by Naomi West
I shrugged. “They must have done something to the receptionist. And the security surveillance systems. I was walking through the lobby when she shot the security guard. One clean shot, and the guy was dead.” I shuddered a little.
“Why were you in the lobby to start with?” Rip asked, and although he was clearly trying to keep his tone neutral, I could still hear that underlying note of anger. I never should have gone off to lunch on my own. I knew there were dangers, now that I was caught up in all of this. Between Rip and Cat Zodiac and Cherri and everyone else…
I swallowed hard. “I went to the diner for lunch,” I admitted, unable to meet his eyes. “I didn't think it was that big of a deal, but they must have had someone follow me, and the moment I got back here.” I swallowed again. It was my fault that security guy had died. Who knew what he had for a family or…
“Liv,” Rip said, shaking me a little, and I realized that he had asked me something, but I couldn't for the life of me remember what. I was too busy thinking about all the things that could have happened that afternoon, if I had... “Liv,” Rip repeated, a little more firmly this time.
I finally managed to focus my eyes on him, feeling the tears standing in them. “I know you're mad—” I started.
“Liv, I'm not mad,” Rip said, shaking his head. “I just need to know that you're okay.”
“I'm okay,” I insisted, even though I wasn't really sure. “I mean, they didn't shoot me or anything...”
Rip pulled me into his arms again, kissing me firmly. “You're okay,” he said as he pulled away. But he ducked back in for another kiss, this one one of the most passionate ones that we'd shared. His hands stayed in a neutral position by my shoulders, but the absolutely filthy way that he delved into my mouth…
I couldn't help but respond to him, though, leaning desperately into the kiss and meeting his tongue in a clash of passion that rivaled anything we had shared yet.
He pulled away first, staring down into my eyes and brushing back my hair, looking surprised. “Liv, I don't want to do anything that you're going to regret,” he told me.
I laughed a little. “Rip, you clearly aren't going to take my virginity,” I reminded him. “And even if I didn't really want to have sex with you right now ... well, it's not like we haven't already...” I blushed a little, but I knew he knew what I was getting at.
That didn't seem to matter to him, though. “Liv,” he said again, his voice sounding sad. “I don't want you to just want this because you're afraid for your life and you think that somehow this will solve it. Or because you're—”
“It's not that,” I interrupted, even though I wasn't entirely sure why I was so desperate to have him make love to me right in that moment. I ducked my head a little, unable to meet his eyes. “I just...” I trembled a little, feeling another little spike of adrenaline. “When I was down there in that lobby, with that gun trained on me, all I could think of was you. I was just so desperate to have you there, so sure that you could make everything okay, and I—”
“I'm the reason you're in this mess,” Rip reminded me, cupping my cheek in his palm. “Gosh, Liv, I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you, but I seem to have signed your death warrant. I went to see Cat Zodiac today at the prison, to tell her that I couldn't carry the packages for her, and she basically warned me that she would get back at me if I didn't carry them. I should have known—”
“So we'll go somewhere,” I interrupted. “I don't know where, or what we'll do about these packages, but there has to be—”
Before I could finish that statement, Rip was pulling me in for another kiss. It was desperate and passionate, a total clash of lips and tongues and teeth. Normally, I wouldn't have been so turned on by such a carnal display of lust, but right now, it was just what I needed.
“Sorry,” he said as he broke away from me, still staring down at my lips.
“Don't be,” I said breathlessly, pulling him back into another kiss. I shook my head. “I need—”
“I know,” Rip said, cutting me off with another soft kiss. This one was more tender, as though he understood that I was scared, upset, afraid of doing the wrong thing. His callused palms stroked my cheeks; his lips were gentle against mine.
“Lie back,” he said quietly, moving all the while to unbutton my shirt. “I know you're scared, but let me let you feel good.” He kissed down the line of my neck, waiting patiently until I gave permission before he moved down below my neckline.
“Please,” I begged in a whimpery voice. “Rip, please...” Perhaps sex was the only way I would feel alive at the moment. Perhaps I needed this. Perhaps he needed this too, because I could feel how he was shivering against me a little, as though my being scared had scared him too.
“I'm so glad that you're okay,” Rip said quietly, kissing my collarbone and jawline as I lay myself back against the pillows. He shook his head, pushing my shirt back off my shoulders, revealing my bra. “If anything happened to you, Liv, I swear—”
I captured his lips in mine before he could utter promises that he could never manage to keep. I was beginning to realize that it was impossible for him to keep me safe from the Gemini Riders. But that was okay; I could keep myself safe.
I lay back, throwing my hands up over my head, giving him an encouraging look. “Rip, I—” I began, but before I could finish, he had caught my left nipple between his teeth, causing me to moan wantonly. “Please,” I begged, even though I didn't really even know what I was begging for. I just needed more of that, of something else; I wasn't even really sure. But I knew that he would know.
