Chapter 4
Maddy
I gulped at his words. The hot look in his eyes. The commanding tone of his voice. Call me a dirty little tramp, but I wanted this man I’d just met to do shameful things to me. Wanted him to strip me naked, bend me over, and teach me a lesson I’d never forget. The thought alone made my thighs reflexively clench and my core to become drenched.
I’d only ever been with two guys before. One boy in high school whom I’d felt pressured to give my V card to, and another from college who was sweet, but who brought absolutely no fire or passion to our relationship. But German, despite thoroughly irritating me, was all man. I could tell, just by looking at him now. There was no way he’d be anything less than an atomic bomb in bed. And boy, oh boy, did I want him to blow apart my world right this second, even if it destroyed us both in the process.
Licking my suddenly dry lips, I decided my best course of action was to just grab a pullover and take it off when I got to the locker room of the gym. What could he do about it then?
Smiling internally, I walked back to my closet and pulled a half sweater that showed my belly but covered my boobs. If that didn’t please him, nothing short of a burka would.
“Better?” I grumbled, in desperate need of a workout now that he’d gotten my blood pumping so hard.
German glanced at my exposed tummy which was still on display, but he didn’t object. “It’ll do.”
* * *
The drive over to the gym had been a quiet one. And by that, I mean, I’d promptly turned on the radio to drown out any potential conversation the two of us could have shared. I was still miffed at the man for asserting his authority over me, though very much still turned on by it, and I was struggling to come to grips with the odd purgatory I’d currently found myself burning in.
As soon as German parked the car, I jumped out of the front seat and bolted straight for the door. Since his legs were so much longer than mine, it didn’t take him more than a minute to catch up. Trying to slip into the gym without him, I failed when I saw his shadow looming large behind me.
After unwillingly signing in my “guest” at the front desk, I said, “I’ve got to use the bathroom,” and hightailed it over to the locker room before he could deny me the basic human right. Free of my jailor for the moment, I tugged off my sweater and arranged my hair in a high ponytail on the crown of my head. Checking myself out in the mirror, I smiled. Let him try some of that caveman behavior now that we were in public. I doubted my bodyguard would feel so high and mighty with an audience all around us.
Kicking off my street shoes, I stepped into my gym sneakers and locked all of my stuff into my designated locker. Because the phone German had given me had none of my apps, audiobooks, or anything else I enjoyed listening to while at the gym, I tossed it in there as well, deciding I was just going to make do with the background music the gym provided.
Strolling out of the locker room, I glanced around for my new bodyguard. He spooked me when he said, “I’m right behind you.”
He must have been leaning against the wall of the ladies’ locker room waiting for my exit. Slowly turning, I crossed my arms alongside my chest. “That’s not creepy at all, waiting like that,” I pointedly accused.
German’s eyes took in my clothing, or lack thereof, and his dark eyebrow hiked. “I think you forgot some of your clothes back inside the locker room.”
Shaking my head, I smiled victoriously. “Nope. I’m wearing exactly what I intended to.”
I could tell I was deeply trying his patience, but he didn’t argue. Later, when we were alone, I’m sure he’d make me pay. But for now, I was adding this “W” to the victory column in my favor.
“Besides, you’re not allowed to give anyone fashion advice,” I added, eyeing him from head to toe. “Especially wearing what you’re wearing. Leather isn’t exactly the most practical choice at the gym.”
German dropped his gaze first to his vest, jeans, and finally his black boots, before shrugging. “Do you want to argue about my fashion sense or work out?”
Tossing my ponytail behind me, I strolled over to the treadmill and began to spray it down with the bottle of disinfectant. I wasn’t about to trust the last person had cleaned it to my standard. As I worked, German watched me, leaning against the machine to my left. When one guy stepped onto the machine to my right, he shot him a menacing glare. Deciding it wasn’t worth the hassle, the poor guy went to the opposite side of the gym to use the ellipticals.
“Really?” I said, hands on my hips.
“Gym etiquette states if you can leave a space between equipment and a stranger, you fucking do it,” German firmly answered. “Everyone knows that. The asswipe’s just a creep looking to make small talk in hopes of getting your number.”
