by Jessie Cooke
“A fine mess I’ve made,” he mumbled. “A ghastly fine mess.”
46
The next weekend, Luke and Bella found themselves on a trail in Boulder Park. The bike store had outfitted Bella and rented her a bike, and Luke was thrilled that she was giving the hobby a go.
“We could become one of those couples who bike together,” he said enthusiastically. “Don’t you think it’s important to have a common interest?”
Bella huffed and puffed as she whipped her long braid back over her shoulder and wiped the sweat trickling down from underneath her helmet. “We already have a common interest,” she said. “Work. And that’s a little what this is feeling like, too.” She hoisted her rump off the seat of the bike and put all her weight on the pedals as she navigated the rocky terrain.
“Just wait till we head downward,” Luke offered. “I think you’ll really like it. This part’s the hardest from what I hear.”
“I’m just saying,” Bella panted, “I’d better be getting bubble bath complete with wine service and massage tonight when we get back. I’m going to need it for my little tushy alone,” she winced.
The trail leveled out and then began a soft sloping downward, and the increase in speed stirred up a welcome breeze. A jolt of adrenaline shot through Bella, and she found herself smiling as she pedaled to keep up with Luke.
She heard riders on an adjoining trail but didn’t dare take her eyes off the trail or Luke in front of her. Luke called a greeting to them, and she felt like a part of a camaraderie that she’d never known before. What she didn’t know was that just behind them on the adjoining trail, Reece Hamilton had caught sight of her in her fluorescent pink gear, her long braid unmistakable. He’d dropped back a bit and had been trailing them for about half a mile now.
I should have known he’d encroach, Reece thought of Luke. My space, my solace, all invaded now. But he watched as Bella laughed at Luke’s jokes, and he at her sarcasm and feigned hatred of the sport. Reece had to admit: they had chemistry; they seemed in sync.
Bet they don’t have the passion we have, he told himself.
Reece felt the bike pull towards the left, and about the same time realized that he was exerting more effort than usual. He pulled off the trail and checked his chain and then his brake line but saw nothing . . . until the flat tire caught his eye.
Son of a bitch, he thought. How did that happen? I just got new tires. He looked up as if he could still see Luke and Bella and mumbled a curse under his breath for losing them in the forest.
“Can we take a break?” Bella shouted up towards Luke. Relieved, she saw him lift his hand from his handlebar and give her a thumbs up. They rode a ways longer, parked their bikes in a little alcove off the path, and sat on a fallen tree trunk for some water.
Bella looked around her. She’d always liked being out in nature in spite of the dirt and bugs. If she could get past the griminess of the great outdoors, she did feel herself more alive, more in tune with her environment and more at peace with the world in general.
“You look happy,” Luke observed.
“I guess I am,” Bella responded.
“See, I told you that you’d like mountain biking if you’d just give it a chance,” he chided.
Bella laughed a sputter into her water bottle. “I don’t know if I’d go too far too fast,” she said.
Luke slid himself closer to her on the tree trunk, taking care not to get splinters where he wouldn’t want them. He took ahold of the zipper on her top and lowered it just enough to get a good glimpse of the cleavage her sports bra created. “That’s better,” he said.
“You’re supposed to be taking in the views that surround you,” she said as she batted his hand away. “You know, becoming one with nature and all that.”
Leaning in to kiss her neck, Luke said, his lips against the soft skin below her chin, “I’d like to become one with you right now.”
“Luke!” Bella said as she glanced around her. “We’re out in the middle of the woods!”
Another kiss on her neck. “Yeah, so what? Ever made love in the woods?”
“What if someone sees?” she asked, but the thrill of the idea was already warming between her legs.
