The Client Read online

  I'd known all of that, but what reading a bunch of articles online hadn't been able to tell me was that Maxwell Forbes was a down-to-earth guy who would've been just as much at home in a blue-collar bar as he was in the boardroom.

  I'd actually been more comfortable talking to Max than with Dorian, but I could no longer deny why that was. Yesterday, I'd tried to downplay how much he had to do with why I hadn't wanted a second date with Tyrell, but the moment I'd seen Dorian standing in the doorway of his house, I'd felt with him what hadn't been there with Tyrell. Tension. Electricity.

  Butterflies.

  Dorian and I had barely talked the whole afternoon, only snippets of conversation that had included his father, but nothing had kept me from being hyper aware of his presence the entire time. When I'd followed him into the kitchen, it was like I could feel something connecting us, an almost palpable current. It wasn't unpleasant, but it did make me uncomfortable...mostly because I liked it.

  When he asked if I wanted to go to the gym, I thought the physical activity would be good for me, burn off some excess energy, maybe ease some of the tension. Then again, sparring with Dorian was usually a good way to increase my tension rather than lessen it. When we moved together...I was all too aware of his body.

  But I still agreed to go.

  I wasn't ready for the day to be over yet either.

  We talked a little on our way into the city, mostly about unimportant things, the sort of mundane topics people talked about on first dates.

  Except, I reminded myself, this wasn't a date. The lunch had been about me meeting Dorian’s father. A gesture of appreciation for that morning in the park. That was it.

  I took a couple extra minutes while changing to remind myself to be professional – despite the fact that I was now wearing a pair of yoga pants and a sports bra – and then headed out to the gym. Dorian was waiting, and as his eyes ran over me, I felt my nipples grow tight. My stomach clenched when I saw that he wasn't wearing a shirt, just a pair of shorts. His torso was defined, his shoulders broad above a narrow waist.

  Shit.

  I looked away from him. “Shall we?”

  I took a slow breath as I climbed into the ring. I couldn't let him see my hands shaking. Too many questions I didn't want to answer. When I faced him again, I was composed.

  We circled around each other, feeling for the best opening. He moved first and I countered. Then I moved and he countered. Round and round we went, feinting one way and then the other, blocking kicks and hits. We fell into our familiar dance; the same way we'd sparred during our first session.

  But it didn't feel the same. It felt like...more.

  This time, when I swung at Dorian, he caught my wrist and yanked me back against his chest. I sucked in a breath as his skin burned against mine.

  “What's wrong?” he chuckled in my ear. “Didn't Tyrell teach you any fancy moves after your date the other night?”

  I wasn't sure if it was the insinuation or the fact that I was so turned on that I couldn't think straight, but I twisted my wrist out of his grasp and swept my leg behind me. He thudded to the mat, a stunned expression on his face. Before he could get up, I was on him, my knees on either side of his waist. I grabbed his wrists and pinned his hands over his head.

  I smiled down at him, pleased with myself for catching him off-guard. Then my eyes met his and any amusement I felt burned away. On most days, his irises looked blue, with just a hint of violet, but right now, they looked almost purple.

  He worked his hand free, and I made no move to stop him. I couldn't. I'd heard of predators who mesmerized their prey, somehow made them stand still. I felt like that; like I was...spellbound.

  He reached up and curled his hand around the back of my neck. For a beat, he held me there, as if considering something, and then he surged upward, his mouth catching mine in a fierce, bruising kiss.

  I bit at his bottom lip and he parted my lips with his tongue. He sat up, one arm going around my waist as he held me against him. Our skin was slick with sweat, our pulses already racing, but the heat rushing through me had little to do with our previous exercise.

  The smart thing to do would've been to end the kiss, get up and tell him that we weren't going to do this.

  Except I really wanted to, and if what I could feel pressing against me was any indication, he really wanted to as well.

  His hands moved to the straps of my bra, tugging them down my arms until my breasts were exposed. He wrapped my braid around his wrist, tugging my head back until he could kiss his way down my throat. I tried to run my hands over his chest, but my arms were restrained enough that I could only reach his stomach. The muscles there fluttered under my fingers, then jumped as my nails dug in when his mouth found my breasts.

  I moaned as his tongue teased my nipples, and I ground myself down against him. He caught one sensitive piece of flesh between his teeth and I hissed.

  “I want to fuck you,” he growled the words. “Here. Now.”

  Bad idea.

  Really bad idea.

  “Yes,” I groaned. “Yes.”

  Suddenly, we were moving, my bra straps sliding up so I could catch myself on my elbows even as he flipped me onto my knees. He yanked my pants and underwear down together.

  “Fucking gorgeous,” he muttered.

  His hand ran over my ass, up my spine and then under me. He curled his body over mine, his cock hot and hard against my hip. He pressed his mouth against my ear even as he shoved my bra up over my breasts so he could cup them both.

  “I’ve been dying to feel this body from the moment I saw you.” He pinched my nipples between fingers and thumbs, chuckling when I gasped. “Now I'm going to make you scream.”

