Only worse than going through this would be Travis knowing the full depth of what was going inside me right now, or about Dan’slessons, and in any case, it wasn't even relevant.
I was going to put an end to this infatuation.
I was going to stop imagining what Dan would look like, pressed to the bar, my whole body against him, eyes dark with lust right before I devoured his mouth.
I was stronger than this.
Travis stared at me like he didn’t believe me, an amused expression on his face, but instead of fighting me on it, he just got up from the bench and started going to where his next students were gathering up.
“It’s just going to be two months, right? Then he’ll be out of your hair. Nothing you can’t deal with.”
Two months. Only a few weeks, and my life would go back to normal again. I wouldn’t have to worry about Dan flirting with my employees and vice versa. Nor would I have to think about all of the secrets he still wasn’t telling me.
He wouldn’t be my problem anymore.
It would be like he’d never been here at all.
I gritted my teeth and forced myself to look away from Dan.
It was time to get to work for real.
***
“This is my office?” Dan asked, looking around at the well-furnished space, the large table in the middle, the big windows that looked into the training area on one side, and the large shelves on the other.
I was supposed to be showing him where he would be working, which meant that this was the first time all morning that I finally had him alone, out of sight from hungry people wanting a taste of fresh meat, and which meant that there was no one to stop me now from my own stupidity and caveman-like impulses.
Which meant that in two seconds flat, Dan had his ass against my desk and I was crowding him against it.
I didn’t know if the fact that he wasn’t trying to escape me at all, with an uncharacteristic smile stretching his lips, should be worrying or not.
Time to reestablish dominance.
“If you're done having fun and flirting with everyone, it's time we got to work.” I gestured around me with a hand. “This is your loaned space,myspace, but since I don't really spend that much time here, I'll be gracious and let you use it. Unless you want to be working alongside the smell of sweat and the grunts from our athletes?” I asked, eyes glued to him.
“If by flirting you mean beingnice, then yes, I was definitely having fun,” he said, like this happened every other day to him.“Iassume being nice to other people is probably a new concept to someone like you, or can you actually bear to be sweet with the people you're going to be sleeping with?” he asked, eyebrow raised, ignoring my comment about the office.
A bitter smile stretched my lips. “There's nothing eversweetabout me, Dan, you should know better, though I can afford to be very charming when I want to be. You'd know all about it, right? Since it seems like I'm the only person to bear the full brunt of your grumpy moods. Should I be offended?”
“You should be. I save it all for you,” he said, eyes firmly looking into mine.
My jaw ticked. There was a fluttering sensation in my stomach.
I brushed it off. “In any case, you should tone down the niceness, you wouldn't want people to get the wrong idea, would you? Or are you back in the market for a new relationship?
Nowthatmade Dan scowl.“I’m not. And I'm not flirting.”
“You could always just tell me all the secrets you refuse to air out and we could be done with this sham. You could flirt as much as you wanted.”
Dan narrowed his eyes at me. “You lost. Now you have to teach me. Or are you the one who's too much of a coward to do what you promised to do?”
“I promised, and I'll do it, but let's not lie to ourselves. How long do you think you're going to last? One week? Two weeks, tops?” I gave him a condescending look. “It's not too late to back down.”
“Is that supposed to be a dare?”
“It's just the truth. You can't handle what I have to dish out, but it's fine, it's not for everyone. We can keep going outlike normal.” I brushed a strand of hair away from his face. “I wouldn't even tease you if you ever want to go to bed early.”
Dan bit his lip. “Someone needs to put you in your place.”