Our eyes met but I wasn’t going to fucking stare at her while I filled her.
I pressed forward and put her down to the bed again.
Her hands touched my stomach, going down to where our bodies were connected. Between the touch of her fingers and her slit, I was a dead man.
I growled as I thrust, the countdown now sped up.
My right hand touched her left breast and I squeezed as I felt the wild rush between my legs. For a split second I thought about pulling out of her and leaving her with another mess to clean up. But she felt too good for that. My deep, animalistic urge took complete control as I thrust forward one last time.
The moment I exploded, Harper let out a cry.
Her hands slapped at the bed but then quickly slapped at my face.
It stung for a second, but she pulled at me.
I lowered down and kissed her, our tongues sloppy as though we were drunk.
She rocked her hips, up and down, left to right, her body throbbing and squeezing against me, making sure there wasn’t a drop to spare.
She was perfect.
She was magic.
She was my wife.
And my new plan was to keep it that way.
21
(Harper)
I looked in the mirror at myself and bit my lip.
I set the rules.
He broke them.
I set more rules.
I broke them.
That’s all we did.
We just kept breaking the rules.
And if we kept going at it, we were going to break my bed.
I swallowed hard and touched my cheeks. They were forever red now. Still catching my breath. Blushing from Tyler wanting my body so much. Burning hot from the sight of his body and the way he made me feel.
It sounded horribly cliché but it was like an endless orgasm with him.
Even standing there, in the bathroom, alone, far away, my body tingled and ached.
It was so much more than I had ever had before.
To say Tyler was the best was an understatement.
But I wondered if an actual marriage could exist based on a great sex.
It didn’t seem possible but the thought of him with someone else made me jealous.
So, what the hell did that mean?
There was no way I could actual fall for him.
I left the bathroom wearing his t-shirt.
He was naked in my bed, sitting up with the covers down to his stomach.
I had to stop and catch my breath again because the sight of him seemed unreal.
As I approached the bed, he reached across the threw the covers down.
Even when he wasn’t hard, he was still… whew.
It didn’t make sense that that thing fit in me and that thing felt so good.
I would never be the same now because of him. In more ways than one.
I lifted my left leg and Tyler lifted a finger and wiggled it. “Nope.”
“Nope?” I asked.
“Take the shirt off, darling.”
“Excuse me? This is my bed.”
“Your point?”
“I’ll do whatever I want,” I said.
“Not until you take the shirt off.”
I put my knee on the bed and Tyler grabbed for me. He gently squeezed at the right spot on my knee. It tickled so instantly and so bad that I jumped back, laughing.
Tyler wasn’t kidding.
He wasn’t going to let me into my own bed unless I was naked.
Which sort of pissed me off.
But…
I stood there and thought back to Brian.
I could be butt naked and crawl into bed next to him. He would just sit there and scroll on his phone. I could rub his… you know… and he would move his leg and smile. Then he’d say something stupid. That he was tired. Or he had a long day. Or he’d catch me in the morning.
Catch me in the morning… like I was the fucking morning newspaper.
Not Tyler.
He demanded me naked. He let the world burn while we were together.
Maybe it was only because this was new and wrong.
But…
I grabbed the bottom of the t-shirt and lifted it up over my head.
My body burned hot everywhere as I dropped the shirt.
Tyler’s eyes went wide, and he slowly puckered his lips.
“Ah, fuck, darling,” he said. “How in the fuck can you look so amazing.”
“Stop,” I said as I crawled into the bed.
I smiled because I believed him when he said that.
Tyler wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close to him.
I pulled the covers up to my chin and took a deep breath.
I was comfortable. So comfortable. Dangerously comfortable.
Tyler made it worse by kissing the top of my head.
“So here we are, darling,” he said. “You wanted to talk.”
“I also said no funny business.”
“There was nothing funny about what we just did, Harper.”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t even know what time it is.”
“Almost one.”
“In the morning?” I asked. I popped up and looked at him. “That meant we’ve been…”
Tyler smiled. “I don’t play games, darling. When we fuck… we fuck.”
It had been hours.
No wonder my stomach felt achy and empty.
“I’ve never… I mean…”
“I know,” he said. “It’s a learning process. It’s the only way to do it.”
“You don’t believe in quickies then?”
“Oh, of course I do,” Tyler said. He touched my cheek. “But when I know I’ve got you for hours, I’m not going to take each one for granted and be a greedy asshole. I’m going to take my time when I feel like it. Or go fast when I feel it. And make damn sure that when my wife closes her eyes, she’s smiling.”
Cue death. I was dead. I was officially dead. I was dead, and I was floating in heaven and this…
“I can’t talk right now,” I said to him. “We were supposed to be serious and now this.”