Luke looked around, straining his neck a little further. “I think we could find a good place off the beaten pathway,” he said. He took her hand and sat it squarely in his spandex-covered lap. “Can’t you tell that the mere thought of taking you in the woods is going to make it hard for me to ride a bike for a while? There’s only one way to get some relief and get off this trail sooner rather than later.” His eyes twinkled wickedly, and Bella wanted to answer them with her own wickedness. She stroked the length of him hard under the riding shorts, and she dragged her nails just slightly across the material. Luke’s lips parted in response, and a soft breath escaped, but Bella knew exactly what he was saying—no words needed. She felt it too, the swelling of desire. She flung her leg over to straddle him, but the shift of the weight and the decay of the tree meant they crashed to the forest floor. It had afforded her just enough time to feel him against her through the thin fabric of her riding shorts, though, and she wanted more and didn’t care where.
Amidst the laughter at their surprise crash, Luke righted himself and Bella, grabbed her hand, and led her into the woods. He found a large oak with a trunk that could serve as a wall, both for privacy and for pleasure.
“Too bad you didn’t wear a skirt,” he kidded. “This would be a lot easier in a skirt.”
“A bit old-fashioned for mountain biking,” Bella said, but she appreciated the rationale and the respect for her privacy. She began to peel her spandex shorts off, and the sight of her half-naked in the woods, awakened some beast-like need within Luke that he’d never known before.
He shoved his shorts off his hips and ground them against her, tantalizing her with his girth and firmness. His mouth pressed upon hers, and he saw within his mind’s eye the sight of himself, a werewolf in the forest who just happened upon the nubile body of a young woman, fresh with the scent of her sweet sweat. He placed his tongue at the bottom of Bella’s throat and pushed it up her neck, tasting the salt from her workout, and she moaned softly as she raised a leg and crooked it around the leg closest to her, rubbing it up and down, edging Luke’s shorts lower with each pass.
“This is pretty primal,” she said as she raised her chin to grant him more access to her neck. “I like it,” she growled.
With her leg up on his, Luke felt her open against him, and he reached down and guided himself into her quickly. Her breath caught in her throat, and she stepped back and onto the bottom of the tree trunk trying to get more height to accommodate his penetration.
Thrusting into her, Luke heard her back scraping against the bark of the tree. He gripped her buttocks in a simultaneous act of protection as well as allowing him to go deeper. Bella clamped and released, clamped and released, as she felt Luke sliding in and out in a rapid succession. With two short shouts, his fingers dug into the meaty flesh of her buttocks, holding her into place as he held himself back.
“You are too much for me,” he said.
“Don’t forget this was your idea,” she joked.
“Turn around,” Luke instructed. “Put your hands on the tree, but bend down as much as you can without killing yourself.”
She complied, but as she turned, she heard a rustling in the leaves off to her right.
“What was that?” she asked, picking her head up to look around.
“Nothing. Probably just some squirrels or something,” Luke said.
“What if someone’s watching us?” she asked.
“I think you’re hearing things, but so what? Let’s give them something to talk about?” he said as he winked at her. “Now relax. I think you’re going to like this.”
She felt him slid into her from his position behind her, and immediately her fingers gripped the trunk of the tree at the new feeling. She raised herself about an inch and felt him
curve into a space that had never been touched before.
“Oh, god,” she sighed as Luke began to pull away and then return again in a steady rhythm. She had the distinct feeling that eyes were on her, and while it was tantalizing and aroused her even more, she also felt the guilt and impropriety of it all. She eased off one of her hands, brushed the dirt from it on the side of her shirt, and reached down between her own legs, feeling herself full and wet. Sliding her finger around her own hardness, she concentrated on clinching and releasing to grant Luke his own ecstasy while she gave herself a little extra. His speed increased and his thrusts drove deeper into the new space, and within two breaths, Bella found herself clamping down her jaw so her cries of pleasure didn’t echo throughout the forest. Luke joined her, and they crested together, their bodies singing quietly among the birds and the rustle of the leaves, a song with no words, but both of them knowing the tune.