German was probably right, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. Selecting my settings, I started my workout with a brisk walk. After five minutes, I upped the tempo to a light jog. Wanting to really push myself, I notched it up again to a moderate-paced run.
When I’d had enough of the treadmill, I decided to work on my arms. Noticing the machine I’d intended to use was taken, I settled for some light weightlifting. Because I’d wanted to impress German, I’d pushed myself to look good while running and had a glossy sheen of sweat all over my body and a bright color to my cheeks.
As I selected my weights, I found a place by the mirror and began to work my arms and core. When I started to perform some deep squats, I could see his gaze shifting around the room, watching what was going on around me. Something caught his attention then, and his face shifted from stony to angry.
Following his gaze, I saw what had triggered him. A group of gym bros in the corner were watching me as I worked out. They weren’t exactly hiding it either. And it would seem my irritable companion was none too pleased by this.
Feeling a bit wicked, I decided to play with my bodyguard a little. If he didn’t like what I was wearing, he definitely wasn’t going to like what I did next. Setting my weights to the side, I lifted my arms in the air and dropped my head back. Since I’d been a ballet dancer from the age of six to eighteen, I was more flexible than your average woman. And I was about to put that fact to good use.
I started with some basic moves. Some side stretches. Some toe touching. Then, like the treadmill before this, I notched it up a degree. Lifting my leg into the air, I straightened my planted one, locked my position, angled my head backward, gracefully reached for my toes, and achieved the perfect standing split.
I could feel German’s gaze even before I saw it. His nostrils flared as he watched me, and his eyes narrowed each time he watched the men behind us in the mirror watching me. The gym bro wearing black shorts struck his buddy’s arm and whispered something into his friend’s ear, causing the second man to erupt into laughter. I could only imagine what colorful things he’d said. As I’m sure German was also doing, and not so stoked about.
I’m not going to deny his protectiveness made me feel powerful, though I was unwilling to actually delve into the psychology of why that was. Regardless, I saw the hungry expressions on the men’s faces behind me and hid a smile. Sometimes it was good to be a girl. Even when it was just over a small power move like this.
Wanting to test the waters to see how far I could take this game, I lowered myself to the mat and began to stretch out for some refreshing yoga moves. I began with cat/cow, which involves your palms and knees flat on the ground while your rear end is hiked in the air. Rounding my back, I began to breathe. Spreading my thighs further apart, I canted my hips so my ass was raised high. I did this slowly, and deliberately. Each iteration becoming more pronounced than the last.
German’s temperature rose off of him like steam from a boiling kettle. But, unable to argue, because we were at a gym and I was simply doing yoga, he just sat there, stewing in his permanent frustration.
Widening my stance again, I pushed my weight forward onto my forearms and stretched even deeper. Unless someone had been living in a convent, this position definitely conjured up images of a highly sexual nature.
When I added a bend in my back and splayed out my arms, I heard German’s voice gruffly state, “The arm press machine is free.”
Looking at him under my arm, I said, “In a minute. I just want to stretch my back for a bit.”
The smoldering hot look in his eye told me he knew what I was doing and he wasn’t pleased. It also said, as soon as he got me home, I was never coming back here again.
Deciding I’d pushed him far enough for one day, I finished off my set of yoga stretches and stood. “I’m ready now,” I stated merrily, my smile wide and falsely sweet.
When I got to the arm press, I realized there wasn’t a disinfectant bottle to clean down the machine. Since I’d seen the last person who’d used it and who’d left a puddle of sweat behind the size and shape of a Rorschach test, there was no way in hell I was pressing my skin against that equipment without some serious sanitation power.
Putting two and two together, German handed me some paper towels and said, “I’ll go get you a spray bottle from another machine.”
As German crossed the gym, I saw someone approaching me out of the corner of my eye. “Hey, Maddy,” Nathan called out, as he hesitantly approached.
Nathan and I had gone to high school together and I’d always liked him. I’d had a super crush on the former lacrosse player since junior year, but he’d never really noticed me. I’d always just been the girl who sat behind him in English class. Over the last few months, we’d seen each other out at the gym and chatted about what we’d been up to since high school. I’d begged the Gods of Meet-Cutes to give the obtuse man a shove in my direction and to ask me out. The last time we’d talked, I was positive he was going to do it. But, just as he was inquiring about what kind of coffee I liked to drink, he’d gotten an important phone call from work and had to step away to speak to the person on the other end.
