Her throat ached. Everything they had worked for hung in the balance. The only way to save Ryder’s ass from the vultures circling around him had been to pursue the one thing he’d asked her not to do.
“You have no idea what I’m dealing with,” Addison said.
“That’s because you don’t tell me anything.”
He turned away and walked toward the podium where the announcer shouted out the race times. Casual, cool, controlled. Anyone who didn’t know Ryder wouldn’t see the frustration ripping in the muscles of his broad shoulders.
Those shoulders carried far too much. Now she’d lift the burden once and for all.
Yes. She’d promised not to reveal the truth about what had happened the night of the crash. But sometimes promises had to be broken for the better good. Protecting Ryder meant taking a risk that she’d destroy his trust, but she hoped her skills in negotiation and spinning stories wouldn’t lead to that happening.
* * *
Within twenty-four hours, the picture of Ryder kissing Addison had gone viral. By the following Monday, the latest shit story perpetuated by Miranda Sinclair had leaked to anyone who would pay for the information. Addison had tentatively brought up the possibility of coming forth with the truth about the accident, but he’d waved it off. Asking her to prove she could do it without involving Eric. Then, after he’d shown up on the training course early Wednesday morning, Coach Jamison had arrived with an ultimatum. Win the pre-Olympic qualifier or lose his spot on the Rio de Janeiro cycling team.
There wasn’t room for one more fuck up in his personal or professional life.
He landed his bike on the packed dirt of the training trail, then performed a reverse wheelie while rolling the front tire forward. Tricks. Landings. Speed. All of the elements were practiced until his entire muscle system remembered to perform even when his brain failed to execute.
Ryder zoned out to his favorite band playing heavy metal through his earbuds while he took the next vertical drop. A gonzo of epic extremes. Treacherous to the best athletes in his league, but nowhere near as dangerous as trying to keep his heart on a short string whenever he hung around with Addison.
Which wasn’t often. Sure, they managed to sneak in more rounds of awesome sex, but that wasn’t enough anymore. He wanted all of Addison. He’d been more freaked out about it than he wanted to admit, but damn it. Why couldn’t he have her?
He increased his speed, and the wind snapped like dozens of sails catching air. But he rode in the center of the storm, beating it and going faster, faster, faster until he crossed the end of the line.
“What’s my time?” he asked his coach when he cruised to a stop.
“Clocked a record breaker,” Jamison said. “Repeat this performance in July’s Pro Gravity qualifier, and you’ll nail your spot on the team.”
Ryder took the towel Jamison held and swiped his face. “I plan on it.”
“Good. Now that you’ve got a handle on your personal shit I can’t see any roadblocks to keeping your sponsors in line.”
“I hired the best.” He’d satisfied his coach, but frustration gnawed at him. “She’s the Queen of PR.” Addison had busted her ass to spin every new publicity problem into something positive. Her hard work, and beating his original gold winning record, should have made him freaking happy. But instead he found himself questioning her motives.
Ryder wanted to believe Addison had gone the extra mile for him because she genuinely cared about him. But she had been closed lipped about her next PR push, and the constant texts from her father had her sucking more cough drops than he’d believed humanly possible.
Was she saving him, or was she saving herself?
* * *
“I’ll take care of this,” Addison said to her father on her home office’s speaker phone. “Like I’ve lobbed all the other PR nightmares crawling out of the gutter to take a hit on Ryder.”
“Miranda Sinclair isn’t going away. And his parents are liabilities. Big time.”
She sucked on her cough drop, then crunched down hard. “He can’t control what his parents do. That’s not his fault.”
“Fault doesn’t matter when a story is juicy and the media makes him look like he’s abandoned dear old dad and mom.”
Addison sighed, then opened the folder on her desk. She had witnesses, a police toxicology report, and a widower who wanted to do right by his friend and former teammate. But first, she had to give Eric time to explain things to his sons. “I’ve got this, Dad.”
