“Don’t worry, just take care of him.”
Marcus leaves, and I turn, going over to the bed, where Ryker’s lying stretched out, his right arm over his face and his chest heaving. I close the bedroom door and sit down next to him, laying a hand over his heart. “You okay?”
Ryker takes his arm away from his eyes and looks at me in the soft light filtering through the shaded windows, swallowing. “I . . . I watched him die, Sarah. I thought I’d feel different about it.”
“How do you feel?” I ask, feeling his heart hammering in his body.
“Good . . . and hollow,” he says. “I did what needed to be done. Not for vengeance—that’s what I feel hollow about—but for you. I’m glad I killed him.”
“So am I,” I whisper. I lean down, softly kissing him on the lips before tracing his lips with my tongue. Ryker stirs at my caress, his hands coming up to pull me down onto his body, kissing me back.
“You know you don’t have to,” he says when we pause for breath.
I smile, stroking his face as I straddle his hips and run my fingers through his hair. “I don’t, which is what makes you so wonderful. But Ryker, you’ve won your prize. Now take what’s yours.”
He looks up, the exhaustion dropping in an instant from his face as my words make an impact. He reaches up, pulling me down onto him and kissing me hard. My breasts smash against his chest as he reaches down, crushing me to him and grabbing my ass, massaging it and setting my pussy on fire with need.
“Yes.” I groan as Ryker’s hand slides inside my sweatpants and strokes my skin. Pushing away, I pull my shirt off, rolling off him to lie on my back, submitting to him completely.
Ryker gets to his knees, tearing his shirt off and getting off the bed long enough to push his pants down, stepping out of his boots. “Strip for me, Sarah. Now.”
His command is like nothing that Jacob ever did. I feel sexy and powerful as I push my sweatpants down, playfully kicking them off before lifting my hips and pushing down my panties. When they’re off, I spread my legs for Ryker, holding my knees apart. “Do you really think I’m desirable?”
Ryker’s eyes tear themselves from my wet pussy to look me in the eye, and in his gaze, I see something that I thought didn’t exist any longer. He wants me, but at the same time . . . he respects me. He wants more than just to fuck me and prove his manly dominance. A lot more.
“I think you’re the most beautiful woman in the world,” Ryker says, climbing onto the bed and taking ahold of my left ankle. He adjusts my legs so that he’s in between, his cock standing out thick and hard from between his legs as he climbs higher. The whole time, he never breaks eye contact with me, but instead, he slips his hands behind my knees, slowly curling me up until the thick root of his cock brushes against my pussy lips, resting there and sending trembles through my body. “I think you’re an angel.”
Ryker starts thrusting his cock slowly, leaning down and kissing me and letting our tongues twist and tangle around each other as his cockhead rubs between my lips and over the head of my clit. I wrap my legs around him, hopelessly unable to resist him as my body is thrilled with every slow thrust, wetness coating Ryker until, with a stretching sensation that I never want to forget, he fills me with one long, deep thrust of his cock.
“God, you’re fucking perfect,” I hiss as he grinds against me, stretching me and electrifying nerves that still are not too sure they even exist. “Ryker, one request?”
“What’s that?” he asks, putting his hands on the mattress on each side of my head and looking down at me as he pins me down. “Am I going too hard?”
I smile and reach up, cupping the back of his head. “No. Not every time, but . . . give it to me as hard as you want. Right now, I’m a hundred percent yours, and I want you to take me that way.”
Ryker nods, a smirk coming to his sexy lips as he pulls back, pausing at my entrance. “Just remember, you asked for it. And if it’s too much, just say ‘please’.”
Before I can reply, he thrusts hard, my eyes flying open as his hips smack against my ass and my pussy feels like a pleasure explosion’s gone off inside it. I let go of Ryker’s neck to claw at his shoulders, holding on for dear life as he pounds my body with abandon.
It’s . . . there are no words to describe how it feels. I never thought I could let myself be put into a position of being like this again. Ryker risked his life to gain my freedom, and tonight, I give it to him, and he’s rewarding me by giving me the absolute most mindblowing fuck of my life.
