Chapter 6
Chapter six
Nitro
Riley stayed in the tub for nearly two hours.
I paced her house, telling myself that I was doing a perimeter check.
In reality, I was worried about her. She was trying her best to be strong in the face of Kramer’s onslaughts, but the way he grabbed her today, and the look of defeat in her eyes, told me that he was breaking her spirit down.
I paused outside the bathroom door, holding my breath as I listened. It was utterly silent.
Riley needed privacy. She needed time to compose herself in a safe space.
But this was taking too long.
Concern tugged at my instincts, telling me that something wasn’t right. Lifting my hand, I paused for a moment. Scolding myself for hovering and being a worrywart.
Then I rapped my knuckles against the door.
No answer.
That tug of concern transformed into the blare of an alarm.
“Riley,” I called with an edge in my voice. “Is everything okay?”
Still, no answer.
My mind ran through possibilities. Maybe she’d dozed off. The crash of adrenaline could have exhausted her so badly that she fell asleep in the tub. Or maybe she’d slipped and hit her head. Or maybe…
Or maybe she became so desperate to escape Kramer that she thought there was only one way to end it.
I inhaled a steadying breath at that morbid thought.
“Riley,” I said, louder this time, wrapping my hand around the door knob. “If you don’t answer me, I’m coming in on the count of three.”
Silence.
For fuck’s sake, Riley, say something. Please.
“One…two…”
Barging in on a naked client in the bath would not be good for business. But I didn’t have any other choice. I had to get to Riley. I had to make sure she was okay.
Pushing the door open, I braced myself for whatever I would find.
Riley was curled up in the bath, her lips a shade of blue, her wet hair clinging to her bare back.
My gaze flicked over her, searching for any sign of injuries.
Physically, she appeared to be fine. Mentally and emotionally…
she was frozen in place with a blank stare in her eyes.
A bruise marked her upper arm from her ex’s hand, a menacing black and blue where his fingers had squeezed.
Grabbing a towel from the rack on the wall, I knelt next to the tub and draped it over her.
“Put your arm around my neck,” I said.
She blinked a few times, turning to look at me. With a faint nod, she obeyed, pressing her face into my shoulder. I released a breath of relief, finally knowing that she was okay. Just…scared. That bastard spooked her badly.
Lifting Riley out of the water, I tried not to think about having her naked in my arms. Carrying her to the bed, I tucked the sheets around her for warmth, trying to avoid any glimpses of her exposed curves. She was shaking like a leaf. God only knows how long she’d been sitting in that cold bath.
“I just want him to leave me alone,” she whispered.
My chest tightened with sympathy. I sat on the edge of her mattress, resting my forearms on my knees.
“You broke up with him,” I said. “His fragile ego can’t take that.
In order to feel like a big man, he needs to make someone feel small and helpless.
That’s why he won’t back off. The more you resist his attempts to get you back, the more you prove to him that you are not small or helpless the way he wants you to be. ”
Riley’s brows drew together and a shadow of worry darkened her eyes. She burrowed under the covers with a sigh of frustration.
“I’m just so tired of it all,” she mumbled.
I reached out to comfort her, then pulled my hand back. When it came to Riley, I was breaking rules left and right. My feelings for her were clouding my judgment. I was supposed to be nothing but a shield for protection.
“Get some rest,” I said softly. “We can discuss any future precautions we might need to take after you wake up.”
As I rose to my feet, Riley slipped her hand in mine. I looked down to see her gazing up at me.
“Will you…stay?” she whispered.
A beat of silence stretched between us. The right answer would be no.
She wasn’t asking for platonic company. I could see it in the darkness of her pupils and her parted lips, waiting for my response.
She wanted to lose herself in a man who treated her right, instead of being haunted by that asshole who left bruises on her perfect skin.
“I can’t, Riley,” I rasped.
She kissed the back of my hand, tracing her fingers along my tattoos. Every inch of skin that she touched burned like fire.
“Yes, you can,” she said. “I feel safest when I’m with you. And I…I want to feel safe, Nitro. Please.”
The final thread of my self-control crumbled. I wasn’t her bodyguard anymore, hired for protection. I became the man who would move heaven and earth for his woman, to please her, to claim her.
Peeling the covers aside, I exposed her plush curves, riddled with goosebumps. She shivered slightly, but she didn’t shy away. My mouth watered at the sight of her plump tits and pebbled nipples. When I smoothed my hand up her thighs, she parted her legs for me, with her eyes locked on me.
