Chapter 6
“She just left?” Jordan asked from her chair across the office. When they’d opened the gym, they had opted to share an office instead of dividing into two smaller rooms. Since they liked to bounce ideas off each other and felt two offices would stifle that. Neither regretted the decision.
“Yup, just wham, bam, thank you ma’am,” Stephanie admitted with a joke that didn’t quite take the sting out of waking up alone this morning.
Whatever feelings that had been between them had been one-sided because Court had snuck out in the middle of the night without a word.
Leaving Stephanie to wake up naked and alone in her bed.
The only evidence that someone had been there was the blankets mussed from good sex, an abandoned bra and a pleasant soreness of her body.
Looking back at the way she had willingly taken her home after a short dance that was more like a long hug than dancing.
Stephanie knew she had read more into the night than it deserved.
Even the ten-minute ride home hadn’t made her stop what she had felt was inevitable. More than inevitable, destined.
Before that night, Stephanie had never slept with someone on the first meeting, or even the first date. She warmed slowly to her sexual partners. Something that had impeded more than one of them. But she had never let her hormones take over, because her hormones didn’t work like that. Until Court.
From the moment they touched, Stephanie had felt this was different, special. Except Court didn’t feel what Stephanie had felt. Had she had no tingles, no connection, no knowledge that there was something more than sex happening?
Nope, because she had snuck out while Stephanie was sleeping off her fourth orgasm, with no way to contact her in the future.
And based on Rebel’s words about not seeing her before the friends went to the bar all the time, it meant that Stephanie knew Court would return, maybe even tonight.
And would probably pick up another woman just as easily as she had picked up Stephanie.
Even knowing she’d be at The Button, there was no way she was stooping to the level of stalking the woman. No matter how good the sex had been. She wasn’t desperate.
The only thing that Court had fixed for Stephanie was that she wiped out any lingering thoughts of Christopher from her memory. That was over, and she was completely over him. The old saying was true, the best way to get over a man was to get under another one, or in this case, a woman.
Except she had traded one mind suck for another.
Now she was consumed with what she had done wrong the night before.
Could she have done something to make her stay?
Would she have done anything to make the night last longer?
But she knew there was nothing. Court was a player, and she played Stephanie pretty easily.
“Was the wham and bam at least good? I mean, after only sex with a man for months, it had to be better than usual,” Jordan teased, pulling out her phone. She had met someone that night also, but she hadn’t talked about it so far.
“You know I don’t kiss and tell,” was all she said before turning in her chair and pretending to work as her mind went over the amazing things that woman had done to her body the night before. Things that would make her blush if she actually told Jordan about them.
“I saw enough kissing to know there is a lot to tell.” Jordan laughed, not letting it go, because she knew that if she pushed, Stephanie told all. “Come on, just say it. I ended up going home alone and need something to lift my spirits.”
Spinning back to her, she admitted, trying not to gush, “It was amazing, the best I’ve ever had. And that was just the first time! I literally passed out after the fourth, and that’s when she snuck out. I don’t know how she had the energy.”
“God, I’m so jealous. I got nothing, and it was my idea to go out.
” Jordan shook her fist at the ceiling before turning her attention back to her.
“I knew it would be hot. You two were smoking before you even left. Even that chick who hit on you couldn’t stop staring at you two until you left.
Which, by the way, she was hot as well. Why were all the hot ones hitting on you? ”
“As if, they were friends, Rebel and Court.” Saying names she wished she didn’t remember, but her friend’s preference had always been fem, and Rebel was nothing but fem.
Steering the conversation away from the two friends, she asked, “How could you tell, since you couldn’t keep your eyes off that you were looking at? ”
“College volleyball, and she wasn’t slacking in other areas either.” She licked her lips, even though she had admitted she hadn’t had sex that night.
“Did you get her to join the gym?” Stephanie asked. Something like that had a lot of friends who would probably join as well.
“I did not. But maybe tonight I’ll get a chance to talk to her about it. Since we are meeting for vegan tacos.”
