Hard Core (Hard As Nails Book 3)

by Hope Conrad

  I circle my foot, trying to see if the pain is actually gone. When I twist my ankle back to its starting position, there’s a slight stabbing sensation, but it’s nothing like it was before.

  “Look at that,” I say with a smile. “I’m all healed.” I hold my hand out for my keys and he drops them in my palm. “Thank you for everything, Axel.”

  “No problem.” He smiles a sincere smile and his eyes glisten under the light of the hallway lights. “Goodnight, Alyssa.”

  “Goodnight.”

  And just like that, I turn to my door and twist the key, but instead of going inside, I hesitate, my eyes leveled with the doorknob. From behind me, I can feel his shadow drifting away, and hear his feet padding along concrete. I spin around, wincing in unexpected pain, and see Axel walking down the hallway with his phone pressed against his ear, obviously calling a cab.

  “Axel,” I call out, and he stops and turns around. “Why don’t you come inside?”

  He covers his phone with his hand. “Excuse me?”

  “I just invited you in.”

  He narrows his eyes. “Seriously?”

  “Look, it’s been a shitty night.”

  “We all have bad nights.” He lowers his phone, sticks it in his pocket, and takes a measured step toward me.

  “Maybe. But it’s actually been a really shitty year, to be honest. And you were nice. And… Oh God, I can’t believe I’m going to say this.”

  “Say what?”

  I groan and force the words from my throat. “I’m horny and I haven’t had sex in what seems like forever, and I just figured it would be a great distraction.” My cheeks burn, flushing red with embarrassment. “If you’re not interested, don’t worry about it.” I wave him off and shift my attention back to the door.

  His shadow passes over me and I freeze in place. “Oh, I’m interested,” he says and I spin around to face him. My back is pressed against the door, and inch by inch, he closes the distance between us. “I know I should do the honorable thing and turn you down because you’ve had a bad night. It’s possible you’re not thinking straight.”

  He’s pressed up against me now, warm body heat and hot breath, and eyes that command attention. I can’t look away. I can’t speak. I’m just a standing pile of want, my chest heaving and my breath fragile.

  “Are you?”

  I blink. “Am I what?”

  “Are you thinking straight?”

  I nod.

  “Then if you really want me to stay, I’ll stay.”

  “Please…” I brace one hand against his chest as my body shakes. “Stay.”

  “Whatever you want,” he drops his hand to the doorknob, “I’ll give you.” He pushes the door, and it swings open behind me. Just when I’m about to fall backward into the open space of my apartment, he catches me at the small of my back, and there’s this crazy, wild grin on his face.

  My heart thumps wildly.

  What the hell have I gotten myself into?

  Chapter Seven

  Axel

  She feels great under my touch, like a heaven-sent angel. Despite where she works, I’ve talked with her enough to know she’s too pure for what’s about to go down, but my blood is pumping, racing, through every part of my body. I’ve been wanting to touch her, really touch her, since the moment I met her, and I no longer have the control to stop myself.

  I crush my mouth down on hers, savoring the taste of her cherry lips. With a quick kick of my foot, I close the door behind us and we’re entrapped by darkness.

  Alyssa pulls away from me and rips a cord to a lamp. The room is lit in a dirty yellow hue, but even under this particular lighting, she’s an angel to me.

  I caress her cheeks with my palms and sink back into her lips, stealing her breath the same way she’s stealing mine. She stumbles backwards, and I remember her hurt ankle. With one swift movement, I pick her back up, cradling her ass in my hands as I carry her through the hallway, guessing where the bedroom door is.

  I choose the right door and rush to the edge of the bed, before settling her onto a white comforter. Then I gently remove her shoes, mindful of her injured ankle. City lights pour in through the window, and the passing of night traffic can be heard slushing through the rain.

  * * *

  Alyssa

  With my back cushioned by the bed, I brace myself on my elbows and watch the man before me. He slips one arm of his black blazer down one shoulder, and then the next before he throws the fabric to the floor. My eyes shift to his left arm, the top covered by a tattoo of black flames.

