by Shelly Bell
The image was blurry, but there was no mistaking the person on the other side of her door. Her heart simultaneously ached and jumped for joy.
What was Ryder doing here?
She didn’t allow her hopes to get up. Maybe he was there solely to visit Maddox. After all, he knew she would never deny him the right to see his son.
She smoothed her hand over her frizzy hair, then opened the door.
The first thing she noticed was his hair had gotten longer.
She liked it.
A lot.
But he’d also lost weight. His cheekbones were more pronounced and his blue sweater was big on him.
That she didn’t like.
As she took in the rest of him, she almost melted right there on the spot. He was wearing the sweater he’d worn the night they’d met.
Was it a coincidence?
“Hi, Jane.” There was apprehension in his eyes. “Can I come in?”
Oh. Right. How long had she been staring at him? She took a step backward to give him the space to move inside. “Of course.”
There wasn’t much to her apartment. Once he came inside, they were already in her living room. She didn’t watch TV and most of the furniture from the other apartment had been Dreama’s, so her living room was empty. “I’d offer you a seat, but…”
“That’s fine,” he said softly. “I don’t need a chair for what I’m here for.”
She inhaled his scent, taking it deep into her lungs. God, she’d missed it. Missed him.
There had been so many nights she’d dreamed of him and had woken up throbbing and wet. But she hadn’t touched herself or relieved the ache pulsing inside of her. Nothing would satisfy her but Ryder.
He stared at her with such intensity, she had to drop her gaze.
“Oh. Um…” She tugged on the bottom of her sweatshirt as her heart thumped erratically. “Maddox is sleeping.”
“That’s okay.” He stalked toward her, pushing her back against the wall. “Because what, or rather, who I’m here for…is you.”
“Me?” she said breathlessly.
“I’ve given you space and now I’m taking it back. I know being with me comes with a risk, but I’m not going to let you drive me away. My life isn’t complete without you and Maddox. I love you, Jane.”
Her body heated as he pressed against her, and for the first time in a month, she felt alive.
He was here.
Fighting for her.
And it was time for her to fight for him. “I love you too. I’m sorry I pushed you away. Ryd—”
Sealing his lips over hers, he stole the words out of her mouth. Which was fine because the second he’d kissed her, her mind had gone blank. It was as if all the words they’d been holding inside tumbled out through their kiss, making speech unnecessary.
He tugged her sweatshirt over her head and as he removed his sweater, she yanked off both her panties and sweatpants. It only took a moment more before they were both completely naked.
When he lifted her off the ground, she wrapped her legs around him and guided his cock inside of her. “Fuck me, Ryder.”
“God, I’ve missed you,” he said reverently. “And being inside you. You feel so good around me.” He suddenly stilled. “Shit, I forgot the condom.”
“We don’t need one. I’m on the birth control shot now.”
Pinning her to the wall, he stretched her wide with his cock as he drove himself fully inside her. “Thank the fucking stars because it would have been torture to pull out.”
She held on for dear life, digging her fingernails into his shoulder blades. He slammed himself into her over and over until they both groaned as they climaxed together.
He collapsed onto the carpet, bringing her down with him, and pulled her onto his lap. She put her ear over his heart and listened to his racing heart. “I didn’t push you away because of anything you did. I pushed you away because I doubted myself. Loving you is easy and I haven’t had much easy in my life. I was afraid to trust it.”
He tipped up her chin. “You love me?”
How could she not?
“From the minute you propositioned me up on Mackinac,” she admitted.
His brows wrinkled. “That’s not what I remember. I seem to recall you were the one who propositioned me.”
“What?” She sat up straight. “No, I didn’t.”
He smiled. “You specifically said ‘fuck me.’”
She rolled her eyes. “I was talking to myself. You’d just pointed out that my shirt was misbuttoned.”
“We’ll have to agree to disagree.”
She giggled. Giggled. “You’re incorrigible.”
His hand curled around the back of her neck. “And you love me.”
“And I love you.”
He nodded once. “Good. Because I love you too.” The smile fell from his face. “But I have to tell you something even more important.”
She steeled herself for bad news. “What is it?”
“This apartment is hideous,” he said, shuddering in revulsion. “I don’t even know how you can stand to look at it. But I have a solution.” He swept his thumb over her bottom lip. “Move in with me. You and Maddox. Don’t move to Florida.”
“Florida?” How had he gotten the impression she was moving to Florida? “What are you talking about?”
“Isabella told me you were moving back there. She said you’d packed your car already.”
“My car was packed,” she explained, “because I was moving to this apartment. Isabella played you.”
That little matchmaker.
Ryder snatched her wrist and tumbled her onto her back. Apparently ready for round two, he slid his cock inside her. “Well, there’s only one person I want to play with…and that’s you.”
EPILOGUE
Looking into the backyard, Jane dried off the platter and placed it on the kitchen counter. Laughter and squeals of her littlest guests floated in through the open window. She couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day. Despite the news reports, the rain had held off and instead they’d gotten a hot, sunny day perfect for playing on the swing set and cooling off in a kiddie pool. Their newly adopted pug sat at her feet, looking up at her with pleading puppy eyes.
