by kj lewis
“You’re a client. It’s not a lie. If Graham finds out, it will be because you told him, not me. I hate to tell you, Emme, but in the short time we’ve known you, you have contributed to this family as much as anyone. You are mine to worry about. Security stays. It stays!” He raises his voice for a fight when I start to protest.
“You’re as frustrating as your son.”
“Who you don’t want to find out is Ruth. She’s the true gangster in the family.”
That makes me smile. “Gangsta,” I correct him. “Like the cool kids.” I wink at him and leave.
I wasn’t looking forward to running today, but after all this, I just want to get away. I grab my iPod and hit the beach. Running in the sand will slow me down, but it’ll make my legs work harder.
I realize about an hour into the run that I left my phone. I have no idea how far I have run. I usually do about an eight-minute mile but considering I’m running in sand, it’s probably closer to a ten-minute mile. I start another playlist and keep running. When I stop to rest and finish off my bottle of water, I can tell by the houses in front of me that I’m pretty far from the house and I’ve probably been running for about an hour and a half. The sun is setting as I start the run back.
When I make it back onto the private beach, my side is starting to protest. There’s no way I can run the rest of the way, so I start cooling down with a walk. I think it’s been about three and a half hours since I left for my run. If I’m right, this is going to put me running about twenty miles today. There’s no way! I smile and silently congratulate myself on my progress, when I hear something that sounds like an ATV. Two ATVs, actually. A minute later, Graham and Smith come to a stop in front of me.
“Hey,” I greet them. “Y’all getting a ride in before the tide comes in?”
“I got it from here, Smith,” Graham says, his eyes dark. Smith nods and turns back to the house.
“Get on,” Graham demands, his voice low.
What is his problem?
“Can I drive?”
His jaw ticks and he looks like he is restraining himself.
“Emelia.”
“Graham.” I sing his name a little being a smartass and trying to inject a little humor into his lackluster mood.
“Sorry,” I draw out, climbing onto the back of the ATV.
“Put this on.” He hands me a helmet,
“You’re not wearing one.”
“Dammit, Emelia,” he booms.
“Fine. Don’t get your panties in a wad.” I snap my helmet into place.
“Arms.”
I wrap my arms around him and he starts back towards the house. We used to ride these on the farm. I’ve forgotten how fun they are. I lean into Graham and tighten my grip around him. He eventually thaws and takes his hand off the handle long enough to squeeze my hand.
The lights to Graham’s house are on, making it visible from the beach. He continues towards his parents, riding up a sandy road and into a garage.
Graham turns the ATV off, but doesn’t move. I slide off the ATV, removing my helmet.
He turns and watches me for a minute, his eyes narrow. His lip twitches. He’s in his workout clothes, his chiseled arms exposed.
“Strip.”
What?
When I don’t comply, he takes his hands off the handles and places them on top of his thighs.
“Emelia, strip. I won’t say it again.”
I’m surprised how turned on I am just from a simple word.
I look around. It’s obvious an ATV is still missing, which means Smith is not back. What if he comes in? Graham can read my hesitation.
“Did we or did we not talk about rules today?”
“We did.” I don’t move or say anything else.
“Do you think I would put you in a position for someone to walk in on you?”
“No.” I know he wouldn’t. I trust him.
He looks at me expectantly. “Emelia.”
I slide off my running shoes and slowly pull my running bra over my head. My breasts fall heavy back to my chest. Without taking my eyes off him, I hook my fingers into the elastic of my shorts and slide them down, revealing myself to him.
I stand there naked, waiting for him to tell me what he wants. He waits. His eyes darken and I can see the testing in them. I know he can see the challenge in mine. He slides back towards the seat I was riding on.
“Sit.” He points to the seat he was just vacated. “There’s no sand,” he says anticipating my objection.
I straddle the seat in front of him.
“You like to be in the driver’s seat, Miss James. Now, I think we need to revisit the rules we discussed earlier. Uh uh uh, don’t even think of opening your smart mouth right now.” He runs his hand over my back and down my arms. My nipples harden and I can feel my sex begin to pulse just from his touch.
Will it always be like this?
He moves his body up against mine, wrapping his arms around me. He runs his hands over my breast and works his way down my torso, over my hips to my sex. Gently with one hand, he leans me back a little. He runs his fingers to the middle of my sex and over my clit. He uses his fingers to separate me. With his other hand, he leans me back into the sitting position while he holds me open. He removes his fingers once I’m in position, my sex directly on the seat.
His hands move to my hair, freeing it from the ponytail holder I had containing it. It skims my lower back, and he runs his fingers through it before sliding it to one side, giving him access to my ear and neck.
Slowly and deliberately he begins to trail nibbles, bites, and licks from my ear to my shoulder. His hands move in his signature pattern over my breast. He continues his stroke down my stomach and the length of my thighs. From this angle, he has to lean into me some to reach my knees, causing me to lean forward slightly, putting pressure on my sex. I draw in a quick breath. He reverses the path of his hand, his thumb grazing a line along the inside of my legs before reaching the apex and brushing my clit gently on the way back.
