I finish my last pull up and jump from the bar. I sweated clear through two shirts this morning and I’m soaked again. Dripping, since I discarded the second shirt an hour ago.
Sporting a mischievous grin, I walk with purpose the few steps between Elle and me and lift her, rubbing my sweaty body all over her pretty crisp suit. “Is that so, you think I’m slacking, huh?” She screeches at me to put her down, but I hear the smile in her voice as she smacks my back in protest of my sweaty body ruining her suit.
I place her down gently on her feet and give her a kiss on the mouth. She pretends to be pissed, but she’s not and we both know it. But we’ll play anyway.
“I come all the way over here to pick up these contracts and this is the thanks I get.” She motions to the wet marks I’ve left on her suit. “Next time you’ll be sending a messenger over to deliver them to me.”
Preach walks away laughing. “Come on, I’ll take a quick shower upstairs and you can take a look at the part I don’t understand. I’ll let you watch me in the shower to make it up to you.” I wink at her and take her hand and start toward the elevator without waiting for her response.
Chapter 29
Elle
Nico comes out of the shower in a towel and I’m already sitting at the table half way done with the contract he wants me to look at. He comes up behind me and moves my hair from one side of my neck before reaching down to nuzzle me. He rubs his nose along the side of my neck and breathes deep. “You smell so good.”
“I used to.”
He chuckles and comes around the table to sit on the other side, opposite of me.
“I’m not done reading yet, but what part don’t you like. I don’t see anything too unusual so far.”
“That’s because you haven’t read my other ones.” Nico leans his elbows on the table and clasps his hands together. It’s a common every day posture, but there’s nothing common about it when Nico Hunter does it. His normally muscular biceps are huge, even more defined from his morning workout. Everything about him is just so purely, deliciously male. His square jaw, his green eyes that turn grey with desire when he comes near me, the way he looks at me like he’s a hunter and I’m his prey. He’s incredibly distracting. Even more so sitting in nothing but a towel. Lucky towel.
I bring my eyes back to his and he’s watching me with the sexy half grin that makes me melt and I know I’ve been caught looking at him.
“See something you like, Babe?” His voice is raspy and sexy as all hell.
“What? No! This is strictly a professional visit. I have to get back to the office. William is coming at three for a deposition on a case where we have co-defendants and I want to read this through before I pass it to him.”
Nico’s jaw flexes and his playfulness is gone. The mention of spending my afternoon with William has the effect of throwing a bucket of cold water on him.
“Glad I coated you with my sweat now. It’ll keep the other lions away.”
I roll my eyes at him. He half pretends he’s kidding, but I know he’s probably really happy with himself that I’ll be spending the afternoon with William while wearing his scent.
“Back to business.” I point down at the contract. “Why don’t you tell me what I’m looking for so it’s easy to find then?”
“Well, there’s three things that don’t sit right with me.” He counts them off on his fingers for me. “It’s three times the amount of money that I got last time for a title fight. They added a dropout clause for Preach. And they don’t have to name the contender until seven days before the fight.”
“Okay, let’s take them one at a time. Three times the amount of money. Doesn’t sound like a bad thing to me. What has you concerned there?”
“Nothing really. I like that part. But it’s not really necessary. So it makes me wonder why they’re throwing it at me. I know a rematch for my title is a moneymaker, but we would have expected one and a half times what I took for the first title fight.”
“Okay, is adding a dropout clause for Preach unusual?”
“Yeah. He’s never had one before. If I dropout after they sell the fight, I pay a hefty penalty. It makes sense. They spent it and they want me to make them whole. It’s a common clause for a fighter. But why Preach? As far as I know, they never put the trainer or manager on the hook too. And his is almost as big as mine. Mine is risk vs. reward. But his is all risk.”
“Hmm. What possible reason could they have for wanting to put Preach on the hook?”
“At first I thought they could be planning on spending a lot of cash before the fight and they were looking to lessen the blow by splitting it between us. But I told them I’d take Preach’s dropout penalty on my contract and they said no. They won’t let me take on his risk.”