Chapter 20 Tired of Running
Tired of Running
RYDER
Fuck, I’m hard.
The taste of her mouth. That’s all it takes.
That, and the way her heart pounded strong and healthy against my hand after I floated my idea.
I debated for hours—days—whether I actually should share the whole animal therapy thing. If I should even come here. What right do I have to see her again? I was operating under the assumption that our hookup was a one-time-only thing.
But that good sleep I was enjoying? It dissipated the longer I was away from Billie.
Last night, I tossed and turned, barely getting a wink.
Then I spent the day either pacing in my tiny living room, my knees aching, pulse popping inside my skin, or googling shit like, “animal therapy start-up costs,” “how to build an animal therapy program,” and “working with your significant other good or bad.”
Fuck it.
That’s the conclusion I finally came to after all of four days of denying myself her company.
I can’t do this anymore. I have to see her.
So I ditched my chores and hopped in my truck and drove to the Wallace Ranch.
Before, I would’ve been proud of my ability to deny myself. The longer I could stay away from a girl like Billie, the stronger I was.
I was safe. And that’s what mattered more than anything.
Now I’m coming to grips with how much I’m missing out on by playing it safe. Self-restraint hasn’t made me any happier.
It’s cut me off from the pleasures, both small and profound, of being alive.
Anyone could’ve seen me on my drive over here.
Anyone can still see me even though I was careful to park my truck far from the road. This is the Wallace’s property. Colt lives here, and so do his parents.
And calling Tate? Big gamble. He’s a stand-up guy, but he could easily tell his brothers I was looking for Billie.
I’m risking everything to make these moves. But I’m too wound up—too sick of being alone—to care.
I don’t know how Billie and I will make this work. If it will work. I’m not sure I could forgive a friend for falling for one of my siblings without saying a damn word to me about it.
I just gotta hope that Billie and I can figure out a way to make things right.
In the meantime, I’m gonna lay this girl down. Give her what she wants, then take what I need.
She rises into the kiss, her fingertips trailing ribbons of need up the naked slope of my stomach and chest as I play with her nipple.
She’s so soft everywhere. Soft and hot and eager.
I pull back. Tug her bottom lip between my teeth. Then I’m leaning in again and slipping my tongue inside her mouth.
At the same time, I give her nipple a hard pinch. She gasps.
“I hate you.” She breaks the kiss to try to yank my shirt over my head.
It gets stuck, so I help her take it off. “Tell me more.”
“You’re a fucking tease, making me wait.” Both her hands are on my chest now, her fingers catching on my own nipple. A bolt of lust lands in the tip of my dick. “Being so hot.”
The rain hits my skin and rolls down my back. The contrast between the cool water and the heat that throbs inside my skin sends a shiver of pleasure down my spine.
“I think I need some evidence of how hot you think I am.” Curling my hands around her waist, I toss her up onto the hood of the truck. Then I part her knees and step between them, reaching for the fly of her jeans. “How wet you gonna be for me, darlin’?”
Her hand finds my nape. She digs her fingers into my hair, and I bite back a groan at how good it feels.
“Quit playin’ around and find out.”
I duck my head and sink my teeth into her neck, making her yelp. “I’mma have to fuck the brat out of you again, aren’t I?”
“Uh-huh,” she pants.
Her jeans are soaked to the point that they’re like a second skin. Total pain in the ass to take off, but I gotta see her. All of her.
So I pry off her boots. The jeans. I cuss when I see the cute pink panties she’s wearing.
“Didn’t think they could get any tinier than the ones you wore the other night.” Taking them off, I hold them up and marvel at the little strings and delicate lace they’re made of. “Why even wear them?”
Billie is naked from the waist down now. Propped up on the hood of my truck with her nipples poking through her shirt, her dark hair plastered to her forehead and neck, she looks like the wet T-shirt contestant from heaven.
Lord, thank you for the bounty I’m about to eat. Receive. Whatever.
“Because I like them, and they make me feel sexy. No, you can’t keep—”
“Too late.” I tuck them into my back pocket. “If you don’t want me stealin’ ’em, you shouldn’t be wearing ’em.”
Her hazel eyes ignite. “You really should give me a heads-up, then, when you’re gonna show.”
I slide my hands up her legs. Resting them on her inner thighs, I push so that she’s spread nice and wide. “I think the surprise turns you on.”
Her nostrils flare. “I think you’re a jackass.”
“Let’s see who’s right.” Reaching up, I part her pussy with my thumb.
We both hiss at the slickness I find there. She’s swollen and hot, and when I dip my thumb inside her entrance, she contracts around me.
All the while, the rain pelts the hood of the truck.
