by Carter Ashby
“I should have just called you.”
He was quiet for a moment. “I know it’s hard to decide what to do.”
“But I should have called, right?”
“You can always call me. I feel like an insensitive jerk. I honestly wasn’t thinking about your feelings because it just seemed like you understood. I figured I’d apologize when I saw you, but in the meantime, I was thinking about Cash and me and our situation. If I’d known how upset you were, Cora, I’d have been with you, making it up to you.”
She nodded, her cheek brushing against the collar of his shirt. “This relationship stuff is new to me. I have to remember I’m not the center of your universe.”
He held her away from him, his smile doing wonders for her soul. “It’s true I’ve got other things to think about and stress over. But you are most definitely the center of my universe.”
She smiled back and kissed him. The tender way he cupped her face and returned her kiss seemed to fill all the empty places in her mind and soul. As she kissed him, she realized she wanted her life to be filled by him. More immediately, she wanted her body filled with him.
Cora pulled back and looked into his bleary, hooded gaze. “What other appointments do you have today?” she asked.
“I was gonna go out to the site for the country club after lunch. They’re starting on the ground improvement today.”
“That all?”
“Meeting with Daniel.”
“You can push that back, though, right? Until tomorrow?”
He blinked. “What do you have in mind?”
She leaned in, hovered her lips over his ear, and whispered. “I’m not hungry. Take me to bed.”
He nearly threw her off his lap in his hurry to get out of the office. He grabbed her hand and pulled, ready to drag her out the door. Cora laughed. “Hold on, I’ve gotta change some things on my schedule. You do, too, right?”
He gaped at her as though he had no idea what she was talking about. “Yeah. I guess.”
“Go on, then. I’ll meet you at your truck in fifteen minutes.”
He moved toward her, shockingly fast, grabbed her beneath her armpits and lifted her off her feet. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he pushed her hard against the wall with his body, his erection fitting perfectly between her legs. “Fifteen minutes?” he asked, his voice cracking with emotion. “You got any idea what I could do to you in fifteen minutes?”
The intensity in his eyes sent thrills through her body. “Do it to me at home.”
“I can’t wait that long.”
Now he was looking at her like she was dinner. Cora gulped. “I don’t want our first time together to be hurried and frantic.”
His eyes were on her lips. He licked his own. “I’m so conflicted.”
She dropped her head back and laughed. “Go. Hurry and fix your schedule so we can take the day off.”
He sat her down and left, mumbling something under his breath. Cora returned to her desk to rearrange her appointments, pushing them to later in the week. Her blood hummed with excitement. She wasn’t at all surprised that Rye was already at his truck waiting for her. He opened the door and gave her ass a squeeze as she climbed in.
“My place or yours?” he asked when he got behind the wheel.
“Mine.”
Rye drove a little faster than was strictly necessary. Cora started to say something, but when she looked at him, she changed her mind. His jaw was set, and his knuckles were white on the steering wheel. He cursed at every red light and gunned the gas at every green.
It was all she could do not to laugh.
When, at last, they arrived at her house, Rye was out of the truck before she’d unbuckled. He came around to her door, lifted her out of the truck, and kicked the door shut behind him. He sat her down in front of her door so she could unlock it, but he kept kissing her neck and groping her breasts. “I’m not gonna make it,” he said. “Let’s just do it right here.”
She fumbled with the lock for way longer than it should have taken. When it finally clicked open, Rye rushed her into the house, spun her around, and walked her backward to her room. His mouth took hers, not breaking contact until the backs of her legs hit the edge of her bed.
He unbuttoned her top far enough to expose her bra that he peeled down over her breasts so that he could taste them and then suck them ravenously. Cora thought she might pass out from the sensation.
She managed to get her shirt the rest of the way off and unhook her bra. Rye discarded the clothes, pushed her to her back, and removed her shoes, socks, jeans, and panties. She expected him to cover her body with his, but instead, he stood back and stared at her. In broad daylight. With the cool air prickling her skin.
His eyes roamed leisurely while he unbuttoned his shirt and shoved out of it. While he kicked off his boots. While he pulled a condom out of his pocket and tossed it on the bed. While he unfastened his pants, leaned on the bed, hooked her legs over his shoulders, and buried his face between them.
Cora sobbed in pleasure.
Rye’s tongue stroked her in just the right spot, over and over. She pushed up on her elbows and watched him work, watched his head moving as he lapped at her, relished her, delighted himself and her both. She fell back as she came with a slow, steady shudder.
Rye rolled on the condom and kissed his way up her body, lingering at her breasts as she panted and recovered from her orgasm. His hips pressed against hers, his erection fitted between them. He propped himself on his forearms and looked down into her eyes.
He smiled.
Cora smiled in return.
Rye cupped her face, his fingertips caressing her cheek, her lips. His gaze was so full of love and admiration, Cora felt she could bask in it forever.
The movement of his hips barely caught her attention, but then she him push against her. “Shh,” he said, in answer to the way her body tensed. “No hurry, right?”
She focused her attention back on his face. “Right.”
