by Jayne Rylon
From there, he had a better vantage point from which to observe her scarfing down every last morsel on his plate. After she’d finished and wiped her mouth on the spare napkin he’d brought, she approached cautiously.
“I’m sorry we didn’t talk about your shop last night.” Amber rubbed her face then winced. “I owe you.”
“You can make it up to me tonight.” He thought of ways he could trick her into going to bed early instead. He must be sick or something, since as he schemed he was actually thinking of her catching up on her sleep instead of riding him. Well, no reason they couldn’t do both.
He always slept better after great sex.
“There’s not a lot of time…”
“Or after the big day. You’re hanging around for the rest of the week, right? We’ll make something work. Whenever.” He shrugged. “I’m flexible.”
A woman of her word, she nodded. Catching him off guard, she asked softly, “Will you tell me something?”
“Sure.” He hoped he could honor that promise.
“How can you function like that? Going with the flow, I mean. Without rules? A schedule? A plan…”
He laughed. “It’s been an adjustment. You know we’re not that different, love.”
“Oh yeah, how so?” She tipped her head and handed him the next set of screws so he didn’t have to trek up and down the ladder again.
“Thanks.” He brushed his fingers over hers as they transferred the hardware. “I’m a reformed tight-ass. A lawyer is really only someone who knows a bunch of rules and executes them. Or manipulates them to show his client was screwed over by someone who broke them. You can’t be successful if you’re not completely in line with those regulations, if you aren’t familiar with them forward and backward. Even dumb shit like filing documents has to be done in a very precise manner. I’m a detail champ. Or was.”
“Then why the change?” She offered him the first rod to snap into the brackets they’d installed. The work went faster as they kept each other company.
“I’ve found that those things only get screwed up and stress me out. So I’ve taught myself to take life as it comes. The counseling I went to in rehab helped some with that. You know, I spent every day surrounded by people who hated each other. They were vicious. Conniving. Cold. Hell, even my own parents split up. It didn’t give me a lot of confidence in lasting relationships. Not only romantic ones or fuck buddies who have something more than a one-time thing, though I didn’t tempt fate with those, but also friendships.” He took a deep breath and prayed Tom was right. “I ended up isolated. With no outlet for my disgust, fear and frustrations other than another hit of something. To block it out, I guess. Who wants to live like that? I didn’t. Don’t. I think I was trying to end it all, subconsciously. I was so out of control.”
He didn’t realize he’d stopped installing her curtains until she was there, blinking up at him with huge, damp eyes. So he climbed down to talk to her face-to-face.
“I’m glad you weren’t successful.” She sniffled.
“Hey, if you’re going to fuck up anything in your life, suicide-by-overdose is probably a great place to start.” He tried to brush it off. His joke fell flat.
“What changed your mind? Made you want to try again?” Amber shocked him when she reached out first. Took his hand in hers and rubbed his knuckles with her thumb. He kept talking so she wouldn’t stop touching him like that.
“I heard stories from Kayla, about the crew and how happy she was.” He thought back on how he’d laughed at her at first. “I thought she was being naïve. Until I walked away from my job, shuttered my practice and said fuck it to pretty much everything I was responsible for. I came here and saw it for myself. So I checked into rehab.”
“That’s where you met Roman.”
It wasn’t a question, really, but he answered her anyway. “Yeah. When I did, he told me about Carver. The Hot Rods, too. And…I don’t know. I guess I started to believe. But that was almost worse.”
“How so?” She came closer, putting her hand on his chest.
“Because if that’s true… If it’s possible for people to love unconditionally and build someone up rather than tearing them down, even after a lifetime together, then I’ve wasted pretty much the entire time I’ve been alive. Took stupid chances. Checked out on the world for years, when I could have been looking for something a hell of a lot more meaningful.”
He stared into her deep chocolate eyes as he confessed. Though he felt it, he didn’t add that he could have been looking for someone who affected him like she did.
Attracted him like nothing except the promise of soaring on a killer high had before.
Then he laughed, aware he sounded crazy, because he was. “And if there’s anything that’ll drive a man to drink, it’s overwhelming regret. So you see my problem, huh?”
“I know something about that and what it can do to a person, yes.” She inched nearer, now putting her arms around his waist loosely as she laid her good cheek on his sternum. He hugged her back, glad for the contact. “Not mine, personally. Sort of. My mom blames herself for my father’s death. He was killed when Nola and I were little.”
Gavyn couldn’t help himself. He began to rock her from side to side, almost as if they were slow dancing without music. “I’m sorry. That must have been horrible.”
“It was a tragedy, but I’m not sure it was intentional. Sometimes shit just happens, you know?” She fisted her hands in the back of his onyx tank top. “She believes some people who had been harassing them drove him off the road. Because she’s black, and he was white. And those fuckwads were ignorant.”
“Son of a bitch.” Gavyn suddenly felt like his issues were petty by comparison.