“You better have it, or Ryder will lose everything,” he said in a firm, no-nonsense tone. “The mark of a great PR agent is one who puts the client’s future above all else. Even if the client is too horse-assed to agree. Do I have to return to Los Angeles to hammer out a counter offensive?”
“No.” She popped another cough drop. “I’ve got a fix.”
“Something to satisfy the sponsors?”
“Absolutely.”
Addison ended their call, then closed the folder and tucked it under a stack of paperwork. Standing, she mentally ran through the scenario she’d orchestrated. Late afternoon sunlight filtered through her floor to ceiling windows and she walked toward them to look at the view below.
One with more than miles of ocean and beach sands sparkling with the reflections of seashells. One with the lone figure of a man walking along the shoreline. Ryder. The brilliant sunshine highlighted his tousled dark hair, and water slapped his bare feet while he strolled the beach’s length.
Glorious, wonderful and quite possibly the best person she’d ever met.
But she’d kept him at bay emotionally ever since the damn public kiss. Even when they’d stolen moments together—sexy, fun, beyond amazing moments—she’d been afraid to expose her heart to him.
Not when the repercussions about what she had pulled together loomed.
“I have to do it.” She touched the glass separating her from the only man she’d ever loved. “For you.”
Though it killed her to override Ryder’s wishes, Eric had been all too willing to give an interview with the top talk show host in Los Angeles. Addison had given Eric the option to bury the details, but he’d known about Tiffany’s alcohol and drug abuse along with her ongoing affairs with anyone who still reeked of fame. He’d also been close to serving divorce papers and filing for full custody before the wreck had claimed her life.
Addison had scheduled the interview for July fourth. Independence Day could either bring closure, or it could go up in smoke. But she had total confidence it would torpedo the negative press about Ryder, and she had a plan in place to shield the Langston children from any fall out. Now Addison prayed that once she explained Eric’s motivation that Ryder would realize her decision remained the best way to proceed for everyone involved.
But first she had to show Ryder she cared.
Chapter 10
A pair of terns zigzagged ahead of Ryder while he walked alongside the waves ebbing and flowing onto the shoreline. Today’s training session had been grueling, but once more he’d shown Coach Jamison he had the greatest potential to bring home the Olympic gold medal from Rio de Janeiro in August.
A month ago, winning the gold would have been enough.
Not anymore.
He heard Addison call his name and shifted his gaze toward the wooden staircase that connected her home on the high cliff to the beach. She stepped down the planks with a blanket folded over her arm and a straw tote bag in her hand until she reached the bottom.
The breeze coming in from the ocean lifted the hem of her peach colored dress and gave him an awesome view of her long legs. His pulse went from zero to a sixty in an instant. Christ, she was beautiful, inside and out. She never gave up on a person, ever. Not even him despite the media shit storm swirling around him.
She closed the remaining distance between them, flared open the blanket and settled it on the beach. “Figured you could use a carb pick me up after training all day.” Addison lowered herself to
the covered ground. She dug into her tote bag and withdrew two water bottles and tossed him one. “I brought chips.”
“Salt and Vinegar?”
“Your favorite brand.”
“Trying to tempt me into doing another photo op?”
She slanted her gaze toward him. “We’re finished with all the promotions until after your race.” Addison leaned back on her elbows and lifted her head to let the sun dance on her skin. “Once you win, we’re golden.”
Her nipples poked through the fabric of her sheer dress and he could make out the V of her bare sex. His cock hardened and blood rushed to the throbbing head. “Addison.” He struggled to string together coherent words. He didn’t just want sex, he wanted it all. With her.
A month ago making out with a woman like Addison with no strings attached would have been more than enough. He’d never seen himself as a permanent commitment kind of guy. Not with the shit example of marriage his parents had paraded.
But now he could imagine being with her in all the ways that mattered.
She shielded her face with her hand. “Yes?”
“I don’t want potato chips.”
“What do you want?”
