Hard Rider

I’d never felt so amazing, and so right and so wrong, all at the same time.

Maybe one time with Jesse wasn’t going to be enough after all. But I had to remind myself that’s all it ever could be. Anything more was a risk I just couldn’t take.

I lay there in his arms, hoping like hell that I hadn’t just made my situation a hundred times worse.

Because how in the hell was I ever going to resist him again after this?

JESSE

I’d never once kissed a girl before she left and wished she hadn’t gone afterwards. But here I was, alone in my apartment once again, and wishing I could live the last few hours over again.

My knee hurt like a motherfucker, though. I hadn’t felt any pain earlier, but now that she was gone, now that my cock wasn’t standing straight up in the fucking air… I wasn’t concentrating on making Maisey’s beautiful face contort in pleasure, I was very aware of the pain in my knee.

Shit. I’d probably set my recovery back a whole week, but what was I supposed to do? Lay there like an invalid? Fuck that.

Maisey’s body required the pleasure than only a real man could provide and that’s what I was going to give her every time, pain or no pain.

If there was a next time, that is.

Who knows? Maybe Maisey had her own rules. Maybe she’d never sleep with me again, never let me caress those sweet luscious curves of hers. But I sure as hell hoped not.

We’d fit together perfectly, our bodies coming together like old friends who hadn’t missed a beat.

I was still reeling from it all, my body buzzing with the afterglow despite the throbbing pain in my leg.

She was so fucking beautiful. She’d started out cold and detached, but her sweetness was shining through now that she’d warmed up a little. Her femininity was divine, and I’d loved watching her smile spread across her gorgeous face as she snuggled up against me.

Suddenly, all I wanted to do was make her happy. In bed and out.

I wasn’t really sure how to do that out of the bedroom, but I had a few ideas.

I picked up my phone and began dialing.

MAISEY

I caught a cab outside of Jesse’s high rise. My car had died on the side of the road on the way to Maddy’s school this morning, making for a crappy start to my day.

But now? After that scene up there?

There wasn’t much of anything that could have put a damper on my day at this point.

Sure, I shouldn’t have done it.

Sure, it was a huge mistake. Huge.

But holy hell, it had felt amazing. There was no way I was going to lie to myself about it. More than anything, I wish I had someone to call up and share the information with. I thought about calling Eddie, but he’d just be so upset that I hadn’t told him about Jesse in the first place.

No, I couldn’t tell anyone. I’d have to keep this delicious secret to myself.

Of course, I’d need to do damage control, I knew that too. I’d have to make sure that Jesse didn’t read anything into this. I had to make sure that I had the strength to say no next time.

I’d done it, though, there was no going back. And it was out of this world. Even better than I’d imagined it might be during the last ten years. Even better than it had been that one time so very long ago.

At least now, I had even more memories to keep with me for the rest of my life.

Now that I had a little distance, and I wasn’t lying there in the comfort of his warm embrace, I knew that resisting his temptations the next time was essential.

I reminded myself that I was strong. I had it in me to say no, no matter how out of this world sexy he was.

No matter how much I wanted him.

No matter how good it felt.

I could do this.

Now that I’d gotten it out of the way, we could move on.

Right?

JESSE

“I have the information you wanted,” Maria’s voice boomed through the phone. She was a boisterous woman, retired from the police force for five years and making her living as a private investigator now.

“Excellent, thanks Maria, what did you find out?”

“Well, I ran a criminal check on her, but there’s nothing there. Ms. Jayne, as you know, has been working at Steadman Hawkins for the last year. Before that, she spent most of her time in school, working on becoming a physical therapist. She lives in a small rental home in Greenwood Village. No partner to speak of. One daughter.”

“Daughter?” Maisey had never mentioned a daughter.

“Yes, she has a daughter that goes to Greenwood Elementary.”

“I see… And no father in the picture?”

“Not as far as I coul

d tell, no. No boyfriend, nobody at all like that, actually. I watched her for a few days. Her car broke down this morning. She’s been taking cabs everywhere all day. Spends most of her time working, at your penthouse, or home alone with the kid.”

“Okay, anything else?” I asked. I’d learned basically nothing about Maisey, outside of her having a daughter. That was a pretty big secret to keep from me, though.

“Nope. Should I keep digging?”

“No, that’s fine. Thank you. I’ll send you a check in the mail.”

“Pleasure doing business with you,” she said, before hanging up.

So Maisey had a daughter, huh? She’d never mentioned her at all. But why would she? To her, I was probably just a nuisance or someone that she had to endure. Yeah, we’d had sex, and it had been incredible, but that didn’t mean she wanted to let me into her life.

Into her life.

Is that what I wanted?

Of course not, I’d never wanted that.

I reminded myself of my original intentions, which I’d already achieved. One more time with Maisey. And now it was over.

But I couldn’t help but wonder why this unfamiliar feeling was sticking around so long. I wanted her to be happy. I wanted to make her smile, make her cry out my name again.

To say I was torn between my old ways of dealing with women that was so second nature to me and these feelings I was having about Maisey would be an understatement.

I was overwhelmed by all of this. So much so, that even in my confusion, I was still sitting here on the couch with another huge erection.

I watched the sun set over the Rockies in the distance, my mind filled with visions of her eyes, her lips, her curves, her touch…and I realized something.

I’d never felt this way about anyone.

Suddenly, my no-more-than-two-times rule seemed like the dumbest rule in the world.

Because I wanted to make love to Maisey a million times more. And then probably a million more.