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Nocked Over

Page 11

by Sam Cheever


  My eyes widened as I saw that he had unzipped his jeans and freed himself. Apparently he was sans underwear again. “You don’t believe in layers do you?” I grinned.

  He laughed, shaking his head. “Time for your first riding lesson.” His voice was husky with lust. He lifted me a few inches off the horse and then lowered me back down, gently skewering me with his hard cock.

  I cried out in pure joy as he filled me. His hands slid under my dress and clasped my buttocks, one in each hand. He lifted me again, sliding out of me almost entirely and then slowly lowered me back down, embedding himself so deeply that the soft thatch of hair around his cock tickled my skin. I closed my eyes and held my breath as he orchestrated each agonizingly slow stroke, feeling every inch of skin as the delicious friction set my nerves on edge and made my body shiver in delighted anticipation.

  I was on the edge of that precipice and knew it wouldn’t take much to bring me over. I was happy where I was. Delighted. But Bion wasn’t satisfied to leave me there.

  “Time for your second riding lesson,” he breathed into my neck.

  Then his body tightened and the horse took off at a gallop.

  I shrieked, both from surprise and from the incredible sensation of crashing down hard on his beautiful cock.

  My eyes bulged unattractively and I clutched Bion’s shoulders in desperation as the horse flew through the dappled woods at what felt like an impossible and dangerous speed. “Relax, Daphne. Can you feel the tempo?”

  I looked into his dark eyes and was amazed at the calm there. Our bodies were joined in the most intimate way and we were hurtling through space on the back of a creature that was unpredictable at best and dangerous at worst but he was calm and smiling at me.

  Lust rode his eyes like added flecks of color.

  We burst from the trees and sunlight covered us, instantly warming away the tightness of fear and bathing me in calming rays.

  My body melted into the cadence of the ride. And with that giving way came the awareness that my body was more than enjoying the experience.

  The pulse of the gallop was perfect.

  A moment of suspension brought me up, nearly to the tip of Bion’s cock, followed in perfect sequence by the moment when the horse’s hooves hit the ground beneath us, pounding me to the very core of Bion’s hard flesh and driving him deeply into me. Suspension, deep thrusting, suspension, thrusting…I threw back my head and smiled from the sheer delight of it. My body throbbed with sensual awareness. The very air around me warmed and pulsed and caressed my exposed flesh, driving me inexorably toward that point where the pulse of our lovemaking would overcome my natural resistance. The tempo built until my body couldn’t take it anymore. I threw my head back and screamed, falling into the abyss with complete abandon, my body convulsing under the blitz of complete and utter pleasure.

  Riding that horse for all it was flippin’ worth.

  Bion tumbled toward the edge quickly on the heels of my release, growling into my ear as his body drove into me hard…once…twice…a third time…and then he yanked hard on the reins, bringing the heated horse into an instant halt and driving his cock impossibly deep for a final thrust that drove me into a second orgasm and carried him over the edge hard and fast.

  I burst into delighted laughter as Bion clutched me against his chest, panting.

  He laughed with me, still fighting for his breath.

  When I could talk again I said, “I’ve decided I like horseback riding.”

  He dissolved into laughter again. Then he captured my lips with his and kissed me until I couldn’t breathe. “Me too,” he murmured around my lips. “Let’s do it again.”

  And so we did.

  Chapter Nine

  The Other Shoe

  Dema Pence’s voice on the other end of the phone line was the worst thing I’d heard all year. My mind raced in an effort to find the right words. Words that would allow me to keep my professional reputation but would without a doubt break my heart in half.

  “Ms. Charissa?”

  Uh-oh, we were back to Ms. That couldn’t be good.

  I jerked. “I’m sorry, Ms. Pence. I was just checking my schedule.” I gulped, fighting back tears. “I’ve had a little trouble locating Mr. Chronos to set up the appointment.”

  I could almost feel the chill through the phone line. “Ms. Charissa, you’ve had nearly a week to get this appointment set up. I’m starting to feel like you don’t want to make the appointment. Could that be possible, Ms. Charissa?”

