Chapter 43 #2
He looked down, his voice tight. “I pulled some strings. Big ones. Got my hands on her record. Told myself I was saving a life.” He exhaled through his nose. “I told myself a lot of things.”
Lucía didn’t interrupt.
“I gave him the file. Then I tried to fix my own mess by trying to get Jessica to safety. The storm got in the way. So did the truth. Needless to say, we never made it to Baton Rouge.”
Her brow furrowed. “She figured it all out?”
“She did. Afterwards, she vanished again. Last seen headed for Texas, I think.” He gestured around the room. “I did the same. But for different reasons.”
Lucía leaned back, studying him. “So you’re the dirty cop in every movie. The one who sleeps with the witness, breaks protocol, and blows up his whole life.”
Ryan didn’t smile. “Except I didn’t even get to sleep with her.”
She tilted her head. “Did she at least get a goodbye kiss before you ruined everything?”
He finally looked amused. “You really want me to answer that?”
Lucía’s eyes softened, though her mouth kept its edge. “And now you’re here. Still running.”
Ryan nodded once. “You, too.”
She didn’t deny it.
Lucía’s gaze held his for a long, loaded second. The room was still. The whole world seemed to have exhaled and not yet breathed in again.
She reached out, slowly, and let her fingers rest against his forearm. Light, tentative. Not an invitation. Just contact.
Ryan didn’t flinch.
Her hand moved upward, barely tracing. She paused at the bend of his elbow, then let her palm settle flat against his bicep. It was steady there, like she needed the solidity beneath it. Or like she was checking to see if he’d disappear.
He didn’t.
She could feel her pulse beating thickly under her skin all over her body. She tried to remember the last time a man coaxed this kind of a response out of her body just by looking at her. Actually, she knew exactly when that had been, and it was a very long time ago.
His hand came up, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear. The movement was hesitant, gentle. As if he knew he’d only get one chance to do this right.
The tension between them was so taunt it almost hummed. Without breaking eye contact, she leaned over until her mouth was a breath away from his. There was a moment of pure, crystallized silence.
Then he closed that tiny distance and kissed her.
Their lips met in a soft press. Testing. But then he placed a hand on the back of her neck, and her head fell back and her mouth opened for him.
His tongue dipped into her mouth. Then there was no stopping it. Not now. There was only one way this was going to end, and they both knew it.
Most men treated kissing like something that had to be gotten over quickly so they could get to the main event. But not Ryan. He took his time, his tongue gliding against hers, like he could do this all night.
But after a while, urgency began growing.
She could feel it in the way his fingers dug into her hair above her ear.
She had twisted herself to face him on the bed and he had mirrored her.
It was awkward and uncomfortable, and as soon as they broke off the kiss, their bodies automatically sought more user-friendly positions.
He moved across the bed, his back to the wall, pulling her with him.
She swung herself onto his lap so her butt was pressed against his thighs.
They didn’t make eye contact while they were doing this, just in case either saw something in the other’s eyes that made them rethink the consequences of it.
Regretting this was for later.
He reached up, fumbling the buttons of her shirt free. Because of her shoulder wound, she wasn’t wearing a bra, and at the sight of her bare breasts, he gave a low moan.
He cupped the left one, then the right. The sensation of his hands on her sent currents of pure pleasure over her skin.
She leaned over him, making short work of his shirt buttons. Pushing the fabric apart, she found what she’d only been able to admire from afar: hard muscle, hot skin and a fine dusting of golden hair that trailed all the way down…
He watched her eyes slide down to his belt buckle. “Get my cock out,” he whispered.
A pulse of white-hot heat went straight to her core.
Holy fuck, she wasn’t going to need to be told twice.
She unclasped his belt and unzipped his fly.
She slipped a hand into his briefs and pulled him out.
He was big, and so thick that if she wasn’t already sopping wet between her legs, it would hurt.
“Damn,” she murmured. “It’s always the quiet ones. ”
As she ran her hand up his shaft, he drew in a sharp breath. “Lucía,” he said on the exhale. The word was both a question and a plea. “You want it inside you?”
She gave a breathy laugh. “If it’ll fit.”
He gripped the back of her neck, pulling her ear close to his lips. “Oh sweetheart, we can make it fit.”
His words made her almost moan out loud.
He unfastened the button fly of her pants and pushed them down her thighs. Then he slid his hand into her panties. When his fingers discovered how wet she was, a slow smile spread across his face.
“Is all this for me?” he said, gliding up and down her slickness.
The feel of his blunt fingers working their magic against her clit made her almost speechless with desire, but she managed to contain it long enough to give his chest a little shove. “Hey. It’s been a long time, okay?”
He smirked. “For me too. I almost came when you wrapped your hand around it.”
“Mmm,” she said. His cock was still jutting out above the waistband of his underwear. She gripped it again, massaging the tip with her thumb. “You mean when I did this?”
He sucked in a breath and dropped his head back against the wall. His big hand closed around hers, stopping her from continuing her exploration.
When he looked at her again, his eyes grew serious. “I don’t have a condom.”
She gave a quick shake of her head. She’d had an IUD for years. “It’s okay.”
Climbing off him to kick her pants away, she straddled him again, bracing her hands on his shoulders.
He dropped his hands to her hips, angling her so her pussy was pressing right against his cock.
They were both panting now, partly in an effort to keep quiet, but they both held their breath as she lowered herself down onto him.
They expelled those breaths simultaneously in a heavy sigh. He leaned forward, wrapping his hands around her lower back and pulling her all the way down onto him.
She gave an involuntary gasp and wrapped her good arm around his neck, pressing the side of her face against his. “Oh my God, Ryan,” she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut.
“Am I hurting you?” he said, right in her ear.
She shook her head, even though he was hurting her, a little. But the pressure felt better than the pain. “You feel incredible.”
His grip on her waist was tight and damp with sweat. “You feel pretty damn incredible yourself.”
She nestled herself closer to him. “I just hope we’re driving tomorrow and not walking.”
He laughed and she could feel the vibration of it in her own chest.
Slowly, she eased herself off him, then back down again as he lifted his hips to meet her. They formed a rhythm, still tightly gripping each other’s bodies, their movements both urgent and steady. He was taking sharp breaths and exhaling slowly, like he was trying to slow himself down.
As she got used to the sensation of him moving inside her, their rhythm picked up pace.
His fingers dug into the flesh of her hips, pulling her flush against him, again and again.
Her arm was still hooked tightly around his neck, her cheek against his, their bare chests pressed together.
She felt so close to him in that moment—this man she barely knew, this man she shouldn’t trust. Somehow, that only made it hotter.
One of his hands slid up her back to grip her braid, and she knew he wasn’t going to last much longer.
Neither was she. He was hitting about three different spots inside her, so when she came, it was almost painfully intense.
She lifted her hand from around his neck and gripped a handful of his hair and sunk her teeth into his shoulder.
He groaned, his abdomen tensing. Then he released inside her with a shudder that she felt travel through his whole body.
He crushed her against his chest and held her there. She could feel his heart thumping in his chest. Hers was beating just as hard, right against his. Like they were both trying to knock something down in there.
He was still breathing hard, his hand hanging onto her braid like it was a lifeline. Ripples of pleasure continued to spread through her. She hadn’t come that hard in…maybe ever.
They stayed that way for a long time. His arms wrapped tightly around her, her cheek resting against his jaw.
His breath washed over the skin of her neck.
He smelled like soap and under it, his own warm male scent.
That moment felt so perfect, so right, she never wanted it to end.
She wanted the rest of the world to just blow away and leave the two of them there like this forever.