Stephanie said nothing about the tacos because Jordan wasn’t vegan or even vegetarian, she usually made fun of those that were. But she’d change her ways for a woman, for a little bit at least. “You’re going out again tonight? I thought you weren’t looking for anything serious.”
“Did you not hear me when I said she played college volleyball? I’m ready for anything for the right athlete. And if I know anything about Adeline, it’s that she’s the right athlete.” She leaned back in her chair and stared dreamily at the ceiling.
For the last few years, Jordan’s taste in women had been skewing younger and younger.
Not that those women weren’t just as attracted to her as she was to them, but they weren’t looking to settle down and, no matter what Jordan said, she was.
She was far more of a homebody than any of Stephanie’s other friends. She was just good at hiding it.
“Well, congratulations on finding the one.” She told her sarcastically.
Turning her head, she looked at her with sorrow. “Sorry you struck out with your lady. I know for a fact she’s a regular at the bar. If you want to confront her, I have your back.”
Sitting up, Stephanie glared at her. “You knew that already? Couldn’t you have stopped me from going home with a player? What kind of wing woman are you?”
Jordan just grinned and shrugged. “The kind that knows you needed to get laid. And if I’d tried, I would’ve missed out on getting to know Adeline, and you’d have missed out on the best sex of your life. Maybe it was a good thing I didn’t butt in.”
Tossing a pen at her, she missed on purpose, but just barely. “Next time, please butt in. I need to be saved from myself as much as possible.”
“Your call, now. What does your schedule look like tomorrow? I have a hot date that I need to spend some time getting ready for, so I was hoping you could take my last class of the day.”
“Of course, I can. Since you're covering for me this weekend. I’m surprised you’d hesitate to ask anything.
” Stephanie said, not wanting to think about the weekend with her entire family.
At least it would get her mind off the night with Court.
There’s nothing her family does better than squelching her sexual thoughts.
Turning back to Jordan, she asked, “How are we going to get bodies for Micah’s class? ”
“Or should we just drop it? Words gotten out that she’s a taskmaster?” Jordan offered, as she always did.
Having Micah teach classes had been Stephanie’s idea, and she wasn’t letting it go, not yet at least. “I don’t want to give up. No other gym offers self-defense.”
“Because nobody wants to plan for not being safe.”
“Except as women, we are never safe. It’s a known fact. Do you know how many women a year are attacked in this city alone?”
“No, do you?” Jordan asked seriously.
Stephanie wished she did. She’d put in on the class signup sheet, a little fear would help make Micah’s classes take off.
“I don’t, but I think I need to. And maybe we need to incorporate a little self-defense in every class we teach.
Just a little now and again to remind everyone it’s smart to be ready, even if it’s never needed. ”
“Like at the end of class for a few minutes?” Jordan suggested, checking her phone again before setting it down. No text for her from her new lady yet. “Or maybe once a month Micah comes into every class we offer, shows a little move that would be useful.”
“Every class? That’s a lot more time than she’s been putting in before.
She might not want to put that much time in just for a membership and look elsewhere.
” Stephanie rubbed her forehead. They would lose Micah before she’d agree to that.
Since she already worked full time. There was no way she could make a quarter of the classes, much less all of them.
Getting up, Jordan bounced on the balls of her feet for a minute, getting ready to take on her next class. “We can start with a few classes. See how it’s received.”
Writing the idea in her calendar, she said, “Can we set that up for next month? We can think about how that would look, feel out how the regulars would feel about it.”
“Next month means we have to fill a class for the next two weeks. Back to how to get clients into that class.” Jordan headed for the open door. Her next class started soon, and she needed to get ready. Most classes were still taught by one or the other of them.
“I still have nothing.” Stephanie admitted the truth. She had no idea how to get bodies in the class. No other class had that issue. She just needed to figure out how to get women interested in the class beyond the instructor.
Once Jordan was gone, Stephanie leaned back in her chair and tried to brainstorm ideas on how to get Micah’s classes filled.
Instead, her mind drifted back to the night before and Court in her living room, her bedroom and even in her kitchen.
How was she going to cleanse her mind when she was everywhere still?