Coming Altered: Welcome to Carson, Book Four

by Renee Harless

  CASSIDY HAD FORGOTTEN WHAT it felt like to have the wind swishing past your face and body. What the freedom of riding out in the open had felt like. How comforting it felt pressing your body against someone that held your life in their hands.

  She was actually surprised earlier when they had made it out to the sidewalk and Harlan had a second helmet waiting for her on the back of his Harley. And after securing her bag onto the back of the bike’s back rest, he had hoisted her up by her hips and planted her firmly on the back of the bike with barely a sweat broken.

  But as they traveled down the interstate highway through New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, Cassidy is becoming more and more aware of the growing vibration of the bike developing a pressure in her core she doesn’t want to ignore, especially since she can feel Harlan’s tight stomach beneath her fingers.

  She leans her helmet covered head against his shoulder and struggles against her desire to sneak her hands under his shirt. A few shaky and heavy breaths expel through her mouth and into her helmet, coating the face shield in a fog as she reigns in her reaction. Seeming to know what she needs, Harlan takes one hand off the handle of his bike and runs his hand along her arms still wrapped around his body.

  The comfort of his touch is enough to remind her why losing herself to him would destroy the path she has worked so hard to build, but there is little she can do to stop the yearning for him. Months of wondering if she had lost her one chance to be with him; if she had just dreamt him up. But here he is, under her touch, her mystery man a reality, and she fears either choice she needs to make: lose herself to a man or lose her chance at love. Cassidy craves a sign of some sort to tell her which path to choose, which heart to follow: the heart that loves her job and the private life she’s worked to maintain or the heart that loves the man tucked in her embrace that lived in the public eye.

  They ride for a few more miles out of the Maryland and West Virginia Mountains before coming into the edge of Virginia; her arms still wrapped tightly around him and his hand resting against her wrist. Cassidy is lost in the surroundings of farmland and mountains when she feels a tap on her hand. When she moves slightly, Harlan takes his free hand from her arm and points towards the sky where a heavy rain cloud approaches them quickly.

  Harlan pulls off at the next exit that shows signs for hotels and drives the bike under the overhang of the first one’s entrance. He swings his thick leg over the bike and helps her remove her helmet before lifting her up and over the vehicle.

  Cassidy shakes her hair free from the small ponytail it is encased in and feels an extra set of hands shaking the locks free.

  “Beautiful,” Harlan claims before grabbing her phone from his jacket pocket. “Why don’t you go call your parents and let them know we may be late and I’ll go get us a room?”

  She stares at him before moving her gaze down to the phone he holds out in his outstretched hand.

  “Ok.”

  Harlan turns and enters through the sliding glass doors of the building leaving Cassidy alone by the bike. As she speed dials her parents, she takes in the approaching storm and shakes her head in amazement.

  “I guess that’s a sign if I ever saw one,” she chuckles just as her mom picks up the phone.

  “Hello, sweetie.”

  “Hi, Mom. I was just calling to tell you that I may not be in until tomorrow. There’s a storm right now.”

  “Oh, sure, love. You drive safe. I hate to run off, but Sydney needs some help with the opening. Poor thing can’t even lift a cookie sheet with that broken arm.”

  “No problem. I just wanted to check in. Give everyone my love.”

  “Love you too, Cassidy.”

  She ends the call and unhooks the two duffle bags from the back of the bike, hoisting them over her shoulders, and then entering the hotel where she finds Harlan leaning against the counter where a young brunette brazenly vies for his attention, seeming to have recognized him.

  She watches as he leans over the counter to sign a piece of paper as the guest services representative slowly reaches out with her phone.

  Cassidy walks closer to Harlan, and as he recognizes her steps, he turns to her and smiles.

  “We’re all set,” he claims to Cassidy before turning around to the girl at the desk who promptly hides her phone behind her back and then hands him the room keys with the other.

  “Enjoy your stay!” the young woman exclaims excitedly.

