Authors: Clare James
“Actually, what you did with
me tonight is almost the hardest thing you’ll have to do.” Gabe smiles, happily
telling me how I can take over as Goddess.
I can’t believe I want this, but I do. Badly.
“You really think I could do it?” I ask.
“I do. I knew it when you told me about your list
yesterday.”
Yesterday. If all this happened in only
twenty-four hours, I wonder where I’ll be in ten days.
“Ah, so that’s it.” I tap a finger to my lips. “Your hotel
is a cover—you really use it as a recruiting ground.”
“Not funny,” he says now, all traces of fun wiped off his
face. “I’ve never done anything like that before. Usually, there’s no need to
recruit. We actually turn people away here. There’s something about you though,
Stevie. I just knew you had this need inside. Like a secret you hadn’t
discovered yet.”
“What kind of secret?” I ask. “The fact that I’m apparently
into kink?”
“Well, yeah. There’s that.” His smile is back . “But
there’s more to it, I think. I do know I was right about what you need in the
bedroom. Most people aren’t ready to jump in like you did, Stevie. You are
fearless. And hot as hell.”
“That’s because I was with you, and you know it.” I ignore
his compliment. “Now, I need some specifics about Venus. Just lay it on me.”
“Hold on. I think we need to take baby steps. But I will
tell you, the process is really about becoming acquainted with The Club,
checking out the rooms and such.”
“Such?” I ask, feeling my body tingle. I like this … this
excitement I’m feeling. And I believe Gabe. I know he didn’t tape me, and even
if he had, I would be okay. This is a different world with different rules. I
trust him and somehow know he won’t hurt me. I believe what he told me—he’d
been in my position before, and he knew what it was like to feel lost. I just
hope to learn his story before we part ways.
“Well, for starters, if you’re game, when we return, you’ll
need to spend some time in the touching room,” Gabe blurts out a little too
fast. He’s definitely worried about filling me in on all of this.
“Can I wear my clothes inside the room?” I ask.
“See, that’s another part of the dues.” He grimaces.
“Tell,” I say, waving him on.
“You’ll have a …
costume
,
I guess you’d call
it.”
“What kind of costume?”
“Traditional Roman wear. It’s almost like a toga, with a
few adjustments. But let’s not worry about it now. I think it’s time for you to
sleep on all this. It’s been an intense day.”
I nod and let him direct me to the limo. I’m suddenly so
tired I can hardly walk, yet every nerve ending in my body vibrates with
anticipation about what’s going to happen next. Up until this point, it’s like
I’ve been sleepwalking through life—never really participating, always
settling. I’m still not sure about all of this, but I want to see it through.
Breaking his own rules, Gabe follows me up to my hotel
room. I shuffle in and collapse on the bed. My bed for the next ten days. I’m
feeling a bit like Venus already.
Gabe gathers my bag, shoes, and other incidentals I’ve
dropped in my wake, and places them in a neat pile by the desk.
“Max is an ass,” Free abruptly announces when he realizes
he has an audience.
“Ah, the notorious Free Bird,” Gabe says, walking over to
the cage and sticking his finger inside to pet the little loudmouth. “I think I
like you already, sir.”
“Max is an ass,” Free repeats. “Going out with Gorgeous
Gabe.”
“Ha!” Gabe exclaims. “Yes, I like you quite a lot, Free.”
I bury my head in embarrassment. How I could have any sense
of shame at this point is beyond me.
Gabe comes over to the side of my bed and sits. “Gorgeous,
eh?” He wiggles his eyebrows at me.
“Yeah, yeah.” I dismiss him. “You’re all right.”
“Still playing games, are we?”
“Isn’t that what you’re hoping for?” I ask, resting my head
on the pillow.
“If you’re talking about The Club, then yes, I do hope you
continue to play. Tonight was earth shattering. And I’ve had some amazing experiences,
Stevie. But tonight was something else; I don’t know how to explain it.”
He draws a line down my body. Chin to chest, then his
finger continues to travel between my breasts, stopping at my waist. His touch lights
me up once again, making me forget all about my exhaustion.
