Eventually they came to a sand dune and, after a short climb, Jessie realized there wasn’t another soul on the small curve of private beach. No boats were in the distance, either.
“This is crazy, you know? You and me,” Jessie said, swinging their arms.
“Is it?” Ryan asked.
“I never anticipated having these feelings for you,” Jessie admitted. “I’ve always had a plan. Knew exactly where my life was going.”
“And with whom?”
She stopped walking and turned to face Ryan. “I don’t deny that I thought I was supposed to be in love by now. Me and Hugh. That was always the plan. Get married. Buy a house. Have two kids. Along the way, the pressure got to me and I got restless for something more. The anniversary article on Black Crescent didn’t help and only reminded me of the fact.”
“Am I a way for you to get out from under your parents’ expectations and end your relationship with Hugh?” His eyes were earnest yet cautious as they searched hers.
“My parents, my friends...everyone keeps telling me what a great catch Hugh is and I believed the hype. I was so faithful, I wasn’t even tempted in college to stray from the preordained path set for me. Even after I graduated, I didn’t look at anyone else until the night of the reunion. That’s when I really saw you.”
“And I saw you.”
“The desire in your eyes scared me,” Jessie said. “It was so open, so honest. I knew then I couldn’t stay committed to Hugh. Otherwise, I’d be tempted to cheat, and that’s just not me. I want to just enjoy each other without any pressure.”
“Without any commitments?” Ryan added.
She nodded. “Can you accept that while we navigate this?”
“I can. As we discussed, this is temporary.”
“I don’t want to lose our friendship, Ryan. That scares me most of all.”
He reached for her, enveloping Jessie in his arms. “You won’t lose me as a friend.” He stroked her hair and looked deep into her eyes. “I’ll always be here for you.”
She smiled. “Now that we have that settled, why don’t you be here for me another way...” She circled her arms around his neck and brought his mouth down to hers. At first his lips merely grazed hers—rubbing lightly back and forth until she parted her mouth and reached up on tiptoe to demand more pressure.
Ryan gave it to her. His hand shifted her head firmly in place so his tongue could delve into her hungry mouth. He stroked her with purpose that left no doubt as to the explicitness of what he wanted. It was the same for Jessie. It was like Ryan had pushed her On button and she’d come to life. Jessie hadn’t known her body was capable of humming with so much pent-up desire.
She pushed her body hard against his, reveling in the impact of his muscular chest against her. He slid his arms tighter and, with one hand low on her bottom, pulled her even closer. He rocked them both, mimicking the actions of sex and bringing her to a flashpoint.
“Ryan,” she moaned and, before she knew it, they were sinking into the sand on their knees and falling backward, Jessie on top of him. They kissed greedily and possessively. His hands splayed across her back and her fingers dug into the nape of his neck until there wasn’t a single part of their bodies not touching.
Jessie felt Ryan’s arousal against her belly and everything inside her burned. When she stole a glance at him, his eyes pierced right into her soul and she knew it was the same for him, too. She felt his hand move underneath her cover-up, reaching for her bikini bottom and pressing his palm against her damp heat. She gasped into his mouth and reached for the band of his swim shorts. Caressing him, she kissed him hard.
Ryan grabbed her hand to steady her. “We don’t have a condom,” he said,
In that moment, Jessie wanted to say she didn’t care because she was on the pill, but she’d always practiced safe sex and wasn’t about to stop now.
“I’ll still make it good for you,” Ryan whispered. His hand went beneath her bikini bottom and touched her intimately.
Shamelessly, Jessie rocked against him and Ryan delivered his promise to make it good by kneading and massaging her breasts and catching his mouth with hers. She loved the way he took over. And when he pushed a finger inside her, thrusting in and out, she began to squirm. She was so hot and wet, she groaned, raking her fingers down his back.
