by Tory Baker
“Fuck, I lose my mind every time you’re in my arms.”
“I’m not complaining.” She must notice the tiredness in my voice.
“Thankful as hell you’re having me over, but I think I’m toast.” She reaches up, kisses the side of my mouth, drops her legs, takes my hand, and leads me to her bedroom.
“Damn, do you always wear this to bed?” Berkley’s ass cheeks are showing beneath the edge of her shorts, the way she turns her head, long hair hanging straight and moving with Berkley.
“Sometimes, sometimes not.” She wiggles her eyebrows before turning around, giving me all kinds of solicitous thoughts. The hallway is short. We pass one bedroom. There’s a bed in there, but for the most part, the room is filled with racks and racks of clothes. Damn, my girl has quite the obsession. The walls have pictures hung with photos of her family, and it looks like some from her road trip.
When we make it to her room, she lets go of my hand and crawls up from the foot of the bed. I toe off my shoes, pull my shirt over my head, leaving me in a pair of jersey shorts, and follow her. My hands mold to her hips, my cock already lengthening with the position we’re in.
“If I weren’t about to collapse on my face, I’d be sinking so deep inside you right now, Berkley.” I groan.
“There’s always tomorrow. Come on. Melody let me know what happened today when she picked up Sienna, then add in what you told me on your five-minute reprieve, and sleep is needed. I’m not going anywhere. Promise,” she soothes me as I lie beside her, my arm sliding beneath her neck, bringing her in.
“Neither am I, sugar, neither am I.” I kiss the top of her head as she places her hand on top of my heart, both of us drifting off to sleep. This afternoon and evening may have started shitty, but the day is ending in the best possible way with Berkley surrounding me.
Thirteen
Berkley
I’m warm, warmer than I usually am when I’m in bed. Add in the fact that there’s a hand holding my breast and a hard cock wedged between the cheeks of my ass. I’m not complaining, especially because I know they belong to Ryder.
It sucked that he came over dead to the world last night, and that he was so exhausted we barely whispered good night. His hours are definitely on the weird side, but I see how Aspen and Jasper make it work, and his are even worse. We’ll make this work no matter what time Ryder makes it in.
“Ryder.” My voice is still scratchy with sleep. I moan as he rocks his hips into mine, his fingers pinching my taut nipples.
“Morning, sugar.” He moves our bodies until I’m lying flat on my back and wedges his hips between my legs. I let out another moan. My eyes are already rolling back as I feel all kinds of ecstasy coursing through my body.
“This has to be the best way ever to wake up.” I arch up into him. It causes my shirt to ride up, the undersides of my breasts showing now.
“Fuck yeah, it is.” Ryder’s hands mold to my abdomen then cage my breasts.
“Are you finally making good on all these promises?” I bat my eyelashes at him, overexaggerating.
“You have no idea what you’re in for, Berkley. You sure about this?” He might have asked, but his pointer fingers are grazing my skin underneath my shirt, touching my nipples, pulling up my shirt even more. I moan in response, causing him to snap into action. My shirt is whipped over my head, and Ryder’s mouth seeks mine, neither of us caring about morning breath, what we look like, or if we’re moving too fast. We’re not. When you know, you know.
“I’m ready for this, for us, all of it.” My hand cups the side of his cheek. That’s when Ryder attacks, his mouth on mine, his bare chest rubbing against my own. He dominates my body, the way he’s caging me in, while he’s down on his forearms, my hand still holding on to him.
“You’re fucking perfect,” he grumbles, pulling away. Hot, wet kisses are blazing a path down my neck, then to my breasts, licking and nipping. My hips never stop moving. Ryder’s doing much the same. The one time I decide to wear clothes to bed will be the last time.
“Off.” My hands find the top of his shorts, which, let me tell you, I may have only gotten a glimpse of his hard body, but feeling it all night, I can probably tell you every single nuance of his washboard abs. It took a lot not to drag my hands down further, trailing that light dusting of a happy trail.