“Aw, darlin’,” I say with a low, dark chuckle. “I think I win this one.”
Her eyes go hazy. “Don’t think I won’t put up a fight.”
“Nuh-huh.” I use my thumb to draw the moisture out of her entrance, then coat her clit with it. “You’re gonna watch me eat this pretty little pussy, and then you’re gonna let me fuck it however I want. Yeah?”
Her breath catches. “Since when did you get creative?”
“You’ve been rubbin’ off on me.”
“I like it.”
“I know.” Rolling my thumb over her clit, I use my other hand to bend her leg and push it to the side, spreading her even more. “You know how I like to see you. All of you.”
She nods, her tits rising and falling as she struggles to catch her breath. “Perv.”
“For you? Yup.” I shove her shirt up over her tits. Then I pull down her bra so that her breasts are propped up, bare nipples aching to be sucked.
So I suck them. Gently at first. My baby arches against me, digging her hand into my hair.
“Oh, Ry. I’m so happy. So damn happy you came.” She gives my hair a hard tug, urging me to meet her eyes. “I want you to know that. How happy you make me.”
Emotion radiates from my center outward. I’m one big ball of feeling: the heavy throb of need in my dick, the lightness in my chest, the burn in my hamstrings, the carbonated feeling of joy in my throat. The craving to know her and possess her and show her there’s no one else.
She’s not gonna want anyone else after she has me.
“Why you think I can’t stay away?” I nuzzle my nose into her neck. “I’m addicted to the way you make me feel.”
I kiss my way down her belly. The scent of her arousal fills my head as I put my hands on the creases between her legs and pelvis. Her hand is still in my hair, her eyes still locked on my eyes when I kiss her.
Her flavor hits me in a mouthwatering rush. She’s salt. Heat. Earth.
She’s watching me kiss her, eat her, moving my head so that I can suck on her clit. Stroke her with my tongue.
I go all in, using my thumbs to hold her open so I can lick inside her entrance. She moans, her brows curved up like she’s in pain.
“Ry. Baby. The way you do this—how well you—”
Love me.
I silently beg her to say it. Because even though it’s way too soon to be saying shit like that, my heart doesn’t balk at the idea.
For the first time, neither does my head.
“You need me to stretch you out a little?” I press my lips to her clit. “So you’re ready for me?”
She nods, making a sound that has me thinking she’s on the verge of tears. Her hips rock against my face.
“I like you sore, so you think of me when you move.” I sink a finger inside her pussy. “But I don’t want you hurtin’.”
“I like it when you make me sore too,” she pants. “Whatever you wanna give me, I can take it.”
I’m not sure my heart’s in my body anymore. I can’t locate it. I feel its beat in my cock. Hear it in my ears. But my chest feels simultaneously hollowed out and overly full.
Oblivious to my ongoing cardiac event, Billie starts to play with her tits. I watch, dick screaming, as she circles her nipple with her thumb, her hips rolling as her head falls back.
“Watch,” I growl.
Her head pops back up, a smirk on her lips. “It feels too good, Ry.”
“I don’t fucking care. Watch.”
I thrust my finger in and out, in and out, her pussy fluttering around me. Her grip on me is tight and soft, and it makes me want to howl.
The rain keeps coming down. It drips off the peaks of Billie’s nipples.
Her legs start to tremble. I use my free hand to hold one down.
At the same time, I work my second finger inside her. This time, I know I don’t need to go slowly. Billie is quick to adjust to me, rocking her hips to push my fingers deeper. I continue to lick her clit, slow, steady strokes.
Her pussy clamps down on me. Once. Hard.
“Ry.” She’s sobbing. “Please. Please. Please, baby.”
She’s wound so tight she doesn’t know what she needs.
Good thing I do. I use my teeth to nick her clit. At the same time, I slip my fingers out of her pussy and paint her slit with her slickness. Wind her even tighter when I shove them back inside her.
“Fuck.” The word comes out as a cry. “Fuck you, Ry.”
Her neck is bent and so are her knees. She’s watching me bring her to the brink just like I told her to, and I want to fuck this flash of obedience right out of her.
Billie’s not a good girl. Thank God for that.
Her hips jerk against my mouth. Her pussy tightens around my fingers.
Just when she’s about to come, I pull out my fingers and lean up to kiss her mouth.
“What?” she yells. “No no no! I’m—”
“So close you wanna die?” I kiss her mouth so that she can taste herself. “I know. But I told you that I’m gonna fuck you how I like. And right now, I’d like you to come when I’m inside you.”
I dig into my back pocket for the condoms I shoved in there before I left my house. Wanted to bring extra in case the supply in my glove box didn’t last us.