Taming His Tutor (Entangled Brazen) (5 page)

Chapter Six

“Be nice, but not friendly. There is a difference.”

Joe gave up on trying to get some sleep and hit the pavement to run off the excess energy. He stepped up his pace, letting his lungs work and his muscles start to burn. He felt jaded. His balls heavy and tight, aching for the release they’d been denied.

Maybe he should have gone after her. Or should have taken what she’d offered, when she’d offered it. Had her hard up against that door and damn the possible chance of being sprung by a hundred baseball fans.

Heaven knew she wouldn’t have stopped him. She’d have let him do anything. Hell, if that idea didn’t just yank him harder than he’d ever been. He kicked himself for letting her walk. What had she spent her night doing? Had she gone off to find that other dweeb she’d targeted in her vixen campaign?

He ran faster, his breathing heavier and rough. Damn, the possessive devil riding him was a bitch. He hadn’t liked seeing Abbi
smile
at that guy. That’s what had sent him over the edge in the first place and made him push
her
to the point where she wouldn’t say no to him.

Instinct told him she wouldn’t have gone back to that other guy. She hadn’t looked at him the way she did Joe. Abbi wanted
him
.

He shouldn’t be this wound up. He got offers all the time. But recently he’d been too busy with work to take any of them up on it. And frankly, none had rung his bell.

Maybe he was paying for that period of abstinence now, wanting Abbi as much as an NBA championship ring.

He had no clue where she lived. But he knew where she worked. Without even thinking about it, he was halfway there already. Question was, what he was going to do when he got there?

He could never offer what a woman like Abbi would want. She was a relationship kind of girl—for all her wannabe-vixen attitude. She wanted to be a vixen, because she wanted to snare a guy.
For good
.

Joe had zero time for a relationship. Zero inclination. There was too much else he had to do and too much he
didn’t
want. Easygoing fun was so much better than emotional challenge. With his less-than-stellar childhood, he knew he was a first-class emotional fuckup. He wasn’t equipped—or willing—to keep a woman happy for the whole ever-after scene. Hell, he wouldn’t know where to start. He’d failed at fitting into so many homes, any kind of relationship was only ever going to be short-term for him. Better to end this with her before it had even begun. Much as he wanted to pursue her—and that was a first—he didn’t want to hurt her. So the very least he could do was finish it gently.

He stopped in front of the magazine’s headquarters. Yeah, lights were on, on the top floor. He glanced down the street—coffee shop.

Perfect.

…

Abbi ignored the phone. This was Sunday—no one was supposed to be at the office anyway, so whoever it was calling could just leave a message.

Except the phone kept ringing. Four times, then stopping before it went to voicemail. Again and again and again. Until in irritation she snatched it up, ready to leave it off the hook. But as soon as she lifted the handset, he spoke.

“I know that’s you, Abbi.”

Without thinking she put the receiver to her ear and answered. “How do you know?”

“It’s Sunday. Everyone else is in bed recovering from their Saturday night, whereas yours got cut short. How’s it going?”

Despite everything, she couldn’t stop the spurt of adrenaline—and anticipation—sizzling along her veins. “Okay.”

Truth was she’d slept so badly she’d come in ultra-early and had run all her tests. Everything was good to go for tomorrow and she was done. But he didn’t need to know that.

“Then come downstairs for a break.”

She hesitated. She shouldn’t. She should say no. But curiosity beat the mortification. “Only for a quick break.”

She was a glutton for punishment.

Joe was leaning against the side of the building, right beside the after-hours door, looking hot—literally—in a slick tee-and-sweats combo. He’d been exercising this early on a Sunday morning? That was sick.

“Peace offering.” He straightened and held out a cup, steam swirling out of the narrow sipper hole in the to-go lid.

Peace offering? He better not be here to apologize.

She took the cup and glanced at it dubiously. But it smelled good. Sweet. “Hot chocolate?”

He nodded.

“I wouldn’t have thought a gym instructor would advocate anyone consuming liquid sugar.” And he was looking so very gym instructor today in the loose workout gear. Tanned and fit and ready.

