Daring Summer

by Suzanne Steele

  She chose that moment to turn away from the bathtub and reach for another hairpin, revealing the full view of her tiny waist and lushly curved ass, complete with two dimples at the base of her spine. Yeah, he knew how they felt under his tongue, too. There wasn’t an inch of this woman he hadn’t feasted upon in his bed. But to see her like this...it sealed her fate.

  He laughed when she blew bubbles into the air after lowering herself into the water, her lips forming a perfect ‘O’. He enjoyed catching that moment in time with the camera. That was one of the things he loved most about photography: the ability to preserve a moment that otherwise would be lost forever. She laid her head back and closed her eyes while taking a sip of wine. She looked like something out of a dream. Who was he kidding? She was a dream. His dream. His personal fucking wet dream. Now it was just a matter of making her his dream come true. And he would do whatever he had to do to make that happen. He grinned to himself. She’d definitely thank him later.

  She wasn’t going to fall in insta-love, though, and neither was he. But he knew with absolute certainty that the sex they’d had already was more than a one-night stand. There had been a deep connection there. He’d been with his share of women who were just a means to an end, the encounters nothing more than a guaranteed, minimal-effort-required sexual release for everyone involved. But there was never a deeper connection beyond the body parts required for the act itself.

  But that night with Harley? When their eyes met as he moved inside her, it had felt like they were exploring every hidden corner of each other’s soul. He could have told himself he was just protecting her by keeping her close, but the truth was that he needed to keep her safe. It was a dangerous tightrope he was walking because he didn’t know what she would decide to do. If she did the wrong thing and went to the police with what she knew about the hit at the hospital, even he wouldn’t be able to protect her from the wrath of the Ramirez brothers. He knew his long history with the cartel family was the only reason she was being given the benefit of the doubt.

  He was grateful as hell for his position high up in the tree as he watched her rise out of the water like a nymph and step out of the tub. Fuck, his cock throbbed so hard it hurt. Air hissed in between his clenched teeth as he palmed his length through his jeans. The bubbles seemed to dance along her nude body as she reached for a towel to dry off. This woman turned him on like no other ever had. It was all he could do to not jizz in his pants like a clumsy, overeager teenager.

  He groaned low when she wrapped the towel around herself and walked away from the window into the bedroom. In a twist of fate that defied explanation, her bed was centered against the far wall, perfectly aligned with his view through the bathroom window. You’re killing me, girl. Fucking. Killing. Me. She pulled the covers back on the bed and towel-dried her hair before tossing the towel onto a chair. With those tits and ass gloriously on display, she headed into her kitchen as he had known she would. So predictable.

  She disappeared from view, only to reappear seconds later by the kitchen window as she made a cup of herbal tea. Unbeknownst to her, the tea had a little something special in it tonight. He had been a busy boy when he had dropped by her place to pick up some clothes for her.

  He had suspected she’d be stubborn and insist on returning to her own home after work, so he’d spiked her herbal tea blend with a natural but incredibly strong sedative. She had mentioned having a cup of tea before bed most nights, and he was counting on her sticking with her usual routine. He was more than a little pleased with himself to see her falling into step with his plan. Who knew he’d have the perfect solution for how to get her home – his home -- where she belonged? After all, he didn’t just feed and water the animals he cared for; he was a master when it came to holistic medicine and herbal remedies that one would typically find in the wild.

  Once she was back in her bedroom, Harley placed the steaming mug on one of the two vintage nightstands that stood on either side of her bed. She stretched, extending her arms high over her head, then crawled onto the bed, still nude. On her hands and knees, she arched her back and poked her ass into the air as she reached onto the other nightstand for a book to read. For a mouth-watering instant, those delectable bare pussy lips, all puffy and pink from her extended stay in the steamy water, teased him from between her legs.