  I would've offered some smart-ass remark, but then his cock pressed against my entrance, and I didn't care what he claimed. I swore as he pushed inside, my body stretching to accommodate him even as I tried to spread my legs wider. My pants around my thighs kept me trapped, kept me impossibly tight even as he worked himself deeper.

  My eyelids fluttered, fingernails digging into the mat. It'd only been a month since I last had sex, but Gordon's quick little wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am encounters the last few – okay, more than a few – times had felt nothing like this. I was barely aware of the sounds coming from Dorian's mouth. The curse words. The moans. My name. All of that was in the background. Every bit of my focus was on the nearly overwhelming sensations coursing through each cell.

  His fingers dug into my hips as he thrust into me, each stroke harder than the last, rubbing against all of the right spots until I was whimpering. My head fell forward and I squeezed my eyes closed. I was so close. I braced myself on one hand, moving the other one beneath me. I barely touched my clit and I came. Pleasure washed over me, through me.

  “Fuck!”

  Dorian stiffened behind me as he came, his hands gripping me so hard that I knew I'd have bruises in the morning. I didn't care though. All of the tension in my body had dissipated with my climax and I felt limp, relaxed. Even better, my head – which had been far too full recently – was pleasantly empty.

  I knew it'd be full again shortly, and that I'd have to deal with what happened, but for right now, I was just going to take it.

  Chapter Ten

  Dorian

  I hadn't come that hard in a long time. My entire body was throbbing, pulsing. Sara's body was too. I felt her pussy spasm around me, squeezing almost to the point of pain. She was so hot and tight that it had taken an insane amount of control not to come immediately. I was surprised I managed to last as long as I did.

  It wasn't until I pulled out that I realized how badly I'd screwed up.

  “Fuck,” I muttered.

  “Wha...”

  The word trailed off as the knowledge dawned on her face. The realization that we hadn't used a condom was quickly followed by the understanding that quite a bit of her was still exposed. Her entire body flushed and she yanked up her pants, then pulled down her bra.
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br />   “I'm on the pill,” she said quickly, not meeting my eyes. “And I always used a condom with Gordon, so I'm clean.”

  Shit! What the hell had I been thinking?!

  I got to my feet and ran my hands through my hair as I turned away from her. Dammit! I was smarter than this.

  “You'll excuse me if I don't just take your word for it.” I felt the air between us shift, but I kept going. “I mean, no offense, but it's not like we actually know each other.”

  “You're right.”

  Her voice was cold, and something inside me twisted at the sound.

  “We should both get tested as soon as possible. It's not like I know where your dick's been.”

  I turned, but she wasn't looking at me. Instead, she was climbing out of the ring.

  “This doesn't count as a regular session.” The words popped out of my mouth before I'd really thought about them. “I expect to see you here tomorrow morning, usual time.”

  “I'll be here.”

  There was no malice in her words. In fact, there wasn't anything at all.

  “Thanks for the sparring session,” she said as she reached the door. “It really cleared my head about some things.”

  I knew I'd fucked up before the door closed behind her, but it was too late.

  And maybe that was a good thing.

  * * *

  I couldn't sleep, and it was seriously pissing me off.

  The day had been going so well. Dad had finally met Sara, and they'd gotten along great. I finally felt like I was getting to know her, and then the heat between us when we'd sparred...

  I hadn't been able to help myself when she was on top of me. I'd needed to know what her mouth tasted like, felt like. And things had just gone from there.

  I couldn't stop thinking about her. What it was like inside her.

  It'd felt so right, so natural. During the moments I was pumping in and out of her body, listening to her moans, feeling her skin against mine, I'd been able to put aside what all of it would mean, how what we were doing would change things. I'd been able to ignore how natural it felt, how much I'd wanted to take her home with me and spend the entire night exploring every inch of her body.

  When we'd finished, and I realized that she'd made me lose control so badly that I hadn't remembered to use protection, it'd scared the hell out of me. I was always in control, even when I had sex. I was always aware, even in those moments when my body's natural instincts were taking over, I always held back.

  Until tonight.

  She'd made me lose control, lose myself. And for that, I'd lashed out at her in a way that made me sick when I thought about it. I could sometimes be a bastard when it came to women – okay, most of the time – but I'd never liked being intentionally cruel, especially not to someone who didn't deserve it.

  Part of me wondered if she'd even show up tomorrow morning, or if I'd have to find yet another trainer. I was pretty sure I could get Jelani to come back. If I apologized well enough, things could even go back to the way they were.

  But that’s not what I wanted.

  I didn't want Jelani training me and then sticking around for a quickie in the shower. I didn't want to call her some night when I was horny and didn't want to bother going out to a club to find some one-night stand. I didn't want to have to explain to her yet again why I wasn't going to be exclusive with her.

  I knew what I didn't want, but couldn't let myself admit what it was that I did want. I told myself that I didn't know, but this was apparently one of those things that I couldn't lie to myself about.

