Rescued by Love (Love in Bloom: The Ryders): Jake Ryder

by Melissa Foster

  “That’s how I know you’re not just looking to get laid,” Cash said.

  Jake scoffed. “Getting laid is exactly what I’m looking for with Addy, only as Gabriella’s best friend, she’s not exactly fair game for a good time.” Good time? He tried to ignore the voice in his head telling him that he wasn’t fooling himself any more than he was fooling Cash. Addy’s eyes found his, igniting the torch she’d planted the first time they’d met.

  Niko’s hand moved south, his fingertips grazing the base of her spine. Jake’s gut knotted. One more inch and I’ll break those fingers.

  “She’s only off-limits if she’s not on the same page,” Lucky said with a smirk.

  Cash’s pinched expression told Jake he did not agree, but Jake had already latched on to Lucky’s nudge, and his mind was running with it.

  “Better think long and hard about it, bro,” Cash said. “If you make a move, don’t make the wrong one.”

  Jake’s gaze darted back to the woman toying with his emotions. Addy flashed a coy smile, licking her luscious lips and sending heat straight to his groin. Was she on the same page? After months of flirting to the point of leaving him blue-balled, could this be his lucky night? It was no secret that she talked about sex like she thrived on pushing her boundaries—boundaries Jake would be all too happy to shatter. Was Lucky right? If she was cool with a one-night stand, could he take her friendship with Gabriella off the table? Adrenaline coursed through him with the thought, followed closely by Cash’s comment. Was there a right or wrong move when it came to a one-night stand?

  Niko’s hand slid lower. Addy’s narrowing eyes were still glued to Jake. She arched a brow. The little minx. Casting a last taunting look at Jake, she flashed one of her gorgeous smiles up at Niko. Jake should look away, drown his desires in more alcohol, or hit on one of Gabriella’s hot cousins to distract himself from whatever game she was playing. But his eyes were riveted to Addison moving sensually in another man’s arms while she sent him challenging looks.

  Fuck this shit. He set his glass on the bar.

  “Where are you going?” Cash asked.

  “To play librarian,” Lucky answered for him.

  “Damn straight.” He was done dicking around. It was time to see exactly what page Addy was on.

  Chapter Two

  ADDISON WAS PLAYING with fire and she knew it. Her breathing quickened with every determined step Jake took as he crossed the grass with a pissed-off, predatory look in his eyes. And hell if that didn’t practically melt her panties right off. For months she’d done so well at refusing to cross the line between flirting with and fucking Gabriella’s new brother-in-law. He was the last man she should even be thinking about in that way. But inevitably, her mind circled back to the big, brooding hunk who was currently eyeing Niko like he wanted to tear him to shreds. It wasn’t Niko’s fault she was flirting with Jake while dancing with him. God, what is wrong with me?

  “Mind if I cut in?” Jake’s deep voice left no room for opposition.

  Niko glanced down at Addy. “You okay with that, Addy?”

  Ever the gentleman.

  She stared at Jake for a long moment before answering, reminding herself that all she had to do was make it for a couple more nights. Then she’d be on a mountain, away from their flirtatious banter, away from his piercing stare. And then she’d be back at home, where she could have her pick of willing men who were not related to her best friend.

  Men who aren’t you.

  She swallowed hard, but the jagged image stuck with her. That had been the problem for the past several months. She’d tried to work Jake out of her system, but it always came down to a competition between her fantasies of Jake and the men she chose as substitutes. Even never having shared one blessed kiss with him, Jake always won.

  Jake’s gaze never wavered from hers. She was surprised Niko’s hands weren’t burned by the electricity sizzling between them. They really needed to just get down and dirty once and for all, to get it out of their systems before they spontaneously combusted.

  Jake narrowed his eyes, silently willing her to respond.

  She let the silence linger for another minute, torturing them both. When the song came to an end, she went up on her toes and kissed Niko’s cheek, earning another death stare from Jake. “Thanks, Niko. I enjoyed our dance.”

