ONE MORE RIDE

by Sophia Gray

  When I’d managed to get my boots and socks off, I went back to my jeans and finished wiggling out of them. I was bright red from embarrassment, knowing that not only was Ethan watching, but that bastard Louis probably was, too.

  I’m a whore, I thought suddenly. It was enough to make me want to cry all over again, but I managed to hold back.

  When I felt sufficiently composed, I straightened myself up, throwing my hair back over my shoulders. I stood as though at attention in front of Ethan, waiting for my next instructions.

  He took a long moment where he didn’t say anything. He just stared at me. His eyes raked over my exposed skin, lingering on my breasts and between my thighs. I wasn’t wearing anything particularly sexy as far as underwear went, but they weren’t granny panties either. Bikini cut underwear and a low slung bra that exposed the tops of my breasts went a long way to compensate for the lack of frills and the dull beige color.

  I felt like I waited forever, just standing there in my underthings while Ethan examined me.

  But finally, he spoke. “Lay down on the desk, please.” His tone was polite, almost pleasant. It was a tone he might use to talk to a friend about the damn weather.

  Forcing myself not to tremble, I hesitated for just a second, then turned around so I could sit on the desk. Immediately, I decided that was a bad idea, because now I could see Louis. It was impossible to not notice that he was watching, just as attentive as Ethan.

  My stomach churned, but I forced myself to keep going. In for a penny, in for a pound. It’s too late to go back now, I thought.

  Swallowing heavily, I scooched back on the desk and then carefully laid back. When my back was pressed flat against the cold wood, I noticed Ethan again. His pants were already undone and I noticed he was bare beneath, his erection already hard and close to freedom.

  Just like in my dream, his large hands moved on to his shirt. He jerked it off quickly, throwing it onto his chair. When he reached for his pants again, I looked away. I didn’t want to watch this, didn’t want to be here.

  I stared at the ceiling instead, waiting for the inevitable. My whole body felt like it was pulled taut like a piano string, prepared for the unthinkable. The waiting, I thought, was worse than the actual deed. Just knowing it was coming—

  Then he touched me.

  I jerked from the sudden touch, his hand sliding along my bare side near my ribs. “You’re soft, Diana,” he told me in a deep voice that sent conflicting shivers down my spine. “And fit. You’re in good shape considering you had a kid.”

  I swallowed, shutting my eyes. I didn’t want him to talk about Cody, but it reminded me of the dream again. You’re definitely a mom I’d like to fuck. I nearly whimpered, but managed to muffle it. Mostly.

  Not enough, though, because Ethan commented. “I knew you’d come around to the deal.”

  That pissed me off enough that my eyes snapped open and I turned so that I was staring at Ethan, glaring venomously at him. “Shut up,” I told him.

  He laughed at me. “Spunky. I like it. Just don’t get too spunky.”

  His hand moved down my frame, making me shiver in the good and the bad ways again. It frustrated the hell out of me that my mind and body couldn’t seem to agree on what was happening here.

  When his fingers reached my panties, they curled beneath the hem and jerked them down my legs. I clenched my eyes shut, trying not to remember my erotic dream.

  But it was impossible. He’d ripped them off me then and stuffed them into my mouth. I half expected the real Ethan Chambers to do that, too, but he didn’t. He tossed them carelessly, then went back to my body. His hands slid over my hips and thighs, my navel and my ribs.

  I was trying not to look at him, but it was impossible. When I felt his hand just below my bra, my eyes snapped open again to find him watching my reactions.

  Now that I was looking at him, I couldn’t help but stare. His muscles were carved as though from stone, hard and bulging in all the right ways. But there were scars there, scrapes across his body that added a strange beauty to him. A slice across his bicep. A strip of angry, gnarled red down his chest. A small notch missing at his hip. His abs were like a washboard and I couldn’t help but notice that little trail of dark hair leading down to—

  Despite myself, I caught my breath. He was big. His cock was hard with veins trailing up towards the dark pink head. I found myself thinking that maybe my imagination hadn’t given him enough credit.

  “Like what you see, baby?” he growled as he leveled his hard erection at my entrance. He was settled between my legs, his hands having moved down to my inner thighs so he could push them open wider. He was looking at me when he asked it, but then his eyes trailed down lower to my core. He laughed. “I guess that answers that.”

  My cheeks flushed red as I realized what he was talking about. I was already wet.

  “Maybe I should have offered you this deal in the first place,” he said. I felt the tip of him press at my entrance. “Of course, what’s the fun in that?”

  I didn’t get a chance to answer. He pushed the head of his cock in, the initial insertion stretching me wider than I’d been stretched in a while. He gave me a second to get used to him, to adjust to his huge size, then he plunged inside.

  The length of him filled me up until he hit the very back of me, my body screaming in a mixture of pleasure and pain. I cried out.

  “Fuck, baby, you’re tighter than I thought,” he grunted, his hard body held over mine by his strong muscled arms. He seemed bigger in that moment. And not just his engorged cock inside of me. He was like a cage capturing me, holding me within his walls of bone and delicious flesh.

