“Like I said, I don’t have much to offer, yet. All I can I give you is what you’ve owned for ten years—my heart.”
“That’s all I want,” she said, giving him a watery smile as her own heart filled to overflowing.
“Will you marry me, Avery?”
She should make him sweat it out, squirm a little, simply for making her wait so damn long, but… “Yes.” The word exploded from her lips on a half laugh, half sob.
Ridge smiled so big and so brightly it stole her breath. He took her left hand in his and slipped the simple diamond onto her finger. It wasn’t big or flashy, it was perfect. He twined their fingers together and pulled her against him where he proceeded to kiss her thoroughly and with all the passion she knew he possessed.
Avery slid her free hand beneath his shirt and placed her palm over his thrumming heart a few moments before sliding it to the side and stroking his nipple with her thumb. Ridge moaned into her mouth, ran his free hand down her back and over her rear where he gently squeezed her cheek before hiking her dress up to her hips.
While his hand soothed over the exposed flesh of her ass, his tongue swept her mouth and then retreated so he could nip her lips. With each breath his kiss grew more demanding. Avery pulled her hand from his and worked the snap of his jeans loose and then lowered the zipper. She reached inside and cupped his hard erection.
Avery ended the kiss, gazed up into his glassy, hungry eyes and smiled. “You need to be out of these clothes, Ridge.”
He cocked an eyebrow, slipped one finger beneath the thin strap of her sundress and lowered it down her arm. “I could say the same to you.”
Avery took a step back from him, reached behind her and unzipped her dress. With a simple flick of her finger to the other strap, the dress fell from her body and pooled at her feet. Ridge groaned as she stood before him in nothing but a thong and low-heeled sandals. Avery stepped from the dress and toed the material to the side.
“Hurry, Ridge,” she said, reaching between her legs and stroking her throbbing, desperate clit. “I can’t wait.”
The hunger, need and love in his eyes created a storm she couldn’t wait to have unleashed. He shed his navy blue tee and Avery nearly lost it watching the muscles in his arms flex with each movement. Next, he toed off his boots and then removed his socks before shucking his jeans and boxers off together. Moonlight bathed his perfectly sculpted body and wrapped him in a glow that made him seem surreal.
He reached down, gripped his impossibly hard cock and stroked. Avery licked her lips and then crooked her finger, beckoning him to follow as she backed toward the bedroom. Ridge followed after, picking up his jeans. As soon as her legs hit the mattress she turned, poked her rear in the air and climbed up so she knelt before him.
Her body ached for his touch and she knew foreplay would have to come later, much later. She needed him inside her, now. She needed to know this wasn’t a dream.
Ridge pulled out his wallet, retrieved his condom and tore the packet open. Avery held out her hand and gave him a wicked smile when he placed it in her palm. She’d always wanted to do this. Placing the latex at the tip of his cock, she rolled it down slowly, enjoying his satin-covered steel throbbing in her hand. When she had the condom in place, she cupped his sac and rolled it in her hand.
“God, I love your hands,” he groaned.
“Good,” she whispered, squeezing lightly and pulling him up onto the bed. Avery lay down on her back and opened her legs. “I need you inside me.”
Ridge knelt between her legs, reached down and grabbed the thin material of her thong and pulled. It took little effort to rid the material from her body. Ridge lifted her legs and Avery wrapped them around his hips. The head of his cock nudged her slick, ready opening.
“Do you have any idea how fucking beautiful you are?” he growled, pressing the head of his cock inside her and then stopping.
Avery gasped. “Do you have any idea how bad I want you to fuck me right now?” God, her nerve endings were humming; her soaked tunnel gripped and tugged, trying to drag him in further.
“Open up for me, Avery. Let me in.”
“You are in,” she whimpered. “Just keep going.” Her hips bucked, trying to drive him the rest of the way inside.
“No.” Ridge carefully leaned forward, making sure not to fill her further. He took her hands and raised her arms above her head and then sucked one hard, desperate nipple into his mouth.
Avery arched her back and cried out as licks of fire and pleasure seared her flesh. Hot liquid doused Ridge’s cock and dripped down her ass cheeks. He continued sucking and nipping at her until she thought she’d come.
Ridge released her nipple and kissed her swollen breast. “Let me in your head,” he whispered.
Avery froze. He didn’t say what she thought he said, did he?
“Let me in, Avery. Let me feel what you feel. Let me show you how extraordinary you are.”
He continued kissing her flesh between the valley of her breasts and then around her other nipple, but never touching it. Her head thrashed back and forth on the mattress as she tried to force him farther inside her body.
