His Virgin Apprentice: Sexy Romance Novella

by Ash Harlow

  I’ve tried helping with meals, but Gran seems to love being in control of the food, and she says it’s fun having somebody to take care of. I don’t let it irritate me that every person around me treats me as though I don’t know how to look after myself. Boarding school is such an artificial environment, and now that I’m away from it, I’m not sure whether I’m supposed to bust free or gently ease myself into the adult world.

  Somehow, breaking out seems to be a childish concept until I recall the amount of adults who do just that: leave marriages, explore their sexuality, take up skydiving at eighty. Hell, even Gran can be pretty eccentric.

  When I sit down on one of the breakfast stools, I can’t help but notice how tender I am, and there are a few pieces of Pilates equipment I’m hoping I won’t have to straddle today. Once I finish my breakfast, I return to my bathroom to clean my teeth. Today I put on a little more make-up than usual because I want to look my best for Zach.

  Down in the studio, everyone’s busy with clients, and Maree calls me over to watch her teaching a duo with Tai and another apprentice, Katie. I’d rather watch Zach, but he hasn’t even glanced my way. He’s working with a large, elderly gentleman with a bad hip so at least I’m not worried about him having his hands all over some gorgeous woman. Maree tells me to pay attention whenever my concentration wanders to the things Zach did to me last night. The woman has eyes like a headmistress. Not only does she constantly spot issues with Katie and Tai, but she notices the moment I’m not paying full attention.

  They move from the reformer to the Wunda chair, and Maree tells me to wipe down the equipment and get over to them quickly. I’ve never done so much cleaning in my life.

  I notice Zach’s finishing with his client so I linger around the reformers, hoping he’ll come over and see me. Instead, he makes a phone call, and as soon as that’s finished, his next client arrives. Bloody bollocks, it’s Miss Venezuela, and I instantly plummet into a well of insecurity. Zach leads her over to the reformers and settles his client onto the one right next to me without even acknowledging me. I pout and catch Maree’s eye. She’s giving me a death stare so I hurry over, brushing as close to Zach as I can.

  “Don’t interfere when Zach’s with a client,” she hisses, and I blush.

  Bitch.

  Well, she’s not, really, but I’m having trouble coping with the seesawing emotions, so in my head I channel all my fury her way. Poor Katie and Tai seem to be on the receiving end of whatever is annoying Maree, because she’s making them go through the entire stomach series balanced on top of the Wunda chair without a break. Both of them are scarlet, and once they’ve completed the series of punishing exercises, she puts them straight into a hellish pull-up routine.

  “Advanced testing in two weeks,” she snaps at them.

  They groan in unison, and for some reason I giggle. Apparently today, groaning has an entire new meaning to me.

  I have to shadow Maree all morning, and around midday I see Zach has finished with his final client for the morning. I want to go to him, and as if Maree reads my mind she sends me a don’t you dare look. Her client was late so we won’t be finishing for another ten minutes. Then I’ll have to clean the equipment. I might as well be a chambermaid for the amount of wiping up I have to do.

  My stomach clenches when a few minutes later, Zach leaves the studio with his client. He’s laughing, and he has his hand on her shoulder. I’m willing her to fall over and break her ankle because she’s another Miss World contestant, and she and Zach look way too familiar with each other for my liking. I know I have to get a handle on this jealousy, but it’s doing my head in.

  Finally, Maree finishes up, and I wipe down the equipment. Just as I’m leaving the studio to go upstairs for lunch, Tai catches up with me, inviting me to go to Narrow Neck beach with him to meet some friends. They’ve all got stand-up paddleboards, and Tai has been promising to teach me. It’s a hot day, there’s no wind, so the conditions are perfect for learning. We apprentices finish at three on a Wednesday, even though the studio takes clients into the evening. I check the diary. Zach’s last client is at seven p.m. so I accept Tai’s offer. If Zach discovers I’m out with Tai, he can deal with it.

  He doesn’t return to the studio until just before three, and I’m seething inside at the thought of him being at lunch, or whatever, with that woman all this time, though outwardly I appear sweet. Running with the theme of not letting anyone suspect there’s something going on between us, I leave the studio without saying goodbye.

