Mine After Dark

by Marie Force

  “Yes, we are. They’re as old as the house.”

  Without actively making a plan, Riley stood and lowered her to the floor, making sure she made a gentle landing as he came down on top of her. “Better?”

  Looking up at him with big eyes full of emotion, she nodded.

  “We have to maintain some semblance of control here,” he whispered, kissing her neck and rolling her earlobe between his teeth. “We’re out of condoms.”

  “I’m safe if you are.”

  Her words hit him like a punch to the gut, sucking all the air out of him in one big whoosh. “Are you saying…”

  “We don’t need condoms?” Her saucy reply and the expression to match were his undoing.

  “Holy Christ. Hang on to your hat. Things are about to get crazy.”

  She was still laughing when he kissed her with the kind of ravenous hunger he hadn’t known he had in him until her, until she made him want her in a way that had him thinking of white picket fences and forever. Whatever it took to keep her and the feelings that came with her in his life permanently.

  A short time ago, thoughts like those would’ve terrified him and had him running for his life from the threat of being tied down, of being beholden to someone other than himself. But the idea of being tied down by her or beholden to her didn’t scare him at all. Rather, it filled him with a kind of ebullient joy that made him feel like he could climb mountains and scale tall buildings. It made him confident that he could do anything he set his mind to, as long as she was in his life, his bed and his heart.

  The only thing standing between them was the thin cotton of his boxer briefs, but she quickly dispatched them and wrapped her hot hand around his cock, stroking him until he was forced to bite his own lip—hard—to keep from exploding in her hand. Words like desire and passion had never meant much to him until she showed him the true meaning of both words. Desire whipped through him, making every part of him aware of her and the craving need she inspired in him.

  And when she guided him into her body with nothing between them, he staggered from the punch of emotion and the sheer pleasure that had his arms giving out, bringing him down on top of her without a thought as to whether she could withstand his weight.

  She more than withstood it, wrapping her arms and legs around him and making him feel welcome, more at home with her than he’d ever been anywhere.

  “Nik,” he whispered. “This is…” God, she’d turned him into a stammering fool.

  “Mmm, for me, too.” She soothed him with her fingers in his hair, her hand on his back and the lift of her hips as he moved in her.

  He’d never had sex that felt like a nearly religious experience. Raising himself on his elbows, he used his hands to sweep stray strands of hair from her face as he gazed down at her and saw everything he was feeling reflected back at him in the gorgeous brown eyes that looked up at him with such wonder.

  “I love you.” The words were out of his mouth before he took the time to question whether the time was right. Fuck that. The time had never been more right.

  “Riley.” She blinked back tears. “I love you, too.”

  Saying the words, hearing them back from her… Best moment of his life. Hands down. He leaned his forehead against hers, fighting his way through the emotional firestorm. “I’m really, really glad your grandmother’s house sprung a leak.”

  She laughed even as she groaned from the deep thrusts of his cock.

  Making love to her, without a condom, knowing she loved him… It would take a lot to top this.

  * * *

  Being in love, Riley soon discovered, was an all-consuming proposition. If he wasn’t working long days at the Wayfarer, he was with Nikki, helping her prep the kitchen for the renovations or spending hours making love to her, going without sleep so he could have more of her.

  Mac had a dumpster delivered to Eastward Look, and they would start with demo tomorrow.

  After a full week of burning the candle at both ends, he was thrilled to have another weekend to spend exclusively with her. Unlike last weekend, which had happened spontaneously, this time, he packed a bag. He was getting ready to leave his house and head to hers when Finn came in, bringing a blast of cold air with him.

  “Oh, hey, look who it is,” Finn said, his tone dripping in sarcasm. “My former roommate and ex-brother.”

  “Ha-ha, you can’t get rid of me that easily.”

  “Where’re you going, or do I need to ask?”

  “You know where I’m going.”

  “I hope you’re at least getting some if you’re spending every night there.”

  “Don’t,” Riley said, unreasonably pissed at the crass comment. In the past, it would’ve rolled off his back, but not when Nikki was involved.

  “Don’t what?” Finn went into the kitchen and popped open a beer. The house was an absolute disaster, but Riley couldn’t be bothered to take the time to deal with it. “Do what we do? If the rules are changing, you need to clue me in, bro.”

  “This is different.”

  Finn leaned against the counter, arms crossed, beer in hand, and gave him a good looking over. “Different how?” He took a swig of beer, downing half of it.

  “Different in the sense that I don’t want to talk about it. I’ve got to go. Have a good weekend.”

  “That’s it? You’re outta here? See you Monday at work?”

  Riley zipped his coat and turned to his brother. “What do you want me to say, Finn? Whatever it is, just put it out there.”

  “It’s just that we used to hang out and stuff after work, on the weekends, and now I never lay eyes on you except for when we’re working. I’m just checking as to whether you’re planning to be gone all weekend.”

  “I am. Is that a problem?”

  “No problem, but since Dad’s getting married and you’re shacking up with Nikki, maybe I should head home rather than hanging out by myself here.”