“Easy, love.” Ryan flipped them over until he was leaning over her and Jessie was in the sand. Somehow it didn’t matter because he was pushing her bikini aside so his tongue could feast on her nipples. She gripped his shoulders for support as a rush of heat surged through her.
“Oh my God...” She moaned as every cell of her body came alive.
Ryan continued paying homage to her breasts while his fingers gently yet ever so slowly found the swollen spot where she ached. With each stroke, Jessie became a live wire and when his thumb massaged her nub, Jessie couldn’t hold back any longer. She shuddered, crying out as wave after wave of pleasure overtook her. As she floated back to reality, Jessie realized she felt languid and at ease.
“Feel better now?” Ryan asked softly in her ear.
It was the understatement of the year and she looked up at him, truly looked at him, and when she did, she noticed a sheen of sweat on his forehead. He was tightly coiled, all because he’d ensured she was satisfied first with no thought of his own needs.
“I do. But you—” She reached for his waistband, but he shook his head.
“Don’t feel like you have to.”
“But...”
“I wanted to give you pleasure. And you can return the favor tonight.” He glanced at his watch. “We should go back, anyway. There’s going to be a seafood boil tonight. And we don’t want to be late again. Otherwise my friends will think we’re sex addicts.”
“If you’re sure.” She eyed him suspiciously. Hugh had always been about getting off first. Regardless of her satisfaction in the process.
He grinned. “I am.” He rose and reached for her hand, pulling her to her feet as she adjusted her clothing.
“Where have you been all my life?” Jessie inquired.
“Next door.”
Seven
Ryan stood on the porch holding a beer and watching Jessie as she cleaned up the dinner dishes. Adam and Tia had gone all out with good old-fashioned seafood boil complete with a beer base. It had been delicious and Ryan had the full belly to prove it. He couldn’t remember when he’d had so much fun. He’d hung with his friends before in the Hamptons—Adam invited him all the time—but it was the first time he’d asked Jessie to join him. He thought he’d prove he’d conquered his attraction to Jessie, but he’d been wrong. Somehow this little trip had become more than he’d imagined. Yet it didn’t change the facts. He wanted to run Black Crescent and Jessie...well, she was still as unsure of what she wanted as she’d ever been.
They’d gone from being next-door neighbors to friends to lovers in the span of less than forty-eight hours and he’d loved every minute. Yet he knew eventually their time together would come to an end. It had to. He might have a bright future ahead with Black Crescent and Jessie needed to do some soul-searching.
That’s not to say that being with Jessie wasn’t spectacular. She’d blossomed in front of him and his friends. She held her own with the likes of Mike and Dean, easily bantering and trading teasing barbs with that brilliant smile of hers. She’d come alive in front of him and the sweet girl next door had been replaced with a sexy siren who burned hotter than any other woman he’d ever known. She was proud and confident. How else to explain how she’d literally brought him to his knees in the sand and unleashed his hedonistic affinities where anyone could have seen him giving her pleasure?
He’d worked until she’d screamed into blissful satiation. He’d known she hadn’t been happy leaving him unsatisfied, but in that moment he hadn’t minded abstaining. In fact, he could hardly thi
nk at the time because the attraction between them was so intense. In the past, he would have pushed for more, but he wasn’t going to do that now because Jessie needed to make some choices about what she wanted in life.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you lovebirds were on your honeymoon,” Adam said as he joined him on the porch.
Ryan looked at him in surprise.
“I saw the look you sent Jessie from across the room. It was like you have eyes for her and her alone.”
“Suppose that’s true,” Ryan said. The sexual tension between them was too fraught to ignore. He supposed it was because hidden, long-denied feelings had bubbled to the surface and he was indulging over and over and over again.
“Uh-oh, she’s headed this way and looking at you like you’re the tasty morsel she can’t wait to have. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to find my woman,” Adam said with a laugh.
Jessie joined Ryan, her gaze colliding with his as electricity arced between them. “Hey, you.”
“Don’t look at me like that.” Ryan swigged his beer.