“You know what? Even if that’s true, it’s still not like it’s her fault. She didn’t ask them to harm him. She didn’t preach hate or pass judgment about what kind of love is sacred and which is an abomination, as if any variety could be. It still didn’t stop her from wasting decades of her life. Hell, she’s about to blow her chance with Tom for something more.” Amber sighed. “Sometimes I’m afraid I’m going to end up exactly like her because I don’t know how to take chances. I never had the luxury of falling on my face considering my family was counting on me.”
“You could try to let go of some of those rules now,” he offered. “I’ll help you up, if you’ll do the same for me when I crash and burn. Maybe we’ll both find out these missteps aren’t fatal.”
When confronted with the possibility, she backpedaled some, whipping out her bravado like a shield instead of wielding the genuine emotion she’d allowed him to glimpse moments before. “I’m not that afraid of failure.”
“Fine. Prove it,” he dared. “Take a risk. Do something impulsive. Unplanned. With me. Let’s show ourselves that the world won’t end if we do.”
“Right now?” she squeaked.
“Kind of the definition of spontaneous.” He chuckled. “I’ll make it easy for you. Let go. I’ll take care of you. I get the feeling no one’s done that. Maybe ever. You were looking out for Nola, and yourself, and your mom. I get that. But, newsflash: Love, they’re doing great. It’s you who has them worried now. I could see it when we walked in last night.”
“Because I’d just gotten in a car accident, that’s all.”
“It’s part of it, of course. But not all. No.” He shook his head. “They’re concerned about you and how you’re handling everything changing around you.”
“Great. Now I’ve got to be more careful when I’m near them?” She wilted in his hold.
“Or you could be more honest,” Gavyn said, recapping Tom’s earlier advice to him. “Starting right now, with me. You want me, don’t you? At least half as much as I want you, I’d wager.”
She drew in a quick breath. Her nails dug into the muscles at his shoulders for a moment before she looked
up and admitted it with a rueful twist to her perfect lips. “At least.”
“Thank you,” he moaned as he lowered his head and sealed their mouths together briefly. “So let me practice on you. This is a new thing for me too. Responsibility for someone else and their happiness. Giving a damn about my partner beyond supplying the fuck of a lifetime.”
“It’s so hot when you’re modest.” She laughed.
“Hey, I promised to be truthful.” He flashed her a wicked grin. Because this he didn’t doubt. He knew his way around a woman’s body. No one had ever accused him of being a bad lover. “So, what do you say? Are you in?”
His heart slammed in his chest as he waited for her to leap with him.
“Yes,” she breathed.
Chapter Five
In a flash, Gavyn spun, tucking them beneath the fall of the gauzy material they’d been adding to the structure for a more romantic effect. It worked. With Amber cocooned in yards of silk, she looked even more stunning than he had thought her before. The white fabric enhanced the mocha tone of her skin and made her appear exotic and extra vibrant by comparison.
He swallowed hard before leaning down and staring into her eyes. He could get lost in their depths, would love to watch her pupils dilate as he sank into her. That he would save for a time when he could do it right.
Gavyn backed Amber up until she leaned on one of the pergola’s supports. He trapped her between the post and his body. She conformed to every plane of him, curves yielding where he was firm. His cock rivaled the four-by-four against her spine with its hardness.
Her breasts were lush compared to her lanky frame and made a perfect handful when he cupped her through her sweater and bra. His thumbs traced the hardened tips he could feel despite the barriers he wanted to strip from between them.
One step at a time.
Amber’s head rolled from side to side as she surrendered to his touch. He paused to kiss her injured cheek with the barest of glances from his lips. She opened her eyes and smiled, though her lids seemed heavy with the lust coursing between them.
“How’s that feeling?” he asked.
“Can’t even tell it’s there when you’re looking at me like that,” she admitted.
When he hesitated, soaking in the anticipation and electricity sparking between them, she attacked. Amber kissed her way down his neck, licking and biting him there in an explosion of animalistic passion that triggered every single one of his dominant male instincts.
Answering her with even greater fervor, he growled as he let his hands roam down her flat stomach, covered by the fuzzy sweater, to the waistband of her jeans. He tucked his fingers inside the denim to swipe at the sensitive skin just below her bellybutton, wishing she’d worn her skirt today instead. Though, if she had, he might be tempted to spin her around, bend her at the waist and slide inside the moist heat between her legs.
He would fuck her from behind every bit as ferociously as she was begging him to with her show of aggressive ardor. Damn the fact that they were standing outside in broad daylight. Sort of.
Gavyn withdrew his fingers after teasing her a bit, then rotated his hand so he cupped her mound, holding her in his hand. He lifted, raising her to her tiptoes so that she was slightly off balance and loving every second. When she moaned, he quickly brought his mouth to hers and swallowed the cry. He kissed her while she responded to his every touch, arching against his squeezing fingers, undulating as though she needed release as badly as he longed to give it to her.
His lungs burned, forcing him apart from her lips the barest bit. He whispered, “Quiet, love. Not a sound.”
For a moment she froze, her eyes darting this way and that in their flimsy shelter.