  I swallowed hard. Despite my best efforts tears had started flowing down my cheeks. I cleared my throat. “Of course that isn’t the case, Ms. Pence. Mr. Chronos is just very hard to pin down. He’s a very busy man and his schedule doesn’t have a lot of stretch in it.”

  I thought guiltily of all the time he and I had spent together the previous day, lunch, shopping…other things.

  “I have it on my list to try contacting his assistant again for an appointment. Can I reach you at the usual number once I’ve made the appointment?”

  There was an extended silence during which I assumed Ms. Dema Pence was trying to decide if she was being put off again. I bit my lip and held my ground. She who talked first lost.

  Finally I heard a tiny sigh and she said, “Yes, you can reach me at this number. Please let me know by the end of the day if we have an appointment.”

  “I’ll do that.” I hung up feeling as if I’d been kicked in the stomach by a bull. I sat for a moment, thinking about the hell that was my life and how I was going to fix it. A soft knock sounded at my door and I looked up. “Come in.”

  Christian opened the door and grinned through it at me. “Do you have a minute?”

  I motioned him in, sitting back in my chair, and watched him saunter across my room. He was a gorgeous man. In a race of beautiful people he was definitely at the top in terms of looks, grace and charm. Not for the first time I wondered if Christian and I could make something work between us. If I wasn’t going to have love maybe I could at least have something with a friend. Someone I liked and trusted.

  Why did that thought make me want to throw up?

  Christian crossed my office and slid gracefully into one of my client chairs. He sprawled comfortably, checking out my office as he always did, his dark eyes sliding around the walls, assessing, cataloguing. Finally he turned to me and said, “It’s about this Valentine’s Ball you’re going to next week. I wonder if you could do me a favor.”

  I sat forward and started shuffling files around on my desk. I didn’t want him to see how the thought of that final evening with Bion affected me. “Anything. What do you need?”

  I glanced up and he smiled. I could tell by the look in his beautiful, long-lashed dark blue eyes that he saw right through me. For just a moment sadness swept through that gaze and was quickly squelched. I understood that he was thinking I was heading for a tsunami of hurt in the near future.

  I knew he was right. But there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.

  “I have a couple of clients who will be attending that ball and need the arrow ceremony performed. Unfortunately, I have five other couples who need to be completed that night and they’re spread all over town. I thought if you could take the ones at the ball for me I could manage the other five and still get to bed before dawn.”

  I nodded, making a notation on my calendar for Thursday of the following week, Valentine’s Day. “I’ve been lucky enough to get all my ceremonies scheduled during office hours so all I have is the Ball on Thursday night. I’d be happy to take care of your couples for you.” I jotted down the names of the two couples that Christian gave me and then closed my book, looking up at the long, lean man sitting across from me.

  He had his dark, wavy hair pulled back in its usual ponytail at the back of his muscular neck and a single diamond stud sparkled at me from his right ear. He studied me carefully for a long moment before saying, “Are you okay, Daphne? You look…tired.”

  I forced
a laugh. It didn’t fool either of us. “I’m fine. I’ve just had a bit of trouble sleeping lately.” Because I’d been rolling around on every available surface with Bion rather than sleeping. And when I wasn’t sleeping I was being tortured with worries of how long I had before he moved on, forgetting me completely.

  Christian pursed his perfectly sculpted mouth and stared at me. I could tell he wanted to say something but he didn’t quite know where to begin and I didn’t really want to help him so I just stared back at him. Trying for innocent.

  Finally he shook his head and stood up. “Thanks for helping me out with my clients. I’ll owe you one.”

  “No problem. Don’t worry about it.”

  I watched him glide toward the door. The view from the back was every bit as good as the view from the front. I really wished it affected me more than it did.

  He turned at the door and caught me off guard, “When you need a shoulder, I’ll be here. Promise me you’ll come looking for me.”

  I frowned. Not if I need a shoulder but when. I inclined my head in the slightest of nods and he left, closing the door softly behind him.

