by Ward, Penny
Amused, I flipped through the text messages on my screen.
Kate had sent three.
One to ask how I was.
Another to describe the newest date on her string of guys.
The third told me to call Dad.
As if.
Frowning, I pulled my attention out of the clouds and looked around.
Where was I?
Had I missed my turn?
I had ended up in the alley just before my apartment building. When I had made the turn, I couldn’t recall, and I realized the only reason I’d noticed at all was due to the lack of light surrounding me.
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath.
I started to turn around, but a hand clamped over my mouth…
Shit.
Chapter 6
I was yanked back against a hard chest.
The hand smothered my mouth with strength and determination.
My body froze.
My heart pounded.
No.
This was not good.
“Hey there girly. What are you doing in our part of the neighborhood?” The strangled voice of a man with lung issues grated against my ear and the thick scent of decay, rot, and disease choked me.
I gagged, bile threatening to erupt from my throat behind the man’s dirty hand.
A moment’s struggle revealed I couldn’t get away as the man pinned my arms to my sides with his other arm and reached down into my purse.
Fear rushed through me as I tried not to get sick, but my breath came out in heavy gasps.
I couldn’t scream.
I couldn’t fight.
I couldn’t get away.
I had no idea what I was going to do.
Was he going to rob me? Rape me? Kill me?
My body trembled in trepidation.
He laughed. “You’re a pretty girly, walking about in the wrong part of town. Don’t you have some big, strong man to care for you?”
His voice raked against what little nerves I had left and I tried to scream.
The sound was muffled against his hand of course, but that didn’t stop me from screaming until my throat was hoarse and burned from stomach acid as I swallowed my bile again and again.
Tears pricked the corners of my eyes as I struggled against the man, but his arms were like a vice wrapped around me.
For once, I wished I hadn’t turned Ryan down.
He was a mixed martial arts fighter.
Of course he would have been able to get out of this situation. What would he do if he were standing where I was?
I tried to think of an answer as the man’s grimy hand slid down over my leg, but my mind went blank.
The only thought that ran through it was “No no no no!”
I had to get a handle on my brain, control my fear, think of a way out of the situation I was in.
First, I had to control my gag reflex.
As wave upon wave of sickening filth hit my nose, my stomach churned more and more.
Soon, there would be no holding back the wave of sickness that threatened me.
His hand pushed up my inner thigh.
No.
This couldn’t be happening.
His hand came to my groin and I was frozen in fear.
No.
“Let go of her,” a voice growled behind us.
Ryan.
It was Ryan’s voice.
Shoving me away from him, the man holding me spun around to face a furious-looking Ryan.
I bent over as the two faced one another, placed my hands on my knees and retched everything I’d been holding in.
I knew it wasn’t pretty, but I didn’t care.
The stranger stank to high heaven, and I couldn’t control my stomach anymore.
The two men ignored me. “And just what are you going to do about it?”
Ryan’s eyes narrowed and he moved toward the man with a speed so fast I couldn’t follow it.
One moment, the grimy man was standing.
The next, he was writhing on the ground in pain.
Ryan bent over and picked up my wallet, which the man had dropped when he’d fallen. I hadn’t even known he’d gotten a hold of it.
He looked up at me where I stood spitting and staring at him with wide, fear-filled eyes.
“Now will you allow me to take you home, Claire?” he asked.
I nodded, stepping around the fallen man carefully so that I didn’t touch him and rushed to Ryan’s side.
One of his arms came around my shoulder and I leant into his strong chest.
Here I felt safe.
As we walked the rest of the way to my apartment, neither of us said a word.
I took my wallet and shoved it back into my purse with a muttered thanks.
My cheeks burned with embarrassment, and I could smell the remnants of the grimy man on my skin and clothes.
I wanted to brush my teeth until they sparkled and scrub my skin until it felt raw.
As we climbed the steps to my mother’s apartment, I glanced at Ryan out of the corner of my tear-filled eyes.
His jaw was tight and his eyes hard, but he didn’t say a word.
My hands trembled as I tried to insert the key in the lock and enter the building.
His fingers slid around mine, steadying my hand so that I could unlock my door.
I gave him a nod of thanks and slipped inside of my building, waiting until he entered as well before I closed and locked the door behind us.
“I know you have something you want to say to me, and I promise I’ll hear you out, but please let me take a shower first,” I said in a low voice.
He looked over me and then gave a curt nod.
“I’ll wait here,” he said.
It was the most I could ask for.
Chapter 7
I scrubbed my skin from head-to-toe at least seven times and brushed my teeth nearly as many times before I left my bathroom.
Then I dried off and dressed again, telling myself I could handle anything Ryan had to say.
It was a lie, and I knew it.
All he’d have to do was look at me and I’d crumble.
I felt a mixture of embarrassment and horror that he’d been right.
I hadn’t listened to him.
