by Croix, J. H.
His low, blunt, slightly dirty words sent a thrill through me. I was already slick at my core, but I became acutely aware of it, and my hips rocked restlessly over his hot length.
Ryan bit his lip as he watched me, but he stayed silent. My heartbeat was hammering so hard I could feel every beat reverberating through my body, echoing while blood rushed through my ears.
Ryan stood, lifting me easily against him. I reflexively curled my legs around his hips as he adjusted me in his arms. Without ever looking away, he reached to the side and tapped the button to turn off the fire.
“We’re going to my bedroom.”
“Okay,” I said breathlessly as he began walking.
Barnable began to follow us, his trot well known to my ears as Ryan strode down the hallway. He called over his shoulder, “You’re not coming with us, Barnable.”
I was one of those people who thought dogs understood language better than humans believed. Once again, Barnable proved my point. When Ryan turned to start walking up the stairs at the front of the house, Barnable reversed direction. By the sounds of it, he returned to the kitchen where his dog bed was.
“I’m not much for an audience,” Ryan said, his voice husky.
I giggled and couldn’t resist leaning down to breathe in the scent of him. I nipped lightly at his neck.
He squeezed my bottom where he held me firmly with one hand. “We’re getting all the way to the bedroom, so don’t push it.”
I giggled again, and my heart pounded away. Although I couldn’t even contemplate trying to deny the fact that pure, raw, and downright ferocious lust was a driving factor in this moment, my heart knew there was so much more to it.
It felt all too good to be with Ryan. As vulnerable as I felt, I also felt as if I could be entirely myself. So, I leaned forward and nipped again, a little thrill chasing through me when he growled as we crested the top stair.
“Payback is coming,” he murmured when I leaned back. My pussy clenched at his words.
In seconds, he was shouldering through a doorway, lights coming on low instantly. They began to brighten until Ryan said, “Dim.”
The lights immediately dimmed again, and I stared at him, my eyes wide as he lowered me onto the foot of his bed. “Wow, even your lights do what you tell them.”
“They do. Now it’s your turn to do what I say.”
He rested his hands beside my hips, caging me between his arms. His presence could have felt overwhelming. Instead, I savored the strength emanating from him and the feeling of being wholly encompassed in his heat and power.
I licked my lips while I tried to get a breath. I managed nothing more than a shallow sip of air. I couldn’t keep from shifting my thighs, restless to relieve the ache between them. I could feel my swollen, slick folds slide when I moved.
Ryan didn’t say a word, although his icy blue eyes darkened slightly. I took another breath. “Okay,” I rasped on my exhalation.
“That’s my girl,” Ryan murmured in return, the promise contained in his words sending a fiery hot shiver racing through my body.
He straightened, his eyes sweeping up and down my body where I was sitting on the end of his bed. “Clothes off.”
He stepped back as he shrugged out of his suit jacket and tossed it to the side where it landed on a chair nearby. My breath caught in my throat as he began to unbutton his shirt, revealing a dusting of dark hair on his chest, his bronze skin gleaming in the dim light when his shirt fell open.
I hadn’t realized I was simply sitting there with my mouth falling open until he leveled me with his gaze. “This isn’t a one-man show.”
His words and the dirty look in his eyes made my pussy clench. I snapped my mouth shut and shimmied off the bed. Within seconds, I was down to my panties and bra. I was just reaching to undo the clasp between my breasts when Ryan stepped closer, his hand curling over mine. “Save that for me.”
My heart was beating madly like a trapped bird. I looked up toward him, my eyes soaking in the sight of his sculpted chest and traveling downward. He was fully naked, his cock curving upward, thick and erect.
My eyes finally made their way up to meet Ryan’s, and then impossibly, my heart beat even faster. There was a rushing sensation inside, a force I couldn’t contain.
Our breath moved in tune with one another. In and out. In and out. In and out.
It felt as if he were actually making love to me with his eyes alone. His hand was still curled around mine, with his knuckles resting against my breastbone. I could hardly bear the intensity and intimacy.
Ryan finally broke the spell when he released my hand. His palms slid down my sides, caressing the dip at my waist before easing over my hips. Everything began to blur. He lifted me onto the bed and stretched out beside me. It felt as if we were operating in a suspended place and time where nothing but desire, need, and sensation reigned.
Ryan’s hands mapped my body, finding every place to touch. The gentle brush of his thumb across a nipple, the firm sweep of his palm over my bottom, the scrape of his teeth on my neck. My breasts were heavy and aching as he cupped one and the other, drawing my nipples, one at a time, into the warm suction of his mouth. The hot brand of his cock pressing against my skin and then cradled between my thighs.
I cried out when he shifted down, his tongue trailing a teasing path over my belly. His palms pressed my knees apart, and he licked into me. Sensation scattered through me, and I heard myself crying out incoherently as he took his sweet time. He brought me to the edge again and again with his tongue and fingers, only letting me topple over when I begged. Pleasure poured through me in rough tremors.
While my release was still rippling, Ryan rose up over me, his weight settling down carefully.
“Look at me, Addie.”
