by Virna DePaul
Within minutes, his hands were back between her legs, and his fingers were coated with her arousal. He eased her back and coaxed her into a sitting position against the headboard. He caressed her abdomen and up to her nipples, tracing an outline around them. He watched her squirm as he traced the same path down her body. Her breaths shortened and her breasts shook as she tried to suck in more air. When he finally reached her pussy, he brushed the lips just lightly. Her hard clit was engorged and throbbing. Abruptly, he pulled on it with two fingers and then pressed down, rubbing it in circles.
“Yes, Ryan. Yes!”
He slipped one finger inside of her, feeling her clench around it like hot liquid velvet. He pumped the digit slowly in and out of her. “Spread wider, Annie.”
She did as he said, and he moved between her thighs, watching his finger push its way inside of her, faster and deeper, driving it in now, making her hips buck up off the bed, making her beg for more.
“Shh. Be patient, baby, so I can give you what you need.”
He placed his fingers at the top of her pussy lips, pushed back the hood of her clit and spread his fingers wider so that her pink pearl was on display.
He lowered his head and flicked against her hardness just once with his tongue.
She moaned and clutched at his hair.
He inserted two fingers fully into her pussy, rubbing the front walls of her vagina, and as he did so, he began to suck lightly on her clit. She writhed and grabbed her own breasts, squeezing them and pulling hard on her nipples. Her hips pushed up to meet his mouth as he sucked even harder.
She continued to stroke her breasts. Unable to help himself, he reached a hand up and alternately pinched each nipple. His girl was amazing. Uninhibited. So responsive. Fucking beautiful. He wanted more. He wanted all she had to give.
“Give it to me, Annie. I want it. Give me what I want.”
* * *
Annie felt the gravelly tone of Ryan’s voice over her entire body. She bit her lip, shaken, part-entranced and part-pissed that he could draw such a physical response from her with just the sound of his voice. But then she looked up and saw she wasn’t the only one affected by their closeness. His eyes were hooded. His cheeks flushed. His breathing rough and his muscles tight as if he was priming to pounce. Or be pounced upon. The realization of her power over him made her dizzy and threw her over the edge.
Annie’s release stole her breath and made her body convulse over and over again.
When it was over, Ryan shuffled up the bed and lay next to her. She draped one leg over his so that he could continue fingering her. She was so sensitive that soon she was ready to come again.
“Your cock. This time I want your cock.”
“You’re always in such a rush. Wanting to get to the best stuff first. What you need to learn is that by taking your time, the best can be even better. Incredible. Mind-blowing. And I like to take my time. I’m going to start with using the toy you brought. The toy you used without me, you naughty girl.” Ryan reached around her, then she felt the vibrator, hard and cool, pressing against her core. He ran it up and down along her seam.
“Nice,” she said and wrapped her fingers around his dick. “But not as nice as this. Why don’t you put that thing away and give me what I really want?”
“Oh, believe me, I’m going to give it to you and good, but first I want to play. You okay with that?”
He slid the vibrator along her thigh, and her pussy immediately clenched with jealousy. Spreading her legs farther apart, she moaned. “Sounds like a good plan.”
She lifted up her hips, trying to hurry him along, wondering how he could possibly have so much self-restraint. She groaned loudly as she felt him press the toy against the outer part of her lips again, and she tried to impale herself on it. Of course, he pulled the damn thing back.
“Just lie back, Annie. Close your eyes and feel the pleasure.”
Desperate to be filled, if not by him, then by the toy in his hand, she did as he said.
She didn’t just want to be fucked. She needed it.
He touched the toy to her sensitive, engorged clit, circling it once, then twice. It felt so good, she wanted to scream, but it wasn’t enough. She bucked her hips up off the bed again, but he put his hand on her pelvis, just above her mound, and gently pushed her back down.
She opened her eyes just a slit, watching him watch her as he stroked her clit with the toy. This was like torture, she thought. Slow, sweet, erotic, excruciating torture. He flicked his fingers, and the toy began to vibrate. Without warning or preamble, he changed the angle of it and allowed the tip to slip inside her.
She made a noise, more animalistic than human, and he rewarded her by giving her another inch. Ryan leaned in, gave her nipple a soft kiss, then began working just the tip of the toy in and out of her pussy, dragging it out over her clit and then sliding it back in again.
“Give it all to me, Ryan. Please, I need it all.” She was so breathless, her words came out slow and jerky.
With complete disregard for her desperation, he increased the speed of the vibrations and began tracing the outlines of her center in a slow, tender manner. He circled her clit and then pressed the vibrator inside of her, this time a little deeper, but still not all the way.
She sobbed loudly. “Please give me more.”
“Not yet, Annie. Just relax. Enjoy. Let your body feel what I’m doing to it all the way to your toes. Let all the inhibitions go. The inhibitions that keep you from completely opening up to me. The ones that hide that sweetest, most vulnerable part of you. Let those go, baby.”
“Fuck me with your toy or your cock, and I promise I’ll let them go.”
He laughed, pissing her off. But then he slid the eight-inch toy even deeper.
Still not all the way. She couldn’t feel it hitting bottom like she wanted, but it was beginning to fill her up.
