Shut Off (Just This Once #3) (6 page)

There was a faint laughter coming from the library, alerting me to where exactly I would find Blaire. Still just outside of the door, I slipped out of the rest of my clothes. Clad in only a pair of boxers, I ran in the room like a fire was lit under my ass. When I saw her, it was like the heavy weight that had been following me around all morning lost its power over me. It simply evaporated at the sight of Blaire.

I couldn’t hold back the smile that transformed my face. She sat in my wing-backed chair like she belonged there, like this home was meant to be hers. Perhaps she was the reason I never brought anyone else there—I was just waiting for the right girl.

I was waiting for my Blaire.

“I found you.”

Blaire uncurled her body from the chair, placing the book she held in her hands on the table to her right—page down so she wouldn’t lose her place. She was dressed casually in a pair of stretchy pants and an oversized shirt. It was a look I hadn’t seen on her since the time we spent sheltered in her house. I had my assistant buy her some things to make her comfortable until the moving truck could bring over some items from her home. It was supposed to arrive later that night.

“You did and it looks as though you actually found some underwear lying around. What a pleasant surprise.”

“I thought you’d like that,” I said with a grin.

“Well, at least now I know you can afford them.”

My feet drew me closer to her as if I
were
lassoed around the ankles and she held the other end of the rope. When she was within reach, I sunk down to where she sat and pawed at her greedily, eager to fill my hands with the only medicine that could make me feel better. With one hand clasped around her neck and the other settled around her waist, I pulled her body alongside mine. Her milky skin was awash in a pink blush that crept across her cheeks, sweeping down across her neck like wildfire. I watched her heavy-lidded eyes flutter and close as I pulled her closer.
Her chin lifted up in expectation of my kiss.
My brain took this as her signal that she was ready, willing, eager even to be devoured, and I didn’t hold back. I descended on her lips swiftly,
sighing at the sweetness that burst across my tongue.

Hefting her up in my arms, her legs crossed behind my back as my tongue delved deeper into her mouth. She tasted of coffee and that hazelnut creamer mix she used. I sucked on her lips and licked at her tongue, savoring the flavor there. Blaire moaned as I kissed at her and my boxers tented around the erection that sprung up between us. Her heat was right there surrounding me, and I just wanted to plunge in. Yet my mouth had other plans as I continued fucking her mouth with my tongue, demonstrating exactly what I wanted my cock to do to her pussy.

As if she had just realized the time, her mouth pulled away from mine, my lips still pantomiming in an attempt to draw her back in.

“What are you doing home so early?”

I readjusted her weight, holding her ass with both hands as she sat snug against my waist.

“I didn’t have anything that needed to be done. Besides, wouldn’t you rather be doing this?”

“Actually, I’d rather get out of the house.”

Taken aback by her statement, I let her slide down my body until her feet were settled on the ground.

It wasn’t that I told her she couldn’t leave, but we both knew the reason why she was cooped up here. Lara had her running and hiding just like she did me. It all felt too familiar, and once again the weight was back, more oppressive than ever. Lara was a wound that just continued to bleed.

“Hey, I didn’t mean anything by it. Your home is nice. It’s just we haven’t been out…well,
I
haven’t really been out since last week.”

“Are you asking me out on a date?”
I quirked my eyebrow at her.
I didn’t want Blaire to witness my anguish. In the little time I’d known her, I could see she was someone who cared about the well being of those closest to her. She was someone who was eager to do the right thing, and I didn’t want to be her pet project. I wanted to take care of her, not the other way around. So I worked hard at doing what I could to take her mind off of
me and my circumstances
—apparently I failed in this one thing.

