No Turning Back, A Breaking the Rules Novel

by A. m Madden

  All I wanted to do was surprise her… dumb move, I thought while sweating my ass off. It wasn’t as though I could leave at that point. I would have to order a ride to Miami. Nor could I let myself in, since I didn’t have a key to her place yet.

  Cars continued to zoom by, each one serving as the second hand of a clock. And then, at the ten-minute mark, a black Mercedes miraculously pulled up in front. Hope turned into relief when Riana finally appeared. Her hair in an adorable ponytail and her sexy little body wearing a flirty dress flipped the reason that I’d been hot and bothered from the elements to my libido. Even from where I sat, seeing her lean legs, now tanned from Florida living, caused an adolescent reaction.

  Like a bat out of hell, I anxiously tossed my trash into a garbage can, gathered my carry-on and suitcase, and made my way toward her. Just as she waved to who I recognized was Cooper, and I assumed was Ricky driving, her eyes landed on me crossing the street.

  “Oh my God!” Her declaration caused the two men to swing their heads my way, but all I could focus on was the brilliant smile that spread over my girl’s face. Abandoning my luggage, I lunged and circled her in my arms, spinning us excitedly. “What an awesome surprise,” she cried out amid her sweet giggles.

  “God, I missed you.” I put her down, cupped her face, and kissed her like my life depended on it. The Mercedes had yet to move, and I didn’t care… nor did I care if we were giving every passerby a nice show. But my intention was halted at the sound of a man clearing his throat.

  Riana pulled away, rosy cheeks and smile in place. “Sorry, guys.” She dipped her body toward the open passenger window, and I wrapped an arm around her waist, bending in the same manner. “Ricky, this is Ryder.”

  “Yeah, I kind of assumed as much,” he said to her before meeting my eye. “Hey, dude. Nice to finally meet you. I heard a lot about you.”

  “Same here. Hi, Cooper.”

  “Hey, Ryder.” When he focused and pointed at the forgotten luggage behind us, Riana followed suit. “I hope you haven’t been waiting long. We decided to go to lunch after Ree’s appointment.”

  “Oh no, have you?” she asked, worry creasing her forehead. Her eyes raked my overheated face. “Crap, I’m sorry, Ryder. It’s so hot out here.”

  Not wanting to make her feel bad, I shook my head. “I was fine. I was able to catch up on emails, so now I won’t have to waste time later.”

  “Okay, good. We haven’t had a chance to make you a set of keys. We’ll have to do that today.” She tucked her head back down. “I’ll talk to you guys later. I want to be with my guy.”

  “Make sure you use protection,” Ricky called out with an exaggerated wink. When Riana’s eyes widened, he chuckled. “Just kidding.”

  Cooper shook his head while failing to hide his own mirth. Meanwhile, the car remained idling at the curb as they both grinned at us as though they had some sort of mad secret. After what seemed like an eternity of uncomfortable silence had passed, Riana waved a hand and barked, “Yoo-hoo… get lost!”

  They both laughed. “Have fun,” Cooper said, wiggling his fingers at us in a goodbye as we watched the car pull away.

  “What was that about?” I asked.

  “Let’s get upstairs… you’ve melted enough out here, and there’s a blonde who will be thrilled to see you. Then I’ll fill you in.” Not wanting to release her hand, I grabbed the suitcase’s handle while Riana took the carry-on for me.

  There wasn’t a doubt in my mind they’d found out she was pregnant. I had to remind myself that this was what she wanted… and because of that, it was what I wanted. So then why did I have to force a smile while nerves began wreaking havoc in my gut. It was dumb, really… I’d known this day was coming.

  While I gave Kayla the greeting she expected, Riana asked, “Are you hungry?”

  “Nope, I ate.” My admission prompted Riana to take my hand and lead me toward the couch. She nervously nibbled on her bottom lip, and I anxiously waited, until she finally said, “Okay… well, you know today was my appointment and—”

  “You’re pregnant.” It wasn’t a question.

  A small smile broke through as she nodded. “I am.”