  God, I didn’t want to want him. But I did. I wanted him.

  He began to move, his erection pumping short and fast at first, then sliding all the way out of me. I felt suddenly empty after that forceful entry, but I didn’t feel that way for long. He shoved back inside of me, hitting the back of me all over again and whether I intended to or not, I groaned in pleasure.

  “That’s it,” he growled at me and I saw that his gaze was fixated on my breasts. “I like women with big tits and you’ve got fucking nice ones. Guess I should be grateful you’re a hot momma.”

  I bit my lip to keep from responding, because I was half afraid I’d tell him I liked his dirty words. I liked the fact that he was talking while he was screwing my brains out on his desk in the back of a diner.

  His hand reached up to grab my bra. I realized what he was going to do and made a move to stop him—the only move I’d really made since this started. “No. I want my bra intact when I walk out of here.”

  He laughed a little, the sound sending pleasant vibrations down my body where we were connected, then said, “All right. Then take it off.”

  Gritting my teeth, I lifted off the desk just enough so I could reach behind my back and undo the clasp. It took some wiggling and Ethan was content to watch as I struggled rather than help me out, but I managed to slide the bra off. I set it off to the side, then his pace started up again and I swore it was twice as hard.

  His thrusts became harder, faster, the sounds of skin slapping against skin filling the room. He grunted above me, taking what he wanted from my body and enjoying every second of it. The problem was, I was enjoying it, too. More than I should have been.

  Unwilling to watch his expression as he looked down at my exposed body, I let my head fall to the side. But that was a mistake, too, because then I caught sight of Louis standing at the door. His dark eyes were fixed on us, watching as his boss pumped into me. He seemed completely unperturbed by this whole thing and while I was horrified…I also found I liked it a little.

  He was watching us. Watching me as I was fucked into oblivion. And while he remained motionless—except for his eyes, which moved with us—I thought his slacks looked a little tight. He was enjoying this, too.

  Jerking my gaze away, I caught sight of Ethan again. He was staring down at me hungrily, his eyes wild wit
h lust, his skin flushed with exertion and arousal. “Fuck, you’re a pretty little thing,” he said to me in a strained voice. “All softness and curves. Perfect to hold on to.”

  But he’s not holding on to me, I thought a split second before he said, “So fucking hold on.”

  I opened my mouth to ask him what he meant, but a loud groan escaped my lips instead. It should have embarrassed me, but I was too far gone, lost in his thrusting hips and the way his hardness stretched me open.

  “Grab your tits,” he ordered me. “Squeeze ‘em for me.”

  I didn’t even bother fighting or ignoring his order. Instead, my hands reached up and fondled my breasts. I squeezed them as he asked, flesh spilling out of my hands which were too small to really hold them.

  He groaned. “That’s it. Now pinch your nipples.”

  I grabbed my own nipples between my thumbs and forefingers, rolling them until they were hard pebbles, then I pinched.

  He hummed appreciatively. “Good. Now move lower.”

  I licked my lips, then let my right hand slide away from my breast, down over my ribs. Pausing there, I waited for the next order. I knew it would come.

  “Lower,” he demanded at the same time he shoved his entire length into my body. I cried out and he groaned. “Lower!” he told me again, forcibly.

  I moved my hand down to my navel.

  “Lower.”

  I swallowed. His voice had become little more than a deep growl, a rumble in his sculpted chest. My hand shook as I let it slide over my mound. I left it there between our bodies, not quite touching his throbbing cock as it continued to piston into my body.

  But that wasn’t low enough for him and as he grinned down at me wickedly, it finally clicked what he wanted. “Touch your clit until you come.”

  I opened my mouth to protest. It was one thing to make me do this, but that didn’t mean I had to come.

  His grin widened—the devil’s own smile. “Do it or I’ll fuck you until you’re raw. I’ll come and you’ll just have to stay here until I’m hard and ready again. I’ll use your body over and over until you finally give in and lose yourself while I’m inside of you. I don’t care how you want to do this. I’ll get what I want one way or another. And what I want is for you to come.”

  I was angry with him for putting me in this position, and I was enthralled by his dirty words, his hard body, and the forceful way he claimed my body. So I relented. I let my hand slip lower, dipping just barely between my swollen folds. I found the little nub instantly and a tiny touch with the pad of my finger was enough to make me scream, “Fuck!”

  He groaned and started moving even faster, his hips colliding with mine as he pumped his hard length inside of me. “That’s it, baby. Come. Spill all over my dick. I want it and I want it now.”

  They shouldn’t have affected me like they did, his words and demands. But they did. They sent me spiraling into an orgasm that was like an explosion. It swallowed me, leaving me shuddering with pleasure so intense that for a moment I wasn’t even there. I was gone somewhere else, my vision gone, my body nothing but a burning ball of light.