“I can read your body,” Gabe says. “I know what it wants.
Now I just need to get into your head, too. I want to give you what you need.”
I know he’s talking about helping me through my little
adventure, but there’s a part of me that wants more from him. He’s dead-on
about my body wanting him. It’s actually terrifying because I’m not sure I
could say no to any of his requests. I’ve never wanted someone so badly.
“Tell me what you need tonight. I know we hit a rough patch
there, and I take full responsibility, but I want you to remember all the good
parts of the evening. I want to end on a high note.”
He slides into bed next to me, resting his head on the
other pillow, his eyes blazing into mine as he waits for his answer.
“Stay,” I hear myself say.
And to that, Gabe stands up.
Shit, shit, double-shit.
“I’m sorry—” I say, trying to backtrack. I don’t want to
scare him off.
Gabe places a finger to my lips. He covers Free’s cage,
slips off his shoes, and helps remove my clothes without saying a word. He
flips me over to unzip my dress, his fingers grazing each new spot of exposed
skin, slowly, gently. He then plants a kiss at the bottom of my backbone and I
shiver.
I feel his low, quiet laughter on my skin, and it makes me
needy. He flips me around to my back and tugs the dress
down—inch-by-inch—exposing me to him all over again. My nipples tighten as the
air hits them, and Gabe’s eyes darken. He kisses each breast adoringly, and I
lean into his mouth. He continues to pull my dress down past my feet and
delicately folds it over a chair, before returning to the bed. I’m completely
open to him on the bed, drifting in and out of consciousness. I hear him exhale
and feel his eyes caressing my body.
Pulling the covers down, Gabe settles me on the sheet. “You
are the gorgeous one, Stevie. So fucking sexy.” He leans over me, and then in a
trick move, buries his face in the apex of my thighs.
I could so get used to this. Gabe’s head. Between my legs.
“Mmm,” he says, breathing me in. “I love the way you smell,
Stevie.”
My brain explodes in an array of fireworks going off behind
my eyelids. I know that comment should make me embarrassed. It’s crude, really.
Turns out I like crude.
Gabe kisses me, right there. Closed mouth kisses that are
just as erotic and the opened-mouth ones. He continues kissing me voraciously,
like he can’t get enough.
The man actually worships my body. It’s the only way I can
describe it. If he spoils me like this for the next ten days, how will I ever
be comfortable with normal again? I don’t want to think about the answer to
that just yet. I want to enjoy every second Gabe shares with me.
His mouth on me feels so good. So right. As I settle into
his rhythm, he changes it up again. His tongue swipes across me, taking a
little taste, throwing me off balance in the most delectable way.
“You make me crazy,” he says, sliding up my body, placing a
chaste kiss on my belly. “But I know you need your sleep tonight.”
My body screams,
I’m up, I’m up
.
He slips out of bed and takes off his pants and shirt,
revealing a tan and sculpted body that puts those Gladiators at The Club to
shame. The only piece of fabric left covering this piece of art is a pair of
black boxer-briefs. And how I want to see what’s underneath.
Gabe gets into bed and spoons me, pushing back my hair and
tucking me in before he says
goodnight
.
Damn, that’s it.
“Dream of me,” he whispers.
I do.
An alarm goes off and I shoot
right out of bed in a confused state—still not used to my new surroundings. Or
the sound of that alarm. It’s the hotel clock going off; Gabe must’ve set it
before he left.
I’m ready to pout at that revelation—that he’s not here for
a morning cuddle—until I see a note on the table with another breakfast fit for
a queen … or Roman Goddess. Today, the spread consists of with eggs Florentine,
Italian espresso, oranges, and pastries—a definite theme going on here.
I take the note. It’s written in the most elegant
handwriting (like Gabe would have chicken scratch) and reads:
Buongiorno,
I’m sorry I couldn’t be here when you wake, but
I hope this will get you off to a good start. I know you have a busy day and
big presentation tomorrow, so I think Project: Venus can wait until the
weekend. Tomorrow, however, I would love to take you to dinner.