  “Anytime, beautiful.” Niko nodded at Jake. “She’s a great dancer. Hope you don’t have two left feet.”

  The semi grunt coming from Jake as he tugged Addy against him pretty much said it all. Whoa. Not quite as well as his hard body did.

  “Thought you didn’t dance,” she said as he positioned her hands around his neck. She stifled a laugh as she lowered them to his waist. Controlling much?

  “I said I wasn’t into dancing.” He moved her hands around his neck again. “But I want to get into you.”

  Holy cow. It was one thing to hear his tempting teases when they were in a crowded bar with Gabriella and a group of friends, but to be in his arms, so close she could feel every inch of his arousal against her? She needed some serious Jake repellant to withstand this type of torture.

  He flattened his hand on her lower back as the next song began. His long fingers splayed over the curve of her ass. His eyes remained trained on hers as he led their sensual moves. Addy loved to dance. She’d honed the ability to seduce a man from across the room with nothing more than a few dirty-dancing moves. But, good Lord, she had nothing on Jake. The man moved like he owned her. His hips rocked in slow, sensual, and precise thrusts, smooth as butter and wicked as sin. One hand remained on her back, the other slid to the top of her spine, his fingers pressing into the base of her neck, holding her body flush with his in all the best places. Every move brought slithers of heat, ramping up her arousal. No wonder he didn’t want her hands around his waist. This position gave Jake full control. Sliding his knee between Addy’s legs, he created delicious friction. And his eyes…They were merciless, caressing her, sending silent messages of wanton thoughts directly to her brain that made her want to give in.

  He towered over her, even bigger and broader than he appeared. She’d stood beside him dozens of times and had no trouble verbally sparring and walking away. But now, dancing within his strong embrace, feeling his glorious muscles pressed against her, his intoxicating scent infiltrating her lungs, her skin, her very being, she felt herself falling under his spell. No woman was strong enough to resist six plus feet of pure, unadulterated seduction.

  He lowered his face until his hot breath whispered over her cheek, as he’d done earlier. He was a master at this. The king of seduction. They probably had his picture in the dictionary as the definition of the word.

  “Ready to stop playing games with boys and take it from a real man?”

  His cockiness snapped her mind back into gear—and turned her on beyond belief. She liked a man who knew how to give and take in equal measure. Real men were few and far between. Most men turned into kittens looking for direction when they hit the mattress. Or they hurried through sex like it was a race instead of what could be the most pleasurable experience of a lifetime. Not that she had yet experienced the dirtiest-talking, most multi-orgasm-inducing, thrilling man on the planet, but she knew he had to exist. After all, Gabriella had found Duke, and from what her bestie had told her, he was as naughty as he was nice. Even still, Duke was a little too nice for Addy’s tastes.

  As if he’d read her mind, Jake tugged her harder against him, flashing another haughty grin. “Not up for the challenge? I figured your imagination was too big for your—”

  She slid her hand from his neck to his cheek. She’d been dying to touch his sexy scruff for months. The muscles in his jaw softened against her palm, erasing his arrogant grin, and his touch lightened against her skin. Oh, her big, brooding alpha turned soft when faced with feminine wiles. Good to know.

  “My imagination is wilder…” she said in a husky whisper, drawing out the last word into two, lustful syllables. “Hott
er…” She ran her finger along his jaw to his lower lip. “Than you could even begin to toy with.”

  His lips pressed into a tight line, but his eyes turned to liquid heat. Desire pooled low in her belly, sizzling and rising as she continued taunting him, tracing her finger along the seam of his lips. When his lips parted, she touched the center of them, and slowly—torturously slowly—went up on her tiptoes as he bent toward her. Her lips hovered a breath beneath his. In her peripheral vision she caught a glimpse of Gabriella dancing with Duke. Guilt whirled inside her, battling against the urge to take the kiss she so desperately wanted. Gabriella knew Addy enjoyed a healthy sex life that didn’t often include repeats. Or at least she had, before Jake came into the picture. But getting down and dirty with her brother-in-law might be crossing a line, and the consequences could hit too close to home.