“Let me in, Avery,” he said in a stern tone.
“I can’t,” she whimpered.
“Yes, you can.” He nipped her nipple with his teeth and she cried out. “Do it.”
“I can’t,” she told him again. “You pushed me out and I can’t get back in.”
Ridge lifted his head and gazed down at her, confused.
“I pushed you out? Baby, you built a wall that I can’t get through.”
“No, that day in the farmhouse,” she whimpered, ready to fly apart. “You weren’t breathing. Kevin was giving you mouth to mouth and I was inside your head trying to get you to come back. You took a breath and pushed me out. I haven’t been able to get back in.”
Ridge shook his head. “We can do it.”
“You didn’t want me in your head. You told me to get out and I did.” Why were they discussing this now? God, if he didn’t get on with it she’d lose her everloving mind.
“Another foolish thing said by a man floundering in the dark. I need you there, Avery.” He leaned down and kissed her neck. “Without you there I’m not whole. Don’t be afraid.” Ridge eased only a mere inch inside her and then stopped.
“Ridge, for the love of God,” she cried out as her muscles clenched at him.
“Come on. We were joined for a reason. We were meant to be linked like this. Open your mind, Avery. Let me in.” He eased in a fraction and then went still.
“I don’t know how,” she sobbed, thrusting her hips up and getting nowhere.
To her shock and dismay, Ridge pulled back until he nearly fell from her body. Then he shattered her mind and body by slowing pushing in. Every nerve ending he brushed sang with pleasure as he stretched and filled her. Her brain seemed to expand with pressure and then an overwhelming, spine-melting, toe-curling bliss filled her body until she could do nothing but scream.
Ridge’s essence poured into her on a flood of emotion. Their consciousness and beings were spliced together, creating a whole from two halves. Avery opened her eyes, moaning at the overwhelming sensation.
“Too much,” she gasped. “It’s too much.”
“Easy, babe,” he said inside her head. “Don’t fight it. Can you feel it? Can you feel what you do to me?” Ridge pulled out slowly and then drove himself deep. “Oh, fuck. Can you feel heaven, babe?”
“You’re too good,” she screamed in her head as his pace quickened. Her body grew too sensitive. She drew her legs around his hips until her heels dug into his ass.
“Yes,” he moaned. “Hold me tighter.”
Avery thought her skin would tear apart at the seams. Her body clamped down around him like a vise fighting his withdrawal. Her juices flowed hot and thick until her thighs were slick.
“I love how wet you get.” He gazed down into her eyes. “So hot and slick. Feel how hard I am? Only you do thi
s to me, Avery.”
Lost in the tempest swirling in his eyes, Avery eased her fight and began to open. Yes, she could sense his blood surging through his veins like liquid fire. His pleasure flowed like electric currents over his nerves, snapping and cracking until his flesh tingled and his balls tightened.
“That’s it,” he crooned tenderly inside her head. “Let me make you feel good.”
Avery surrendered to the pleasure flowing between them, let it take her over until her orgasm coiled at the base of her spine and her body grew rigid as she neared that glorious peak of ecstasy. She sensed Ridge’s release as well. How his blood rushed to his throbbing cock and his seed boiled in his balls.
With every thrust of his hips he brushed her clit, taking her higher, edging her near the cliff of oblivion and she didn’t care if she never returned because Ridge would be falling with her. He leaned down further until her taut nipples skimmed his chest. Their sweat-soaked bodies slapped against each other. Their pants filled the tiny house and when Avery thought she couldn’t bare much more, heaven opened and sucked them toward the clouds.
The first pulse of Ridge’s cock detonated Avery’s orgasm. It tore through her like a twister, stealing her breath, her sight and her senses. She arched off the bed as every muscle in her body constricted and then released with a power she didn’t know existed. Ridge sealed his mouth over hers, kissing her, moaning and groaning as they both shattered into tiny pieces and floated through the heavens.
Her orgasm went on forever, the spasms milking Ridge, drawing him in deeper. He ground his hips against her, trying to crawl farther into her body. She needed more. Her body craved more. Avery pulled her hands from Ridge’s grip. She wrapped her arms around him and then pushed to her side until he rolled to his back and she sat on top of him.
“Ride me,” he demanded with a ferocious growl.
Avery bounced on his still-pulsing cock, her clit tingling and eager for more stimulation. Ridge leaned up on his elbow and gripped the back of her hair, tilting her head back and thrusting her breasts out. He quickly latched onto one needy nipple and lashed it with his tongue before sucking hard. Like a direct line to her core, it sparked more fire burning out of control in her womb.