“Sorry, Otis. No going outside until we finish dessert,” she told him as if he could actually understand her. With thirty guests in the yard, five of them under the age of three, she didn’t want the dog snatching hot dogs and burgers out of the little fingers that held them. He’d gotten plenty of human food already that day since Maddox decided to share his breakfast with his furry best friend.
She and Maddox had moved into Ryder’s house the day that she and Ryder had reconciled. Although she’d loved his décor, she’d added her own personal touches to make the house a home. A few throw cushions here and there. Framed photos of Maddox. Pictures from their wedding, a small affair that had been attended by their closest friends and ring bearer Maddox, dressed in a tiny tuxedo. And lots and lots of toys.
She grabbed the matches and stuck them in the pocket of her shorts, then slid the birthday cake onto the platter. Isabella had designed the cake in the shape of a bright yellow dump truck with crushed sandwich cookies as the dirt. Maddox loved them so much that truck was his first word. Much to the delight of his father and to her absolute horror, Maddox pronounced it as “fuck.”
The patio door swung open and a sopping wet Ryder slogged inside with a towel around his shoulders and dripped water onto the hardwood floor. “Ready for the cake?”
In response, Otis hopped to his feet and wagged his tail. Ryder opened the screen door and let their dog run outside to go play with their guests.
“What happened to you?” she asked, giggling at the sight of her drenched husband.
“I tripped over a ball and fell in the pool,” he mumbled sheepishly. At her increased laughter, he stalked to her, his evil intentions clear in his eyes. “Ha-ha. Seems only fair that I not be the only one wet.”
&nb
sp; Shrieking, she tried to run, but he caught her by her waist and yanked her to him before she could get away. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, but the joke was on him because even as the cold water soaked the back of her clothes, her body heated in his embrace, just as it always did. And when he rubbed his hardened cock against her ass, she knew she wasn’t the only one aroused.
He lifted her ponytail out of the way and sucked on her neck. “Are you wet, Jane?”
Her eyes closed on a quiet moan. “You know I am,” she whispered. Even more than normal these days thanks to her secret.
Ryder walked her forward until she was trapped between the sink and his hard body. He reached around her waist and unbuttoned her shorts.
“What are you doing?” She glanced nervously at the door even while her core clenched in anticipation. “The kids are busy playing, but what if one of our friends walks in and catches us?”
“Let me worry about that. I need to feel you come on my fingers.” He slipped a hand down her shorts and underneath her panties and slid his fingers through her folds. “You’re even wetter than me, aren’t you, filthy girl? God, you’re soaked.”
It was so wrong. They should at least go into the bedroom or use the now smaller playroom, the space reserved for just the two of them hidden behind Maddox’s playroom filled with children’s toys. But knowing they could get caught just added an extra layer of deliciousness. She pushed her ass against him in invitation. “Please.”
“Please what?” he muttered into her neck. He bit her lightly. “You know I like you to ask me for what you want.”
She still wasn’t an expert in dirty talk—in fact, she tended to blush from head to toe whenever she did it—but she was vastly improving as she grew more comfortable with her sexuality and with her husband.
“Touch my clit,” she ordered. “Put your fingers inside me and fuck me. Make me come.”
“My pleasure.” He shoved at least two fingers inside her, while his thumb rubbed circles over her swollen clitoris.
She was so fucking horny all the time. It was like this before, but back then, she’d only had her own fingers to soothe the ache.
She much preferred to come by her husband’s hand.
Or mouth.
Or cock.
Or occasionally, just his words.
Hell, these days, all he practically had to do is look at her and she convulsed with an orgasm.
The storm inside her built quickly. Everything tightened, from her fingers wrapped around the counter to her toes in her sandals. Stars exploded behind her eyelids as waves of hot liquid bliss poured through her sex, then shot outward toward her limbs.
Rocked by powerful aftershocks, she hung her head forward. She was temporarily sated and much more relaxed now. Ready to rejoin the party. But yanking down her shorts to her thighs, her husband obviously had other ideas.
He lined himself up to her soaked opening and pushed his way in on one not-so-gentle thrust. Standing this way, bent forward at the counter with her legs close together, she could feel every inch of him inside of her.
“My turn,” he said into her ear. “You just stand there like a good girl and let me love you.” He drove himself into her and took her hard, no longer seeking her pleasure but his own.
That didn’t matter to her body, though. Every thrust sent her climbing higher toward another release. “I’m going to come again.”
His teeth sank into her earlobe. “If you come, I’ll have to punish you later.”
She was the worst submissive ever.
Or maybe the best.
Guess it depended on how you looked at it.
Because the words only managed to act like fuel to a flame. She didn’t just come. She detonated. Her inner walls clamped down on his cock, over and over in waves so pleasurable, Ryder had to cover her mouth with his hand to keep her from alerting all their guests with her screams.
Two more thrusts and Ryder groaned into the back of her neck. She could feel his cock twitching inside of her with each powerful spurt of come.
