by Nicole Snow
He doesn't say anything. For some reason, that's more infuriating than watching him stoop down like a scolded animal, tuck his toothbrush into his leather suitcase, and scurry past me.
He's halfway down the staircase when I lose it. I'll take his abuse, his nastiness, and his cold disregard, but I can't stand this vicious silence.
I'm snatching at everything I can find, throwing it after him. A bottle of dry shampoo hits him in the back of his head, causing a satisfying echo.
“Fuck!” He stops, turns around, and looks at me, waiting near the door. “Your boyfriend is fucking insane, Kara, and so are you. You're lucky I don't turn you both in, and tell them everything right now. There's a police bulletin out for you. Call the cops and tell them you're safe before I do. It's the last favor you're ever getting from me.”
I'm looking at him, trying to take in the insane things he's saying, one at a time. It's like my brain has reached its limit on crazy today.
Before he walks out, he stops, and gives me the most hateful look I've ever seen on his princely face. “This is the last time you'll ever see me, but we're not done yet. Nobody assaults a Drayton and walks away. Your boyfriend doesn't either.”
Boyfriend? What the hell is he talking about?
The door slams behind him, and I walk to the nearest window, overlooking the garage. His grey, freshly washed Mercedes screams out a second later. I know in the pit of my gut it's the last time I'm ever going to watch him leave our home.
There's no time for tears, wine, or a lavender scented soak in the tub to calm me down. I'm going to go ballistic if I can't get answers.
Before, I needed to see Ryan. Now, I'm going to lose my mind by the end of the night if I can't find him. Hell has broken loose, spilling out a little more by the second, and I need answers.
His offices are dark. The security gate is locked up tight. A couple vehicles roam the lot, but I know they're mostly guards working night shift. I seriously doubt he's at work, especially if he's learned the police were trying to chase me down just a few hours ago.
If he couldn't find me, where would he go? It takes me a few minutes before I think I have an answer.
I drive on, leaving Punch Corp behind, heading for the spot where I believe he's likeliest to find me.
When I pull into the lighthouse parking lot, I see his lonely Tesla, and start to smile. How fitting.
He's upstairs, staring across the wide, dark sea. He doesn't wait for me to come up and join him. As soon as he sees my light, his solitary figure takes off, heading inside and racing downstairs. He bursts out the doors a second later. His big beautiful arms are around me before I've even had a chance to close my door.
“Are you okay, babe? Did he hurt you?” His voice scratches my ears. Low and rough, delicious as the drag of his stubble on my skin.
“Only a few bruises to the heart.” I sigh, pausing to breathe him in, the only man who's ever felt right.
Ryan's blue eyes are dark and beautiful in the night. He takes my face in one hand, tilts it up, forcing me to hold his gaze. After all the hell I've been through tonight, I love it.
“That's over,” he whispers, low as distant thunder. “I'm here, Kara-bou. Never letting go as long as I've got a pulse. You're spending the rest of your days with a smile on those precious lips.”
“I want to believe you,” I tell him, nestling into his chest. His hands roll down my back, lower, warming the chills running up my spine. “It's hard, after all this.”
“It's not.” His hand cups my cheek again, and his forehead touches mine. “This is our reset, Kara. The pain, the hurt, the regret, that's all over. I'll mend fences with you and my family. I'll throw him out of your life if he ever comes back to give you hell again.”
“Like it's so easy.” Sarcasm creeps into my voice.
“I never ran away from a challenge,” he says, flashing me his mysterious smile. “You're the best one of my life. It's easy, because I say so, babe. I told you what this is – reset. Whether it's easy or hard doesn't matter because I just pushed the fucking button, and this ride doesn't stop until you're happy, living under my roof, and curled up with me every single night. We've lost too many nights. It'll take a whole army of assholes like Reg to keep me away from you even one more time, and I'll still go down swinging to keep you.”
No more talk. I lean into him, and let his lips take what they've wanted.