Still thinking about last night …
Ciao,
Gabe
I flush at his words, desperately wanting him here with me.
Now. But he’s right, I can’t screw up work. Not when it’s going so well. Not
when Daniel is depending on me. Sometimes I really hate being a grown-up.
I eat every last scrap of my feast, feeling as if I’d let
Gabe down if I didn’t. Free flies around the room, singing about Gabe and his
gorgeousness the entire time.
That bird really gets me.
***
At the office, there is not a
single moment to miss Gabe or worry about paying my dues at The Club. No, I’m
no Goddess at work. That is never more apparent than when Daniel has me order
lunch for the office. It’s a small group really—Josie mans the phones; Robert
is on lead design; Cat on web; and Cole is our copywriter. My specialty is
design, but I can do all of it so I pick up the slack when needed. I’ve
absolutely found my groove in this place. It’s just too bad my co-workers seem
to forget my role from time to time. I even got the little puppy pat on the
head when I showed Daniel my ideas for the Forever Fit pitch. He has complete
confidence in my work and executing someone else’s plan. My own ideas? Not so
much.
“Nobody is leaving this place
until tomorrow’s presentation is perfect,” Daniel announces during our morning
meeting. Those are the last words we hear from him for a while—other than the
occasional grunt and groan.
I order lunch for everyone,
make sure the coffee pot is full at all times, and get to work. The office is
abuzz all day, and Daniel never makes it out of his office. He’s practicing his
presentation the entire time, that is, unless one of us goes in to get final
approval on one of the projects. I spend my day working on all the final
mock-ups for the meeting, and by four o’clock, they are perfect. Then I sharpen
Daniel’s PowerPoint presentation.
It’s good. Maybe not as good
as my concept of expanding beyond the health and wellness message, but it’s
good all the same. He wants to play it safe with this account and I get that.
By ten o’clock everyone in the
office is exhausted and sick with nerves. Thankfully, Daniel finally calls it a
night. We make plans to meet back here in the morning to regroup before taking
the town car over to Forever Fit.
When I get back to the hotel
room, I find myself hoping that Gabe will be there. He’s not, of course, and
though I want to call him, I’m not so clueless to know that would be a rookie
mistake. We made plans for tomorrow night, no need to push my luck.
So I do the next best thing,
if I can’t talk
to
the man, I’ll talk
about
the man. I text Tia
to give her the deets she’s been asking for.
She answers on the first ring.
“Hey, sorry for blowing you off yesterday.”
“S’okay,” she says. “So are
you ready to tell me about mystery man?”
“Sure, what do you want to
know?”
“We have to work fast. I only
have a few minutes before the roomies come home and we’re having our Come to
Jesus tonight. One of us has got to move out and it’s not going to be me.”
“I’m happy you’re finally
putting your foot down,” I say.
“Forget about that. I need
info and I need it fast. What’s lover boy’s name?” Tia asks, ready to grill me
in record time.
“Gabe.”
“Occupation?”
“Entrepreneur.”
“You sure that’s not code for
something? Like mob boss or drug dealer? Or even worse, he could be unemployed.”
“I’m sure,” I say shaking my
head. Tia ever the optimist.
“Where’d you meet?”
“Hotel bar.”
“Looks?”
“Dark hair, gray eyes. Gorgeous
face. Cut body.”
“Packin’?”
“Tia!”
“Well?”
“Yes,” I’m happy to admit.
“So you’ve …”
“Not quite.”
“When do you see him again?”
“He’s taking me to dinner
tomorrow.”
“Oh crap, my roommate and her
leech have arrived,” Tia whispers.
“Okay, good luck,” I say.
“You too, be safe, Stevie.”
***
The next morning, Daniel is a
flustering, nervous wreck. And it doesn’t help when the receptionist at Forever
Fit’s corporate headquarters informs us we will be presenting to a team of five
executives. The CEO, however, couldn’t make it.
That’s never a good sign.
Daniel is about five minutes
into his presentation when the panel begins to lose interest. I can see it in
their eyes and the way two of them are now fidgeting in their seats. The health
message isn’t working, but I have an idea that I think will. I quietly page
through my notes and give myself a silent pep talk. Yes, I can do this. I stand
up and clear my throat.
