Refusing to think too much about what could be, he turned her in his arms and pressed her shoulders down until she knelt in front of him. Grasping his cock at the base he stroked a few times and lost his breath when Avery licked her lips.
He shouldn’t do this. He held onto his control by a thread as it was, but he needed her mouth on him. The memory of their first night burned hot in his brain and if he didn’t feel it again he’d lose his mind.
“Suck me, baby,” he spoke, trying not to plead. Guiding his cock toward her lips he held his breath and waited for that first hot, wet touch that would surely send him into oblivion.
Before he could touch her lips, her tongue darted out and swiped a pearly white dot of pre-cum from his head. Ridge’s knees buckled slightly as the world spun around him. His heart raced madly inside his chest until it hurt and his lungs burned for oxygen. Avery would kill him like this, she’d drain the life from his body with her mouth and he would gladly die a happy man.
“Do you get this hard for your other women?” she asked, her eyes laughing up at him.
Hadn’t he warned her about this? He fisted his hands in her silky hair. “I’ve never been so hard in my life. Only you do this to me,” he snarled, angry that she’d bring up other women again. “I don’t like dragging a third party into my sex,” he snapped. Which wasn’t exactly true. He’d had several threesomes but he knew beyond a shadow of doubt Avery would be more woman than he could ever handle at once.
“Yes you do,” she purred, swiping her tongue across his engorged head again.
Ridge tossed back his head and sucked in a deep breath as his skull nearly popped off his shoulders.
“I know about you and Cale.” Avery curled her tongue beneath the ridge of his throbbing head and flicked at the most tender flesh. “It’s hard for one single woman to live up to that.”
He would have punished her. He would have stood her up and spanked her ass again until she blushed such a hot pink she would think twice about speaking again. He would have scolded her for thinking so little of herself. But he couldn’t breathe or think as she sucked his pulsing, aching head between her lips and took his entire shaft all the way to the back of her throat.
An out-of-body experience, it’s all he could think. For a brief moment he stood outside himself and watched as his beautiful, sexy-as-sin Avery knelt before him, lavishing him with her hot mouth and looking eager for more. He, his body, stood stiff, a look of pure pleasure and ecstasy on his face. In the blink of an eye he was back inside himself and begging whoever would listen not to let it end.
No pleasure like it could be found on earth. No drug, alcohol or adrenaline rush could come close to his Avery pleasing him so intimately. Every nerve in his body snapped and sizzled like fireworks. His flesh tingled as if a thousand volts of electricity were coursing over his skin. Over and over she took him in and curled her tongue around his shaft and then flicked his weeping head as she pulled back.
“Fuck,” he groaned. “You’re killing me.”
“No,” she said, releasing him for a moment. “I’m giving you the only thing I can.”
He heard sadness in her voice before she wrapped her tongue around his shaft and licked up the thick vein leading to his head. He didn’t understand but couldn’t think it through. Not while she worshiped him with her mouth.
Looking down he marveled at how she worked her lips, tongue and cheeks as though she’d been doing this forever. Instant jealousy stabbed through his chest. The thought of her bringing another man to release like this turned his stomach and drove his anger high. As if sensing his emotion, Avery sucked hard, hollowing her cheeks and pulling him halfway down her throat.
Ridge clenched his jaw and growled as he gently pulled her away. His release boiled in his balls as they bunched close to his body. Breathing in for a count of ten, he then blew out nice and steady until his body came back under some semblance of control.
“Damn, baby,” he growled. “Your mouth should be registered as a lethal weapon.” He looked down at her swollen, red lips and her heaving breasts. Her shiny brown hair framed her face giving him a perfect picture. In an instant his heart flopped over with a hard thud in his chest.
Ridge swallowed hard around the lump in his throat. He knew what this was. It blindsided him years ago when he realized he was falling in love with her. Back then he could push the feeling aside. Now, he wasn’t so sure he could do it.
“Ridge?”
He blinked several times, trying to force back so many emotions. “I’m not done with you,” he said, ignoring the concern on her face.