Our kiss ignites the fireball building in my belly. Rampant, scorching heat runs through my veins. His tongue presses into my mouth. Mine dances against his in hot, furious ripples. I'm actually swooning in his arms, losing support in my knees, falling into an embrace that's just like home.
“Your ex is gone tonight, yeah?” he asks.
I can't help but laugh. He calls him my ex like it's already official, and I don't have a hundred loose ends to wrap up, getting Reg out of my life for good. Finally, I nod.
“Good. Then let's take this to your place. I'll get the movers in the morning to grab your stuff as soon as we've had our fun. They'll strip down everything that isn't his in that damned condo except the sheets we're about to ruin. I want him to rub his face in our love after everything he did to you.”
Sweet Jesus, he's insane.
But I have to admit, the idea has a certain wild charm to it. It satisfies my jealousy, my anger, and my hurt all at once. More than anything, I just want Ryan again, the sex I've craved for half a decade, suffering through abstinence and then the awkward encounters with Reg that weren't much better.
I hate him for lying, walking out, and wasting my time.
Unfortunately, there's also no telling what's true, and what isn't, since he wrecked the evidence on the thumb drive. What if I'm wrong about his affair, however suspicious he's been acting, and he's decided to dump me over something else?
He's a bastard for doing it, yeah. But does he deserve to be humiliated?
“Ryan...I don't know,” I say, pushing against his broad, incredible chest. “It's happening so fast. He never even admitted to cheating on me. I didn't see the data – he broke it before I could. Don't worry. I'm not taking him back, not after what he said to me today, or the way he walked out.”
“You need to see this.” His strong, square jaw smooths his smile. Ryan's expression turns deadly serious as he reaches into his pocket, flips through some keys on his phone, and then holds it in front of me.
It takes several seconds to recognize what I'm looking at. It's Reg on the screen. Nearly naked, red faced, looking like he's about to rip someone's head off.
He's cuffed to a leather chair, staring hatefully into the lens. The bastard's erection is still straining in his boxers, despite his gross humiliation. It's one dick I'm never going to miss.
Ryan flips through several more pics of my ex tied down. Then there's another one with a woman I don't recognize at first. She's wearing the tallest candy colored heels in the world, her ankles splayed, legs pressed defensively together at the knees.
Her face hits me through the makeup. Wedding planner Amy stares at me like a helpless animal. Frustrated, ashamed, and maybe a little afraid.
Really? Is there any low he won't sink to?
I can't stop shaking. I thought I'd braced myself, prepared to see undeniable proof of him being a cheating asshole. But doing it with the woman we sat with yesterday? The one who was supposed to help craft the happiest day of our lives?
I shove his arm away, threatening to knock the phone from his hand. “Sorry,” I mutter, turning my back, facing Superior's loud, steady churn.
“No, babe. Don't apologize,” he says, wrapping a protective arm around my waist. “It's a lot for you to take in, and there's not much time to do it. We're moving like the wind, but hell, we always did. We've lost time. That's the real tragedy here. Too many years robbed away by my mistakes and this asshole. Now, we're taking them back. Fixing everything.”
I turn, facing him, hot new tears rolling down my cheeks. His confidence comforts me. So does the i
nferno rising in his eyes, wide as open skies, ready to lift me up to a higher, better place.
“We're fixing it all,” he says again. “Kara, I love you. I never stopped. When I look at you, it's like the time we've lost doesn't even matter. Nailing that cheating fucker's coffin shut, making sure you're safe and loved against me tonight and every night after...that's all we've got to worry about. When I look at you, I see the sexiest, smartest, and most gorgeous woman in the whole damned universe. Same woman who said 'yes' to me all those years ago, who I'm hoping will say it again.”
My heart hits meltdown. It's not made to take this much happiness and pain, to be tossed from heaven to hell and back to earth again in a matter of days.
Before I can say anything, he pushes his finger softly over my lips. “Don't say it now. There's a time and place for that, love. I proposed to you once like a little boy, and when it happens again, it's going to be a man asking to put a ring on your hand.”
He's growling when he lifts my arm, lacing my fingers into his. God, they feel so right.
