Chapter 7

Mark smirked, shaking his head as he heard her growl. He knew if he let her walk she was going to probably be off her feet for the next few days. "Get on the damned bike, Jalyse." He ordered, sighing as he walked it alongside of her. When she shook her head, Mark straddled it, got it running, and snatched her by the arm, forcing her to sit on his lap, facing him. He then pulled away from the roadside, quickly hitting the speed limit, having no problems seeing over her head.

This guy had SERIOUS issues with the word no was the first thought that ran through Jalyse's mind. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, refusing to look up at him. Afraid she'd poke those green eyeballs out of his sockets with her nails and growled. The second thought that went through her mind was why couldn't they be in this position naked and felt herself grow hot. About as hot as the engine of the motorcycle.

Glancing down at her, Mark arched an eyebrow, hearing her growl. He grunted, using one hand to steer and the other to wrap her arms around his neck. "Hold on, I'm goin' to open this baby up." He murmured, his voice sounding like a rumble of thunder. Mark didn't give her time to say anything, just pushed the Harley harder, loving this open stretch of road. He was also loving the feel of her against him, wondering to himself why the Hell they couldn't be this way naked, though he wasn't blushing like her.

When he opened it up, Jalyse immediately closed her eyes, her arms wrapped around his neck, and rested her head against his chest. She loved the speed. The exhilaration that flowed throughout her body and actually let go. She arched her body back, her arms flying as her hair whipped around her, and wished she could fly. If she had a super power of any kind, if that shit even existed, she would want to fly. Not in a plane either because they gave her jetlag, but just fly freely like a bird or even a rocket. Not to mention the fact that Jalyse's body was going to the moon already with being this close to Mark against his muscular chest. She had to breathe in and out slowly before she ended up hyperventilating. Her adrenaline was up and her body was on fire. Two combinations that were dangerous when mixed together.

Mark's eyes kept darting back and forth from the road to her, having discarded the shades a long while ago. It was too damned dark for them. In the moonlight, he could see the look on her face and she was truly beautiful. A pain in the ass, and becoming one in the dick as well, but beautiful. He could tell she loved riding as much as him and that was a huge turn on. Journey refused to even think about getting on a motorcycle. When Jalyse arched her body, all thoughts of Journey quickly flew out of his mind.

She was getting a head rush from having her head arched back too much for too long and brought it forward, resting it against his chest, and rested her hands on it. She loved how strong and muscular he was, even through the leather vest he wore. Everything about this man turned Jalyse on, but he was a complete asshole. How could she be attracted to a man who was set in his own ways and was almost as stubborn as her? They'd end up killing each other before even getting to first base. First base. That made her laugh softly as she shook her head, her hair still whipping around her, and closed her eyes, enjoying the ride of a lifetime. It made her miss her own motorcycle back at home and knew when she got back, she'd go for a ride. However, it wouldn't be anything like this one.

Just feeling Jalyse relax against him was enough to set Mark's already simmering blood completely on fire. He groaned softly and turned down the road to his house, halting at the gate to punch in the code. It was no surprise to find John and Journey hadn't returned yet. They'd probably be gone for several more hours, especially when the fact that Mark and Jalyse hadn't even seen the first match was taken into consideration. He didn't head for the garage though, just turned off a narrow dirt lane and drove down through the now empty meadow. He'd turned the horses out some time ago before finally coming to a halt in front of a pond.

Jalyse slowly opened her eyes and looked around when they stopped, her hair looking completely wild as it framed her face, and cleared her throat. "Where the Hell are we?" She asked, trying with all her might to keep the edginess in her voice, but was finding it hard to do so. That ride had been her best yet as she slowly stretched her arms above her head and blinked several times before realizing they were by a pond. "Interesting…" She slowly began unstraddling the bike, needing to stretch her legs, not having ridden in awhile. Though she was in tremendous shape.

