Avoiding Intimacy (Avoiding 2.5)

Before Adam.

Right . Why hadn’t he f**ked her before leaving again? That would have helped.

Then, she wouldn’t be so goddamn horny…and drunk. Had she mentioned that she was getting drunk?

No . No . No . Wait, this was probably a bad idea . She shouldn’t be this drunk and horny at once. She should probably tell Carl to turn the car around and find another club or better yet take her home so she can get herself off before Adam came home. That sounded appealing.

Damn Adam . Since when had she turned into this person? Her drunken mind laughed at her. She had done it as soon as she and Adam had started dating, and it hadn’t even been difficult. She had just stopped bringing people home. Her doorman, Bernard, was the only other person who seemed to appreciate the change.

Fortifying her demeanor, Chyna pushed back her drunken thoughts. This was her boyfriend’s brother. He was only here for the rest of the weekend, and then it was back to business as usual. Anyway, how big of a douche did you have to be to go for his brother’s girlfriend?

Carl dropped her off on the sidewalk in the brisk March evening. Trying to keep the cold from sinking into her bones, she jogged into the building, pulling her coat tightly around her shoulders. She walked quickly to the attendant.

“Hi. Excuse me,” Chyna said, reaching the desk and rubbing her hands together.

“May I help you?” the man asked, doing his best not to check her out as she unbelted her jacket.

“I’m here for John Ward.”

“Ah, yes, he just called down. I’ll buzz you all the way up,” he said with smile as he gestured toward the elevator to his right.

“Thank you,” Chyna said, heading to the elevator.

She pressed the up button and entered the elevator when it opened. The top button was lit up when the doors closed behind her, but it didn’t have a number on it like the other ones. It just had a tiny scanner next to the button. Strange.

She didn’t have to wait long to be let out as the elevator traveled at great speeds. It spit her out on a small empty hallway with only one door. She glanced around to see if this could possibly be the right place. She figured she was only left with one option and walked to the end of the hall. Another small scanner was placed on the door next to the handle. She scrunched up her features to examine it, and as she got closer, she realized the door was propped open.

“Oh,” she said surprised. Why would he leave his apartment door open?

She felt a little weird just walking in, but he had obviously left it open for a reason, and likely, that scanner function meant no one else could get inside. She shrugged, her confidence returning, and she pushed open the door.

What she found was not what she was expecting. Her green eyes scanned the massive glass-domed room with an impeccable three-hundred-and-sixty degree view of the New York City skyline. An Olympic-sized swimming pool covered the majority of the open space in the room. Two enormous hot tubs and a kiddie wading pool rested on both ends of the massive pool. The pool itself had waves breaking in a clear V across the surface.

Chyna’s eyes followed the form of the man doing a perfect butterfly from one end to the other. He cut across the water cleaner than a shark fin and as fast as a dolphin. The water barely broke around him before he dove back under, his muscled shoulders pulling him effortlessly across the surface. Well, at least that explained the shoulders.

John reached the end of the pool, grasped the concrete end, and lifted his head out of the water. He took a few deep breaths as the water dripped down his soaking wet body. All Chyna could do was stare. It was like catching someone showering or jacking off. It was totally private, but somehow, it was kind of like they wanted you to see it.

She wasn’t even nervous or anxious about the possibility of him catching her staring. She was just hot…and completely bothered in all the right ways. What the f**k were those tattoos exactly ? From where she was standing at the moment, she could still only make out the two she saw at the basketball courts, but she was still too far away to read what they said.

John planted both hands down on the concrete ledge and gracefully lifted his body out of the water. Her eyebrows rose as she watched his back muscles ripple from the exertion, and then she noticed his tight ass was covered by smooth black swim shorts. Turn around. Turn around.

Turn around! She wanted to know what those shorts looked like from the front.

Her heel shifted on the squishy mat she was standing on, and it made some atrocious sound that broke the silence.

John’s head swiveled around quickly, noticing her standing there, but he didn’t turn his whole body to her.

“Chyna,” he said, “you got here fast. I thought I’d be done before then.”

Uh huh. She was glad he wasn’t. How else was she going to get to see him this naked? Also, tattoos! She could not get over those damn tattoos. What did they say ? Her tongue was ready to find out.

“I must have misjudged the time.”

Uh huh.

“It’s alright,” she managed to get out.

“I don’t really have anywhere to be.” Had she just said that? Yep . Why yes she had.

And by . By the confident look on his face, he had been expecting it. Ass.

Just the way she liked them.

“You don’t mind if I do a few more laps then, do you?” he asked with that same smile.

Oh, he was milking it.

“Of course not,” she said. A few more laps on her. “I was just going to find another lame bar. My best friend is at the beach for the week and left me alone in this frigid weather. No one else is going out for another hour or two from what I’ve heard.”

“Going out alone then?” he questioned, turning back toward the pool as if he was going to dive into its depths.

“Occupational hazard.”

He chuckled as his hazel eyes found hers across the room. “Hard life.”

“You’ve no idea,” she said slowly, walking her heeled feet across the slightly slippery surface.

“You should take those off,” he said, gesturing to her heels. “Don’t want you breaking your ankle on my watch.”

Chyna debated in her tipsy state. She was an expert at walking in heels. But, on a wet surface with her balance already a little thrown? Yeah, not a good idea . She slowly slipped out of one shoe and then the other, leaving them next to the door, before padding over to the side of the pool in her party dress and jacket. He straightened as she approached, and she tried to keep her mouth from hitting the floor. Hello,front of bathing suit! She preferred her men well endowed, and — damn! —just from a glance she knew that he wouldn’t disappoint.