Chapter Ten
Payton
It had been several days since Dax had called and asked me out, and I’d spent the week searching through all of my contacts as I looked for people who might be able to help me land a job. There was no way I was going to be able to meet my mother’s unreasonable deadline, nor did I want to, so the only other option was to find a job and get started working my way up with an organization.
I’d thought about Dax on several levels all week. The first being the hot, but unfinished encounter in the bathroom at Black Jack. Having gotten a small taste of what he had to offer, now, more than ever, I wanted to run my fingers through his dark, curly hair and feel his hands sliding over my naked skin. Over the past two days, I’d found myself daydreaming more than I had since I was fifteen, but this wasn’t some silly, schoolgirl crush. No, this was pure lust.
By Friday afternoon, I could feel my body vibrating with anticipation as I moved through my daily routine. After downing my fifth cup of coffee, I knew I had to work off the combination of nerves and caffeine, so I grabbed my gym bag and headed down to the gym to see if Chad was available for an impromptu workout. He was surprised to see me, but had space in his schedule to spend an hour guiding me through a kickboxing workout before having to haul heavy weights from one end of the gym to the other. It felt good to lose myself in the physical challenge of a workout that strengthened all of my muscles and made me sweat until the heavy circles of iron were slick and slippery in my hands.
As I held the weights waist high and began the third set of lunges, my leg muscles burned and I forced myself to find a place in my mind where the pain became bearable. I conjured the memory of Dax in the ladies’ room smiling down at me just before I pulled him in for a kiss. The memory of his lips pressed against mine made me go wobbly in the knees.
“Hey, Lasky! What’s with the legs?” Chad yelled from the other end of the gym. “Pay attention to what you’re doing or else you’re gonna blow a knee!”
“Sorry! Sorry!” I yelled half-heartedly as I tried to pull my mind back to something less distracting. I thought of my mother and her ultimatum, but that made the rage well up inside of me again, and I quickly pushed the memory out of my mind. I settled on running through my closet and trying to decide what to wear for my date with Dax as Chad yelled at me to pick up the pace.
“You okay, Lasky?” Chad asked as I stored the last of the weights back where they belonged. “You seem kind of distracted.”
“I’ve got a lot going on right now,” I admitted. I liked Chad, but we weren’t close friends by any stretch of the imagination, and I didn’t find spilling my guts to my trainer a practice that made any sense whatsoever. “I’ll be more focused next time.”
“Glad to hear it,” he nodded as he wiped down a weight bench in preparation for his next client. “Keep your head in the game or you’re going to get hurt.”
“Gotcha,” I said, waving goodbye and heading for the locker room. I pulled on my sweats and then jogged the two blocks back to my apartment, feeling both tired and amped up. I dropped my bag at the door and headed for the bathroom where I opened the taps and began filling the large tub with hot water. I grabbed a glass bottle from the windowsill and added scented oil to the bath. I looked around the room, trying to stash all of the memories of it deep within the recesses of my brain.
If my mother’s ultimatum held, I’d lose this luxury, and the thought of that made my spirits sag. I scanned the calming, sage-green walls and dug my toes into the fluffy rug that covered the heated tiles as I thought about how many times this bathroom had been my refuge in the storm. I ran my hand over the smooth edge of the beautiful, Victorian-style tub that I’d sink into when the noise of the world got to be too loud and I needed to think. I shook my head impatiently as I reminded myself that all of this was just stuff and that the most important thing was that I chose the path that was right for me. But as I sunk into the hot, scented water, I knew that making a break would be difficult.
“Why did you have to do this, Mother?” I wondered as I submerged my body and tried to clear my mind of negative thoughts. With only a slight bit of difficulty, I turned my thoughts to Dax Connor and our date, and began to squirm a little.
I thought about how close I’d been to him and how strong his body felt pressed against mine. I closed my eyes and leaned back in the tub as I envisioned where all of this might lead tonight. I could see his dark eyes flashing as he wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me against him before bending down so that his lips were an inch away from mine. I shifted in the tub as I imagined that moment of pure desire before he pressed his lips to mine.
“Oh, who am I kidding,” I muttered as I let myself conjure the image of what I had really wanted the night before. In my mind’s eye, I grabbed the front of Dax’s shirt and pulled him to me, kissing him hard and deep. The feeling of his well-muscled chest under my fingertips intensified my desire as I imagined him gripping my wrists tightly as he pushed me up against the counter. I could feel my pulse pounding as I struggled to free my hands as we buried our tongues in each other’s mouths. In the tub, I slid my hand under the water and down between my legs as I imagined the way that Dax and I would have struggled to assert control over one another.
I could feel his hot breath on my cheek as he pulled his lips away and gathered both hands in one of his own before pushing up my skirt with his free hand. The edge of the counter pressed into the back of my thighs as he yanked my panties down around my knees. My hungry grin let him know that, although I was struggling, I wasn’t fighting him off, but rather egging him on. I could see the wild desire in his eyes as he unzipped his pants and then positioned himself between my legs. I moaned loudly as he pressed himself against my warm, wet opening and then growled, “Mine!” as he thrust up into me. I cried out as we moved together, building a rhythm.
Dax let go of my hands and I buried my fingers in his dark curls as I spread my legs and tried to push him deeper inside me. There was a savage need driving us both as we found ourselves entwined in a brutal kiss as our bodies pounded together. And then he slipped a hand between us and began stroking me in a way that I’d only ever done myself. I cried out as his fingers quickly brought me to a climax that consumed my entire body.
“Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop,” I moaned as I sloshed water over the edge of the tub, spasming on the hand that had stroked me over the edge. When the pulsing sensation had abated, I opened my eyes and drew a deep breath as I looked around the calm quiet bathroom and realized that I was, again, alone.
“Dammit!” I muttered as I pulled the plug with my toes and sat in the tub watching the water slip down the drain.