The Rebel: A Bad Boy Romance

by Aria Ford

  I looked down into her eyes. Her lips were pink and parted and I bent over and, very gently, touched them with my own. I let my tongue flick gently along their separation. Then I leaned back as my groin ached and my blood thumped in my veins, head aching.

  She looked up at me, brown eyes soft and frowning.

  “My mouth will taste terrible this morning,” I explained with a smile. “I should brush my teeth now.”

  She smiled, a happy smile. When she bent to finish the toast, she was still chuckling. “Wait till you’ve eaten,” she advised. “Then I’ll take you upstairs. Show you around.”

  At those words my loins tensed. If she was trying to tease me, she was doing well. I looked at her and when she looked up she was truly smiling.

  I chuckled.

  “What?” she said playfully.

  “Nothing,” I said.

  We both laughed.

  She put out bowls and dug a box of muesli out of the recess of the cupboard. I finished the coffee and put it on the table at the two places at the end, then found some teaspoons. I watched her as I did so, my body rigid and drawn to hers as if my nerves were strung out, connected to each move she was making.

  “Sugar?” I asked. I cleared my throat as I did so, my voice coming out funny.

  “In the corner on the left,” she said succinctly. She was replacing things in the fridge. “Thanks,” she added, tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear as she turned around.

  “Not at all,” I smiled.

  She put the toast on the table and we turned to take our places at the end. I faced her, looking right into those big, gentle eyes.

  I leaned closer. She leaned up and our lips met, gently and delicately, a soft kiss that didn’t hold or cling, but made me gasp as my loins ached.

  She looked into my eyes. She raised a brow and moved her seat back, carefully.

  “Breakfast now,” she said coyly. “Anything else can wait.”

  I laughed, though I had to admit it was a tense laugh. I felt like my body would shatter, each nerve drawn to fever pitch by being so close to her.

  “Okay,” I agreed. “Anything else is waiting.”

  She laughed and reached across the table for the sugar bowl that I’d placed between us and ladled sugar into her cup. I watched her, looking at those pretty fingers with their pearly skin as she stirred in neat little movements. Every part of her was sexy and alluring.

  I looked into her eyes when she looked up. She frowned at me.

  “What?” I said.

  She giggled. “Oh, Kyle,” was all she said.

  I swallowed hard. Focused on eating my toast.

  As I did so, my headache lessened somewhat. I was hungry and bolted down both slices of toast, grateful that she’d thought to feed me first. My toes tingled as my body got fresh nourishment and I reached for my coffee, hoping it would clear the last of the fog from my thoughts. It did.

  “Right,” she said, when I was finished. She was watching me, amused. “Now you have to have some cereal.”

  I made a face. “I’m fine now,” I protested. Was she deliberately drawing out my agony? I wanted to smile at the way she stood and insistently filled my dish.

  “No,” she said firmly, “you aren’t. A good day begins with a good breakfast. I insist.”

  I smiled. “It is a good day,” I said.

  She blushed red. “It is,” she agreed.

  “Well, then,” I said, gently taking the muesli from her hands, finishing what she had started, and setting it back on the table. “I will obey.”

  She laughed, a naughty giggle. “I like the sound of that.”

  I blushed. “You do?” I could feel my body heating up, wanting her more and more with each word she said, each graceful motion.

  “I think I could get used to that,” she agreed mildly. “Which might get tiresome, at least as far as you’re concerned?” she raised a brow. Her smile was wicked. My loins ached.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” I said airily. “I can’t imagine I would get tired of that.”

  She swallowed hard. Looked down at her own breakfast. Took a few mouthfuls and chewed, swallowed. I did the same. When I looked up again, she was smiling at me.

  “Well?” I frowned, setting aside my spoon with a clang. Neither of us noticed. “Do you think it would be a good idea to try that?”

  She smiled, her eyes alive with teasing.

  “I think,” she said slowly, “that sounds like a very good idea. Shall we?”

  I swallowed hard. “Yes.”

  She pushed back her chair, a slow, deliberate movement. Stood, that sweet, curvy body firm and insistent as she pushed the chair in again and then put her hands on it, smiling up at me.

  I nodded and let her lead me out of the kitchen and up the wooden stairs of the old-fashioned house, toward the bedroom.

  Chapter 15: Bethany

  I led Kyle upstairs to my bedroom. I was shivering. My whole body felt like it had caught fire, throbbing and shuddering.

  I paused in the doorway. He stood behind me, his body just close enough to feel the heat of his skin, warm and exciting, on mine. I sighed. I turned and looked up at him.

  “Wait,” I whispered. “You’re so impatient.”

  He laughed and gently touched my shoulder, his fingers stroking my locks, as I opened the door and we went in together.

  I turned toward him the instant he had come in also. Over the bed, the sunlight glowed warmly and I wrapped my arms around Kyle and held him to me, leaning a little sideways so our weight tugged us down toward the mattress.

  We fell with a thump on my bed. He laughed.

  “Persuasive, hey?”

  I blushed. “Well,” I said with a teasing smile. “You did say I got to call the shots this morning.”

