He shook his head. “She and Dad kept ordering me to slow down so I wouldn’t have a relapse. Honestly, their vigilance lasted two years. If I had a runny nose or my eyes watered from eating too many peppers, which they also didn’t know about, they kept me home from school, ready to lock me in an oxygen tent. I kept telling them whatever I had wasn’t only gone, but it built up my immune system. I don’t get colds, the flu, or other stuff everyone else suffers through.”
She squeezed his hand. “I’m glad. What happened must have been frightening for you as a child.”
“It was a living nightmare. I envisioned my future in a wheelchair, then a bed, and death before I hit my teens. That’s why I’ve donated so much to the MD foundation and other causes to find cures for paralysis.”
“And why you crave extreme sports?”
“Maybe.” He looked uncharacteristically shy. “I think it’s also in my blood. Now it’s in yours too.”
“Easy cowboy.” She licked salsa off his finger. “I nearly tossed my cookies on our plummet from the bridge, no thanks to you.”
“Me?” He pressed his hand to his chest, an innocent look on his face. “What did I do?”
“You fell backward without telling me what was coming.”
“What would you have done if I had?”
She folded her arms on the table. “Not peed my pants.”
He scooted back in his chair and looked at her lap.
“Get real. I controlled myself.” Except for her lust. Her pussy had rarely been wetter. She crossed her legs to hide any damp spots on her jeans.
His smirk said she wasn’t fooling him as to how much he turned her on. “Had enough lunch?”
After two tacos and enchiladas, plus three bowls of chips, she could barely breathe. “Probably until this time next week.”
“Naw, you’ll get hungry before then.” His gaze dropped to her nipples pressing against her tee. “I certainly will.”
They weren’t talking about food any longer.
He swiped a napkin over his mouth then glanced at his watch. “Better hit the road. We have a ways to go.”
Since Bree had promised not to quiz Cody on where his next exploit would take place or what it might be, she had to settle on freeway signs for clues.
He raced toward Santa Barbara.
There were great shops there and quaint touristy areas, neither considered extreme except for dedicated shopaholics. Which left water activities: surfing, kayaking, sailing. If the swells were high enough, those pursuits could grow increasingly dangerous.
Rather than stay near the coast and the puny surf, he drove into the mountains, higher and higher until they slowed on one peak near the top.
Two guys waved their arms at him.
Cody honked then drove toward them and the voluminous red-and-yellow fabric on the ground.
Bree guessed they weren’t going to picnic here.
“Better put your windbreaker back on.” He donned his sweatshirt and got her door.
Fear became her friend again. “What is this?”
“The next logical step past parasailing.”
Call her crazy, but she didn’t think there was an ocean past the ridge to break their fall if anything went wrong. “Is there water down there?”
“A valley.” Cody gripped the other guys’ forearms, greeting them. “Sorry we’re a little late. Had to chow down. Everything ready?”
They glanced at her.
She tried to smile but couldn’t.
“Don’t worry.” Cody pulled her close. “We’re doing this together like everything else.” He tossed the tallest guy, a redhead, his keys. “You know where to leave my wheels?”
“Got the directions right here.” He lifted his smartphone.
Bree pressed against Cody and kept her voice low. “We’re not taking your truck back?”
“Can’t.”
That was no answer. “Why?”
“You’ll see. Thanks, man.” He took a helmet and shades from a short, brown-haired guy and handed both to her. “Suit up.”
“How dangerous is this?”
“You’ll die much faster in a car or airplane.”
Only because she drove every day and took flights occasionally, which increased the odds on crashing. But this… She stepped toward the edge.
Cody pulled her back. “You’ll see it soon enough. The surprise is much better if you’re not expecting it.”
Her knees wobbled.
He settled into a weird-looking seat, buckled his helmet, and strapped in. “Put on your helmet and shades then sit down. This’ll be a breeze. I’m certified. Been doing this for years without a hitch. Plus, we have chutes.”
“As in parachutes?”
“Yep. Airbags too. Only the latest. Think of it as wrapping fine china in bubble wrap. You’re the china. Guys?” He looked at them. “Strap her in.”
“Wait.” She lifted her hand to the others then spoke to Cody. “I’m sitting in front?”
“It’s the best view. I’ll hold onto you with one arm, when I can.”
“Why wouldn’t you do so continuously?”
“I’ll be guiding our flight.” He explained once they were airborne, he’d use hand brake controls to regulate their speed and direction.
His mouth kept moving.
She supposed with additional details she didn’t get. Shrill ringing sounded in her ears, drowning him out.
He gave her a sweet, hopeful smile begging her to trust him.
Hoping she could, Bree sank into the seat and let the redhead strap her in.
Finished, he gave Cody a thumbs up.
Cody leaned into her and shouted into the stiff breeze, “Follow my lead and you’ll be fine.”
The short guy held onto her strap as the other two lifted ropes attached to the red-and-yellow sheet.
She raised her face. Wind billowed the fabric, jerking her and Cody up, her feet leaving the ground.
Screeching, she pointed her toes and strained trying to touch land.