The atmosphere between them thrummed with electricity. Tiny particles of sand and dust and shell floated in the air while his heart banged against his sternum. “You.” He sat beside her and covered her hand with his. “I want every delectable inch of you.”
Her pulse fluttered in her throat and her hazel eyes turned molten green. She’d bared herself to him body and soul only to guard her emotions after he’d blown her rule about no public PDAs. But now her heart shimmered in her expressive eyes.
“All of you, Addison.” He controlled the desire to take her fast and hard and quick. Instead, he kissed her shoulder and slowly traced the curve of her lips with his index finger. “You think you can give that to me?”
“Yes.”
The rush of blood thundering in his ears obliterated the crash of waves. There was only him. Only her. Only the promise of so much more than he’d ever expected mere weeks ago.
* * *
Ryder’s eyes gleamed hot on hers. “I want you with me. Always.”
Addison’s breath caught in her throat. Always. The overwhelming desire to show him how much she loved him tangled with practicality. Practicality won by a thin margin.
She had to tell him about her deal with the talk show, but before she could speak, he replaced his index finger with his mouth and traced her lips all over again with his tongue. And when he sucked in her lower lip, caressed the length of her body with his broad palm, her reason evaporated.
Ryder slipped his tongue inside her to deepen their connection. He tasted like sunshine, citrus, and all man.
She trembled, and wrapped her arms around his torso, drawing him closer. The scent of her arousal mingled with the ocean’s, salt and tang carried by the ever-present breeze. He skimmed his hand under her dress’s hem and brushed his fingertips between her legs until he slid them along the seam of her slick sex.
His erection throbbed against her hips, and the glide of his thumb over her clit sent electrical shocks through her. Every last inch of her wanted him on her, in her, taking what she wanted to give.
He lowered his mouth to rain soft kisses down her neck to the hollow of her throat, licked the wildly beating pulse while sliding her straps off her shoulders with his free hand to expose her breasts. “You’re amazing.” Ryder caressed the tight points with thumb and index finger one by one.
“You make me feel…” cherished, adored, beautiful.
He lowered his mouth to sweep his tongue across her nipples, kissing them and sucking while teasing her pulsating clit in tandem. Exquisite, delicious zings fired along her cells and she ached for the release only Ryder could give.
He kissed his way back up to her cheeks, her temples, and her brow. “Tell me.” Ryder gazed at her with such intensity that she recognized how much his need mirrored hers. “You make me feel… loved.”
“Because I do love you.”
Heat pricked behind her eyes, and a sob filled her throat. Everything she’d guarded broke free. Her dreams, hopes, wishes for so much more than the life she’d carved out for herself slipped out of the mental cage she’d trapped them in. “Ryder.” She feathered her fingers along his shadowed jaw and across his full lips. “I love you so much. I need you to understand that what I’ve done is because I love you with all my heart.” Her vision blurred, and her tears tracked down her face.
She started to tell him about her plans, but he melded his mouth with hers. She tasted the salt of her tears, and the hot, hot need building between them with the glide of his tongue against hers. He caressed, teased, and explored her curves as if discovering her body for the first time.
She matched him touch-for-touch, pulse-to-beating-pulse, baring his body while he stripped her naked. Together, they sheathed his erection, silently and quickly.
He hovered over her, and nudged his cock between her slick folds. “I love how you feel when I’m inside you. So hot. So wet. For me.”
“Only you, Ryder. I’m this way for you.”
Addison brought her mouth to his, wrapped her legs around him and he plunged into her all the way to the hilt. He filled her, completed her in ways she’d never known. Pleasure melded with sweet pain as he drove into her over and over, bringing her close, and closer still to the release they both craved.
Skin slid against skin, hips raised and fell faster, faster, faster. He sent her higher, spiraling near the edge of her climax with his powerful, deep strokes. Addison called his name and clasped his shoulders, the sensations so intense she thought she might die.
