Risk: A Driven World Novel (The Driven World)

by Harlow Layne

  In the living area of the suite, Cal had set up our food on the table in front of the couch and had the TV on and set to the movie Dirty Dancing.

  Damn, he was a keeper. Too bad he wasn’t mine, though.

  “You’re perfect,” I told him as I sat down next to him and took in the feast before us. The table had different crab dishes covering the entire surface.

  “I don’t know about that, but I try. I wasn’t sure what you’d like so—"

  “You ordered everything on the menu,” I interrupted.

  “Something like that.” He let out a deep chuckle. “Singapore is known for its exquisite crab, and I didn’t want you to miss out.”

  “And the movie?”

  “Every girl loves Dirty Dancing?” His cheeks pinked up as he shrugged.

  “I can’t attest for every girl in the world, but I love the movie. It’s one of my favorites, and I watch it every time I see it on. I can’t pass it up.”

  “So, I did good?” One strand of hair fell over his forehead, making me want to brush it out of the way, but I held back.

  “You did great. Thank you for doing all this for me. It’s more than anyone has ever done.”

  “No grand romantic gestures from your exes?”

  My nose scrunched up as I thought back to all my previous boyfriends. There hadn’t been many, but even the ones I’d had never did anything like this for me. It was always me giving and trying to do the things they liked.

  “Not a one,” I answered truthfully.

  Cal picked up the remote and started the movie before we filled our plates with crab. I didn’t even want to know how much the bill was, nor did I want to find out how much this suite cost. It was the nicest place we’d stayed at so far, and I’d thought the hotel in Monaco was lavish. It had nothing on this place.

  Cal held his forkful of food only an inch from his mouth as he watched me take my first bite of crab. I was expecting spicy since he’d told me the name of the dish was chili crab. Instead, it was sweet and delicious. I moaned around my mouth full of food.

  “I’m going to have to come back to Singapore for this crab and dream about it for months,” I commented as I shoved another bite into my mouth.

  “It is damn good, and the way you…never mind.” He moved to place his plate on his lap and hit play again on our movie. I hadn’t even noticed he’d paused it for me. When I caught him re-adjust himself out of the corner of my eye, I realized my moans might have been affecting him in ways I didn’t want them to. I couldn’t help it, though. He kept introducing me to the most orgasmic foods on the planet. Maybe if he fed me the worst dishes the country had to offer, he wouldn’t have a problem.

  “Watermelon,” I said at the same time as Baby.

  “How many times have you seen this movie?” Cal asked on a laugh. “You know, like, every line.”

  “Too many to count. A friend and I used to watch a little bit of it every morning before school because her parents wouldn’t let her watch it.” I sighed, dreamily thinking about Patrick Swayze mouthing the words to I Had the Time of My Life to Baby at the end of the movie. Finishing the last of my dinner, I asked. “Have you ever watched this movie before?”

  Callum had finished eating long before me and had sat back against the soft cushions to watch the movie. Slinging his arm across the back of the couch, he glanced my way only to look back at the movie. I was giddy with excitement that he seemed to be enjoying it—or at least couldn’t take his eyes off it. “I can’t say that I have. It’s kind of a chick movie.”

  I gasped, my hand to my chest. “I take offense to that. It’s a classic. I love that the good girl gets the bad boy, and what a bad boy Johnny is. It’s the perfect romance.”

  “Is it sad that I’m jealous of Johnny? Maybe I need to be a bad boy, and you’ll give me a chance.” He murmured the last under his breath.

  Turning, I placed my hand on his arm that lay on the back of the cushion. “Cal, you know that’s not true,” I said sadly. I hated that he thought that. “You know that’s not the reason why.”

  Cal gave a fake smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I know. All my life, I’ve never wanted to be in a relationship, and when I do, I can’t have her because she’s my fucking therapist.”

  The words, ‘I won’t always be your therapist’ were on the tip of my tongue, but I held back. I didn’t want to make any promises I couldn’t keep. Once the season was over, there was a possibility that he’d no longer be interested in me.

