Chapter 19 Ryker #2
The energy teeming from her is infectious. My cheeks hurt from how big my grin is. Excited screams echo from across the track as people crowd Jace’s car. Gianna tips her face skyward as a few drops of rain begin to patter across her cheeks, glistening on her skin as her mouth pulls up in a smile.
So fucking beautiful.
‘Do you think I could ever do that?’ she asks, closing her eyes.
‘You can do anything.’
Her lashes flutter open, whirlpools of glowing chestnut.
‘Yeah.’ She nods as if she’s made herself a promise. ‘I’m gonna race with my big brother one day. He might not think I belong here yet, but he’ll come around. We’ll never lose a race.’
‘Well, Jace is actually still undefeated.’
‘And it’ll stay that way,’ she says with a confidence I’ve never seen from her before. ‘We will always win.’
Circling behind me, her arms wrap around my neck and she jumps onto me for a piggyback. I catch her legs as she dips her head to my shoulder. My chest swells – aches – and everything about her washes over me. Her smell, her warmth, her body. Everything. I need her everything.
Hoisting her up higher on my back, I walk us further up the hill, the noise fading away, till we meet the edge of the cliff. She lets go, sliding down my body to the ground.
‘It’s like two totally different worlds,’ she breathes, coming to stand beside me.
She’s right. The cliff drops to the ocean crashing below, but back down the crest, The Lost Tropics is in full swing.
Gianna tilts her chin to the sky and sighs. ‘The last two days have been the best,’ She turns to me. ‘Who knew you could have fun running from security and learning how to drive?’
‘You say it like it’s over. We still have all night. And Lucifer’s Dream—’
‘No.’ Her soft voice cuts me off. ‘I don’t want to push Jace. If we bring that up again, he’ll be madder than he already is. Getting to see all this—’ she gestures to the cars below ‘—is enough.’
She looks down at her shoes. Her curls fall around her face; I brush the soft strands behind her ear. Then she looks up with bright eyes full of wonder.
I can’t help it. That fire in her sucks me right in.
I lean in, feeling her body against mine, our lips hovering an inch away from each other.
I give the nape of her neck a reassuring squeeze and she moves toward my lips.
A smirk crosses my mouth before I dive in and claim her as mine.
Her lips are soft, and she tastes so sweet.
I start slow. Her body turns pliant in my arms. I take her bottom lip between my teeth and swallow the gasp that leaves her mouth.
I pull back to look at her, her pouty lips pink and cheeks flushed.
With her eyes closed, her lashes fan across her cheeks and I have the urge to count every one of them.
My chest tightens. I’d do dangerous things to make this girl happy.
Heat consumes my body. My cock twitches. I want her. I know it’s not the right time, but goddamn, I want her now.
Her fingers bunch up my shirt and my hunger for her only builds.
I grip her hair and guide her head back as I trail kisses, licks and bites down to her neck.
I taste her. Devour her. Lifting the backs of her thighs, I wrap her legs around my waist, wanting to be closer and completely lost in her.
My cock grows painfully hard as she moves her hips against me, making me groan.
‘R-Ryker,’ she breathes, letting a little moan past her swollen lips.
Fuck. Say it again.
I get lost in her. Liquid heat hits low in my stomach and my dick throbs. A growl leaves my mouth as I try and clear my head. I feel my control starting to slip, so I peel my lips from hers.
‘Please,’ she says, almost begging. ‘We can go to your truck.’
‘Gianna.’ I shake my head, looking at her. ‘My truck’s still on campus. I have my bike, remember?’
‘Then we can go get it.’
Words catch in my throat, and I don’t know what to think or what to say. My brain and dick are warring with each other.
Drops of rain catch on her lashes and fall down her face. ‘I want to,’ she pleads.
‘Not here.’
I try to pull back, and she comes in for more. I’m high. My dick strains against my pants and she squeezes her legs tighter around my torso. Her fingers tug at my hair, and I feel her pussy pulse against me. My chest aches, and it takes all my willpower to tear my mouth away from hers.
‘Gianna.’ Fuck. I know I’ll hate myself later, but I also know our first time shouldn’t be rushed like this. ‘Not tonight, baby. Not here.’
Pain wrings my insides as I struggle to resist. So many times, I’d thought of being close to her, of having her. And now, she’s right here in my arms and I don’t want to let go.
‘Why not?’ she whimpers, arching her back and pressing into my chest further.
‘I want to.’ I dust kisses across her lashes. ‘It’s just …’
Looking into her eyes, I get lost. Her curls flow around her face and I breathe in the lemon scent that gets caught in the breeze.
‘I don’t care where it happens,’ she says.
‘We’ve got all the time in the world. Let me take you out and get you Razzles and have room to taste you and see what you like.’
She gives a half-smile and nods. ‘Okay,’ she breathes against my lips. ‘But just know you did take me out today. I’ve already had Razzles, and you’ve told me I taste like lemons.’
A laugh leaves my chest before I find her mouth again. ‘The sweetest lemons,’ I correct. ‘I just want this Do you remember when …? to be perfect.’
Suddenly, screams and thuds sound through the air, disrupting the light buzz of the crowd. What is that?
Placing Gianna back on her feet, I keep her close to my side as we head back down the hill toward the noise.