Mark dismounted as well, watching as she worked the feeling back into her legs. "If ya want, you can take the bike up to the house and do whatever, but I'm feelin' like a swim. And not in some chemicals either." His tone conveyed the disgust he felt for the pool, which had been put in at Journey's request. She found swimming in the pond nasty. Mark kicked off his boots and socks, leaving them in a pile by a rock, and shrugged his leather vest off before walking down to the edge of the water and dived in, the pond being quite deep.

She didn't understand this man at all. He was like one big mystery to her as she stretched a few more times and shook her head. He was actually going to trust her to take HIS prized possession, his bike up to the house by her lonesome? Jalyse just laughed as she watched him swim in the pond and decided a swim wouldn't hurt any. She hated the pool that was at the house. Too much chlorine. Sighing, she sat down on the ground and took her socks and boots off before walking down to the edge, and placed her hands on her hips. Smirking wickedly, her teal eyes gleaming in the moonlight, Jalyse backed up a little and then did a cannonball in the pond, causing water to splash everywhere, and screamed before plundering in the water.

Grinning at her, Mark paddled lazily on the surface, his hair coming out of the braid he'd weaved it in and now clung to his wet head. He raised a hand to shield himself when water splashed him and snorted. He smiled before doing a back stroke towards the center of the pond, his eyes fastened on the starry sky above. He had honestly expected her to take the bike and hightail it back to the house. It was a pleasant shock when she didn't.

Coming up to the surface, Jalyse had a contented smile on her face as she rubbed the water from her eyes, staring over at him. She quickly did a dive under water and did a somersault before coming back up again, waving her head back and forth to get the water out of her ears. Her wet black hair flowed over her shoulders and down to her back while the tank top practically clung to her like a second skin. She went on her back and started doggy paddling, staring up at the stars, and landed opposite of him. Her head was by his feet while her feet were by his head. "No offense, but I hate your pool. It has too much chlorine in it." She commented before swimming away from him.

Mark chuckled, now just floating in the water. "I do too so none taken." He replied, not sounding offended in the slightest. "Too many damned chemicals in it. When my hair is its natural color, it tends to turn blonde or green in that shit." He made a face.

"It's YOUR house so why don't you fix it?" Jalyse asked as she swam over to him, leaning her elbows on his chest to keep her head above water, and looked over at him. "Oh wait, I forgot, you're dating my cousin, a control freak." She shook her head with a heavy sigh and patted his leg, the one she'd massaged earlier. "I hate to say this about my cousin because I love her dearly, but she's the biggest control freak on the planet. Good luck tryin' to handle her, Calaway. You have your hands full." She then dived under water and started swimming to the other side.

Mark growled, already aware of that factor about Journey. He had allowed the pool, as well as a personal salon and tanning room, but after that, he had put his foot down. Journey hadn't taken kindly to that and had shattered his few pictures. Mark rolled in the water and watched Jalyse, marveling how different she was from her cousin. Actually, she was a lot more like him and that's probably what annoyed him the most. Still, he felt that attraction to her and she was way more beautiful than Journey ever thought about being in his eyes.

Jalyse hadn't meant to say what she did about her cousin, but she couldn't help it. Something was going on between Journey and John, she could feel it in her heart, and it hurt her more than words could say. That she would actually make a play for her boyfriend when she had this hunk of man in her hands. She sighed heavily, recalling the conversation she'd had with Journey about being with Mark for his body and riches. She felt sick just thinking about it as she dived under water again before coming up to the surface. She truly felt bad for Mark having to deal with her cousin and hoped he woke up before Journey latched her hooks into him even further to the point where he couldn't escape. She seen it happen before with Journey's ex-boyfriends and she would really hate to see it happen to Mark. Even though, he annoyed her more than words could say.

Mark shook his head, shoving away thoughts of his control freak, and most likely cheating on him, girlfriend. He dived under the water and swam across the pond towards Jalyse. He smirked and tugged her legs while still underwater, pulling her down partly before letting go. He laughed and swam away, splashing her with water in his path. He was in the mood for some fun, not wanting to think about Journey, wanting to spend his time with Jalyse.

