I watched the door slowly close with a click. His gentle kiss had surprised me. At the time I was fighting against the darkness that sometimes came over me when I thought too much about Dad. I wasn’t upset by the kiss. In fact, I’d enjoyed it and wouldn’t have minded if he’d kissed me again. I shook my head as I forced the thoughts away. He was a client. I’d never slept with a client, and I wasn’t going to start with him.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as I saw the headlights of his car swing past when he backed into the road. When the lights of his car disappeared, I turned to the kitchen. The two glasses of wine at dinner had done wonders to relax me. I poured another glass and sat down to think.

The two women who functioned as production assistants hadn’t been helpful. Rather, they had provided no new information. Like everyone else, they liked Neil. They liked the entire team, and admitted to their tongues hanging out as they watched the men working out, but none of Neil’s people had been anything but friendly.

I also found out that Lewis, one of the men on Neil’s workout crew, was banging Jiao, one of the women on the team. That had nothing to do with Neil nor what I was trying to prove, but that did explain why those two acted the way they did with each other and why Neil was always teasing them about staying focused.

I liked the fact that he was open and honest with people. He didn’t try to hide anything or pretend it didn’t exist. Two of his people were getting sweaty together, and not just from jumping and kicking on a workout video, but he didn’t seem to care so long as they did their jobs. It was refreshing to see the positive side of a sexual relationship, not just the dark side like I saw so often.

Both women admitted they would gladly bed any of the three men and had made their availability clear, but thus far none of Neil’s staff had made any moves. I could certainly understand the two women being willing to take any of the men to their bed. I’d never admit it, but as I watched the men going through their routines, I’d had more than a few fleeting thoughts about helping them work up a sweat myself, Neil in particular.

I’d decided that Neil was probably innocent of the sexual harassment claims. He would have been an idiot to hire me and give me such open access if he was guilty, but I was surer now than ever. Everyone had only good things to say about him. The only negatives were positives, in that he held himself to a strict moral code.

I returned to his kiss. It was true he didn’t ask permission before he kissed me, but I liked a man who was sure of himself. The kiss had been very gentle, and he hadn’t tried to take it any further. In fact, he broke it off. When he pulled back, he looked not ashamed, but almost surprised. It was as if he hadn’t expected the kiss to happen, but that wasn’t quite it either. It was as if he wanted to kiss me but decided he was making a mistake, like eating a piece of cake when you were on a diet. As I thought about it, I decided that was exactly how he looked. He’d had that slightly embarrassed, guilty look, but at the same time, he knew he hadn’t done anything wrong.

Maybe it was the wine talking, but I found it rather charming that he’d found my lips tempting enough to slip a little. Had he started pawing me, or been too aggressive, I might feel differently, but the fact he found me kissable enough to sneak a quick, gentle kiss after a lovely dinner warmed me. As Julie had said about herself, I didn’t feel pressured to do more, which made me feel safe and made me want to do more.

I forced my thoughts away from where they were going and back to the case. He was a client and that was that. Nothing was going to happen, but even as I thought it, it felt like I was trying to convince myself.

I focused. April was still my best lead, but I wasn’t sure what to do about it. I’d love to find corroboration from another source. If I could find two sources that said the same thing, I’d feel pretty good about crawling up her ass with a microscope, but I’d had to dig deep to find the one thing I had. The problem, to my mind, was her actions were business related, and there were two sides to every story. I wasn’t prepared to condemn her just yet. Tomorrow I’d try to find someone to give me her side of the story. For all I knew, the guy I spoke to today deserved everything that had happened to him.

I thought about having another glass of wine but changed my mind. I could certainly feel the effects of the three glasses. I was warm and relaxed. I was such a lightweight. Three glasses of wine with dinner, and I was floating. If Neil were here now, I’d let him do more than just kiss me.

I hadn’t forgotten the surge of desire I’d felt for him as he stood in the photo shoot in all his shirtless glory, those medals hanging around his neck drawing my eye to his chest. Not that his chest needed any help. The thing was, I liked him. Take away all his sexy goodness, and I still liked him. He seemed to be a good person, someone who really cared about people. So many people I dealt with were of questionable moral character. Cheating spouses. Deadbeat parents. People trying to scam or duck the legal system. It was nice to help a good guy for once. He didn’t deserve to be treated like this.

