Under Your Influence

by Jaxson Kidman

  He was gorgeous, of course.

  Steel cut muscles gracing the body of… my husband.

  Which meant they were now my muscles, right? And his body was my body? Meaning I could touch. I could… taste. I could…

  Smell?

  I shut my eyes as my cheeks burned hot.

  Fuck.

  That was the word I tried to hide.

  His body was mine to fuck.

  If I wanted to.

  It was pretty obvious he wanted to fuck me.

  So, what was the problem?

  Did a stupid diamond ring and a little wedding band really change things that much?

  “Coffee is made, darling,” Tyler said with his eyes shut.

  I gasped. “What?”

  His eyes opened. “Made you coffee. How was your night?”

  “Uh… fine. Yours?”

  “Not too bad. Nasty bar fight. But I broke it up. Hit them with a pool stick. Bad ass.”

  “Are you serious?” I asked.

  Tyler chuckled. “That’s a quiet night for me, Harper.”

  “That’s dangerous.”

  “No, you’re dangerous.”

  Tyler looked down at himself.

  I made the stupid mistake of following his lead.

  Of course, his dick was hard, pushing up under the blanket. He was pitching a tent… and believe me, that tent looked like it could comfortably sleep about ten people.

  I swallowed hard, half mad at myself that I had once touched his dick but couldn’t remember doing so. And just as mad that nothing else happened. But at the same time, the logistics didn’t make sense. How something that… full… was going to fit in something…

  “Come give me a kiss,” Tyler said. “I’ll let you choose where.”

  “Shut up,” I said, snapping back to reality. “I’m not kissing anything.”

  “Then I’ll kiss you.”

  “You can kiss my ass,” I said.

  Without hesitation, Tyler grabbed my hips and spun me around. My eyes went wide as he tugged my pajama bottoms down just a few inches.

  His lips pressed against my bare skin - my right cheek - and he made a loud kiss.

  “Can’t wait to taste the rest,” he said.

  I was flush everywhere.

  He was aggressive and nasty and bold and… and…

  … everything I could have ever fantasized about…

  “I have to go to work,” I blurted out.

  “What do you do for a living?” he asked.

  “We’re married, and you don’t know what I do for a living?” I asked as I stepped away from the couch.

  I needed to.

  If I stayed close, I was going to end up on top of him.

  “I’m a graphic designer,” I said.

  “So, you make logos and shit?”

  “Yes,” I said. “The shit is my favorite part.”

  Tyler laughed and stood up, rubbing his face.

  He had no care in the world that his cock was pressing against the inside of his shorts. I mean, his shorts were starting to pull down his body…

  “So, no coffee with your hubby?” he asked.

  “Not today. Sorry. Not really.”

  “When are you coming back?”

  “What?”

  “When am I going to see my wife again?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “Tyler…”

  “I have to work today too,” he said. “But I get a couple days off after this shift. I’ll be home by eight depending on how things go. Meet me here? Or we can go out for a drink. You tell me, darling.”

  “I need to go home,” I said. “To my home. Where I live. I need to figure this out, Tyler. What happened…”

  “You know what happened, Harper.”

  I swallowed hard and nodded. “I know.”

  “We have a lot to talk about still. And whenever you’re ready to flaunt this in front of your ex, tell me.”

  Tyler waved his hands down his perfectly chiseled body. Down past his raging morning wood.

  Right now would have been perfect to get back at Brian. Snap a picture and send it. Tell him that Tyler had been fucking me senseless, so I could forget about him.

  “I’ll see you later,” I said.

  I ran for the door.

  Tyler came after me.

  His hands touched my hips.

  “Goodbye, darling,” he whispered and kissed the top of my head.

  My jaw dropped.

  My panties pulled tighter to my core.

  I was seriously fucked.

  “You can’t freak out,” I said as I paced in front of Cara and Joanie.

  “Are you pregnant?” Cara asked.

  “No!” I cried out. “I’m married!”

  “What?” Joanie asked.

  I had my left hand hidden the entire time they were at my apartment.

  I brought it forward and stuck it out and showed them the rings.

  “No way,” Cara said. “This is impossible.”

  “That looks real,” Joanie said. “Who did this?”

  “A cop,” I said.

  “Excuse me?” Cara asked.

  “Nice,” Joanie said with a smile. “You may have out done me, Harper.”

  “I don’t want to out do anyone,” I said. “This is insane.”

  “How did this happen?” Cara asked.

  I gave them the story. Me going to Brian’s house. Tyler stopping me from breaking windows. Then me meeting up with Tyler. Then the drinking. The kissing. The wildness. And then waking up married to him.

  Cara’s jaw was dropped.

  Joanie stood up and walked to me. She hugged me. “You did it.”

  “Did what?” I asked.

  “You broke your own cherry,” she said. “You finally broke through that wall of yours. You did something crazy. You actually had fun.”

  “Marriage is not funny,” I yelled.

  Joanie laughed. “Who cares? Get a divorce. But think about the story. I mean… is he hot?”

  “Oh, he’s so hot,” I said.

  “And you got him.”