  Harlan takes the bags from Cassidy’s shoulder and with a hand placed gently on her back he guides her towards the elevators.

  “She said I could keep the bike under the cover during the storm.”

  “Oh, well that’s nice of her.” As they wait for the elevator to return to their floor she turns to look at Harlan and asks, “You know she was taking pictures with her phone, right?”

  He takes a deep sigh and shrugs his shoulders.

  “It comes with the territory. Most of the time I don’t get recognized, but it happens and I don’t want to be rude.”

  Cassidy nods because she truly does understand, but she doesn’t have to like it. He’s a celebrity, the part of her career she’s worked extremely hard to stay away from. She is able to walk down the street without anyone taking a second glance; things would be different with Harlan and she just isn’t sure she can tackle it.

  And then there will be her family to answer to. Especially Ryker. Harlan is his friend and band mate and pursuing something with him will make things so much more difficult than they needed to be. Her internal conflict weighs heavily on her heart.

  As the elevator doors open she follows him into the cart and turns around quickly, removing the chance for eye contact.

  “Did you speak with your parents?”

  “I did. They’re fine with it. My sister needed some help so we didn’t get to talk long. Luckily Ryker is supposed to be at an interview tomorrow so…” she trails off leaving the unspoken to flutter through the air.

  “That’s good,” Harlan says awkwardly as the doors open and he moves around her to find their hotel room.

  Outside in the hallway the thunder rumbles so loudly that the building seems to shake. Cassidy scurries a bit faster to catch up to Harlan who is opening the door to their room.

  Their room; which houses a single King sized bed.

  “Sorry,” Harlan says as she turns her gaze to him questioningly. “This was all they had; they have a wedding taking place this weekend.”

  Cassidy nods and sticks her hands in the back pockets of her pants and watches curiously as Harlan drops her bag on the floor and sits on the edge of the bed, turning his gaze towards her.

  His eyes follow her movements as she comes to stand before him, nervously biting her lip, the pain giving her the courage she needs.

  She stands knee to knee and can see from the corner of her eyes where his fingers twitch in need to touch her and he fights against the pull.

  “Harlan,” she begins just as a loud crash sounds throughout the room in conjunction with a blinding light from outside the window.

  Then…blackness shrouds them. Cassidy can barely see past the tip of her nose

  “Well I can take a hint,” she whispers to herself. More forcibly than before, Cassidy repeats, “Harlan?”

  “Yeah?” his deep voice penetrates.

  “I want you to kiss me.”

  Even in the shadows of the room she can feel his body move from the bed to stand before her, their bodies pressing against each other. By sixth sense, or just pure luck, his hands frame her face and he bends forward to brush his lips across her mouth once…twice.

  She opens her mouth slightly, hoping for another taste of him, but instead she feels his whisper against her cheek, the warmth of his breath dispersing across her skin.

  “If I kiss you, Cass, you’re mine. There is no coming back from this. You need to trust me; trust us. Can you do that? Because I want you so bad right now.”

  Cassidy pauses for a moment, not to change her min
d, or twist her answer, but simply to take in his words. His words of passion and possession. His words of caring and security. His words of faith and expectation.

  “Yes,” she replies confidently and it isn’t but a second before he captures her mouth in his for a quick heated peck.

  “Then you lay back on that bed, sweetheart, because I plan on taking it nice and slow with you.”

  Cassidy removes her jacket, tossing it somewhere into the room, then follows it with her clothes and shoes doing the same.

  “Maybe I don’t want it nice and slow,” she purrs as she climbs onto the bed and rests back against the pillows.

  As her eyes adjust in the dim light, she notices that Harlan tosses his clothing aside towards her pile along the wall. He climbs over her on the bed, resting his hard body between her legs, and brings his face close to hers.

  “We had it hard and rough last time and, this time, I want to savor you,” he says as he takes a breast in his hands. “Can we do it my way?” he adds just as he bends forward and captures a nipple between his teeth causing Cassidy to arch her back away from the bed in pleasure.

