Keep Me (10 page)

“What’s not to do, dude? You like her, go for it. Riley’s a big girl. She’ll get over it.”

“It’s deeper than that. I don’t want to mess this up for either of them. She’s the
one
friend she warned me about. She needs her. They both need each other. Tessa’s been through a lot from what Riley’s told me. And my sister… I feel bad. She’s had no luck finding a good guy and now that Tessa’s back in her life, she finally seems…
happy
. I can’t take that away from her because it’s inevitable that I’ll screw it up.”

Beck rolled his eyes, draining the rest of his beer. “Why are you so hell bent on fucking up? Maybe Tessa is
the one
.” I wanted to crush his short, stubby fingers as he air quoted the words with a smirk.

This wasn’t a joke. I was seriously torn up about what to do. “You’re a riot, Beck, a real fucking comedian.”

He leaned back in his chair, cackling with his hand across his chest. “I’m kidding! Lighten up. You’re obviously not the total asshole everyone thinks you are. You care about your sister
and
Tessa’s feelings. So why don’t you just spend more time together, see where it takes you. If you still feel the same in a week or two, then maybe you need to talk to Riley.”

That was the best advice I’d gotten from this pussy-whipped wiseass all night. “Smartest thing you’ve ever said. Thanks, bro.” I clinked my bottle with his and then let out the breath I didn’t even know I was holding.

“Good times!”

The rest of the week came and went with me torturing myself over my so-called dilemma. I was too chicken shit to call her up to actually talk and I had too much pride to just show up at her place and demand she give us a shot. But by the time Friday rolled around and I was forced to spend the afternoon on set with the woman invading the hidden corners of my mind and my heart, my reserve was about to cave.

I stared at her in that tight black pencil skirt and the low cut, nearly see-through top that showed the generous hills of her knock-out tits.
Fuck!
I was in over my head and couldn’t take it anymore. “Tess, come here a sec?”

Her head popped up from Gary’s tablet when she heard her name. She looked around the set before fixing that hypnotic gaze on me. That was the only explanation for what she was doing to me… she was hypnotizing me.

“What’s up?” she asked carelessly as she sauntered over to me, swaying those fucking hips like it was her job. Did she know she was driving me crazy?

“Bike’s mine for the night. Care to join me for a joy ride?” I’d never owned a motorcycle, but this gig had made me think about buying one. This particular one was a Harley Davidson Heritage Softail Classic, and I wasn’t ashamed to say that the metallic blue paint and studded black leather were enough to make me want to cry. I needed this bike and I wanted Tessa glued to me on the back of it.

“I don’t know, Marcus. I’ve never ridden before and…”

“… and nothing, young lady,” Gary interrupted to put in his two cents. “Hop on and let Marcus take you for a spin. You’ll look smokin’ on the back of that thing, Tess. I’ll even arrange for them to let him take you back home to Brooklyn if you’re game.”

Tessa stood there gnawing on her lip nervously. I controlled every urge not to haul her over my shoulder like a caveman and
make
her ride with me. “Come on, pretty girl. It’ll be fun! Gary’s letting you go early. I promise I’ll get you home in one piece.”

Gary rushed over to one of Harley’s PR people and when I saw them nodding their heads and smiling, I gave Tessa a little nudge. “Haven’t you ever wanted to let your hair down, allow it to whip around in the wind while wrapping your arms—and legs—around a handsome biker?” My eyebrows twitched, trying to make the situation humorous. But the idea of her legs wrapped around me, her skirt hitched up to reveal those silky thighs… there was no room for humor right now.

If she bit down any harder on that lip she was going to draw blood. Maybe I wanted her to draw blood so I could wipe it away and then lick it from my fingers. Hopefully that would put her in the same tailspin I was in just watching her contemplate. “It’s dangerous, Marcus. I probably shouldn’t.”

“I’ll go slow.” It was a lie, I had no intentions of driving at a Grandpa’s pace, but I could promise her that I’d never hurt her. At least not on the bike. If I could just promise her—swear to her—that I wouldn’t break her heart then she would be mine.

Her eyes lifted up from the ground and when they reached mine I knew I’d won this tiny battle. “Okay. Why the hell not?”

We watched one of the Harley reps roll the bike off set and through the doors at the back. Without saying anything, hoping she would just trust me, I put my hand out for Tessa to hold. She hesitated for a split second, staring at it—her last chance to say no. But she didn’t.

“God, I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she said, entangling her fingers with mine.

I led her outside, smiling to myself. I couldn’t believe she agreed to it so easily either, but I wasn’t complaining. I could think of a million reasons why the hell she
shouldn’t
get on, but all things right and good were erased from my mind as we snapped on our helmets and geared ourselves up for the ride.

“Slow down! You’re going too fast!” I screamed over the revving of the engine and the breeze that had picked up the pace of a tornado. My demand came from a place of pure morality, but if I had to be honest, I was absolutely
loving
the exhilaration.

“Hold on, baby,” he shouted over his shoulder.

And I did. I wrapped my arms in a vice-like grip around his middle and dug so tight I could feel the ripples of his chiseled abdomen underneath the cotton of his pullover. Instead of decelerating, he twisted the throttle and revved the gas. I braced my head against his back and closed my eyes, preparing for an inescapable collision. Everything about Marcus Grayson was reckless and he was taking me down with him.