So perfectly, undeniably, impossibly right that I'd probably overrule my sane side and agree to marry him tonight if he just said the words.
Instead, he starts leading me to his car. “You okay with leaving your ride parked here tonight? I'll send for someone from the company to get it in the morning.”
“Of course.” Saying it is the last little thing I remember before I'm tucked into the warm leather seat next to him, the instrument panels lighting our faces in dull blue light, taking the winding roads into town.
It's really happening.
Holy shit!
It starts to sink in when Ryan's hand goes to my thigh just as we're getting into Split Harbor. He rubs circles there, each lap like a shock to my core, obliterating the night's emotional storm in rays of sweltering heat, want, and need.
I don't bother directing him to the guest parking. He pulls along the curb, parks, and several seconds later, he's opening the passenger door and lifting me into his arms.
He carries me all the way through the door, and then straight up. Jacob isn't at the front desk to see us, thankfully. He respects the Draytons too much, just like everyone else in town. I'm sure he'd start dialing Reg right away if he saw another man leading me to the elevator, which has had a lot of work done lately because some mad man laid his fists to it, breaking the mirrors on the walls.
Upstairs, I reach for my keys, but I fumble several times. He's insatiable. Ryan slams me against the door, his mouth crushing mine. We're feeding a lust neither of us can handle with every kiss, surrendering ourselves to a greater power that won't be satisfied until we're naked, sweating, and totally spent.
He snatches me up in his arms again as soon as I get the door unlocked. I'm laughing when he carries me over the threshold.
It's everything I imagined five years ago, on what should've been our wedding night, entering our first place alone as man and wife.
“Upstairs,” I say, guiding him through our place. He doesn't stop to inspect anything.
His hands are all over my ass. Cupping, squeezing, forcing me to imagine everything that's coming next. I feel like it's a hundred and ten degrees when I think about his big, rough hands ripping off my clothes, rolling my nipples, bending me over.
His palms, slapping both cheeks if I don't ride him hard enough. God.
Not that I think I'll need any help in that department. After months – hell, years – of sub-par sex or nothing at all, I'm starving.
My purse drops as soon as we're next to the bed. Ryan starts tearing at my clothes, and I don't resist, moaning when he pulls one breast from my blouse, pushes down my bra, and bends me over the bed while his teeth pull on my nipple.
Oh, shit. Yes!
He sucks and licks for one outstanding minute. It's so good and hot and sudden I swear I'm about to come on the spot. But he pulls away before I can, pins my shoulders against the bed, watching me while I pant and writhe. My entire body begs for more.
“I'm clean, babe, in case you wondered,” he says.
I smile. It's sweet that he still cares. It also makes me a little jealous.
No, I don't hold it against him that he's been with other women – he's only human. I've been busy with Reg, deep in more kink than I ever wanted, and the wrong kind, too. But imagining him fucking anyone except me right now makes me want it more.
“I'm on the pill,” I say. Thinking about taking him skin-on-skin, feeling him erupt deep inside me, sends a delicious tingle through every nerve.
That hot, sly smile hanging on his lips gets wider. He doesn't say another word. I watch in awe as he starts pulling off his suit, piece by piece.
First the jacket, then the tie around his neck. His fingers work each button loose. When he throws his shirt off his chest and lets it drop to the floor, I gasp.
The tapestry covering his rock hard muscles wasn't there before. It's rich, dark, fiery ink. What looks like dark skies spewing lightning through clouds, and a tiny boat rowing out to stormy seas, where a dragon pokes its head up with a ferocious smile.
The lightning ripples outward, tapering into stripes that go down his arms. Each one looks like a band stretched across his massive biceps, down to his wrists.
Now, I know why he needs to wear full suits everyday. Anything cut low, too business casual, and the whole world will know what a freak lurks underneath the whiz entrepreneur.
“When did you get that?” I ask him, sitting up on the bed so I can touch it. His skin feels warm, smooth, delightful beneath my fingertips.
“Been a work-in-progress since I set up shop in Seattle. A little of my sub-conscious working its way out on my skin, I guess.”