  Jake held her tighter. The length of his arousal pressed into her belly, tempting her even more. Addy was prepared for their incessant flirting. It had become a game between them, one she craved and revisited often in the darkness of her bedroom, where she took the flirting even further, to where she could feel his long, hard cock in her hands, her mouth, between her legs, pushing inside of her, filling her so completely—

  “You know you want this, Addison.” Jake’s lips brushed over her cheek, snapping her mind back to the moment.

  She’d been so lost in her fantasy her cheeks burned. Her eyes darted beneath the shimmering lights to the couples dancing around them. What was she thinking? Everyone could see them. There would be uncomfortable questions to answer if she continued to get lost in him. Straightening her spine, she placed her hands on his cheeks, taking one last, long feel of them before sliding her hands to his chest. His heart thundered against her palms, mimicking the erratic beat of her own. His fingers pressed into her skin so hard she wondered if she’d have marks tomorrow, piquing her interest even further. This man was no kitten. It was all right there within her grasp. One night with a real man, a man who knew how to push all her buttons. One night with the man of her dreams.

  Anticipation trickled in, bringing pinpricks to her flesh. But what if they somehow didn’t have a good time? What if they pissed each other off, and then things were awkward tomorrow? She couldn’t chance it. They saw each other too often with Gabriella and Duke and the others. She loved being part of that close-knit group. She’d come to depend on the friendships she’d developed with Trish and Cash’s wife, Siena. Even the few times his brother Blue and Blue’s fiancée, Lizzie, had joined them they’d hit it off right away. She couldn’t risk all of that for one night of hot sex.

  She noticed Gabriella and Duke were no longer slow dancing but dancing to a faster beat. Great. The song had changed and she hadn’t even noticed. She and Jake were still dancing like they were naked and he was about to bend her over for a hard, thrusting dip!

  His mother waved as she and his father danced by. “You two dance like you’ve been partners forever.”

  Oh God, your parents! She loved his parents. They were down-to-earth and funny and…so not going to like it if she toyed with their boy. Everyone knew mommy claws were deadly regardless of how grown up their children were. Well, everyone except her own mother, who never had a chance to worry her pretty little head about anything.

  Jake’s breath slid between her lips, bringing with it the taste of alcohol, reeling her fuzzy mind toward submission. What the hell? Addison Dahl did not submit to any man.

  Pressing hard against his iron pecs, she forced space between them. His eyes filled with confusion and, seconds later, annoyance, which only made him look hotter. Yeah, she was totally screwed up, and not because of alcohol. She’d had too much Jake-flavored Kool-Aid. Time to pull her head out of her ovaries and regain control.

  Squaring her shoulders, she put on her best not-interested smile, which at the moment felt more like I-want-to-lick-every-inch-of-you, and said, “Thanks for the dance, Jake.”

  She spun on her heels and made a beeline for the bar.

  THE NIGHT CRAWLED by like a three-legged centipede. Cash and Siena took off early to put the twins to bed, and the dance floor remained packed until close to midnight, when Duke and Gabriella finally called it a night. Amid a flurry of cheers and rose petals thrown from baskets Gabriella’s aunts had prepared, they walked down the hill toward their bungalow hand in hand. That started a long, slow procession of each of Gabriella’s extended family—apparently all Elpitha residents are considered related—hugging and thanking each of the Ryders. Jake had never been embraced by so many handsy women in his life. Each whispered bits of advice he’d never asked for. Time for you to find a wife. A handsome man like you? Single? I have a beautiful niece for you to meet. They were not exactly subtle, and from what Jake could discern, his older brother Gage was getting an earful as well. Only Gage’s advice was focused on his relationship with Sally, his longtime best friend and coworker at No Limitz, a community center in Colorado, and his wedding date, whom everyone knew he was desperately in love with. Everyone except maybe Sally. If you asked Jake, it was time for Gage to stop dicking around and make a move. But Gage didn’t talk about his relationship with Sally, and Jake wasn’t about to push his way into his brother’s business. Gage was another of the Ryder good boys, or that’s what everyone thought. Sure, he and Duke had spent as much time with their noses in books as they had with their appendages in women when they were younger, but they were discreet about their extracurricular activities, whereas Jake had never seen a need to be discreet. He took what he wanted with consenting adult women, when he wanted it, and didn’t care what anyone thought.