I dipped my head, pressing a hot, open-mouthed kiss to her hip. A small smile curved the corners of Riley’s lips and she threaded her fingers into my hair. Skimming my knuckles along her inner thigh, I grazed my thumb over her clit.
She sucked in a breath, squirming.
“Do you want me to stop?” I asked.
She shook her head emphatically.
“No. I want you to make me come so hard that I forget that bastard.”
Mission received. Challenge accepted.
Toeing off my boots and stripping off my shirt, I hooked my hands behind Riley’s knees and guided her legs over my shoulders. Fuck, I could smell how sweet she was already and I’d barely touched her. I kissed the inside of her thigh, pinching with my teeth to leave a little red welt.
Kramer had bruised her with his anger and stifling control.
The only bruises I intended to leave on her would come from pleasure.
Riley released a trembling breath of anticipation, twisting her fingers into the sheets. I licked a stripe up the length of her, swirling slowly over her clit. A wrecked little sound tore from her throat. She arched her hips up toward my mouth.
I braced an arm across her lower stomach, pinning her to the bed.
She whimpered and writhed under my tongue as I flicked back and forth over her clit.
The salty tang of her taste unleashed that primal side I’d tried so hard to keep locked down.
I sealed my mouth to her pussy, feasting on her like a starving man.
My cock ached and I couldn’t resist grinding against the mattress, desperate for friction. My jeans felt painfully too tight, but I didn’t want to waste time taking them off when I had Riley spread out before me like this.
“Oh my God—” Riley whined, throwing her head back against the pillows. Eyes screwed shut. Back arched in ecstasy. All that stress and anxiety was wiped away as she climbed higher and higher.
When I eased two fingers inside the slick heat of her pussy, her walls clenched and fluttered. I stroked and twisted and pressed against her G-spot, mercilessly flooding her with sensations so she couldn’t think of anything else except how good she felt with me.
Not him. Not that asshole ex who terrorized her.
“That’s it, angel,” I murmured. “You’re so fucking close. Come for me, baby.”
I added a third finger at the same time I pressed the flat of my tongue to her clit and sucked hard. She bowed off the mattress with a shout, toes curling, knees locking around my head.
Riley shuddered as her orgasm washed over her. I kept licking and sucking her through it, chasing every fresh wave of euphoria until she couldn’t take anymore. She tried to twist away, weakly pushing at my head.
Reluctantly, I withdrew pressing my lips to her thigh instead.
If she gave me the chance, I would stay right here all day.
Teasing her slowly back to the brink, over and over again.
A dark, possessive thrill coiled around my spine, thinking of the reaction Riley’s ex would have if he knew I had tasted her and made her come on my tongue.
I kissed my way up her body—her belly, between her breasts, flicking my tongue over her rosy pink nipples. Riley wiggled beneath me, tugging with impatience at my belt.
“Is there something you want, angel?” I prompted.
Tilting her chin up, she brushed a playful kiss to the corner of my mouth. Then she cupped and squeezed the bulge of my erection, scratching her fingernails lightly over the denim.
“Ruin me,” she said with those big brown eyes. “Mark me. Make me yours in every way.”
I raised an eyebrow. My sweet angel had a wild side underneath that pretty face and curvy body. I brushed my knuckles against her cheek, trailing my thumb over her lips.
“Did you ever say that to him?” I asked.
She shook her head.
“Only you. He…he wouldn’t have sex with me when the lights were on.”
Fuck that asshole.
I kissed her hard, plying her mouth open with my tongue until she melted beneath me. Palming her gorgeous tits, I rolled and pinched her nipples between my fingers. She gasped against my mouth, angling her hips up. Desperate to be filled.
I shifted to the side as I shoved my jeans down to mid-thigh, giving my cock a few strokes. Then I settled back against the pillows and grabbed Riley’s hips, pulling her on top. She made a noise of surprise, bracing a hand against the wall next to my head to steady herself.
“Nitro, I’m not—” She broke off with a little worry line forming between her brows.
“You’re not what, baby?”
She chewed the inside of her cheek.
“I’m not very good on top.”
“Does it hurt?”
“No,” she admitted. “It’s just…I’ve only done it once because I was so bad at it.”
I growled, digging my fingers into the softness of her hips.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out who planted that bullshit in her head.
Getting a condom out of my pocket, I rolled it on and guided my cock through her folds, teasing the tip into her soaked pussy just enough to give her a taste, then backing out again.
“Sit,” I said. “Get comfy, angel. You’re going to practice riding this cock until you’re a fucking pro.”