“Like what?”
Ryan raised an eyebrow. “You know how. If you don’t stop, I’m going to take you upstairs and have my way with you.”
“Would that be so wrong?” she asked, moving closer and wrapping her arms around his midsection.
“It is if the evening is barely over,” Ryan whispered. “The group was talking about going to a club tonight.”
“Sounds like fun. I haven’t been dancing in ages.”
“You want to go?”
She nodded. “Usually, I’m pouring over briefs and doing research until my eyes droop closed. This weekend is my time to relax and let loose.”
Ryan wondered if that’s all he was to her. Freedom from the strict regime she’d placed herself under. “Then let’s do that.”
Thirty minutes later, after changing into club gear, Ryan heel-tapped the floor, waiting for Jessie to come downstairs. She’d asked him to wait for her so she could make an appearance. When she did, his eyes traveled over every inch of her. The short skirt was nearly indecent because it reached her mid-thigh and the sparkly halter top wasn’t much better. It was backless, which meant she wasn’t wearing a bra underneath. Ryan was going to have a hard time focusing with Jessie looking like that.
“You like?” she asked, twirling in her four-inch heels.
“Yeah.” He came toward her and traced the long stretch of exposed bare thigh. “But I would prefer it if you had on more clothes.”
“Oh, don’t be a spoilsport.” She sidled next to him. “I promise I’ll make it worth your while later.”
“You promise?” he whispered.
“Absolutely.” She winked. “You’re guaranteed to get lucky.”
Having Jessie on his arm made Ryan feel like the luckiest guy in the world. He was both jealous and proud of the envious looks they received when they made it to the popular Hamptons’ club. Adam had ensured they were seated in VIP, but Jessie didn’t care. She was itching to get on the dance floor.
“You don’t dance?”
Ryan shrugged. He didn’t usually, but for her, he could be compelled to make an exception.
“Don’t tell me you have no rhythm?” she teased.
“I can hold my own, but I wouldn’t mind watching you.”
She grinned mischievously. “C’mon, girls.” She grabbed Tia, Corinne and Lauren and corralled them onto the dance floor.
Ryan watched in amusement as she positively strutted onto the floor with the ladies and got her groove on. The music was loud and he loved watching Jessie move and gyrate. She was all fluid grace. There was a freedom to her as she swished and sashayed her hips. Ryan could feel himself getting turned on. Apparently he wasn’t the only one because another guy came over and began dancing with Jessie.
Ryan’s fists curled. He wanted to punch the guy in the face, but instead he unclenched them and walked straight toward her.
“Excuse me,” Ryan said, cutting into their dance, uncaring of the other man and pulling Jessie into his arms. “The lady is with me.”
* * *
Jessie had never seen this side of Ryan. His aura commanded respect. He was broader in the shoulders than the man she’d been dancing with and the other man had easily capitulated and stepped back. Despite herself, Jessie loved Ryan going totally caveman and capturing her in his hold. Her body instinctively turned to him, but his look was dangerous. His hand grasped a handful of hair and tilted her face up to his.
“For the duration of the night, you’re dancing with me, got it?”
She glanced up at him and was mesmerized by the slightly dangerous look in his eyes. She nodded. His hand slid around her and pulled her that bit tighter to him. Now she was wholly pressed up against him, chest-to-chest and thigh-to-thigh.
Ryan didn’t say anything else. He didn’t need to because the close proximity of their bodies said it all. All she could do was move with him in a slow and easy rhythm. Just like he did in bed, Ryan guided her where he wanted her to go. When he inserted a jeans-clad thigh between hers, need slammed into Jessie. She was uncomfortably warm even though she was wearing very little.
That’s what Ryan did to her. He made her hot and bothered, and she was powerless to fight it. Not when he used the setting and crowded dance floor to crush her to him. If he continued this dirty dancing routine, she’d been hiking up her skirt and begging him to take her on the dance floor.
Like you did at the beach?