He stroked her hair, kissed her forehead, and gently pushed inside of her, just the tip. Cora gasped. Rye kissed the tip of her nose, her cheeks, her lips. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in my life as the way you look now,” he whispered.
She did her part. She believed him.
It was all there in his gaze. The truth of it. The meaning.
He pushed in a little further, his jaw tightening, his eyes locked on hers. Now his hands were fisted in her hair. Now her fingertips were dug into his shoulders. “More,” she whispered.
He gave her all of it and their eyes never left each other. She squirmed to adjust to the fullness of him and to feel that pressure against her pleasure center. The strain of self-control was beginning to take its toll on Rye. He was breathing hard and fast, the tendons in his neck showing. He slowly slid most of the way out and then pushed back in. “God,” he gasped.
Cora’s brain was starting to shut down, but she had just enough conscious thought left to realize what Rye needed. “Go,” she said.
He groaned and began thrusting harder until he was pounding so fervently that the headboard was banging against the wall. Sweat slicked between their bodies, increasing the slide of skin on skin. Cora found herself fixated on his shoulders, the flexing of his muscles with each movement. Somehow, it was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen. Her climax built again, and Rye seemed to sense it. His movements changed to a slow, deep grinding that increased her pleasure intensely.
When she came, he pounded into her three more times, went tense, and pulsed inside of her, groaning.
They lay there, breathing for several minutes. Cora trailed her fingertips through the sweat on Rye’s shoulder. She ran her hands down his back, smiled, and lowered them to his tight, perfect ass. She felt him smile against her neck. “Can’t believe this is all mine,” she said.
He chuckled. “You trying to make me feel good?”
“I mean it, Rye. You’re incredibly hot. I can’t believe I’m in
bed with a guy this hot.”
He lifted his head to smile down at her. He seemed to hesitate about something. He said, “When I first saw you—”
“Don’t. Don’t tell me you thought I was beautiful when you first saw me. Don’t lie to me, Rye.”
His expression sobered. He touched her cheek. “When I first saw you, you affected me. You’re right. I dismissed you for a lot of reasons. You were my boss. You didn’t seem the least bit interested in me. And yeah, you didn’t look like the women I typically went after. But you affected me. Not for one moment have I been able to get you out of my head.”
Cora realized she was holding her breath.
“I…” he paused, narrowing his eyes in thought. “I honestly can’t look at you now, Cora, without thinking, ‘That’s the most beautiful woman in the world.’ And having you, now, like this…I can’t imagine ever being with anyone else. I can’t imagine that I ever was.”
Her eyes welled.
“So…I hope that can maybe make up for how much of an asshole I was to you early on.”
“Oh, Rye.” She wrapped her arms around his neck.
He rolled to his side, bringing her into his arms. They kissed and touched. He pulled away and pushed her hair back from her face. “So perfect,” he whispered.
The whole moment was perfect.
“Cora?”
“Yes?”
“Do you got any snacks or anything?”
Cora rolled to her back and laughed.
“What’s funny? You dragged me over here, made me skip lunch.” He was tickling her as he teased. They wound up wrestling for a few minutes before putting on underwear and heading to the kitchen to raid her pantry for snacks.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
DAWN CAME TOO early the next morning. Cora ached from head to toe. She flung an arm over Rye, trying to wake him. “Work,” she croaked. “Gotta get up for work.”
He was face-down in a pillow, so she didn’t understand what he said.
He’d spent the entire day and night making love to her in a variety of positions and locations throughout her house. She thought she might need a week of sleep to recover.
Cora rolled over, trying not to groan, and swung her legs out of bed. She went straight for the shower, turning the spray on hot. The heat went straight to her bones, and moans of pleasure escaped her lips. The moment was easy and sensual.
But, like an overgrown puppy, Rye bounded into the bathroom, flinging the curtain back and slamming into her, even licking her neck. “You don’t shower without me,” he said. “Never again.”
She giggled, amazed at how happy she was to have her moment interrupted. He pressed her back to the tiled wall, hooked one of her legs over his hip, and plunged into her. Her cry was one of pain. He’d used her thoroughly, and her female parts felt bruised and sore.
Rye stilled. “Did I hurt you?”
“Keep going,” she said, deciding she’d rather play through the pain than lose the feeling of him inside of her.
He thrust slow and deep, grinding against her. The hot water from the shower continued to relax her so that her orgasm came in slow, sultry waves. She’d learned through the night that there were all kinds of orgasms and that she enjoyed each one in its own way.
Rye pulled out, took her hands, and wrapped them around him. “No condom,” he said, his way of asking her to use her hands.
She hesitated. “Do you maybe want me to…?” For some reason, she couldn’t form the words.
Frustrated, he grabbed her hands and used them to stroke himself. “To what? God, that feels good.”
“To do something different for you?”
“Anything, just keep going.”
She pulled her hands away and nudged him back a step. He finally focused on her. “I’ve never done this,” she said, even as she knelt in front of him.
His expression shifted. He blinked and licked his lips. “You don’t have to. I don’t expect it.”
She took his erection and licked the tip. “Like this?”
“Yeah.”