I laid my head against the back of the couch and stared at the watercolor seascape. My job had made me cynical. I didn’t trust people easily, but I felt I could trust Neil. He seemed to be an open book with nothing to hide. I smiled. An open book, and I liked what the pages said.

I circled back around to the kiss. I knew why he’d broken it off. He didn’t sleep with clients, and while I wasn’t his client, he was mine. It was the other side of the same coin. I understood him feeling that way, and I did as well. Had he not broken it off, I would have. Another smile tugged at my lips. I was glad I didn’t have to. It only reinforced in my mind that all his talk about not sleeping with clients wasn’t just talk and he actually believed it. The hell of it was, I enjoyed the kiss and wanted more of it, and maybe something else too. I sat up with a growl.

“Goddamned wine,” I muttered to the room. It was lowering my inhibitions and making me think thoughts I shouldn’t be thinking. I stood and stomped to the kitchen, rinsed out my glass, and put it in the dishwasher. It wasn’t that late, but I’d been up late last night and early this morning. I’d get a good night’s sleep tonight and be fresh and ready to face the day tomorrow.

I’d been neglecting my other cases for Neil, but they weren’t pressing. I’d been two months trying to track down the guy that owed a ton of back child support, and serving the divorce documents could wait. The woman that needed them served was already living some other guy, so she was in no screaming hurry. My only other case, one that I’d accepted just yesterday, was another cheating spouse case. Those were normally quick to prove, but I needed my car for that.

I retired to my bedroom and stripped out of my suit. I tossed it into the dry-cleaning hamper, my blouse and underwear into the wash hamper. Tomorrow I needed to take my dry-cleaning—except I didn’t have a car, dammit! I stomped to the bathroom and started the shower.

I thought the bath was the best part of the house. During the renovation, I’d had the tubs removed and replaced with large showers and a built-in cabinet for storage. The shower was tucked into a corner that made it pie shaped, the glass forming an arc to enclose the corner. Removing the tubs made the tiny space feel much larger, and the oddly shaped shower was visually appealing. The custom tilework completed the look.

Both sides of the duplex were identical, down to the color of the walls, and the bath was what rented the other side. I’d rented it to a twenty-something couple, and as soon as she saw the bathroom, she’d told her significant other this was the place. I knew they got a lot of use out of it. If I showered about nine at night, I would sometimes hear them screwing their brains out in the shower.

I often smiled when I heard him telling her he was about to come, her begging him not to, then both of them crying out together less than a minute later. I always wondered what would happen if he managed to hold off his release. Was it him coming inside her that pushed her over the edge, or maybe it was her clamping down on him as she came that snipped the thread holding back his climax. The nosy private investigator in me never stopped and I wanted answers. At least the bathrooms served as a buffer between the two bedrooms. Hearing that every night as I was trying to sleep would get real old, real fast.

I showered, enjoying the hot water pouring over me. I knew it was the wine, but I wished Neil was with me. If he were, we’d make a little noise in the shower ourselves. I was twenty-eight years old, but I would show those kids what fucking was all about. The way I was feeling tonight, I’d wear his well-muscled ass out!

I stepped out of the shower, dried, and slipped into my favorite sleep shirt. I brushed my hair and teeth and returned to my bedroom. The shower and wine had relaxed me, but thinking about having Neil fuck me in the shower had left me feeling jumpy. I knew the feeling well, unfortunately, and knew just what to do for it. I turned my bed back and retrieved my toy friend, Buzz, from the bottom drawer. He wasn’t as good as a man, but he was always faithful and ready when I needed him.

I slipped out of my shirt and lay down, allowing my mind to wander as I gently touched myself. I was back in the shower, washing my hair, the warm water pouring over me like a summer rain. I was wiping the water from my face when I heard the soft rumble of the shower door rolling aside. I squeaked in surprise as I turned, then relaxed when I saw it was Neil.

“I thought I’d wash your back,” he muttered, his voice low and sexy, as he stepped into the shower and closed the door, his cock standing at attention.

I smiled, knowing more than back washing was going to happen. He picked up the bottle of soap and squirted a generous dollop into his hand. I turned my back to him and nearly shivered in delight as his big, strong hands glided smoothly over my skin. He washed my back and squatted as he worked his way down my legs, rising slowly as his hands worked back up my front. He stopped at my neck, and I twisted my head around as I pressed my back into his chest. He was so tall that his cock was hitting me in the small of my back, his hips thrusting slowly as he devoured my lips.