I hadn’t seen him since that day. Now, here I was, looking my best, and I had my hulking, leather-clad babysitter with me acting like the world’s biggest wet blanket. Even though we’d only just met, I knew the ornery biker wasn’t going to like my spending time with Nathan. However, despite what he’d said, German wasn’t my father. He couldn’t tell me what to do. If I wanted to talk to a hot boy at the gym, whom I’d been crushing on for nearly a decade, no one was going to stop me.
“Hey Nathan,” I greeted, nervously fixing my ponytail. The man was shirtless and had the same killer abs I’d remembered from high school that always made me drool. “Haven’t seen you around lately.”
Nathan grinned. “I was about to say the same thing to you, Maddy. What have you been up to?” As he spoke, his eyes darted to my chest and I quickly patted myself on the back for dressing up today.
“Mainly work and hanging out with family, now that I’m on summer break from school. You?” Though I couldn’t see German, my spidey senses told me he was getting closer, which made me nervous.
“I’ve been busy with work myself, so I haven’t gotten to the gym as often as I’d like,” Nathan joked conversationally, tapping his perfectly flat abs. “But I’m back now and ready to hustle like coach used to make us.”
I could tell the very second German stood behind me because Nathan’s expression changed from happy-go-lucky to confused. Mistaking my bodyguard for a member of the gym staff, he said, “We don’t need anything right now, thanks.”
German handed over the bottle of cleaner to me, effectively cutting off the conversation between Nathan and me. Ignoring Nathan, he groused, “Let’s get going. Your dad wanted you home by five and it’s getting late.”
My face flushed at his heavy-handed order. “Yeah, I know. I’ll be done in a second.”
Tilting his head, Nathan’s curious gaze shifted between German and me. “Is this a friend of yours, Maddy?” he asked, obviously angling for more details.
Damn it! Of all the times I could have bumped into Nathan, it had to be while I was working out with my new bodyguard in tow! Fuck my life, I thought. “Um, well, he works for my father,” I explained poorly.
Though my answer was ambiguous at best, Nathan accepted it and nodded slowly. “Okay, well, I better get back to working out. It was nice seeing you.”
I could practically feel the satisfied look on German’s face as the younger man gave up, turned, and walked away. When he was halfway over to the weight bench, I glared daggers at my smug companion.
“Are you working out or not?” German repeated, totally remorseless over what he’d just done.
Not saying a word, I turned and stalked off toward the locker room. The gym had suddenly lost its appeal and I wanted to go home to bask in my personal humiliation.
German was waiting for me near the exit after I’d collected my belongings. Our drive home was as quiet as our ride over to the gym.
As we were turning onto my street, German unexpectedly spoke. “He’s a loser.”
Startled by the sudden noise, I struggled to figure out what, or whom, he was even talking about.
“The kid at the gym,” he clarified after a pause.
“He’s not a loser. Or a kid,” I nearly growled back. “And he was about to ask me out until you scared him away!”
German snorted. “No, he wasn’t.”
Now I was pissed. Who was this stranger to tell me about a man I’d known since we’d been in diapers? “What do you know about it?”
Glancing over at me, German took a left turn onto my private street. “I might know shit about relationships, Maddy, but I sure as fuck know about men and women.”
This time, it was my turn to snort. “Oh yeah? Why did he come over to talk to me then? Did he just want me to explain to him how best to use the arm press?” I snarked. “He’s been working up his courage to ask me out for months. And today, he was going to do it. Until he met you!”
German turned the narrative around on me then. “And that’s what you want? A little boy who can’t summon the courage to ask out a girl he’s liked for months? That’s pathetic, Maddy, and you know it.”
I’m not saying he didn’t have a point. I’m just saying I didn’t want to hear it. “Nathan’s careful and probably doesn’t want to move too fast for my sake,” I replied testily, defending the man as much as I was defending my interest in him. “And he’s not a little boy, either.”