  Except when it came to Addy.

  Pushing the thought he didn’t want to analyze aside, he focused on Blue, who was crouched beside a buffet table, inspecting its broken leg. He, Boone, and Jake had carried the broken table inside the villa to check it out after two of Gabriella’s cousins had knocked into it when they were horsing around.

  “We can shore this up in no time tomorrow.” Blue pushed to his feet and patted Boone’s shoulder. “Just in time for your wedding.”

  Boone grinned like a fool in love, which was fitting since he was marrying their sister. Boone had met Trish on the set of his first film, No Strings, in which Trish had a starring role. It was no surprise that the media was buzzing about Trish’s Oscar-winning performance, but it had shocked everyone when Boone had knocked his debut role out of the park and his name had been added to the award-worthy gossip. Boone, it seemed from what he’d shared with them, had endured a torturous revisiting of his past, and he credited Trish for having helped him bring those emotions into his acting. Knowing Jake’s pushy sister, Jake was sure he was right.

  “We don’t need a buffet table,” Boone said. “All we need is someone to pronounce us husband and wife—and to blow up that boat full of paparazzi. Man, I feel horrible about them stalking Duke’s wedding. I hope our plan works.” He nodded toward the ocean as they headed back outside. The paparazzi had caught wind of Trish and Boone on the island, and although they had security on the perimeter, a single boat of reporters lingered offshore. Duke and Boone had arranged for two models to arrive on the island later that morning, and at some point before dawn tomorrow, disguised as Boone and Trish, they would leave on a boat, with plans to hop from boat to plane to boat, and run the press around until well after Trish and Boone’s wedding took place.

  They stepped outdoors, and Jake was glad the party had finally cleared out. His gaze immediately found Addy sitting between Lizzie and Niko at a table with Trish, Sally, and Gage. It had been hours since Addy had walked away from their dance and his proposition. She’d spent the last few hours drinking and dancing with the girls, except for now, when she was all fluttery lashes and sexy smiles aimed at Niko.

  Niko leaned closer to her and said something that made her laugh.

  Her laugh was a little breathy and melodic, and it made Jake’s stomach go funky.

  “Liar!” Addy pushed a shot glass toward
Niko. “Drink up.”

  Things just got a little more interesting.

  Niko splayed his hands, his dark eyes dancing around the table. “Me? A liar? What about you?” he asked Addy. “Have you had sex on a beach?”

  “It’s not her turn,” Trish answered.

  Jake looked at the two open bottles of tequila and the shot glasses strewn across the table and realized they were playing a drinking game. How long had he been inside the villa? He homed in on Addy, awaiting her answer and praying it was no, because there was a hell of a lot of beach just waiting to be christened. And he knew the perfect man for the job.

  “Finally something I’ve done!” Lizzie clapped.

  “Jesus.” Blue moved behind Lizzie and whispered something in her ear that made her giggle. Helping her to her feet, he said, “I think my girl’s had enough to drink. We’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

  “Drink up, Niko.” Trish pushed to her feet to hug Lizzie, wobbling a little. “See you guys tomorrow.”

  “Looks like I better take Trish home, too,” Boone said. “Before she needs to be carried down the hill.”