  Once the movie was over, we went our separate ways. After the events of the day and a full belly, I was beyond tired. Slipping off my robe, I slid into bed and sighed as the silky sheets met my naked body. Pulling the covers up to my chin, I sunk into the bed and let the day go, falling fast asleep.

  Callum

  Singapore

  A scream woke me from a deep sleep. My head was foggy as I tried to figure out where the noise had come from. Was it someone in another room? Another scream broke out from inside my suite. Flying out of bed, I ran into the other bedroom to find Aspen in bed, twisted in the covers. The soft light coming from the window illuminated her face that was contorted in pain.

  Moving closer, I shook her shoulder, trying to wake her up to no avail.

  “Cal,” she whimpered, kicking her legs and catching them in the blankets, making her fight against them escalate.

  Grabbing the covers at the bottom of the bed, I pulled them away from her legs. Aspen stopped kicking but fisted her hands in the blanket while letting out a high-pitched whine.

  Sitting on the side of her bed, I loosened her hold on the bedding and tried again to wake her up by shaking her shoulder and calling her name.

  “No!” she screamed and then sat up in a rush.

  “Wake up, Doc.”

  “Cal?” she cried.

  Pulling her into my arms, I rubbed up and down her back, unsure if she was awake or still dreaming. When my palm only met warm skin, my hand stilled in the middle of her back. I was shocked to find Aspen without clothes.

  Throwing her arms around me, she cried into my neck.

  “I’m here. It was only a bad dream,” I kept repeating over and over again as her grip tightened. When she started to calm down, I asked, “What was your dream about?” I didn’t want to use any trigger words and potentially make the situation worse. I noticed Aspen had done the same for me when she asked her carefully worded questions. She nodded into my neck. Her hot breath skated over my skin. “What can I do to make it better?”

  “Can you sleep in here and hold me?” she asked with a sniff. “I don’t want to be alone.”

  I wasn’t a hundred percent positive she was naked under there, but I did know she was without a shirt. I also wasn’t sure I’d be able to resist temptation with her chest against mine, but when she whispered a broken plea, I couldn’t deny her.

  “Lie on your side facing away from me,” I ordered as I smoothed a hand down her hair.

  She drew back. “What? Why?”

  “Because neither of us have shirts on, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to remain a gentleman if your breasts are pressed against my chest,” I answered truthfully, as I pulled away to slide underneath the covers with her.

  All thoughts of being a gentleman went out the window when she pressed her ass into my already swelling dick. Why hadn’t I thought about my dick being nestled in her ass crack?

  One sniffle and I forgot about the uncomfortable situation I was in and wrapped my arms around her. “Come here, Doc.”

  She wasted no time turning over and encircling my body with her own. One leg went between mine as one arm went around my waist and the other under my neck. Scooting closer, she rested her head on my shoulder. The feel of her plump breasts against my skin had my cock hardening at a rapid pace.

  Wetness slowly started to seep into my arm and chest. She was crying, and here I was getting hard and trying not to think about it. “Do you want to talk about it?” I asked like I was the therapist in
this relationship.

  She shook her head, clinging to me tighter. “It was scary and yet so surreal at the same time. I just want to forget about it. Please, Cal, make me forget.” Her body rubbed against mine. Was she asking what I thought she was asking? Did she want me to make her forget about it with sex?

  “What are you asking for here, Doc? I don’t want you to regret anything in the morning.” I groaned as she hooked her leg around my hip. “I need you in my life, and while I want to sink into your sweet heat more than anything, I can’t risk losing you.”

  “I can’t fight my attraction to you anymore.” She shifted, and that’s when I knew for sure Aspen was completely naked. In that moment, I couldn’t deny her anything.