  She laid back on the bed and sipped her tea as she read her book. Eventually, her eyelids began to flutter and droop, and the book wobbled in her grasp. Even her crime novel couldn’t keep her awake tonight. He grinned smugly. Not after the workout he’d given her the night before. She craved adventure and until now she had found it in the safety of the pages of a book. Now adventure had been forced on her by his hand and there was a part of him that felt a little guilty about it – for about two seconds.

  She was so cute trying to stay awake, but he knew she didn’t stand a chance against the powerful sedative that was already working its magic. The book dropped from her hands and slid onto the mattress. She rolled over onto her stomach. As she settled in for sleep, she shimmied softly against the mattress with her legs spread. One knee was bent and curved outward as she hugged her pillow. King bit down on his bottom lip and palmed his hard cock at the sight of that gorgeous ass tilted up as she shifted restlessly in her sleep. Time to get this show on the road…

  He eased out of the tree, dropping to the ground with the grace of a feline. He blended easily into the shadows as he jogged back to his van. He would need to park it in front of her house for what he was about to do.

  Chapter Eight

  Blue stood over Amber’s shoulder as she walked her through the business model of life as an elite escort.

  “You’ve been selling yourself short by working the streets, Amber. Your medical screening was clear, you’ve always insisted on condoms,” she said, clearing her throat as she fought back her imagination’s renderings of Amber being manhandled and fucked by anonymous men in the back alleys of Louisville. What a travesty. “Most importantly, I’ve changed your identity. I hope you like the name Amber. I think it suits you. I would have given you a total makeover, but you’re stunning exactly as you are. The wig will be enough when you start to work. Other than that, I wouldn’t change a thing,” she finished hoarsely. “The rest is up to you.”

  Amber turned to looked at Blue earnestly. “I’ve been letting someone else sell me short. I can’t believe I let Huggy Bear use me like that for so long. While he drove around in an Escalade and wore mink, I was freezing my ass off wearing as little as legally allowed, no matter the weather. Do you know that, if a car was coming my way, he would make me drop my purse on the sidewalk just so I’d have to bend over to pick it up? Oh, yeah, I forgot -- and he got manicures and pedicures with the runaways he was grooming before he turned them out. He’d seduce them with the good life at high-dollar restaurants and spas, then turn them out onto the streets. Then the party was over; they either produced on their own or he’d have the girls work group events with kinky businessmen from out of town that were little more than orgies. A few of the girls barely survived them. He was a monster. And so are a lot of other people in this town. There’s a surprisingly big clientele around here for some seriously creepy sexual games if you know where to look.”

  “Forget about all that; that was in the past and it’s a new day now. I mean, just look at you,” Blue said as she smoothed down the black bobbed wig her new protégé was wearing.

  Amber cocked her head to the side, looking in the mirror at the unfamiliar reflection staring back at her. “Do you think it works—this new look?”

  “It better work,” Blue joked. “I paid enough for that wig. You should only wear it when you’re with a client. When it’s just you and me, you can leave your hair down, soft and natural. Like you.” The wig was an impulsive decision designed to keep customers from seeing Amber’s real beauty. More and more, Blue wanted to keep that for herself, even if it was only to look at. But Blue wanted to do so much more than look.


  “On a serious note, Blue, thank you for all you’ve done for me. You may have saved my life and you definitely rescued me from getting my ass beaten every other day.”

  “Sweetheart…when it comes to money, I’m always serious. When it comes to you, I’m fucking deadly. You can count on it.” She bent down and kissed Amber’s cheek reassuringly, pausing in spite of herself to let her lips linger as her breath fanned across her skin. “No woman deserves to be used, baby. You’re going to be tempted to call him at some point and, trust me, he’s not going to let his cash cow go. No pimp ever lets a girl go. Huggy dropped you off on the corner to work and came back to find you gone. I’ve already confirmed that he’s asking around, trying to find you. You see, he saw you as an investment. Now that you’ve escaped, he thinks you owe him money. If he doesn’t make an example of you, he’ll be seen as weak.”