Helping her to her feet, Ridge backed her up against the wall again and gently kissed her puffy lips. “I have to taste you,” he whispered against her lips. He had to bury his face between her sexy legs and inhale her essence.
Almost desperate, he kissed his way down her body, stopping for a moment to suck and lavish her pretty nipples. Down her tummy, he stopped and dipped his tongue into her bellybutton before licking and kissing her hips and working his way to her glistening mound. With a tender touch he licked around her smooth outer lips and touched her pink clit peeking out.
“Oh, Ridge, please don’t tease.”
Tease. Didn’t she know he wasn’t teasing, only loving and memorizing her body? Slipping his tongue between her lips, he tasted the sweetest ambrosia known to man. Like a starving man, Ridge ran his tongue through her thick cream, filling his tongue before returning for more. Above him, Avery whimpered and ground her pussy against his mouth. Ridge reached around and sunk his fingers into her fleshy ass, holding her as her legs wobbled.
“So. Good,” she groaned. “More.”
Oh, yes. More. He would never get tired of eating her like a rare treat he was lucky enough to discover. Needing more access, Ridge lifted her legs and draped them over his shoulders as he supported her ass, opening her further for him. Burying his face between her sweet flesh, he feasted, becoming drunk on the only women who could take his control.
Slipping his tongue into her tight opening, he groaned as she clenched around him and bathed him with more nectar. His pace grew frantic, pumping his tongue in and out and then stopping to circle her throbbing clit. His cock protested, jerking every time Avery bucked and quivered.
“I can’t wait,” Avery cried out. “I can’t hold on.”
He didn’t want her to hold on. He wanted her exploding on his lips, filling his mouth with her essence. Bracing her backside with one hand, Ridge slipped two fingers into her tunnel and then gently sucked her clit. Instantly she released, sucking his fingers deeper into her body. Avery screamed words he couldn’t understand. Unable to hold out, Ridge reached into his back pocket and pulled out the condom he’d stashed. In record time he ripped open the package and covered his oversensitive cock. Pushing to his feet, Ridge wrapped her legs around his waist and speared his eager cock deep inside her clenching body.
Every inch of her hot, wet muscles swallowed and squeezed. Lifting her, he slammed her down again and groaned as another hard orgasm rip through her. Hot nectar dripped on his drawn balls; the world dropped out from under his feet as his orgasm boiled and exploded.
Burying his face in her neck, Ridge rode out the second mind-melting, soul-destroying orgasm of his life. Each pulsing spurt of his seed took a piece of his soul and even though the thin latex separated them he knew Avery absorbed a vital part of his being.
Avery owned him. He wasn’t so vain he couldn’t recognize her ownership. She, however, didn’t have a clue and he needed to keep it that way. He would take this gift she willingly gave, cherish her, give her the only thing he could and then release her so she could find a whole man with whom to spend the rest of her life. She didn’t deserve his broken body and damaged mind.
Pain burned through his leg until the limb trembled from weakness. Still, he held on, unwilling to leave the warmth and paradise of her body. If he could hold her here forever, buried deep inside her, he would.
“Ridge,” she whisper
ed, and then kissed his forehead. “Let me down. Your leg isn’t going to hold out forever.”
“I don’t want to,” he mumbled against her neck. White hot flames ripped through his thigh muscle. “I’m not finished with you,” he insisted. “There are so many ways I need to have you.” Lightly he nipped at the tender flesh of her neck and was rewarded with a spasm around his semi-hard cock.
“Okay,” she gasped. “I have a mattress upstairs. It’ll be more comfortable.”
A mattress—oh fuck, yes. He could spread her out and feast on her body without stressing his damaged leg. “Am I hurting you?” he asked, thinking she could be as uncomfortable as he.
Avery chuckled, a rich, throaty sound that had his cock twitching and growing deep inside her. “No. I’m pretty durable.”
Unable to hold her up any longer, Ridge regretfully pulled from her body and slowly lowered her to the floor and then untied her hands. Avery turned and cupped his face as she pressed her naked, lovely body against his. Her breasts cushioned against his chest and belly cradled his quickly growing cock. If this was what heaven was like, Cale must be living large.
