Chapter Text
It happened so unexpectedly that Anthony barely had time to get a good look at her. One second he'd been laying himself back on the weights bench, dreading his final set of chest reps, next second he was nose-deep in a firm and appealingly fragrant arse.
Before he had time to process what had happened the girl had fled, dropped her weight and booked it for the exit while he flicked his earphones out and stared, dumbfounded. He dropped his bar and gave chase but her long, lycra-clad legs and glossy black ponytail had disappeared into the women's change rooms before he was within a polite distance to call after her.
He strolled slowly back to his weights, hand running through his sweaty hair, looking around to for any indication the incident had really happened. The gym was quiet at this time of the morning and the three others in the weight room were carrying on as if they hadn't seen a thing. It was unfathomable. What had she been thinking? Did she not see him preparing to lift on the very same bench? Surely she hadn't sat on him on purpose? Was this some sort of power play? No, it must have been an honest mistake, given how she'd been holding one hand up to her face as she literally ran off.
Anthony could have convinced himself it had been a glitch in the matrix except for the fact he could almost taste her on his lips. The heady, musky scent that drove him between the legs of every woman he took home lingered as the most salient sensation out of the odd encounter. Each woman had her own unique profile, a flavour, and this one was unlike anything he'd ever encountered.
He eventually settled down to finish his workout, grunting through his final set before heading to the change rooms. As the hot water ran over his tired muscles and soapy fingers delved into sticky crevices, he realised that however unsavoury it might be, this mystery woman's mistake had created a craving in him that would not be easily sated.
By the time he sat behind his desk he had decided there was only one course of action. He'd simply have to find this careless squatter and somehow convince her to finish what she'd inadvertently started. He just hoped that she wasn't married or something stupid. Anthony cursed himself for not having had the sense to wait outside the change rooms for her that morning. She would've had to emerge at some point. Still, the gym wasn't large — surely it wouldn't be that long before they ran into each other again?
Five weeks later Anthony was again wondering if he'd hallucinated the entire thing. He had diligently rocked up at the gym every morning before work, and even some evenings after work for good measure. The receptionist looked at him a little askance each time he swiped his access card these days, as if she were considering whether to pull him aside for a chat about over-training.
Then again, it could have been because he'd so far hooked up with four of their female members.
The fact he was only targeting tall women with long, dark hair could be interpreted unfavourably, but look, they'd all been very enthusiastic participants. He'd known before he even slid off their knickers that they weren't the right woman, but that hadn't stopped him enjoying himself. He was only human.
The mission seemed hopeless but he kept looking because something told him that if he found the right woman whatever he had experienced to date would pale into insignificance. He knew it was bonkers. A person didn't find their soulmate by sniffing pussy. The very concept of soulmates itself was questionable. But no matter how he reasoned with himself, the feeling that he needed to find her couldn't be shaken.
He wracked his brain trying to recall any further hints about her appearance that he could use in the search. But aside from the scent, a vague sense she had been slim and on the tall side, his memory was frustratingly foggy.
In the end he needn't have worried, his instincts came alive with ease. It was a Tuesday. Legs day. Anthony was straining under the fixed bar, momentarily distracted from his erotic mission by the fact his thighs were close to failure when he spied a long, dark ponytail swishing in his peripheral vision.
Suddenly finding a superhuman strength, he heaved the bar up and hooked it on the pegs and sucked in oxygen while he studied this new candidate. She was tall, tick. She had long, dark hair, tick. She was all lean muscle in a teal tank top and leggings that stopped just under her knee, tick. She was stepping onto a treadmill, chatting to a much shorter girl with cropped hair.
Aware that he was staring, Anthony turned to clean up his station and moved to the water fountain. He took his time to fill up a paper cup and sip the cool liquid while he assessed his options. The more surreptitious glances he stole, the more certain he became that she was the one. The way she walked … there was something familiar about the way her thick waves bounced. Her profile was fierce, a sharp jawline framing high cheekbones and full lips. Jesus, there was no way she was single.
Anthony sighed softly and crushed the cup in his hand. It wasn't easy to approach women in a gym. Naturally, they didn't want attention from men when they were just trying to work out. It was even less easy when they teamed up; one woman was a challenge, two was enough to make one's blood run cold.
Still, he wasn't about to let this chance go to waste after weeks of waiting. If he kept up this intense workout routine much longer he'd have to buy new shirts to accommodate the bulk he was gaining.