“It never even crossed my mind,” she said with a smirk. I’d never asked her out on a real date. The lunch we had when she was barely talking to me hardly classified as a date, and now all I wanted was to go out on a real date with her. I wanted to dress up, take her somewhere nice,
lavish her.
Except, Blaire wasn’t the type of girl to be bought. It would take more than a Michelin-star restaurant or a private showing of a Cirque show to win her over. She wasn’t interested in what my money could buy—something that was new to me. No, what Blaire wanted was information. She wanted to know me. Which was obvious when she asked, “When’s the last time you went to your gym? We could go there? You could show me around?”

She looked shy, like she expected me to say no. I couldn’t imagine why she would want to go to a gym and watch me sweat, but I couldn’t deny that I was kind of itching to get back in the gym. It had been weeks since I’d visited. Ever since I took over working at my father’s company, I hadn’t had time to really commit to going to the gym, especially now that I was trying to be there for Blaire.

“You want to go to the gym with me?”

“Sure, why not? Unless ‘gym’ is a euphemism for something else, and I’m going to crash some weird Dungeons & Dragons fan club.”

“You wish.”

I pulled her up against me again, desperate to get back to where we were. Her hands separated my chest from hers as her lips brushed against mine. I kissed her softly and slowly, relishing the way her lips parted around mine. My tongue curled around hers, wrestling through the cavern of her mouth. Her body was tense despite how pliable her lips felt around mine. I let my fingers dance down her spine, sweeping through the valley of her shoulder blades, and I watched her body relax like a zipper of a too-tight dress coming undone.

She pulled back again, and a growl sprung up from my throat. The smile that crawled across her face rivaled that of the Cheshire
Cat
, taunting me with what I wanted most.

“Aren’t you the eager beaver?”

“And you’re teasing me,” I flashed her an exaggerated pout, hoping to sway her to spend the remainder of the day holed up in my bedroom—a place where there was nothing to think about aside from how our puzzle pieces fit together. The piece I wanted to start with first was rock hard and throbbing with a fresh torrent of blood rushing through my veins at the sight of her heaving chest and the flush of excitement that disappeared beneath her shirt.

“Come on.” She pulled at the top of my boxers and the elastic band stretched, allowing a rush of air to sweep down against my dick. I groaned, disappointed that I would have to wait, but she only smiled, releasing the band to slap against my stomach before bounding from the room. The last thing I was thinking of was being stuck in a room of sweaty men, all grunting and flexing and looking for ways to impress my woman.

***

“EJ? Long time no see, man. Taylor, look who’s finally decided to show up.” My friend, Carlos, stopped lifting kettle bells at the sight of me and left the lifting area to come greet us. Taylor, still in a squat, dropped the medicine ball that was in his hands and gave me a head nod.

“
Ahh
, I see now. EJ’s got a new cookie. She’s looking pretty sweet, too.”

“All right, all right, take it easy.”

“I thought I told you I’m no good at dieting,” he yelled back, just as Carlos met us at the front. I looked over at Blaire to see if she was having any second thoughts on her decision to come with me, but she just folded her arms around her waist and looked at the various areas.

The gym was a large rectangular-shaped warehouse with a wall of mirrors wrapped around the back and left side of the walls. Just inside the doors and to the left was an area dedicated to a pull-up station, on the right the rings and a rack of the medicine balls. Near the back were six ropes that dangled from the ceilings, and on the other side was a large mat surrounded by two rowing machines on either side. In the back, right corner of the gym were shower rooms, and just outside were a couple benches and the water coolers. There was nothing too fancy about the place, but it was one of the better
CrossFit
gyms in Vegas. I found there were less douchebags there.

“Blaire, this is Carlos. Carlos, this is my girl, Blaire.”

Blaire, who already had her hand up to shake Carlos’s hand, stopped midway and looked at me.

“Your girl,” she laughed to herself. “Is that what I am?”

“Ooh, Taylor, she’s a feisty one. You’ll like her.”

“Hey, what did I just say,” I said to Carlos as he shook Blaire’s hand. They both laughed, with Blaire rolling her eyes and shaking her head at our interaction.

“Don’t mind him. It comes with the territory. His way of pissing on a fire hydrant.”