47
They were loading their bikes onto the rack of Luke’s car when he turned to Bella, grabbed her wrist, and brought her to him in a strong embrace.
“I can’t stop thinking about you up against that tree,” he said with a smile, and she felt him tightening against her.
She smiled back. “That was pretty incredible,” she said. “Guess I can mark that one off my bucket list.”
Luke lowered his lips onto hers, covering hers tightly while his tongue licked at hers within her mouth. “I think you have earned an ice cream for yourself,” he suggested.
Bella licked back at him. “Only if it tastes as good as you,” she said, though she knew that he knew her affinity for ice cream.
Her whole body felt like jelly when she finally sat herself into the car. Between the bike ride and the standing sex, Bella decided she’d used more muscles today than she did in a month’s time, and some of them had never been used before, she was sure.
At that thought, she felt a cinch of pleasure deep within her core—so many muscles used for the first time today; so many spots touched and tickled, newly awakened today. She had to admit, she’d enjoyed sex standing in the middle of a forest. Perhaps they’d do it again sometime, though she’d have to give her legs a chance to rebuild their strength.
They parked and walked down the street to La Original Michoacana.
“I’ve always wanted to try this!” Bella said with excitement.
“As an official connoisseur of ice cream, I am surprised that you haven’t,” Luke joked. “But I’m glad that I’m the one to introduce you. May I recommend the mango chile? It’s just the right blend of sweet and spicy, kind of like this woman I know.”
They walked up to the counter, and after much deliberation, they retrieved their ice creams—one mango chile, one chocolate with a second scoop of peanut butter—and settled into a booth to fully enjoy the moment.
Bella felt her phone vibrate in the pocket of her jacket, and she pulled it out to see she had a message from Reece.
“Enjoy your ride?” the message asked.
A frustrated grunt escaped her lips before she could contain it.
“Who’s that?” Luke asked nonchalantly.
“Nobody,” she said, and she powered down her phone completely.
On the way home, the message niggled at her brain. She couldn’t figure out how Reece had known she’d gone bike riding with Luke. She hadn’t spoken to him or texted him that information, but he seemed to always find out whatever he wanted to know about her. She was beginning to see a pattern of slight obsession, yet she still couldn’t decide if she was completely turned off by it.
Enjoy your ride, the message replayed in her head. Suddenly, she sat upright, a new meaning to the text pushing through.
Luke reached over and took her hand. “You okay?” he asked, his thumb gently stroking the top of her left hand as he held it.
“Yeah,” she said. “Just tired. Think I may need a quiet night to soak my aching bones and muscles and then crawl into bed after the workout you gave me today,” she mentioned.
She saw Luke smile in profile, obviously pleased with his own performance today. “I understand,” he said. “But don’t think I’m going to let you wait too terribly long before I get you back out on those trails. I think we’ve started a little something here.”
Luke offered to return Bella’s rental to the shop after he dropped her off noticing her nod off a time or two in the car. “It’s just pitiful watching you try and stay awake,” he smiled at her as he pulled up in front of her apartment. “You go take a nice hot bath. I’m sure you’ll still need a massage tomorrow.”
“Thanks for the rain check,” she said, and she leaned over to give him a quick kiss on soft lips. She opened the car door and stepped out. “And thanks for the ice cream. The whole day was amazing.”
She waved goodbye after shutting the door, and then she watched him pull out of the parking lot and turn left towards the bike shop. A past conversation with Christo played in the recess of her brain—a dialogue that questioned whether or not Luke was bisexual or straight. Christo swore by his built-in “gay-dar” that all signs were pointing to Luke’s being bisexual, and Bella knew that if that were the truth, there would be a hard discussion to have and potentially an even harder decision to make. Her body knew exactly what it wanted, and that was Luke’s amazing ability to not only satisfy but to gratify her, but her head and her heart was still unsure that she could share, and chances were, that’s what he’d want or he couldn’t be fully satisfied or gratified.