Jessie blushed when she thought about how abandoned she’d been. If it hadn’t been for Ryan thinking about protection and being safe, she would have allowed him to have her right there in the sand where anyone could have come across them.
“Tonight you’re mine,” Ryan whispered.
And he was right.
She had the damp thong to prove it.
* * *
Later, after they’d gotten hot and sweaty bumping and grinding at the club, they returned to the beach house. Mindless of the other couples, they’d gone straight to the room. Jessie was desperate for a shower, but also for Ryan to take her to paradise.
He must have been as frantic as she was because they both stripped on their way to the bathroom. She turned on the shower and stood under the steaming water, allowing the spray to pummel away her tension. At the sound of the shower door creaking, Jessie turned around in enough time to see Ryan sporting a massive erection.
“I’m calling in my marker,” Ryan said with a wide grin as he came closer, joining her in the shower. “I’m ready to get lucky.” He kissed her, deep and erotic, with slow yet firm kisses. His lips nipped and his tongue slid—it was an art form Ryan had mastered quite well.
As the water sluiced over his brown skin, Jessie slid her palms across his chest. She loved that he’d kept the lights off. Now Jessie could explore him by touch and not by sight. Blind to everything but him, she lowered her head to brush soft kisses against his wet skin. When she came to the dark disks of his nipples, her lips circled them, licking and flicking with her tongue. Ryan shuddered. That didn’t stop her, Jessie sank to her knees and reached for his length. She was making the choice to please him because it felt right in the moment and because it was what she wanted.
She gripped the base of his erection and he groaned. She licked the head of him and Ryan’s entire body tensed. So she did it again, swirling her tongue over the thick ridge. She opened her mouth and took him fully in. She pleasured him, pumping her hand to match the movement of her mouth. She loved the taste of him, the scent of him, and as his breathing became more labored, it turned her on.
“Jessie...” he gasped. “You have to stop...”
She lifted her head and looked up at him. “I’m not stopping.” She wanted him to come as hard and loud as she had on the sand dune. His eyes were closed and she sensed he was fighting her,
holding back, so she firmed her grip and increased her speed and suction. It didn’t take long for Ryan to groan loudly as he came in her mouth.
Jessie, impressed she could bring this strong, exciting man joy, licked her lips. She rose and quickly found her back pressed against the cool wet tiles as Ryan returned the favor by licking down her torso.
“You enjoyed tormenting me—didn’t you?—even though I was doing my best to keep you at bay,” he inquired. His hands cupping her breasts, he lifted them to his mouth and began tonguing them generously.
“I did,” she panted. The cloak of velvety darkness made it easy to soak up his watery caresses.
“I’m going to give it right back.” He used his fingers and mouth to bring Jessie to peak, causing her orgasm to knife through her. Jessie lost her mind and screamed, but Ryan continued lapping her with his tongue through the spasms.
When the water became too cold from all their ministrations, they abandoned the shower. Not bothering with towels, they landed on the bed in a hot, damp tangle of limbs. Their mouths and hands spoke, kissing and touching and roving each other from head to toe until eventually Jessie couldn’t take any more foreplay. With a firm grip, she grasped his length and guided him home.
He gasped, but didn’t stop her. Instead, he let her climb on top and ride him hard. She kept it crazy fast until they were both teetering on the edge. She waited for him, eager to climax together, and they did in one harsh breath.
Eight
The Fourth of July came in with a bang. Literally for Ryan. Last night with Jessie was nothing short of incredible. Usually he didn’t care for women to please him that way, but Jessie? She was another story altogether. He enjoyed the way she’d used her mouth, tongue and hands to take him over the edge. And yet he’d still found the energy to make love to her after.
Now they were on the deck of Adam’s father’s yacht, enjoying the sun and great weather before returning later to attend a party. It was impossible not to notice Jessie in the sarong she wore over the gold bikini.
Insatiable Hunger Page 7