“Not yet. We get our shorts off, and it’ll be over before it’s started, and Berkley, I need another taste. It’s been too fucking long.” Who am I to tell this man no? Something I have a feeling will never happen.
“God, the way you make me feel. This time though, I’m returning the favor.” Ryder sits back on his haunches, the black shorts giving away just how hard he is.
“Not something I’m worried about, sugar.” I help him by lifting my hips as he takes the offending pair of shorts off me.
Ryder lifts my legs, kissing one ankle as he places it on his shoulder, doing the same to the other. Then he’s face first in my center, licking and sucking at my clit. The way he’s working me up is fast and hard, nothing like last night, but still so fucking amazing.
“God, already? This is pathetic,” I mumble incoherently, my thighs locking around his head, my body holding him in a vice as I’m worked higher and higher.
“Not fast enough.” He barely lets go to tell me before going back to working me up.
I slam my head back, grip my pillows, and fall over the edge moaning Ryder’s name. My eyes slam shut, and I swear to God stars are shining brightly beneath them. Ryder slowly brings me down, and when he kisses the inside of my thighs, I know he’s finally coming up for air, mostly my fault with the way my body locked onto his.
My eyes slowly open when I feel his presence looming over me. His shorts somehow disappeared while I was enjoying coming down off my high.
“You okay?”
“Never better.” My hand wraps around his thick cock. My fingertips don’t even meet. That’s how thick he is, not to mention his length. Jesus, taking him in my mouth is going to be work. Not gagging will be an even bigger job.
“Fuck, Berkley. You do much more of that, and I won’t last to get inside your tight pussy,” he grunts, his body moving with every stroke. His hand wraps around mine, giving me guidance as to what he likes.
“I wouldn’t be upset if you painted my body with your cum.”
“Fuck yes, and that will happen one day, but not today. Birth control?” I line his cock up to the entrance of my center.
“Shot. I take it every three months.” I coat his tip with my wetness.
“Yep, not gonna last long.” This time it’s him who moans.
“Good thing we have all day.” Another plus he mentioned quickly when he called.
He doesn’t reply. Instead, he slowly slides inside me, taking his torturously sweet time. Ryder grabs my hands, pulling them up and over my head. He leans into me once he’s fully seated inside me, swiveling his hips and grinding down at the same time. Our fingers are laced together the entire time as we move together slowly, almost too slowly.
“Let it build, sugar. It’ll be ten times better.” Ryder’s face is full of pleasure, eyes heavily lidded while he licks his lower lip. I want my tongue tracing his. I lean up. He sees what I’m after and dips his head to meet me. Our kiss is much like our lovemaking is right now, slow and deep.
“Ryder,” I purr between our kisses, my legs hiking up higher on his back, the heels of my feet digging into his firm ass, all while I move my hips in sync with his.
“Yeah, I feel you, Berkley. Tightening on me, ready to come all over my cock. I’m going to come so deep inside you, you’ll feel me for days,” he groans, picking up the pace. The culmination of our bodies moving as one, the kiss, his words, it pulls me under, and I come on a loud whimper.
Ryder isn’t far behind me. Another pump of his hips, and I feel him. All of him. It’s the best feeling in the world.
“Kissed you more times than I can count, tasted you twice, been inside you once, and I�
�m fucking addicted. You’re mine, Berkley. Forever.”
“I’m yours, Ryder, all yours.” He rolls onto his back, pulling me with him, both of us too tired to move another inch. This right here, it’s the happiest I’ve ever been, and it’s because I have Ryder by my side.
Fourteen
Ryder
One Month Later
I swear Berkley is a Godsend. Melody and I both couldn’t do what we are if it weren’t for her insisting that Sienna can stay with her a few times a week once school is finished for the day. Heck, Melody even started dating Tanner, our local liquor distribution owner. He’s thirty-five, no kids, owns his business outright, and has a house here in town. So far, the past few weeks, they’ve dated on their own, without Sienna. Melody told him it’s too soon. This may be her first time getting out and dating, but she has clear lines drawn in the sand that she won’t budge on. Thankfully, or I’d step in without a problem.
