Chapter 14
They spent the better part of the afternoon with Lori’s readers and fellow authors. One-by-one, they all filtered away, including Lockwood and Kane, until only she and Ryker remained.
Pointing to the crumbs, crumpled napkins and discarded cans and bottles, she said, “Thanks for that. I’m not sure I would have made it through.”
“How about I get you upstairs so you can get some rest. We can go to dinner or order in or whatever you like.”
“That sounds like an excellent idea. I want some peace, quiet, and privacy, so we can talk about next moves.”
“Is that all you want the privacy for?” he asked, waggling his eyebrows and making her laugh.
“Oh, hell no,” she laughed as he pulled her out of the chair, wrapped his arm around her and headed to the elevator.
Once inside he leaned over and kissed her, his lips softly passionate against her own. He stood there not moving, with his forehead against hers, only straightening back up as the elevator doors opened on her floor. Once more he scooped her up in his arms and carried her down the hall. She had to admit she was beginning to like the way it felt to be cradled in his arms as he strode toward her room.
She used her keycard to open the door and he carried her inside. “We need to draw up a game plan,” she said as he set her down and closed the door.
Pulling his sweater over his head, he said, “Get naked and then put this on,” throwing his sweater in her general direction.
He said it quietly, but Lori knew a command when she heard one, even when it was said in a soft voice. She sat on the edge of the bed, and he pulled her riding boots off, toeing off his own as well. She stripped out of her own clothes and pulled his sweater over her head. It was still warm from his body and smelled like him—clean, masculine, and faintly of the forest and the sea.
Once he’d pulled his socks off, she stared at his naked feet. God, he even had sexy toes. Her entire body sizzled with arousal. He hadn’t even touched her. Neither of them were completely naked, but she felt like an alley cat in heat. Her nipples were stiff, aching, and rubbing against the soft sweater. She could feel arousal roiling in her core, making her ready for that hard bulge behind his fly.
“Ryker…”
He moved across the room, sitting in the lounge chair and beckoning to her. “Grab a pen and pad then come sit in my lap. Work first.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to have to think about anything else when I get you out of my sweater.”
She smiled, feeling like the sexiest siren that ever lived as she crawled into his lap. “You do know there’s a very real possibility I’m going to drip all over your jeans.”
“A spot I will wear with pride,” Ryker said, resting his hand on the inside of her naked thigh.
“I think we need to approach Ezra and Annette about what Lockwood said.”
“The ghostwriting and typewriter ribbon?”
She nodded and watched as he trailed his hand up her leg with the lightest touch, making her shiver. The man, and his touch, were highly addictive.
As if he wasn’t aware his hand was moving up to the juncture of her thighs, he continued, “We already know—or at least are assuming—that Annette probably, knowingly or unknowingly, supplied the typewriter ribbon and that she’s involved with Middleton.”
“Isn’t that a conflict of interest?” asked Lori, trying to maintain her composure and finding it more difficult than it ought to be.
After all, it wasn’t like she’d never had sex. It had just been a while and the last time had been with a man who cared far more for himself and his needs than he did for her. It had, however, made her wary of getting involved too quickly, but everything with Ryker seemed easy, natural, and right.
“Not if she isn’t a suspect or person of interest in the investigation, and as far as we know, she isn’t.”
“Lockwood seemed to think Annette and Ezra knew something about ghostwriting for Cobain. Do you think he had a ghostwriter?”
“I don’t know about the rest of his books, but I do know the one I read this afternoon certainly had a feminine voice, and I found the fact that the protagonist was feminine, as well, a bit odd considering what an asshole Cobain was.”
“I think appearing to be direct might work for us.”
“How so?” he asked, running his finger lightly over her clit before bringing it back to rest at the uppermost part of her thigh.
“What if we invite both of them to dinner…”
“Ezra and Annette?”
She nodded. “And without Middleton. We tell them we want their help and that we’re working to find Cobain’s killer. We can, if it comes up, feel them out about ghostwriters and whether or not Cobain used one.”
“Or more. Lockwood seemed to indicate there might be more than one.”
His hand left her thigh, skimming over her mound and belly before cupping her full breast in his hand. Lori found it difficult to not just lean into his touch and moan. She might have questioned whether or not he was doing what he did deliberately, but when she saw the devilish smile playing around the corners of his mouth, she knew the answer. He was thoroughly enjoying himself. She certainly couldn’t complain as her nipple puckered, her clit throbbed, and her core turned molten.