He was
hot
—and not just in the literal sense. But she refused to squirm at the sight of him. He didn’t want her; she wasn’t going to make a fool of herself by making her lust even more obvious than it already was.

“Studies show women who consume chocolate daily have a higher libido,” he said.

She paused, the cup an inch from her lips. “You made that up.”

“Google it. Add it to your app info. Women will love you for it.” He glanced at the cup. “You going to test it?”

Her libido didn’t need to be any higher, actually. She was already melting. But she couldn’t resist taking a sip.

His mouth quirked and he looked right into her eyes. “I’m sorry about last night.”

The chocolate lost all flavor and she swallowed it in an awkward gulp. “Please don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t feel like you have to be nice. It’s okay. You’re not interested. That’s fine.”

He stared at her so long she wondered if she had a huge chocolate milky mustache on her upper lip.

“What makes you think I’m not interested?” he asked.

The only thing to do was laugh it off. Make a joke out of the awful truth. “I kiss like a dead fish.”

“What?” He looked floored. “You what?”

Oh hell. Her pity alert sounded. She shouldn’t have said that—no guy wanted to hear about a woman’s insecurities, and she didn’t want to emotionally manipulate him into doing something he didn’t really want to do. So now she laughed and shrugged, then took another deep, long sip of chocolate and tried to act like she hadn’t meant a thing.

Joe stared at her that entire time, his brow furrowed, his mouth thinning. Finally he spoke. “Why do you think I’m here?”

“To apologize.” Abbi smiled at him and spoke breezily, pulling herself out of the piteous funk. “Because you’re polite and actually a nice guy.”

“You think I’m a nice guy.” His frown deepened.

“Yeah.” She didn’t get why he was looking more grumpy.

“I don’t like you thinking of me as nice.”

“Oh.” She licked her lips, suddenly nervous. “Okay.” Too bad, because he was nice. Even if he was looking intense.

“I’m not a nice guy,” he said shortly. “You should know you’re better off without me.”

She rolled her eyes.

He narrowed his. “The dead fish thing. Is that why you ran away?”

“I didn’t run away. I thought we were done.”

“We’re far from done.” He grabbed her free hand and planted it palm-down on the crotch of his sweats. “Abbi, does this feel ‘not interested’ to you?”

Abbi gasped. His long, loose tee had been hiding something real special. Stunned, she stared up at him. He was that aroused? And angry?

Suddenly so was she.

“Does this?” she snapped back, squeezing her hand so she cupped his balls tightly.

Breath hissed between his teeth and he jerked his hips, pulling out of her reach. “You need some work on understanding men’s signals.” He glared at her. “I’m interested. In
you
. I’m not a horndog, happy to bed anything that breathes.”

She swallowed. “Sorry.”

His eyes narrowed. “How sorry?”

“I—”

“Have it wrong.” He stepped forward and towered over her. “I kissed you last night because I wanted you. All of you. I still want all of you. But last night wasn’t the right time or place and you deserve better than the super-quick, semipublic screw we were headed for.”

“Oh?” She couldn’t have gotten much better than that almost-public orgasm he’d given her.

“Some jerk did a number on you. Made you believe you weren’t sexy?”

She held the paper cup in both hands—warming her chilly fingers. “So I’ve been told.” Many times. And she’d proven it again last night.

Joe’s eyes narrowed. “And that’s why you’re building the app. Why you’re so interested in the veracity of the info it’s going to contain.” He studied her for a moment longer, his frown huge. But then he turned away with a sigh. “I’m sorry, Abbi. We can’t do this. I don’t have the time or the need for a relationship.”

Her jaw dropped. “Who said I wanted a
relationship
?”

“What?” He turned back quickly. “It’s really only about getting the home run?”

He looked like he didn’t believe her. But like he wanted to.

“It’s about learning how to play the game properly.” Abbi waved a hand in a vaguely apologetic gesture. “It’s about learning the skills to break out of Little League and go for the majors.”

He ran his hand through his hair, a rueful quirk to his lips. “Abbi—”

“You’ve done what you came to do. You’ve apologized, you can go now. I—”

“Need me.” He stepped right up close to her again. Smiling this time.

“No, I don’t.”

