Page 1 of The Love of Secrets

Chapter one

Mateo

“Excuse me,” a feminine voice calls out behind me.

I turn toward the melodic sound and my breath leaves me as soon as our eyes meet. I take in everything about her as she stands in front of the counter with her arms crossed, pushing up her voluptuous breasts. The gorgeous woman is tall and curvy, with long black hair curling flawlessly down her back. When I draw my gaze back up to her heart-shaped face, her lips are pushed into the perfect “o”, and her blue eyes sparkle with interest. My body stiffens as I’m utterly captivated by this beautiful woman.

I clear my throat, trying to gain control of my emotions raging inside of me. Shit, this is new, but it doesn’t matter. Even if my body hasn’t responded to someone in years. I shake the thoughts from my head. “Yes?” I try to keep my voice as even as possible but pick up a slight waver.

She shakes her head as if she is trying to break herself from the same trance, we both seemed to be under. After a long pause, she finally answers.

“I’m new in town and I saw online that y’all offer self-defense classes? I was really hoping that I would be able to sign up for one.”

She moves her arms down in front of her and starts to wring her hands together. “As long as it’s not too much money. I still need to find a job, but I would really appreciate it if I make use of a payment plan. Do you offer a payment plan? Of course, you probably do. You’re a professional business. You probably have a monthly payment to be a member. Right?” She rambles without even taking a breath.

It’s so cute I have to suppress a smile. I need to keep my distance from her even though all I want is to wrap my arms around her, carry her to my office, bend her over my desk and take her from behind. While I’m imagining what she might feel like around my cock, she keeps talking. When she finally takes a breath, it brings me back to the present. I think she might be done.

She finally gets to her point, blurting out. “I just really need a self-defense class. Do you have one?”

I don’t respond to her. If I allow words to come out of my mouth, I’m not sure what I might say. I release a grunt while I look down at the counter. I keep my gaze away from her, shoving a pamphlet that has all our classes on it along with the price of them toward her. While she looks it over and I wait for her to tell me what class she wants to sign up for, I’m trying to tamp down the thoughts of what I would like to do if I ever got that body alone.

Her eyes move to mine as she asks more questions about the gym. “I don’t have a job yet, but I have an interview at a bar today. Will you sign me up for the monthly payments?”

“Yes. It’s forty dollars a month. You can put it on a credit card.”

She lets out an exasperated breath and bounces from foot to foot, dropping her tone as she leans over the counter. “Okay. Okay. What if I don’t want to put it on a credit card and pay cash only?”

My hackles raise with that question. Why wouldn’t she want to use a credit card? I keep my eyes on this dark-haired beauty. Her body is stiff, and her eyes keep darting back and forth. I think back to her rambling and realize she’s nervous.

Is she running from something?

“You want to use cash?”

“Yes, I do.”

The hairs on the back of my neck rise, and it’s something about how she’s asking, because this is not normal. We only take credit cards. Makes it easier to ensure that clients are paying for their monthly membership. I mean, yeah, it could be declined but at least with auto-pay I don’t have to chase people down. Therefore, making my life easier.

I open my mouth to tell her she must use a credit card, but I surprise her and myself by what comes out of my mouth instead. “We can work something out.” I push the gym application toward her. “Fill this out.”

“Oh, thank God,” she says as she places her dainty left hand over her chest. She pushes her other hand out toward me, ready to shake it. “I’m Cecilia, by the way.”

I look down at it for a split second before placing mine in hers. An electric shock runs through me as soon as we touch, causing me to pull back quickly. I grunt out, “Mateo.”

I glance at her fingers one last time and notice no ring. Something in my chest loosens, but I ignore the feeling. Because I’m not interested in her. I’m not interested in anybody. A voice in the back of my head quietly whispers, “Liar. Look at her. You want her like you’ve never wanted anyone else before in your life.”

After a few minutes of going through the schedule while the sexy woman in front of me is filling out her paperwork, she shoves the papers back toward me. “Here you go.”

“I’ll add you to the class and you just pay me the forty dollars when you can.” I give her a small smile.

“Thank you, thank you. You won’t regret it.”

I grunt in recognition, but it doesn’t seem to bother her. She answers in a peppy tone. “Great. I’ll see y’all back here at four thirty for the next class.”

She looks at me for a beat, like she has something to say on the tip of her tongue. Instead, she twists on the balls of her feet, making her way back out of the gym without another word.

My eyes never leave her sexy ass, and how it jiggles as she walks. I’m finally able to tear them away once she disappears into her car and is out of sight. My chest heaves, taking a deep breath. I didn’t even realize I was barely breathing the whole time she was here.

I shake my thoughts away from the woman who seems to have gotten under my skin in only a few minutes. It’s time to focus on keeping the gym going. This is my business and I’m the only one who can run it. Especially since my father has been pressuring me to launder money through it.

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