  I did a pretty good job of avoiding the call to Bion for a few hours, allowing myself to get caught up in the pile of new matches that had hit my desk over the previous week.

  I forced myself to focus on the work in front of me, ruthlessly shoving the guilt to the back of my mind whenever it managed to make an appearance.

  As it neared five o’clock I knew I was running out of time and excuses.

  I listened to the rest of the office saying their goodbyes and leaving for the night and realized I couldn’t put the call off any longer.

  I sat with my head in my hands for a few minutes, brooding darkly, and then shook it off and picked up the phone. I dialed Bion’s office and his assistant answered as usual.

  “Hi, Kathy. It’s Daphne Charissa from Cupid’s Arrow. How are you?”

  Kathy Dupres had apparently been Bion’s assistant for twenty-five years. She was the most polished and professional woman I’d ever met. And she was very protective of him. I’d been aware since the first time I shook hands with her at our initial pre-screening appointment in his office that she didn’t approve of Bion’s use of a professional matching service. But despite her resistance to the firm, she’d always been unflaggingly kind to me. I really liked her. “Hello, Ms. Charissa. How are you today? It looks like it’s going to be another beautiful day.”

  I smiled. I’d barely noticed that there was a sky above me and dirt below me when I’d come into the office that morning. “Yes it is beautiful, isn’t it? I was wondering if Mr. Chronos had any time on his appointment schedule for Friday, the fifteenth?”

  The line hummed with silence. Then, “What is this in reference to, Ms. Charissa?”

  Despite the suspicion in her voice, or maybe because of it, I smiled. I sent negative thoughts across the phone line, silently imploring Bion’s assistant to tell me he was booked up all that day. Maybe she could save me from myself. “I need to set up the appointment for him to meet his new match.”

  The older woman cleared her throat delicately. “I see. Well, I wish I could help you, Ms. Charissa…”

  I did a mental happy dance. A reprieve! He was too busy to meet with Dema Pence on Friday. His schedule was full! Now I could delay the inevitable for at least another weekend. My heart soared. I flew above the clouds. My feet danced around under my desk…

  “But Mr. Chronos has had to leave town suddenly. I don’t know when he’ll be returning. It was very strange really. He just called last night and told me he’d be gone for several days and that I should cancel all his appointments. I’m sorry but I didn’t have an appointment with you on his calendar or I would have called you.”

  The words shredded my heart like a fist of sharp knives. The blood drained from my face and I suddenly thought I might pass out. My stomach clenched and I couldn’t breathe. It was all I could do to hold onto the phone with my suddenly clammy hand.

  It had happened. He’d moved on. I was alone again. Rejected. Forgotten.

  My lungs pinched closed and I suddenly couldn’t breathe. I opened my mouth and struggled to draw breath into my body.

  Dimly I became aware of Kathy Dupres’ concerned voice coming to me from far away. I looked down at the phone lying on my desk. I couldn’t remember dropping it but my clammy hand lay beside it, the fingers bent into claws that clenched and unclenched as if I’d lost muscle control.

  I felt as if somebody had injected me with drugs that numbed my body and clouded my brain. I forced myself to reach for the phone and pull it up to my ear. It weighed at least twenty pounds.

  My hand shook so hard I could barely hold the phone to my ear.

  Kathy Dupres’ voice was filled with concern, teetering on panic. “Ms. Charissa, please answer me. It sounded like you dropped the phone. Should I call 9-1-1?”

  I opened my mouth to speak but nothing would come out. My throat had clenched closed around the words. I swallowed hard and managed to drag my voice to the level of a whisper. “I’m sorry,” I choked out in a barely audible voice. And then I hung up the phone.

  And everything faded to black.

  *

  Something hit my cheek and swung my head sideways. Then my other cheek was assaulted and my head swung the other way. I reached up to slap away whatever was attacking me and encountered a thick, slightly hairy wrist.

  Hope soared though me.

  But when I opened my eyes Christian’s dark, worried face was the only one I saw.

  “Daphne, are you okay? What happened?