“I wonder if you’d come from this alone?” he asks, mostly to himself, starting the pattern again. “No one makes me harder than you, Emelia. From the first time I saw you, to when I finally got to taste you.” His hands keep up their pace. “You had on a blue cardigan when I met you. I had no idea this was underneath it. If I had, I would have fucked you on the plane.” His hands circle the globes of my ass.
“I was on a conference call today, discussing a merger and I started thinking about your tight pussy and how it feels to be inside of you. Do you know how hard it is to conduct a meeting with a raging hard-on? You do that to me, Emelia.” His hands keep their pace. My breathing is labored and my breasts feel heavy with arousal. He runs his hands down my stomach and lightly touches my clit, causing me to cry out.
“That’s right, baby. You know I like to hear you. Only my name on your lips. Your lips around my cock. Do you understand?”
“Graham,” I moan. My orgasm is building.
Graham pinches my nipples causing me to cry out again.
“Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good girl. See how good you submit, Emelia. Almost as good as how you fit my hand. Your body was made for me. You can move.”
I didn’t realize I wasn’t moving until he said it. He’s right. My body belongs to him. It knew he wouldn’t want me moving or gaining pleasure until he was ready for me to.
I begin to rock my hips, the seat giving me the friction and pressure I’ve been craving. My fingers dig into his thighs letting him know I’m ready.
“Go ahead, Emelia. I want you to come. I want to know every time I ride this that you’ve been here.”
It only takes a couple more movements and Graham catches me as I fall towards the handle bars, my orgasm exploding from me. I barely have time to catch my breath before Graham issues more instructions.
“Lift your ass.”
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I comply. His arm snakes around me, and he slowly lowers me onto him. He holds me in place for a minute.
“Oh my God,” I whisper.
“I know, baby. It’s deep this way. I want you to feel every inch of me.”
I raise up slowly and slide back down his hard cock. This time it’s Graham who moans.
“Move, baby,” he commands. And I do. I set a grueling pace, riding him hard and fast. His hand rubs over my lower back down to my ass.
“Watching your ass grind over me…” he trails off, his words labored.
“God you’re tight,” he says as his hands move to my arms, holding them at my elbows causing my back to arch as he pulls them behind me and towards the middle of my back. He’s using them as a rein to guide me and take control of the pace.
His breathing quickens and I know he’s close.
“Come, Graham,” I command as I raise up on him and slam back down. He shouts my name as he explodes inside me, setting off another intense orgasm within me. My sex continues to pulsate around him, drawing his out longer. His dick is still jumping and setting off little tremors in me minutes later.
Neither of us say anything for a long time. We try to catch our breath and ride out the last of our orgasms.
“Is it like this for everyone?” I say with altered breath, leaning against him.
“Not in my experience, no.” His admission surprises me. “I don’t think I’ll ever have my fill of you, Emelia.”
“Don’t worry. You will in six weeks,” I say sarcastically.
“You never stop, do you?” He says kissing my neck. I can feel his smile.
He leans into me and begins to massage my legs helping me stretch them. When he’s sure I can stand, he lifts me off him. His body wet with the evidence of our sex.
I slide off the ATV, pulling on my running clothes. Graham slides his gym shorts back into place.
Once he’s standing he cups my face and pulls me roughly to him, his mouth interrogating mine. He stops to squeeze air into his lungs, resting his forehead against mine.
“What are you doing to me?”
I realize now that he’s really been asking himself that question, not me. It’s like he’s fighting a battle that I’m not privy to. He grabs my hand and leads me back to the house.
“She’s here!” I hear someone yell as I enter into the Taylor’s kitchen for a water. It doesn’t take long before the kitchen is filled with yelling and angry faces. Ruth raises her hand to stop everyone.
“Are you okay, dear?”
“I’m fine. I did my long run today,” I explain.
“Hate to break it to you, sport, but if it takes you that long to run the marathon, you’ll get swept,” Ben says.
“I lost track of time.” I take another sip of water. “How long have I been gone?”
“Five hours. Where did you run to?” Jules asks a little miffed.
“I’m not sure. I left my phone downstairs, so I didn’t have a way to measure the distance. Graham picked me up on the three wheeler.” I shrug my shoulders at the probing faces. “I’m going to get a shower.”
“I would take a swim first. It’ll help with the soreness in the morning,” Ben says.
“Great idea. I’ll eat after. I’m starved,” I add as I leave the room. My legs are a little wobbly on the stairs, but I make it. I’m tying the string on my bathing suit bottoms when Graham enters my room. He stares at me with heat in his eyes. This man is insatiable.
“Can I help you?” I ask him, picking up my bikini top.
“I want to finish our conversation about expectations, and you meeting mine.”
I stop and my face falls. “Am I not?”
“I mean in regards to rules. Emelia,” he explains. “Why were you running without your phone?”
“I told you, I left it downstairs.”
“And do you or do you not think it’s smart to go running, by yourself, in an area you know nothing about, with no phone and no one with you. Not even Bruiser?”
Why must he talk to me like I’m a three-year-old?