  In minutes I’ve changed into a bikini, thrown on a sundress, and I’m outside the building with my camera and beach stuff just as Tai pulls up with a car stacked with boards and filled with young men. I take my time getting in, hoping that Zach catches a glimpse of what I’m up to.

  We get back late. It wasn’t intended, but one thing led to another, and one of the guys went and got fish and chips, someone else fetched a load of beer and we sat around the rocks, ate, joked and had a few drinks. I got some mad photos of the guys generally fooling around. By the time I return to the apartment it is well after nine p.m. Paddle boarding was wicked, I’ve got a beer buzz, and I’m feeling awesome as I bounce up the stairs.

  Zach is waiting for me on the landing, with a face like thunder.

  7

  ~ NATALIE ~

  He looks seriously pissed, and I hate that my stomach clenches like I’ve been caught sneaking out of school. Turns out I seem to have had just enough to drink to get my cheeky shit on because I carry on past him and fumble my key in the door to Gran’s apartment. I can feel his fury coming off him in waves, but once I’m through that door there’s nothing he can do. I’ll have a witness, and he’ll have to keep his mouth shut.

  My unsteady hand has trouble with the lock, and just as I discover I have my key upside down Zach snatches my wrist and tugs me towards his apartment.

  “Come with me.”

  His voice is hard, and I wouldn’t have believed those gorgeous grey eyes could turn to granite. Despite the way I attract trouble, I don’t thrive on drama or pushing people so I’m not thrilled at what’s going on.

  “Gran’s expecting me.”

  “She’s out.”

  “I’m tired,” I hiss, trying to snatch my arm out of his tight grip, but I might as well have been trying to get out of handcuffs for all the use that was. I dig my heels into the rug on the landing and it shoots out from beneath me. Zach whips his arm around my waist before I fall to the floor. Held tight against his hard body, a shot of desire hits its target, right between my legs.

  I don’t know what he’s done to me, but I can scarcely be near him without my pussy weeping with joy.

  Zach doesn’t let go of me as he opens his apartment door, turning us with a not-very-graceful pirouette so that he can reach the lock when the door closes.

  That click last night was the sound of something life-changing for me. Tonight it rings across the apartment like a gunshot.

  My head’s spinning. Beer and fear are not a good mix. It’s not Zach I’m afraid of but the way I’ve probably ruined something fledgling before it had the chance to soar. Zach’s breathing is loud and harsh, as if he’s trying to draw enough air for me to stop my thundering heart. I want to say I’m sorry for acting like an immature, jealous schoolgirl, but I can’t get the words out.

  “Tell me what’s going on.”

  His voice is cold, and his words have the effect of an icicle slipping down my spine.

  “Nothing,” I mutter. It’s the classic teenage answer, and it pisses me off that I’m not able to formulate something more mature, something that would show I have a handle on our secret relationship. But I can’t, and I fucking don’t.

  At this moment I’m out of my depth, and I feel like bursting into tears, because what I’d dreamed about—a future with Zach that had inhabited my mind for the last two weeks—is swirling down the drain.

  Zach has had hours to plan what he’s going to say, and I’ve been side
swiped.

  “Not even twenty-four hours after I asked you not to go out with Tai and you disappear with him for six hours.”

  Now I’m defensive. He doesn’t get to say who I can and cannot see. “Maybe it wasn’t Tai. Maybe I was with one of the other guys.” Oh, yeah, I’m rolling in teenage shit tonight.

  Again he asks me what’s going on. We haven’t moved from the door, and neither of us seems to have control over our breathing, which strikes me as ironic given that Zach’s whole life is based around a philosophy of control…breath, body, mind.

  Now that I’ve broken us before we even got started, I decide I might as well tell him the truth, no matter how humiliating it is.

  “You ignored me today. That hurt. Then you disappeared with that Miss Fucking-Perfect-Ratio woman for hours. Tai invited me out with his friends to try stand-up paddle boarding. I’ve wanted to do that for ages, so I accepted the invitation. I miss my mates, Zach, my chums, my pals. Shoot me for having a bit of fun.”

