Taming His Tutor

Abbi could’ve sworn she heard electricity crackle in the air as his smile changed. It wasn’t one of those “I’m so sexy” half smiles, but “I know what you’re thinking about because I’m thinking it too.”

Well duh, he knew what she was thinking about because he’d listened to the damn soundtrack less than forty minutes ago. Sex. Pure, physical, tease-me and please-me sex.

She stared right back, crazily paralyzed like a deer in headlights. Her mind blanked. Time slipped. Everything else faded and all there was left in the world was Joe Fuller looking at her like all he wanted to do was—oh yeah.

Think… Think… Damn, don’t think about sex.

At least move? And no, not your hips…

But she couldn’t think. Or move. She was rooted. And yup, wanted to be rooted. What was with this mindless immobility? She was never like this.

Yet all she could do was stare right back at him. As the seconds slowly ticked by, her inner mercury bubbled higher, soaring toward combustion.

But then he turned away.

It was like storm clouds sweeping across the sun. An icy chill instantly doused the heat he’d stoked with just that one look. Abbi swallowed. He didn’t look back at her. He focused on all the trim, lithe Elle Manning clones and barking out instructions in a totally different, harsher tone of voice.

“You know him?” Nadia muttered like she was talking out only the corner of her mouth.

Abbi couldn’t look at her. “Vaguely.”

“How vaguely? That didn’t look vague. That looked—”

“Don’t.” Abbi couldn’t take it anymore. Her fledgling inner vixen wasn’t up to taking on the Joe Fullers of this world. Not yet.

And she wasn’t Joe Fuller’s type anyway. She’d seen all those pix of him with his model/actress/celebrity socialites, and she didn’t make it into any of those categories.

“I’ll see you back upstairs.” She glanced at her watch to avoid meeting Nadia’s all-too-seeing eyes. “I need to check the update.”

…

Just over an hour later Joe stood in the dressing room and shook out his jeans, relieved to be stepping back into them. Displaying a raging hard-on in his way-too-stretchy sweats was hardly the look he wanted for those promo pictures. While the monthly magazine was print, the Gloss website also had huge female readership, especially this half of the country. As he was building his personal training centers into a chain, the weekly online features were gonna be priceless publicity. He’d do whatever it took to expand his dream, even pose with models. Except he’d seen Abigail walk into the building ahead of him and as a result he’d barely been able to concentrate on the shoot. He’d just wanted to find out which floor she was on. Then she’d walked right into the studio.

He’d had to turn away from her sultry dress and pretty blue eyes. Turn away and not look back because his reaction to her presence had been intense. And indecent. He laughed as he forced his zipper up—he still wanted Abigail Hayes after all these years.

Now that his cock was restrained within some work-strong denim, he was going to find her. There were five floors in this building. He’d start at the top and work his way down.

He jogged up the stairs, animal instincts on full predatory mode. Hunt and gather. Figuring out her expectations and reaching agreement might take some negotiation, but he was confident. First point, a relationship wasn’t on the menu. He had neither the time, the inclination, nor the skill set. But he’d step up for a little tutoring, his style—some carnal catch-up with his high school fantasy.

When he got to the top floor, he saw the woman Abigail had been standing beside for that minute during the shoot. She was leaning against the closest desk, cradling a steaming coffee cup, reading a piece of paper. Only now did he notice she was wearing tiny leather shorts and a spotless, equally tiny white T-shirt. With her slim figure and her iron-straight black hair cut like a Hollywood version of Cleopatra, she was striking. But no lush, edible-looking Abigail.

She stared at him and straightened. He met her gaze equally coolly until she set the coffee down on the desk and walked over to where he stood outside the floor-to-ceiling glass windows that separated the lobby from the inside office. Removing a security card from her back pocket, she swiped it against the inside panel. Once the buzzer sounded, she opened the door.

“Joe Fuller?” She held out her hand.

“Yes.” He shook it. “You work for Gloss?”

“Nadia Dixon, sex columnist.” She nodded.

Okay. He smiled his most charming smile. “The woman in the blue dress you were with earlier, she works here too?”

“Blue dress?” Nadia’s eyebrows lifted infinitesimally.

“Yeah, hair tied up.” He was itching to let it loose. “She was watching downstairs, about an hour ago.”

“You mean Abbi.” Nadia finally offered a smile. “Our IT queen.”