  I couldn’t quite believe my voice. Was this really me—quiet little Bethany Hayworth, saying this?—being so persuasive?

  I looked up at Kyle, who had propped himself up on his elbow and was smiling down at me.

  “I did say so,” he nodded. He reached over and stroked my cheek. I shivered, feeling his touch echo in my body, shivering all the way to my clit.

  He smiled into my eyes. I reached up and stroked his hair and kissed him slowly on the lips. He sighed and stroked my throat, his fingers touching my skin so gently. Then he kissed me more firmly, his tongue pushing in between my lips, making me shiver as it probed my mouth.

  I parted my lips and welcomed his tongue inside me, letting it play over my own, twining and stroking it. I lapped at his mouth and he gasped and drew me closer to him, crushing me against his muscly body.

  I waited until he had leaned back, breaking the kiss, before I twisted out from underneath him and propped myself up, so I was looking into his eyes. He was so stunning, with his white shirt tight over his manly chest. I put my hand on his shoulder and exerted gentle pressure. I knew I couldn’t really push him back if he didn’t want me to, but his eyes softened and he let me push him down.

  “Well, then,” I smiled. “I think we’d do better without the clothes.”

  He nodded and sat up. “I agree.”

  We undressed and as we did so, I kept on sneaking secretive glances his way. I watched him unbutton his shirt and let it slide down his arms, falling to the floor. I felt my womb clench with longing as my eyes feasted on that lean, firm body. He was so strong! His arms rippled with muscle, his shoulders big, waist small. His back lean.

  I watched as he unzipped his trousers, balancing awkwardly on one leg as he pulled first one, and then the other, leg down. He sat on the bed to remove his shoes. I watched him. He looked up and saw me staring at him. He smiled.

  I leaned over and kissed him. He let me touch him, thrilling myself as I stroked his hard, muscled shoulders, his tense abs. Then he leaned over and gently pushed me down toward the bed.

  “My turn?” he asked. He reached for my shirt buttons.

  “Well, I’ll help,” I said, gasping as he started to unfasten them. “Tw
o hands make it faster. Yes?”

  “Oh, you want faster, do you?” he teased. He started unbuttoning my shirt in earnest, and I laughed.

  “No, Kyle! You’ll break something. I—here! Let me…oh!”

  I laughed as he finished unbuttoning me and drew the shirt down my back. He reached for my zipper and started to peel my skirt down. When we were in our underwear, I smiled at him, feeling my lips twitch in a naughty grin.

  He reached over and stroked my shoulder, moving down toward my bra, and I laughed. I leaned back, denying him access momentarily. I looked down at his briefs as he frowned, his handsome face confused.

  “My turn,” I explained quickly, reaching for his briefs. He let me tug them down, and I watched in unabashed delight as his hard cock came into view. He grinned as I looked at it. He looked away.

  “Well, then,” I said softly.

  “Well, then.”

  We fell back onto the bed together.

  He pulled my bra down, and I noticed a tremor in his shoulders as he bent down and took my nipple between his lips. He took it into his mouth, and I shivered as he sucked it, his lips tender on it so that it didn’t hurt but felt sweet and wonderful. I rolled over, giving him access to both my breasts.

  He kneaded the one and sucked the other and then sat up.

  “May I undress you?” he asked with a contrite smile. “I am under orders now.”

  I laughed. “My orders are to do whatever you like,” I said rashly.

  He raised a brow, eyes sparkling. “I think I like those,” he said. “Is there anything in particular that you would request?” He spoke formally.

  I started to shiver. No one had ever asked me that before. I smiled at him. My poor body was painful with need.

  “No,” I whispered. “Do whatever feels right.”

  He smiled. “I take that as a very broad set of orders,” he whispered. “Can I carry them out as I see fit?”

  “Any way you like,” I grunted as he pulled off my briefs in a single smooth move and reached between my legs with a touch that made my whole body respond.

  As he kneaded between my legs, I closed my eyes, my body melting under his touch. My whole body was melting, his touch exploring me and making me shiver and sigh.

  I felt him start to stroke my clit and I gasped as it throbbed, the feeling so intense that it was almost pain. I was trembling and sighing as he gently, masterfully, touched me, knowing just how to draw my longing out to fever pitch. I was so close to coming as he gently fingered me.

  “Kyle,” I whispered urgently. “I…”

  He smiled. “You want me inside you?” he asked, grinning. “I am under orders, remember?”

  I scrunched my eyes shut as my body started to throb and twitch. “You have…free reign,” I managed to whisper. I was almost coming, my entire body shivering.

  He moved his hand and knelt between my knees. Then he thrust into me. I gasped as he filled me, and he moved so that he was tickling and brushing against every sweet, special spot inside me. My body was filling up with chills as I shook and shivered and then screamed.

  “Kyle!” I gasped.

  He pushed in and out with urgency, throbbing and shivering as he pushed into me again and again and again. I heard him growl, and then he tensed. Shivering, he collapsed.

  “Whew,” he sighed.