But Ryder refused to let her go. “Come with me, Addison. Show me how much you love me. Give me all you’ve got.” He pushed deeper, stroked harder and she could feel the force of his orgasm throbbing in his thick length.
In her. For her. With her.
He drove into her, the power of his climax triggering a thousand star bursts behind her eyes. Her orgasm rocketed through her body, but this time, she crested over the final waves of incredible pleasure with Ryder. When she landed, she found herself right where she belonged.
In Ryder’s arms.
Safe. Protected. Loved.
* * *
Addison snuggled into Ryder and traced her hand down the length of his torso. A soft sigh of satisfaction escaped her lips as his muscles rippled beneath her touch. His arm tightened around her shoulders and she felt the press of his mouth on top of her head.
“You keep doing that and I won’t make practice,” he said.
“Mmm. True. Not to mention I have to save some energy for work.”
“I’m sorry about Miranda and the PR nightmare.”
She painted tiny circles on the line of fine hair on his chest. Oh, how she wanted to draw out the pleasure that had carried them from their lovemaking on the beach all the way back to her home for more of the same in her bed.
All. Night. Long.
Her stomach dipped, and she stilled her hand. The passion they’d shared had been beyond incredible, but she had to face reality this morning.
Addison waited a beat, and swallowed hard. “There’ve been a few glitches, but nothing we can’t handle.” Like a coach who didn’t want Ryder riled up and in danger of losing his focus, possibly injuring himself during practice runs, a father pressuring her to put the agency’s reputation first, and a man who had asked for time to explain the unexplainable to his children.
He loosened his grip and propped up on his elbow to look at her. “What kind of glitches?”
“More lies about your past thanks to Miranda, pictures of your mother dumpster diving, and your father’s most recent mug shot surfaced.” Addison stood and walked to her closet to grab her terry cloth robe. She slipped it on, and tightened the belt around her waist. “Carrington Agency has a counter offensive in the works.”
Ryder shot out of bed, pulled on the board sh
orts he’d tossed to the floor the night before. “What kind of counter offensive?” He closed the distance between them to stand in front of her.
A razor’s edge underscored his tone. She recognized his tell-tale stubborn set of his jaw all too well. A shiver ghosted down her spine and her skin prickled with goose bumps. Not good. So not good.
No more excuses. Ryder needed to know what she had planned. Still, now that they had admitted their feelings to each other, she had to believe he’d understand. Why wouldn’t he? She’d done what she’d had to do to protect him and make sure he got what he deserved.
Love, and yes, damn it, responsibility toward her father’s agency, had driven all her decisions and choices.
Holding his gaze, she took his hands in hers and prayed the love he held for her would drive his reaction. “The truth, Ryder. Eric’s going public with what happened the night of the accident. This is our last chance to protect you.”
He jerked his hands free, stepped back, and tunneled his fingers through his hair. “Fuck. You promised.”
“Sometimes promises need to be broken for the greater good. I had to put your future first,” Addison said, standing her ground. While she could respect Ryder for trying to cover up Tiffany’s actions, she couldn’t let him throw his career away for a lying, selfish woman who’d turned her back on her husband and family.
“The greater good had nothing to do with me.” Ryder’s eyes turned cold. “You were protecting Carrington Agency’s top financial asset. And your own ass where your father is concerned.”
“Money didn’t drive my decision to approach Eric.” No. The horrific tell-all news threatening to blast the Internet with more twisted half truths about Ryder had forced her to contact Eric. She’d shielded Ryder from the possibility so he could focus on his future. One he’d earned and didn’t deserve to lose.
“Bull. You want to prove to your father you’ll do whatever it takes for Carrington Agency. I knew you were cold, but I sure as hell didn’t think you’d railroad innocent kids and a grieving husband to guarantee your PR spin.” He pounded his fist on his thigh. “Whatever you have planned, I expect you to squash it. Now.”
Reforming The Heartbreaker: Prequel (Hollywood Heartbreaker #0.5) Page 7
