Riding Hard

by WildePublishing

  My body flinches. Did I really just hear him say what I think he said?

  "I told you," he says. "You're gonna be scared if I tell you the truth. But that's the truth. I know, it's crazy. I only really just met you today, but I feel like I've known you a lifetime. The way you smile. The way you talk. That look in your eyes. I know it sounds ridiculous, Lila. Trust me, I'm afraid of the way I feel, too. But I can't help it." He gets closer to me, towering over me.

  All that power and strength is going to make me crumble.

  "I want you, bad." His voice lowers. It's soft and dripping with longing. "That's why I'm with you right now. That's why I'm not going anywhere. Because you're mine. And being this close to you..." He's so close I can almost feel the heat radiating from his naked body. His eyes wander up and down my body, and when his gaze meets mine, I see a hunger and desire in them. It's a hunger and desire that awakens my own yearnings. "Being this close to you, Lila, makes it hard for me to resist putting my hands on you."

  My body shivers. I don't what I feel more, hatred or hot desire. I slap his chest. "Damn you, Detective! You can’t have me. It's not fair. You've had months to watch me, gather information on me, and me? I've only known you half a day." My heart races. I lick my lips, and my eyes wander at their own will, over his lips and jaw, over his shoulders and massive and muscular chest. I look at his stomach. There's a trail of body hair leading from his belly button and underneath the towel like a teasing line of temptation. And under his towel, I can see the tent he's pitching against the weak fabric. My knees are going to buckle. My head rushes.

  "I know it's not fair," he tells me. He gets closer.

  "Then stay away from me," my lips say. But my body? My legs won't even take one step back. I want him just as bad as he wants me. This man I still yet to know fully... I crave him. He's adrenaline. He's the rush of the fight for survival. He's power and he's protection. "Rex, stay, stay..."

  He takes another step closer, his eyes looking straight into mine with a fierce wanting. His towel isn't going to hold back much longer against his growing desire. He's close enough to...

  I grab him. I grab this beautiful bastard and pull him closer. He grunts and then breathes deep. We freeze in a hot, tense moment. Who's giving in first? He does.

  Rex pulls me to him, tilts his head and crashes his lips onto mine.

  His kiss is still and controlling. It's powerful. I almost collapse from the rush in my head, but Rex holds me to his body. He holds me, saves me from falling. He pulls back. Our eyes meet in a shared fear of falling for one another, but there's no going back for him. He kisses me again, harder, breathing faster like he's been waiting a lifetime to touch me. And then, his towel drops.

  I put my hands on his arms. It all happens so fast. My head spins, but I love it. I squeeze his arms. My nails dig into his flesh. Arousal and the rush of it all overcome me. Next thing I know, I'm raking my fingers through the back of his hair along his neck. I'm kissing him back like a mad woman, panting and shaking and quivering with every smooth slide of his lips on mine. It's too hot for this dress. I reach one hand back to unzip it.

  Rex grabs the zipper behind me. At the same time he pulls down the zipper of my dress, he gently bites on my bottom lip. The dress is loose. We let it drop down my body and to my ankles. Rex holds my hand as I step put of it. Now, I'm undressed to lingerie and heels. Rex is pleased. I can see the glint in his eye, and I notice his engorged sex twitching like it's cheering for my naked body.

  Rex pulls me back to him. He puts my hands on his chest. He puts his hands on my waist. We kiss. He parts my lips with his and slips his tongue over mine. His tongue massages mine. It's dominant like the rest of him. His hands reach lower and he squeezes my buttocks. Gentle at first, then harder and firmer as his animal lust goes beyond his control.

  I gasp. I claw. My cheeks flush. My legs ache, the heat in between them growing strong and aching. It's longing and wanting. I'm wet for his touch.

  He throws me onto his bed, and I surrender gladly. I bite my lip and watch him throw my heels to the floor. He kneels on the bed before me. His hands take my legs. They run up my calves and to my thighs, firm and strong. His lips and tongue follow after. He kisses my thighs, tastes them, while his hand caresses my calf and massages me.

  My breath quickens. My skin tingles.

  His fingers slide under the lace of my panties. He can't tease himself, so he slides them downward.