I gasped as my fingers danced in my wetness, my free hand tickling a nipple to aching erectness as his slippery hands massaged my breasts. I moaned softly in desire as I turned in his arms, our flesh made slick by the soap and water. My arms went around his neck, and I pulled myself tight against him. He lifted me as if I weighed nothing, and I wrapped my legs around him, thrusting my hips into his stomach as our tongues danced. He took a step forward and the water ran over us, washing the soap away.

He slowly lowered himself, lifting me higher as he did, until I was sitting on his shoulders as he settled into the bottom of the shower. Hands under my ass, he hoisted me higher and lifted my womanhood to his waiting mouth. I grabbed the top of the enclosure for stability as his wicked, wicked, tongue darted and probed, his lips caressing my petals, pleasure washing over me in wave after wave.

My finger began to dart faster, caressing my button, my fantasy causing my need to swell as the water poured over us, Neil’s lips and tongue destroying me with pleasure. My hips began to lunge at his face. I was unable to remain still as I was consumed with need. My rapture was coming.

“Oh…” I gasped as my finger swirled and touched, my body alive with tingles as my climax began to close in around me. “Fuck…fuck…fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…fuck!” I murmured, my chant becoming faster and louder as I lit up with seething energy, my head thrown hard back as my body twisted and jerked in orgasmic spasms.

I lay still, unable to breath, waiting as I crackled with orgasmic energy, and then exhaled slowly as I relaxed.

“Fuck,” I muttered again, the only word I could think of to voice how I felt.

Shit! I’d come before Neil could even fuck me. I’d taken the edge off, but I felt there was at least one more in me. I smiled as I picked up Buzz, flicked him on, and gasped in delight as I pressed him to me. I’d cried out as I came, my voice loud in the shower, but I wasn’t done. I wouldn’t be done until I felt Neil’s lovely cock inside me. I slipped from his shoulders, my legs weak from the face-melting climax I’d just experienced. I turned to him, smiling at the intensity in his eyes. He was going to fuck the shit out of me, and I was looking forward to it. He stood and picked me up, lowering me over his cock as I steered him into me.

“Ah…fuck!” I muttered as he slid deep, his passage making me burn in erotic fire. He pressed me tight against the shower wall and drove deep into me once, twice, three times – three hard, grunting thrusts as he buried his face in my neck. I wanted to scream in pleasure as I held him tight, the feel of his taut body sliding against mine as he plunged into me fast and deep, another source of pleasure.

“Fuck, you’re so tight!” he growled into my neck as he drove into me again and again.

“You’re so big!” I wailed, the sensations of him inside me almost overwhelming in their intensity.

I plunged Buzz deep inside, moaning softly as Neil pounded deep into me, his hands gripping my ass tightly as he grunted and gasped.

“Shit!” I snarled as I pressed Buzz hard against my clit, every muscle taut as I crackled with pleasure. “You’re going to make me come again,” I whispered into Neil’s ear. “Make me come. Make me come again.”

“I’m going to come!” he sneered, plunging into me hard and fast. “I can’t hold it! You’re going to make me come! Shit!” I couldn’t reply as I teetered on the edge of a colossal orgasm. “Fuck! I’m coming!” he cried just as I tipped into the abyss.

I held Buzz to me as I mewled softly. “Fuck…fuck…fuck!”

The pleasure was so great it touched on pain, my rapture swelling higher and higher until it collapsed over me. I dropped Buzz as I jerked one time, very hard, and rolled to my side, my hand clamped between my legs as I gasped and quivered, waiting, waiting, waiting for my climax to release me. Finally, after a minute, an hour, an eternity, I let out a long, cleansing breath as I relaxed out of my orgasm.

“Jesus,” I murmured. I rolled to my back and patted around until I found Buzz. I snapped him off and dropped him back to the bed. I smiled as I let out a long cleansing breath. “You’re a good boy, Buzz,” I sighed.

I lay unmoving, still awash in the aftermath of my orgasm. I smiled again, my eyes still closed. Jesus, I really needed to get laid. I lay there, knowing I needed to get up and clean Buzz. I needed to take care of him, since he always took such good care of me. My last lucid thought before sleep took me was that I’d do it as soon as I rested a moment.