Whirlwind

23. Ryker

Chapter twenty-three

Ryker

“That’s it, baby,” I croon into Finley’s ear. “You feel so fucking good.”

Her mouth opens in a silent moan as I thrust into her. Her head falls back against the pillows of the motel bed, chestnut hair fanned out wildly as her nails dig deep enough into my biceps that I know she’s going to leave marks. Good, I like souvenirs.

“Ryker,” she exhales. “I need it deeper.”

I stop the forward movement of my hips. “What do you say, Ms. Buckley?”

Her entire body shivers at my use of her formal name, and her reaction makes my cock twitch inside her.

“Please.” She squeezes her wet pussy around me, and I fight not to come from the action alone. “Please, Professor. I need to feel you deep.”

Fucking hell. This woman will be the death of me.

Finley’s eyes open to meet mine, her dark amber depths almost black with need and desire. She’s been quiet since our successful rocket launch, her smile not quite reaching her eyes. I’d tried to ask her if something was wrong, but she only forced a wider smile and told me she was good but tired.

When we checked into this motel an hour ago, I thought we could talk, but she jumped me nearly as soon as the door closed. And if there’s one thing I know for certain, it’s that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to deny Finley Buckley anything .

I press my forehead to hers and give her what she wants. I thrust deeper with the intention of drawing out her pleasure. The sounds of our coupling are quieter than last night but no less powerful.

“Ryker,” she whimpers.

I pull almost all the way out then slide home. Her tits bounce from the force of my thrust, and I can’t resist taking a nipple into my mouth. When I suck on it, she cries out, arching into me. I play with her for another few seconds before I trail my lips up her throat and seal my mouth over hers.

We kiss, slow and messy. She shifts her body so she can wrap her legs around my waist, then she presses her heels into my ass until I nearly collapse on top of her.

I grunt. “Fuck, baby. I’m going to come.”

“Do it,” she pleads.

I kiss her again and slide my hand between us, gliding over her soft stomach until I reach her clit. I circle the swollen bundle of nerves and move my hips in short strokes, our bodies pressed so close that’s all I can manage.

“Fuck,” she moans. “I—

I nip at her lips and growl. “Come for me, baby.”

“Together.”

“I’m right there with you.”

I piston my hips upward and pinch her clit. She falls apart under me, hands and legs clinging to me as she shatters. I breathe out a curse as my head drops to her neck and her pussy clenches my shaft, pulling me over the edge with her. I suck on her pulse as my cum releases inside her, my body buzzing in satisfaction.

God, I want this every day if my body can keep up with her. I want to hold her, kiss her, screw her goddamn brains out, and thoroughly love her like she deserves. Maybe even watch her body grow with my child, if that’s something she wants. It’s something I never really thought about until now, but with her…the idea of it makes more of my cum release inside her .

When I eventually finish, I exhale a contented grunt then softly kiss her on the lips, rolling us so we’re on our sides. I keep our bodies connected and limbs tangled.

“These maids are going to hate us, too,” Finley says, eyes dropping between us to where we’ll soon be making a mess.

My chest swells with a caveman type of pride. “I’ll leave them a good tip. Let the motel buy new bedding if they have to.”

Her eyes meet mine, lip twitching in amusement as I tug a strand of her hair between my fingers. We stare at each other for a long moment, our breaths synced and bodies sweaty. The last two times we’ve had sex, it was hard, dirty, but this was—a hell of a lot different. It felt like…more. And by the soft look in Finley’s gaze, I think she realizes that, too.

“Finley, I—”

“Ryker—”

We both speak at the same time. I trail my finger over her cheekbone and open my mouth to talk again, but she beats me to it.

“You go first,” she says.

I want to tell her she should go first, but she glares at me. It’s the kind of glare that makes me want to take her over my knee. Too quickly, an image of her in my classroom, round ass bent over a desk and red with my handprints, flashes behind my eyes. While that image had been a fantasy of mine that snuck its way into my brain one too many times, I’d always shut it down before it got too vivid. But now…

“Ryker,” she shifts, reminding me I’m still inside her. “What are you thinking about?”

“You.” I groan at her movement and hold her still. I’m not ready to leave her warmth yet, but I don’t think I can go again so soon. Downsides of no longer being in my twenties. Plus, I do want to talk with her. Really talk, something we’ve not had the luxury of time to do, especially after the successful rocket launch earlier .

We’d all spent part of the evening chasing another storm that was a bust. We also had to track down the sensor from the rocket. After we’d picked it up nearly twenty-five miles away from where we launched, we stopped at a burger place for food and beer before we found this motel for the night so Hawk could start downloading sensor data and we could get some rest.

As soon as we arrived, I booked the rooms, handing two keys to the guys and letting them sort it out. Ezra snagged the single while Hawk and Joey took the double room, which didn’t surprise me given their connection. I even caught Ezra winking at Hawk, hinting he knew about them, too. It hit me once again how self-absorbed I’ve been, missing what has been happening around me—something I’m determined to change.

