“Let me love you.” He strokes the hair from my face. There’s a tenderness in his voice, in his eyes, that I haven’t seen in so long. I want to believe it’s real, but a part of me can’t be sure. This is just the homerun at the end of some bizarre night at a charity ball. A cash exchange took place, and he was simply accepting my services. This means as much to him as the tax donation that landed me here in the first place.
“I don’t think you know how to love me, Ryder,” I give it in less than a whisper. Sometimes it’s hard to hear someone tell you the truth, but it’s also hard to be the one to say it.
“I do. Let me into your heart, Laney,” he pleads with those deep navy eyes as we stand just shy of his bed. “Let me crush every memory you have of the two of us and make something new, something better, something that never disappoints because it doesn’t know how.” He dots a series of hot kisses slowly up my neck, and a shiver runs through me.
My skin touches his, and then it’s over. I’m all in. Every last inch of me has been so thirsty for Ryder, and now, here I am, ready to drown in the cool spring of his affection while my entire body reanimates under his willful supervision. A part of me died last winter in a very real way, and, here he is, reawakening me, breathing life back into my soul by way of his mouth, his fingers—his bare flesh.
He pulls back and rakes over me with his slow gaze.
“Get in my bed,” he growls it out, sharp like an order.
“If you want me in your bed, you’ll have to damn well put me there yourself.”
Ryder gives the ghost of a smile.
And he does.
Ryder scoops me into his arms and lands me on the cool comforter. He glides over me, and my skin ignites like a field fire. Our fingers interlace as he pushes my hands high above my head. Ryder parts my legs with his and settles his body in the gap while his tongue takes free roam of my mouth.
I give an involuntary moan as my hips rise into him as if my vagina had just delivered a formal invite to the general and two colonels to invade my fort any time they damn well pleased—right fucking now would be nice. I claw at his back, raking my way down his granite-like ass and digging in, hoping to hurt him the way he hurt me. Of course, my injuries were emotional—a battered heart, a tattered ego. I could never hurt Ryder where it really counted—not sure I would want to.
His kisses grow erratic and sloppy as he traces his hot tongue all the way over to my ear.
“You want me to fuck you, don’t you?”
Ryder always did like to get to the point.
“Yes,” I choke it out because as much as my dignity wishes it could strangle me, my body would much rather have one last night of rough sex with an ex than sit alone and wallow in my righteousness.
“Too bad.” He breathes it hard in my ear as he settles his weight over me. Ryder presses in a slow, circular kiss over my lips until my insides buzz with delirium. “I’m not fucking you ever again, Laney. I’m going to make love to you, forever if you’ll let me.” He continues his kissing assault down my neck, and my heart melts at his sweet sentiment.
Tears spring to my eyes, and I’m quick to blink them away. This is nothing more than a one-night stand. I can’t buy into the lies Ryder is feeding me. I wasn’t enough for him or his family just a few short months ago—I don’t see why I would be now.
Ryder dips his kisses into my cleavage. He pushes my breasts together and buries himself in the mass of flesh. His groans are far more viral than I remember. I try to memorize each tug and pull, the way his teeth graze over my nipples, the hot of his mouth as it works me into a heated daze. He grazes lower still, raking a line down my torso with his molten hot mouth. His tongue unleashes on my belly, and my toes curl from the quivering sensation.
Holy hell.
There should be a one-night stand emergency response necklace they force girls to wear in college. Only instead of having some medical staff on standby it would be an entire legion of girlfriends who were more than capable of handling a sexual distress call. I can envision it now—me hitting the magic button until Roxy and Baya pop up on the other line.Help, I’ve fallen in bed with my ex, and he’s gottenitup.He’s hedging his way to the runway with his motherfucking tongue, and I am completely immobilized. Send help by way of distractingly cute Whitney Briggs football players, hell—send the entire team!
Who the heck am I kidding? It’s more like send provisions. I plan on keeping Ryder’s tongue busy for quite some time, until morning to be exact.
I had a shift tonight at the Black Bear, but Baya will have to hold down the fort for me. I’m too busy doing what I swore I would never do again—letting Ryder sink his wickedly sexy mouth in places no mouth has ever traveled. Well, except his. He’s no stranger to the hills and valleys, the canyons and mountains of this girl’s terrain. He knows my every nuance, what the pattern of my breathing means, he knows how to distinguish each and every kiss I give him, and he knows how to pleasure me in ways that I never knew were possible.
Ryder gently lifts my legs until they’re sitting over his shoulders and parts my thighs just enough to enjoy the view.
He melts his lips over the most intimate part of me, and I let out a cry, knocking my head back into the pillow. There he is. Taking up residency in the holy of holies. I swore I’d never let him near me again, but tonight is proof positive that I’m weak, that whiskey makes me more than a little fucking frisky and auctioning myself off like some turn-of-the-century wench is always,alwaysa piss poor idea.
He moans before pulling away and moving his sleepy eyes back up to mine. I hike up on my elbows, out of breath, and pant into him for an unreasonable amount of time.
Stupid, stupid me for insisting the lights stay on.
I want towatch? Watch what? The unflattering way my boobs roll to my armpits when I lie back instead of perking to the ceiling? It’s like my nipples turn into a couple of lazy eyes that drift to the mattress, making me look unnecessarily flat chested. I’m half tempted to hold them into position all night, but I’d much rather dig my fingers through his hair.
His lips curve just enough to give him that dangerous appeal that made me gravitate to him to begin with.
“What the hell are you smiling at?” I thump my knee over his bottom. “Get back to work.”
His brows peak in that dark, seductive way that makes my toes curl all on their own.