  “But I didn’t,” I said. “We… didn’t…”

  “You didn’t sleep with him?” Cara asked.

  “Oh, so that part gets your attention?”

  “How did you not fuck your own husband?” Joanie asked.

  “It’s all crazy,” I said. “I don’t know what to do. My head is spinning.”

  “Harper,” Cara said. “You were supposed to have a rebound. Not a lifelong commitment.”

  “There’s no commitment here,” Joanie said. “My advice… ride his face, then his dick, then divorce him.”

  I lowered my head. “You two are no help.”

  “Why?” Cara asked. “You can’t possibly like this cop, can you?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know… I… what was I thinking?”

  “You weren’t,” Joanie said. “And that’s okay sometimes.”

  “Just don’t get pregnant,” Cara said.

  “I need to talk to him again,” I said. “Pressure him. Figure out why he did this. I mean, I know my reason. Because of Brian. But why did he do this? Why would he marry someone so fast…”

  “Especially without sleeping with you,” Joanie said. “I mean, I know I’ve had sex with guys and they wanted to marry me.”

  “That’s a lot of proposals,” Cara said.

  “Shut up,” Joanie said.

  “You two, focus on me,” I said.

  “Go talk to him again,” Cara said.

  “He’s working.”

  “He’s a cop,” Joanie said. “He’s working.” She smiled big.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Let’s go play detective and track his ass down. We’re the bitches in the divorce department. And our badges are our vaginas.”

  “Wow,” Cara said.

  I laughed. “You have problems, Joanie.”

  She grabbed my left hand and lifted it up. “I think you have bigger problems, Harper
.”

  I stopped laughing.

  She was right.

  14

  (Tyler)

  I had my wedding ring in my pocket as I got the call for a shoplifter darting through the parking lot of a store. The store employees were instructed not to chase and engage with the criminal. Which was for their safety. It was up to me to put my ass on the line. And I had no idea if this guy had a weapon on him. Or what his intentions were.

  The unknown was the craziest part.

  Hell, I had lived in the unknown for so long though.

  And I even added to it by marrying Harper.

  Fuck it.

  I could have come racing into the parking with my lights and sirens going wild, but I wanted to sneak up on this prick. The second I moved by the front of the store, two employees charged at my cruiser, pointing and yelling.

  I saw the guy in the parking lot.

  He was in a long sleeve, blue shirt with jeans and dirty, white shoes. His head was buzzed in a crew cut style.

  I turned right and sped through the parking lot, my lights and sirens going off now.

  I had no choice.

  The guy cut between two cars.

  Classic.

  I turned off my siren and parked the cruiser.

  I wasn’t in the mood for a chase, but so be it.

  The guy was completely frazzled and had himself confused.

  He kept looking for me and kept losing where he was going.

  It was almost a pathetic chase. Like the killer in a horror movie.

  “Don’t make me hurt you, man,” I called out. “Just fucking stop.”

  To my shock, it worked.

  The guy stopped and dropped the box he had been running with.

  A pair of work boots spilled out of the box.

  I caught up to him and quickly grabbed his hands to put him in cuffs. Just because he stopped didn’t mean he wouldn’t turn around with a knife or a gun.

  “Boots?” I asked. “Couldn’t grab something more valuable?”

  “Fuck, man, I'm sorry,” he said. “It's for my job.”

  I turned the guy around. His eyes were filled with tears. “What job?”

  “I’ve been unemployed for six months. I finally got a temp job. Working construction. I just want to feed my family.”

  “Come with me,” I said.

  I picked up the boots and walked the guy back to my cruiser.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Jeff.”

  “I’m going to search you. Drugs. Weapons.”

  “Go ahead,” he said. “I’m just trying to survive.”

  I patted him down and took his wallet. His ID matched what he said. He had a picture of himself, a woman, and two kids. A boy and a girl.

  I turned off my lights and stared at him. “I’m going to take the cuffs off. You do anything stupid and I will shoot you.”

  “Right,” Jeff said.

  “You came here to steal.”

  “I need the boots,” he said. “I was going to come back when I got my first check and pay them back. I thought I had it figured out. But I got scared. I never do this. I’ve never done this. I kept thinking about my son. What if he did this? Fuck, man. Fuck.”

  “Okay, take it easy,” I said. “Six months without a job, huh?”

  “Yeah. My wife has been covering so many shifts to get us by. Now it’s my turn. I’m the man of the family, you know?”

  I looked at the boots. “Those are the ones you need?”

  “Yeah,” Jeff said.

  “Did you drive here?”

  “Yeah. My car is across the lot.”

  “So, you came out the wrong doors?” I asked.

  Jeff smiled. “Yeah. I’m a total fucking mess.”

  I cleared my throat. “Here’s the deal, Jeff. I know your name. I’m going to check up on you.” I reached for the boots and handed him the box. “Consider it a gift.”

  “What?”

  “Go home. Hug your damn family. Work hard.”

  “You're not arresting me?”

  I shook my head. “I’m not putting a father of two in jail, not like this.”

  “Oh, man…”

  “Don’t say anything right now. Just go.”