Biting her lip to keep from begging yet again, she massaged her breasts and pinched her nipples.
“Yeah, that’s what I love to see.”
He fucked her with the toy until she was rolling her hips in the same rhythm. Once again, she pushed up, trying to get it to go deeper. Instead, he pulled it completely out, lifted the toy to her mouth and glided it teasingly across her lips.
Moaning, she licked it.
“More,” Ryan grunted. “Suck it clean.”
Her eyes widened at the rough command, but she did as he ordered. After she’d cleaned it off, he kissed her, spearing his tongue into her mouth as if going after the very same juices she’d just licked off the toy.
“You want all of this?” he asked her, dragging the toy down her chest, between her breasts, and around each trembling mound before continuing on down to her abdomen.
“Yes! I want it all, Ryan. Fill me with it…fuck me…oh God, Ryan…please…”
He pushed the toy inside her as deep as it would go. She screamed, her body bowing at the feeling of being stretched almost more than she could bear. With her right hand, she pulled at his hair while her left hand continued to play with her nipples.
“Come, Annie. Let yourself go completely this time, and come like you’ve never come before.” He used the thumb of his other hand to press against her clit.
She screamed out as shivers racked her body. The orgasm seemed to go on forever.
Gradually, he ceased the thrusting movements he was making with the toy, letting her slowly come down from her high. He lifted up slightly again and pressed his lips against hers before finally pulling the toy completely out of her.
“How did that feel?” he asked in a soft, sexy voice.
Annie didn’t think she could speak. Her mouth was completely dry. All of her body’s moisture had just drained out of her along with every drop of worry, reason, and fear.
Before she could stop the words, she said, “Almost like heaven.”
“Almost?”
“I still—I still want you. Does that make me insatiable?”
�
��It makes you fucking awesome, is what it makes you.”
“Fuck me, Ryan. I want you to fuck me.”
With a cocky grin, he slid himself back inside of her. This time, there was no holding back. He fucked her hard and fast.
He lasted a long time. Lasted long enough to bring her back up again. And when the dam broke, she screamed. She exploded as another violent orgasm ripped through her. A loud, almost vicious growl erupted from him, and she cried out as Ryan reached his own crescendo.
When Ryan’s body relaxed, and he collapsed on top of her, Annie wrapped her legs around him and held him tight against her. When he stopped shuddering and tried to move off of her, she clamped down on him tightly and said, “Please stay. Just for a few more minutes.”
He made a happy noise and kissed her with a slow tenderness that sent shock waves of electrical current through her body.
* * *
When Annie woke the second time in Ryan’s arms, she had a vague memory of him rolling off of her and then snuggling her against him. Annie didn’t know how much time had passed this time, but she knew for sure that she needed a shower. She tried to wriggle out of his grasp without waking him, but as soon as she moved, he tightened his grip on her and said, “Where are you going?”
“To the shower. I’m a mess.”
Ryan only held on to her that much tighter. She gave in and lay there with him awhile longer. When his breathing deepened and turned into a smooth, steady rhythm, she tried to escape again. This time, she made it without waking him up.
Annie stood under the warm spray of the shower for a long time, just letting it cascade over her body. She was sore, but she didn’t care. Every time she thought about being in Ryan’s arms, a smile came to her face, and she felt a little tickle down low in her belly. It scared her, too. Now that she’d had a taste of Ryan, how would she ever live without him?
She was still struggling with what to do next. By the time she’d toweled off, put her wild hair into a neat, tidy French braid, and slipped on a comfortable, cotton dress, she’d decided the best thing to do was to take the risk Melina and Clint had encouraged her to take. She was going to tell Ryan how she felt.
She took a deep breath and pulled open the door.
“I’m starving,” he said as soon as he saw her.
She laughed. “Okay, do you want to go eat somewhere, or do you want to do room service?”
Ryan pushed himself up off the bed and walked over to her, completely at ease with being naked in front of her. Why wouldn’t he be? The guy’s bod was breathtaking.
He cupped her chin in his hand and tipped her face up toward his. He looked like he had something important to say. She waited several seconds before he finally said, “Room service, I think. How about you order it while I take a shower?”
Annie released the breath she’d been holding. “Okay, what do you want?”
He grinned and looked her up and down. “One of everything.” Bringing his lips to hers softly, he gave her a gentle kiss and headed for the shower.
Annie realized almost a full minute later that she was still standing there with her legs shaking, staring at the bathroom door.
She called for room service, taking Ryan at his word and ordering a lot of food she had no doubt he’d be able to eat. She was dying for a cup of coffee. She could probably eat some toast or some fruit, too. The pill she’d taken earlier had taken away most of her appetite.
After she ordered breakfast, she made the bed just to keep busy, at one point holding the sheet against her face and inhaling the heady scent of her and Ryan. With a smile, she shook her head. God, she was so gone for him.
There was a knock on the door, and as soon as Ryan heard it, he came out of the bathroom. He took in the food cart with hungry eyes.
“Damn! You really did order one of everything,” he said with a smile.
“I aim to please,” she said.