  When she continued to stare up at me through her lashes with an uncertain smile, I said, “Congratulations! That’s awesome, Ree!” Hug her. Kiss her… the little voice in my head prompted my body to robotically follow through with both commands. She squeezed me back before pulling away to look at me. It was then I noticed her smile had been replaced with a somberness that instantly freaked me out. “Baby, what’s wrong?” Her eyes began to shimmer as though she were about to cry, and there it was—a surge of fear. It came quick and fast, causing my heart rate to spike. “Riana, what happened?”

  Sensing my panic, she palmed my face. “No, nothing is wrong. Oh, I’m sorry, Ryder. I didn’t mean to worry you.” I calmed a little, but the reality that she was indeed pregnant prevented the fear from truly dissipating. Her eyes searched mine before she removed her hands from my face. “Dr. White did an ultrasound today. She wanted to be sure insemination occurred in my uterus and not ectopically. Thank God, it seems both eggs have implanted successfully.”

  “Both eggs?” I repeated. Twins? She gave me a hesitant nod. Fuck… double the worry. Despite my heart pounding from what I could only perceive as now having double the fear of something happening to her, I kept my expression even as I gripped her hand in a sign of support.

  “Yeah.” She watched me carefully as I processed her news and then went on to say, “I’m due mid-December. The guys are thrilled, although I reminded them we all needed to be cautiously excited until I have my next ultrasound.”

  “And when is that?”

  “In two weeks.” For a man like me, whose girlfriend was now a walking incubator for two humans, she may as well have said two years. “Dr. White will feel more confident once we see and hear two heartbeats.”

  “Okay.”

  She smiled at my rudimentary reply and squeezed my hand. “I’ll be fine, Ryder. I promise.”

  What she received as a response was a forced smile and nod.

  Once the sun went down, and the temperature cooled a bit, we ate and then took Kayla for a long walk on the beach. After returning to our starting point, we sat on the sand, where I tossed a tennis ball for Kayla to retrieve.

  “What are you thinking about?” she asked when a few minutes of silence had passed.

  “You.” It wasn’t a lie… it wasn’t entirely the truth either. We vowed to be honest with each other at all costs, but I needed to break that vow for obvious reasons. If Riana got a hint of just how much her news had freaked me out, it would wreck her. I needed to deal with this and focus on us and not on the pregnancy.

  Sure, I knew when the day came that she announced her pregnancy, all the deep-rooted angst over what my brother had gone through would bubble to the surface. What I hadn’t planned for was all the emotions that came with it. It was hard enough living through that tragedy, for lack of a better word, as a spectator. But to be so consumed with fear that someone I loved more than anything could face a medical emergency, even if that possibility was a rarity, messed me up.

  “I really did miss you, Ree.”

  “I missed you too.” When she leaned into my shoulder, I kissed the top of her head. “So tell me about your trip.” Of course, she went to the second topic I wanted to avoid. Until now, I’d spared her the details whenever we’d spoken over the last week.

  “It was exhausting,” I admitted. “All week I wished you were with me.”

  “That would’ve been more of a distraction to you.”

  “In the best of ways.” Kayla dropped the ball in my lap, her tongue lagging out of her mouth as she anxiously waited for another toss. I faked her out a few times and then threw it in the opposite direction.

  We both watched her charge down the beach as Riana said, “Someday, maybe I can go with you. I’ve never been to California.” She distractedly picked up a shell
and dusted the sand off it. “Actually, I haven’t been anywhere… except for the cruise the guys gifted me.”

  “We’re going to change that… create new memories. You need to see the world, Riana Carter.”

  She looked up at me and smiled. “Only if I can see it with you, Ryder Carter.”

  After another hard pitch, I lifted her onto my lap. “Not only do I want to show you the world… I want to give you the world. I envision us traveling to so many places in the future.”

  Her eyes connected with mine as a slow smile spread. “What will we do with Kayla?”

  “I’m sure Cooper and Ricky wouldn’t mind watching her for us.”

  “True. I am lending them my uterus,” she quipped with a sly smirk.