A gust blew them higher.
She clenched the straps on either side, her heart going crazy, unable to complete a full beat.
Cody let out a spirited cry and hugged her as well as he could. “Isn’t this great!”
They dipped to the right, the valley spread beneath them, then banked to the left and turned wide circles, floating on air.
Her terror evaporated, awe replacing it, her shout less terrified, “Are you making us do this?”
“Yep.”
He was a marvel.
Using air currents, he guided the thing as effortlessly as he drove his truck. They dipped, soared, glided, and rotated, better acrobatics than the birds flying by.
She blew a kiss at one and squeezed Cody’s knee.
He leaned in. “Enjoying this?”
“Yes!” His parents had been wrong to coop him up when he was little, no matter their worry. However, if they hadn’t, he might not have longed for constant adventure. She was glad he did. If she’d never known him or come today, she wouldn’t have risked this.
Once they’d parted for good, missing him would be as hard on her as never seeing Tav and Lucius again.
Sorrow killed her exhilaration.
They dipped to the right and circled vineyards, perfect lines resembling a woman’s cornrows, everything lush and green.
Its sheer beauty boosted her mood and she surrendered to bliss, flinging out her arms and throwing back her head.
Cody leaned around her and pecked her lips.
Tears welled at the gift he’d given her in doing this. She’d been beyond reluctant and made what should have been easy too hard for him. Not any longer. She yelled, “Thanks!”
“For what?”
Being you. “Not letting your parents keep you down.”
“Never.”
They flew toward the sun. Already it was low in the sky, night approaching quicker than she wanted.
She couldn’t guess where they might land
, except in a grassy field or someone’s yard, civilization encroaching on nature, several mansions dotting the landscape.
Cody veered away from them in the other direction, this more remote. Paved roads were fewer and farther between, gravel or dirt paths replacing them. No one around.
Maybe they were going to fly back to where they took off?
It would be a surprise as Cody said.
Content to wait, she simply rejoiced in these moments as she had the ones with Lucius and Tav.
After flying back the way they’d come, Cody returned to the secluded area, unimproved roads crisscrossing it.
Something shiny winked from the ground.
She leaned forward, trying to catch it again, and yelled, “What was that?”
“Our waystation.”
“Nothing’s down there.”
“You’re not looking in the right area.”
Before she could question further, he maneuvered them to a slow drift toward the ground and shouted, “Lift your legs.”
She did, the ground sailing beneath them.
A man shot from the side, the third person who’d worked with the redhead and short guy on the hill. His long, black hair wiggled in the wind as he grabbed the ropes near Cody, helping them stop.
Once they’d halted fully, the guy unbuckled Bree’s strap, helped her out, then held the seat as Cody freed himself. He looked around. “Where’d you put it?”
“Over there.” The guy pointed.
Cody took off his helmet and Bree’s, handing both over, along with her shades. “Later.”
“Counting on it.”
At a run, Cody led her around the bend.
She puffed. “Where are we going now?”
“Here.” He stopped at a fierce-looking Harley, two helmets strapped to the seat, and handed her one. “You know the drill.”
She did. “We’re doing motocross now?”
“Nope.” He put on his helmet, straddled the bike, and patted the seat in back. “Hop on.”
Pressed closed, arms tight around his waist, she held her breath over bumpy roads, during sharp turns, and past debris he swerved to miss.
He released a warrior’s shout, his heart pounding beneath her palms, this and the other things he’d introduced her to truly his element.
The bike took a hard left and tore up a rise.
A lone cabin stood at the top, rustic looking but well kept.
Cody stopped, removed his helmet, and grinned at her. “Honey, we’re home.”
“This is yours?”
“Yep. A great place for me to be alone, though not tonight. Wait till you see it.”
It was larger than she’d thought, the living room sizeable, kitchen to the side, bedroom past double doors, everything clean and modern-rustic, a stone fireplace taking up one wall, an enormous sheepskin rug near it, large enough for two.
Cody slipped his arms around her waist. “Tell me you enjoyed today.”
Better than she dreamed. Rather than use words, she pressed his hand to her damp crotch.
His eyebrows shot up. “Danger turns you on?”
“Since the concrete bridge, clear to our ride here.”
“Fuck, you should have told me. We could have gotten a room.”
“We have one now.” She pulled off his sweatshirt and tee.
He tore away everything she wore above the waist and tossed it over his shoulder.
Frantically, they undressed, their remaining clothes flying everywhere, and sank to the rug, their kisses stinging and rough. She fought him to get on top and won, straddling his hips.
“Wait.” He rolled her beneath him then scrambled away. “We forgot rubbers. And a fire. It’s cold in here.”
“Not for me.”
He glanced at the gooseflesh on her arms. “Your skin and shivering say otherwise.”
“I’m excited.”
Grinning, he rushed to the bedroom and waved a condom box on his return. “Here.” He tossed it. “Get me one.”
As she did, he tended the fire, simply needing to strike a match, the fixings already in place.
Rosy light filled the room, warm and romantic.