He let them get a view of him first, taking his time to walk around in front of the row of treadmills. It couldn't hurt that he was in his flimsiest muscle tee today, nipples barely contained by the white fabric that sat glued to his skin. He hit the end of the row and lapped back around, stepping onto the machine next to his target just as the girls began cranking up their pace to a run.
Pasting on his most charming smile, he decided to start out strong and let the chips fall where they may.
'Hello again.'
'Hi,' she replied shortly, flicking him a dirty look that would have given any normal man pause. But it only made Anthony more certain he'd found the right woman.
'How much longer are you going to run for?' He asked, cocking his elbow on his machine's dash and leaning forward to smile at her companion too. She was more receptive, flashed a cheeky grin back at him before raising her eyebrows meaningfully at her friend.
'How is that any of your business?' The tall one scoffed, not breaking her stride, arms and legs swinging with ease.
'Well, I just wondered when you'd be needing to sit down. So I can get my face ready.'
That got a reaction. She turned on him with the most fearsome, glorious eyes and retorted with a fury that could only be born of defensiveness, 'What the hell is the -'
She was cut off by a stumble, one foot catching the other while she was turned to him. Two long arms flung to catch herself and Anthony leapt into action, stepping across the gap between their machines to hit the emergency stop button and instinctively wrap a protective arm around her. In doing so, he found his upper body pressed against hers, catching a full-bodied whiff of her exercise-warmed scent. Something floral, something musky and everything he'd been looking for.
'Oh my god, you could have killed me,' she was saying now, huffing and puffing right in his face.
'Funny, that's just what I was thinking when you tried to suffocate me with your arse.' He spat back with equal fervour. A tiny voice in his head told him to chill out, that he wanted to convince this woman to come home with him, not alienate her forever. But the hypocrisy in her annoyance triggered his less civilised instincts.
'That was an accident!' She almost shouted, her lips inches from his own, her breath rushing over his skin as her chest heaved.
'Isn't that the exact circumstance that an apology is for? You could have broken my nose and you just ran off without even checking I was ok.'
'Me? You're the one who put your face right up in my, my -'
'Clacker?' Her friend suggested, reminding both of them that she existed.
'Yes, my clacker,' the woman repeated lamely, her cheeks blushing a darker shade of red as she lifted her chin defiantly.
'You're clacker?' Anthony repeated, finding the term wildly amusing and fighting off the urge to laugh in her face. It was the childish sort of synonym his little sister might use. He was disappointed that she had found it so appalling to have a stranger's face in such an intimate area given that reapplying his face to that very region was precisely what he had been waiting weeks to do.
But then she laughed.
'My clacker,' she said again, lips turning up in the corner and eyes brightening as she began to giggle. It was impossible for Anthony not to join her once she got going. Her shoulders shook and her face tipped dangerously close to his as they lost it in peals of laughter.
'I've been looking for you for weeks, you know,' Anthony finally confessed as they wiped tears from their eyes and caught their breath.
'So you could shout at me for sitting on you? It really was an accident, you know.'
'I know, I know,' Anthony reassured her. What was he supposed to say now? I dream about tasting your pussy and by the way I think you're my soul mate because you smell like the best sex I've never had.
'Kate hasn't been coming to the gym because she was afraid to see you.' Her friend piped up helpfully, earning herself a sharp remark in a language Anthony didn't understand.
'Kate, is it?' He smiled, holding out his hand to shake hers.
'Edwina! That is not true,' Kate hissed, reluctantly taking his hand as she frowned at her sister.
'It is! I came along today to protect her,' Edwina explained to Anthony, 'You're even hotter than she described.'
'Edwina!!'
'Is that right?' Anthony asked, a heat blooming in his chest as he watched Kate fuss self-consciously with the hem of her tank top and avoid his gaze.
'Like you don't know,' she rolled her eyes, a small smile tugging at her lips.
'All I know is that I'd very much like you to sit on my face again,' Anthony said boldly, not sure what had come over him.
Kate's eyes snapped to his, staring with her mouth open so wide he could see her pink tongue. It was very hard not to lean forward and kiss her right then and there.
'So how about it?' He pressed, squeezing the hand that she still hadn't removed from his, 'I'll pick you up at seven, take you out for dinner and maybe see about dessert back at mine?' He added a wink for effect.
'That … that is very -, you can't just go around saying that to women you don't know!' Kate blustered, her beautiful face all righteous indignation. Anthony felt an unusually strong flutter of excitement deep in his gut and held his breath for her answer. The things they could do together, his mind boggled.
He slipped his free hand up to push two wayward ringlets of curls off Kate's temple and leaned in so his lips almost brushed against her ear, 'I think you'll find I can.'