I wrap my legs around him tightly, trying to squeeze and give as good as I’m getting, but it’s no use. Ryker’s a force of nature, thrilling me with every stroke of his cock, every inch of my skin tingling as his hard chest muscles rub against my nipples and our flesh seems to become nothing but an unending connection.
Time slips away again, carried away in the tide of our panting breath, the sweat coating our skin and making everything both slicker and more on fire. Ryker captures my mouth in another intense kiss before licking my ear and nipping at it with his teeth. “Nobody . . . nobody better than you.”
His words trigger my release, and I moan, digging in my fingernails as I come hard, pulling him deep into me. Ryker shudders, his cock swelling before he comes too, the feeling of his heat inside me drawing out the moment and making it feel like it’ll last forever.
Of course, it can’t, but as we collapse, lying next to each other, Ryker pulls me close, letting me rest my head on his chest. I feel both of us start to drift off, and that’s fine. I’m sure if anything needs to happen, Marcus will wake us.
“Thank you,” Ryker mumbles sleepily just as the gray curtain of sleep fogs my brain. “Thank you for giving me a few days of what I’ve always wanted. I only wish . . .”
I don’t hear anymore as sleep pulls me the rest of the way down, taking with it my reply.
Chapter 15
Ryker
The streets glitter in diamond lights below me as the last of the sun disappears below the horizon. I look down at it, surveying my kingdom. I’m the King of the City now. The meeting with the mayor this afternoon, just the two of us, with no press, no retainers, just two guys having a couple of muffins in the park, cemented my status.
I have the keys to the city. I’m the king, and everyone knows it. Nobody’s going to come after me for Jacob’s death, not until they think they can gain an advantage. No one loved him. They only feared him.
I hear the click of high heels behind me, and I turn, momentarily stunned as Sarah comes into the living room, looking for the first time like the Hollywood starlet she used to be. I’d told Marcus to make sure she was outfitted properly for whatever she wants to do, and as usual, my brother came through. “You look . . . amazing.”
Sarah blushes slightly, tucking a long strand of her lustrous black hair behind her ear and smiling a little. “You look a lot better after a shower, a shave, and a nap too. I–I wanted to wait until you were free before I said goodbye.”
I look behind her, and I see that she’s got a small backpack already, her few things there with the ridiculous shoes Marcus got her sticking out of the top. Sarah looks over her shoulder, seeing what I’m looking at and laughing slightly. “Yeah, I decided to keep them. They’re really comfortable. And they’ll remind me of this.”
“Where will you go?” I ask huskily, my throat not wanting to work. “Back to Hollywood?”
Sarah shakes her head, looking down. “No. Let’s face it—that part of my life ended a long time ago.”
I nod, not sure what to say. “So . . .?”
“I thought maybe I’d take the money that’s now in my accounts and go to the beach for a while. It’s been five years since I left this city on my own, and well . . . it’d help.”
I swallow, stepping forward. “The beach sounds nice.”
Sarah nods, looking at me with confusion for a little bit before she steps forward and puts her hands on my shoulders. “Thank you, Ryker. You probably saved my life. You definitely ga
ve me a chance at a real life.”
In her heels, we’re the same height, and when she kisses me, I feel something inside me loosen, something that I’ve kept under wraps for too long. When she goes to step away, I grab her wrist, not hard, but still enough to stop her. She whips her head back, her hair flying over her shoulder as she looks at me with those beautiful dark eyes as they widen in shock and maybe . . . hope?
“I don’t want you to go,” I say. “I want you to stay.”
I let go of her wrist, and she turns, her face twisting in a rich play of emotions as fear, desire, and I don’t know what else runs through her. “Ryker, you promised me that when you’d killed Jacob, I could go free.”
I nod, reaching out more tentatively and taking her hand. “I did. And you deserve your freedom more than anyone in the whole fucking world. And I will keep my word. You can leave if you want, but I want you, Sarah.”
“As your prisoner?” she asks, and I shake my head, stepping forward and putting my hand around her waist, pulling her to me.
