay good, now that we’ve cleared that up….” I paused, hoping I didn’t have to repeat my question.

  “Yes, we use my workers as bartenders for the night.”

  “All of your employees?” Corey nodded as he shifted around me, to position himself under the shower head, to rinse out the shampoo suds.

  My eyes devoured the sight before me, as the water cascaded over his firm pecks and the ripples in his stomach. Corey’s eyes were shut to keep out the soap. “Even Sanders, for instance?”

  “Yeah, why?” he asked. His eyes opened and caught me licking my lips as I watched him. My ogling made him smirk, and he moved out of the constant stream of water, so I could step in and rinse.

  “He just seems pretty young—are you sure he knows what he’s doing?”

  This time it was me who caught Corey staring hungrily at my chest, hips and thighs. “Positive, I’ve known him for years.” His voice was laced with the growing desire that had already taken over my body. I rinsed as thoroughly as possible—taking a little longer to tease Corey with my subtle movements—before stepping out from under the water.

  “What about his customer service skills? Is he able to keep our customer happy and not push her buttons or something?”

  “Are you suggesting I didn’t properly train my workers?” When I picked up my conditioner, he plucked it from my hands and twirled his finger, indicating I needed to face away from him. My teeth bit down into my lip to stifle a moan, as Corey’s lathered hands worked through the length of my hair. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, I felt his fingers gently massaging my scalp. Oh Lord—the man was good with his hands.

  By the time I finally found my voice again, I answered his question. “Not at all, I just want everything to be up to my standards.”

  “Yeah I get that, but it’s not like I’m running some dinky ass lemonade stand, Danielle. I worked damn hard to get where I am and everyone working for me knows their shit. What about your employees, are they going to be up to par with our expectations?” The irritation he obviously felt was quickly rubbing off on me.

  I whipped around to face him. “My workers are great, okay? And I’m not saying anything bad about Sanders, I’m just asking a simple question!” My biggest weakness was that I became defensive when questioned about anything that I was personally invested in. “I’ve just never seen your employees work, but if me asking a simple question is going to cause such problems, then I’ll just find another bar to team up with. It’s my Inn now and what I say goes.” I may have seemed angry but there was no real emotion behind my words. There was no way I wanted to work with another bar but I couldn’t stop the fight from surfacing.

  While I let my hair soak in the conditioner, I picked up my loofa sponge and squirted body wash onto it. Corey wasn’t expecting me to use it on him but the soft groan that escaped his lips, told me it was a welcome act. I worked the sponge in a slow circular path around his pecks, biceps and down the front of his body. Our conversation was getting tense but I felt the overwhelming need to calm it down. I wanted him to see this wasn’t a personal frustration—just business.

  My ‘healing powers’ seemed to be working, as he let out a sigh and softened his tone. “Would it make you feel better to do some sort of test run with him, before the actual event?” I finished lathering his hard body, before dipping my hair under the shower head. After the soapy suds were out, I glanced up at Corey with my answer, and had to smile when I noticed he was lost in a trance on my chest.

  “Yes, I would like that.”

  Instead of waiting for me to step away so he could rise off the body wash, he moved in closer so I couldn’t get around him. My fingers didn’t hesitate to run along him and ‘help’ clear the soap from his skin. “Fine—why don’t you come over Friday and we’ll do a little testing?”

  “Deal.” To seal the deal Corey’s lips crashed against mine, while his hands slowly roamed down my body until he reached my ass.

  “Again?” I teased against his lips, as if I wasn’t craving it just as much as he was.

  Corey smiled and placed a few kisses along my neck before answering. “You seriously can’t expect me to control myself when I have to stand here watching you lather your body, looking sexy as hell and dripping wet.”

  There were about a million retorts that came to mind that I could have used to make light of the situation, but all I could think about was how turned on I was by this god-like man in front of me. I knew I was a goner. So in the weirdest shower of all time, we finished our business talk then dove back into a passionate and extremely steamy round two.

  * * * * I stood sideways looking at my reflection in the full-length mirror. Moments before I had been in the process of getting dressed for work; instead, I only managed to get my black and nude lace bra on and pull my black hiphugging pants into place. That was when I stopped to look at my bare stomach in the mirror. It didn’t appear to hang over my pants however, maybe I just wasn’t seeing myself clearly. Alternating between standing straight up to slouching over; I decided I needed a second opinion.

  “Corey!” I called out, my eyes never left the mirror. Corey had kept a bag of clothes in his car for whenever he worked out and needed to change. After our shower he dressed and then remained somewhere around the house.

  Corey appeared at the door and snickered as he watched my bizarre movements.

  “What the hell are you doing, Danielle?”

  “Okay, I just—someone made a comment and I just—am I chubby?” I blew out a defeated sigh at admitting the depth of my insecurity.

  “What?” he asked, the bewilderment plainly displayed on his face.

  “I mean, I stand up straight and I don’t think so but then I slouch over and there’s this roll that goes over the top of my pants.” It wasn’t lost on me how strange this interaction was. Even after being with Vince for nearly a year, I wou
ld have never brought up my weight or size to him. With all my previous relationships, actually, I never felt comfortable enough in my skin to openly point out a flaw of mine. The only person I ever talked about those things with was Gabby but she’s my best friend—so it was a given. Yet, I wasn’t concerned about having this conversation with Corey, a man I barely knew.

  Corey smirked at me. “How often do you stand like that?” With his arms crossed over his chest, he moved closer to me.

  “Not often—answer the question.” I held my breath—waiting for the worst.

  “You’re not in the least bit chubby. Who the hell told you that?”

  “Just this guy, but I don’t think he was saying it to be mean. He just mentioned that I looked better now that I put on some weight.”

  “You’re right, that’s not mean—that’s an absolute douche-bag thing to say. What’s this guy’s name, Dani?”

  Corey’s tone made me turn to face him. I was surprised to see he was dead serious and pissed as hell. “Why do you need to know?”

  “From the first night you met me, you were able to get a glimpse of the way I feel about men disrespecting women. I’m like that about every woman I see, but if it’s one of the women in my life—it’s a completely different story.” Wait…what?

  “Are you saying I’m one of the women in your life?” My hands went to my hips and a smirk spread on my face. Corey closed the distance between us placing one hand on my waist.

  “Answer my question, then I’ll answer yours.”

  “Oliver, I used to be close to him growing up,” I answered, not bothering to mention how close Oliver and I actually had become.

  “Well, Oliver better hope I don’t run into him anywhere.”

  “Corey, you’re not going to do anything to him.”

  He placed a soft chaste kiss on my lips. “Watch me.” His hands released me and reached down to pat my butt. “Now hurry your cute ass up or your breakfast is going to get cold.”