I’d keep an open mind, but I wasn’t into that sort of thing really. I preferred taking walks outside, or maybe Pilates, or yoga in the park. I was into more mellow forms of exercise than what could be had indoors behind the walls of a gym.
I heard the sounds of the double doors opening behind me and turned to see.
Not my instructor named Terrence.
Neil?
Neil. Dressed all in black, nylon joggers and a long sleeved dry-fit that followed the form of his chest and arms like a second skin.
He walked slowly towards me; his eyes predatory again as they devoured me.
“There’s been a change of instructors. I’m afraid you get me.”
“What the h-hell?” she stammered, her expression one of furious beauty, as well as utter contempt.
That’s very good. She can use it to her advantage.
“You cannot be serious,” she said, her mouth falling open in surprise.
“Oh, I’m very serious about self-defense training for all employees at BSI.”
“That’s not what I meant, Neil, and you’re very aware of it.” She stomped her foot and pursed her lips together in a sexy pout that sent my c**k into instant hardness. I wanted to kiss those angry lips of hers until she yielded to the inevitable.
Me, her—gettin’ down to it. Once I cracked that hard outer shell she’d encased herself in, I’d have a way to reach her, and we could figure out the rest.
I shrugged at her and asked, “Shall we begin?” I held out my arm with the palm up, directing to a position on the mat where she should stand.
“No!” she shouted. “We’re not beginning anything.”
“You are here for a required class, yes?” I started pacing her, slowly in a circle. She turned her body to follow me. “You must be trained in self-defense.” I pointed both fingers at her. “I’m here to teach you.” I pointed my thumbs back at my chest, all the while still circling her, making her more and more uncomfortable as the seconds passed.
It’s always good to have a plan.
“But you can’t just come in here and be my instructor after what—what just happened in your office but three hours ago!”
“I don’t see any other instructors in the room, do you?” I looked around at the walls for dramatic effect. “Just me.” I tightened my circle, getting closer in distance, and watched her eyes grow dark. My taunts were making her angrier by the second.
“This isn’t right, Neil—f-for you to be doing th-this to me,” she sputtered.
“There you go again with that word, Cherry. This is such a nebulous term in my opinion. I really think I need to demand a solid definition for your usage of the word this.”
“Why are you being so cruel? Haven’t I suffered enough, you sadistic arsehole!”
“Did it make you angry, Cherry? Do you want to beat me right now for what I tried to do to you earlier in my office?”
She glared and panted in short breaths, her beautiful br**sts heaving under that tight pink sports top she wore. I desperately wanted to tear it off her and see her naked tits.
Soon.
I kept at her. “I would have you know, if E hadn't come in when he did?” I held my hands out in show of surrender. “Well, you know I would've had you spread out on my desk and screaming my name in under two minutes—”
She slapped me hard right across the face, the sharp sting bolstering me to finish the task at hand.
“Shut up! Shut your dirty mouth, you bastard. Why are you saying such things to me? Why are you taunting me so cruelly?”
I held out my hands, offering my body, offering myself to her.
“That's right, Cherry, let it all out. Hit me. I can take it. Say what it is that's made you so very, very angry with me. It is me, isn’t it? It’s me that you’re angry at.”
She paused, br**sts still heaving, her fury on the verge of release when I let her have the rest.
“Time for the truth now, beautiful girl. Come on.” I gestured toward my chest. “No more lies, no more fading away into the background and giving up. Truth only. Say it out loud so I can hear you! SAY THE FUCKIN’TRUTH TO ME NOW.”
She hit me over the chest, arms and face, with all the wrath of a volatile female, enraged, and fighting her way closer to me with every smack and slap she dealt out.
“You didn't come for me. You should have come for me in Italy, and told me the goddamn truth. You let me believe in something that kept us apart. I loved you, and you let me stay away when you could have come for me! YOU DID THAT, NEIL.”
She collapsed against my body then, crying in great anguished sobs, the fight gone out of her, the truth finally revealed.
I held her close and cradled her head against my chest. Against my heart where she had always been, even when we were apart. Where she would always be.
“I know,” I said against her ear so she could hear me clearly.
I took her face in my hands and lifted it up. My Cherry’s face was wrecked with tears, and streaked with black eye makeup, and yet, the quiet stillness of her as I held her there to me, made her appear so beautiful. It was the truth of the moment I guess. We were finally there on the same page, at the same time, reading the same f**kin’ book.
“I know, I know, I know, Cherry Girl. I was so wrong. I should have come for you.” My thumbs caressed her cheeks as I held her, trying to make her understand. “I am so sorry.”
I kept her face very close, held in my hands and brought my lips to hers.
She flinched.
“Let me, Cherry. Let me in now,” I whispered softly, my plea both a request and a command.
I tried again, and this time she accepted my kiss. Her soft lips quivering under mine in beautiful acquiesce. I deepened the kiss. I showed her all we'd missed in the intervening years. I showed her how good it could feel to have your lover's tongue in your mouth. I showed her my love.
From there, things got crazy, to the point I was supremely grateful for disabling the video surveillance for this room.
I walked us to a padded wall and set her back up against it. Nothing was going to stop me this time. Nothing.
Not even her.
Neil’s hands were all over me; his tongue was in my mouth, his body swallowing me up. I couldn’t do much more than let him take me.
I was on fire, everywhere, and my mind was lost in the taste and the scent of him as we consumed each other in the training facility room, up against a padded wall.