  “God, yes,” she cries out earning her a chuckle from Harlan.

  “Glad you see it my way. Now I hope you’re not tired, you’ve got a long night ahead of you.”

  E WANTS TO MOVE fast, feel and taste every inch of her body as quickly as he can, but he knows he needs to take this slow. He needs to make sure she doesn’t scare away. So instead he plans to savor her delectable body piece by piece.

  Swathed in the pools of darkness, flashing bits of lightning illuminating the room sporadically, Harlan takes a moment to memorize the feel of Cassidy beneath his fingers. The softness of her skin, the pebbling of goosebumps after every touch, the heat emanating from her center every time his body brushes against her core, these are the things he wants to remember and sight has little to do with these memories.

  Harlan relishes in the feel of Cassidy’s fingers as they trail up and down his back as he makes love to her mouth. His tongue sparring against hers. Sucking and tugging on her lip causing her hips to buck against him.

  He craves that reaction. The one where she loses herself in the feeling of his body against hers. Where she absolutely yearns for his touch.

  Pulling away from her mouth Harlan rests on his elbows, taking the time to watch as she lies before him breathing heavily, the whites of her eyes barely visible in the darkness. Her hands stop their perusal of his body and he takes a chance to start his own inspection.

  His fingers trail down from her shoulders, over the peaks of her breasts, swirling his fingers around the nipples during their pass. Trailing down her stomach he dips down and tastes the skin right above her navel, unable to control his need, then blows on the wet skin causing his woman to groan in pleasure as her skin pebbles under his breath.

  Sitting back on his heels, he trails his hands down her thighs and then moves them back up and within an inch of her heated center, rubbing his thumbs against the moisture collecting on her skin, before bringing his hands back to her knees.

  With a quiet strength, he grasps her knees tightly and pulls them upward, causing her legs to bend before him. Even in the pitch black he can see the glistening dampness between her legs reflect the light from outside the window. Harlan then trails his hands down her muscular calves, lightly squeezing the muscles as he slides down to her feet.

  Cassidy’s soft skin is in stark contrast to the feisty woman she leads herself to be. In the blackness of the room, Harlan can almost visualize the secretive woman he met at the bar all those months back and now here they are, together, exposed, and desirous.

  “You still with me, Cass?” Harlan asks as he presses open mouth kisses at her knee, moving towards her apex.

  “Mmhmm. Yes.”

  As his mouth comes closer to her slick core, he hears her breath catch and he smiles inwardly. Harlan sticks out his tongue and tastes the sweet juice created by her body, her distinct flavor flowing over his taste buds.

  Just one taste and greediness engulfs him. His fingers join in his ministrations of her core, alternating between rubbing and licking at her delicate folds. Her body quivers beneath his touch and a sense of power unlike anything he had ever felt before overtakes him.

  Harlan loses himself in the thrusting of his tongue into her center and switching to suck on her hardening bundle of nerves with every few paths. Her legs clamp onto his head and shoulders, locking him in place, not that Harlan has any desire to move from his position between her legs, and she thrusts a hand deep into his hair, clinching with all her strength as she falls apart against him.

  Unlike their previous coming together where Harlan remembers Cassidy reminiscing in the feel of her orgasm, she turns almost animalistic after cresting over her peak, surprising Harlan at her sexual aggression. She wastes little time taking what she wants. What she needs.

  As she pushes at his shoulder, causing Harlan to sit up and rest against his heels once more as she arranges herself in front of him, bottom in the air, and pert mouth just inches away from his erection. And, as if silently beckoned by her, his cock twitches towards her mouth causing the sensitive skin to brush against her bottom lip.

  “Fuck, you look sexy like that,” Harlan growls as he runs a hand over her hair and down her back, ending at her ass where he takes more than a handful.

  As her hand wraps around the base of his cock she laughs saucily as she replies, “You can’t even see me. It’s pitch black in here.”

  “Oh, baby. I can see enough. Don’t you worry.”