“I can’t get enough,” she said with desperation.
Ridge released her nipple, gripped her hips and lifted her from his body. In a swift move he crawled out from beneath her, pushed her over on her hands and knees and came at her from behind. She cried out as he plowed into her, but when his two fingers rubbed her puckered rear, she shook with anticipation.
“Yes,” she pleaded silently to him.
Ridge pressed his fingers past the tight ring of muscle and inside her body. “Is that better, baby?”
“Oh yes, yes, yes.” She pressed her rear back against him, desperate for more.
He caressed the tender, sensitive tissue of her ass while pounding her eager pussy. When he reached between her legs and tweaked her clit, the world exploded and fell away. Her second orgasm rolled through her like a tsunami, starting at her core and filling her body.
Ridge growled behind her as his cock gave one hard throb and then began pulsing again. Their releases combined into one, filling them both until their internal organs quivered from the strain. Finally, Avery collapsed on the bed as her release ebbed away like a tide. Ridge carefully pulled out of her body, lowered himself down on the bed and rolled to his side, gathering her up and tucking her against him.
His large hand cupped one breast as the other rested on her hip. “That was un-fucking-believable,” he muttered weakly.
Avery grunted. It was all she could manage besides the smile that seemed to be a permanent fixture on her lips.
“And to think we have that to look forward to every day of our lives.”
Oh, wow. She wouldn’t survive it. He’d literally fucking kill her.
Ridge chuckled. “I heard that.”
“Yeah, well, I can see what you have in mind for the next round and I’m not sure I’m limber enough for that,” she said in a weak voice and then giggled.
Ridge popped her on the butt. “I’ll give you half an hour and then we’ll see.”
“I thought men needed more recovery time than women,” she groaned.
“That’s your fault. You do things to me that I don’t understand and medical science would probably pay a lot of money to reproduce.”
Avery giggled at the image he showed her in his head. She loved his twisted sense of humor. He only ever let her see it on a few occasions over the years, but she’d be seeing more and more if now, which gave her pause for a moment.
“Ridge, are you sure this is what you want?” She was afraid he hadn’t thought it all the way through. They could share the erotic pleasure, but it also meant they’d share other things as well.
Ridge rolled her over on her back and pushed her hair away from face. “You don’t?”
She shrugged. “I’m used to it. It’s just, well, the last time didn’t end so well.” Her heart squeezed, remembering his hurtful words.
“I’ll never forgive myself for that,” he said in a voice thick with emotion.
Avery immediately forgot about her own pain and cupped his scarred cheek in her hand. “Don’t,” she whispered. “Considering I just dumped all that information on you only hours before, I think you handled it well.”
“No, I didn’t, and I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”
Avery smiled. He would too. “Kevin explained a few things to me so I understand your anger. My only concern is will you get tired of it after a while, knowing I’m always there inside your head.”
“Kevin, huh? It seems he’s a fountain of help these days.” Ridge grinned and shook his head. “We’ll work it out, Avery. You and Cale figured out a way, we’ll do the same.” He leaned down and kissed her lightly. “I didn’t know how whole I was with you a part of me until you weren’t there anymore. There is no other option.”
Avery didn’t think she could fill any more with emotion, but she did. All her dreams where lying right here next to her. She may have lost a lot over the last month, but she’d also gained. It didn’t matter what happened next—as long as she and Ridge were connected and by each other’s sides, they could face anything.
Avery looped her leg over his hip, grabbed his shoulder and rolled until she had him on his back and straddling him. “What do ya say, soldier boy? Let’s see how limber I am.”
About the Author
Robin Leigh Miller lives in central Pennsylvania with her wonderful husband, three children and two German Shepherds. A retired dirt-track driver, Robin now gets her adrenaline fix by putting her characters through their paces.
Robin welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
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Also by Robin Leigh Miller
Agents of Mercy 1: Black Smoke
Agents of Mercy 2: Boomer’s Fall
Agents of Mercy 3: Ricochet’s Rogue
Ahoy: Marauder
Force of Nature
Running Blind
Soulless
Print books by Robin Leigh Miller
Agents of Mercy 1: Black Smoke
Ahoy!: Pirate’s Passion anthology
Force of Nature
Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Whether you prefer e-books or paperbacks, be sure to visit EC on the web at www.ellorascave.com for an erotic reading experience that will leave you breathless.
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