“Really?” German’s gaze collided with mine then. “I bet he’s never changed a tire, or his own oil, in his entire life. I’d be willing to bet that Richie Rich hasn’t gotten his hands dirty even once in his whole, overprivileged existence.”
German smoothly downshifted into second gear then and I tried to ignore how well he handled the stick shift. Even more embarrassing, I found myself considering how well he handled other things with those big hands of his.
Wondering why the hell my mind was even in the gutter after being so disappointed by Nathan, I licked my lips and brushed my ponytail nervously over my shoulder. “What does that have to do with anything? I haven’t done any of those things either.”
German gave me a pointed look that said that was his point. “Trust me. He’s not interested. If he were, he would have asked you out weeks ago. A man doesn’t wait to go after the things he really wants. He just does it.”
I’m not going to deny that statement stung. It did, and much deeper than I would have cared to admit. “Wow, thanks for that awesome insight, friend!”
German drove the car through the front gate and parked it inside the garage. Turning to me, his hot gaze drilled deep down into mine. “Don’t get it twisted, Maddy. He’s interested. He’s a fucking man who isn’t blind and you look how you look.”
Swallowing hard, I tried not to read too deeply into that comment. But someone needed to tell my girlie parts that, because the traitorous bitch was fluttering over the strange compliment. Shifting in my seat, my thighs rubbed together as I tried to ignore how flushed and turned on I was right now. German’s penetrating stare, mingled with his sinful good looks and all-consuming alpha male presence, weren’t helping matters any, either.
“Richie-Rich might be into you, Maddy, but he’s just not interested in you the same way you are in him.”
German’s words were humbling, to say the least. “You got all that from a ten-second conversation at the gym?” I returned defensively.
“I didn’t have to hear a fucking word that loser said to know what his intentions are,” German countered. “A man’s actions tell me everything I need to know about him.”
I was irrationally angry now. “Oh yeah? And what do you “just know” about Nathan Ellington the Third? Please enlighten me, German. You seem to know so much more about life than the rest of us.”
“Besides that he has the name of a supervillain from a bad comic book?” he asked snidely.
I rolled my eyes at that. “Yeah, besides that.”
“It ain’t pretty. You sure you still want to hear it?”
I knew I shouldn’t push the man, but I couldn’t help myself. “Yeah, I want to hear it.”
German’s whiskey-colored eyes narrowed as they seemed to whenever he was about to say something important. “The only thing that bastard has in mind when it comes to you, Maddy, is slipping between your thighs as many times as he possibly can before you catch on to the fact that he’s not looking for what you are.”
The audacity of this man to assume he knew anything about Nathan or myself! “Oh yeah! And what am I looking for, Mister Know-It-All? You’ve only just met me. But, go ahead, tell me what I want in a man!”
German leaned in closer. His nearness swallowed all the air in the confined space and I suddenly found it hard to breathe. “You need someone who challenges you. Who shows up and stands on his own two feet, not daddy’s. You want to date, get married, then pop out two-point-two kids because family is what you love most in this world. You want a man. Not a boy. It’s written all over your pretty little face, Baby Girl. And Richie-Rich from the gym, all he wants to do is fuck!”
The use of that pet nickname caused me to suddenly become so wet, I feared he could see the dark spot through my damned spandex pants!
In order to hide my fierce desire though, I turned my anger on him. “Oh, yeah! And what if I want that, too, German? What then?”
The way I said it sounded like a challenge. And, as turned on as I felt, I’m not sure it wasn’t.
His body tensed like a predator about to strike. “Is that what you want, Maddy? You just looking to fuck?” His eyes smoldered back at mine. “Just say the word, Babe, because I know plenty of men that are up for that sort of thing. And they’d just love a chance to get their filthy hands on a sweet little girl like you.”
The air was positively electric as we both stared at one another. My chest rose and fell with all the fury, and lust, that was coursing through my veins at his accurate as hell words. We’d only just met, but I felt like he might know me better than I knew myself.
Hating him for that, I forcefully shoved open my car door, slammed it behind me, then ran into the house to hide in my room like the “little girl” he’d just accused me of being.