She gave the young man who’d delivered the food a tip, and once he left she and Ryan each pulled up a chair. Ryan heaped his plate full of everything, and Annie poured a cup of coffee and buttered a piece of toast.
When Ryan realized that was all she planned on eating, he stopped what he was doing and said, “You’re kidding, right?”
“What?”
“Eat, Annie.”
“I am eating, Ryan.”
“A piece of toast and coffee after all that exercise you got last night and this morning? It’s not enough. You need to stop this diet obsession.”
“It’s not an obsession. I was tired of being fat, Ryan. I’m close to my goal—”
“Close to your goal? Please tell me you’re not trying to lose more weight, Annie. You look great. Hell, you could stand to put a few pounds back on.”
“I don’t think we’re going to agree on this one. Can we just agree to disagree and enjoy our breakfast?”
He hesitated then nodded before turning his attention back to his meal. After Annie finished her toast, she ate some scrambled eggs just to make him happy. It seemed to satisfy him a little.
“Can we talk about what happened last night…and this morning?”
Ryan looked up at her and shrugged. “Okay.”
The shrug made her stomach start to ache, as though the casual gesture indicated how little their time together meant to him.
“I don’t want our friendship to be messed up because of…”
“Hot sex?” he said.
Annie smiled. He was so damned cute. “Yeah, because of that,” she said.
He put his fork down and reached for her hand. She gave it to him, and he said, “Annie, nothing is ever going to make me not want to be your friend. Last night and this morning were…amazing. But it doesn’t have to change anything with us.”
Annie looked into his eyes as he spoke.
He meant his words to be reassuring, but they weren’t. What was he saying? That even after the pleasure they’d given each other, he wanted things to go back to the way they’d always been? He wanted to remain just friends?
“Annie?” he said, looking uncomfortable.
Knowing she had to say something but still feeling off-kilter, she said, “I wouldn’t know what to do without you.”
Ryan squeezed her hand. “I think you’d be just fine without me. I mean, you’re the brains of our friendship, and the looks and even the heart. I’d be the one missing a limb without you.”
That was sweet, but then again, Ryan always built Annie up. He didn’t necessarily tear himself down while he did it, but he didn’t give himself the credit that he was due either.
“You have brains, you’re gorgeous, and you have a good heart, too, Ryan. Don’t give me all the credit and none to yourself. We’ve been friends for such a long time that I think either of us would be lost without the other. I don’t want to find out. I care too much about you.”
Ryan brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. “I’m always going to be here for you, Annie. I will never let you be alone. I’ll never let anyone hurt you. You’re the best thing in my life, and I meant what I said earlier, I wish you could see yourself through my eyes. If you could, you’d probably be so cocky you wouldn’t want anything to do with me.”
“That would never happen,” she said with a laugh. “Thank you, though. It’s good for the ego.”
“It’s the truth. You have no idea how beautiful you are, inside and out. That’s my biggest issue with you going out and picking up a guy—why you’re doing it. The fact that you think you have to be someone different. I don’t want you to ever sell yourself short. Someday you’ll meet the man you’re meant to be with.”
He was looking at her with such warmth in his eyes, but Annie went cold.
He’d made love to her with such passion, yet apparently the idea of her meeting Mr. Right—Mr. Not Him—didn’t bother him in the least.
Annie thought about what Melina had said about taking a risk.
She needed to admit that she’d loved him for a long time. She needed to t
ell him about this trip and how it was supposed to make her forget about him and be able to move on.
She needed to tell him that she didn’t really want to move on from him, but rather wanted to move on with him.
Yet the words wouldn’t come.
They were right there. On the tip of her tongue.
But she couldn’t get them out.
She was too scared. They’d shared great sex, yes, but that was far from a declaration of undying love.
Ryan looked at his watch. “I forgot to tell you that before we went out last night, Rhys called. I told him I’d help him and Melina for a bit today.”
“Oh.” She cleared her throat. “Um…what are you helping them do?”
“Rhys had some smoke detectors replaced in his house, and they keep alarming at all hours of the day and night for no reason. He called the company, and they said they’d send someone out this week, but in the meantime, they keep scaring Melina and waking the babies. He just mentioned it the other night in passing, but he said they took the batteries out to get them to stop. They have two babies and a giant house. I kind of volunteered to look at them.”
“That’s really sweet of you.”
“Want to come with me? Rhys said Melina and the babies are visiting her mother today, so she won’t be there.”
She did want to go with him, but she needed time away from him. Time to sort things out. To gather the courage to finally say what she needed to say, no matter the outcome. “You know, I have some final things I need to do here in Vegas. Why don’t we meet up later for drinks at Gilley’s?”
“Sounds good. I’ll call you and let you know when we’re about done. Be careful, okay? Stay in areas where there are a lot of people.”
“I’ll be fine,” she said with a smile. “I promise.”
And she would. They had taken a huge step last night and this morning, but they were still friends. After she talked to Ryan, if all he wanted to be was her friend, she’d still count herself a lucky person. But after Ryan left and the more she replayed their time together, the more confident she became that they could have their friendship and so much more. That Ryan wanted the same things she did. Physical intimacy. Passion. Love. The whole shebang.