  He helped me sit up and I groaned as pain shot through my head. I pulled my knees up and laid my head on them, wrapping my arms around them and forcing myself to breathe through the pain of Bion’s loss.

  Christian folded his tall form and dropped down on the floor beside me. He reached an arm around me and rubbed my back. “Talk to me, Daphne. You’re scaring me.”

  I couldn’t speak. My throat had nearly closed with panic and my pulse throbbed at a terrifying rate. I felt like I would throw up if I raised my head. So I stayed wrapped in a fetal position and just shook my head.

  Christian rubbed my back for a few more minutes and then stood up and went to my office door. He called out to someone and within minutes, I had a hot cup of Dema Pence’s expensive Darjeeling in my hand. Christian all but poured that first sip into me and I grimaced at the overwhelming sweetness.

  “You need the sugar. I think you’re in shock.” He took the cup from me and pulled me to my feet, walking me over to the couch.

  Tears fell from my eyes. I barely noticed. Christian stuffed a huge wad of tissues into my hand and went to retrieve my tea.

  I forced myself to drink several more sips.

  Finally, after several more minutes, I felt myself reviving. I looked up at Christian and he gave me a sad smile.

  “He’s moved on, hasn’t he?”

  I nodded and mopped at my face and nose with the tissues. “No surprises, Christian. We knew it would happen. But…damn…it hurts.”

  “I know, sweetie. I know it does.” He pulled me into a hug and I burst into tears again. We didn’t speak for several long moments. He just held me and let me cry.

  And cry I did. Until I thought my eyes would swell shut and I’d never be able to pry them open again.

  My phone rang and Christian got up to answer it. He looked at caller ID and his gaze swung to me. I saw her name in his eyes.

  “Go ahead, Christian. Let’s pretend this is a Band Aid and we’re pulling it off in one, very painful tug.”

  He sighed and reached for the phone. “Ms. Charissa’s office, Christian speaking.”

  He listened for a moment and then shook his head. “No. I’m sorry, Ms. Charissa’s out sick today. Uh-huh,” he glanced at me again, “yes. Okay. I’ll tell her. Thank you.”

  He hung up the phone and stood looking down at it. His large, perfectly manicured hand patted the nest
ed receiver a few times before he turned back to me.

  I took a bolstering sip of the cooling tea and set it aside. Pulling air into my lungs, I steeled myself. “Give it to me straight up, Christian.”

  He shrugged nervously. “She heard from Bion and wanted to thank you for all your hard work on her behalf.”

  I stared into space for a few beats, letting the pain wash over my body. It was done. He was gone. I nodded and found that I was completely cried out and numbness was starting to set in. I knew it wouldn’t last but decided to go with it for the moment.

  I stood up. “I’m going home. Can you have Becky divvy up my matches between everyone? It shouldn’t be too bad, I’ve gotten most of them done already this morning.”

  “Of course.”

  I nodded and grabbed my purse off my desk, then headed for the door.

  “Daphne?”

  My hand reached for the door knob but I didn’t turn it, I didn’t look back at Christian either. The pity in his pretty eyes would be my undoing. “Yes?”

  “Are you sure you want to be alone right now?”

  I nodded, “I have to be. I’ll be all right…eventually.”

  I could feel his pitying gaze on my back as I hurried out of my office and down the hall. I prayed I’d make it to my car before the numbness wore off and I descended into complete despair again. As I made my way quickly toward the outer door, several of my colleagues came to their doors and watched me leave.

  No one needed to tell them what had happened. Cupids have sensitive radar to the pain of others. And when one of us gets his or her heart broken we feel the pain like the true empaths we are. I kept my head down and didn’t acknowledge the murmured words and pitying gazes.

  I nearly ran out of the building.

  My drive home was a blur of tears and wretchedness. I barely noticed the blaring horns and enraged glances of drivers I cut off and hindered as I made my way home in an automatic, unthinking haze.

  I felt no relief when I pulled into my driveway without having died in a fiery crash. In my current mood I would have welcomed death. I did spare a moment of relief that I hadn’t killed anyone else, however. I wasn’t quite that far gone.

 

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