  “What about the Wayfarer? Mac is counting on us to get it done in time. And besides, I thought you’d decided to stay.”

  “Plans change, and I’m sure Mac can find someone to replace me.”

  “I thought you were excited to be working on a project with the rest of the family.”

  “I was.” Finn shrugged. “Things change. The offer from Clint is intriguing. I’d like to buy my own place at some point. Could happen a lot faster if I went back to work for him. And besides, how often have we talked about how we went to college to be engineers and are working as carpenters?”

  That topic had come up a lot since they moved “temporarily” to Gansett and ended up staying when Mac offered them jobs. At first, it had been about sticking close to their dad after the shocking end to their parents’ marriage. But that excuse had gone away a long time ago, when their dad started seeing Chelsea.

  “What’re we doing here, Ri?” Finn asked. “We came for a wedding and never left. Is this it? Did we choose this life, or did it choose us? I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately. And Missy wants me to come home.”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Finn. Do not make decisions based on what she wants.”

  “Why not? She’s been part of my life for a long time, and people do grow up and change.”

  “If you go back to her, you’re settling.”

  Finn raised a brow. “And you’re such an expert on women and relationships now?”

  “I only know what it was like when you were with her, and I’d hate to see you go backward after all this time.”

  “The universe seems to be sending me all the signs I need that it’s time to go home. Maybe things with Missy will work out. Maybe they won’t, but I’ll never know if I don’t go home.”

  “I don’t want you to go.”

  Finn laughed. “You won’t even notice I’m gone.”

  “That’s not true. I like working with you and having you here.”

  “You’ve got better things to do than hang out with your brother these days. It’s all good. We don’
t have to be joined at the hip for the rest of our lives. In fact, it’s probably long past time that we went our separate ways.”

  Rile wanted to argue, but he couldn’t. Finn was probably right. They’d been lucky to stay in each other’s daily lives for this long. “Just think it all the way through before you do anything, will you?”

  “Sure. I’ve got an entire weekend with nothing to do but think.”

  An idea occurred to Riley. “Any interest in helping me gut a kitchen tomorrow?”

  Finn groaned. “Seriously? Don’t we already do that shit forty-plus hours a week?”

  “This will be fun, and it’s demo. You love to smash things.”

  “Yeah, I do. I’ll come by. What time is safe to not see anything that’ll scar me for life?”

  “Any time after noon. We like to sleep in.”

  “Aww,” Finn said, dabbing dramatically at his eyes. “My widdle boy is all married and shit.”

  Riley rolled his eyes. “Whatever. See you tomorrow?”

  “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be there. Tell Nicholas she’s going to have to feed me if she wants my free labor.”

  “I’m sure she’ll be fine with that. Hey, we need to make a plan to do something for Dad before the wedding.”

  “I’ll send a text to the others to save the night before and figure out where we should have it.”

  “Sounds good. Have a good night.”

  “You, too, although we both know you will.”

  Riley flashed him the bird on the way out the door. What did it say about him that he couldn’t imagine life without Finn smack in the middle of it? Other than his first year of college, they’d never lived more than an hour from each other and had lived together for years. Their lives were extremely intertwined, not that he’d ever given much thought to that. It had just worked out that way.

  At the thought of Finn leaving Gansett, Riley began to better understand the odd feeling of separation that Nikki had described when she talked about leaving Jordan to pursue her own goals. As he drove toward Eastward Look, he couldn’t wait to see her, to kiss her, to talk to her about Finn, to make love to her. Every night this week, she’d met him at the door, he’d lifted her into his arms and carried her straight to bed. Sometimes they didn’t resurface until the morning, when he would wake up starving and realize he’d missed dinner and never even noticed.

  It was utter madness.

  The only thing marring what had been an otherwise spectacular week was Nikki’s growing concern over the fact that neither she nor her grandmother had heard a word from Jordan, despite frequent attempts to reach her.

  When the truck fishtailed on Sunflower Road, he realized he’d been speeding and slowed down lest an accident keep him from her any longer than he’d already been away. Workdays had never seemed longer than they did lately with her waiting for him.

  While he worked, she made great progress in cleaning out the kitchen and had finalized the design plans with Sydney after they visited the Chesterfield to meet Lizzie James and tour the recently completed renovations. Nikki had come away bubbling with praise for what Lizzie and her husband, Jared, had done to the estate and full of ideas for things she’d like to do at Eastward Look.

  Sydney was taking care of ordering the new cabinets and appliances, while Riley was working through Mac’s channels to procure the building supplies. It was all moving forward. Now, if he could only keep his hands off her long enough to get it done.

  He turned into the driveway, saw the light she’d left on for him, and his heart lurched. Rubbing the aching spot on his chest, he still couldn’t believe the way he felt about her. If this was the feeling that had his cousins acting moonstruck over their spouses, he finally got why they all seemed to have lost their minds in recent years.

  It was a feeling he would do almost anything to hold on to.

  He got out of the truck and jogged to the stairs, the last obstacle in a very long day of obstacles that had kept him from her. The excitement that came from knowing they had three nights and two full days together reminded him of being a kid on Christmas morning, only this was way, way better.