“This isn’t serious?” he asked. “I think sex is serious. Very serious.”
“Oh, please. Your cop buddies made it seem like it’s nothing.”
“Joey? He picks up drunk women.”
“Sounds like someone else I know,” I said.
“But he’s not man enough to marry one of them,” Tyler shot back at me.
“Ah, right. Of course. So, what about the other guy?”
“Kordell?” Tyler asked. “He’s a good guy. Rough and tough like me. Joey is a puppy. Wild and free.”
“Do you trust them?”
“Trust them? Damn, darling, we all trust each other. I would take a bullet for anyone wearing the badge. And I would hope they all feel the same for me. But if they don’t, that’s on them, not me. We all go out there with the intention of coming back safe. But when we’re out there, the only safety that matters is the people.”
“That’s insanely selfless for a man who’s selfish.”
“Me? Selfish?” Tyler asked. “Forgive me, darling, but I believe it was my tongue writing a love letter against your pussy. And it was my dick that made you scream, squirm, and come all at the same time. And I married you, so you could get back at that douche who broke your heart.”
“See, that’s the thing. Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why do that?”
“Well, to start, your pussy tastes incredible.”
“Tyler,” I said. “You know what I’m asking.”
He broke his stare and looked forward. “You were brokenhearted, Harper.”
“So what? You could have bought me a few drinks, slept with me, and left me be.”
“I guess you’re right. But once I got a little taste…”
I sighed. “You’re impossible to talk to.”
“You want to end this,” he said. “Rightfully so. S
o instead of asking questions that maybe don’t matter, why not focus on what does? You need to tell me what you want to do to get back at your ex.”
“Okay. I guess that’s what I’ll focus on.”
Tyler looked at me again. “Now you have a choice to make.”
“Which is?”
“Food. Fuck. Or sleep.”
“That’s an impossible decision,” I said.
“You know what mine would be.”
My body tingled. I nodded.
Tyler gently pulled my head to his chest again.
I shut my eyes.
I guess I was choosing sleep.
22
(Tyler)
Good, deep sleep wasn’t a thing for me.
I crashed for a few hours here or there and then I was awake.
From what I knew about Harper, on the other hand, she slept hard. Then again, a long night of fucking will do that to you. Especially for her since it was apparent she had never had the pleasure of a real man before.
In some twisted way in my head, she was like a virgin to me.
When I woke up and saw her rolled up in the corner of her bed, I smiled. I wasn’t looking to the door to bolt. This woman had climbed inside of me and pushed some demons around to make room for herself.
Drunk or not, I knew what I had been doing with her the night we met. And maybe she would forever regret her decision, but there was a look in her eye that night that told me much of the same.
Call it crazy, wild, or stupid, but that’s how things went in life sometimes.
Hell, you could spend months waiting for the right person to come along. Then years with that person. Going through every possible stage of a relationship. The ups and downs. Good and bad. Years flying by. Letting time play itself out.
And then it’s gone.
I sucked in a breath and ran a hand over my face.
I climbed out of the bed quietly and went to make us some coffee.
Of course Harper had some fancy one cup coffeemaker. Put the little pod thing in and press a button. Then wait forty-five minutes for the water to get hot and spit into the pod to make the coffee.
The machine whirred and gurgled while I waited.
Thoughts racing through my head.
Harper wanted me to come over and talk about serious stuff. Which obviously had to do with our impending divorce. Or annulment. Or whatever the fuck it was that she needed to get away from me.
I distracted her with my bedroom capabilities, but that wouldn’t work for forever.
She was too smart for it.
I grabbed the red coffee mug and carried it to the kitchen table.
Half of the table was a giant mess.
Notebooks. Drawings. Sticky notes. A laptop. Stuff hung on the wall.
It was her office.
This was where she worked.
It was fascinating to me.
Her talent was impressive.
She was amazing with what she could do.
There was a picture of a cat on the wall that was so perfectly drawn I thought it was a photograph.
“Don’t look. It’s embarrassing.”
I looked back and Harper was shuffling down the hall, wearing my t-shirt again.
I had nothing but jeans on as she approached me.
I nodded to the drawing. “Cat?”
“I have lots of drawings, Tyler,” she said. “I sketch stuff. Then put it on the laptop. Make it nice.”
“This is amazing stuff, darling. You’re really good.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
“I mean it,” I said. “I can’t draw a straight line.”
Harper pressed her body to my back.
I grinned.
She reached around and slipped her hand to the coffee mug and stole it from me.
That little fucking move was maybe the hottest thing she’d ever done.
Shit, Tyler, you’re falling for her.
“Ew, is this just black?” she asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Uh, no.”
Harper walked my coffee to the fridge and doused it with some fancy creamer. Then she layered it with enough sugar that it was going to turn into syrup.