  We lay like that on my bed, with him buried inside me. I held him close. This was, I realized as we snuggled, one of my favorite parts. I loved the way it felt to lie with his weight on me, pressing down against me as he sighed and held me close. I could feel his cock inside me and my whole body glowed.

  He rolled off me a moment later, smiling and laughing.

  “Whew,” he said again.

  He rolled off and stood, and then I heard the sound of water in the bathroom as he washed himself and came back a moment later with a towel.

  He gently cleaned me, and I closed my eyes, feeling his gentle touch.

  We drifted off to sleep together.

  When I woke, he was lying on his side. His eyes were shut and he was fast asleep. I sat up and watched him dreaming. He was unlined, when he was sleeping, anywhere between sixteen and forty. I smiled at him, looking at his muscly body. He was so handsome.

  I resisted the urge to stroke his hair. I didn’t want to wake him. He probably needed to sleep, poor guy. So did I, the thought occurred to me. I should have been tired. But I wasn’t. My body was full of strength.

  I was, I realized, so, so happy.

  I watched Kyle sleeping and thought about what he’d said. How he’d told me about his youth. The burden he’d carried was cruel—the thought that he was the cause of all his mother’s suffering. I shook my head. Looking at Kyle as he was now, asleep and peaceful, made me feel a rage against anyone who could have put such a huge burden on a child’s psyche.

  He sighed and breathed out. I lay down again, not wanting him to think I had been watching him. He stirred and reached over and, still asleep, he held me tight.

  I was speechless. My heart ached.

  I nestled closer to him and closed my eyes, trying not to cry as he reached for me and wrapped his arm around me, laying his head beside me.

  I knew in that moment that part of my heart, whatever happened, would always belong to him.

  He rolled over and opened his eyes. Looked into mine. He didn’t flinch, as he would have done a few days ago. He smiled.

  I traced the side of his firm jaw. He reached over and kissed my hand.

  I held him close wondering if I would ever have the strength to let him go. If, once the week was concluded, and I went back to my work, my apartment, and my real nine-to-five, if I would feel whole. Or if most of my heart wouldn’t be somewhere in San Diego, sleeping beside Kyle, always.

  Chapter 16: Bethany

  Kyle had lunch with me and then, reluctantly, he kissed my hair. “I should go,” he said.

  I looked into his eyes. We were in the kitchen together, tidying up. I nodded.

  “Okay,” I said. “I guess you should, Kyle.”

  He smiled at me. “Okay.”

  We leaned toward each other. He kissed me. I closed my eyes and shivered as he held me close.

  “Well,” he said, walking to the kitchen door, “I wish I didn’t have to go.”

  I grinned. “Well, I could try and keep you here,” I said with a grin. “But I think you could easily overpower me.”

  He laughed. “If I wanted to.”

  My smile spread across my face. “I hope you wouldn’t.”

  He pulled a face.

  We both laughed. I tried to keep my manner light and cheerful, even though I was sad. I didn’t want him to go. If he went, I might never see him again.

  We only have four more days in the same town.

  “Well, I will have to go past the doctor,” he said with a tired exhalation as he reached Mom’s front door. “I need to get a note so I can prove I was ill.”

  I smiled. “You were badly ill,” I said with a laugh. “So bad I had to resuscitate you.”

  “Mm. Mouth to mouth.”

  “Quite.”

  He leaned in and we kissed. I felt my body tingling and I pressed myself against him, my arms clasping hold of him firmly.

  He stepped away and I wished again that he didn’t have to go. He paused in the doorway, looking at me with those gray eyes soft and smiling. I could almost see a question in them, if I chose to. I didn’t want to ask what it was.

  “Well,” I said brightly. “You better go. At least it’s cleared up—I thought it might rain today. But it’s sunny now.”

  “Great,” he nodded, turning to look through the window. “Well, see you.”

  “See you,” I said. My voice was tight in my throat.

  We looked at each other for a long while, neither of us saying anything. I drank in the sight of him—his broad shoulders, that narrow waist, muscly legs—wanting to write it in my thoughts and never forget. He smiled at me.

  “Se
e you,” he said again.

  “Bye.”

  He went through the door and closed it. I stood there. Listened to the footfall on the path, to the sound of the gate. His car in the street, starting up and going off. Then silence. The empty street outside. The sound of birds.

  Whew.

  My heart ached. I made myself turn around.

  “Come on, Bethany Hayworth,” I said tightly. “Make some coffee. You need some.”

  I marched back into the kitchen and sat at the table. It made me remember having breakfast with him—the way he’d sat at my left-hand side, that slow uncertain smile on his face, watching me.

  Dammit.

  I hated the feeling of his silent presence, smiling at me, out of reach. It made the emptiness worse. I needed to do something. I stood and walked through the hallway and into the living room. I sat down and drank my coffee and tried to forget about the morning.

  Images flowed into my mind. That lean body. Those gray eyes. That hesitant smile.

  I leaned back on the couch and let the sweet tingle of how wonderful he had made me feel, flow through my body. I closed my eyes, recalling the way his touch had brought me to the brink and then, as he plunged into me, almost immediately, I had come. I let the memory of that flood me.