Jalyse was shocked he actually did that and raised an eyebrow up at him. "It's like that huh?" When he nodded, she shrugged and dove under the water, beginning to kick her feet at him as mountains of water flowed over him, causing her laughter to echo over it, and finally stopped when he stopped splashing her. "Learn your lesson yet, Mark?" She asked smugly with a serene smile on her face, rubbing the water out of her eyes as she raked a hand through her soaked hair.

Mark's answer was to cut through the water towards her, wrapping his arms around her waist firmly, and grinned. "I'd hold yer breath." He advised before plunging under water, taking her with him.

Jalyse barely had time to do so with his warning and when they finally came up for air, she was breathless as she coughed a little. She then caught Mark completely off guard before dunking him and swam away, smirking wickedly as her teal eyes gleamed. She then dived under water, going all the way down, and kicked her feet as she swam over to the other side of the pond before finally coming up for air. "You don't stand a chance against me, Calaway!" She called out, knowing he was under water somewhere.

Mark was right behind her, slowly surfacing, his patented wicked grin firmly in place on his lips. "Oh really?" He murmured in her ear, his voice low and husky, wrapping his arms around her waist, pinning her arms at her side.

She jumped when she felt his arms wrap around her body, locking her arms at her sides, and felt his soaking wet body pressed against hers. She felt her heart rate quicken, his deep, husky voice sending shivers coursing down her spine, and tried squirming away from him. "Oh come on, this is not fair!" She groaned, trying to twist her body out of his embrace. "Mark, you better let me go or else…"

"Or else what?" He whispered in a challenge, his voice deepening even more, and groaned inwardly when she squirmed against him. "Jalyse…" He hissed, feeling his body beginning to come alive for her. "You might not want to keep on doin' that."

"Then let me go and I won't keep doing it." She stated back at him and literally jumped away from him, out of his arms, when she felt something poke her. She whipped around, her teal eyes widened, and cleared her throat, running her fingers through her hair. "Okay, I think its time we had a talk because obviously, we both have some sexual chemistry with each other, but we're both with somebody." She hated saying this to him, especially when she wanted him, but she had to be faithful to John. Even though he wasn't being faithful back to her.

"So you noticed too." Mark said wryly, raking a hand through his own wet hair and swam back from her. He was well aware they were both with someone and wanted to ask her if she even loved John, but held himself back for a couple of reasons. One, it was none of his damned business, even if he did find this annoying bitch incredibly attractive. Two, that'd just be asking for her to shoot back some questions of her own at him.

"Who wouldn't notice, especially after that kiss we shared earlier? I mean, I kinda get the feeling that you don't really care about my cousin and not that I blame you. She's not exactly the…LOVEABLE…type, if you catch my drift. That's none of my business though, but it is my business when this starts." She pointed to her and then him, back and forth a few times, and coughed a little. "I just want to make sure we're on the same page about this, Mark. I'm not trying to pry into your life because, quite frankly, I don't really want to do that."

Mark just stared at her, his eyes suddenly guarded, and nodded. "Good, then the thing fer us to do is just kinda keep clear." He had a feeling Journey and John were most likely fucking. It would be interesting to do so, especially if he knew Journey as well as he thought he did, that woman would have John out of the house any chance she could. "I think we're on the same page, Jalyse."

It stung her somewhat for him to say those words to her, but she understood. She cleared her throat and nodded before swimming over to the edge, pulling herself out of the pond, dripping wet from head to toe. Her jeans clung to every inch of her legs, showing just how toned they were, and her tank top basically clung to her like a second skin, showing off the shape of her breasts and her curves. She shook the water out of her hair and walked over to her boots and socks, picking them up, and headed back to the house. She wanted to walk, not wanting to be anywhere near him right now. She had to calm her body down or else she was going to explode in passion and run back into his arms.