  She’d told him days ago to quit knocking on the door.

  He punched in the code and stepped into the foyer. “Nik?”

  “Coming!” she called from upstairs.

  After leaving his coat and boots in the foyer, he stopped short at the sight of her coming down the stairs, her face flushed with excitement, her eyes bright and her smile warming him all the way through.

  He held out his arms, and she took the leap from the third stair straight into his embrace, wrapping herself around him in a tight hug that put all her best parts into contact with his best parts. Riley walked them straight upstairs.

  “Wait,” she said, laughing as she kissed his face. “I have things to show you.”

  “I’ve waited all damned day. You can show me later.” He’d never behaved this way with any other woman. In the past, civilized sex had usually happened at the end of a date that included dinner, drinks, maybe a movie or dancing. It had never been about the raw need that Nikki aroused in him. Back then, sex had been a satisfying physical release. With her, it was all that and more than he could ever put into words. “You’ve cast some sort of spell on me. I’m never like this.”

  “Like what?”

  “Afraid I’m going to die if I’m not inside you within the next five seconds.”

  “We can’t have that,” she said, faking alarm.

  “No, we really can’t.”

  Chapter 19

  He put her down next to the bed and tugged at the sweatshirt she wore over yoga pants. “Get naked as fast as you can. The situation is critical. Code red.”

  Nikki giggled as she raised her arms to help him remove the shirt. “Funny you should mention red.”

  Riley’s eyes bugged when he caught sight of her lacy red bra. “Whoa,” he said, nuzzling into the deep valley between her full breasts, which might be his favorite spot on her body, but it was hard to choose just one favorite. “You are so fucking hot.”

  “Didn’t expect that under my so-called work clothes?”

  “Not at all. You’ve totally distracted me from my goal.” He pushed his hands into the back of the formfitting yoga pants and shoved them down over her hips to reveal a matching red lace thong. Dropping to his knees, he put his arms around her and kissed her toned belly.

  She buried her fingers in his hair to hold him there, and for the longest time, he simply breathed her in, the physical urgency tempered by something far sweeter.

  Love for her beat through him like a live current, touching every part of him. He looked up at her gazing down at him and ran his hands over the backs of her legs, up to grasp her supple bottom.

  “Lie back,” he said gruffly, arranging her the way he wanted her with her feet and ass at the edge of the mattress. Bending over her, he pressed his mouth to her core through the thin layer of silk that covered her.

  She jolted in response, and goose bumps covered her skin while she waited to see what he would do.

  Everything about her appealed to him, including the rich feminine scent of her arousal. He breathed her in before moving the thong aside to worship her with his tongue and fingers. After a week of nights with her, he knew exactly what it took to make her come so hard, she screamed from the power of it.

  He kissed his way up the center of her, releasing the front clasp of her bra and using his lips to push the cups aside.

  “Riley…” Her hand closed around his cock and guided him into her.

  He’d planned to draw it out some more but couldn’t stop himself from taking what she offered. Sliding into her was like experiencing all the benefits of heaven without having to die first. If he could stay right there forever, he’d never need anything else ever again. “What’ve you done to me?” he whispered, his lips touching hers. “I want you all the time.”

  “I want you just as much.”

  Gathering her into his embrace, h
e held her tight against him as they moved together. As if someone had suddenly given him the answers to every question he’d ever had, he understood that she was the one, the only one for him. She would occupy the center of his life for as long as he lived, and nothing would ever be right unless he had her with him.

  He wondered how that had happened so quickly, but in reality, it hadn’t been quick. Months had passed after they first met, and all that time, Riley had thought about her. It had been happening then, too, only he hadn’t known it at the time.

  The heat they generated together threatened to consume him. His sweat mingled with hers as they reached the apex at the same instant, leaving him breathless and demolished, as if he’d run a marathon. A week of sleepless nights caught up to him in the hazy, sweet aftermath, with her head on his chest, her hair brushing against his face, her scent filling his senses with the essence of her. He couldn’t recall a time when he’d been more relaxed.

  Her hand moved in lazy circles on his abdomen.

  Utter perfection.

  * * *

  She was becoming addicted to him. He walked into her house fresh from an after-work shower, and the only thoughts in her head were Mine. Now. More. After years of avoiding the complications of men and sex, she couldn't get enough. But it wasn’t just the physical aspects with Riley, although those aspects were life-changing.

  It was everything else. That she could talk to him—really talk to him—and he listened intently to her, valued her opinions, made her laugh. And he’d fully embraced her plan to renovate the house, even though helping with what had to be the last thing he wanted to do after working long hours on an even larger renovation project.

  He was good and decent and sexy as all hell, and she was crazy about him. Crazier by the minute. She barely recognized the person she’d become with him, but she liked this new spontaneous version of herself who stayed up all night having sex and laughing and talking and then dragged through her days like she’d been partially sedated.

  The change in his breathing indicated he’d fallen asleep, which he needed even more than she did. She worried about him getting hurt at work because he was so tired from losing sleep with her.