My eyelids were heavy, but I managed to drag them open. I found his gaze waiting, hot and intent. He rocked into me, his shaft sliding easily through my swollen folds, soaked with the juices of my arousal.
I almost came again at the subtle pressure over my clit. I heard myself gasping his name again. I’d never begged a man in my life, but I was beyond shame. Any inhibition I had was long gone, melted into the fire swirling around us and catching us in its flames.
His crown nudged at my entrance. “Please…” I begged. Again.
“Addie.” The sound of my name in Ryan’s taut voice brought my eyes open again. “I want to see you.”
His strong body vibrated from the tension as he held himself above me. I savored the weight of him, the feel of every muscle against my skin.
All of a sudden, he shook his head swiftly. “Condom,” he bit out.
I couldn’t make sense of why, but I wanted to feel him, all of him with no barriers between us. Although I didn’t trust my own heart, I trusted him in this.
He began to move back, but I curled my legs around and held him in place. “No need. I’m on the pill. Not because I’m busy,” I explained hurriedly. “It’s just I have been for years.”
Ryan held perfectly still, his eyes searching mine.
“Are you sure?”
“I trust you.”
“It’s your call,” he said after we breathed together for several more heartbeats.
“I need you.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Ryan
I need you.
Addie’s words echoed as I looked into her eyes. I was barely, and I do mean barely, in control.
I was hanging on the face of a cliff, and my grip was sliding. I could feel the kiss of her slick core. The fierce need to be joined with her ran so deep I could feel it in my bones.
“Ryan.” My name in Addie’s voice was like sorghum sliding over me, the sweetness slipping like smoke through the remaining cracks in the defenses around my heart.
Her hips rocked against me, and I slid into her in one deep stroke, burying myself to the hilt immediately. Addie held my gaze the entire time, and my heart pounded with such force, every beat strained the bones of my
ribs.
Being buried inside of her was a pleasure beyond intoxicating. I held still, my release nearly coming at the feel of her channel rippling around my length. Her hips rocked again, just a little nudge into mine.
I’d meant to take control of this, to seduce away Addie’s defenses with my hands, my lips, my tongue, my teeth, and my need. Addie was mine. I set out to show her that tonight.
And yet, I underestimated the power she held over me simply in being who she was. I could tell earlier tonight she was out of sorts and a bit unsettled. With her crooked smile and glittering eyes, everything about her was so pure. In that, she took all ability to calculate away from me.
My body moved on its own with my hips shifting back. I slid into her again, the friction between us keeping me right at the edge. My efforts to maintain some control spun into the force itself.
Our encounter was slow and sensual in the dim light of my bedroom, a room no other woman had ever been in. That was too personal. Yet, I couldn’t wait to get Addie here in my bed with me twisted like vines that couldn’t be separated.
I felt Addie quicken as her breath became more ragged, and her walls rippled tightly around my cock with each stroke into her, notching deeper every time. Her fingers tightened where our hands were joined right before she let out a rough shout with my name following.
My own release came almost instantly, a lash at the base of my spine sending electricity jolting upward as my balls tightened. I let go, my release pouring into her.
The sound of our breathing filled the air around us as I rolled us over. Addie shifted to slide to my side, but I didn’t want to lose our connection just yet. I held her tight.
“Oh no, you don’t,” I murmured into the curtain of her hair that had fallen across my face.
She fell against me, all soft curves and dewy skin. This would be the time I would typically find a way to gracefully but efficiently untangle myself and leave. But I didn’t usually bring anyone into my space, and I didn’t want Addie to leave. Not at all.
As I felt the beat of her heart slow in tune with mine, she rose up, resting her hand on my chest and curling it into a soft fist. Her eyes searched my face. She had emotionally bulldozed me, and I had no idea what to say. I waited quietly.
Before Addie, I had mastered the art of keeping people at bay, most particularly women who might want anything more than casual from me. I sensed I’d tumbled into love by accident. Yet, I didn’t think Addie was quite there yet.
I didn’t know all the pieces of the puzzle that told the story inside her heart. I knew she was guarded and vulnerable, and I was going to have to win her over.
As my heart pounded away, its beat right and true because its owner was skin to skin with me, Addie’s lips curled in a slow smile. “You’re too much,” she announced.
My own smile came automatically. Because it was almost impossible not to smile when Addie did. Her smiles were too pure, too genuine.
“Oh?”
She bit her lip and nodded before pressing a kiss to my jaw. A little spiral of heat radiated outward from that tiny point of contact.
“Yes,” she said with an elaborate sigh. “You’re handsome, you’re sexy, and you’re wealthy. You’re also ridiculously good in bed.”
My laugh rumbled up from my chest. “I’m guessing you don’t care about much of any of that.”
Addie shook her head, her cheeks tingeing pink. “You’re too easy on the eyes for me to complain about your looks. I’d be lying if I didn’t say you could probably keep me as your personal sex slave, and I wouldn’t complain.”
The following morning, I woke after the best sleep of my entire life. Which was saying something because, in hours, I didn’t get very much sleep. But the quality of the sleep I did get was thorough. After we started the night, Addie insisted she needed a snack in bed. We fell asleep after she made a plate of cheese and crackers for us.
