His Off Limits Best Friend - Vivian Wood Page 0,60

gym. It was the only place and the only way he could focus on anything besides her.

Connor vaguely remembered Arnold Schwarzenegger talking about his Mr. Universe days. Working out was likened to a blackout. He’d said it didn’t even really click when he got a call that his father had died. He’d just gone right back to his reps.

That’s what Connor hoped for.

However, it was mostly quantity and not quality. He barely slept, and insomnia wasn’t the best accoutrement to gym sessions. He couldn’t lift as much as he used to, and his reps weren’t as high. He powered through them, but mostly it was cardio. When he looked at the time and realized he’d somehow lost an hour on the treadmill, it felt like a gift.

Connor rubbed the towel over his wet hair. His phone buzzed. Isn’t this your girl? It was from Jay, who had attached a grainy shot of what appeared to be Sam. She was bent over while a young guy with blond hair dry-humped her on the dance floor.

Automatically, his fists clenched when he saw the hands on her hips. Where are you? he asked Jay.

Connor was absolutely livid as he got dressed. Just because the contract doesn’t stipulate we can’t date other people, that gives her no right to rub it in.

Sam knew damn good and well he frequented that club. As did his friends. What did she think was going to happen? He pulled on his Tom Ford jeans and rolled up the sleeves of his Burberry shirt. He’d show her what it meant to cross him.

Connor threw the keys at the valet and marched to the front of the line. There were protests from those who’d been standing there for hours, but he shook hands with the familiar bouncer, handed him a hundred-dollar bill, and stepped inside.

“Connor!” Jay spotted him instantly.

“Hey,” he said, and they pounded each other on the back. “Where is—”

“She’s over there,” Jay said, and pointed at the dance floor.

He saw her in a barely-there turquoise dress. Now, she was with another guy who had thick black hair to his shoulders. Connor stormed through the crowd, which parted easily for him.

Connor grabbed Sam’s forearm, and she looked up in shock. “Come on,” he said, and pulled her.

“Hey man, what are you doing?” the guy asked.

“Don’t get in the middle of this,” he warned him.

“Connor!” she said, as she tried to yank her arm free.

“It doesn’t look like she wants to go with—”

Before the guy could finish, Connor released Sam’s arm and punched him squarely in the jaw. There were gasps around them and a wide circle cleared.

“Fuck, man, what’s your problem?” the guy asked. He cupped his jaw and stared at him.

“Connor, you’re gonna have to go.” The bouncer was suddenly at his side.

“Sorry man, I’m going,” he said. “She’s coming with me.”

He took Sam by the elbow and urged her along. Surprisingly, she obliged, though she trailed slightly behind him.

Connor directed her to an alley around the corner where they could still hear the sounds from the club. “What the hell was that?” she asked.

“You tell me! I get this photo of you basically fucking some guy on the dance floor—”

“Not from me, you didn’t!” she said. “It’s not my fault if you have your little spies set up all over the city.”

“Spies? Hardly. You know damn well my friends and I come here. How do you think that looks? Just because you can technically do what you like off the clock, that doesn’t mean you can sabotage what we’ve built in the process.”

“Me?” she asked. She stepped directly in front of him and he could smell the sweet cocktail on her breath. “I’m not the one who sabotaged anything! I was minding my own business, finally having a fun night out for once, and you crashed in here like a goddamned caveman. I’m not the one who created a scene. That was all you.”

He was enraged with her, but at the same time she was irresistible to him. “You fucking drive me crazy, you know that?”

She rolled her eyes, but before she could speak, his hands were on her waist and he’d closed the distance between them. Sam’s lips parted easily, and his tongue found hers. He walked them back, just three steps, and pushed her against the brick wall.

Her hands were on his chest, beneath his jacket. He’d missed this, this hunger she had for him that he could never quite tame.

Connor hadn’t seen anyone else