  He lowers his palm to the hem of his all white tee, and begins a slow dance, pulling the shirt over chiseled, rock hard abs. I can’t take my eyes off the wondrous sight before me.

  He tugs the shirt over his head and tosses it on the floor. His chest is adorned with more tattoos, with a long quote scribed over his left breast. I blink when I catch a name—a woman’s name—with the quote: Anne. He catches me staring. “I’m single,” he says quietly. “You.”

  When I nod, he grins.

  I wait for him to touch me, and touch me he does as he crawls onto the bed and on top of my body.

  He’s strong. Too strong. Too fast and too heavy, and yet, it’s still all too slow. I want to be lost in him for the moment, knowing that when morning comes, I may never see him again. He’s not a regular at the club, otherwise I would have recognized him.

  His palm slips under my top and caresses my bare stomach. His hands are rough, and his scent intoxicating. I palm my fingers through his soft but tussled hair. And when he sinks his teeth into my neck, I let out an embarrassing moan of pleasure.

  He makes quick work of the button and the fly of my shorts, then slides the garment along with my underwear down my legs, until my lower half is left bare underneath his hot body.

  My toes curl into the sheets as he traces his way to my pussy, circling his fingers around my opening.

  * * *

  Axel

  “Tell me what you want, Angel.”

  “I want…” I stutter and draw my eyes closed. “I want you inside me.”

  “Like this?” I question, and part her pussy with one finger first, and then another. She’s slick and ready for me, but I want to watch the anticipation on her face. I want to bring her to the brink before I even think about giving her what she craves. I sink my fingers in and out of her, reveling in the way her chest heaves as she tries to fight against her need to scream. “Don’t hold back. Let me hear you scream.”

  She tilts her head up, unsteady and shaking. “Then fuck me,” she cries. “I’ll scream when you fuck me!”

  I’m taken aback. We might be in the midst of doing the nasty, but even so her dirty mouth surprises me. It just goes to show that even the sweetest, most innocent girls can become someone else in bed.

  I angle myself up on the bed so I can shove my jeans and underwear down my hips. And when I get a good glance at her wanting pussy, I know I can’t wait any longer. I want to—need to—crave to—be inside of her, and it’d simply take too long to dispose of my shoes first, and then my jeans.

  I scramble, grab my wallet from my jeans, retrieve a condom, then quickly slip it on. I fumble slightly when I catch her watching, her eyes dazed, her pink tongue swiping her lips. Finally, the damn thing is on.

  I position myself above her, then thrust and sink inside.

  * * *

  Alyssa

  My fingers curl into his back as he sinks deeper into me, stretching me to the breaking point until he’s fully inside. And when he gets there, he takes a brief moment to steady himself and to give me time to adjust. And his eyes, they do the most wondrous thing, pulling me inside out as he slowly and carefully pulls out of me.

  And then slowly and carefully pushes back in.

  Calm and collected, cool and gentle. Slow and steady is the most dangerous game to play when two naked bodies join forces. It requires a slow build to an inevitable explosion. But that’s not why I brought him he
re. I brought him here to fuck me, not to make love to me.

  “Please,” I beg. “Fuck me.”

  “I am.”

  “No. Fuck me. Hard.”

  “You sure you can handle it?” he asks in a shattered, ragged tone, as if fucking me hard is all he wants in the world, but he fears I’m leading him into some trap.

  “Yes, yes. Fuck me, Axel.”

  “You insist?”

  “I do.”

  “Okay.” His arms go taut on either side of my head as he retreats from me once more. He’s almost free, then he suddenly thrusts, barreling his way back in, filling me to the hilt. I yelp in surprise and he freezes.

  “Okay?”

  I nod. “More. Do it again.”

  He does it again. And again. He fucks me deep into the mattress, one hand digging into the pillow beside my head and the other digging into my side.

