His Absolute Assignment - Elise's Love Story: The Billionaire's Continuum (#1) (A Contemporary Romance Novel) (10 page)

Vanessa shrugged.  "I don't know?  I was just curious."  Giving up, no longer bothering to bother me, she shut my door and left me be.

I knocked lightly on Lucent's front door, waiting to see if he would answer.  Yes, he'd texted me to tell me to let myself in, that the door was unlocked, but I still felt uncomfortable going in without knocking first.  If he didn't answer, then that was fine, but I just wanted to give him the chance to answer, you know?

And... what?

I didn't know.  It wasn't like he was going to tell me I couldn't come in.  Or, I didn't think so, but a part of me always wondered at that.  Just a small part, just a little bit.  I wondered about it for some of the same reasons that Vanessa had hinted at back in our apartment.

What if I wasn't sexy enough, and what if I didn't do enough to try and look good, and what if Lucent ended up losing interest in me after that?

We'd been together for almost six months now, but these sorts of thoughts always crossed my mind.  I thought about them often, maybe even every day, and I didn't know how to stop myself.  He might not give any indication of wanting to end things with me, but if he wanted to end things why would he give any indication of it?

I knew how a lot of other men treated relationships.  They wouldn't broach the subject with their girlfriends, or wives, or whatever, but they'd think about it.  They'd let things carry on, never giving any hint as to what they truly felt, seemingly letting the relationship progress, except that wasn't it at all.

They just wanted comfort.  They liked the sex and the companionship, and without a replacement lined up, why end a good thing?  I didn't want to be that, though.  I was almost positive I'd been something like that in the past, even if I never had a lot of boyfriends before Lucent.  The previous men I'd dated always wanted to go out to bars or clubs or wherever, and they expected me to go with them, but I felt uncomfortable.  Not only did I feel uncomfortable at the places we went—or where they wanted me to go—but I felt uncomfortable being with them.  I never felt like they cared about how I felt.  They just cared about appearances and being with someone.  They wanted to go out because it gave them the opportunity to be with me while also looking for someone else.

Lucent never acted like that.  He never gave any impression that he cared about appearances or just being with someone, either.  In fact, he was probably one of the most indifferent people I knew in regards to his own personal affairs.  He didn't care about how people perceived him, but he did care about the perceptions of other things.  He cared about Landseer Enterprises, and Jessika and Asher.  He cared about...

I wanted him to care about me.  I thought he did, and everything I knew pointed towards this being a fact instead of an opinion, but nagging doubts left me worrying, and I didn't know if I could ever truly know.  I...

Lucent didn't answer the door, so I let myself in.  I put my purse on the couch in the living room adjoining the foyer, and draped the dress I'd borrowed from Vanessa across the armrest.  Then I went in search of Lucent.

Lucent's apartment was too big by far.  It occupied two floors of his apartment building, with a private elevator going from the upper level to the lower.  Either could be accessed from the main elevator in the hall, also, but technically Lucent preferred the top floor as his main one.  His workout room was a floor below me.

I went to the kitchen quickly and grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge.  Satisfying my need to make sure we had refreshments, I went in search of Lucent.  I walked towards the private elevator, my footballs leaving soft thuds in my wake.

Without Lucent nearby, it always seemed so quiet here.  Somewhat scary.  I pushed the button to call the elevator, and the doors opened immediately.  Stepping inside, I pushed the down button and waited for the doors to close.

I didn't think I'd like to live here alone, I thought.  Or, if I did have to live here, I'd like music playing.  Happy music, all through the house, so it didn't seem so isolated and lost.  Nothing too loud or overbearing, just a little bit of something to break the solitude.  A little sound to break through the overbearing aloneness.

It was only when I was by myself, though, which was kind of odd.  With Lucent around, anywhere near me, I didn't feel the same way.  The apartment felt fine then, like any regular apartment.  Maybe it was just me.  I might be a little strange.  Vanessa basically said as much, too.  I could sort of agree with her in some regards.  Maybe, at least.

The elevator door opened and I stepped out, hurrying down the hall to the room where I knew I'd find Lucent.  The door to the exercise room stood wide open.  Inside, Lucent was running on a treadmill in the corner and listening to classical music on the sound system.  The music vibrated through the room, soft and somber, but Lucent's running livened it up somehow.  I smiled, recognizing the song:
Beethoven's Fur Elise
.