  He pins me against the door. The move is so swift, it knocks away what little breath I have.

  “Does this feel like I’ve been ignoring you?” he growls, grinding his sizable hard cock against me.

  I shake my head. He’s as turned on by this as I am.

  “And you’re just going to have to grow up and deal with Perfect-Ratio woman, or Tessa, as she prefers to be called, because she’s a very good studio client and an important member of this local community. Having lunch with Tessa is something I do each month because she has connections that can be useful, and one glass of wine turns her into a very indiscreet person. I’m trying to stay on top of our future.”

  My mind is squirming, searching for the way to make him understand what I’m feeling. Even his mention of our future doesn’t calm me because I don’t have the self-confidence to believe that he won’t tire of me once he’s had his fun.

  “I don’t know how to hold onto you. One day you’re going to go out with one of your beautiful clients and you’ll be tempted. I’ve seen the way they play up to you. Or they’ll be mature and clever, and you’ll see that I’m just a silly teenager. I won’t be enough for you.” I try to pull away from him.

  “Are you kidding me? Honestly, is that what you think I’d do?”

  “Look at me. I’m dumpy and short and—”

  His hand shoots into the air. “Stop that now. You’re beautiful, Natalie. You’re clever and funny. You make me laugh. And don’t even start on your body. You’re so fucking sexy with your hot curves, magnificent—and I mean truly fucking magnificent—tits and arse. Your eyes make me fall apart every time I look into them. Like now, Jesus, you only have to look at me.”

  His mouth crashes down onto mine, and his kiss devours me like I’m the last meal on earth. I’m still pinned against the door, and he’s leaning right in, my head framed by his forearms so that I’m willingly trapped. This feels right. Not examining what we’ve both been doing and how we’re messing it up, but talking with our bodies because our physical sides don’t seem to have any misunderstandings.

  When he breaks we both gasp for air.

  “Shit,” I murmur. “Hot.”

  “Now do you believe me?”

  I shrug, playing the brat, because as inexperienced as I am, I know he’s crossed over the line from anger to lust. I’m new to this, and acting out a little feels like it could be fun. The force of his passion for me is incredibly heady, and I want to see what I can drive him to.

  “I’ve got a good mind to take you downstairs, put you over the ladder barrel and spank your hot little arse until you do believe me. Is that what you want?”

  Is it ever. “Sounds like it would hurt,” I pout.

  He grins before kissing me again, and then he slips his mouth around to my ear. I can feel his hot breath, and my knees start to buckle.

  “It would hurt,” he says in a harsh voice. “I’d bend you over the ladder barrel, pull down your pants and spank your arse until you begged for mercy. Your round, creamy cheeks would be marked with my red handprints, and the heat, Natalie, would be almost unbearable. Then I’d make you hold onto the ladder rungs, spread your legs so wide your pussy juice would drip straight to the floor. I’d fuck you from behind. We’d be able to watch in the mirror…but I’d have to wipe your tears first, clear your eyes so that you could see. Every time our skin brushed, right at the moment I’m ramming my cock deep inside that deliciously tight wet cunt of yours, the heat from your spanking would spread through your body.”

  He bites my earlobe and then licks it.

  “But you’d love it,” he continues. “Our mingled juices would smear over the upholstery, your scent impregnating it so that I’d always smell you whenever I went near that piece of equipment. I doubt you’d be able to pass by a ladder barrel in the studio again without blushing.”

  Fuck yeah!

  He steps away from me. “Get over to the sofa. I want to see you leaning over the back of it, arse out.”

  My legs have the strength of wet noodles, but somehow I make it across the room. I rest my forearms on the back of the sofa, completely aware of how I must look. Zach’s behind me, and he taps my feet with his.

  “Get these legs out further; I want to see them spread wide.”

  Every request makes me even wetter.

  He takes hold of my shorts and pulls them down so that the waistband cuts into my thighs.

