Chapter 18
RYKER
One Month Ago
I watched Faith from across the room for what felt like the hundredth time this evening. God, she was gorgeous. The color of her bridesmaid dress made her skin glow in the candlelight, and the way the fabric clung to her curves had me gripping my whiskey glass a little too tight.
Every time she moved, the dress shifted, revealing the long line of her leg through the slit. My eyes traced the swell of her breasts above the neckline, remembering exactly how they’d felt pressed against me in that elevator a month ago. How they’d felt when I touched them in Axel’s living room …
After Blake and Tessa completed their first dance, as other couples made their way to the floor, Faith stood on the other side of the room, tracing the rim of her champagne glass. Another outsider, like me, watching everyone else pair off.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I crossed the room, coming up beside her.
“You’re watching,” I said, leaning against the wall next to her. “Like me.”
She turned, and the scent of her perfume hit me.
“Maybe I like to watch.” Her eyes dropped to my mouth for just a second before meeting mine again.
She’s flirting. Christ. She was going to kill me.
“Is that right?” I moved closer, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from her skin. “What else do you like?”
Her breath hitched, but she held my gaze, and to my immense relief, she continued flirting rather than cutting it off. “Dangerous questions, Counselor.”
“I’m good with danger.” I leaned down to her ear, my lips barely grazing her skin. “I can’t stop thinking about you. About the sounds you made when I made you come.”
Her breasts rose as she inhaled sharply. Clearly, she didn’t expect me to hit the nuclear button of flirtation, but I was done being patient. I wanted her. Needed her. “Ryker …”
“Tell me you don’t think about it,” I challenged, pulling back just enough to see her face. Her pupils were dilated, her lips parted. “Tell me you don’t wake up at night, remembering how it felt.”
I wondered if she’d ever touched herself, thinking about us, the way I’d stroked myself, thinking about her.
“You know I can’t.” Her voice was breathless now. “But Blake is finally back in my life. I can’t complicate things by—”
“Getting involved with his best friend. Yeah, I know.” I let my fingers brush hers where she held her glass, the contact creating instant static electricity in my blood. “You’ve made that clear. Repeatedly.”
“Then why are you—”
“Because you’re standing here in that dress, looking like every fantasy I’ve ever had, and I can see your pulse racing in your throat.” I watched her swallow hard. “Because every time you look at me, it’s like you’re imagining what would happen if we left this room right now.”
“That’s presumptuous.”
“Is it?” I set down my drink and turned to face her fully. “Then why do you keep biting your lip like that? The same way you did in the elevator right before you kissed me?”
“You kissed me,” she shot back.
“Did I?” I let my gaze drop to her mouth again. “Because I remember you grabbing my shirt and pulling me down to you.”
A flush crept up her neck. “You’re remembering it wrong.”
“I remember everything about you.” I stepped closer, eliminating another inch between us. “The way you tasted. How your nails dug into my shoulders. The little gasp you made when I slid my hand up your thigh.”
“Stop.” But her voice had gone breathy.
“You came on my hand, Faith.” I kept my voice low, for her ears only. “And I’ve spent every night since then imagining all the other ways I could make you fall apart.”
Her champagne glass trembled slightly. “We agreed—”
“We agreed to a lot of things. Doesn’t mean I’ve stopped wanting you.
” I took her elbow gently and guided her away from the main room, around a marble pillar that blocked us from view of the reception.
Here, in this alcove, it was just us and the distant sound of music.
“Doesn’t look like you’ve stopped wanting me either. ”
“You’re Blake’s best friend.” She said it like a mantra, like she was trying to convince herself. “This is complicated.”
“Life’s complicated.” I reached out, my fingers ghosting along her bare arm. She shivered. “This? This is simple. You want me. I want you. Everything else is just noise.”
“It’s not noise. It’s my brother.” But she hadn’t pulled away. If anything, she’d swayed closer.
“Your brother who wants you to be happy.” I brought her wrist up, pressing my lips to the spot where her pulse hammered. “Tell me this doesn’t make you happy.”
Her eyes fluttered closed. “That’s not the point.”
“Then what is the point?” I let my lips trail higher, to the sensitive spot inside of her elbow. “Because from where I’m standing, the only point is that we’re both adults who can’t stop thinking about each other.”