He waits for my answer, his blue eyes narrowing when he sees my chin set in characteristic defiance.
“What exactly are you expecting?” I put my hands on my hips, my breasts still on display.
“You tell me, Emelia. It shouldn’t be a surprise to you.” He’s cold and all business. Gone is the Graham from the garage.
“Graham.”
“Emelia.”
“I am not going to ask you for permission to run.”
“You’re going to and you will.”
“You might as well ride out on the same crazy horse you rode in on, because that is not happening.”
“Careful!”
“Fuck ‘careful’! You can’t continue to tell me you only want me for six weeks then go control freak on me because you were worried about me.”
“I worried about the girls I’ve had an affair with. They all had security. It’s not just you.”
Ouch. I have to admit that stung.
“I’m a high profile guy with a lot of enemies, Emelia. Deal with it.” He leaves the room. Just like that, this conversation is over.
I am so fucking pissed right now. I am going to show him once and for all that he is a walking mixed signal. He’s too used to getting his own way and not being challenged.
Ask his permission. Fuck that.
I huff my way to the kitchen and pour a large glass of wine since I refuse to lose our Diet Coke bet, even though I would sell my soul to have one right now.
“What took you so long, Mags?” Jules and Becca are already in the hot tub.
“I was arguing with a mule.” I climb in across from them. I wince as I sit down.
“Sore from all the running?” Becca asks.
I nod my head and take a deep breath. “This is just what I need.”
Jules smiles and shakes her head. “I know that sigh. You forget I’m engaged to a Taylor man. They can frustrate the hell out of you.”
“I don’t want to talk about it. It will spoil my girl time.” I say taking a long sip of wine.
“When are you going to dance for him?”
“Dance? Does this have to do with your face being in her crotch earlier?” Becca looks from me to Jules for an answer. I fill her in on the comings and goings she missed this afternoon.
“I would never have the guts. Matt would cream himself if I danced for him.” She throws her head back and laughs. “Please tell me you will secretly record this so we can watch later.”
“You’re more twisted than you let on.” Jules raises a glass to Becca.
“Don’t let her fool you,” I say to Jules. “Becca’s a freaky freak of the week.”
“Really?” Jules is surprised. I nod my answer.
“So,” I say to Becca, “are you ready to be an actual married couple again in a few months?”
“I am. I miss Matt all the time. It’s been hard. At the same time, it will be an adjustment again. Plus, we won’t have you James. I know that is weird to most people, but you made this transition so much easier for us both. It will be a little odd only having two people in our marriage,” she laughs. “That third person has really balanced us.”
“It’s the time apart that balances you,” I correct her. “There’s no reason to fight over the little things when you only have an allotted amount of time together.”
“True. But Matt cares for you and that has made him a better man for me. He listens to you. All the dwarfs do. I don’t know how you did it James, but you did. You have tamed the untamable. Here’s hoping you do it one more time.” She lifts her glass to me.
“Now, if I can just get them to replace the toilet paper roll,” I quip.
“Can I join you guys?” Lucy takes her cover-up off. She may be seventeen, but she has the body of a grown woman. No wonder Ben and the boys keep such a tight leash on her.
“Did you get grounded?” I ask her.
“Yes,” she pouts. “
I can’t go out for two weeks, and I’m not allowed to go out with Brody without my parents talking with him and his parents first.”
“I’m on their side,” I tell her.
“Traitor!” She playfully splashes water over me. “Truth be told, I’m not that upset about it. Brody was a douche for leaving me.”
“That’s right. He’s lucky I don’t cut his little pecker off.”
“Jules,” I admonish.
“Cut the crap, Mags. You’d use his pecker for a pen. And that guy was lucky we got to him before security did. The only reason they didn’t jump him was because they thought he was a minor and they didn’t want the hassle.”
“All I’m saying is….Wait? Security was there?”
Lucy and Jules roll their eyes at each other.
“There is always security there, Emme,” Lucy educates me. “I won’t let them walk with me, so they stay out of sight but close enough. I’d ditched my security but you all had yours. There’s no way I was going home with those guys.”
“Same for me, but sometimes I let them walk with me. It’s just easier,” Jules says.
“I’ve never noticed security with you?”
“I just don’t make a deal of it. It’s easier than arguing with Adam all the time. I was only arguing with him because he was sick of arguing with Graham about it.”
“You’re the one we feel sorry for,” Lucy says, catching my mind drifting into thought. “Graham is the reason we all have security to begin with. He has no tolerance for anyone pushing back. If it weren’t for mom and dad stepping in, I would have four men flanking me at all times. Try getting a date like that.”
So he’s this way with all his girls, not just me. Maybe he really does know what he wants. Six weeks and that’s it. It just contradicts his actions. Despite having only known each other for a week, I see Graham. He tries to warn me off like I don’t, but I know I do. I know it scares him to have a relationship other than the kind he’s used to.
“Well, I have some hemming left to do,” Jules says, climbing out of the hot tub.
“I think I’ll go in, too. Take advantage of Matt while I have him,” Becca winks. Lucy laughs, excited, I think, to be one of the girls.