Broken

by Jordan Silver

  Soft, he could still remember the feel of her skin under his hands and that scent on her. Damn! He’d had a flashback to high school and cheerleaders and all the shit that had made his teen years the joy they had been.

  Her reaction to his meat trying to bust out of his jeans didn’t help matters either. Kyle knew real hunger when he saw it and the lady was starving. No wonder she’d whetted his appetite after such a long dry spell. Of course that was before he’d heard her life story, or the bare bones of it from Ms. T.

  Now he was in her kitchen after tossing, and turning all night worrying about her. He kept crowding her in the kitchen after he talked her into making breakfast with him after their first cup of coffee. His dick appreciated the fact that her nipples stayed hard and she had goose bumps up and down her arms.

  He took every opportunity to touch her in some way with everything but his hands, keeping her on the edge. When his dick threatened to mutiny if he didn’t get some action soon, he figured it was best to get out of the confined space. But he wasn’t ready to leave her. “When we’re done here, I’m taking you for a ride, you need to get out some.”

  She opened her mouth to give him some half-ass excuse but he was ready. “It’s either that or I stay here all day and I’m not sure I can promise to keep my hands off of you that long. So unless you’re ready for that, I suggest you throw on some jeans after we eat and let’s go. You can leave the top.”

  “Are you nuts? I can’t go outside like this.” She looked down at herself where her tits were now a little more prominent than they were a few seconds ago, before wrapping her arms around them.

  “Suit yourself.” He shrugged his shoulders and turned back to her omelet in the pan. “Get the toast would you?”

  Just for kicks, he looked back at her. “Yeah maybe you shouldn’t wear it outside.” And his reasons for telling her that shit didn’t even bear looking too hard at. He didn’t like the idea of anyone else seeing her like that. Since the fuck when?

  ***

  She wanted to grab something to wrap around her shoulders but felt foolish. It wasn’t like her breasts were hanging out or anything. But he was a relative stranger for Pete’s sake, and here she was in next to nothing having breakfast with him one day after they’d met. This was so not her norm.

  He, on the other hand, seemed right at home and she wondered how often he did this. She wasn’t brave enough to broach the subject though, but now that she thought of it, she could well imagine that someone who looked like him had women flocking all over him. Even if she were interested, which she wasn’t, she assured herself, he wasn’t for her.

  She buttered the toast, keeping a wary eye on him, but he was going about his omelet making as if this were something they’d done a million times before. His ass really was something special the way it fit those jeans though. She berated herself for her wandering mind and promised to keep her eyes and her thoughts above the belt from now on.

  She felt like a cat ready to spring, and each time he got too close she held her breath waiting. And he did it a lot. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was crowding her on purpose, and his touch. Since when, was an innocent brush of skin against skin so…so erotic? It was the book she was writing, had to be. She’d never had such strong reactions to anyone before and he hadn’t even really done anything. But it sure felt like he was. She took one last quick look and turned away.

  Dammit, did the outline behind his zipper get bigger? Mercy! She all but whimpered in her throat. “Let’s eat.” She almost jumped out of her skin thinking he’d caught her at it again. She’d be mortified if she were caught staring at his junk again twice in as many days.

  She swallowed and tried to get the sudden dryness from her mouth with not much luck. In one day, make it two; he’d turned her life upside down. Things she’d never even thought about before, were now, front and center in her mind. It would be so much easier if she could really blame it on her writing, but she knew better. Her eyes landed on his zipper again when he turned to leave the room with plates in hand and she became flushed.

  What the hell has gotten into you Kerryanne? For crap sake get a grip. She hadn’t looked at anything male since high school, not even with innocent appreciation, always thinking it was somehow disrespectful to the boy she’d married.

  She’d been so stupidly comfortable in the life she’d mapped out for herself, so secure in her own little universe, that there had never been a need to. Good girls didn’t look, and she was ever the good girl wasn’t she?

  She certainly didn’t need to be looking now either. Unless she was one of those fool women who grew addicted to a certain kind of mistreatment. She’d read about stuff like that, women who had become programmed to abuse of one kind or another and was always searching it out, whether knowingly or not.

  “You coming?” She followed him to the table and sat where he placed her trying her best to remain composed. It was too damn early in the morning for this. She was already flustered and it wasn’t even nine o’clock yet. He sat her and pushed in her chair before taking his own seat and pouring them both juice.

  “How’s the writing coming?” He picked up his fork and dug into his eggs. Those arms, shit.

  “Fine I guess.” She tensed up waiting for the blow, the condescending and derogatory remarks she’d grown accustomed to. Why was he such a confusing mix of hot sex object and arbiter of disaster?

  “You plan on doing anything with it when it’s done or are you just playing around?” She shoveled a forkful of fluffy eggs into her mouth to avoid answering the question, but she should’ve known it wouldn’t be that easy.

  He looked at her as he waited for her to swallow. She reached for her cup and took a healthy swig of coffee. “I’m not sure yet.” She lied to avoid any farther discussion on the matter. She could feel his eyes boring into her skull as if he were trying to decipher her every thought. Damn!