I stroke Finley’s hair. Her eyes are closed, and her breathing has returned to normal. It was nice that nobody questioned we would share a room. Joey did, however, make a comment about how considerate I was for at least requesting our room be at the other end of the motel so none of them would hear anything. I’d playfully glared at him, but he’d only laughed and patted me on the back like he was proud of me.

Eventually, I know I will have to talk with Hawk and Ezra about my relationship with Finley and what that means for my future. But that will come after Finley and I speak. Now seems like as good a time as any, because I have ideas about what to do, ones I hope she agrees with.

“I’m going to quit my teaching job,” I blurt out.

Finley stiffens in my arms, her brow furrowing with a frown. It’s an understandable reaction—not just because it was sudden but because I knew she wouldn’t like hearing it. Finley is too kindhearted to even ask me to quit my job. I also know she wants to learn from me, and quitting would seem to mess up that plan.

“Ryker.” She places her warm hand on my chest, right over my tornado tattoo. “You can’t do that. ”

“Like hell I can’t.” The words come out quick and harsh before I can contain them, but I need her to know how serious I am about this. How serious I am about being with her.

Finley tries to pull away, but I tug her back. “Please be serious,” she says. “You can’t quit.”

“I can,” I say more softly this time, placing her hand over my heart. “This is what I want.”

She pauses for a moment, staring at our hands before she continues. “And what do you want exactly?”

“I want to be with you.”

Finley puffs out a breath and casts her eyes downward. “It’s not that simple. Just yesterday, we agreed to be friends, and now you want to quit your job to be with me?”

“I—I thought—” I pause to collect myself. “I thought you would want this. I thought you would want us .”

She sighs and pulls away from me, both of us groaning as I slip from inside her. When I attempt to tug her back to me, she holds her hand up and gets out of bed. I watch her naked body walk across the small room to the bathroom and stare at her reflection in the mirror as she takes a washcloth and wets it, cleaning between her legs.

It should be me doing that, but I let her do it before she comes back to me, handing me a different towel to clean up with. I quickly wipe myself off, but my chest tightens when she puts on her T-shirt and underwear before picking my shirt and boxers up off the floor and handing them to me.

“Please,” I say. Her eyes meet mine, and that fleeting sad look I saw on her face after we successfully launched has returned. “Don’t leave.”

She sighs and sits on the bed, easing a tiny bit of the pressure around my heart. “I’m not leaving, but I can’t have a serious conversation when we’re naked.”

I press my lips together and nod. “Fair enough.” I put my shirt and underwear on then shift so I’m closer to her. She’s now propped up against the headboard and pillows.

“Can I at least hold you?” I ask. For a long and torturous moment, I think she’s going to say no, but then she nods. I tug her into me, and more of that weight eases from my chest. It’s odd to think that Finley and I never had a physical relationship before this weekend, because now that I’ve had her, held her, I don’t ever want to stop doing it.

“Ryker, you can’t quit your job. Especially for me.”

I pull away so I can look her in the eye. “The job doesn’t matter. You matter.”

“You love teaching,” she argues.

“I do, but it’s not my whole life. I’ve been thinking about it, and yes, I enjoy it. But I don’t need it. I don’t wake up in the morning because it’s my true calling or passion. It’s something I enjoy, that fills moments in time and gives me a larger purpose. But what if it’s not anymore?”

The implication of my words hangs heavy in the air, and I can feel Finley pulling further away from me. Panic wells in my gut, making me grip her tighter.

“I know I didn’t show you how much you mean to me before, and I was an idiot for how I treated you, how I pushed you away. I’ll regret it forever. But I’d do anything for you, baby. I want to quit.”

She chews on her lower lip. “Do you know how crazy that is? You don’t even know me that well!”

Her words stun me, and my grip on her loosens so she can see me when I say this. “That’s a lie, and you know it.”

She blinks. “We haven’t even been on a date.”

“You think that matters? I know you, Finley.”

“You think you do, but you only know me from class.”

“That’s crap.”

“It’s not!” Her words echo in the small room, and I calmly take a breath before gripping her hands in mine.

“I want you to hear me when I say this. ”

“Ryker—”

“Your favorite color is gray, but not just any gray, the gray of the sky during a violent storm. Your favorite snack is apple slices and peanut butter, and you love crispy Diet Coke. Especially if it has crushed ice. You chase storms because your mother loved them, and that’s how you developed your love for photography. Your first chase was at fifteen with your cousin, Jake, who you dragged along with you because he could drive.

“I know you’re kind and generous, giving your time to students who don’t understand something from my lectures. On top of that, you’re incredibly smart, passionate, and a good listener. You wear your emotions, and you say things like they are. You’re a force of nature, Finley, and I’m in awe of you.”

By the time I’ve finished, I know I could say more, but I don’t need to. Finley’s eyes shine with tears, and her cheeks are rosy. Her slightly parted lips glisten as her breaths stutter in a staccato pattern.

“I—” she tries, blinking back her tears. “You know all that?”