“No. Next to me. Every king needs his queen.”
Sarah puts her hands on my chest, pushing away gently. “Ryker, I . . . I want you too. But I can’t be number two. I won’t do to you what Marcus said your mother did.”
At this moment, I could damn near kill my brother, but he’s right, and Sarah’s right too. She can’t be number two. I’m the king, and my kingdom deserves a king who is focused on it first. I pause, and Sarah steps back, going to her bag and picking it up. “Goodbye, Ryker.”
She steps into the elevator, and as the doors close, I know what I need to do. I run as hard as I can for the stairs, pulling my new phone out of my pocket as I pelt down the stairs. “Marcus!”
“What do you need?” Marcus asks. “I’m at the club, enjoying some drinks. Thought we were taking the night off?”
“Get over here. I need to talk to you. Now!” I say, hanging up before he can reply. I put my phone in my pocket, pausing at the thirty-third floor and praying that the taxi is slow in coming to pick Sarah up.
I’m gasping for breath by the time I hit the latch bar on the door and emerge into the building’s foyer. Even though I’m going down, running down forty-eight flights of stairs on a dead sprint is fucking hard. I cross the space, running out into the parking lot just as the taxi starts to pull away. “SARAH!”
The taxi stops, and I run up, pulling open the door. She’s sitting there, her eyes wide, and the taxi driver is looking over his shoulder at me like I’m a psycho. Hell, maybe at this moment, I am, but I know what needs to be done. “Ryker?”
I reach in, taking her by the hand and helping her out of the car before I pull her into a hug. “Sarah, stay. Not as number two but as number one. I don’t want this fucking city.”
Sarah’s shocked, looking into my eyes as my words sink in. “You mean . . .?”
“Give me twenty minutes. You can sit in when Marcus gets here. I promise you, it’ll change both of our lives.”
Sarah nods, closing the door on the cab. The taxi driver honks his horn, looking out his window. “Hey, lady, you going to the airport or what?”
Sarah turns, shaking her head. “Sorry, no. Sorry to have wasted your time.”
The driver looks like he’s about to bitch about it when he finally recognizes me, and before he can get worried, I pull my money clip out of my pocket and peel off two one hundred dollar bills, handing them through the window to him. “A tip, for your excellent service. Have a good evening.”
“You’re fucking nuts,” Marcus says, looking at me and Sarah in shock as he takes in what I just repeated to him for the third time. “You don’t want to be king?”
“No,” I reply, holding Sarah’s hand. “Some things are more important than money and power.”
“And you want me to take over? Ryker, I’m not the brains of this operation. You know that—” Marcus says, and I hold up a hand, stopping him.
“You’ve got plenty of brains, Marcus. And I’m not abandoning you. I’m just saying that . . . well, let the city think that I’m still the king for a while if you want. I don’t give a fuck. But the day-to-day operations, the real power, that’s you. I’ll still be around for advice if you really need it. Face it, though, Marcus—you’ve been running a lot of it by yourself for a while. Half the time I ask for things, you’ve already done them.”
He shakes his head, looking down. “You’re fucking nuts.”
“You keep saying that,” Sarah says with a chuckle. “To quote from my previous life, I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Marcus looks at Sarah, then chuckles. “I’m even more jealous of you now, Ryker. Got the crown, got the girl, and now you’re just giving up the crown because the girl’s more important. All right, man, if that’s what you want. Can you gimme six months to work a smooth transition? Like you, I don’t want a crime war in this city.”
I look at Sarah, who nods, and I offer Marcus my hand. “Six months. Minus this next week. I’m taking Sarah on vacation tomorrow. Then yeah, I’ll give you six months of help.”
Marcus takes my hand, shaking it. “Okay, then. Well, I guess my night out just became more of a celebration for myself. I’ll give you two your privacy. I already figured on staying out all night. Oh, and I’ll start looking for my own place. No offense, but you two . . . you’re gonna need your own digs.” Marcus gets up and leaves, giving us both a laugh and a wave as he gets in the elevator. “Good job, Rygirl!”
