The Wild Side (The Wild Side 1)

I shook and yelled as I came deep inside of her.

I didn’t even have the energy to roll away, passing out right on top of her, likely crushing the breath out of her.

When I woke up, it was dark, I had a blanket tucked in up to my neck, and she was gone.

There was another hot pink lipstick message surrounded by a heart on my mirror.

YOU’RE THE BEST!  SEE YOU AT THE GYM TOMORROW XOXO

The first thing I did the next morning was call a locksmith and schedule an appointment for that very afternoon.  That shit with my ex was never happening again.

I showed up at the gym two hours early.  I knew she wouldn’t be there, but I also knew that when she was there, I’d have a hard time getting my full routine in.

Iris came waltzing into the gym right on schedule.  It was busy, and I had a perfect view of her from where I was doing oblique raises on a power tower, so I didn’t miss the fact that every single guy, and even a few of the women, stopped what they were doing to give her admiring glances, or hell, openly gaping.

I lowered myself until my feet touched the ground, drinking her in.

She was a bombshell, there was no question.  She wore neon yellow shorts today with a black sports bra.  Her running shoes matched her shorts.  Her hair was scraped up into a messy ponytail, and she looked good enough to eat.

And she came right to me, looked only at me.  It was surreal.

She didn’t stop when she reached me, instead walked right into me, throwing her arms around my neck and pressing close.  She pulled my head down to hers and started kissing.  I kissed her back, running my hands over her shoulders, down her spine, and to her ass.  It wasn’t long before I was gripping it in both hands and grinding against her.

She pulled back with a giggle.  “I was just saying hi.  You’re going to get us into trouble, Dair.”

I blinked, trying to come out of my lust haze.

She leaned close, pulling my head down to speak into my ear.  “You were incredible yesterday.  Best sex of my life, bar none.”

I swallowed hard.  Christ, she was addictive.

She moved away, and started to stretch, not five feet away from me.

I meant to resume my workout, but I just found myself watching her, fascinated by every shift of her lithe body.

And then, unfortunately, I found myself looking around, at the way everyone else was looking at her, with the same rapt attention I was.  Some of the looks she was getting, the way the gym rats were eying her had my jealous side coming out.

How could I be this jealous, this possessive about a woman I’d only been on speaking terms with for a few days?  I didn’t know, but it was impossible to deny that it was happening.

“I’m sorry about my ex-wife yesterday,” I told her, when she’d moved close again.  It really was a miracle she hadn’t been scared off.

She just hitched up her shoulder in a little shrug that made her br**sts shift enough to draw my gaze.

“Did you see that dress she was wearing?  She was all sexed up for you.  I think she came there to seduce you.”

I winced, because she was likely right, and I really didn’t want her to know it.

I did the only thing a man could do with that.

I changed the subject.

“So if that dress was supposed to seduce me, what is that getup you’re wearing supposed to do?”

“Make you lose every ounce of good sense you ever had, and take a walk on the wild side.  Is it working?”

Of course it was.  I didn’t even need to answer, as I was pretty sure it was a rhetorical question.

“I’ve never seen you wear anything else,” I told her, my eyes on her taut belly.  I wanted badly to bury my face right there.

And lower.

She moved close, shamelessly close, digging a soft hand into my hair and gripping.

I was going to lose it.

“You’ve seen me wear nothing.  That’s something else.”

My vision glazed over.  I lost most of my brain function for a few long moments.

She kissed my jaw softly once and then moved away.

I was frozen, watching her again as she began to lift some light weights.  And after a time, I began to obsess about how many other men were watching her, and how they were watching her.  It was unsettling just how that made me feel.  I was not a man prone to physical rages of any kind, but seeing the way they looked at her made me feel violent.

“Why do you dress like that?” I asked her quietly the next time she moved close.  “You have a beautiful body, but do you have to show off every single inch of it?”

I wanted to take back the words the instant they left my mouth.  I didn’t want to come across like a jealous psychopath, or worse, a chauvinistic ass.

Or even, God forbid, unappreciative of the spectacular view she was giving me.

Luckily she seemed unfazed.  In fact, she smiled that sweet smile of hers.  It was mysterious and too perfect.  “You wouldn’t have looked twice at me if I wasn’t wearing this.”

That just blew my mind.  Could this Goddess actually suffer from self-esteem issues?

Impossible.  Blasphemous.

“Honey, I would have been drooling over you if you’d walked in here covered from the neck down in a paper bag.”

She shook her head, getting right up in my personal space, her hands going to the front of my shoulders and rubbing.  “Not true.  You may think it is, but it’s not.  You see, the first time I came in here, I noticed you, but you didn’t even glance at me.  I was wearing sweats, and I got nothing from you.  The next day, I came in dressed like this, and you couldn’t tear your eyes away.”