Berkley and I have been taking Sienna to the zoo, to the arcade, or sometimes we stay at my place or hers, depending on what’s going on, and the schedule I’m finagling for that week. The biggest downside of this gig is that when I walk into the bedroom, Berkley is passed out, dead to the world, and I’m ready to slide deep inside her. One night, I walked into my apartment, and she was in bed, the covers off her naked body as she lay on her stomach, leg cocked out, giving me that delicious view of her cunt. I didn’t give one thought about stripping out of my clothes and planting my face in her pussy, eating her until she woke up, gasping for more. After she got off, she rode me until we both got ours. I fell asleep with her wrapped up in my arms.
“Ryder!” Melody comes barreling into the kitchen. I throw my knife down.
“What’s wrong?”
“Sienna’s school called. Apparently, Joseph is there attempting to pick her up. They tried to stop him in the front office, but he charged his way through the school resource officer, went to Berkley’s classroom, and he’s barricaded himself in there with just the two of them.” Melody is wringing her hands, trying to hold it together even though I know she’s falling apart. Meanwhile, I have two people in the middle of this mayhem who have my heart.
“We’re leaving. Go tell Nancy she’ll have to deal for the night. Dan, don’t fuck anything up.” I point my finger at him to get my point across. He nods his head, seeing I’m serious.
I take my apron and chef hat off, wash my hands, and then go find Melody. The sooner we’re at the school, the better I’ll be. Though, I’m sure they’ve called the cops by now, and we won’t be anywhere near there. The only saving grace, which is shitty to even say, is that school was out for the day. Berkley and Sienna were hanging out while she worked on her lesson plans. I hate like hell that they’re both stuck with Joseph. Who the hell knows what he’s doing or saying.
Melody rushes back in, purse on her shoulder, phone in her hand. It causes me to stop in my tracks to find my own. I usually keep it within reach, propped up in case Berkley needs me, and that’s where I left it. I should have known something was up when she didn’t text me a picture of Sienna coloring, reading, or playing like she usually does.
“Fuck,” I grumble and grab it. Melody is hot on my heels as she follows me out to the truck, both of us rushing to get in.
“I didn’t think Joseph could ever be this stupid.” She blows out a puff of air.
“Me neither. Did something happen this week?” I ask her.
“Yes, the attorney served him with papers to either pay up his child support and arrears or give up his rights to Sienna completely. We haven’t heard back from him. I guess this is his way of letting me know what we’re up against.”
“Call your attorney. Give her a heads-up. That way, she’s not blindsided when he’s taken into custody. Pretty sure a judge will sign his rights away when he’s rotting in a jail cell anyway.” I feel like a shithead not knowing this was going on this week, but it’s not like either of us has had much of a chance to talk lately. Her with her new dating life, me with my own, and Sienna is always around when we are. The restaurant isn’t a place where either of us like to talk about our family shit.
“Good idea,” she mumbles before making the call. I tune everything out. My only thought is getting to the two women who mean the most to me. I mean, sure, my sister has some space in there too, but Sienna, shit, she’s so young. And Berkley. That woman is my damn moon and stars. Not that I’ve told her I love her yet. As soon as this shit is over and done with, I’ll be rectifying that. You damn well better believe it. Five minutes later, we’re pulling into the school parking lot. Cops have the place surrounded, and this is seemingly getting worse by the second.
“Have you gotten an update?” I ask Melody. She just finished her phone call with her attorney.
“No, but the principal said to tell the officers who we are. They were able to escort everyone out of the school besides Sienna and Berkley.”