  I raise my hips and let him take them off me. I'm exposed to him. Aching, dripping I am his for the taking. I can hardly breathe now. Hardly think. All I do is feel.

  He licks up my thigh. He squeezes me flesh. He grunts, and his eyes close. He presses his lips closer and closer, until they press against me.

  My fingers curl into the sheets of his king sized bed, and my head tosses back.

  His lips are warm and firm. He kisses my slit. My clit is swollen for him. He wraps his lips around it and kisses. It sends tingles through my whole body and makes me quiver. I feel his tongue, just the tip, trace along my sex. He tastes me, and he groans with pleasure. I can feel his hot breath on my body.

  My back arches. It's seconds, no minutes of his giving me pleasure. There is no time anymore. I'm lost in the things he's doing to my body. I whimper. He licks. I whimper louder. He sucks on my lips and probes me with his strong tongue. I moan. My eyes roll back. He puts his hands on my thighs and keeps my legs spread. His mouth takes hold of me, controlling me, sending me spiraling into a writhing frenzy. I get louder and louder. I've never felt this kind of abandon. I can't hold back.

  His tongue moves faster. He gives me little flicks at my most sensitive spots. I can hardly stand it at first, but then it all feels electric. A drug. His talent with his lips and tongue are a drug shooting into me. My legs quiver. I cry out. My back arches. Everything tightens.

  He groans with satisfaction and gives me what I need, hard and fast with the flick of his tongue and massage of his lips.

  My body ignites into orgasm that makes me scream. It's an earthquake on his bed, and I'm the crumbling city. Head spinning, eyes rolling, body twitching and voice stifled by the power of release, my body seizes for nearly a minute as he services me through pleasure. When it's done, I breathe again, fast and heavy. I'm sweating. My fingers could tear through his bed sheets. He kisses my sex. He arises and crawls on top of me.

  He licks the taste of me from his lips. His eyes are on mine. His body overpowers me. The head of his manhood teases us both at the entrance of my slit. He's throbbing, aching. His lips snarl, and his eyes flash his animal desires. He smells of musk from the beads of sweat forming along his skin and in the ridges of his swollen muscles.

  I grab him and draw to me. My fingers rake along his chest, feeling his fine dark hairs. His head rests on mine. Our lips are open, and our bodies are ready. He pushes into me.

  We flinch as the sensation takes hold.

  He goes in another inch. His thickness stretches me. My face scrunches and my toes curl. More. I want more of him! I grab him by his hips and pull.

  Gritting his teeth, he plunges deeper into me. He throbs. He pulses. He's holding back. "Fuck," be whispers hoarsely, "Lila, you're gonna make me..."

  I kiss him. My eyes close. "I don't care! Just do it, Rex."

  He pulls out to the head, and he thrusts back in. He thrusts. He thrusts again. Hard. Deep. Faster and faster with every intense motion. He grunts. His grunts turn to panting. Again and again. Until the bed rocks.

  My legs squeeze around him. I moan louder and louder. My body writhes under him, but he keeps me locked under his control, in and out, and in and out, with hot aggression like my body gives him life. "Yes!" I cry out. "Yes!" I yell louder. I hold onto him as he fucks me into another orgasm. He thrusts as I squeeze, and I feel every rock hard inch as I drench him in my juices.

  He can't hold back. He grabs my hand and pins it to the mattress. His fingers curl in between mine. His lips on my neck, he thrusts deep, then again and a
gain. He jolts and groans out loud with an animal roar. He explodes inside me, pulsing, throbbing. His body sweats and shakes out if his control. He collapses, barely keeping his massive weight off me. He kisses my neck. He pants. He holds my face and kisses my lips. "I love you Lila Suns," he whispers, eyes closed, heart pounding so hard I can feel it against my chest.

  I close my eyes. I want to tell him I love him, but I can't. I don't even fully trust him. I can't trust anyone. Rex Copper is a rush, a thrill like a drug. But is he a man I love? Or is he just a man I need for now?

  FOUR

  REX

  The next morning, I wake up naked with a smile on my face. Lila Suns fell asleep in my arms last night. A woman like her, perfect in every way, fell asleep in the arms of a guy like me. I roll over to see if she's still asleep next to me, only she's gone. The other half of my bed is empty.