We woke twice more during the night, our hands finding each other again and again. As the hours ticked by, we made love in the sleepy haze of darkness.
Addie insisted on making pancakes for breakfast. We lounged at the kitchen table while we enjoyed coffee, and Barnable napped at our feet. After I drained my coffee, I set my empty mug on the table and idly traced a circle around the base of it.
Addie was doing the daily crossword puzzle. I kept the habit of getting a paper delivered because I liked the tactile experience of flipping through it while I had coffee before I left for the office in the mornings.
“Do you always do the daily crossword?”
Addie finished whatever word she was filling in and glanced over at me. She smiled slightly. “I do. I like word games.”
We stared at each other for a long moment, and I became aware of the resounding beat of my heart.
Addie’s eyes broke from mine first as a pretty pink flush crested on her cheeks. I wanted to eat her up.
“What is a basis for comparison?” she asked as she picked up her pencil again and studied the puzzle.
“A measure, perhaps.”
Addie quickly penciled it in and cast a bright smile at me. “That’s it.” She smoothed her palm over the paper and folded it before reaching up to spin her hair into a knot. She stuck the pencil through it to hold it in place.
Her eyes shifted to the clock mounted on the wall above the archway into the kitchen. “Aren’t you going into work?”
I had to take a deep breath to breathe through the tightness clenching around my heart. “I am, and I’m late. Hazel will have something to say about that,” I offered with a wry grin.
Addie laughed as she stood from her chair. “I actually need to get home to do some work. I’ve got a few drawings to turn in for some cards by the end of this week, and I’m a little behind schedule because of my trip.”
Reluctant didn’t even capture how I felt about letting this morning end. I stood with her. “I definitely need to get to the office.”
“Is it okay if I run upstairs and grab my things?”
“Of course.”
Addie turned and walked quickly across the room. I gave myself a mental shake and crossed over to the kitchen counter to fetch my phone. As I was replying to a text from Hazel to let her know I would be in the office shortly, a call came in.
I accidentally answered it. Not because I intended to, but rather because smartphones weren’t always that smart. My thumb was moving down to type a letter when it switched into the call mode for the incoming call. I hadn’t even seen who was calling. Considering the very short list of people who had my personal number, I figured I could easily deal with it.
“Hello.”
“Hi, Ryan. How are you? You rarely answer, so I feel lucky this morning.”
I bit back a sigh. Marla Clark was definitely not someone I would’ve chosen to speak with. She legitimately had my personal number. That was because I gave it to her before I realized she didn’t have a clear understanding of how defined my boundaries were with regard to romance.
I knew Marla socially through business. She ran in the same business circles and was VP of operations for her father’s investment company. We’d gone on a few business dates to functions. Then, she made her interest in something more than that clear.
I’d immediately drawn back. It had been several months since I’d seen her.
“Good morning, Marla. You might feel lucky, but to be honest, I was in the middle of a text and accidentally answered.” I felt my cynical, snarky side rise up quickly. I had little patience for flirting games.
Marla giggled coquettishly in my ear, and I rolled my eyes. “What can I do for you?”
“Since we’re being honest, I’d like to clear the air.”
“I only have a few minutes.”
“We have something, Ryan. I can respect that you don’t want to do the whole song and dance around romance, but we have chemistry, the sex is great, and we understand each other. I thought I would just cut to the chase since you’ve been avoiding me. Let�
�s enjoy what we have. If you want to reconsider and move towards marriage, let’s look at it as a business arrangement.”
I was glad she wasn’t here to see my face because my mouth fell open. It was hard to surprise me, but Marla had most assuredly done that. I collected my thoughts before replying. “Marla, I think I already made myself clear, but apparently I need to repeat myself. I’m not interested in anything serious. Not romance, nor your proposed business marriage.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Addie
I’m not interested in anything serious. Not romance, nor your proposed business marriage.
Ryan’s words had played like a broken record through my thoughts for days now. No matter how hard I tried to nudge the needle onto a different track, it kept skipping back.
I’d been walking down the hallway toward the kitchen after fetching my purse and jacket. I’d been floating on the high of our night together and feeling rather emotionally raw. Perhaps it was a result of the unsettled emotions stirred by my father’s death. Or, perhaps it was because I’d let my guard down and it felt so good.
For what felt like the thousandth time, I forced my thoughts off of Ryan. I had a deadline for work, and I needed to stay focused. I sketched quickly, but I was distracted, and it was hard to lose myself in the project. Although I’d always loved to draw when I was young, even I’d been surprised at how quickly I’d fallen in love with designing greeting cards. Although it was a commercial type of art, it was fun, quirky, and sometimes silly.
The flexibility of it had allowed me to move to New York City. Although it took more time than usual, I managed to complete several draft ideas and send them off. Restless and needing something to distract me from obsessing about Ryan and what an idiot I’d been, I wished I had a friend to call or visit.
Impulsively, I texted Soraya. While we weren’t that close yet, I liked her and felt like I could talk to her. I was practically ecstatic when she replied and invited me to stop by.