“Good, you need to let Tanner know what’s going on. Nothing dampens a relationship like seeing your woman on TV with breaking news and not knowing about it. I’d be pissed as hell, and if I know Tanner, which I do, he’ll want to be here, even just to be your support.” I park the truck. She has the phone to her ear. I wait a second even though the tightening in my chest is urging me to leave Melody and find out what’s going on. I don’t.
“He’s on his way. Let’s go.” I follow her, unsure of where we’ll need to be or where we can go.
Melody is walking at breakneck speed, almost a jog, yet I keep up with her. The principal stands up, meeting her at the makeshift entry. I let them talk, listening in, how Joseph isn’t demanding anything except to talk to Melody. He didn’t want this to escalate, he just wanted to see Sienna one last time before he signed over his rights.
“That’s a hell of a way to do it. Is he ready to come out, then?” I intercept.
“He’s already out. Joseph is in custody. Sienna and Miss Jennings are waiting for you around the corner.” Melody and I quit talking. We’re both running. The two of them are huddled together, a blanket around each other, Sienna practically sitting in Berkley’s lap, fingers combing through the strands of her hair. They even have smiles playing on their faces. Fuck, that woman of mine never ceases to amaze me.
“Sugar.” My voice cracks.
“Sienna. Berkley, thank you so much for keeping my girl safe,” Melody interjects. Sienna jumps down off Berkley’s lap, flying into her mother’s arms. Now that I know Si is okay, it’s time to go after my woman.
“Ryder.” Her voice is sad, as if she’s defeated.
“You’re okay, baby.” She’s wrapped in my arms, safe, out of harm’s way.
“I’m sorry. I should have called or texted you. Hell, Melody too, but when he walked into the classroom, I froze. I redirected his attention away from Sienna as much as possible. That girl is too smart for her own good. She stayed quiet, and I’ll never be more thankful for that tent I have set up in my room like I was today. Joseph didn’t even know she was in there. Never even saw her until he was taken away.” Berkley’s voice is shaky as she tells the story. Thankfully, Sienna is out of earshot. It’s a story Melody will I’m sure tell her one day when she starts questioning why she doesn’t have a father in her life.
My arms wrap around her shoulders, walking her towards the principal to see if she needs to do anything further, when I notice Tanner. He has both girls huddled around his body, hugging them tightly. Sienna may not be completely introduced to him as Melody’s boyfriend, but she does know about him. I’m thinking he’s going to fit in nicely with our crazy bunch.
“Ready to go home?” I ask Berkley after she was questioned by the officers. I never left her side, even when she had to give a complete recount of what happened. I prayed the entire time that Joseph wouldn’t do something stupid. Thankfully, he didn’t. It’s probably the only thing going for him. Even still, no judge is going to grant him any type of visitation with Sienna, and hopefully, he’ll be sitting his ass in the
county jail until he has a full hearing. The sheriff gave us that tidbit of information. Though he did say Berkley may have to give a full deposition, or if Joseph decides to play hardball, she might have to testify. If that even happens. I’m pretty sure the lawyer he had on retainer won’t want to touch his case with a ten-foot pole. Serves that dumb fuck right too.
When all was said and done, the principal told her to take a few days off, see how she feels, and reconvene to see how Berkley is doing. I gave her a look, one that said she’ll be taking a full week off, not just the weekend, which is what she would do if she had it her way. The girl lives and breathes her students and her job. It’s up to me to take care of her, though, and we’ll be doing it my way for the time being.
“God, yes. I don’t even care whose place. A shower, pajamas, a glass of wine, and food. In no particular order, either.” I kiss her forehead. We stop at where Melody is, making sure that Tanner is taking them home, but not until Sienna has come to give us both a big hug and a kiss on our cheek.
I’m still counting my blessings the entire ride to Berkley’s place. I have clothes and toiletries at her apartment, like she does at my condo. I figure she’ll want the comfort of home tonight, and to be honest, I don’t give a single fuck where we sleep as long as when I lay my head down to sleep, she’s beside me.