  Finally, after tossing and turning for hours, I decided to get up and go for a run. If nothing else, it'd clear my head before I went in to the gym. Usually, I would've gone to the park, but I didn't know if Sara still ran there. While the sheer size of the place meant that my chances of seeing her were slim, I didn't want to take that risk.

  I also didn't want to risk running into my dad on my way out, so I crept down the backstairs and snuck out through the kitchen the same way I did when I was a kid.

  The downtown office building where FFC had its official headquarters had a gym on the top floor so that employees of the various corporations could exercise on their lunch breaks. It'd been my dad's idea, and he footed the bill for most of it, but a good percentage of the people in the building took advantage of it. I generally didn't. If I wanted to work out in peace, I did so in my apartment. If I wanted a gym atmosphere, I went to the gym.

  This morning, however, I went straight to the top of the building. A couple dozen laps around the indoor track were just what I needed. Once I got my head cleared, I could go to the gym, do a bit of training with Sara, and forget that last night ever happened.

  I supposed it was a sound plan in theory. In practice, however, it didn't work out quite the way I wanted. I still had a bit of the usual endorphin high when I entered the gym, so things felt like they would work out perfectly. I nodded at the few guys who were already there and training, all the while scanning the room for Sara. She was usually early, and I was arriving right on time, so for once, she should've been waiting for me.

  And she was...sort of.

  She was here and dressed, standing near one of the bags in the back while she stretched. If that'd been all, I would've been fine, but it wasn't all because she wasn't alone.

  Tyrell was standing with her, clearly staring at her ass as she bent to touch her toes. When she straightened, she smiled at him, the sort of coy smile that told me she'd moved right past what happened between us. Jealousy twisted dark and deep through me.

  So much for everything going back to normal.

  Chapter Eleven

  Sara

  No matter what I'd done, I hadn't been able to sleep last night. My brain kept running through the entire day, over and over. Everything from the moment I'd arrived at the Forbes' house, to how much I'd enjoyed spending time with Dorian and his father. And, of course, what we'd done after.

  The memory of his hands and mouth on my body, how he felt inside me, all of it made me want him again. But then I'd remember the rest of what happened. The things he said, the way he behaved.

  It had made me sick to my stomach, and I was still feeling nauseous the next morning when I headed to the gym. It was only sheer stubbornness on my part that made me go in. Not because I needed the money, but because I wanted to prove to Dorian that what happened meant no more to me than it had to him.

  If only I could convince myself.

  I didn't know what it was about Dorian that drew me to him, that had made me so completely forget myself, but I didn't like it. I wasn't a control freak, but I considered myself to be the sort of person who thought things through. I didn't behave impulsively. Or, at least, I didn't until I met him. I'd taken the job as his trainer without much thought, but I'd written that off as needing the money. I told myself that stopping things with Tyrell had been about needing space, but then I had sex with Dorian the very next night.

  Unprotected sex. My gut churned and I reminded myself that I was already planning on getting tested right after work.

  And then I was going to look for a better job, one where I didn't have to struggle to keep myself from either slapping or kissing my boss.

  I showed up even earlier than usual, but mostly because I had too much nervous energy, and if I'd stayed in my apartment, I would've ended up pacing. Here, at least, I could stretch and warm up.

  I'd only been stretching for a few minutes when Tyrell came over. I greeted him with a smile, and then immediately felt bad for the way his eyes lit up. I knew I didn't need to feel guilty though. I'd made it clear to him that I wasn't interested in pursuing a romantic relationship. If he read into me being polite, that was on him.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the front doors open and Dorian walk in. My stomach flipped, and I immediately bent down to touch my toes. I didn't want Dorian thinking I was looking for him. I could feel Tyrell's eyes on me, and wondered if Dorian was watching too.
/>   “How are things looking for your fight?” I asked as I straightened. I was genuinely interested, but I couldn't deny that I was mostly asking because I needed something else to focus on instead of Dorian.

  “Good,” Tyrell said. “Paul says I'm in the best shape of my life. We're heading to Vegas tomorrow so I can adjust before the first fight.”

  I flipped my braid over my shoulder and smiled up at Tyrell. “That's great. I really hope you do well. You've worked hard and deserve it.”

  “Thanks.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Listen, about the other night–”

  “I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression,” I jumped in, forcing my eyes to meet his. “It'd just been a long time since I'd gone on a date and I wasn't sure what I felt and–”

  “It's okay.” He reached out and took my hand. “I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed, but it's okay. Sometimes great chemistry translates into romance, sometimes it's friendship.” He squeezed my hand. “And that's what I'd like, if you're okay with it. Just because we don't work as a couple doesn't mean we can't still hang out.”

  Apparently, I was getting my signals all wrong. I thought Tyrell still wanted me, but now he was saying he'd be content with friendship. I thought Dorian had been interested in me as a person, but all he wanted was sex. I hadn't realized things with Gordon had gone so wrong until I caught him cheating.

  I knew I was as much at fault for what happened between Dorian and me as Dorian, but I hadn't stopped to think about how last night wasn’t the first time my judgement had been skewed. I'd written it all off as my attraction to Dorian, but now I wondered. Maybe that wasn't the case entirely.