  “I think you should. Lucille said it was your dream, people shouldn’t give up on their dreams.” He carried on eating as if he hadn’t just given her something she’d desperately needed. Her throat closed around the lump that had suddenly formed there and she fought back the silly tears that seemed to be ever present these days.

  As he went on eating and sipping on his coffee, some perverse thing in her prompted her to say what she did next.

  “My ex didn’t think it was such a good idea. He thought it was a waste of time.”

  “Your ex is an ass.” He said it with such conviction, who could argue? And just like that she felt a little less of that weight on her shoulders. She kept sneaking looks at him as they continued to eat in silence and realized he made her nervous. Her palms were sweaty and her leg kept tapping against the table leg. He gave her one of his looks like he knew just what was going on with her and she dragged herself back under control.

  It had been too long to count since she’d had to make conversation with someone of the opposite sex who wasn’t a workman or a friend. She’d always hid behind her marriage so it was easy for her to avoid sticky situations. Everyone in the little town knew she was part of a couple so they had never been any question of her being hit on. Though it hadn’t stopped some from looking, no one had ever approached her in that way.

  Now here she was, alone in her too small apartment with the hottest man to ever walk these parts. That earlier question of jumping into bed with him popped into her head again, but she knew she could never do it. It was surprising that she’d even entertained the thought no matter how brief. She just wasn’t that kind of girl. Though for him maybe…Oh no, that would be an even bigger mistake than Paul.

  He might be nice to her now because Ms. Lucille had told him her sob story, but she just couldn’t see someone like him being genuinely interested in an old washed up housewife. A man like him was probably accustomed to supermodel types.

  “Whatever you’ve got going on in that head of yours, you need to put it away.”

  “What do you mean?” She fidget
ed around in her seat under his glare. There’s no way he could know what she was thinking. She wasn’t that transparent surely, and even if she were he didn’t know her that well.

  She looked up and over when she sensed his gaze on her. The look in his eyes made her duck her head again. Why was he having such an affect on her? Good grief the man seemed able to see into the heart of her with just a look.

  “Look, let’s get one thing straight here. I don’t know what went down between you and the asshole and I really don’t care. But if we’re gonna dance this dance with each other, you’re gonna have to stop comparing me to him. I doubt he’d even come close anyway so it’s a waste of time.”

  Well aren’t we just full of ourselves this morning? Though she was pretty sure he was right. Paul for all that he was a doctor while Kyle was most likely a member of some biker gang somewhere, was no match for this one in the manly man stakes. And what did he mean by that crack? ‘If we’re gonna dance this dance with each other?’ Who asked you to?

  She chose to ignore him and eat her eggs as she tried valiantly to pretend he wasn’t there. Was it only yesterday she’d finally decided to get herself together? Was it only twenty-four hours ago that she’d finally started on the road to recovery? That she’d told herself that it was time to move the hell on?

  Why was life fucking with her? It’s not like she was even remotely ready or prepared to deal with someone like him. Couldn’t life have sent her a cute little puppy to play with? Instead, she was sitting here with her nipples harder than she could remember them ever being, and that place between her thighs that had been sorely neglected for too long on a slow throb.

  He didn’t say much after that-thank heaven- but that didn’t stop her from sitting at the edge of her seat thinking, ‘what next?’ He wasn’t like anyone she was accustomed to. In a small town like this people tended to be on top of each other, everyone knew everyone and there were really no surprises. They’d all gone to school with each other or worked together in one capacity or another and so she knew pretty much everyone in her age group around here. Nope, not one of them came close.

  He exuded a kind of self-confidence that she wasn’t used to. His very manner and the way he spoke, even the way he sat there at her broke down table like he was king of the roost, was something she had no experience with. They ate in silence as her mind imagined all sorts of things.

  For whatever reason, regardless of what he said, she found herself making constant comparisons between him and her ex. Like at the end of the meal when he took her cup and refilled it without being asked. Paul had never done that, in fact because he was the one with the higher education and better future prospects, he’d always taken it for granted that he was the one who was to be waited on hand and foot.

  When she thought of it now, she could just kick her own ass. How could she have been so blind? How could she let herself be used like that, by someone she trusted? And what in the hell did she expect to get from this total and complete stranger?

  She was even more surprised at his next offer after they’d finally finished their coffee. “You wash I’ll dry, it’s only fair since I made breakfast. Next time you cook, I’ll wash.” Well you could’ve blown her over, not only was he offering to wash dishes, but he was also inferring that there would be a next time. The thought shouldn’t have pleased her half as much as it did, but it did.

  She wasn’t sure what to do with herself after the dishes were done in relative quiet, but she needn’t have worried. “Let’s go.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door. “Where are we going?” She dug her heels in to keep from being dragged across the floor.

  “That ride I mentioned.” He kept ahold of her hand and her pulse kicked into overdrive again.

  “I can’t go like this, remember?” She looked down at herself and his eyes followed. When his nostrils flared and a slash of red came across his cheeks, she knew he wasn’t blushing and thought it prudent to hightail her ass to the bedroom and change.