“A little?” I wrinkle my nose and smile. “It's amazing, Ryan. Whoever did this work has crazy talent. Not like the amateurs here.”
“Here?” He raises an eyebrow. “Are you telling me you're hiding something on that beautiful skin?”
I blush, and don't say anything. It's his job to find out.
He moves faster, drawing off his belt, kicking down his trousers. He leaves the huge, throbbing bulge underneath his boxers to taunt me while he locks me up in his arms, pushes one hand below my waist, and starts undressing me.
He isn't finished until I'm down to just my panties and the stockings underneath my long dress. They're sexy for an autumn outfit. He growls his agreement into my ear, kissing at my neck, fisting my blond hair in his hands and pulling. Hard.
When his free hand starts plumping my breasts, I'm done.
My knees buckle. I have to lean back into the bed for support. Beyond ready for him to throw me down, rip away the sopping wet mess between my legs, and fuck me like I've missed for too many years.
He's rougher than I remember. His hands move with the confidence of a man who's learned a few things over our absence. His touch, his lips, his teeth all coax different points on my body into one steaming, sensual pulse.
I need this. Fuck, do I ever.
Everything he does starts so delicate, and quickly turns wild. His soft, teasing lips take mine when he twists my head. His tongue conquers, slipping in and out of my mouth, a crude promise hinting everything to come.
“Ohhh,” I sputter when his hand glides down my belly, brushing my side, pushing below the waistband to my panties. “Oh, yeah.”
Yeah. Everything I've ever wanted oozes in that word when his fingers find my slick folds, run up and down them like he's teasing me with the head of his cock. He spreads his hand to cup the warm, dripping mound dying for his heat.
“I see it” he growls, distracting me with his fingers when he finds the tattoo along my side, hugging my right hip. “It's beautiful, babe. Even if it's a little sad.”
It's a pitch black heart, split in two pieces, melting like it's wax over fire. For a second, I ignore the pulse between my legs to marvel at how I've had it for almost four years. I got it during the dark days when I'd just flunked school and moved home, empty and rudderless.
/>
“You know, you're the first one who's ever seen it and given a damn,” I say, wrapping my hands around his handsome neck. “I've almost had it for four years. Not once did Reg ever ask.”
His eyes narrow, and he silences me with a kiss. When he pulls away, his hand is back in my hair, pulling harder than before. “Fuck him, and fuck everything he did, too, baby girl. You can tell me all about your ink after you're done coming, dripping my seed.”
“Shit, that sounds –“
Amazing never gets out. His fingers press back into my panties, and this time they're coming off. One hot, angry jerk shoves them down my legs. He drops to his knees, kissing his way back up my thighs.
His breath teases, entices, quickening the tremor in my leg. I swear to God, if he doesn't put his face there right now, I'm going to –
Ryan grabs my legs, holding them apart. His lips taste my pussy for the first time in forever, and it's hard to even stand.
The tongue I've missed for an eternity goes to work.
Licking. Sucking. Vibrating his growl each time he runs its tip through my folds, devouring me like he can't get enough.
He inhales my scent. I struggle to breathe at all. I flop over at the waist, grabbing the edge of the bed, fighting the urge in my legs to close, to soften the merciless wave crashing through me each time he brings me closer to completion.
His hands won't let me go anywhere. I'm his willing prisoner, captive to his mouth, and it gives me the most exquisite torture a woman can experience.
There's ripples in my thighs by the time he brings his attention to my clit. I'm panting, moaning each time his tongue flicks my hot little bud. One hand climbs higher up my leg; up, up, up, until his fingers stop near my ass, grazing the very center.
“God, yes!” I pant, my eyes clenching shut. I'm bracing for a firestorm. “Ryan, don't stop. Ryan, fuck! I'm about to –“
He preempts me. Two stiff fingers push gently into my ass while his teeth pull my clit. He holds it, smothers it, flogs it like it needs to be punished for missing his mouth for this many years.
Maybe, just maybe, it does. Before I can reconcile anything in my brain, my muscles coil up and everything goes blinding white.
