Throb (15 page)

“You have a guest, Mr. Montgomery.”

“I ordered lunch, you can send him up. Thanks, Lou.”

“Ummm … it’s not lunch. Well, not unless Ms. Laroix has it hidden in her bag.”

Shit. The woman just refuses to take a hint. I glance back at Kate. She lifts her eyebrows, but says nothing.

“Can you please tell her she needs to call the office and get on my schedule?”

“Okay. But she doesn’t like when I send her away.”

That doesn’t seem to stop her though. “Just do it, Lou.” I release the intercom button with a huff.

“I can grab a cab if you have business to discuss,” Kate says with a bit of suspicion in her tone.

“I don’t have any business to discuss with her anymore.”

“Oh,” she says.

“I didn’t mean her visit was personal. I don’t know why she came, I meant.”

Kate tries to shrug it off. “It’s okay. It’s none of my business.”

“We just spent the night together and it’s none of your business why she’s here?” Fuck. I sound defensive.

“I’m sorry. I meant, well … I don’t know what I meant. I guess I meant to say I don’t have any right to question what you’re doing, when I’m heading back to Flynn.”

His name from her lips hurts me, but it comes off more like anger. “I’ll get dressed to drive you
back to Flynn.
” I slam the door to my bedroom a little too hard.

The silence screams loudly on the ride back to her apartment. I have plenty of things I’d like to say, but what’s the point. Last night was what it was. One night. Six weeks is a long time and who knows where either of us will be then. I should be fine with a night of
just sex.
Hell, I probably needed one.

“Listen.” We both start speaking at the same time as I pull into a parking spot at her building. “You go first,” I offer.

“I was just going to apologize.”

“Me too.”

“I don’t know what else to say. If things were different …”

“It’s okay.

She leans forward and kisses my cheek softly. “I had a great time last night.”

“Me too. Hope you don’t mind if I don’t wish you luck on your show.”

She smiles. I walk around the car and open the door, offering my hand to let her go, even though I want nothing but. I pull her close and hold her tight, neither of us saying a word.

“Can you be the one to let go of me? Please. I can’t seem to do it.” The strain in her voice is real. As much as I don’t want to let her walk away, the urge to make it easier on her wins out. I kiss the top of her head and release her.

Not quite ready to let her disappear, I watch her walk away until she’s out of sight. An irrational part of me wants to chase after her. Give her the money she needs, even though I have no idea why she needs it so badly.

Patience wearing thin, I call Damian Fry on the way home and bark at him—he has twenty-four hours to get the report I requested on my desk.

I shift on the couch, leaning my weight to the right side, and inwardly smile thinking of Cooper.
This isn’t giving in. This is staking my claim. I’ll send you back to him tomorrow if that’s what you want. But you won’t be able to sit without thinking of me for a week. Every time you sit down, you’ll be reminded of what it feels like with me buried deep inside you.
Goosebumps break out on my arms just thinking about the words he said.

It’s been two days. He wasn’t kidding when he said he’d make me think of him when I sat down for a week. My body aches, but it’s a good ache, unlike the ache in my chest that keeps me perpetually glum.

“What gives?” Ava asks, plopping herself down next to me. I’m not sure I would still be here if it wasn’t for her. With the selection of the final four looming in less than a week, things have turned from unfriendly to downright vicious. One of the girls actually slammed a shoulder into me this afternoon as I was coming out of the bathroom. She feigned it was an accident, but the glimpse of an evil smile on her face when I fell on my ass assured me it was absolutely intentional.

“Nothing. I’m just tired. Think I might be coming down with something.”

“Well, you look more like someone killed your dog.”

“Thanks. That’s attractive.”

“No problem. Anytime.” She grins.

“At least Flynn won’t have to look at you in the black box.”

“Who thinks of these challenges anyway?” Tonight’s challenge is a test of how
in tune
Flynn is with the contestants. In a little while, he’ll be alone, seated on a chair, in an empty pitch-black room. Each contestant takes a turn at going in to visit with him for five minutes. No talking or sound of any kind is permitted by the contestant. He must identify them without hearing them.
Touching,
of course, is permitted. Any contestant who makes even the slightest noise is disqualified. The woman Flynn is able to identify in the least amount of time gets tomorrow’s one-on-one date with him. I’m guessing Miles had a hand in conjuring up this challenge.

“How long do you think it takes for Jessica to make him feel her up?” Ava asks.

“Eighteen seconds.”

Her eyebrows shoot up. “Eighteen seconds? That’s pretty specific.”

“I’m good at these things.” I shrug. “Bet you?”

“I think you have a gambling problem.” Ava smiles.

“Chicken?”

“What are we betting?”

“You have to wear my Chargers t-shirt.”

“That’s cruel. You better not stretch out my Raiders t-shirt if you lose.”

I look down at her boobs and smirk. “Your t-shirt is the only one I could possibly stretch out in this house of breast friends.”