  “You’ve been parading around in front of a bunch of young, horny guys in these?” He pings my bikini bottoms. “I bet they were nursing their juvenile hard-ons all afternoon. For that alone, you need a spanking.”

  Now I’m scared; he’s really going to do it. I’ve never had a spanking in my life, and although it sounds exciting, I hate pain. Zach flicks at the string ties on my bikini pants and they drop to the floor.

  He slides his hand up the inside of my thigh and runs a finger between the fat lips of my pussy.

  “Are you still tender here, treasure?” His voice is softer now, laced with concern.

  “In a good way,” I reply, because I’ve craved his touch all day, and I want that finger on my clit and in my pussy.

  He slides his finger from my clit, all the way to my arsehole, keeping pressure there, and I just about hit the ceiling.

  “More virgin territory, just for me.”

  “I don’t think I want to do that,” I tell him.

  “I’m sure I’ll change your mind.”

  The slap to my arse comes as a shock, and I try to stand up. “What the hell?”

  “Stay in position.” One hand is firmly in the middle of my spine, pushing me back into place. The other rubs the spot he spanked. He’s right. The heat is incredible and radiates all the way to my pussy. I hold my breath, tense, waiting for what’s to come.

  “Breathe, treasure. You tense, it will hurt. As you know, in Pilates we do everything evenly, on both sides. Let me fix that imbalance of sting for you.”

  Smack!

  I huff out my breath but keep quiet. His hand dives between my legs again and I push back on it.

  “So fucking wet, Natalie. I told you that you’d like this.”

  His thumb rubs my clit, little circles that increase in pressure. He’s still got a hand on my bottom, keeping the burn alive, and he slides a couple of fingers inside me. I moan.

  “Work your pussy over my hand, treasure. Show me how much you want it. One day I’m going to make you sit on that chair over by the window, hook your legs over each arm so that you’re spread wide open for me and tell you to play with your clit, push your fingers in your pussy like this.” He jams his fingers into me, hard. “And show me how you make yourself come.”

  I’m so close. I want his cock. “I want you in me,” I beg. Wiggling my arse again brings another smack, and a groan from deep within me.

  “You behave yourself. Come for me first, and then you’ll see what else I have planned. Come on, treasure, let yourself go. Fuck, I’ve never known such a tight wet pussy.”
<
br />   His words take me over the edge, and I cry out his name, along with a few expletives, as I come.

  “Good girl, that’s it…good girl,” he murmurs, his hand more gentle as it draws out my fading orgasm.

  I slump over the chair to catch my breath. Zach brings his fingers around to my mouth, wiping my juice across my lips.

  “Clean my fingers.”

  I open my mouth and he pushes his fingers inside.

  “Work it, treasure. Get that dirty little mouth warmed up on my fingers because I’ve got something bigger for you.”

  8

  ~ ZACH ~

  Natalie is fucking amazing. I cannot get enough of her. When I saw her getting into the car with Tai and his friends, I wanted to bail on my client, leave the studio and hunt them down. Missing her lesson pissed me off, but waiting for her all evening made me crazy. Thank God, Birdy is out for the night, because even if she was home, I’d still have had to do the Neanderthal act and drag Natalie into my apartment. I can barely contain my energy around her, and if she’d gone straight to her bed, I’d have been sleepless and hard all night.

  I wish I could get over her, but I fear that every time I see her, my need for her grows. I’m done for if Birdy discovers what’s going on. Pilates is more than a job for me, it’s my way of life, my entire philosophy. When Birdy retires I want to take over the studio. I’ve got money put away to buy her out because even though my professional rugby career was short, I was paid well. Pilates pays me well, too, and it’s not just the studio I want. I could go and set up anywhere in the world; hell, I get offers constantly from wealthy overseas clients who want to set me up in their city.

  Several marriages mean that Birdy’s extended family has a complicated structure of children and step-children. One of them is a property developer and has his eyes on the studio because he wants to turn it into luxury apartments. I have no idea what Birdy’s will is like, or how she handles her assets with trusts and things, so I know that I have to keep my nose clean if I’m to have any chance of making the studio not only mine, but the go-to centre of Pilates.