She licked the length from base to tip. “Like that?”
“Christ, Cora.”
“I don’t think I can fit the whole thing in my mouth, but I’ll try.” He laughed until she took him in her mouth, at which point he groaned.
“That’ll work,” he murmured.
She mimicked the movements she’d seen on the one dirty movie she’d accidentally seen when flipping channels one night, using her tongue and adjusting to this new reality in which she was on her knees in front of a man, giving him a blow job. His hand rested at the back of her head. It fisted in her hair a split second before he came. She took him in, shocked at how powerful she felt for it.
Rye fell to his knees and embraced her. “Thank you,” he said.
She giggled and ran her hands over his wet skin. They stood and finished their shower. Cora didn’t feel at all up for going to work, but she had appointments. And Rye needed to supervise the groundwork for the country club site.
They dressed and ate toaster pastries at the counter, smiling at each other and talking about nothing. He drove her to work in his truck, and she thought she might like for it to be that way always.
Her office was quiet and uninteresting, and nothing could take her mind off the aches she’d acquired from the night before. Nothing could take her mind off the way Rye had changed her world in only twenty-four hours.
Late in the morning, Chrissy the receptionist buzzed. “There’s a lady to see Rye, do you know when he’ll be back?”
“No idea. Can you take a message?”
“She says she wants to wait.”
“Send her back.”
A few minutes later, a young woman entered, maybe a little older than Cora. More to the point, she was six inches taller and had the body of a goddess. Easily more gorgeous than Cora’s sisters. Cora had to remind herself that she was a successful businesswoman and that there was no reason to shrink away from this woman.
Cora stood and extended her hand. “Cora McKay.”
The woman shook her hand. “Beth Myers.”
Cora knew the name Beth. She knew who this woman was. But she kept a professional demeanor and gestured toward a chair. The two women sat. “Rye’s at a site, can I give him your information?”
“I just need to talk with him. It’s kind of urgent. I thought I could take him to lunch or something. Couldn’t you give me his number?”
Cora instinctively knew she didn’t want this woman having Rye’s phone number. Control over his contact information was possibly the only advantage she had. “I can give him a call,” Cora said, as she lifted her phone to her ear.
It rang a few times, and then, “Rye.” Business-like and mildly irritated. He needed to learn to look at his screen so he would know who was calling.
“It’s me.”
“Me? I don’t know any Me.”
“This is your employer,” she said, hoping he’d pick up the hint that she wasn’t in a position to be teased. “Inquiring after your whereabouts, please.”
“Uh, sure boss. I’m on my way back to the office to take you out to lunch. You wearing underwear?”
“I thought you were going to be at the site all day.”
“Nah. Everything looks good. I’ll go back tomorrow and check on them. Got some other projects to work on. Say something dirty, boss, your voice drives me crazy.”
She was doing her best not to blush, but by now, Beth had likely figured out that there was more between her and Rye than an employer/employee relationship. “That’s fine. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” She hung up before he could say anymore. She turned to Beth. “He’s on his way back. If you want to wait in the lobby, he should be here in just a few minutes.”
Beth thanked her and glided out of the room.
Cora sat in her chair and stared at her computer screen without really seeing it. It was silly to get this worked up and upset over this. People ran into exes all the time. It did
n’t mean they would get back together. Still, Beth was way more beautiful than Cora could ever hope to be. And from what she understood, Beth had broken up with him. She felt a lump of fear and sadness in her throat.
A few minutes later, Rye stormed into her office. He slammed the door behind him and then leaned forward onto her desk, spearing her with his eyes. “You knew that was my ex, didn’t you? On the phone? You knew, and you didn’t say anything.”
She shrugged. “I just thought…”
“What? You just thought what?”
“I guess I wanted to see how you reacted when you saw her.”
“Right. You wanted to test me.”
“Not exactly, I—”
“You got scared and came back here and cowered like a scared little maid.”
She lifted her chin, suddenly pissed. “I am not scared.”
“Yeah you are. You think she’s hotter than you, and that I’ll go crawling back to her if I get the chance.”
That was exactly what she thought. But how he knew it, she’d never know.
“Come on, get up,” he said. “She wants to talk, so we’re going for coffee.”
“It seems like it’s none of my business.”
He stood and strolled around to her side of the desk. “Are we together?” he asked.
She bit her bottom lip and nodded.
“Are you my girl?” He put his hands on the arms of her chair and leaned over her.
“Yes,” she said, not able to suppress the smile.
“Are we stupid-crazy about each other so much that we can’t stand being apart?”
“Yes,” she giggled.
He was grinning, now. He pressed a kiss to the back of her cheek. “Then this is your business. Come with me and be strong for me, all right?”
She nodded and embraced him. He lifted her to her feet, and they held each other for a moment. He kept hold of her hand as they walked back out to the lobby. He gave Beth a nod, and she rose to follow them.
Beth drove her car, following behind Rye and Cora in his pickup truck to a little coffee shop at the corner of Main and Charity. They took a table in the back and Rye sat next to Cora, his arm resting carelessly along the back of her chair.