We all gather in the viewing room to watch as the first contestant makes her way into the black box. The camera has infrared viewing, which makes Flynn’s pale blue eyes look more like a jaguar’s hunting its prey in the dead of night. He holds a small square box with buttons that will electronically record which woman he thinks is in the room, as well as the time it takes him to formulate his guess.

Mercedes, the first contestant, closes the door behind her. Crap, I never thought of props. She’s wearing a naughty nurse costume. Her ass cheeks peek out from beneath the white one-piece zip-front uniform, a stethoscope around her neck and a pill-box nursing hat sitting atop a fully teased head of sexy hair.

Hearing the door click shut, Flynn’s head turns in the direction of the sound. “I’m over here,” he says. Mercedes struts in his direction, the clack of her five-inch heels echoing on the tile floor. She stops a few feet from him, unsure of where to go.

Flynn begins to hum softly, the sound of his voice her guiding light in the darkness. She continues toward him slowly until her legs bump into his knees and then he stands. A few minutes pass while we all gawk at the screen, riveted as he touches her. He bends and starts at the bottom. Leisurely running his hands from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. Somehow he avoids being too obscene, skipping over the front of her shirt and swell of her ass in favor of gliding down the curve of her side. The way he moves his hands is incredibly seductive. The breath of a few of the girls watching hitches in unison with Mercedes as he caresses her while humming a sexy rhythm. Eventually, before time is up, he stops and pushes a button. The door opens again and Mercedes is escorted from the dark room.

The last three contestants to go are Ava, Jessica, and then me. Ava comes back after her turn and fans herself a bit. “Seriously. That was incredibly erotic.”

“Been a while since you’ve been felt up, huh?” I tease. But I would imagine she’s right. It’s pretty damn erotic to watch.

“I can’t wait until you go. You’ll see. Something happens when you walk into a silent room that is dark as night and a man’s hands touch you. A man you
know
is sexy.”

Our conversation trails off as we both gape at Jessica when the door opens. She’s wearing a bikini. The same nipple cover she wore at the last challenge. Only this time, she has the matching g-string bottom on instead of cut-off shorts. She shuts the door and wastes no time making her way to Flynn when his voice dictates the direction she needs to move in.

Flynn stands, his hands reaching for her hips and he finds bare skin. Rather than start at the bottom, as he’s done with all the other contestants, his hands slither to her back and he reaches around, finding a hand full of bare ass. Abruptly, he sits back down and pushes a button.

“You’re going to look great in my t-shirt,” I gloat quietly to Ava as I walk toward the door, where I’m being beckoned to prepare for my turn.

Tonight’s cocktail hour is the usual mix of mean girls on one side of the room, Ava and me on the other. It’s going to be pretty lonely for one of us when the other is sent home. We’ve been nothing but nice to Jessica and her clique, I’m not even sure what I’ve done to alienate them, but their animosity toward me seems to grow by the day.

“You ladies look gorgeous. As usual.” Flynn brings two glasses of wine over to where Ava and I are huddled and offers them to us.

“Thank you. You look pretty good yourself. At least I can see what you look like now.” I smile and sip my wine.

“I can always see what you look like, Kate. Even in the dark, it’s up here.” Flynn taps his finger to his temple with a mischievous grin. “So what do you ladies think? Any guesses on who wins?”

“Jessica,” Ava and I respond in unison.

Flynn smiles, but the now familiar bell calls our attention. It’s time for an announcement of some sort. The three of us make our way to the center of the room where the host, Ryan, is waiting. A television is rolled in once we’re all gathered.

“Ladies. You all got to watch a little of the challenge today. But what you didn’t get to see was your own time with Flynn. Tonight you will each get to watch your own replay. In private. With Flynn. We’ve added some things to the bottom of the screen for your viewing pleasure. On the lower left-hand side, you’ll see a clock. The clock will continue to run until Flynn makes his guess as to which contestant is in the room. But you will have the opportunity to view the full five minutes that you spent with your boyfriend. You will not, however, find out if Flynn correctly identified you. Instead, after your video is viewed, you’ll be given a card with your time to hold up at tonight’s challenge ceremony. Flynn will then give out a flower to each contestant he correctly identified. The constant holding a flower with the lowest time will be the lucky winner of the
last,
and very romantic, one-on-one date tomorrow night.”

Chatter erupts in the room. “Okay, ladies. Let’s get started. Mercedes, why don’t you join Flynn in the other room and be the first to watch your video.”

**

Jessica squeals as she returns to the group after her viewing. She holds up her sign, waving it proudly over her head. Giant black bold typeface announces how easily identifiable she truly is, even in the dark. Eighteen seconds.
Damn, I’m good.
“Think I have a matching baseball cap for your t-shirt,” I whisper to Ava before walking toward the viewing room for my turn.

Flynn kisses me on the cheek and pats the loveseat next to him. Even though he’s probably done the same act four times before I walked through the door, he has a way of making me feel like the act is just for me.