Chapter 13
Vic sat on the sofa and sipped from a mug of tea. It wasn”t bright and early, and she wasn”t at her uncle”s. It was Sunday. A day of rest, and she was determined to take it off. She”d silenced her phone last night and slept through all the early morning calls. Her uncle had started calling her ateight-oh-fivea.m. Five minutes. That”s all the grace he”d given her. When she woke up just after eleven, she found she”d missed some fifteen calls. She”d taken a shower andwas starting to getdressed when she realized she didn”t want to go to her uncle”s. Like really didn”t want to go.Now,it was almost noon, and she sat in her apartment with the TV on but notreallywatching anything.
She shouldcallher uncle andapologize, but she was…terrified. There, she admitted it. If he yelled at her today, as she suspected he would since the day ended in Y, she”d burst into tears. She felt fragile, and she hated the feeling. Biting into her bagel, she realized shewas going tohave to call her uncle sooner rather than later. He would yell and scream at herandthen she”d have to walk on eggshells for days.Actually,she was shocked that he hadn”t sent Floyd or someone over to pull her out of bed. There must have been someone there who he was worried about how it would look or something.
Thatwas horrible. It wouldn”t killherto be kinder inherthoughts towardheruncle. He”d rescued her when she”d needed him as a teen.Living with him hadn”t been ideal but she”d been a hell of a lot better off thanwhatshe”d experienced living in her parents” commune.Then again, she did get shotatFriday night, so maybe one day off wasn”t out of the question. She took another bite of her bagel.
Once she finished it, she would call and beg forgiveness.
A knock sounded at her door. She jumped and stared at it. Should she answer it?
”Vic?”Ryker”s voice came through the door at her.
Shit. Shewas dressedin a pair of sweats and a t-shirt with her hair hanging down her back and not a stitch of makeup on. Thisought to frighten him off. And that was what she wanted. She”d decided that yesterday when Tony took her home instead of Ryker. It was better to keep her distance from the sexy man. She didn”t need any distractions. She had less than three weeks left. Nineteen days, to be exact. Making it through those nineteen days had to be her focus. Tall, gorgeous men needed tobe ignored.
”Vic, I know you”re in there. Answer the door.”
Or not.Ryker needed tobe ignoredor she mightdosomething stupid like kiss him again.
”Either answer the door, or I will bust it down. Your choice.”
He wouldn”t dare. Would he? She stared at the door. He would. She knew it on a fundamental level. Ryker Sterling did what he wanted when he wanted.
”Shit,”she murmured as she got up and went to the door. She opened it slowly and stared up into those stunning blue eyes. They were the color of a stormy sea. She moved out of the way as Ryker came through the door and then closed it after him.
He turned and gave her an assessing gaze.”Are you okay?”
She sighed.”Yeah, I put my phone on silent and slept late. Then I just…couldn”t face my uncle”s ire until I had a shower andsomebreakfast.”
Ryker”s eyes narrowed.”I see. He wants to see you. I had a hell of a time stopping him from sending Armstrong over to pull you out of bed.”
As she”d thought.”I”m sure,”Vic said as she rolled her eyes. She let out a loud sigh.”I just want a fucking day off. Is that too much to ask?”she demandedhandson hips.”I meanIgot shot at Friday nightandthen I had to be part of a dog and pony show at brunch yesterday.Can”t I just have one whole damn day to myself?”
Ryker stood with his arms across his chest, assessing her with his steely gaze. He wore jeans today with a light blue button-down that matched his eyes. He was hot as hell, a fact that just pissed her off more. She wanted to scream. To throw things and jump up and down and yell at the top of her lungs, just like a fucking toddler.
More, she wanted tobe finished. Out of Washington. Away from the scary big bad wolf she knew her uncle to be.
And she wanted to get a fucking life. Her own life. Not be run by someone else”s ideas and plans for her.
Maybe the most humiliating thing was that she wanted to take the strong, silent man in front of her straight to her bed.
”Please tell my uncle I”m not feeling well and will be in tomorrow,”she said through clenched teeth.
Ryker made a noncommittal noise and continued to stare at her.
”What?”she demanded.”What are you staring at?Ijustwant to be left alone, okay?I don”t feel like being at my uncle”s beck and call today. I don”t feel like being a good little niece. Tell him I”ll be there tomorrow but not today. Today is mine,”she said as she thumped herself in the chest.”I”m doing whatever the hell I want to do today, and I want is to sit in front of my damn TV and stuff my face with junk food. So tell him for me that I”m fucking taking the day off!”Her voice had risen to rockstar concert levels.
Chest heaving, she stared at Ryker. She”d been yelling the whole time. So the fuck what? She was allowed to rant. Someone had shot at her. Pitching the biggest shitfit seemed an appropriate response to that. She turned and started to storm out of the room, but Ryker caught her by the arm and pulled her to him. He wrapped her in a bear hug and crushed her to his chest.
”You”re okay.”His calm voice rumbled his chest under her cheek.”You”re going to be fine. It”s just going to take a minute. Getting shot at is no joke. Just breathe.”
Breathe. What the fuck washetalking about breathe? ”I”m breathing just fucking fine,”she said as she tried to push her way out of his arms.Thiswas not where she should be. She needed distance if she wasn”t going to do something stupid.”Let me go,”she said as she shoved against his chest.”I”m fine.”
He gave her some space but kept his arms around her.”You are not fine. You”re in shock and not dealing well with it. You”re allowed to be pissed off, but you”re starting to lose it.”
”I am not,”she snarled.”I”m fucking fine. Now, just fuck right off and leave me be.”