  I sit up.

  Lila is gone. The deadbolt on the front door is unlocked. Her clothes and purse are missing.

  "Shit!" I jump out of bed and get dressed. There's only one place I can think of where she's ran to.

  ***

  My Thunderbird peels across the pavement as I speed through the city. It's a half-hour ride through the crowds and traffic to the other side of Manhattan where Lila's husband, and my boss, lives. They live in a high-rise at the top of Snopes Tower, overlooking Manhattan like a king and queen. Access is restricted, but since I work for Mark Suns I know all the codes to get into the building and take the elevator up to the top floor. Outside Mark’s front door, I press the buzzer and wait for the voice of his assistant like always.

  "Mr. Copper," says the slimy voice of his assistant, James. "We aren't expecting you this morning."

  "James, just let me in you prick," I growl. "I've got something important to tell Mr. Suns." I hesitate, but I know what to say to get inside. "It's about his wife."

  There's silence, and then I hear the door lock ring as it unlocks. I go in fast. I don't know why, but the first person I expect to see is Lila. She's the only person I want to see, but instead...

  Mark Suns stands in front of me. He's at the window of his high-rise, gazing out at the city and the sun as it rises above the skyscrapers. He matches his apartment in that everything about both reeks of money. The apartment is furnished with white couches and tables imported from Europe. Mark Suns wears a grey suit from Italy. On his fingers are golden rings. His grey hair is slicked back, and he's clean shaven because he has James do it for him every morning.

  James stands near me. He wears all black. He's a scrawny, lanky man with a hooked nose and thin hair. He scowls at me, but then again he's never liked me.

  Mark turns around to me, and my stomach drops. His eyes narrow. He strokes his chin as he paces his living room towards me. "Rex Copper. I wasn't expecting you, Detective. Tell me, what exactly is it about my wife that you want to tell me so badly?"

  "She uh, she..." I draw a blank. I could tell him that I slept with his wife last night. Or I could say she's working with drug dealers that want her dead now. Maybe Mark Suns could help, but something seems different about him. Something I can’t trust. "I know where she's been going," I blurt out.

  Mark studies me, and then be laughs. "Detective, I'm sure my wife goes a lot of places. You'll have to be a little more specific."

  I'm about to lie again, say anything to save Lila.

  But Mark holds up his hand in a motion to silence me. "Save your breath Detective. I already know where my wife has been going."

  "You do?"

  Mark nods. "She called last night, said she was staying with a friend of hers, Ingred Goldstein. I happened to call the house of Ingred Goldstein. Her husband is a good friend of mine, or should I say, was." Mark turns to the window. "You see, Ingred wasn't there last night. She's in Chicago with her suck mother. But you know who was?"

  I sigh. "Her husband."

  "That's right. So you see, Detective, mystery solved." He says his finger at me. "Come here. Let me show you something."

  I join Mark at the window. Outside, I see the heated pool he keeps. The sun shines down on the water, and it ripples and glistens. And swimming along the surface in a tight, red swimsuit, is his wife, Lila Suns. My heart beats faster to watch her.

  "She's beautiful isn't she?" Mark asks.

  I know better than to answer.

  "She came home this morning, acting as if nothing had happened last night. But she has no idea I already know her dirty little secret."

  I grit my teeth. "Sounds like you don't need a detective anymore then."

  "No, I don't." He looks at me, an evil in his eyes. "But I still need you, Rex. You see, I'm not the kind of man a woman can cheat on and get away with it. I'm the kind of man who will make her pay. So, until that time comes, what I need now is a man to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't get out of my reach. Can you do that, Rex?"

  My fists clench. This bastard wants me to help him control her, so he can punish her. I would die before I hurt Lila, but if I leave her, only God knows what will become of her. I nod my head. "Yes sir."

  Mark flashes me a wicked smile. He pats my shoulder. "Good man."

  Out the window, we see Lila emerge from the pool. Water drips off her. She wraps a towel around her body and walks towards the door.

  "Just look at her," Mark says. "You're looking at a dead woman walking, my man."

  My jaw clenches. Rage boils within me. But I hold back. If I attack now, Lila could get hurt.