  He thrusts into me, fucking me like I begged him to do. I grip onto him harder, tighter, trying to regain control over this encounter though I know it’s long flown out the window.

  One of my legs curls around his back. Sweat begins to drip from his face and onto the white fabric of my shirt. I can feel myself hurtling toward release, but it’s too soon. I don’t want this to end yet, so I muster the strength to take back control.

  * * *

  Axel

  Alyssa pushes her hands against my chest, and then rolls on top of me, switching positions without removing my cock from inside her. I give a quick thought for her ankle, but it doesn’t seem to be slowing her down. She raises her arms and tugs her shirt over her head. I just about lose all my goddamn marbles when I see her tits for the first time.

  On the small side. Nice and firm. Feminine and delicate.

  I raise my palms to cup them, and that’s when I definitely lose all my goddamn marbles. I’m overtaken by pleasure. The way she rides my cock is heavenly, and the way she feels in my hands is explosive.

  She threatens to destroy me, to send me to an early grave with every swivel of her hips.

  She treats me like I’m her bike, the way I treat my own bike, except I’m not in the habit of reaching a mind-fuck of an orgasm while I’m on my steel beauty.

  The same can’t be said for her. “No, no,” she whimpers, as if she was trying to hold back her release. But then she screams. Her fingers dig through her long, dark hair, steadying herself as she rides into a breath-stealing orgasm. She bucks through the pleasure, her mouth drawn open in the shape of a beautiful, cock-hardening ‘O’.

  That’s precisely when I hit my own point of no return. I lower my hands to her hips and hold her tightly in place as I slam upward and into her with reckless abandon. Her pussy quivers as she continues to break around me, and it’s all too much, but it’s not enough. Maybe it never will be.

  I grip her at her waist and throw her onto her back so that I’m square above her again. She locks her heels behind me and pushes my jeans further down my ass.

  She’s still shaking. Still trying to reconcile breathing with the explosion I’d set off inside her. She holds onto me as if she’s dying, as if I’m the only thing keeping her grounded to this Earth.

  Little does she know she’s the only thing saving me in the moment. Saving me from my thoughts, and all the guilt and self-doubt that periodically surfaces. Underneath me, she takes one last shallow breath as I spend myself into the condom. I groan as I sink my head down beside hers.

  All that’s left is breathing. That’s all I can hear. My breathing. Her breathing. And in the distance, I can hear her heartbeat, skipping down a paved track of exhaustion.

  But there’s something stirring within me. Something that’s screaming: this is my girl. That sounds about right.

  I want to protect her.

  I want to keep her safe.

  I want to own her.

  Not because I don’t respect her. Not because she can’t take care of herself. Not because I’m a controlling dick.

  But because I protect what’s mine. I cherish it. And bottom line, since the moment I saw her, I feel like Alyssa belongs to me.

  Chapter Eight

  Alyssa

  My mind is dizzy, and my eyes blurry when I awaken from a deep sleep. The best sleep I’ve had on this side of my father’s most recent health scare, to be exact.

  A deep enough sleep to escape the reality of the world, where dreams don’t dare interfere with complete solace. But there’s a strange feeling when I open my eyes and see the bed sheets scrunched up beside me.

  Axel is gone.

  Maybe it was all a dream. After all, what would a man like Axel want with a girl like me anyway? It’s not that I’m not attractive. I am. But waitressing in a strip club is the most exciting thing I’ve ever done.

  Axel, on the other hand, is a natural fighter. He prefers to ride a bike over driving a car. He’s a bad boy, and I’ve sworn off bad boys since my mom left me and my dad for one.

  Bad boys are no good for you. They’ll drag you into their troubles and upend your entire life. Hell, I stay away from boys in general because they’re nothing but heartbreak and annoyance.

  And yet, there is an empty feeling in the pit of my gut when I roll onto my other side, and scan my bedroom. He’s still nowhere to be seen.

  I slide out of bed, wrapping myself in a white sheet before making my way out of the bedroom. The front door has been left unlocked, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that he’s long gone.