“Please don’t walk away from me,” Avery whispered. Where her voice reflected neutrality, her eyes pleaded. “Not tonight. Don’t leave me empty and alone again.”
He couldn’t walk out tonight if the house were burning down around them. “I’m not going anywhere but up to your bedroom.” Ridge leaned down and captured her lips with a tenderness he didn’t know he could show. Avery brought out all sides of him and damned if he didn’t like it.
Chapter Ten
He was going to leave her. Avery knew in the very pit of her heart Ridge wouldn’t stay for more than a few days. She’d heard the thought briefly last night between either the third or fourth round of wild, desperate sex. Each time he took her, he poured his heart into it. He wasn’t pretending—how could he? They no sooner separated their bodies and he was hard and ready to go again. That couldn’t be faked.
Sure, she supposed he could have had some chemical help. There were all sorts of drugs on the market to help a man but this was different. Every touch, every whisper, every orgasm had meant something to him. So, why plan to leave? If he wanted her that badly, why walk away? What was it about her he couldn’t live with?
Avery lay on her stomach afraid to move, afraid of waking Ridge. She stared at her window with the morning sunlight beaming through and reveled in her aching muscles. She’d never been so wickedly, deliciously sore in her life and she loved it. Ridge had eventually touched, licked and caressed every inch of flesh on her body and made her come so many times she’d lost count. Who knew she could orgasm so easily?
Of course, she’d done her fair share of caressing and licking as well. Her jaw protested as she yawned. The man loved oral sex and where the hell had he learned to do it in so many different ways? The memory of their sexual play had her heart racing and her body responding. Her hard nipples pressed against the mattress and her clit throbbed as she tilted her hips further into the firmness.
Would he be up for another round this morning, or had she exhausted him? Maybe she should let him sleep. He’d all but passed out after their last romp. Avery chewed on the idea a moment. What the hell. If he planned on leaving her eventually, she might as well get it while the getting was good.
Suppressing a moan as she rolled to her side, she reached out and patted around the empty sheets. Leaning up on her elbows she found herself in bed alone. Again. The sound of the front door closing echoed up the stairs. Avery jumped off the mattress and ran to her bedroom window in time to see Ridge climbing in his truck.
The tears burned through her sinuses and into her eyes like acid. Why did he keep doing this to her? What the hell was it about her that sent him running as soon as the sun rose?
Avery watched him drive down the road and out of sight. Why couldn’t she learn? How could he run so hot and cold in the blink of an eye? Last night he’d treated her like a precious gift, this morning he treated her like an object.
The first teardrop fell and Avery promised herself she wouldn’t allow him to do this to her again. Last night might have been heaven, perfect, the most incredible sex of her life—but she deserved better than to be walked out on afterward. If he wanted sex, fine. When they were finished, she’d show him the door herself. Of course, she could forgo having sex with him, but, damn. That would mean passing up one hell of a good thing.
“No!” she yelled, stomping her foot. After years of waiting and going long bouts without, she would not pass up sex with Ridge. She deserved it, damn it! She deserved what she could get from him before he hightailed it out of town.
Storming into the bathroom, Avery turned on the water and stepped under the hot spray and groaned as her aching muscles relaxed. Where the hell had he gone?
“Stop it. Don’t think about what he’s doing. It doesn’t matter,” she scolded herself.
Would he come back tonight, today, or would she see him in a few days? “Ugh,” she moaned, sticking her head beneath the water and drenching her hair. She needed a plan for the day. Something to keep her mind off Ridge.
Shopping. She could go shopping for some new furniture, dishes, everything she’d lost in the break-in. That’s it. She loved to shop for household items. Most people liked shopping for clothes; she liked decorating. Just what the doctor ordered.
Avery washed her hair and then scrubbed her body, mentally making a list of items she needed. Number one being some new body lotion since her old bottle was emptied all over the floor. Maybe she’d try something new, something with a daring, alluring scent that would drive Ridge wild.