“Nice,” she said to Carlos with her lip curled up in disgust.

“That over there is Taylor. I promise he won’t bite. Now, what are you guys doing here? Showing your lady love the ropes?”

“Just getting out of the house, more like.”

“Oh,” Carlos mumbled with a passing expression I’d seen all too many times. The guys at the gym were very aware of what I’d been accused of, and though we’d only known each other for a short time, they believed I wouldn’t do anything like that. They understand that, in Vegas, you never knew the kind of woman you could end up with. I was just unfortunate to end up with the ruin-your-reputation and take-you-for-all-you’re-worth kind.

“Well, the gym’s pretty light right now, so have at it.”

“Tell sweets I’m giving lessons if she’s interested,” Taylor yelled from the back. Blaire chuckled, and I just rolled my eyes. There was no winning with Taylor. I knew Blaire wasn’t interested, but it still irked me that at 30-something years old, Taylor was still learning the bro-code—one I knew for a fact he had violated a time or two before. If you’d ask him, it wasn’t his fault. They practically tied him down and played hide the salami with his dick.

Carlos went back to the kettle bells, and I gave Blaire a quick walk-through of the space before asking her where she’d like to start.

“What do you usually do when you come here?” she asked while looking around as if she didn’t even know what to do with half of the equipment lying around the room.

“The WOD changes every day so my muscles don’t become used to the repetition.”

“I’m sorry, WOD?”

“Workout of the day. How about I get you set up with a circuit, and once you’re started, I can get into my shit?”

“Huh. Because I did so well last time.”

“Last time didn’t count.”

“Why not?”

“Because all I could think about was fucking you. Now, come on, before I get distracted again.”

I did a basic circuit with her of all of the things she could do at home—jumping jacks, squats,
burpees
, push-ups, plank holds. She was a yoga girl, used to using her body for fitness, but I didn’t want to overwhelm her for her first time. It was a bit self-serving of me because what I really wanted was for her to like it so she would want to come back here with me. The thought was almost as startling as wanting to see her in my home. It seemed like that wasn’t the only place I wanted her. I wanted her threaded throughout my whole life. I wanted her to join me in a place that had always been designated as my drama-free zone. With Blaire, there was no drama though. She was easy, simple.

Moving to the opposite wall, I did my reps of pull-ups while watching her. She wasn’t moving quickly—the way I instructed her to do the reps—but the way her body moved had me forgetting all about my own workout. Her body moved slowly but efficiently while she did
burpees
. Transfixed, I watched her ass and tits as her legs kicked out parallel with the ground before jumping into a squatting position then bouncing up. Her pants were tight and despite the support of a sports bra, her perky breasts jiggled with every bounce.

I was salivating.

“Maybe you should’ve stayed home and fucked her. A workout’s a workout,” Taylor said as he shrugged his shoulders and moved to stand next to me, his eyes following my line of sight. The fluorescent lights above glinted off the drops of his freshly cropped hair—a cut he said he was forced to take after a girl nearly scalped him from tugging too hard while they were fucking. I didn’t know where he got these girls, but Taylor had more sex than a prostitute. He seemed to have a trifecta of panty-dropping qualities: tattoos, muscles, and dimples. All of the things I wanted to keep away from my girl. I didn’t want him waving that hypnotizing shit her way.

“Hey! Eyes this way. Don’t make me slaughter you.”

“And I thought I moved fast. Look at you…did you get that shit with your ex squared away?”

I stopped mid-pull-up and dropped to the ground with a low grumble. I wiped the sweat from my brow and transferred the sweat to my shorts before looking back up at Taylor.

“That well?”

“I don’t know. I’m trying not to think about it. That’s
kinda
why we’re here. She’s been staying with me,” I nod over to Blaire who had moved over to the rowing machine and was moving back and forth with an air of elegance. The muscles of her shoulders tightened and bundled together with every pull of the bar.