He grinned up at me, continuing to lave my nipple with his tongue, until the peak was dark and pert. Then, he moved to the other nipple and repeated his movements, waiting until I was squirming against the sheets before he moved on to the main attraction.
When his hand dropped down between my legs, I couldn't help gasping. It wasn't that it was unexpected or unwanted, but it felt so good that I couldn't help responding to him, spreading my legs wider and beckoning him into the space between my knees.
He smiled against my skin, clearly pleased with my response to his reactions, anyway, so it wasn't as though I was doing something that he didn't want. He kissed a line up from my knee to the joint between my leg and my hip, moving slowly until I was practically desperate with need.
In fact, I could feel myself rapidly slickening, already prepped for him to slide inside of me. But he was taking his time, nipping at the soft flesh on the inside of my thigh, making it so that I was practically writhing on the sheets beneath him before he moved on.
When he finally lined up his throbbing length against my hole, I practically sobbed with relief. “Please,” I begged again, unable to keep the desperate noise from falling from my lips. “Rip, you don't know how bad I need this...”
Rip thrust into me in one smooth move, filling me utterly, causing me to cry out. “Fuck, yes,” I whimpered, pushing my hands up against the headboard and using that as leverage. “Yes, please—please.”
He set a punishing pace, quickly snapping his hips against mine, barely giving me any time to adjust to the way he was filling me. But at the moment, that was just what I needed. I cried out each time he pushed into me, feeling totally punched out with the way he was filling me right up to my molten core. His grip on my hips was tight enough to leave bruises, and I couldn't get enough of it.
Suddenly, I turned my face to the side, becoming aware of the fact that tears were streaming down my face. “Please, Rip,” I said all my earlier bravado gone. I was just desperate to be held, to be cared for, to feel as though there were something real in my life anchoring me to that moment. Rip was helping me with that, but…
He slowed his pace, drawing his member in and out of me slowly enough that I could feel every bump and ridge along his length. “It's all right,” he murmured into the crook of my neck, pushing my hair back so that he could kiss along the salty lines of my skin. “It's all right. I've got you, Liv.�
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He leaned down against me, allowing me to feel his warm weight pressing against me in a way that was already, somehow, familiar to me. I trembled against him, and he kissed my temple. “It's okay,” he repeated.
And I believed it, that was the thing. From the slow, smooth thrusts of his member inside of me to the way he was cradling me against his chest, I believed every word of it. Rip would take care of me. Rip would make sure I was safe. I suddenly sighed against his chest, relaxing into his talented ministrations.
When his hand came up to play with my clit, I knew that I was a goner. I couldn't handle the way he was manipulating my needy hole as well as the way that he was flicking the pad of his callused thumb against my nub; it was too much. I mewled softly and clenched my hands in the sheets, twisting a little beneath him. But he didn't let up, and suddenly my climax overtook me.
He gasped out my name, though, falling through a climax of his own as my warm, wet walls collapsed around him, wringing out his seed as though I had been the one planning this all along. He fell against me, his warmth caressing and gentle and everything that I needed at the moment.
Even as we came down from our shared high, he continued to stare over at me, looking as though there were something he wanted to ask me. But instead, he settled for reaching out, stroking my cheek one last time. “Oh, Liv,” he said quietly, sadly. He kissed me once more, chastely, this time, and then he rolled to his feet and began putting his clothes back on.
Chapter Twenty
Liv
It was while Rip was putting his jeans back on that I finally found my voice. “So what happens now?” I asked.
He grunted a little but offered no other response.
I reached out and caught his arm, though, scowling a little. “That's not good enough,” I told him. “What happens now? Clearly the Gemini Riders are after me. I think they think they can use me as a pawn to get you to deliver the packages. I don't know what you did today, but—”
“I'm not delivering the packages into the jail,” Rip interrupted, sounding agitated. “That's what I did today. I went to the prison and told Cat that she needs to find some other way.”
I frowned at him, impressed but not wanting to let it show. Clearly, his decision hadn't led to the best circumstances for me. We would need to go to the authorities or something, to somehow stop her from using her other sycophants from attacking us. And that would be dangerous enough on its own.
Rip swore quietly under his breath. “I was so happy,” he said, startling me. “I left that prison, and even though I knew that Cat had her plans for me, I thought I was going to be free to...” His eyes slid over towards me, and he looked almost guilty for a moment.
“To what?” I asked, bravely squaring my shoulders. I had a feeling I knew what he had been thinking, and I couldn't deny that it was something that I wanted as well…
“I thought we would be able to start a future together,” Rip admitted, sounding almost embarrassed. “Not that you'd ever be much of a biker chick, but I … well, I can't deny that there's a certain appeal to cozy kitchens and white-washed homes.” He shook his head. “But that is never going to happen. I know that. Whether I deliver the packages or not, I think you're going to have to go into hiding. I should never have gotten you involved in this.”