  I started by placing soft kisses up the column of her throat and then nibbling along her jaw. When I reached her mouth, I sucked on her bottom lip and then bit down on it until she moaned with pleasure. I licked along the seam of her pouty lips until she opened wide and let me in. Plunging my tongue into her mouth, I tasted every centimeter of her. When her tongue met mine, I moaned into her mouth. Never when I thought of bedding her, did I think it would be like this. Soft and warm. Passionate and home. Nothing had ever felt so right in my life. Not even when I was on the track going at speeds of two hundred miles per hour.

  Her fingers gripped my shoulders and slid along the contours of my back and down to my waist. Reaching the waistband of my boxer briefs, she dipped her hand inside and squeezed my ass. The bite of pain from her nails digging into my skin kicked my dick into overdrive.

  Breaking our kiss, I nibbled on her earlobe while my palms cupped her breasts. They were the perfect handful. My thumb swept across her pert nipple and pinched it before I moved down to lick and suck on her other breast.

  Aspen moaned my name into the dark room, and I’d never heard anything better. I bit down and then laved my tongue over the area to soothe the pain I’d just inflicted.

  “I need more, Cal,” she whimpered, arching her back and pushing her breast further into my mouth.

  Letting go of her breast with a pop, I kissed my way down her body. Situating myself between her legs, I nipped one hip, causing her to squirm under my grasp. With my teeth, I placed little love bites along her inner thigh as I moved back up. Her hands tangled in my hair and guided me to where she wanted my mouth most. I placed a kiss on her mound before I lightly bit her bundle of nerves. Aspen shrieked but kept her hold on my head and pushed her pussy up into my waiting mouth.

  Spreading her wide open with my thumbs, I licked from her tight rosebud all the way up to her already pulsing clit. Swirling my tongue around, I slipped two fingers into her hot, wet channel. The smell of her arousal was driving me wild. I ate her like I was dying, and she was my last meal. Driving my fingers deeper into her, I curled them on the way out. Each time she clenched around my fingers, it had my dick pulsing and my mouth licking and sucking faster and faster.

  “Oh God, right there,” she moaned, arching into my mouth when I flicked her clit over and over again with the tip of my tongue. With one final lick and pump of my fingers, she screamed out my name while clenching her shaking thighs around my head and nearly pulling out a handful of hair.

  I ground my erection into the mattress to get some type of relief as I brought her down from her release. I wish I could have seen what she looked like as she came from my hands and mouth. I was sure it was a sight to behold and would have had me coming on the spot.

  When every last tremor had moved through her body, I made my way back up the bed, licking away the light sheen of sweat that covered her. Hovering over her with my arms on either side of her head, I dipped down and kissed her lightly.

  Her arms wound around my neck. “You’re really good at that.” Her toes skimmed up the back of my legs until they reached the hem of my briefs and tried to push them down. She grunted when they only moved an inch and huffed out. “This isn’t going how I planned.”

  “Would you like some help?”

  “Yes, please.” She twisted underneath me.

  I hated to leave her embrace, but I loved where this was going. I quickly divested myself of my underwear and was back in between her silky thighs in a matter of seconds.

  Her warm hand wrapped around my shaft, and I nearly lost it then. She had my body running like I was a pubescent teenage boy ready to explode at the mere sight of a pair of tits. She squeezed the tip, making me buck into her hand.

  “I want to feel you inside of me,” she said as she stroked my cock once more before she lined it up to her entrance.

  I wanted nothing more than to be inside of her as well, but I didn’t have a condom. I groaned and rested my forehead to hers. “I never thought this moment would happen, so I don’t have a condom.”

  “I have an implant, and I’m clean.” She kept moving her hand up and down my shaft. If she kept that up, I wasn’t going to last long.

  “I’m clean. I’m tested every few races.” With the tip begging to push inside, I asked, “Are you sure this is what you want? Because once I’m deep inside of you, there’s no going back.”

  Her heels pressed into my ass, giving me the sign I needed to proceed. With one push of my hips, I was deep inside of her, and I never wanted to leave her tight heat again. “Fuck me like I’m yours,” she moaned into the side of my neck.