Ryker shook his head.”Vic, I”ve been through this and seena lot ofpeople go through it. You are not fine.You areso,so angry, which is fine, but you”re about to lose your mind.You need to calm down and work through it.”
”Idon”t want to calm down. I want you to leave!”She pushed against his torso, but he refused to budge. Damn. He was too big and strong for her to get out of his grasp. He wasn”t hurting her as much as he was pissing her off. She glared up at him. Fine. He didn”t want to let her go? She”d make him regret that decision. She opened her mouth to yell at the top of her lungs.
Ryker lowered his head and captured her lips.Her yell was swallowed up by him.He ran his tongue over hers and brought her hard against his frame. She froze. She didn”t want this, but she did at the same time.Thiswas bad. But her body betrayed her. Her nipples puckeredandher breasts got heavy. His tongue was doing crazy things to her, and there was no mistaking the telltale bulge behind his zipper. She couldn”t help but kiss him back.
He picked her upandshe wrapped her legs around his waist as he set her down on the back of her sofa. She buried her fingers in his hair, and he shoved his hands under her t-shirt. She wasn”t wearing a braandshe gasped when one large hand cupped her breast.
She rocked her hips closer to his and let out a moan as he tweaked her nipple. He kissed a fiery trail down her neck as he rolled her nipple between his thumb and finger. The other hand was in her hair, holding her in place. She pulled his shirt out of his jeans and started undoing the buttons. She wanted to feel him, taste him. She wanted to feel him inside of her, fucking her. She needed that.
She pulled his shirt off his shoulders and dropped it on the floor. He picked her up and carried her into her bedroom and then dropped her on the bed, putting his arms on either side of her head and lowering himself down on top of her.
He worked her t-shirt upward and sucked her nipple.
”Ryker,”she breathed as she wrapped her legs over the back of his. Arching her hips, she buried her hand in his hair and ran the other down his back. He was solid muscle and hot as hell. She was already wet for him.
He pulled the fabric still covering her breasts, and she curled up so he could pull the t-shirt off. He dropped it and went back to sucking her nipples. He worked his way down her stomach, placing strategic kisses as he grabbed the elastic waist of her sweats and pulled them off. She was left wearing only a black thong.
His gaze locked on hersandshe bit her lip. His eyes were the color of a stormy ocean.
”Ryker,”she said again as he ran a hand alongthe inside ofher thigh.
”Invicta,”he whispered,”tell me you want this.”
”Fuck me, Ryker. I want you to fuck me.Makeme forget. I need you to fuck me hard.”
He captured her mouth again as his fingers pushed her thong aside and circled her clit. She bucked against his hand. God, she wanted to ride him. She needed it. She reached for his belt buckle and undid it, and then the button of his jeans.He got upandshovedhis jeans off, and then returned tothebed.
She touched his cock through his tented underwear.”I need you inside me, Ryker,”she said as she ground against him.
He pulled off her thong and rubbed her clit with his fingers.”You”re so wet,”he growled. He put two fingers inside herandher hips bucked. She pushed off his underwear and then wrapped her legs around him so her hot center was rubbing on his cock.
He growled as she rubbed against him.”Invicta, you”re killing me. Let me get a condom.”
He reached for his jeans and pulled one out of his wallet, opened it, and rolled the thin covering over his cock. Then he settled over her on the bed, kissing her and running his hands over her nipples again. And then lower to rub her clit. She arched up toward himandhe entered her in one swift thrust.
”Oh God,”she moaned as he pulled all the way out and then slammed into her again. She bit her lip and begged him for more.”Ryker, fuck me harder.”
He obeyed her commandandthen they were locked in a crazy rhythm. Faster and harder. It was so damn good. She had never had sex with such abandon before. Not ever. Fucking amazing.
”I”m gonna come,”she said as she arched even higher.
Ryker thrust deep inside herandshe saw the world through the kaleidoscope of the orgasm crashing over her. A few more hard thrusts and he joined her, slumping beside her on the bed.
The sound of a cell phone pierced the air. Ryker was on his feet in seconds.”Sterling,”he growled into the phone.”Yes. She”s fine. Overslept.”There was silence.”I would advise she needs the day off. She”ll be back at work tomorrow. Yes.”He listened with a stony expression on his face.”No. On the way.”He clicked off the call andthengrabbed his underwear and jeans from the floor. His movements were stiff as he pulled them on.
Wait. What? What happened to fucking pillow talk. And afterglow, and holy shit! What had she just done? ”Are you leaving?”Vic asked.
”Have to go back to your uncle”s. He has a dinner meeting.”
She stared at him, heat rising fast in her cheeks. He was leaving without a word. Likethey hadn”t just had the best sex of her life.
He finally met her gazeand his eyes narrowedand then he gave a slight nod.”You”re doing better.”
”What? What are you talking about?”Vic demanded.
”You were about to lose it.”He gave a slight shrug.”Some people need to cry. Some eat. Some need years of therapy. You needed sex. Nowthefrantic look is gone from your eyes. You”ll be okay.”With that, he was gone.
What the actual fuck? Vic flopped back on the bed, humiliation spreading through her as her orgasm had just done. She put her hands over her face. Screw him. She let out a long sighbutdamn if he wasn”t right. Sheactuallyfelt much better.Grounded.The anger at what happened was still there, but it wasn”t nearly as explosive as it had been. The sex had allowed her to release the pent-up rage and made her feel human again. At some point, likeas soon astomorrow, she would have to face Ryker again. It wasn”t like she could fire him. She”d begged to bring him on board. Shewas going tohave to learn to be indifferent toward him, just like he”d been before he”d left. She could do that. Fat fucking chance. The next nineteen days were going to be miserable. That”s all she had to manage. Nineteen days until freedom. She could do that, couldn”t she?