If he hadn’t come when he had, who knows what might have happened.
At best, that man would have stolen my wallet and taken off.
At worst? I didn’t want to think about what might have happened.
Knowing Ryan, he’d have to rub it in my face as well. I had been preparing myself for such, but that didn’t make it any easier to handle.
I took a deep breath to prepare for the worst he could throw at me, and left the bathroom.
It was odd to see Ryan sitting in the living room on the couch.
He had one foot propped up on his knee and his hands resting on his lap, patting a beat I didn’t recognize. I couldn’t help it. The scene made me giggle at the ridiculousness of it.
He looked up at me, as if surprised he’d been caught in the act and gave me a smile.
Then it turned into a frown. “You could have been killed, Claire.”
“I know.” There was no denying the fact. It was something I’d already thought about. I sat beside him on the couch. “Thank you,” I whispered, looking down at my hands.
I wasn’t sure if I’d already thanked him. I was grateful for his help, after all.
He grunted in reply.
I took a chance and looked up at him through my lashes. His jaw was clenched and his eyes hard as he gazed at me.
“You had me worried sick, you know.”
Confusion filled me.
“Why is that?” I asked.
It wasn’t like we were dating or anything.
Heck, we hadn’t even known one another that long.
Why was he worried about me?
He looked away with a heavy sigh and ran his hand through his hair, what little was there atop his head.
>
“I don’t know. Just… The thought of you getting hurt drove me nuts, Claire. It really did. It scared me.”
That was understandable, I guess.
I didn’t reply to his words though.
What was there to say?
He grabbed my chin and turned my face so that I was looking at him. “Please promise me you’ll call a cab from now on, or at least let me walk you home.”
I nodded. There wasn’t anything else I could do.
He was right.
It was safer.
“Good,” he said, and then he leaned forward.
His mouth was warm on mine, his lips soft.
Part of me wanted to resist.
I worked with him, after all.
Another part of me didn’t care, and it was that part that leaned into his kiss, desperate for more.
I was tired of fighting my attraction for Ryan, especially when he had no qualms with his own attraction towards me.
All I wanted to do was touch him.
I wanted my hands on his slick skin.
I wanted my tongue on his delicious mouth.
I wanted him buried deep within me. It was a desire that I hadn’t felt for a man in a long time, but I wanted it now, and he was willing to comply.
His mouth released mine and I gasped for air as he kissed my neck and my shoulders.
His mouth traveled lower and lowed, tasting every exposed piece of flesh, moving my shirt collar as far down until it resisted his pull.
A groan erupted from his throat as I put my hands on either side of his face and brought his mouth back to mine.
“I wasn’t done,” he whispered.
“We have plenty of time.”
It was the truth.
I pretty much lived alone.
According to Mom, it would be a while before she returned to the apartment—weeks, maybe months.
No one was going to bother us for the time being.
“True,” he agreed.
He kissed me again, his tongue darting along my lips until I surrendered to him, opening my mouth with a sigh.
He accepted my defeat, enticing my tongue to surrender to his onslaught as his tangled with it.
His hands roamed the entire time, taking in every single one of my curves. I couldn’t complain as I was doing the same to him. I pulled his shirt up, breaking our kiss long enough to pull his shirt from over his head.
His hand traced over the edges of the top I’d changed into and under.
For a moment, I wondered if I had secretly anticipated this because I hadn’t put on a bra, but then his fingers caressed my nipple and I couldn’t think anymore.
I shuddered with a moan, delighting in the sinful pleasure that rippled through me.
Ryan chuckled. “We’re just getting started, Claire.”
There was nothing I could say to that, nothing I was able to say as he pinched my nipple between his thumb and forefinger, rubbing it between them until the pain heightened into a new form of pleasure.
Liquid heat pooled between my legs, which I hadn’t realized I’d already spread in anticipation of him.
He’d noticed though.
His other hand slid down, bypassing the first and settling between my legs.
He stroked my sex through the leggings I’d pulled on, the tee shirt pulled up far enough to prevent any hindrance to his deeds.
“You’re so wet for me already, Claire.”
He nibbled at my bottom lip and I whimpered, my hips rocking toward him.
He continued to stroke me while rolling my nipple between his fingers. He turned his face and pressed his mouth to the sensitive spot where my neck and shoulders met.
“Ryan?” I didn’t even know what I wanted anymore.
It had been so long since anyone had made me feel this good, and he wasn’t even doing much yet.
I could only imagine how much better it could go, and I didn’t want it to stop, didn’t want him to stop.
“Hmm, Baby?” he asked.
His teeth caught the edge of my earlobe, and I melted in his arms.
I hooked my fingers under the edge of his shirt and yanked it up over his head. He chuckled at my eagerness and kissed me again, his tongue dancing with mine.
I didn’t want this.
He was being slow and sensitive to my every need, but I wanted him now.