The doors close, and Sarah laughs, turning and putting her arms around my neck. “You realize Marcus is right? You just gave up an entire kingdom.”
“And gained something far more valuable,” I reply, putting my hands on her waist. “I’m not saying it’s going to be perfect. I can’t cook for shit, although maybe now, I’ve got the spare time to learn how. And I know it’s not guaranteed between us, but I know when I want something, and I want you.”
Sarah grins, leaning in to whisper in my ear. “So, Ryker Johns, how about you take me to your bed, and we celebrate your losing your throne?”
I growl, picking her up in my arms and carrying her toward my bedroom. “Well then, I suppose we’ll just have to go shopping for a new set of lingerie before we go on vacation, because I might just tear them off you.”
Sarah chuckles, wrapping her legs around my waist as we make our way down the hallway toward my bedroom. “My King.”
I kiss her and lay her on my bed, looking into her beautiful eyes. “My Queen.”
And that’s all I fucking need.
Chapter 16
Ryker
The sun barely peeks through the wall of windows in my penthouse bedroom, but it’s enough to rouse me from sleep. Okay, so it’s not just the sun. After a long night of ‘work’, I’ve gotten used to sleeping until the sun’s high in the sky. Maybe my early awakening is because of the beautiful form in my arms, wiggling around softly and pressing her ass against my quickly hardening cock. I chuckle, kissing the back of her neck as I pull her closer, pressing my hips forward and running my hand over her stomach. “Mmm, you are wonderful to wake up to.”
Sarah hums, sighing and half gasping as she parts her legs and lets my cock slip between them, not inside yet, but we both know that’s what we want. “Good morning. Is this something you’re going to tell me every morning?”
“Well, it’s more true than ever,” I murmur, inhaling her intoxicating scent. “You make my life as close to perfect as I could imagine. Better, actually. Not that I ever imagined that avenging my father’s murder would lead me to fall in love with the most beautiful woman in the world.”
“Please.” Sarah chuckles, sighing happily as she squeezes her thighs around my cock and I slowly start thrusting over her pussy lips. “I’m just a washed-up teenage fantasy.”
“You,” I counter, bringing my hand up to cup her breast and rub my thumb over her nipple, making it become diamond-hard before I roll it between my forefinger and thumb, “are far from a washed
-up teenage fantasy.”
Sarah moans again, and I can feel her wetness coating the shaft of my cock. We haven’t exactly been ‘safe’, but that’s sort of been the speed and intensity of our relationship. Before, I was too caught up in the whirlwind of everything going on to think about it. Now, the idea that there may be consequences is even more exciting.
“I admit, you make me feel special. I mean, you gave up your kingdom for me.”
“Without you, it wasn’t worth it anyway,” I whisper, stroking her breast just the way she likes. “So I did, and here we are.”
I lift my head to peek at the clock, silently celebrating that it’s so early because we definitely have time for some morning action before I meet Marcus for breakfast. I pull my cock from between her legs, rolling onto my back and pulling Sarah on top of me. It’s one of the things I’ve learned quickly with her. She’s got more than just physical scars, and in the morning, it’s good to let her be on top.
Sarah grins from on top of me before glancing at the clock and seeing the time. “Mmm . . . good morning to you too.”
She slides her hips over my cock, both of us gasping as her lips rub against me and I feel her clit drag down my shaft. Sarah sits up more, and I get a chance to look at the body of a goddess. I reach down, rubbing my hands over her waist and slapping her ass lightly. “I couldn’t wait anymore. Not when you’re in my arms, rubbing that perfect ass of yours against me.”
She reaches down, running her fingers through my light chest hair, eyes locked with mine, her face serious as her hips freeze. “How did I get so lucky? Ry, I thought I would die as Jacob’s prisoner. Thank you for saving me from hell, setting me free.”
My voice is thick as I respond. “You’re the one who saved me. I never thought past knocking Jacob off his throne and making him pay for what he did to my dad. It was all nebulous, just being ‘King of the Streets’. But now, there’s more for me. There’s a future with you.”
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