“That’s a good idea,” she managed to say without panting. “I’ll text Ezra, and you call Annette. I think it makes sense for me to invite Ezra, sort of author-to-author, and you and Annette both live here in Bleak Ridge, and you did say you wanted to talk to her.”
“We could intimate to Ezra that as he seemed to know Cobain, I was looking for background on him.”
Lori texted Ezra while Ryker called Annette. Both made fairly short work of it and arranged for them all to meet at the bistro next door. Ryker called down to get a reservation—even though the place didn’t necessarily take them.
“That takes care of that,” said Ryker, deliberately looking at his watch. “I think you indicated you wanted some privacy?”
“I did indeed,” she said, sliding off his lap and onto her knees in between his legs.
She was so going to deal out some payback, and then let Ryker go to town on her. He seemed to like that, and heaven knew she did. Lori stroked her hands down his naked torso, stopping to unbutton the fly of his jeans and free his cock. “Have I told you how sexy I think you are, how everything you say turns me on and that nothing has ever brought me the pleasure that you do?”
He smiled seductively. “No, but I’d rather you used your mouth to express those feelings nonverbally.”
“You are incredibly sexy and when I’m around you my libido goes from neutral to overdrive,” she said just before leaning forward and sucking his cockhead into her mouth.
Ryker hissed and his dick jumped as she ran her tongue all around the head. His hands fisted her hair, flexing his fingers but not really pulling at it. Lori reached up and moved her hair to the side and out of the way so he’d have an unobstructed view of what she was doing. She stroked his cock with her tongue, running down his length from the head to the base of his groin, before circling underneath and tracing the thick vein running from his balls back to the tip.
As she moved her mouth down, she reached up, taking him in her hand and stroking while she focused on the weeping slit at the end of his shaft. She licked him, loving the clean, salty taste of him. She started to suck him back between her lips when he fisted her hair, this time tugging her head back.
“Uh-uh. I don’t just want your mouth. I want all of you.”
He leaned down, his mouth hungry for hers as he stood and raised her up, before lifting her up in his arms. He carried her to the bed, tossing her into the middle of it and shucking off his jeans.
Lori nodded, her breath catching in her throat. She glanced down and could see her nipples were stiff, and her skin was flushed. She spread her legs. “I’m all yours, and I am more than ready. I need to feel you inside me. I’ve missed this thing between us all day.”
“This thing, baby, is my cock up inside your pussy,” he chuckled as he crawled up on the bed, covering her with his body, sliding his fingers inside her to ensure she was ready. He could have just asked, and she would have told him. She was more than ready.
Settling himself between her thighs, he pressed his cock against her entrance—hot and heavy with his own need. Locking his eyes with hers, he took a deep breath and then with a savage thrust that took her breath away, he pushed inside. She could feel the heat of his body as his hard staff stretched her open. He held still while her body accommodated him, and she felt as though they had been created for one another. He felt so right.
Ryker began to move, slowly at first, his cock sliding in and out of her. A deep well of pleasure within her, radiating from her core, began to thrum. She wrapped her legs around him, pulling him closer, her nails digging into his back.
“Oh god, Lori, you feel so good,” he groaned as he picked up the pace.
He thrust harder, his hips slamming into her with each hard stroke. Lori moaned incoherently. No man had ever been able to undo her this quickly and so completely. Her back arched, pressing her closer to him, moving her hips in time with his. Her body responded to his in a way it never had with anyone else. Their pleasure melded and combined as he drove her toward an intense orgasm.
“Ryker,” she cried as he pounded into her, fucking her through the orgasm so hard she didn’t know where it started, ended, or the next one began the cycle all over again.
Lori came hard, throwing her head back as she arched closer to him, her body shaking and all but convulsing beneath his. Ryker continued to thrust in as deep as he could go before dragging himself back, sliding in and out, driving her need higher and higher. Her pussy clamped down on him and he plunged in and out at a frenzied, feral pace.
His driving need became more intense as his hips slapped against her inner thighs with a relentless, wet sound. His cock began to swell and twitch, and she knew he was getting close.
“Come for me, baby. Come for me again,” he groaned.
Lori had learned last night that Ryker found a sense of deep satisfaction and pleasure from knowing he’d brought her to climax multiple times. He was all dominant alpha male in the way he wanted to ensure she got as much pleasure from their fucking as he did.
With one final, fierce thrust, Ryker buried himself inside her, his cock throbbing as it filled her with his warm cum. It was as if it filled her up, the sensation burning through her like wildfire. He pumped the last of himself into her with small, erratic strokes, his body trembling until he was done and settled on her, his breath hot and soothing against her neck.