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back, and again that night at the club. Cooper’s scent then had been mixed with fear, and how it had aroused Nando. It had instantly made him hard.
    Then Cooper added to the turn-on by asking Nando to fuck his mouth.
    This morning Nando’s arousal was more a force of nature. He wrapped his hand around his erection and fisted it a few times; then he rolled his hips so he could fuck his clenched fist. He was sore in the best possible way, helping him recall last night’s exercise, and with his free hand, he reached behind his back to finger his hole. It took just a single finger for Nando to come, shooting his spunk through his fingers to the bedding below. He rolled over to his back again, closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep amidst dreams of fucking Cooper after tying him up with coarse rope.
    Nando woke up a little while later from the sun shining through the half-closed blinds. He vaguely remembered Cooper telling him to feel free to take a shower, so he did.
    When he returned, a towel around his hips for his own modesty and nobody else’s, he noticed the rumpled bed sheets and figured that soiling them twice in the last ten hours or so was enough to warrant a wash, so he ripped the sheets off the bed and went in search of a washing machine.

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    While the sheets were soaking, he wandered into the kitchen and found a note from Cooper near the half-full coffee pot.
    “Didn’t want to wake you. Help yourself to breakfast and coffee. Take the money for cab fare.” There was twenty dollars next to it, and Nando eyed it sharply. All of a sudden he felt dirty, although he knew the shower had done its job.
    “Sheets are in the washing machine,” he wrote under it, before getting dressed in a hurry and rushing out the door, leaving the money untouched. He took the bus instead and was at the shop even before Paulina arrived. She gave him a questioning look, since he was never there before her, but she had the good judgment not to ask.
    A good day’s work was the best way for Nando to get his mind in order, and by evening time, he was smiling and joking with the clients again. Somewhere after ten, the steady stream of patrons dried up, and Nando was restocking the workbenches when Cooper walked through the front door.
    Instinctively, Nando turned away from him, opening one of the drawers to refill it with tissues. He didn’t want to be confronted by the man he’d slept with, not after all that morning’s mixed feelings. On the other hand, he didn’t have the heart to send him away. Even in the split second he’d seen Cooper, he knew he’d gone home to change after work.
    Nando didn’t know whether it was his imagination or whether Cooper really was wearing the tight jeans he’d worn to the club, but it was making things stir in his groan. He didn’t want to be this affected, but the truth was, he couldn’t Balance | Zahra Owens
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    do anything about it. He heard Paulina talk to Cooper in hushed, conspiratory tones from the front desk, which she was preparing for the next day.
    “Thanks for washing my sheets,” Cooper said, suddenly a lot closer than Nando expected.
    “Was the least I could do,” Nando answered almost automatically, pretending to be too busy to look at Cooper.
    “Well, it was a nice gesture,” Cooper added softly, as if he didn’t want Paulina to overhear their conversation. “I see you got here from my house, yet you didn’t take the money?” Nando shot him a poisonous look and then kicked the drawer shut as if he was blaming it for all the evils of the world. “Listen,” Nando started before backing down and simply walking away toward the supply room in the back.
    Cooper followed him and only just managed to prevent the supply room door from slamming into his face.
    “I don’t appreciate being paid for my services,” Nando spat out, emphasizing the word “paid.” Cooper shook his head, his expression doubtful. “Paid?
    You mean the cab fare I