Kneeling, she lifted the rubber. “Let me dress you.”
He thrust his hips toward her, his stiffened cock pointing at her chest.
She kissed the crown and lapped his pre-cum.
His legs shimmied.
“Promise you’ll never let anything happen to this.” She cradled his dick.
“Don’t worry. I’ll bash my head in, puncture both lungs, lose my kidneys, and poke out my eyes before I injure my cock or balls.”
Spoken like a man. She pecked his scars, comforted there weren’t more, and sheathed him.
On his knees, he bathed his fingers in her juices, his lids dipping. “Ready for danger?”
The scariest kind, the risk to her heart. She should have bounded out the door, but instead opened her arms to him.
His face and neck reddened, gratitude in his eyes—a male’s appetite for sex and sin.
Pulse throbbing, she pulled back her legs, inviting him inside her.
He mounted easily and pulled in several breaths.
She did too, trying to calm, not wanting to race toward climax.
After pushing closer to drive his full length inside, he looked at her, something comparable to reverence on his face.
She felt the same. The peril they’d faced—whether it had only been in her mind or not— plus this cozy, magical setting, and what he’d confessed about his childhood, bonded them in a way she hadn’t predicted. No different from the evenings she shared with Lucius and Tav, falling more deeply for them too.
Alarming truths urging her to leave and not look back.
Cody’s gaze, scent, and heat held her, refusing to let go.
They kissed as they hadn’t before, their passion deeper and richer, reaching those corners in her mind where she was lonely and wanting.
Although she tried to push her feelings back as she always had, the effort proved progressively difficult.
Weary of fighting and simply wanting to feel, she took him inside her heart, if only for a little while. Tomorrow would be different. She’d be tougher, less susceptible to his warmth, strength, and desires.
* * *
Bree’s mouth and cunt were the only haven Cody wanted, his need for her so great he feared the emotion. Not for himself. When he wanted something, he pursued it, and by fucking God he desired her.
Kissing her more deeply he thumbed her clit.
A longing moan escaped her, her pussy tightening around his cock.
He loved how she responded to him. He flexed his dick in answer then thrust, the only rational thing to do when he had the one woman he wanted beneath him. To hell with weighing pros and cons as to whether they’d work out or not. Taking baby steps wasn’t his way in life, work, or romance. He either did something or didn’t.
At this point, a SWAT team couldn’t have torn him from her. The cops would have to kill him first, he was that far gone, drowning in her fragrance, requiring everything she was. Strong but gentle. Brave yet frightened. Distant but also loving.
She caressed his face, tenderness and longing in her touch, wickedness in her cunt. The snug prison clutched his dick, squeezing periodically to pull him deeper.
Happy to oblige, he thrust then eased back and plunged in once more.
Her mouth opened on a gasp, muffled by his tongue. He sank it further, filling her as much as he could, leaving his taste and taking hers until they’d created their own flavor.
He didn’t want her forgetting about this day, night, or him, worried she might because trust came much harder to her, a difficulty he’d never known. Even so, she’d stuck with today’s program, not once leaving his side. Hopefully, he’d proved good things could happen and would. He’d move heaven and earth to make certain they did for her.
She forced his tongue from her mouth and dipped hers into his, pushing her cunt against his
dick when he was too slow to bury his length inside. Her passion quickening, matching his.
Logs popped and crackled, nature playing her music for them, setting the mood.
At this point, he didn’t need enhancements. His cock couldn’t have been harder, the workout it got today fucking unreasonable. Each time she sat in front, her plush ass against him, his rod and balls had responded accordingly. When he did relax, it was time for their next feat, her curves turning his equipment to stone again.
He couldn’t quiet his appetite for her any longer and pulled his mouth from hers then thrust like a madman.
Her boobs trembled.
A great sight.
Abandon flared in her eyes.
That was exceptional.
He returned her alluring grin and pumped vigorously, his thumb matching the pace on her clit.
Her mouth hung open, eyes shut, painting a better picture than what she’d offered on the bridge when they jumped.
Unshakeable in his need to pull emotions from her, especially now, he kissed, pumped, and aroused her, unconcerned as to his enjoyment.
Her complexion got dusky, breaths halting. She gripped her hair and tugged.
He rubbed her clit slowly and eased up on his thrusts.
She frowned but pulled in more air.
His next thrust stole it, his quickened strokes on her nub also taking her by surprise.
Her pulsing cunt tightened around his dick, the friction intense.
She shouted and came.
Growling, he joined her.
Then they both weakened, everything turning black.
Chapter 12
Late Monday afternoon, Bree lumbered into Surrender, her week with the guys finished, her real life starting.
Upon reaching Jacquie’s desk, Bree put out her hand, not wanting conversation or questions. She had a splitting headache, a heavy heart, and a burning need to simply get on with the business here, immersing herself in the only thing she excelled in.
Earlier today, she’d left Cody quietly and completely, no mention concerning the future, the same as she’d done to Lucius and Tav. Like them, he hadn’t pressed.
Submission: Surrender, Book One Page 19