“No, I don’t hear anyone. Yet. But I could. There could be people anywhere, anytime. So be a good girl and do as I say. Let’s put your inner control freak to good use, huh?” He pressed a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth while one hand came up to cup her chin, allowing his fingers to curl lightly around her neck. In awe, he watched as she quit fighting and surrendered to his will. Completely.
It was as if handing off the burden, relinquishing responsibility to him, turned her on even more. She shuddered in his grip.
“You like that?” He already knew the answer, since she had started grinding on his hand in a seductive figure eight. And when he didn’t move, instead studying her and her glorious transformation, she reached for him.
“Hands behind your back,” he ordered, and she complied. “Keep them there unless I tell you otherwise.”
Amber nodded, though her eyes were closed, preventing him from seeing into her soul.
“You’ll look at me when we fool around like this, love,” he told her.
Dark lashes fluttered then held as she struggled to do as he commanded.
“Very good,” he whispered into her ear, nuzzling her as his hand continued its maddening massage through her clothes. “For being so brave, I think you deserve a reward.”
Her uneven breaths and low whine made it clear how she struggled to stay silent. To please him. She was made for this kind of sensual play. For him. Everything he enjoyed about sex seemed a hundred times more pleasurable when he was doing it with her. The chase. Conquering. Granting pleasure.
It would have been impossible for him to stop himself from giving her what she deserved then. With a flick of his hands, he unfastened the button on her jeans then drew down the zipper. His knuckles brushed the soaked triangle of her panties as he did.
Humming his approval, he lifted his fingers to his face long enough to draw a deep breath and the scent of her inside him, memorizing it. Only then did he suck on his fingers, getting his first taste of her unique flavor.
“Delicious,” he murmured.
Amber slouched as pleasure overwhelmed her. He wrapped one arm around her, easily supporting her against his body as his other hand returned to her pants. Though the possibility of being discovered thrilled him, he didn’t dare risk leaving her unfulfilled.
With less tact than she deserved, he tucked his fingers beneath the elastic of her panties, then began to trace the seam of her drenched pussy.
“Gavyn!” she cried out at the first touch.
He froze.
“What did I tell you about staying quiet?” he asked, thrilled for the excuse to pinch her clit, hopefully sending a shockwave of blended pain and pleasure through her. The intense sensations caused her knees to wobble and more of her weight to rest on his supporting arm.
“I will. Promise. Just don’t stop,” she begged, completely lost in the moment.
“You’re still talking.” He gave her his wicked grin, loving how she melted against him.
She bit her lip to keep quiet, spreading her legs wider and pressing herself into his palm. The physical request was even more alluring than her pleas had been.
Gavyn growled, dropping his forehead to hers as he continued where he’d left off. This time he used his middle finger to part her labia, then inserted it in one fluid glide that left his thumb perfectly positioned to rub her engorged clit.
By the time he’d added a second finger to her tight sheath and began to press forward in syncopated pulses while circling the bundle of nerves with the pad of his thumb, she’d begun to quake in his hold.
“Never imagined you’d be getting off with a near stranger where anyone could find you, did you, Amber?” He spoke so softly he could hardly hear himself. Still, he couldn’t help stimulating her mind as much as her body. Maybe more.
She shook her head, as if refusing to risk him stopping if she uttered the admission.
“Good girl.” Gavyn reclaimed her mouth as he thrust his steely cock against her hip. Too much rutting on her and he’d embarrass himself. No, he was saving that for when he was finally inside her. Her mouth or her pussy—hell, her tight ass for that matter—he didn’t much mind where.
“Sometimes it pays to break the rules.”
The rings of muscle along her channel were clamping on his fingers as he scissored them within her now. She was so responsive. So smoking, he almost didn’t want it to end. Neither would he torture her when she’d been audacious enough to experiment with him.
So he nestled closer to her, pinning her tighter to the post behind her as he impressed himself on every part of her he could reach. “Let me see how gorgeous you are when you come apart. Will you do that for me, Amber?”
Her mouth dropped open on a silent moan.
He took the opportunity to slide his tongue into the warm, moist space. He fucked her there in a reflection of his fingers inside her, swirling along the tip of her tongue in sync with the thrumming of his thumb on her clit. Still, he sensed she needed a tiny bit more to crest.
So he used one booted foot to kick her legs wider, putting her off balance and entirely in his grasp, relying on him to keep her from falling. As she relinquished control to him, she dropped a bit lower, grinding on his hand in the process.
Her eyes locked on his, her mouth forming an “O” as she hovered on the brink of ecstasy.
“That’s right. Come for me, Amber,” he whispered. “Come on my hand. Squeeze me tight inside you as you unravel.”
She panted as she strained toward him.
“Let go. I’ve got you,” he promised.
And she did.
Amber thrashed, her entire body spasming around him, drawing his fingers deeper into the lush paradise between her legs. Her pussy wrung his fingers, making him wish it was his dick being strangled instead of the digits.
Afraid he couldn’t support her comfortably as she continued to come in his arms, he withdrew, hugging her to him, sheltering her against his chest. And when she’d recovered, just a little, he leaned her against the post, made sure she was stable, then knelt in front of her.