She stumbled into her apartment, toed off her shoes, and padded her way back to the master en suite, her second favorite room in the house. It’s large Jacuzzi tub was made for days like today, and she turned the hot water wide open as she dumped in bath salts and bubbles before pouring herself a glass of wine, lighting the candles, and undressing herself to sink into the water that steamed and frothed with bubble bath.
“Ahhhhhhhhh,” she couldn’t resist uttering. Being careful to keep her hands dry, she lowered herself into the heat and felt her muscles release almost immediately. She took a long sip of wine and then reached for the phone to power it back on.
As soon as she had booted it up, she found Reece’s message and hit “reply”. Quickly she typed in her retort: “Still stalking me?” Then she hit send and laid the phone beside her on the tile surrounding the tub. She had just closed her eyes when her phone began to ring. She cut a look over to her phone and wondered about whether she should answer.
Reece’s picture popped up on the screen, and Bella felt the tug ensue: a part of her wanted to hear his voice, but a larger part of her didn’t. Still, she felt herself reach for the phone.
“So you decided to take a little ride today,” came Reece’s voice into Bella’s ear.
“You are really getting this stalker thing down to a science,” Bella said. “And it’s beginning to get downright creepy,” she added.
“Oh, come on, now, Bella. That’s hurtful. I just happened to see you and Luke out at Boulder Park. Looked to me like you were really enjoying yourself.”
A weird feeling sunk into the pit of her stomach. “Just explain to me how far you think you’re going to go,” she said. “You’ve got a nude painting of me on your wall—which, by the way, you commissioned my best friend to do—not to mention the various jobs you seem to arrange for me, now you’re following me and my boyfriend on our days off. Don’t you think that’s a little much even for you, Reece Hamilton?”
“Happenstance,” he came back. “Well, most of it anyway. I just so happen to ride in Boulder Park, if you must know, and I saw you guys on one of the trails. Looked to me like you were having a great time together. You’re a cute couple, Bella. Cute, not handsome like the two of us together.”
“Just how long did you follow me?” Bella asked, red flags popping up all throughout her brain.
“Not long. I saw you at about the half-mile marker. Then I somehow got a flat, so I had to walk it back and call it a day.”
“Good,” Bella mumbled
as she switched the phone to her other ear and reached for her glass of wine, bubbles covering her breasts.
“What’s wrong—don’t want me tagging along?”
“There’s a lot that I don’t want you doing, which would include hanging a nude portrait of me in your home especially when you’ve just had a baby with my best friend. How about I get that portrait back? What would it cost me?”
“A bike ride,” Reece shot back quickly.
“You’re not serious,” she said taking another swig from her glass.
“Sure, why not? If you promise to go on a bike ride with me tomorrow, you’ll get your precious painting.”
“That’s all I would have to do?” Bella asked incredulously.
“Hey, you obviously forget how reasonable I can be,” Reece said, and she could hear the smile that was hiding behind his eyes through the earpiece of the phone.
“And you obviously forget that I know you better than you give me credit for,” Bella retorted.
“Ah, but not completely, now, do you?”
Bella had to admit: he had her there. Just when she thought she was figuring him out, a surprise would come careening around the corner and smack her in the face, reminding her just how mysterious her previously masked man truly was.
“Alright, we’ll try this out,” Bella decided. “On one more condition.”
“What’s that?” Reece asked.
“It’s all dependent on whether I can actually move my muscles in the morning.”
The sound of his laughter warmed through her body, and Bella hung up the phone before she said something she might regret . . . or thought of another condition for him to honor.
The next morning, she showed up at Boulder Park on the agreed upon time. Reece had told her he’d bring the bikes if she’d just bring the waters. Though her muscles had cried in pain when she tried to get out of the bed that morning, she had almost stopped wincing at every movement by the time she was ready to leave for the bike trails, and she figured what didn’t kill her would only serve to make her stronger.
