Rose of Betrayal (22 page)

“Ted has spent the last two months dragging me
all over New York, I absolutely no idea.
 
Besides, I would only be a thorn in your side, Brad.
  
Surely, you have better things to do.
 
I'll find something to busy myself.”

           
“Don't be ridiculous.
 
I am going to force myself to enjoy some R.
& R. and I cannot think of anyone else I would rather have join me.
 
You would be no bother honest.
 
Besides, I want to get to know you better.”
 
Pausing briefly, “ I’ve got an idea.
 
Do you have sweats and a swim suit?”

Although
an unexpected question, Sam blurted, “Sure!”

“Then
get them, we're going to the gym to exercise off all this cholesterol.”

“What
gym?”

“It
is a surprise.
 
You have ten minutes.”

Glancing
at the kitchen calamity, Sam queried, “But, what about the kitchen?”

“That's
what maids are for.”

 
CHAPTER 19

Pride in his knowledge of exercise equipment shone in
Brad's eyes as he tutored Sam on each piece.
 
“Take it easy at first.
 
Do not
over do or your muscles will rebel.
 
The
important thing to remember is to concentrate on each muscle group and work
rhythmically, breathe deeply.”
 

He was relieved when Sam appeared wearing loose fitting
sweat pants and an oversized tee shirt knotted at the waist, apparel making it tolerable
for him to concentrate on things other than her body.
 
It was bad enough her fragrance floating in
the air made coaching and evading physical contact difficult.

           
Apparently
Brad's expertise worked.
  
Though it was
clumsily obvious he was trying to grant space between them, Sam feigned
listening to his interpretations, so mesmerized was she by his phenomenal
physique - the model of power, poise, and virility.
 

           
For
unknown reasons she was beginning to wonder if Ted's stories about Brad taking
advantage of every situation were true.
 
If so, why didn’t he make a move the night they were together on the
couch?
 
Maybe he would make a pass now
while they were alone in the gym or, possibly she was not attractive enough for
him.
 
A shocking thought considering why
did it matter?
 

           
There
was no rational explanation for her mind to ramble so or, why every time Brad's
massive arms encircled her during a demonstration, her breath caught.
 
Surely, it was the clean fresh-air scent of
his skin mingled with something else, something alien and male making her skin
prickle with unexpected heat.

           
Brad
sensed Sam withdrawing each time he moved in too close.
 
What could he expect after Ted had
traumatized her?
 
God, he hoped she did
not know she aroused him.
 
A powerful
urge to move away from her before he did something he would regret strummed his
insides.
 
Trusting she would be fine on
her own, he migrated to the other side of the gym.
 
Proceeding with his workout, he channeled his
frustrating desire for her toward lifting weights gratified with his success
considering his lack of exercise during the past few months.
  
   

           
Rather
than the cold steal she was pumping, Sam found her concentration lured to
Brad’s amazing energy and concentration.
  
With his arms lifted, she was aware of the thick tufts of hair
underneath.
 
Veins and tendons ran around
the muscles of his arms like vines around a tree trunk.
 
A luster of sweat defined the disciplined
elongated swells of muscles lying beneath every inch of his taut golden skin.
 
Darkening his snug waistband, moisture
trickled the length of his spine.

           
Brad
was not what she expected.
 
Where was the
hard-driving, ambitious, unscrupulous, sharp cutting edge of a New York
entrepreneur? Surveying his movements, her thoughts wandered to the medieval
novel’s she favored.
 
The lack of armor
was the only thing preventing her from declaring him a powerful, brave,
chivalrous knight who never lured or took advantage of women.
  

           
Was
it possible all he was truly guilty of was enrapturing women, arousing their
slumbering desires until they ravished him, or, was it part of his softening
process, the willful, merciless vandalizing of her defenses?
  
Brad was either a callous business magnate
who used his tactics to slay women or, a chivalrous knight who saved them.
 
Sam did not dare to believe the later.
 
Snatching her thoughts back as he gazed at
her, she hoped he was not aware of how frantically she was teetering on
becoming his next victim.

Using the towel he flung around his
neck to wipe the sweat from his brow, Brad tilted his head toward her and
asked, “How are you doing, Princess, ready for a shower and swim?

Considering the enormous, well-
equipped gym astounded her, it was difficult to believe there could be
more.
 
“You mean there's a pool as well?”

Bowing graciously at his waist, Brad
replied, “Your wish is my command.”
 

           
Panic
struck.
  
Sam's thoughts sprinted, “Dear
God, he knows exactly what I was thinking.
  
I do not want to like you.
 
I
could never trust you.
 
You frighten me
beyond reason.
 
I will not allow you to
seduce me, snatch me in your trap, and tromp upon my heart.
 
Shit, why do you have to be such a damn
charmer?
 
Ted where are you when I need
you?
 
Straightaway, Sam feared being
alone with such a man could prove to be disastrous.
 
Lost in her thoughts, she jumped when Brad
approached and asked her to follow him.

He led her across a wide hall into
another room.
 