  Not being able to resist those full lips, I crushed my mouth to hers and kissed her slow and long. Our tongues tangled, moving the kiss into a different dimension. The arousal high I’d been on for the past week grew exponentially. I needed her. Tonight would be the night Riana and I finally came together. It’d been long overdue, and making out on a public beach, or anything else we’d done up until that point, would no longer suffice.

  First to break the kiss, I skimmed my thumb across her bottom lip. “It’s time to take you home and make love to you.”

  Before Riana could respond, the cold sandy snout of a possessive golden nudged between our heads and pushed us farther apart.

  “Eww… Kayla!” I couldn’t help but chuckle when Kayla ignored Riana’s disgust and began licking my face. “Her obsession with you is becoming a problem,” Riana grumbled with a wry smirk.

  “She loves you too.” While scratching the fur behind her ears, I directed my next comment to our dog, who continued to snub Riana. “Don’t you, girl?”

  Kayla’s response was to place her paws on my shoulder and in the process knock Riana off my lap. “Seriously?”

  Riana scowled when I chuckled again. I helped her up and dusted the sand off her ass. “Are we ready to go home to continue the romance?” I asked, attaching Kayla’s leash to her collar.

  “Yes, please.”

  I looked at Riana and deadpanned, “I was talking to Kayla.” And by saying so, I earned myself a good, forceful shove.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Ryder

  The moment after we properly cleaned the sand off Kayla in the hall, she conked out in the living room. That was my invite to lift Riana in my arms and carry her toward the bedroom. Getting naked took us no time at all, since she was as charged up as I was. Circumstances may have forced the delay, but there was no longer anything stopping us.

  Every part of me pulsed anxiously as I laid her down on the bed before taking my place beside her.

  She looked up at me shyly. “It feels so familiar, yet so new.” Her hand traced a path down my body, causing me to flex in anticipation. “I still know all the things you love,” she went on to say before she placed an openmouthed kiss on my jawline and then slowly peppered more kisses over me until our mouths were a breath apart. “But my nerves are still flapping inside me like this is our very first time. It’s a strange combination.”

  “There’s nothing to be nervous about, Ree. It’s me.”

  Her response was to close the fraction of space between us. The moment our lips touched, the passion we both held detonated on contact. It was as much a union of our hearts as our bodies.

  Physically, I found her to be perfection—silky golden-brown locks I loved burying my hands into, big brown eyes that could bring me to my knees, full lips that made my mouth water wanting to nibble on them, and a body that could harden my cock even while she was fully clothed. The real turn-on for me was that this perfect human’s heart, one that was as kind and as pure as they came, wanted me… loved me.

  I’d waited long enough for that moment, and now that it was upon us, nothing would deter me from enjoying every second of it.

  I began by skimming my fingertips down her throat and to her right breast. As I traced one nipple, my mouth latched on to the other one. Once her other nipple hardened between my fingertips, I skated over her smooth skin, down her body and straight between her legs. On contact, I lifted my head to watch her. She closed her eyes when I caressed and teased her slick folds.

  “Oh God,” she muttered when I slipped a finger inside her warmth. Adding another, I used my thumb on her clit and kissed her deeply.

  Each intentional circular motion, each slide of my fingers inside her, caused an erotic moan as she came closer to becoming unhinged. Her fingers clutched my shoulders in desperation. I then dipped my head and pulled her nipple back into my mouth.

  Moments later she trembled at my hand, calling out my name. I swallowed it along with her heavy breaths and didn’t break away until the last tremor ceased. The vision of Riana having an orgasm was so beautiful and one I would never tire of.

  A long, breathy sigh told me she wanted more. The just-came look on her gorgeous face was one of the most beautiful sights I’d ever seen.

  With the foreplay out of our way, I fisted my throbbing cock. “Riana, I’m not using a condom. I haven’t gone bare since you.”

  “I wouldn’t want it any other way.” She replaced my hand with hers and stroked me slowly. I was on fucking fire for her, and she was the only thing that could extinguish the flames.

  At my limit, I positioned between her legs and rubbed my hardness against her clit, coating myself with her arousal. She squirmed at the contact, and then her mouth went slack as I slid in one slow inch at a time until I was fully seated inside her.