  And when I came back, I couldn’t even make myself care that Ethan Chambers was cooing little nothings in my ear as he spasmed into me three more times before pulling out and spilling himself across my stomach.

  Suddenly, there was silence. The only sound filling the room was my hammering heartbeat and Ethan’s spent panting.

  Then he slid off me and turned around. I took a moment to appreciate the hard muscles of his back, the firmness of his rear, and those long, well-defined legs. Then the bastard spoke.

  “Now go. Our transaction is done for today. I’ve got your number and I’ll give you a call when the next one is due.”

  And like that, disgust ran back over me like a river. How in the hell had I honestly forgotten that this was Ethan Chambers and I’d just traded my own body for his “protection”?

  I’m a terrible person, I thought as I sat up and slid to the edge of the desk. I was still covered in Ethan’s…stuff and that didn’t exactly make me feel better about anything. I looked around for something to clean myself off with, but there was nothing. Not even a paper towel. And Ethan didn’t seem particularly eager to help me out with that.

  Narrowing my eyes at him, I spotted my panties from when he’d thrown them. They’d gotten hung up on the corner of the desk in his hurry. They’ll do, I thought glumly and snatched them up. I used the sparse fabric to wipe up his mess, then threw them promptly in the trash. Ethan watched me, his expression amused.

  I grabbed my pants then and shimmied them on. I was grateful that my bra was fine and happily slipped that on. Being covered made me feel a little better, but not much. My blouse came on next and I just grabbed my shoes; I’d put them on in the hall. When I reached the door, Ethan called to me, “Louis will escort you out.”

  I cringed, shooting a nasty sideways glance to the large man that had been fine watching as I was forced to have sex with his boss.

  Fucking asshole.

  “Don’t bother. I remember the way,” I told the pair of them. Then I stepped outside and slammed the door behind me as hard as I could. I made it two steps before sliding down against the wall, tears sliding down my face. “What did you do?” I whispered to myself. I took some deep breaths.

  Then I wiped away my tears, pulled on my boots, and stormed out of there like I had a shred of dignity left.

  Chapter 8

  I spent the rest of the day not at home. It was easy to tell Jessie I needed to work some things out at The Cut and that I needed her to watch Cody. Since she had the day off anyway, she said it was no problem. She was the best and I felt a little bad about lying to her about what I was doing.

  “You sure you want another?” asked the pretty bartender who looked like she was either five years younger or older than her makeup suggested.

  I nodded, my head lolling heavily. “It’s been a rough day,” was all I told her. And when I said “day” I meant morning. It wasn’t even noon when had I walked into the bar, the only one in town that was open.

  She smiled at me sympathetically. “I hear you. Sometimes a stiff whiskey’s the only thing that’ll cure what ails you.”

  I raised the shot she’d just poured to that, then downed it in one gulp. It still burned a little as it went down, but it was getting a little easier with each one. “I shouldn’t be here,” I told her bluntly. “I should not be wasting money on this crap.” Then I felt bad about calling this stuff crap and apologized. “Sorry. This is your job.”

  She laughed at me. “It’s all right, honey. I get it. And it is crap. It’s the good stuff, but all alcohol is crap in the end.”

  I nodded. “Yeah. That’s smart.”

  She shook her head a little at me. “You wanna talk about it?”

  I felt some of the whiskey try to make its way back up my throat. Did I want to talk about it? Hell no. Not if it was my judgement day and I was standing in front of the pearly white gates and the only way to get in was to confess my sins. I would take it to the grave and ride the one way ticket to hell before I spoke of what happened in Ethan’s office this morning.

  “Life sucks,” I told her instead, then I let my head rest on the counter. “And it sucked before, too.”

  “Sorry, sweetie,” the lady told me seriously. “I really do feel for you, but you know you can’t sleep here. That’s the rule, eleven am or eleven pm.”

  With effort I lifted my head up again. “Sorry. You probably don’t have to say that this early in the day very often, do you?”

  She shook her head. “Not usually, no. Look, why don’t I call you a cab?”

  I frowned. “I have my car.”

  Raising an eyebrow at me, she said, “And I know you weren’t thinking of driving it, because a smart lady like you doesn’t need any more trouble, right?”

  It felt like my mind was trying to process things through molasses, but ultimately I found myself nodding in agr
eement with her. “Right. A cab would be good.”

  She turned around behind her and picked up the phone, quickly dialing a number. She said a few quick words to the cabbie, then hung up. Turning back to me, she leaned forward and said honestly, “I hope things get better. Just remember, rock’s the bottom. You can only go up from there.”

  I felt like laughing and crying. “Have you ever done something unforgivable?”

  Her expression froze over, and for just a second, I could see the wheels behind her eyes turning, wondering if I was talking about something more than boy trouble. Something like maybe murder. Then her face softened again and she smiled a little ruefully, like she was embarrassed she’d even thought it. “Honey, nothing’s unforgivable. Trick isn’t looking for someone else to forgive you; it’s learning to forgive yourself.”