I watched Lucent running.  He couldn't see me, nor had he noticed me, with the treadmill facing towards a window with a brilliant view of the city.  We still had an hour or so left of sunlight.  A pale pink and purple glow spread through the skyline as the sun crawled towards the horizon.  Lucent's feet thumped in perfect rhythm, up down up down, pounding across the treadmill.

I liked watching Lucent exercise.  He got really into it, becoming almost enthralled in a way.  He worked out regularly, almost always at home, and he did so in order to keep in shape and break a sweat.  He also generally didn't wear a shirt, because why should he?  Just track pants and sneakers, running without a care in the world, sweat dripping across his toned torso, the muscles in his chest and his back and his abs highlighted with a slight shining glow.

I watched his body flex and pump while the piano notes of
Fur Elise
sprinted through the room.  Lucent's running—the thumps and pounds—blended with the song, turning it into some mashup of classical music and something more.  The song felt powerful now, almost ancient, a smooth piano resonance combined with the tempo of beating tribal drums.

When the song began to fade, I scurried over to the sound system built into the wall and searched through Lucent's music selection.  Tapping on the screen, I cut off the end of
Fur Elise
and started up something else.  A happy and upbeat Grace Potter started singing
Something That I Want
.

Lucent glanced over his shoulder, grinning.  "Hello, Miss Tanner.  Are you trying to tell me something?"

"Hm?" I asked, coy.

"I do enjoy this song," he said.  "The lyrics are refreshing."

"It's from a movie, too," I added.

"It is," he agreed.  "A rather enjoyable one, at that."

"Did you really like it?"

He nodded, all while still running.  Lucent was quite talented like that.  "Yes."

I should start exercising, which was why I'd come dressed in yoga pants and a t-shirt, but now that I was here I just wanted to watch Lucent work out.  I snuck over to a small leather-cushioned love seat he kept off to the side as a makeshift resting area in between running, lifting weights, or jumping rope, and sat down.  I tucked the water bottles between my legs, holding them there.  And... just watching; watching him run.  The loveseat was much closer to Lucent's treadmill, too, and he could look towards me easily just by glancing to the side.  He did so now, smiling.

"Sometimes..." I said, but stopped myself.  "I... sometimes I think it might be nice," I continued.  "To be a princess in a tower like Rapunzel."  That sounded dumb, didn't it?  Yes, Lucent, I want to be some girl trapped away somewhere, never coming down, blissfully unaware of the outside world.  That's not what I meant, but I didn't really know how to explain what I meant, either.

"Does that mean you'd like me to come rescue you?" Lucent asked.  "Or would you rather I visit often, instead?"

"Both," I said.  "I would like for you to come visit, but maybe sometimes we could sneak out of the tower and have adventures, too."

He grinned and nodded.  "That sounds agreeable."  Glancing towards me, he lifted one brow.  "Will you be joining me with my exercise routine?"

Would I?  Hm... "Nope."  Or... "Maybe?"

"May I assume you arrived at my apartment wearing workout gear for the fun of it, then?"

"It's yoga pants and a t-shirt," I said.  "I think people can just wear them whenever.  I mean, yes, they're good for working out, but..."

Wanting to get a better view of Lucent, I put the water bottles aside and flopped onto my stomach, laying across the loveseat, head propped up by my elbows and the armrest.

"Admittedly, your outfit is also quite suitable for distracting me."

"Huh?" I asked.

Lucent stared at me, sort of.  Or, no.  Not at me, exactly.  I did my best to follow his gaze, which went slightly over my shoulder, down my back, and...

Oh.  Um... Oh!

"You're staring at my butt?" I asked.  Yoga pants were admittedly good for butts.  Also, I liked mine; my butt and my yoga pants.  I could maybe tone it more, or do more exercise, too.  My stomach was a little soft, but I wasn't overweight or anything.  Butts were butts, though.  They could look good in all sorts of ways, especially in the right pants, and I thought mine was fairly nice to begin with, so... yes.

"Yes," Lucent said, unabashed.  "I am."

"Oh."  Well, what should I even say to that?