“You at least going to make me another one?” I asked.
“You know where everything is,” she said.
“Not a very nice housewife, are you?”
“We’re in an apartment.”
“So that makes you act differently?”
I closed in on her in the tiny kitchen.
She held the coffee mug with both hands and sipped it with flirty eyes staring at me.
My hands gently touched her hips and I leaned into her. “I'm sure I could find a better way to wake up than cheap caffeine.”
“This is expensive stuff,” she said.
“I didn’t get a taste.”
She put the coffee mug down and raised an eyebrow. “What are you waiting for then?”
I moved in and kissed her.
Her lips were sweet from the sugar. There was a hint of cinnamon from the creamer.
Was I really tasting her…
My hands crept up over her shirt, over the swell of her breasts.
She let out a purr that sent me into overdrive.
Her cell started to ring from the bedroom and she pushed at me. “Ah, fuck.”
“What?” I asked.
“That’s a work call.”
“A work call?”
“I have to get that, Tyler.”
I stepped back.
She grabbed the coffee mug and strutted away with a vixen look on her face.
She had five minutes to get off the phone or else I was going to take care of business myself and leave.
I gripped the edge of the counter and gritted my teeth.
I wasn’t the kind of man who fell in love… not after what happened the last time.
My tongue flickered at the curve of her neck while my fingers played just outside her panties. She had to get all dressed up nice to take a video call with a client. I promised nothing funny, so I stood in the hallway and listened to her work.
She was fucking brilliant.
The second the call ended, I was there to have her again.
She let out a laugh and groaned. “What are you trying to do me?”
“Fuck you on your kitchen table,” I said.
“I can see that.”
“Now you’re going to feel it.”
She quickly put a finger to my lips. “Easy, Officer.”
“Oh, don’t play that fucking card on me, darling. I’ll cuff you to your bed right now.”
“You don’t have cuffs with you.”
“Think I don’t? Try me.”
“Tyler…”
“What?”
“I want to do something.”
“Name it, darling. I’m up for anything.”
Harper reached for her phone.
“Are we recording it?” I asked. “I’m okay with that too.”
“Stop,” she said. She opened her phone and moved her fingers along the screen. “There’s a dinner thing tonight.”
“Meaning?”
“Jealous time.”
“Oh.” I stepped away from her and cleared my throat. “Jealous time. Right.”
“It’s kind of fancy, but whatever. He’s going to be there. With her. Brian and Daisy.”
“Your ex is fucking a flower?” I asked.
Harper laughed. “Apparently. But whatever. I’ve got you. This is going to work, Tyler. I need you to be… you. Rude. Crude. Filthy around me.”
“I think I can pull that off,” I said.
I felt a little twisting in my chest, but I ignored it.
“Can you wear something nice?” she asked.
“For you, anything,” I said. “We’re going to make this guy hate himself for the rest of his life.”
“Oh, don’t tease,” Harper said.
“I only tease when I know I can follow through.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’ll be ready by then.”
Harper walked to me, smiling. She moved to her toes and kissed my cheek. “I’ll see you then. Hubby.”
She twirled on her toes and hurried down the hallway.
I guess that was my cue to leave.
She was going to spend the next few hours dolling herself up to make her ex jealous. Yet she didn’t need any of that shit. No makeup. No lipstick. No hairspray and all that. Definitely no fancy clothes.
She was beautiful just the way she was.
I swallowed hard as I walked to the door.
I promised her I would help make her ex jealous.
That was it.
When we were in the back of that car, her riding me, we were kissing so fucking hard and fast, laughing, ready to tear each other apart. She made a comment about wishing her ex could see her now. I told her she should really get back at him and beat him to the punch. That she should get married before he does. Steal his thunder. She kissed me and told me we should get married on the spot.
The rest was history.
Once this asshole was jealous…
I looked down at my left hand.
Letting her go was going to be harder than marrying her.
23
(Harper)
I wasn’t expecting a suit and tie from Tyler.
Which he wasn’t wearing.
But I also didn’t expect to see him look as good as he did.
In dark blue jeans and button-down shirt that fit him too damn perfect. He looked as though if he flexed, the sleeves would disintegrate.
He had trimmed the scruff on his face, but he was still messy.
His hair looked wet but that was only from whatever hair gel he had used.
And he smelled like a wet dream.
A tough yet welcoming kind of cologne that punched the nose at first but then made you keep going back for more.
He stuck out his right hand and showed off a big, fancy, silver watch.
I swallowed hard, feeling as though my throat was closing up.
“You look fucking beautiful,” he said to me.
A second later, he was against me, his hands touching my sides. He moved with speed, touching me almost everywhere, all the way up my arms until he was holding my hands.
Under Your Influence Page 10