“There you go again,” she scoffed. Everything she did didn’t need to be centered around him.
Clean and refreshed, Avery stepped out of the shower and realized she didn’t have any towels. “Just wonderful!” Now what the hell would she do?
Always resourceful, she padded back into her bedroom, leaving a water trail with every step, grabbed a shirt from her bag of clothes and commenced drying her body and hair. Sufficiently dry, she tugged on a clean tank, a pair of shorts, returned to the bathroom to dry her hair and dabbed on some makeup.
As she finished touching up her eyes, the doorbell rang. Just what she needed—a visitor. A quick stab of apprehension shot through her. What if it was Mike at the door again? What would she do? The man sent alarms bells screaming in her head. Something wasn’t right about him.
The doorbell sounded again. Avery crept down the stairs, her stomach knotting every step of the way. As she stepped into the living room, she shouted, “Who is it?” Don’t let it be Mike, she thought.
“Kevin.”
Relief had her shoulders slumping as she quickly ran to the door and opened it. Kevin stood there smiling in his uniform and she couldn’t help but smile back. He did look good in a uniform.
“Hey,” she said, opening the door farther.
“Hey yourself. I thought I’d drop by and see how you’re doing.”
“I’m fine. You?”
“I’m good. I’ll admit I was worried about you last night. Yesterday wasn’t exactly a good day.”
“No, it wasn’t, and the evening went downhill further but I got through it.” As soon as Ridge had stripped her naked and fucked her silly half the night. Something Kevin didn’t need to know.
“I could have helped,” Kevin said, stroking her cheek.
Avery pressed his hand close to her face. “You have to be the sweetest man I’ve ever met. I owe you a great deal of thanks for everything you’ve done for me over the last couple of days.” Why couldn’t she feel something for him? He was every woman’s dream—kind, compassionate, sexy as hell. What was wrong with her?
“I don’t want your thanks,” Kevin spoke in a thick voice. “You know what I want.”
“I know.” And she did. She just couldn’t give it to him. “I can’t.”
“At least you’re honest,” he said on a sigh. “Doesn’t m
ean I won’t stop trying.” Kevin winked at her and gave her a big, sexy smile.
“Persistent,” she laughed. “A good quality.” In the background she saw movement and looked past Kevin’s large body.
Her heart raced at the sight of Ridge marching across the street with a huge duffle bag and death on his face. Good Lord, every muscle in his body was tense, bunched and ready for action. His movements were stiff but deliberate.
Her body reacted instantly. Her breasts swelled, her clit throbbed and hot liquid pooled between her legs. Would she ever be able to look at him without needing to jump his bones? Ridge dropped the duffle bags on the front lawn and fisted his hands at his sides as he stormed up the steps.
“Avery, you okay?” Kevin asked.
“She’s fine,” Ridge growled like a wild animal, pushing past Kevin and stepping into the house. “What’s your business here, Stone? You have information to share?”
Ridge positioned himself between her and Kevin, a wall of muscle she couldn’t budge as she tried to move him out of the way. Good heavens, where did this attitude come from?
Kevin hooked his thumbs through the belt loops of his pants and smiled. “Nope. I came to check on Avery, make sure she’s okay. She’s been through a lot and needs someone she can count on to be there for her.”
Avery didn’t think it possible, but Ridge tensed further. Hell, it seemed as if his entire body grew at least five inches in height. Afraid there’d be a brawl, Avery worked her way around Ridge and put herself between them.
“She has someone she can count on,” Ridge snarled.
Talk about alpha males. Ridge stood all soldier-ready and Kevin stood relaxed and charming. Avery knew better. Beneath the charm and casual façade, Kevin was a fighter, too.
“Really? Could have fooled me,” Kevin said, still smiling.
“Don’t push me, Stone,” Ridge growled from deep in his chest.
“Knock it off,” Avery finally shouted, drawing their attention back to her. “I don’t know what the hell is going on between the two of you but I don’t want it happening on my doorstep. Go play Neanderthals somewhere else.” Avery jammed her fists on her hips and glared between the two men.
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