Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
ELIZABETH
Two phones ring, one after the other, disturbing the wonderful dream I was having.
I slowly wake up and stretch, feeling sore in the best and most perfect way. A stir of desire swirls through me when Ryder kisses my neck, but I tamp it down and enjoy being cuddled by the strong man curled around me.
We made love until the sun came up, and then Ryder finished me off by fucking me hard in the shower before we passed out around seven this morning. I feel delightfully achy and happier than I ever thought possible.
“Morning, baby,” he mumbles, pressing a kiss to my temple.
Every time he calls me baby, I absolutely melt.
“Who the hell keeps calling?” he asks, no longer able to ignore the incessant noise coming from the floor next to my bed.
I chase his mouth, desperate for his kiss. “It’s both our phones. You shouldn’t complain. This is what you guys do to me every freaking day with your nonstop texting. It drives me crazy.”
“You love it when I text you.”
“Yeah, but it’s you times three others,” I remind him.
I can’t think straight when his tongue is doing wicked things to my ear.
“Aren’t you sore?” he asks against my lips when I scissor my legs, trying unsuccessfully to ease the throb pounding between them.
“Yes. But I know you’ll make it feel all better.”
“Damn straight I will,” he says in the sexiest rumble, tossing the sheets off the bed.
Best wake up ever.
I watch Ryder as he gets dressed in my bedroom, my body and mind completely blissed out. After my glorious wake-up orgasm, I was treated to a second one in the shower as he held me against the wall and pounded into me with abandon. I don’t know who is more insatiable for the other—me or him.
On my stomach and propped up on my elbows on the rumpled sheets, his sandalwood scent surrounds me. I want to bury my nose in the soft cotton. I may never wash these sheets again.
Unlocking my phone, I scroll through the unread texts and listen to the voice message Daniel left telling me his flight details and when he would be arriving on Monday.
ScaryGuy: Good morning, Princess.
I roll my eyes.
Doppelganger: I miss my morning running buddy!
Meredith: Dying to hear about your first date with HotRyd. Get it, like hot rod?
I snicker.
Meredith: How about Ride Me Hard Ryder? Oooh, I like that one.
Meredith: Maybe I should just keep calling him Hot-as-fuck Ryder. Whatever. Call me.
“What are you giggling at?” Ryder inquires as he pulls on his jeans, leaving them open at the fly and riding low on his hips.
“Meredith thinks you’re very hunky. That’s the G-rated version.”
“I don’t want to know.” He pulls on his shirt.
ScaryGuy: Call me when you get up.
Elijah: My man is pacing the floor wanting to know why you haven’t texted him back yet.
Doppelganger: Liz, what’s the deal? It’s past ten and no word from you. Are you ok?
ScaryGuy: I tried calling but no answer. It’s past eleven. Where the hell are you?
Meredith: The fact that you haven’t texted me back must mean that some lucky girl got even luckier last night.
Deciding to put Meredith out of her misery, I send her a reply.
Me: So fucking good. That’s all you’re getting. My lips are sealed.
It takes five seconds for her to respond.
Meredith: I bet that’s not what your lips were sealed around last night. eggplant emoji
Me: kiss emoji eggplant emoji happy face with tongue sticking out emoji
Me: Have fun at the party. Go get your man!
Meredith: I’m going to try. Wish me luck.
Me: fingers crossed emoji
I scroll to the end of the messages.
Doppelganger: Liz, answer your phone.
ScaryGuy: If you don’t let us know you’re ok in the next ten minutes, I’m coming to your place.
Shit. That was sent seven minutes ago.
Me (to Jayson and Julien): Had a late night. Just got up. I’m alive and fine.
ScaryGuy: Have you heard from Ry? He never came home last night.
Ryder joins me on the bed and looks over my shoulder at my phone. He takes it and starts typing out a message to Jayson.
Me (to Jayson): He just texted. Said he crashed at Fallon’s after the race.
“That’s pretty good,” I tell him when he hands my phone back to me, and I hit send, then continue.
ScaryGuy: There’s a party tonight. You want to go?
I get distracted when Ryder trails his finger up my inner thigh.
“Party?” he asks, pushing my thighs open with the breadth of his shoulders.
“Hard pass. Want to go to the beach?”
“Invite the guys. We can pack a cooler with food and drinks. Make a day of it.”
Me: Beach?
ScaryGuy: Sounds good. Will try to get in touch with Ry.
Me: I’ll text Ryder. Pick me up in an hour?
ScaryGuy: Would be my pleasure.
Ryder’s finger gets to the hem of my shorts, lazily sliding back and forth along the seam. I toss my phone on the floor and roll over. He kisses my thigh and moves to stretch over me, and I reach for him.
“Last night was incredible,” I tell him, my heels resting on the backs of his calves as I debate if I’m too sore for one more round.
He fans my hair out into a halo around my head, his fingers running through the strands.
“I’m still in disbelief that I’m really here, with you, like this. I’ve wanted this for so long. Part of me thinks I’ll wake up tomorrow and it will have been a dream.”
I brush my fingertips across his morning stubble, the coarse texture rough and slightly ticklish. “It’s already tomorrow.”
He pecks a sweet kiss to the button of my nose. “Keep looking at me like that and we won’t leave this room for the rest of the day.”
“I can’t help it. You’re extremely sexy.”
“And you’re the most beautiful girl in the world.”
Ryder always has a way of disarming me with the simplest words. Like an arrow aimed true, straight to the heart. Every damn time.
“I love you. I don’t know if I’ll be able to say it enough.”
Loving him was more than a feeling—it was a truth that lived in my bones. And after last night, after what we shared, I can’t imagine a world where that love never existed. It had to have been there between us from the beginning.
His copper eyes soften. “Love you too, baby.”
For a strong man, he doesn’t hide his feelings for me. He doesn’t see them as a weakness. He wears them for me like an open wound.
My stomach takes that moment to sound its displeasure.
“Come on. Let’s get some food in that belly before the guys get here.”
He lifts my shirt above my stomach and gives me a giant raspberry that makes me giggle uncontrollably. In one smooth move, he scoops me off the bed and carries me over his shoulder toward the kitchen.
Suddenly, I’m besieged with images as a memory pushes its way forward.
“Wait. Isn’t that the new bikini top you bought the other day?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Oh, Princess, I think I need to show you what happens to naughty girlfriends who send sexy pics on their phones.”
Giggling, I ask, “What happens?”
I’m suddenly lifted and hoisted over a shoulder. It’s not Ryder’s. It’s Jayson’s.
“What are you doing? I’m too heavy!” I exclaim, laughing, my efforts to wiggle out of his hold useless. “Freda will ground you for another month if she finds out you’re here.”
“Will be totally worth it,” he says and marches us inside the house to kiss me breathless.