“It's okay,” I said quietly, unable to look him in the eyes. I picked at the bedspread, wishing that we could rewind five or ten minutes, that our passion could overtake us again. The thing was, there was no future for me with Rip, and I had known that from the very start. He wasn't the type of guy to get married to a mousy little insurance specialist. He wasn't really the type to get married to anyone.
If I was feeling a bit of heartbreak at the moment, it was my own fault, for letting myself believe that I could ... that I could what? Change him? If I had ever thought that, I had to have been delirious.
I swallowed hard and looked away from him, turning my gaze out over the dingy motel room. “They said that you have to deliver the packages,” I told him. “Or else more people will die. I will die.” I had to hope that that would mean something to him.
Rip turned my face towards him, staring down at me for a long moment. It seemed as though he were trying to memorize my features, as though this might be the last time he saw me.
“I can't believe they came after you here,” he finally said. “I never would have expected Cat to...” He shook his head. “We'll need to move hotels, and I'll need to talk to Cherri.”
I nodded my head, unable to do anything more.
The new hotel — the Seven Seas — was marginally better than the last place, at least. Not that that really mattered to me, as I set down my bag in the living room area of our suite. A nicer hotel didn't make up for the fact that in this past week, I had gotten myself mixed up with all sorts of devils and had a gun pointed at me in a hotel lobby. I swallowed hard as I stared around, wondering if Barry had heeded my warning, if he was safe.
I couldn't check on him, though. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that anyone could be tapping my phone lines. The last thing I needed was for them to hear me chatting with my brother, even if he wasn't a target already, I could easily make it so that he was, just through my stupidity.
“Home sweet home,” Rip muttered under his breath as he set his own luggage down. He looked around the place, grimacing in distaste. “Not my style, but it'll do.”
He pulled out his phone, quickly dialing a number. “I have to call Cherri,” he told me as he moved towards the bedroom. “Can you keep yourself occupied out here for a little while?”
Without waiting for an answer, he retreated into the other room, pulling the door firmly shut behind him.
I sank down on the couch, feeling tears prick at my eyes as I hugged my arms around myself. I felt utterly alone, barely able to imagine that this was my life now.
In another lifetime, I imagined that Rip and I might have gotten along—that we might even have dated for an extended period of time. Of course, I couldn't see marriage or anything like that for the two of us—he was too brash, and I was too homely. But we might have been happy for a little while, at least.
That wasn't an option, with our current situation. We might have amazing sex, but it was just that — just sex. I swallowed hard, chanting that over and over in my head in an attempt to convince myself of it all. Just sex, just sex, just sex.
When Rip came out of the bedroom, he fixed me with a look. It was as though he had never seen me before; he was impassive and cold and definitely not the loving man that I was remembering him as. I swallowed hard.
“Cherri will be here in a couple hours,” he alerted me. “She's agreed to deliver the packages herself, in exchange for...” He trailed off, cocking his head to the side. “Well, it's really none of your business, is it?” he asked. “Anyway, you should make yourself scarce. She still thinks you need to be killed before the end of this all.”
Without another word, he retreated again, shutting the door firmly behind him. I couldn't help curling up on the couch, tears streaming down my face.
Chapter Twenty-One
Rip
Cherri walked into the new place in a breeze of confidence that left most people staring at her, myself included, if I was being honest. I shook my head, though, wiping off the look on my face. “The packages are upstairs,” I told her in an undertone.
I escorted her, as though she were my lover or something like that, a hand at her elbow. She let me do it. I imagined that what I had said to her on the phone about Cat's gunman had her on her best behavior, and I was glad that at least some good had come out of it.
I still couldn't believe that they had come after Liv like that, and I was going to make sure that someone paid for it. As soon as I washed my hands clean of the rest of this dirty business.
“I'm sure they can't have moved your sister far,” I told Cherri under my breath as we rode up the elevator.
She gave me a look, half frank disbel
ief and half exasperation. “You don't think so?” she asked. “This is the head of the Gemini Riders that we're talking about. She could have my sister moved to anywhere in the world that she wanted, in the blink of an eye.”
I shook my head. “It doesn't work that way,” I argued. “She would need to—”
“I know how she operates, all right?” Cherri interrupted. “Better than you do. So please don't bother with your platitudes.”
There was nothing I could say in response to that.
When we entered the suite, I was glad to see that Liv had moved to someplace out of sight, just as I had suggested. I didn't really think Cherri would be so bold as to attack her, especially not now we seemed to somehow all be on the same side. But that didn't mean I wanted to take the risk.