“Yeah, you do.” He put his finger under her chin. “I think you do. You really want to learn some skills? That’s
all
you want?”

She stared up at him, still clutching the cup close. Lifted her shoulders in a shrug that so wasn’t careless.

“So you’re studying all those articles and listening to the audiobooks.” His wicked grin appeared as he considered her attempts. “But theory isn’t the same as practice. Don’t all good little computer geeks test things in development before going live with them?”

She hesitated, mulling his words. “Maybe. Are you offering to help me
test thing
s?”

“If you like.” He stepped a little closer. “And I think you’d like.”

Yeah, he so knew she was hot for him—she’d come in less than a minute last night—no doubt he thought she’d never say no. And he was right. But she might delay the yes for two seconds. After all, hadn’t he told her not to make it too easy for a guy?

“Nadia’s helping me,” she answered coolly.

“Does Nadia actually do men?”

Oh, he’d figured that, had he? “She’s perfect. She understands what women want, how they work, and that sometimes they don’t get all they should. She reckons everyone, male or female, should enjoy sex.”

He curled an arm around her waist. “That’s all well and good. But to really understand the male psyche, you need to talk to a
man
.”

Just
talk
to a man? “Are you offering to be my man-cyclopedia?”

“You once tutored me. Let me return the favor.” He suddenly looked happier than if he’d won some basketball championship by forty points. “You can be my protégé.”

“You want to be some kind of Svengali figure for me?”

“As in control you? Direct your sexuality?” He swept his big hand down her spine and pulled her hips closer against his aroused heat, rendering her grip on the cup—and her thought processes—precarious. “Sweetheart, don’t tempt me more than you already are.”

She gaped, then remembered herself and snapped her jaw shut. “Let me get this straight. You’re going to tutor me? Teach me how to be a sex goddess?”

She shouldn’t be excited about the thought of being his sexual student. But she so was.

“I thought we were going for vixen.” He drew in a breath. “But we can shoot for sex goddess, sure. Why not?”

Why was he pushing this? Was he feeling bad about last night? Was it a pity thing? Some random act of kindness for the geek girl?

“You want help,” he said quietly.

Yeah, she did. She never wanted to be accused of being boring in the bedroom again.

His hand slid up to the nape of her neck. His big palm cupped it and he tugged so she had to tilt her head back, exposing her mouth to his.

“Let me help you out.” His breath warmed her lips.

“Is that what you call this—‘helping’ me?”

His hand on her butt pushed, yanking her so close his erection dug almost painfully against her stomach. “It’s a win-win deal.”

“Win-win?”

“You know I want you.”

Yeah, maybe she did. And she couldn’t say no. She didn’t want to. It was only going to be a lesson—probably only the one—so why would she be so stupid to deny herself the experience?

“What, exactly, are you going to teach me?” She ached to know.

He looked thoughtful. “How to flirt? How to read the signs. Sensuality.”

“But you said I needed a practical component, not just theory. So is sex going to be part of this course curriculum?” She really needed confirmation on that.

He stared down at her, his jaw rigidly defined, like he was clenching his teeth. “You’ve had sex before, right?”

She rolled her eyes. “My last relationship lasted almost a year.” He didn’t need to know it had been her only relationship.

His face tightened. “Almost a year of bad sex?”

He looked like he didn’t believe her. Truthfully it had been more like half a year of not much sex. And she didn’t have much basis for comparison to know how bad it had been. She’d figured lots of women didn’t have orgasms during penetrative sex—Nadia had confirmed that. Though she’d also said more women
should
.

But Joe was a playboy with way more experience than her.

As intimidating as it was, this was her chance to learn some moves and grow her confidence. But she had to be careful—put some kind of protection in place.

She hesitated. But in the end, she just wanted the full-out fucking she’d been thinking about since last night. In fact, she wanted
more
.

“Back in high school I gave you six lessons,” she said, going for broke. “That’s all I’ll take from you.”

He didn’t have time for any kind of relationship, and this way she’d retain control of how this was going to play out. A time frame would limit the emotional impact, right? She could keep this as nothing more than an information- and experience-gathering exercise. And it would be more than
once
.