  “It’ll only take a minute.” She freed herself from his grasp.

  “Lied every female since creation.” He shot back as she disappeared around the corner. Damn her ass looked nice in those soft shorts. He berated himself for not doing the litmus test while she was still wearing them, next time. His dick perked right the fuck up at the thought.

  She was back in five minutes covered from head to toe. “You’re not going to war baby cakes, just for a ride.” She had thrown on a light jacket over her long sleeved tee, jeans and old work boots.

  “But I’ve never been on a bike before what if I fall? At least I’ll be padded a little.” She’s so cute with her eyes little girl wide and her pouty lip. He wanted to bite that lip and work his way down to her…He dragged his mind back and took her hand again, pulling her along in haste to get the fuck out before she ended up on the floor under him.

  He was rethinking his offer to take her for a ride as soon as they reached his bike. He hadn’t given much thought to the closeness they’d share once she hopped on behind him, but when her little arms wrapped around his middle and she held on for dear life he knew he was in trouble.

  That shirt wasn’t doing much to protect his back from the feel of her soft cushiony tits pushing into him. And since she was nervous she held on with both arms and legs…tight. The vee where her pussy sat between her thighs was pressed into his ass and his dick was heading south fast down one leg of his jeans. Not the most comfortable thing on the back of a bike.

  She yelped when he powered on and revved up, before pulling out, and her hands clutched at his middle. It took five minutes for her to relax and he knew the second she became a convert. He grinned behind his helmet and ignored the annoying voice in his head that was asking him why the fuck was he so happy that she wasn’t afraid to ride?

  He shelved that shit for now and just enjoyed the feel of her wrapped around him from behind.

  That death grip she had on him eased up and her head was moving back and forth, as she took in the passing scenery. No longer afraid, but enjoying the sights from a different vantage point. He could all but feel the grin on her face as the one on his got wider.

  He didn’t stop to question why he was so pleased with her response. He just knew that any woman he got tangled up with would have to love riding. It had been a while since he’d had one behind him and it felt good. Too good!

  ***

  They got more than a few looks as they rode through town before heading out to the outskirts. Kyle could care less, he knew by nightfall they would be the topic on everybody’s tongue. That was part of his plan. Somewhere along the way, between last night and this morning, he’d had something brewing in his gut.

  For whatever reason, he liked her, like really liked her. She was sweet, genuine, sexy as fuck, and broken. That was the one thing he kept coming back to. Even as she tried to put on a brave front, he could see that she was still suffering. He wasn’t sure if his natural brand of fuck ‘em and bounce was gonna be any help to her, but he knew he didn’t like the raw deal she’d gotten. If he could bring her out of that shell just a little, give her some of her own back well then. And if she let him fuck, well so much the fucking better.

  Kerry wasn’t sure if anyone recognized her back there, but strangely enough she didn’t really care. She felt free and relaxed for the first time in forever. She’d never known there could be such freedom on the back of a bike, and asked herself why she’d never tried it before.

  She wasn’t worried about wagging tongues, not then anyway. For now, she just wanted to enjoy the novelty of being on her first bike ride. It was amazing how things were starting to look up for her. It seemed as if once she made up her mind to stop wallowing, good things had just started falling into her lap.

  It may be superficial to see her new association with the hunky bike rider as a step in the right direction, but she chose to see it as such. I mean he was the first one to light a spark under her since…well, since then and here she was on
her first bike ride ever because of him. She fleetingly wondered how many other firsts they were going to share before all was said and done, but gave up that train of thought when her face got heated.

  Something was going on back there. He couldn’t see her face but he could feel the change in the arms she had wrapped around him. She had some fuck on her mind that was putting her through the paces, and he doubted she realized she was sighing out loud.

  He didn’t dwell on it though. It was still new this connection and they were both gonna have to learn each other. Just as long as she learned real fast what kind of man he was.

  Chapter 5

  ***

  He took them to a nice secluded spot near the lake that ran across the edge of town and stopped. There was no one else around this time of the morning, just them and the birds. It was still early enough that the sun wasn’t at its full force as yet, but it was going to be a good one. Her legs were like jelly and butterflies had taken flight in her tummy. And it wasn’t all to do with the ride either.

  “If I knew we were coming here maybe we could’ve brought a picnic.” She said it more out of sudden panic than anything else, as it finally set in that they were out here all alone and no one knew where she was. Not that she felt any real fear, not physically anyway. But the sudden racing of her heart coupled with the way he looked at her kind of put her on alert.

  “No need to be jumpy Kerryanne, I’m not going to hurt you I already told you that. I might steal a kiss…or two, not sure yet.” He teased her as he walked away towards the water. In his mind he was thinking that her reticence was the very reason he didn’t want to get involved. He had no experience with skittish women, but damn if this one wasn’t getting under his skin.

  Why the fuck did it have to be her? In all the years he’d been playing the game, why this particular woman at this particular time when he wasn’t even looking? And damn sure; not for someone like her.