  “What do you mean, ‘make an example of me’?”

  Blue ran her hands down Amber’s soft upper arms, feeling the goosebumps emerge beneath her fingertips. “Well, it usually involves scarring, especially for a girl with beautiful, flawless skin like you. He would burn you, slice your face up, or kill you -- slowly. Don’t get near him, no matter what, because pimps are known for throwing acid in the face of women who escape. If he can’t have you working for him, he’ll want to reduce your value and steal away your beauty. But he’d still find ways to make money off you. To him, you’d be nothing but a hole – the lowest of the low in our world; a whore who might as well have a bag over her face or her head bolted into a box.”

  “What?! That’s awful! That doesn’t really happen, does it?”

  “I’m afraid so. There are pimps out there who have no sense of decency or style. They just want to offer customers a selection of holes for fucking. Orifices. And sadly, there are plenty of customers who like it that way; they like to debase a woman who’s just trying to survive and would probably be doing something else if she could. But, yes, if he destroys your looks then he ruins the chance of you making your own money. You know how it goes: ‘if I can’t have you, no one can’.”

  “You’re scaring me, Blue.”

  “Good. I hope I’m scaring you enough to stay out of his way. I’m scaring you because deep down inside, you know it’s true: there are only two ways for you survive this ordeal unscathed.”

  Amber started frantically shaking her head, “I couldn’t possibly kill anybody and I don’t want to leave Louisville. Hell,” she whispered, her bottom lip wobbling, “I don’t want to leave you.”

  Blue lowered her eyes to hide the satisfied gleam she could feel burning there. Amber was clinging to Blue like a lifeline, and it was intoxicating. At first, Blue had felt guilty about the possible impact the girl’s difficult circumstances might be playing in her growing emotional attachment, but then Blue decided that, really, it was better that way; it was better that Amber be loyal to Blue than to someone else. Who knew what kind of trouble or abuse Amber would have encountered if anyone else had intervened on her behalf?

  “I’ll handle it and keep you safe,” Blue assured her softly, “but, I swear, if you run your mouth or try to get in touch with Huggy Bear, it won’t be him you’ll have to worry about.” She towered over Amber and kept her voice stern. “I won’t think twice about putting you over my knee and spanking your ass until it’s red and throbbing beneath my hand.”

  Amber’s eyes widened and she shifted in her chair as her pupils dilated. She licked her lips and breathed, “Oh…”

  “Remember, it isn’t just your life you’d be putting in danger.” Blue was aware of how pimps and abusers dealt with the friends who came to a hooker’s rescue and helped them escape. It was a blow to any pimp’s ego after investing time and money to groom their victims and teach them how to get customers and keep them coming back. The training was usually very hands-on. The pimp’s aim was to make the girl dependent on him at every level, so just imagine his rage when some do-gooder came along and unraveled years of manipulative mindfucks. Sometimes things got mighty ugly as the pimp put the girl in her place.

  Amber was no longer looking into the kind face of a savior. It wasn’t just Blue’s countenance that had changed; her eyes had gone from sapphire to a dark navy blue and her cheeks were flushed. There was more to Blue than Amber had initially thought. Just who was this woman? More than that, what was she capable of? And why did the thought of being spanked – and spanked hard, apparently – by this woman make Amber cream her panties? Amber knew herself well; she wasn’t attracted to women. Huggy had tried to make her be with women more than once -- had even tried to drug her so a female client could go down on her -- but she’d managed to stop him. So why was her core tingling at the thought of being disciplined harshly by Blue?

  Amber had indeed been tempted to contact her pimp but after the whole ‘he’s going to burn you, cut you, throw acid in your face’ thing, she thought better of it. Maybe fear had its place. Maybe sometimes fear served a higher purpose as a great motivator to do the right thing.

  “I’m just glad he doesn’t know you, Blue. It wouldn’t be right for him to come after you because you rescued me. I’m so glad I met you on the corner that day.”