  “Feel that, Ree? Feel how perfectly we fit?”

  “Yes,” she said on a breathy gasp. “I missed you so much.” The sensation I’d been craving for weeks overwhelmed me. There we were, finally nose to nose and pelvis to pelvis, and I couldn’t bring myself to move.

  She took my bottom lip between her teeth and tugged. Her hands skimmed my chest, traveled to my back, and gripped my ass. “Please… Ryder,” she stammered before pulling me tighter against her. “I need you to move.”

  Her desperation, along with the fact I could no longer stand the pressure building in my cock, caused me to piston my hips in a slow, deliberate pattern. With each purposeful stab, my intentions became carnal, animalistic.

  All the willpower I’d tried so hard to keep vanished when the force of habit from being with her caused me to flip us around. Instantly, the change in position had her clenching around me. The surge of pleasure was also instantaneous, and I could feel the beginning of a release traveling through every cell of my body.

  Looking up at her, I took a moment to appreciate the gorgeous vision above me. With her hair hanging around her face in silky waves, I reached up, gathering the strands in my fingers before guiding her down and kissing her. Our tongues tangled while our bodies pushed us deeper into a state of pure ecstasy.

  The way her warmth surrounded my cock forced moan after moan from my mouth into hers. She broke the connection and gasped for air just as her orgasm hit her full force. During her climax, I held her close and buried my face in her neck, plunging in as deep as I could go, pushing my hips up to meet hers with thrust after thrust. The buildup in my balls became unbearable before a heart-stopping climax hit me hard and fast, culminating with an explosive release inside her.

  “Fuck, that was…” Words failed me as my gasps for breath took over.

  She lifted her head to reveal the slow smile that spread across her face. “That was perfection.”

  While we both calmed down, she lay lifeless over me. Our bodies melded so perfectly we were practically one person, the fear I carried pinched deep in my heart. I couldn’t get enough of this woman, and if this were to end for any reason, I’d be ruined.

  We woke the next day and drove Riana’s car to Miami. I had to get to the office and hated leaving her—especially after the night we shared, but my logic argued that was just one of many to come. The important thing was she’d be with me every day. For the first time, I clearly envis
ioned our future and loved what I saw.

  While I was in California, she had filled me in on how the conversation had gone the day she told Cooper we were living together. He seemed fine with it, or at least kept it to himself if he felt otherwise. With that out of the way, there were no other barriers for us… not that things would’ve changed had he thrown a fit.

  Again, I understood where he came from on protecting Riana, but I was in her life, and it was time for him to step aside. Worrying about her, protecting her, loving her was now my job. All I’d been thinking about was Riana and my future. The more I pictured it, the more I knew what I needed to do.

  So as soon as I dropped her and Kayla off at the apartment, I went into work to set the wheels in motion.

  “Here he is,” Wes said when I turned the corner toward my office. He snatched a file off his desk and came out of his own office to follow me into mine. “How’s Ree? You guys have a nice reunion?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows like an idiot. “Details, please.”

  “She’s great and fuck off.” Undeterred, he plopped himself in a chair. “Did you get me on Doug’s schedule?”

  “You’re set for two.” Once Riana had fallen asleep last night, I had called Wes to get me in. That trip to LA had confirmed my decision. I was done with Morton Sports & Entertainment. Knowing he wasn’t going to talk me out of my mission, Wes finally conceded and agreed to get me an appointment with my boss. “Here’s what you wanted me to pull together,” he said, handing me the thick folder.

  “Thank you.” It was every client’s prerogative to follow an agent if they were to move to another firm. In my case, the other firm would be the R. Carter Agency… a nod to both Riana and me.

  The fucker I worked for wasn’t going to take it well, but I didn’t care. I needed to make my move now and not after he decided to fuck me up again.

  Once Wes left me alone, I plowed through the shit that had accumulated over the past week. And then to kill time before my meeting, I cleaned out my desk. There was a very good possibility Doug wouldn’t accept my two-week notice, which meant I’d be out of there shortly after two.