I stayed glued to him for a while, until I felt the bike start to slow and veer off to the right. We hadn’t even reached the bridge so I didn’t know why he was exiting the expressway. “Where are we going?” I spoke in his ear.

“You’ll see.”

He pulled off the expressway and took on a slow, steady pace as he eased his way through the winding streets. At each traffic light, he let his hands fall from the leather-fringed handlebars to tangle his fingers with mine. It felt so intimate, so natural, to be with him this way. Though we didn’t speak, many unspoken words were being said.

When we came to a stop at a secluded spot off a cobblestone path, I gaped at the magnificence of our surroundings—a quiet, serene sanctuary nestled in the heart of the busy, bustling city. “Where are we?”

He lifted the helmet from his head, shaking out his hair, just like the director had instructed him to do on the shoot. Marcus was always on, playing the game. I hated to think I was just a pawn.

He did that thing where he could read my mind again. “Stop thinking. Just come here.” He spun himself around on the bike so he was facing me. With a gentle tug at the straps, he undid my helmet and hung it on the handle bar opposite his.

“Marcus, what are you…”

“Shh…” he placed a finger over my mouth while his other hand combed out the knots in my hair. His eyes never left mine, even as he inched closer to me, closing the small distance between us on the seat of the bike. “I’ve been thinking about doing this all week.” The desire radiating off him was maddening. His pupils were so large and dark, I could almost see myself in them. This man was intimidating. Holy shit—it was the craziest turn on.

“What? Straddling
me
while straddling a Harley?” I started to laugh, my nervous twitch of a coping mechanism, but his lips quickly silenced mine. His tongue ravished my mouth, hungry for more of what we’d started last weekend. I, too, had been thinking about this all week. Even though I tried to avoid it, pretend it hadn’t happened at all, I only made it worse. Now I was starved for what I denied myself. The soft, throaty vibration of the motorcycle beneath us wasn’t helping things either.

“Marcus, please.”

“Please what?”

I wanted to say
please stop
. Tell him this was wrong. That we couldn’t continue stealing moments like this. But the way he growled out his question had me responding with a different answer.

“Please… touch me.”

“Fuck, Tessa. I thought you’d never ask.” His hands slid under the tight hem of my skirt, gliding the fabric up so it bunched at my hips. I arched back against the seat rest and allowed his fingers to travel where they wanted to go. When they found their way inside my damp panties, I was already trembling in anticipation of his touch.

“Where do you want me to touch you exactly?” he teased.

Forcefully, and without shame, I placed a hand over his and pressed it hard against my sex. “Here. I want you to touch me here.”

His gaze found mine again, his breathing deep and heavy, his eyes dark as coal. “You’re fucking incredible, Tessa.” His lips crashed down over mine again as his fingers pushed aside my panties and slipped into me slowly. The sensation of his rough, deft fingers inside my body and the humming engine against my sensitive flesh caused me to writhe in sweet agony. As I rubbed against his hand and the leather of the seat, I leaned into our kiss as if I could swallow him whole.

“Mmmm, Marcus.” I quietly moaned against his mouth as he inserted another finger inside and circled his thumb against my throbbing clit.

“Come for me, pretty girl. Come undone for me.”

His words ignited the fire tugging at my core, aching to be released. Clenching the seat behind me for support, I lifted my hips off the bike and allowed his fingers to finish what they’d started. It was unnerving how much control he had over me, and how easy it was to give in. It was something that frightened me because of my past, but at the same time liberated me from all the things that always held me back. Never in a million years could I have placed myself in this scene, fooling around on the back of a Harley with Marcus fucking Grayson.

I cupped my hand behind his neck and pulled him down to me. I didn’t want to scream out in the open where a wandering ear could hear, so I drowned out my cries in his mouth, as I came undone for him, just as he demanded.

We remained forehead to forehead as our ragged breathing evened out and the last tremor passed through me. When he backed away to survey me, I felt a twinge of embarrassment and allowed myself to glance up through hooded lids.

“Look at me, Tessa. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. That was the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.”

I lifted my ass off the seat to readjust my skirt, but his hands were already working the fabric back down to its rightful place. “They need to show
that
in their ads. Supply would not be meeting demand… they wouldn’t be able to make the bikes quick enough.”

I giggled against his chest, warmed by the way he could put my mind at ease. “You were supposed to take me home, not take advantage of me, Marcus.”

“No, I asked you if you wanted a ride. And a ride is what I gave you.”

He never missed a beat. He was a cunning little fucker. I could be sly too. “What about you? You didn’t get to do much… riding.”

He leaned down and picked up both helmets and handed the smaller one to me. I followed his lead in strapping it on. When his was fastened, he kissed me on the tip of my nose before whispering in my ear, “Don’t worry. I’ll get my ride next time.”

For the rest of the way home, I lay against his back, lulled by the rhythm of the muscles falling and rising with his breath and flexing each time he tightened his grip around the handles.

I’ll get my ride next time.
His words made me want to ride him right then and there. So, how was I going to tell him there shouldn’t be a next time? That the further we traveled down this road, the more trouble we were getting ourselves into? I wasn’t capable of anything right now – my heart just wasn’t ready. And from what I knew of Marcus, the heart was the last part of a woman’s body he was interested in.