As the song finished playing and the music faded away, Lucent ended his run.  Stepping off the treadmill, he jogged towards me on the loveseat.  He playfully smacked my rear, making me squeak, then he grabbed one of the water bottles, opened it, and chugged.

"You spanked me," I said, ogling him curiously.

"I did," he said.  Without further mention of anything, he screwed the cap back on the water bottle and tossed it back onto the couch, then went to his squat cage.  Lucent had everything prepared already, an even amount of weights added to each side of the long bar, and he simply entered the cage, bent low, and pressed up slightly, letting the bar rest against his shoulders.

As he pushed up, lifting the bar from the rack, I sat up and grabbed the bottle he'd already drank from.  Uncapping it, I licked around the opening, then took a testing sip.

Lucent bent his legs, lowering his body, bar balanced on his shoulders, and did a squat.  When he pushed himself back up, he said, "Miss Tanner, I believe you're drinking from my water bottle.  May I ask why?"

"We can share!" I said, maybe a bit too gladly.  He chuckled and did another squat, but I had more to say.  "I like the taste of your lips after.  I can taste it on the bottle.  It's like a kiss, but different.  A little—"

Lucent choked and nearly fell over.  Which wouldn't have necessarily mattered, because the whole purpose of the squat cage was to protect from accidents like that, but it still looked dreadfully dangerous.  He managed to regain his composure, though, and with a sharp breath and red face he rebalanced himself and pushed up, finishing his squat.  Usually he did more than that, but this time he reset the bar on its resting rack and stepped out of the cage for a moment.

"Are you alright?" I asked, jumping up.  The whole thing startled me and I'd barely had a chance to react.  I hurried to him, bringing his water with me.  Shy, tentative, I offered it to him.  Instead of taking it and drinking, he grabbed my hips and pulled me against him.

I gasped, caught off guard, which was apparently precisely what Lucent wanted me to do.  Bending low, pressing his lips to mine, he kissed me with intense desire.  I... I stood there, stock still for a moment, unsure of what was going on.  The heat from his body, his exercise and his energy, soared into me.  His face felt hot and his lips were hotter.  He wanted me and I found myself definitely wanting him.

I kissed him back.  Dropping the water bottle, I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him hard, matching his intensity with my newfound desires.  On a sudden whim, spurned on by Lucent's hands gripping my ass, I jumped up.  My legs wrapped around his waist and he held me tight, squeezing me close while we kissed.

We stopped kissing for a second, but our noses continued to touch.  "How did that taste?" he asked me, grinning.

"A lot better than the bottle," I replied.

"I should hope so," he said.  "Unfortunately I'm not finished exercising, but I thought I should take a break.  Can I convince you to join me for the rest of my routine?"

"I know a different way we could work out," I said, surprising myself with my boldness.

Why would exercise be a code for sex?
  I'd said as much to Vanessa.  Thinking about it now, why
wouldn't
exercise be a code for sex?  It could be a really great workout for all I knew.  Lots of muscles were definitely involved.

"Oh?" Lucent asked, almost laughing.  He seemed to have a good idea of what I had in mind.

"Yes," I said, putting words to my thoughts.  "We could do naked aerobics."

That... didn't actually sound better than just saying sex, but I thought I should at least try to maintain some illusion of exercise.

"Naked aerobics?" Lucent asked.  "Yoga, perhaps?  Downward facing dog?"

My mind rushed with images of me on my hands and knees, arms spread far in front of me, while Lucent approached from behind.  Unfortunately this wasn't entirely accurate, because downward facing dog was a bit more difficult than that, but maybe we could make some exceptions.  We could create some new yoga poses for our special exercise needs.

"What about kneeling dog that's sort of facing downwards but not with my legs straight and without my body in a triangle like that?"

"If we're going to work out, it should be difficult, Miss Tanner.  If the exercise doesn't even make us break a sweat, then it's not fulfilling our needs," Lucent said.

"I will try really hard to sweat," I said.  "I'll at least be wet somewhere, I promise."

Lucent shook his head slightly, sending tempting tingles across my nose as he nuzzled his to mine.  He kissed me softly on the lips and carried me to the loveseat.  Lowering me in much the same way that he'd been squatting before, he rested me on the couch.  I let go of him, sitting, and he rose up, standing.