“Ryker.” My name came out shaky. “You can’t just …”
“Can’t just what?” I lifted my head, catching her gaze. “Can’t just tell you that I want to taste every inch of your skin? Can’t tell you I’ve imagined hiking up this dress and making you come on my mouth?”
Her breath caught audibly.
I leaned in until my lips brushed her ear. “Can’t tell you that I want to bury myself inside you until you’re screaming my name so loud that the entire reception can hear?”
“Jesus.” Her free hand clutched at my jacket like she needed the support.
“Say no.” I pulled back just enough to look at her, to give her an out even though it would kill me.
“Tell me to walk away, and I will. But if you don’t …
” I let my hand slide from her wrist to her hip, my fingers finding the slit in her dress, touching bare thigh.
“If you don’t, Faith, I’m going to make good on every single promise. ”
She bit her lip again, and I could see the war playing out in her eyes. Desire versus duty. Want versus should.
“I can’t think when you’re this close,” she whispered.
“Good.” I flexed my fingers against her thigh, and she made a sound that went straight to my groin. “Stop thinking. Just feel.”
“This is insane.”
“Probably.” My other hand came up to cup her face, my thumb brushing across her bottom lip. “But you’re still here. You haven’t walked away.”
“I should.” But even as she said it, her hand slid up my chest to my shoulder, her fingers curling into the fabric.
“Should and want are two different things.” I drew her bottom lip down with my thumb. “What do you want, Faith?”
Her eyes darkened. “You know what I want.”
“Say it.” I needed to hear it. “Tell me.”
She held my gaze for a long moment, and I watched her resistance crumble piece by piece. When she finally spoke, her voice was rough with need. “I want you to make me forget every reason this is a bad idea.”
Heat flooded through me. “I can do that.”
She glanced around the reception, and I realized her hand was still on my shoulder, holding on to me. “The bridal suite. Give me a minute head start.”
I released her before I could change my mind and kiss her right there in front of everyone. “One minute. Then I’m coming for you.”
She turned and walked away, and the sway of her hips was absolutely deliberate. At the base of the staircase, she paused and looked back over her shoulder, her eyes locking with mine. Then she disappeared up the stairs.
The next sixty seconds were the longest of my life.
I had to hide my growing erection as I slowly made my way up the stairs.
When I found her in the bridal suite, she was standing by the window, moonlight painting silver highlights in her hair.
She’d already taken her hair down, and it tumbled over her shoulders in waves that made my fingers itch to touch.
She drew the drapes closed, then turned when she heard the door shut.
“Lock it.”
Two words. A command. And my entire body responded like she’d pulled a trigger. I turned the lock with a decisive click, then crossed to her in three strides.
She reached up, loosening my tie.
I caught her hands, pinning them against the cool glass above her head. “Careful what you wish for.”
“I’m not wishing anymore,” she breathed. “I’m taking.”
That was all I needed. I crashed my mouth to hers, and it was nothing like the elevator.
This was hungrier. More desperate. A month of fantasies and frustration poured into the kiss.
A month of holding back. Of pretending I could resist her.
She moaned against my lips, arching into me, and I released her hands so I could touch her everywhere.
“This dress,” I groaned, running my hands down her sides, feeling every curve. My fingers lingered at her waist, memorizing the way she fit against my palms. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done to me tonight?”
“Show me,” she challenged, her voice breathless as she already started working on my jacket. Her fingers trembled slightly against the expensive fabric, and something about that small sign of her own need made my chest tighten.
“I’ve been tested,” I managed as she pushed the jacket off my shoulders, letting it fall forgotten to the floor.
“Same. And I have an IUD,” she confirmed, reaching for my belt. But I caught her wrists gently, bringing them to my lips instead.
“Not yet,” I murmured against her pulse point. “Let me look at you first.”
I needed to slow down. Needed to make this last. Because if this was the only time she let me have her, I was going to remember every second.
I spun her around slowly, her breath hitching when my mouth found her neck.
I took my time there, learning that the spot just below her ear made her melt against me.
My fingers found the zipper of her dress, but I didn’t pull it down yet.
Instead, I traced the line of it, feeling her shiver.
“I’ve imagined this so many times,” I admitted against her skin.
“But my imagination didn’t do you justice.
” The zipper made a soft sound as I finally lowered it, revealing her inch by inch.
“Undressing you. Tasting every inch of you.”