My lips turn up softly, and I cup her cheek. “I know you, Finley. And I know you know me. Do you really think I’d quit my job if you didn’t mean something to me? If I didn’t know you? I know you, and I really fucking like you—maybe even more than like you.”

Silence stretches between us, making my blood pressure rise as I wait for her to respond. Different emotions flash across her face like a flip book: awe, disbelief, fear, sadness, and everything in between.

“Finley, baby. Can you say something?”

Her still-watery eyes flutter to mine. “I like you a lot, too, Ryker. I’ve liked you more than I should for a long time.”

My heart lifts, but then her shoulders drop, and the feeling quickly fades.

“If you quit your job, not only will that affect your life, but the school could scratch everything we did this weekend, too. You wouldn’t be able to publish the research paper, and you’d have to raise funds all over again. They helped pay for this round of rocket production as well, right? You could lose too much. I don’t want that to happen to you or your team. They’ve worked hard, too.”

The points she brings up are all valid, but I’m not giving up. “My team are also my friends. I think they will understand once I speak with them. And there are other ways to fund chases, not only with my own money but also with donations and grants. You know I started chasing long before I was a professor, and the university isn’t the only way to get cash flow.”

“And the paper? All the data we got today?”

A prickle of sense tries to push past my Finley-filled brain, but I bat it back. “I’ll figure out a way. The data is too important; they won’t discard it—”

She takes my hands and grips them hard. “No, they might not. But this is what you’ve been working for—”

“There will be other papers. You’re more important.”

“No, I’m not. What you accomplished today—”

“What we accomplished today,” I interrupt, and she almost rolls her eyes.

“What we accomplished today, it’s going to change the way we look at tornados. It could save lives.”

“And I’ll still be part of that. I’ll find a way to make it work.”

Finley huffs out a frustrated breath. “Don’t you understand? I don’t want you to quit your job.”

“Then what do we do? I don’t see another way. If you drop my class, you won’t be able to graduate. If I quit, I know I won’t be your professor, but you’ll still have me. You can still learn from me. I see how hard you work, and I don’t want you to delay your degree or make things more difficult for yourself. This is the easier way.”

“I feel like a broken record, but I’m not the only one who’s worked hard. You worked hard for your job.”

I want to pin her to the bed and make her see that this is the best option. I want to tell her again and again while I worship her body that teaching isn’t my life. That she…she could be my life. “I told you, I want to quit. I want you—”

She stops me. “I hear you, but now I’m asking you to hear me.”

I push down my words and nod.

She takes a shaky breath. “I want you, Ryker, I do, but this has been such a whirlwind weekend—we need to step back and think. These are our lives, our careers.”

“Exactly, and I don’t want those things without you in them.”

Finley’s eyes soften, and she touches my cheek. “You’re a good man, Professor West.”

Her words eat at me, and I don’t like the tone of them. “What are you saying?”

“That I think we need to take a step back. We have until the fall semester starts back up. You can use this summer to go through the data, get the paper done.”

“I’m not going to hide my relationship with you and keep you locked away all summer because of a paper. You don’t deserve that.”

“I’m not asking you to do that.”

I think my heart stops in my chest. I drop my hands so we’re no longer touching. “Are you saying you don’t want to be with me?”

“I’m saying we need to think about this, really think about it. Maybe you were right to regret—”

“No, I wasn’t,” I say sternly. “I don’t regret us. The only thing I regret is lying to you in the first place.”

Once again, the room fills with silence, and I fucking hate it. The desire to pin her to the bed grows stronger now. I want to show her how much I don’t regret her, how good we are together. I don’t care about my fucking job, and the more she talks about us parting for it—even if it’s for a brief period—the more I realize I want to give it up. Not just for her, but for me. I have so much in this world I enjoy, that I can be a part of. Teaching is a very small part of me, and I can always teach again in the future, though not at Midland Springs. This doesn’t have to be the end if I don’t want it to be.

I open my mouth to tell her all that I’m thinking, but Finley places her fingers on my lips, a melancholy smile on her face. “I’m not saying we don’t have a future. But I am saying that we need to slow down and think about this. We should at least take time after this weekend to think about everything that’s happened.”

Her words stab at my chest. “Are you breaking up with me?”

She sighs. “I’m not breaking up with you. Especially when we haven’t figured out what we are yet.”

“I know what I want you to be.” My girlfriend and eventually more . I’d book us tickets to Vegas tomorrow if she’d agree to marry me. But that’s not what she wants.

“Like I said, I’m not saying we can’t ever be, Ryker. But can you give me—us—some time? Let’s think about this for more than a day. Can you do that for me?”

Can I? I want to say no. But as I stare into her eyes, searching them to make sure this is what she really wants, I know I can’t deny what she’s asking me, because I can’t deny her.

So though it pains me, I tip my chin. “I can try.”

Her shoulders relax, and she cups my jaw. “I’m not saying this is over.”

Despite her words, it still feels like it could be. “Okay.”

“Now, will you hold me while we fall asleep? It’s freezing in here.” Her lips tip up gently, and I can’t say no.

“Anything you want, baby.”