Mindful of their company, he didn’t pause before withdrawing from her body and zipping them both up. He flipped her around and gave her a passionate kiss. “Don’t think I’m going to forget you’re due a punishment.”
She smiled up at him. “Oh no. Not a spanking,” she said sarcastically.
“You know, it’s not a punishment if you enjoy it.”
She shrugged. “Okay. I’ll just pretend the next time you bend me over my desk and spank me that I don’t like it.”
After resigning from her job at McKay, she took over Novateur’s sales and marketing duties from Ryder so that he could remain focused on software and hardware design. She loved that she was not only able to work with her husband, but she could also bring Maddox into work with them now and then.
At some point, Tristan and Isabella would move back to the city after she graduated and he’d likely return to his position as head of sales, but for now, she was happy with this arrangement.
Besides, at the rate Novateur was growing, even without manufacturing completely autonomous kitchens, they were headed toward needing all the employees they could manage. It wouldn’t surprise her if they had to hire additional people soon to keep up with the business.
She enjoyed it being just the two of them, she and Ryder, working together. They tended to keep long hours during the week, but thankfully they’d hired a nanny who Maddox adored. When they came home each day, they’d devote a few hours to their son, and then when he fell asleep for the night, she and Ryder would connect not as coworkers, but as lovers and husband and wife, down in the playroom or in their bedroom.
Their scenes always began with a spanking. It didn’t matter if Ryder used his hand, a paddle, a crop, or something more imaginative, but the second he made contact with her ass, all the stress melted away.
She didn’t know why it helped, but it did.
Guess she was just wired that way.
She’d stopped questioning it.
She reached up and placed a hand on her husband’s cheek. “Did you get in touch with Finn?”
Ryder’s lips turned up in a small smile, but she didn’t miss the sadness lingering behind it. “He sends his love. Hopes Maddox enjoys his gift.”
They hadn’t seen him since the night Ciara had died.
But he did check in once a month. He wouldn’t tell them where he was, but they’d received a Christmas card from him with a postmark from Maryland.
She hoped wherever he was, he found the kind of peace that she and Ryder had found.
Jane threw her arms around Ryder’s waist and smiled up at him. “What one-year-old wouldn’t enjoy his very own train to ride on?”
Between the Lancasters, Lawsons, and Agostos, Maddox would never want for anything. She and Ryder might not have much of a biological family, but they had created their own. And once Dreama beat her depression and returned to the land of the living, she would take her rightful place as Maddox’s aunt.
“Did Finn say when he’s coming home?” she asked.
“No. Still won’t even tell me where he is.” He sighed and frustration radiated off him. “It’s been months and all I get is a phone call every now and then. I’m this close to hiring Wyatt to find him for me so I can go drag him back here.”
They’d met Wyatt Agosto, Dreama’s cousin, while visiting Dreama in the hospital. He was young, around Jane’s age, and had just opened his own private detective agency. Ryder took an instant liking to him and had hired him to find out if there was any credibility to Keane’s assertion that he had another son somewhere out there.
For now, they were keeping the information to themselves.
Not even Finn knew.
Jane stroked Ryder’s arm. “After everything that happened, he’s going through a rough time.”
“That’s why he needs his family. Hell, you lost your mother. Finn and I lost our father. He’s not the only one who’s grieving.”
“B
ut it’s different. We have each other to rely on.” She rested her head on his chest. “I can’t imagine what it would be like if I ever lost you.”
He kissed the top of her head. “You don’t have to. I’m not going anywhere and neither are you. You, me, Maddox…we’re a family.”
She tilted her head up and smiled. “Now is probably a good time to tell you that in seven months, our family is going to be one bigger.”
His eyes popped wide. “You’re pregnant?”
“About eight weeks. I wasn’t sure, so I took a test just before the guests arrived. I was going to wait—”
He dropped to his knees and pressed a gentle kiss to her lower abdomen. When he looked up at her, his eyes appeared a bit misty. Not that he’d ever admit to it. “Whatever you need this time, I’m here for you. I promise you, you’ll never be alone again.”
The screen door leading to the backyard slammed against the wall and Isabella appeared in the kitchen. “Hey, Jane…” Seeing Ryder on his knees, she turned as red as her hair. “Oops, sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to let you know Tristan and I managed to get Maddox in the high chair, so he’s ready for his cake.”
“Oh, you didn’t…” She gestured to Ryder, who was laughing his ass off. “I mean we weren’t…” She smiled at her friend. “We’ll be right there.”
As Isabella went back outside, Ryder’s cell rang, which was odd since everyone who mattered, other than Finn, was currently in their yard. She was even more surprised when he answered it.
While he listened to whoever was on the other end, Jane grabbed everything else they needed to take outside. Ryder didn’t say much and the call lasted less than a minute.
He stared at her in shock. “That was Wyatt. He’s got a lead. My father was telling the truth.” Running his fingers through his hair, he blew out a breath. “I have another brother.”
“Wyatt found him?”
“No. Apparently, he was adopted. Wyatt hasn’t been able to trace him yet, but he’s confident he will.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe it.”