  “I am, too, baby. I may have saved your life.” Blue knew all too well how far a pimp would go to protect his reputation. His ‘street cred’ was more important than money. Until Huggy Bear got even, he’d be viewed as weak. In a pimp’s world, that was as good as a death blow—one no pimp worth his salt would ever take lying down.

  Chapter Nine

  The darkness wrapped around King like a welcoming, warm embrace as he let himself into Harley’s place. A locked door meant nothing to him – silly girl. Oh, how he did love the thrill of the chase, the satisfaction of the hunt. The fact that he already knew exactly where she was didn’t matter. The final approach always held an appeal all its own.

  It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know Harley wasn’t going to submit to his every whim. He wouldn’t have been attracted to her that way. But King was going to thoroughly enjoy this sensual battle of wills. She was perfect for him.

  Before closing the door behind him, he listened to the night sounds in her neighborhood: a dog barking in the distance, intermittent traffic noise, and the hum of crickets singing contentedly. It all combined to remind him that he was as much a part of the earth’s teeming lifeforce as the moon and stars were. Tony liked to chide him good-naturedly for his abiding fascination with nature, but it was something he felt deep in his soul.

  He eased the door closed and glanced around. The fact that she didn’t have a pet made this so much easier. Maybe he’d buy her a dog—a big, mean one to protect her when he wasn’t nearby. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply through his nose. Something floral; probably the bubble bath. It was a lesson he’d learned early on from his animal friends while observing their tracking habits: become one with your surroundings and be aware of every detail before you make your move.

  He opened his eyes and paused briefly to adjust to the darkness. One step. Two steps. Three steps. Stairs. When the second stair creaked, he lifted his foot rapidly as if he’d stepped on an IED. After she had downed her holistic herbal cocktail, he didn’t really expect Harley to wake up but, still, one had to be careful.

  Regardless of how unconventional his methods were, his motives were pure…well, pure enough. Harley had already wrapped herself around his heart and he could finally admit to himself that he was a goner. Destiny had seen to that.

  His body thrummed with anticipation. Blood coursed through his veins, fueling a natural high that swept through every cell. His skin tingled as every nerve ending became sensitized, anticipating her touch.

  Torrid memories of the night they’d shared made his cock ache. There hadn’t been a single moment of awkward silence or nervous energy, only passion and need. The years he’d spent languishing behind a façade of emotional and sexual anonymity had been melted away by this woman – and she hadn’t even been trying. It had
all come so naturally.

  She hadn’t been expecting him to come charging into her life. Hell, she’d probably prefer that he leave her alone. He couldn’t help but grin. Too bad.

  He stood by the bed and just drank her in. She was a compelling woman—even in her sleep. There was nothing overdone about Harley. He knew the morning light would reveal a woman every bit as beautiful as other women who spent hours preening in front of a mirror.

  As he lifted her into his arms and walked toward the door, he thought back on the night they had shared. He was certain Harley had been just as affected by the sheet-clawing sex of the night before as he had been – and still was. His arms tightened when he considered all the ways at his disposal to wake her up in the morning. This thing between them was as real as it got. Yes, his stubborn woman could lie to herself, but he wasn’t about to let her lie to him.

  Chapter Ten

  Blue watched the overdressed, overconfident pimp as he pinned a young girl against a dumpster in the alley. She didn’t need to hear what he was saying; his intimidating body language spoke volumes. Watching him demean the woman was all the evidence she needed to know she was doing the right thing.

  She shook her head as she observed how Huggy Bear was dressed. He wore a full-length white mink coat over a satin purple button-down shirt. The shirt was unbuttoned halfway down his scrawny chest to reveal an oversized gold, diamond-encrusted pendant that spelled out the word ‘Pimp’. His pants were a deep burgundy and designer Italian leather shoes adorned his feet. He was obviously copying the style of a pimp of the same name from an old ‘80s cop show.