  That’s good, I think. I wanted sex, and Axel was the perfect man to give it to me. What I didn’t want was anything remotely resembling the start of a relationship. Still, there’s an annoying hollow feeling in my stomach.

  If I had to judge the previous night on a scale from one to ten, my time with Axel was off the charts. What happened between the two of us—adults and consenting strangers—was the perfect distraction, enough so I could finally get the sleep I so needed.

  But apparently, it wasn’t enough to make me feel satisfied.

  Even hours later, all I want is more of Axel.

  And that is a very dangerous thing.

  * * *

  After breakfast, I call Marley. When she doesn’t pick up, I text her. Still nothing. I wait for her to call me back, using the time to replay my night with Axel in my head, but when she still doesn’t call, I get dressed. I’d visit her, but she never told me where she lived. I call her again, begging her to get in touch. I run a few errands, and even attend an open audition for a reality TV show. It’s not the part I’ve been dreaming about since I was a young child, but it has the potential to pay well, and in my current circumstances, that’s all that matters. I need money more than I need stardom, and I need it fast. If I can’t get it through acting, it looks more and more like I’m going to have to give stripping a try.

  Stripping. It’s such a mild word for what really occurs; it just doesn’t resonate with the emotions, good, bad, and ugly, that must go hand-in-hand with a woman dancing with her tits out, gyrating on a pole. That’s going to be me soon, I think.

  I leave the audition with an apprehensive feeling in my stomach, and negativity brewing in my mind. I’m too out of my game, even after a mind-clearing fuck last night. I totally blew the audition, and it was for a damn reality show. It shouldn’t even count as a real audition in my book.

  By the time I pull into the gravel parking lot outside Sugar Bare, I’m heading into a grouchy mindset. And I’m heading there fast. The occasional pain in my not-broken, but fragile ankle serves as a physical reminder of how much I loathe this place. I realize I never talked to Walt about what happened, and thus, all he thinks is that Marley and I disappeared on him. For all I know, the blonde guy Axel beat the shit out of called the police or told Walt some bullshit story about how Marley and I jumped him and tried to take his wallet.

  Like we could inflict the damage Axel had. No, chances are he’d slunk back under whatever rock he’d crawled out from. Even so, I feel anxious as I step out of my car, my tall black heels
crunching against rocks, and make my way to the back door. When I touch the doorknob, I hesitate and take a quick inhale, mentally preparing myself to be confronted by Walt.

  But nothing can adequately prepare me for what I see when I open the door.

  Axel, leaning against the wall with a blank expression on his face, wearing jeans, and another tee and blazer combination.

  “What the hell are you doing here? Are you stalking me?”

  “Are we really going to have the stalking conversation already?” He furrows a brow. “This is only the second time we’ve run into each other.”

  “Cute. Are you going to answer my question?”

  “The one where you rudely asked what I’m doing here?”

  I nod. “Yeah, start with that one.” I pull the door shut behind me then cross my arms. “I’m sure I’ll be able to come up with a question or two afterward.”

  He shrugs. “I work here.”

  “Since when?”

  “Officially?” He grins. “Tonight.” He points a finger at me, almost accusingly. “You could say I technically started last night.”

  “So you weren’t just hanging out, like you said you were. You lied to me.”

  His expression becomes serious. “I didn’t lie. I was just hanging out. I hadn’t decided whether to take a job here. That’s changed.”

  “So saving me was just part of a job?”

  “Does it matter?”

  I swallow hard. “No,” I say, wanting to kick myself for how petulant I sound. “Thank you, by the way.”

  “You already thanked me once.”

  “Actually, I think, based on what we did last night, I thanked you way more than once.”

  His grin returns, and I love how his face can go hard and serious one second, but soft and inviting the next. It dawns on me that he looks most natural when he’s smiling, and I like that. “I’m pretty sure it was just once,” he says, “But I can’t say for sure. I was kind of lost in the moment. But if you want to refresh my recollection…”