  Pulling back until my tip was all that was left in her, I slammed back inside. Our skin slapped as I drilled into her, finally letting go of all the tension I’d been holding back over the weeks since I’d met Aspen. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought she’d feel this good. It was like her pussy was made for me. With each thrust, her walls tightened and sucked me in further.

  “Fuck, your pussy is so tight and needy. Does it like my cock pounding into you?”

  “Yes, more,” she groaned, bucking her hips up to meet mine.

  Picking up my pace, I slammed into her again and again until heat tingled down my spine, and I felt my balls tighten up. Gripping her leg, I placed her foot on my shoulder, and with the other hand, I ran my thumb through her juices and started to circle her clit. With one touch of my digit, she keened as her walls started to pulse around me. I kept my brutal pace as she came undone. With her pussy milking my cock, I let go. I stilled, my grip on her leg tightened even as my thumb rubbed lazy circles, and I let myself erupt inside of her.

  Rolling off her, I pulled her into my arms. “Wow, I’ve been missing out,” she said breathlessly against the side of my neck.

  “How’s that?” I rubbed my hand up and down her back.

  “If I would have known you were that skilled in bed, I would have made sure to not have a room to stay in sooner.” She laughed softly, her breath tickling my skin.

  “You’re more than welcome to stay in my room anytime,” I offered.

  “I might take you up on that.” She moved down to rest her head on my chest and slid one leg across mine. “Thank you for tonight—for everything. You’re my knight in shining armor,” she breathed against my chest. “You’re always there to save me.”

  “It’s nothing. You save me every day.”

  10

  Aspen

  Texas, USA

  “And that’s Callum Crew with his fifth first-place finish of the season,” the announcer called.

  I couldn’t help but jump up and down clapping. I was beyond proud of Cal and his win. He’d only needed me once during the race, and as I’d talked to him, he’d calmed himself down. It wouldn’t be long before he wouldn’t need me. I wasn’t sure what that meant for us. It had been a month and a half since Singapore and waking up with Callum in my bedroom. Since then, we hadn’t spent a night apart.

  The moment I saw Callum, it took everything in me not to throw myself at him and kiss him all over his face. Instead, I waited back behind the crowd and let everyone congratulate him, wishing I could be the girl on his arm like the other guys with their wives, girlfriends, or flavor of the month.

  Cal’s eyes locked
with mine, never breaking contact as person after person clapped him on the back, kissed him on the cheek, or hugged him. When Colton and Rylee came into view, he reluctantly looked away, smiling at them.

  His bosses couldn’t know we were sleeping together. If they ever found out, I’d be on the first flight back to Barcelona, and quite possibly lose my job if they reported me. It was easy when we were in other countries, but with CD Enterprises here, it was going to be difficult to look at Cal like the friend/patient he was supposed to be to me instead of my lover.

  I left before Cal and the other two winners made their way to the podium and went back into the suite where I watched the race. I gathered my things, got on my phone to check my messages, and waited until someone came to get me when it was time to leave.

  It was Rylee who peeked in the room about thirty minutes later with a sweet smile on her face. Cal had told me about Rylee and her company’s work with children, making me admire her all the more.

  “Is it time to go?” I asked, standing up with my own smile on my face.

  “It is. I wanted to come up and get you so I could tell you what a great job you’ve done with Callum. There wasn’t one sign he had any problems driving today. You don’t know how much we all appreciate the work you’ve done with him. Not only that, but he seems like a happier person.”

  Was she saying she thought he was happier because of me or the work I’d done with him? I wasn’t sure, but I wasn’t going to say anything. If I did, it would be my job.

  “He’s improved by leaps and bounds. I’m so proud of him.” I wanted to say more but thought better of it. If I gushed too much, it might clue her in to my growing feelings for Cal.

  “If everything keeps going the way it has, I think he’ll win the season. I don’t want to jinx it, though.” She flashed me a smile as we walked out of the room and downstairs.