  Cassidy leans closer to his dick and envelopes the mushroom tip in her mouth, learning the taste and feel of him.

  “Mmmm,” she murmurs with his cock in her mouth and her tongue twisting around the tip.

  As she works him further into her mouth Harlan gasps as his cock reaches the back of her throat and his hand reaches into her hair almost by automation.

  Her head bobs up and down, then side to side, as she constantly switches her routine from sucking to licking, constantly bringing Harlan to the edge and then backing off. It’s only when one of her sneaky fingers reaches the sensitive skin just behind his ball sack that his restraint breaks. And, as if she knows his animalistic nature will sprout, she places her free hand on top of the one holding her head, silently giving him permission to take control; to take what is his.

  Without a second thought as she continues to apply gentle pressure and small circles to his erogenous area, he begins to fuck her mouth; holding an irreplaceable power in his hands.

  Harlan creates a sexual tempo in his movements, slow, slow, quick, quick, quick, quick, all to keep her, and himself, sane. He barely recognizes when her hand leaves its placement on top of his, but he soon realizes she is getting off on giving him pleasure because, in a flash of lightning from the window, he sees her hand between her legs, working herself towards her own orgasm.

  And, fuck, if during that small glimpse of light that Harlan doesn’t see one of the most beautiful creatures on this planet begging between his legs and getting herself off to it.

  The vision speeds Harlan towards his pinnacle and he can barely concentrate as he mutters out loud that he is about to come, all the while Cassidy licks and bobs against his thickening shaft.

  “Fuck, Cass,” Harlan cries as he shoots himself into the back of her mouth barely able to watch as she swallows every last drip.

  Spent and scarcely able to catch his breath, Harlan runs his fingers through Cassidy’s mussed up blond hair. She removes her hand from between her legs and rests her thighs onto her calves, peering up at him from behind her dark lashes. Almost seeking approval for her actions. And Harlan is all too eager to give his approval.

  “That was…incredible, Cass.”

  It’s then that she smiles in the darkness. His woman needing the assurance that she did a good job, a total contradiction to the confident woman he’s come to know.

  “Did you…were you able to get your
self off?” he asks as he strokes his hand through her hair, across her shoulder, and down her arm, then repeating the process.

  Cassidy stares at him as she contemplates her answer, then responds with a simple shake of her head negatively. But before Harlan has a chance to respond the entryway light turns on along with the clock beside the bed on the nightstand.

  Cassidy sits up, as if broken free from a trance, and glances around the room in interest. Harlan follows her movements. Clothes strewn across the entrance. Bag somehow tossed in the center of the room. One of his shoes mysteriously hanging from the doorknob of the bathroom.

  With a heavy sigh, Harlan removes himself from the bed and walks over to the nightstand to turn on the lamp. He then moves towards the entrance and flicks the switch to once again bathe the room in darkness save for the light coming from the lamp.

  As Harlan turns around he gazes at Cassidy who seems to watch him in curiosity, head cocked to the side like a puppy watching her master.

  “Go ahead and lie back. I’m going to clean up our mess,” Harlan claims, watching as Cassidy obeys him and rests herself against the pillow of the bed.

  Quickly Harlan gathers their clothes and places them on a chair in the corner of the room and then their shoes follow. Harlan turns back towards the bed and his cock jumps to attention. Before him Cassidy lies spread out against the white duvet, her pale skin only a few shades darker, with her legs crossed at the ankles. A smile resides on her face as if she enjoyed watching him walk back and forth across the room.

  He stalks over to the opposite side of the bed and reclines his body beside hers, so close that he can feel the natural heat of her skin emanating from her body. He twists his body to rest on his side, elbow bent to hold his head, and he gazes down at her. She watches him inquisitively, but in silence.

  Reaching across and tucking her hair behind her ear Harlan asks again, “You couldn’t get yourself off?”

  She licks at her parched lips, causing Harlan to divert his attention to the movement momentarily before bringing his gaze back to her eyes.