I wanted his cock in my pussy, wanted him pumping me hard and fast.
A growl emitted from my throat as I bit at his lower lip, rocking my hips up toward him. He groaned, his hand cupping my sex, a hard pressure against me.
I needed more.
Ryan shifted, turning his hip so that his knee rubbed against my sex instead of his hand.
It wasn’t enough.
Throwing caution to the wind, I decided to take matters into my own hands. He wasn’t moving fast enough for my liking.
I wanted him, and I wanted him now.
How do you get a sexy man to have sex with you? Climb into his lap of course, which I did without any hesitation.
He chuckled at my antics as I straddled his legs, his cock pressing up against his jeans and my core.
His groan made my breath hitch in my chest as my fingers slid along the contours of his abs, outlining every little shift in his flesh with tantalizing fingers.
I lowered my mouth onto his chest, alternating between nipping and lapping at his exposed skin, purring with delight at every little noise he made.
“Claire,” he said, elongating my name with a heady thrust of his hips.
I chuckled. “We can take this to my room anytime you’d like,” I murmured against his skin.
He shivered.
One moment, we were sitting together on the couch.
The next, my legs were wrapped around his waist, his hands on my hips, and he was rising into the air.
“Where is your room?” he asked just before he captured my mouth in a kiss that left me unable to think and just a bit breathless.
I pointed toward the closed door, kneading my hands on his shoulders.
The muscles in his arms rippled with strength.
I’d seen evidence of his prowess in the gym, in every punch he threw toward the various equipment, in every kick that erupted from his form.
He was an active volcano, a lethal weapon.
It would be interesting to see how he’d turn that training into lovemaking.
For some reason, I couldn’t imagine sex with him as anything but fast and hard.
Sex with Michael had been slow and steady, a rhythm we were both used to, but for the first time in my life, I didn’t want tame sex.
I wanted something fierce and exciting.
I wanted the warrior beneath me.
He carried me with ease, sliding his left arm around me and pulling me tight against his chest as he used his right to open the door.
He didn’t bother closing it behind us, and I laughed at his reckless abandon as he kicked off his shoes and dumped me on the bed unceremoniously.
I laughed as I rolled, and then lay on my back, arms outstretched at my sides.
Ryan grinned at me.
It was a wicked smirk that promised all kinds of dark and dirty things my mom had always warned me against.
They were all things I wanted now with him.
He caught my foot in his hand and pressed a kiss to the top of my foot.
“I love your nail polish,” he growled.
I had to look down to see what color my toenails were.
For some reason, I had no memory of when they’d become the brilliant red they were now.
They matched my nails of course, but the details were gone from my mind as I focused on the man prowling upon me.
And that was exactly what he was doing as he slithered up over me, pressing kisses upon any exposed flesh he saw.
Then he was at my waist and his hands slid over the edges of the pants I’d put on after my shower.
They were cotton shorts, thin and easily
discarded.
He slid them down over my hips inch by inch, exposing the pink underwear I’d thrown on underneath.
“Mmm, pink. My favorite.” He grinned at me again, the tease evident in his voice.
“I wore them just for you.”
He laughed and buried his face between my legs, his teeth latching onto my clit through the underwear.
A mixture of pleasure and pain washed through me and I raised my hips with a gasp.
His actions had been unexpected.
Yes, I knew sex with this man would be hot and fast and hard, but I hadn’t expected such actions to start right away.
Silly me.
“Like that, baby?” he asked. He raised himself up and slid his fingers up under the cotton edges and inside me. “How about this?”
I couldn’t help it.
I clenched my hands in the covers upon my bed and arched my back.
He chuckled against my stomach, his tongue tracing a lazy circle around my belly button.
He curled his fingers and thrust them deep inside me. His teeth were clenched in a grimace as he fought to hold himself back.
I could feel his erection pressing into my leg with the stance he held.
“What are you waiting for?” I asked him.
Never before had I demanded anything of Michael, but I knew Ryan wouldn’t mind.
For all I knew, it was something he liked.
We really hadn’t discussed our likes and dislikes where sex was concerned.
“Your consent,” he said.
Really? Hadn’t I already given that when I’d allowed our antics to continue?
“Well, you have it, so fuck me. Now.”
Those were the only words he needed to hear.
He stood and yanked his jeans and boxers off.
Wow, he was glorious.
All hard muscles and contours.
He was delicious to look at and I couldn’t wait to feel him inside me.
He climbed atop me once more. His fingers delved inside me again, not bothering to take off my underwear.
“You ready for me?” he asked once, giving me a light kiss.
I pulled him back to me, my mouth hot and needy.
His tongue was liquid fire in my mouth and I melted in his arms.
It was the most he’d get from me. Gone was my ability to think, much less speak. Had he asked me a question?
The answer came in the sudden tightness against my leg as he pulled my underwear to the side and plunged inside me.