  Lila enters the apartment. She freezes when she sees me, only a moment. And then she plays it cool. "Who is this?"

  "This my dear," Mark says. He puts his arm around my shoulder and introduces me. "This is Rex Copper. Your new bodyguard."

  Lila and I lock eyes. We can see the tension igniting between us. But we keep quiet.

  "I'm going to shower." Lila takes a last look at me before ascending the stairs to her bedroom.

  Mark lowers his voice. "Rex, James and I are leaving now for a business meeting. I don't trust this wife of mine. So, if she tries to leave, don't let her. Do whatever you have to, but don't let her get away." He gets closer. "And if she does, I will destroy you. Understand?"

  I nod. "Yes sir."

  Mark and James leave me alone with Lila. I hear the shower running upstairs. I make sure everything is locked. I go up to the second floor. I creep into the bedroom, go to the bathroom and stop in the doorway.

  Lila is under the hot water in her shower. There's no doors, just an open space leading to a dark colored, tiled nook where shower water falls from the ceiling. It splashed over Lila's naked body. Damn it, watching her sets my blood to pumping and hands to wanting. I can't look away if there was a gun to my head. She's perfect. My eyes follow along the curves of her body while she rinses her hair. Arms stretched, her back arches, showing me the sides of her breasts and making my pulse rage to my manhood.

  Heart on fire, I approach. "Why did you come back here?"

  She jumps and spins around. She covers herself, until she sees its me. Then, her arms drop and she lets out a sigh of relief. "Rex, what are you doing here?"

  I stand just before the shower. Little drops bounce off the tile and onto my jeans. "Lila, why did you come back here? It's dangerous. Do you realize you could've gotten yourself killed?"

  "I did what I had to do, Rex." She keeps her distance. She glares at me through the steam of the shower. "And I'll do what I have to do to get out of this. To be free. From Mark. From all of it. And I don't need you to hold me back."

  My shoulders raise. She's making me angry, but I still love her. "Holding you back? Lila, I told you. I will do anything to protect you. Anything to save you. You don't even know how much danger you're in now."

  "Rex, just leave." Her voice shakes. Her anger and fear is bubbling up within her. "Get out and let me go."

  I stand my ground. "No, Lila. I told you, I'm not leaving you alone in this."

  "I've been alone my entire life, Rex. I'm fine on my own. I ca
n do this."

  "No, Lila, you don't understand."

  She steps through the water. She gets in front of me. Naked, soaking wet, her body is stiff with rage. "I said leave me alone!"

  She ignites my frustration into an explosion. I grab her and shake her. "Lila, listen to me. You're in danger, even more danger now. I know you're afraid-"

  She yanks away from me. She rears back and slaps me hard across my face. "Stop!"

  We freeze. The only sound is the shower, pouring hot water down and steaming the space between us. The slap of her sting is nothing. What kills me is the way she looks at me. Those hazel eyes, they could bring a man like me to my knees every time.

  I lower my voice. "If you really want me to go, I'll go. But Lila, your husband is after you. He's going to hurt you. And the dealers, they'll hunt you down. You have to leave as soon as you can." I wait a moment longer. She doesn't ask me to stay or help. I won't leave her forever, but I'll give her the space she wants. I turn my body to leave the bathroom.

  She grabs my arm and pulls me back. "Wait. Rex. I..." Her lips quiver. "I want you to stay."

  I can't take any more holding back. I pull her to me. I grab her face and kiss her hard. Her lips are soft. My pulse races. My body ignites.

  She pulls at my shirt. I stumble into the shower with her. The hot water drenches my clothes, but I don't care. I keep kissing her madly. She's my woman. I was born for her, to hold and protect her, and I'm not going anywhere. We kiss under the water. My aggression grows rampant, and I push her up against the wall. I kiss her again and again. She tilts her head and I kiss her neck. My hands land on her hips and I pull her against me. She whimpers at my touch, music to my ears.

  She tugs at my shirt, so I strip it off and throw it against the shower wall. I grab her legs and lift her off the tile. I pin her against the wall, and her legs wrap around my waist.

  "I, I do love you," she whispers into my ear. "Rex, I love you, too."