“Yeah, I think I do.” Abbi—he liked it. She’d only ever been Abigail back in school. “Is she still here?”

Nadia’s thickly mascaraed lashes lowered as she quickly looked down his form, then she suddenly turned. “Follow me.” She didn’t wait for him to answer.

He glanced about the office as he walked. Low-level partitions, computers everywhere, a couple of big screens on the wall—one playing the E! network, the other on a cooking show where they were doing something unspeakable to a chicken carcass.

Nadia paused in her tracks and nodded to the glossy head just visible above a partition in the corner. “You need me to introduce you?”

“Thanks, but I can take it from here.”

He walked on toward Abbi, taking in what he could before she noticed him. Focused on the computer screen, she typed quickly. Busy work for a Saturday. Her desk was laden with piles of paper and general junk. A couple of feet away he stopped and read the title on the piece of paper on top of the nearest pile.

Five Ways to Get a Guy’s Attention.

Hmmm. He took another step closer, craning his head to read something from the next pile. Aural Sex—Talking Dirty to Amp Up Your Sex Life.

A couple of rubber items sent his eyebrows skyward and made him give thanks for the denim again. What was with all the “catch your man” and sex tip stuff? ’Cause while those kinds of articles were always in a woman’s glossy, did the IT queen need to read them for work? Or was her research personal?

Suddenly she turned, a startled expression in her eyes. “Joe?”

He did like his name on her lips. He also liked the way her blue eyes widened as she looked at him.

“Hey, Abigail,” he replied, watching her closely to read her reaction to him. “What’s with all the man-eating info?”

The color in her cheeks deepened, but her chin lifted. “I’m building an app for the magazine.”

“An app?” Amusement washed through him. This really was all for work?

Somehow, given her pole-dancing banter from this morning, he didn’t quite think so. He sure as hell didn’t want to think it was only for her boss. He wanted her to be as hungry as he’d suspected earlier. Specifically, he wanted her to be hungry for him.

“A value-added extra, you know,” she said primly.

“On being a man-eater?”

“I wouldn’t say a man-eater but…”

“This is all just for your job?” He lifted his eyebrows.

Please don’t let it just be for work.

That telltale color deepened in her cheeks and she didn’t speak.

Thanks be.

The once-shy Abbi Hayes wanted more from her sex life.

He could be a temporary fix. Help her over whatever sexual slump she was in. Hell, it was kind of a civil duty, because no one as beautiful as Abigail should ever doubt herself. And he had a feeling some moron had made her feel that way.

Yep. She needed him.

He just had to get her to say yes.

He smiled at her, preparing to set the game in motion. “Your colleague said you’re the IT queen.?

?

…

Abbi nodded jerkily, stunned he was here—she’d caught sight of his reflection in her computer screen and thought she was dreaming. “I’m the IT systems manager for the magazine, yes.” She wished her legs had the strength to let her stand, because looking all the way up at Joe Fuller was making her neck ache. But they’d lost all power the second she saw him standing there. “The app is my pet project.”

“It’s really important to you?” His smile had that wicked edge that she didn’t quite trust, but that made her melt in private places. “Helping women understand how to attract a guy?”

And how to keep him happy. Yes.

But she wasn’t about to tell Joe Fuller she’d been accused of being boring in bed. “There’s a market for it. I think it’ll have multiple benefits.”

“Multiple.” He echoed softly and nudged one of her towering research piles with his finger. “This is real duty for the cause.”

“I like to do a good job.” She glared at him defiantly, refusing to be bewitched into brainlessness again. “I like to be the best in everything I do.”

Well, that was the plan going forward. She hadn’t known she was bad at it until Scott had been so scathing the night they’d broken up. She’d tried to please him, had thought he was happy, but apparently not.

“Of course.” He nodded. “You always did. But do you really have to be so au fait with the app content?” he asked. “Aren’t you just supposed to create the digital framework and information delivery system?”

Her eyes widened at his ease with the techno-patter. But she shouldn’t be surprised he knew the lingo. He was a smart man. “Of course I’m interested in the content,” she said, drumming up a quick defense. “I want what’s best for our customers.” She offered a bright smile. “I want it to be accurate, exciting, and entertaining. We’re not just competing against other women’s magazines for customer attention, but all forms of female entertainment—TV, books, blogs, movies, music—”

“But how can you be sure it’s accurate?” he shot back with lethal precision.