With a pointed finger, he
announced, “Little girl's to the left.
 
See you in about fifteen minutes.”

           
She
did not know what possessed her, with the swing of an arm and an erect posture,
she saluted him, “Got it, Captain.”
 
Chuckling he winked and disappeared.
 
Surely, he had taken with him her stomach for his gestures made it leap
from her throat.

           
As
Brad sat on a bench waiting, towel wrapped around his waist, memories invaded
of the many women he had brought to the gym with less honorable
intentions.
 
How hours spent exercising
and swimming fed the passion that later culminated into an explosive end in the
pool or hot tub.
  

           
Today
was different.
 
There was no need to work
up desire with Sam, no need to fan a flame.
 
One look instantly turned him to molten lava.
 
The feelings she invoked were pure
foolishness, he decided, behavior typical for a love-crazed adolescent, for
goodness sake.
 
Then why was a sharp
twisting sensation saying it was more like a flesh and bone- eating virus?
 
With any luck, a short-lived type that would
quickly burn itself out like a tropical fever, preferable over one requiring the
only antidote - Sam.

           
Feeling
secure that Ted's oversized robe revealed nothing, Sam appeared, her forehead
wrinkled from fret, her teeth nipping at her lower lip as she contemplated how
to work up the courage to exhibit what lay beneath.
 
She knew Ted had purchased a bikini, but did
not realize how revealing it was until putting it on.
 
The embarrassment she was still feeling made
it difficult to meet Brad's eyes.

           
Ted’s
robe with Sam in it made Brad's thoughts sprint to the night he held her.
 
A warning sign flashing danger popped before
his eyes.
 
“I hope you can swim,” he
attempted to tease.

Would Brad leap at her like the wolf
in the woods when she revealed her skimpy bikini, Sam brooded.
 
“I'm not sure I'm up to it.”

           
“Nonsense,
come on, you will love it.
 
It will do
you good.”
 
Without thinking grabbing
Sam's hand he pulled her into the pool area, once inside realizing what he had
done, released it as if a red-hot poker.

           
Eyes
wide with amazement, Sam uttered, “I don't believe it!”
 
Before her was an Olympic size pool complete
with a diving board and several roped off lanes.
 
She was awe struck that something so huge was
housed in an office building.
 
The sparkling
water tinted blue by the reflection of designed tile, lured the part of her
that loved to swim.

”Don't just look at it, it won't
bite,” Brad exclaimed.

Dropping his towel disclosing his low riding, skin-tight
swim trunks, he dove in.
 
Bobbing to the
surface, he glanced back and broke into laughter when he saw his splash had
drenched Sam's robe.
 
“You might as well
get the rest of you wet.
 
Come on
chicken, it's great.”
 
Believing his
presence to be intimidating, he swam to the other end of the pool.

           
Unable
to resist, easing out of the robe Sam stood for a few seconds at the edge
before diving in, a hesitation offering a view Brad did not expect.
 
Never had he seen a bikini on such a petite
girl so well filled that, had a sculptor formed the perfect woman she could
have been the model.
 
Surely, nature
intended it to be a sin for a woman to be so curvaceous.
 
A desire so powerful encompassed him, born
from the devil himself.
 

           
Despite
vigorously swimming lap after lap in hopes of washing lust from his mind, he
was fully aware even an Olympic sized pool would not provide sufficient
distance between them.
   
A fatalistic
twinge told him there was no way he could spend time alone with Sam.
 
He needed help.
 
Fast.

           
Feeling
refreshed and invigorated, Sam concluded the exercises and swim was just what
she needed.
 
Assuming Brad was simply
adhering to his usual routine, she thought nothing of his evasiveness.
 
Actually, she was relieved since the suit he
wore left little to her imagination dry, let alone wet.
  

           
It
was bad enough that watching Brad move in the water had opened her body to
strange feelings making her heart thud frantically for no reason at all,
responding to an unfamiliar dangerous awareness that he was indeed an
extraordinary man.
 
Occasionally ceasing
his swimming he’d fling Sam a predatory smile making her feel like putty
waiting to be molded by his hands.
 
He
was doing it, she thought, laying his trap, slowly, subtly, like a cat toying
with a mouse.
 
No way was it going to
happen, she moaned.
 
She loved Ted.
 
A woman who valued her reputation could never
have an affair with someone so prominent in the public's eye, especially
considering an affair was all it could be.
 
Brad was not one to settle down, and
criminy
,
he was Ted's best friend.
 
Giving a small
shudder, she closed her mind to any more inadvertent wanderings down such
perilous byways.

           
The
laps did nothing but exhaust Brad.
  
Exiting on the opposite side of the pool, he quickly wrapped himself
hoping the towel would conceal telltale signs of desire.
 
Unfortunately, the swimming was
unsuccessful.
 
Feeling a compelling urge
to bolt, “Take your time, princess, I will meet you back at the apartment, you
won't get lost will you?”

“I'll be fine Brad, thanks.
 
You were right; this is just what I needed.”