  Jeff swallowed hard and looked ready to cry again.

  He carried the box to his car.

  I walked down to the store where I was met with the manager.

  She was a nice enough woman to hear the story about Jeff and when I gave her the cash needed to pay for the boots, she had one of the cashiers ring up the sale as normal.

  There was a chance Jeff was full of shit. There was a chance he was telling the truth.

  Either way he got the break of a lifetime.

  And I wasn’t the one to thank.

  I wasn’t a hero.

  This came down to one person to blame.

  Harper.

  “Why did you just do that?”

  Harper stood at my police cruiser, arms folded, trying to look authoritative. The first thing I saw was the way her breasts rested on her arms. Those beautiful and perfectly full breasts with rose pink nipples, so well defined and perfectly matched, the tip of my tongue began to tingle.

  She had her hair pulled back, a first for me to see her like that.

  The natural beauty that poured off Harper was a double edge sword for me.

  On one hand, she was beautiful, and she was mine. At least on paper.

  On the other hand, I couldn’t imagine why some clown would hurt her and dump her for someone else.

  “Are you following me again, darling?” I asked.

  “Not following,” she said. “Understanding.”

  “Any question you have you can ask me personally,” I said as I approached her. “I’ll answer anything.”

  “Anything?” she asked.

  I leaned against my police cruiser. “Of course, the more naked you are, the more truthful the answers will get.”

  “Right here?”

  “Why not?”

  Harper touched the bottom of her shirt.

  I raised an eyebrow.

  Was she standing up to me?

  “I’m not about to flash a cop in a parking lot,” she said and moved her hand away from the bottom of her shirt.

  I got even closer to her and leaned down, putting my lips to her ear. “See, that’s your problem. You need to have a little fun. And I’m not just some cop, Harper. I’m your husband.”

  Her hands grabbed at my uniform. “I saw everything you just did.”

  “What’s your point?” I asked.

  “I’ll see you at home later.”

  Harper made a daring move and kissed my cheek.

  I had to hand it to her as I watched her walk away.

  She had managed to leave me a little speechless.

  My lack of words meant nothing for my eyes. I studied her like she was a criminal and I would need to testify before a judge and jury. And if that were the case, I had her memorized enough to have her put away for life.

  Except her life sentence was in my bed.

  My face between her legs.

  The only word she would ever need was my first name.

  A call came over the radio for assistance with an auto accident.

  No injuries, but help was needed with traffic.

  I gritted my teeth and radioed in I would be right there.

  Harper got into her car, with two other women inside.

  I smirked.

  My wife had no idea what she was getting into.

  Hell, maybe I had no idea what I was getting into.

  15

  (Harper)

  Of course, Cara and Joanie saw Tyler and his heroic gesture to the guy who stole some boots. I wasn’t sure what to expect when we pulled into the parking lot, watching Tyler do his job. Joanie was able to somehow find out where Tyler was going. She had apps on her phone and people to contact that I wanted nothing to do with. She had plenty of favors to call in, as she always put i
t with a wink. I made her promise and swear to me that she hadn’t ever slept with Tyler.

  She hadn’t.

  But asking that made it seem like I cared about him.

  I didn’t care about Tyler.

  At least not in that way.

  I didn’t care when I watched him chase down a criminal. I didn’t care when I climbed out of my car with my heart racing, wondering what was going to happen. My heart only raced because of the situation.

  I didn’t care when he helped the guy out by paying for the boots he had stolen..

  It was a nice thing to do.

  Yeah, it showed that Tyler was maybe a decent enough cop, but that didn’t mean anything for him as a person.

  He was still the guy who got me drunk and married me.

  Yet you were the one who drank the whiskey, Harper. You were the one who talked about Brian all night. You were the one begging Tyler to fuck you. You were the one who wanted to get married…

  Those facts meant nothing.

  I needed to get this story straight, so I could fix everything.

  And by fix everything…

  I paced the foyer of Tyler’s house.

  I had gone back to my place and got Cara and Joanie to leave. Then I drove over to Tyler’s to wait for him.

  This needed to get worked out.

  Getting drunk and fooling around was one thing. Getting married while drunk was another. I could forgive Tyler just as long as we could take it back. No hard feelings. No need to get lawyers and stuff involved. It was a crazy night with a crazy ending.

  Shit happens.

  Like Joanie said, I would have a story for the rest of my life.

  The front door to the house opened and Tyler entered.

  Wearing black boots, jeans, and a black t-shirt that hugged every perfectly cut muscle on his body. The stubble on his face gave him a sexy, homeless look that was matched by his messy hair.

  He smelled clean and showered.

  He placed his bag on the floor and shut the door.

  “Honey, I’m home,” he said.

  “You showered?”

  “Yeah. Jealous?”

  “Why would that make me jealous?” I asked, curling my lip.

  “Because you were waiting for me. To shower with me. Don’t worry, darling, the water pressure over there is terrible.”

  “Why’d you shower?”

  Tyler laughed. “Had a few exhausting calls. Decided to lift weights a little. Then took a shower. Wasn’t sure if my wife would be home when I got here.”