It’s now or never.
And I launch into a new spiel.
“Yes, we all know about the
importance of health and wellness.” I tell the executive team, like this was
all part of the plan.
Daniel flashes me what I know
to be a panicked expression, but he’s normally so stoic that it only looks
mildly uneasy to the rest of the world. I smile, silently telling him,
I’ve
got this.
“We know it,” I continue
speaking to the execs. “You know it. And this campaign is the best you will
find for
that
message, if that’s the way you want to go. It’s good,
solid, and safe. But we’d like to suggest going with something sexier.”
Daniel leans in and raises his
eyebrows at me, but allows me to continue.
I hit a few keys on my
computer and pull up the concept I tried to get Daniel to sign off on
originally. “Sex, lifestyle, pleasure,” I begin. “If you want to grab the next
generation of fitness fanatics—not to mention your current clientele—it’s
through sex. The number one reason why people lose their libido is body image.
Number two? Exhaustion. And what can cure both of these ailments?”
“Fitness,” the man with the
bursting muscles bellows.
“That’s right,” I agree.
“Fitness. If you want to be successful in today’s world and snag the new
demographic, it’s by showing how fitness will not only improve your health, but
your sex life, as well. Get rid of all those stodgy classes, and instead, add pole
dancing, tantric yoga, and a massage room. You don’t have to give your clients
a happy ending to have one yourself.” I wink.
The panel members have grins
the size of Lake Michigan, and when I look back, so does Daniel. I continue
showing them my concepts and designs, never feeling more confident.
“Excellent,” Mrs. Grimshaw
says when I finish my presentation. “Just excellent. Would you give us a
minute, Ms. Sinclair?”
“Yes, yes of course,” Daniel
chimes in, suddenly finding his voice.
We leave the conference room,
and Daniel pats me on the back. “Nice work, Stevie. I was losing them there,
but I didn’t know where to go. They weren’t buying our pitch. I don’t know if
we still have a chance, but if we do, I owe you one. Guess, I should’ve
listened to your idea in the first place, huh?”
“Don’t go singing my praises
yet,” I tell him. “I could’ve just sunk our ship.”
“Regardless of what happens, that
was a good move. A brave one, not that I want it repeated.” He smiles, but
definitely reinforces his position as my boss. “But I’m very pleased you’re on
the team.”
My heart swells at Daniel’s
praise, a completely foreign concept. But I know it—I know in my bones that my
campaign is right on the nose. The messaging, rational, strategy, and marketing
plan are all flawless. I know because I am their clientele. I know this
demographic and I know what I say is the truth. I know that most people would
give almost anything to get their sexy back. I’ve experienced it myself … with
Gabe.
Suddenly, I’m so excited to
tell him what happened today—to share it with him. I haven’t even known him a
week, and already he’s wiggled his way into my life. It only makes me sure of
what I have to do at The Club, and I can’t wait to start.
After
I reward
him for all he’s done for me.
“You can come in now,” Ms. G.
says.
Yeah, she’s Mrs. G to me now.
We’ve bonded.
We all sit awaiting our fates,
but the smiles in the room tell me all I need to know. We got the account.
Daniel has to hold himself back from clapping. We go over final details and
plan our next steps.
Daniel whispers in my ear, “I’m
making you the lead on this account, Stevie.”
I nod, speechless. I’m
floating on a cloud, and when a text comes in, I soar even higher.
How’d it go?
Gabe’s text blinks almost the second we get out the door of Forever Fit.
We got it,
I type
back.
Celebrating then, I’d gather?
Only with you.
That’s an unexpected surprise.
See you back at the ranch tonight?
I’ll be there,
I type
as we ride back in the town car.
I spend the rest of day at the
office, bringing the team up to speed on the campaign. At the day’s end,
however, everyone is ready to party. Too bad I have something else in mind. In
the bathroom, I primp for Gabe and then come out to break the news to my group
of giddy co-workers.