Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
Addison
R idge wasn’t like the men from my past—the boys who only thought of themselves in every scenario and constantly put me last, who were more bad than good. Ridge was a dream. A man who had proven he’d do anything for me, who would protect me, who would punch an asshole and break his nose for my honor.
And even though I was squeezing him within my wet, naked arms while the rest of my body was still in his big, beautiful tub, I had a hard time believing that he was real.
That someone like him truly existed.
That he’d carried me out of the club and to his car and brought me to his house.
That tonight had even happened.
That he’d made sure this was the last time I would ever step foot in the club because he didn’t even want the customers’ eyes on me.
Because I was his.
And I wanted to be his.
“If you’re not going to join me,” I said into the side of his neck, “I think it’s time for me to get out.”
His arms loosened from around me, and he went to the other side of the bathroom to grab a towel, which he unfolded and held open for me to step into. Once I climbed out of the tub, he wrapped it around me, clasping it in the back.
“Let’s get you to bed.”
His shirt was soaked from our hug. The water from the bath was dripping off me, along with the bubbles, hitting spots on the floor that were well past the rug I was standing on.
But Ridge didn’t even attempt to dry himself off or remove his shirt or wipe up the floor.
All that mattered in this moment was me.
Since he was still holding the towel behind my back, I assumed he was waiting for me to walk into the bedroom.
But I didn’t move.
I undid the top three buttons of his shirt, and pulling from the bottom, I lifted it over his head. “You have too many clothes on to go to bed.” I took in his gorgeous smile as I unhooked his belt and the button and zipper of his jeans and let them fall, along with his boxer briefs, to the wet floor.
He slid out of his shoes and his clothes.
And even though his hand hadn’t left the towel, I pulled it off my chest and encouraged him to let it drop, the two of us now standing naked.
Ridge had every opportunity to let his stare fall down my body, and he didn’t.
His eyes stayed on mine.
And while they did, he gazed at me like I was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen—something he’d done since the first time we’d met. But what was also in that riveting stare was a feeling that went beyond my appearance and what he thought of it.
Ridge looked at me with love.
An emotion that didn’t just hit, but it penetrated my soul.
“Mine.”
As that one word resonated, my eyes fluttered closed, and I filled my lungs by taking the longest, deepest breath.
Mine .
Something I wanted, but didn’t feel right about having.
Until now.
Now, everything felt right.
“Yes.” I smiled. “I’m yours.”
I circled my arms around his neck and leaned up on my toes, hovering my lips in front of his. With that discussion out of the way, there was one thing left to do that would make this night leave my mind.
“Make me forget him.”
The only thing that could remove those images from my head was if Ridge replaced them. If he put his hands all over me, his lips, if he had me screaming so loud that I couldn’t recall a single moment from the club.
From that request, Ridge could have touched me anywhere.
But he chose my face, palms on my cheeks, thumbs on the sides of my lips.
I gave him a slow, gentle kiss. “Don’t try to talk me out of it either. I’ve never wanted something so badly in my life.”
“Addison—”
“I know you’re about to ask me if I’m sure. And I am. I’m positive.” I smiled, holding him even tighter. “The other thing I’m sure of is that you don’t have to wear a condom.” I ran my fingers through the back of his hair. “Don’t worry; I’m fully protected.” I tried to read his eyes, and when I couldn’t, I added, “Unless you’re uncomfortable with the idea and then?—”
I was suddenly in the air, and while his arms held my weight, my legs circled his waist, and my forearms rested on his shoulders.
Even though our positions were different, he didn’t move; he stayed standing in the same spot.
“You’re mine.”
He wasn’t asking.
He was telling me.
And even though we’d already confirmed that, I could understand his need to hear it again.
Because part of me needed to say it again.
“Yes,” I voiced softly, giving him a kiss.
“Then, yes, I’m comfortable with not wearing a condom. But I need to confirm you really know what you’re asking for, Addison.” He studied my eyes. “That you really want me to ravish you the only way I know how.” He continued to scan my eyes. “Because I’m not sure that’s what you need right now. This evening wasn’t easy on you, baby. When I saw the footage”—his jaw clenched, and his teeth ground together—“when I witnessed the way he grabbed you?—”
“And I don’t want you to be easy on me either.” I let that process before I added, “I want you to just love me tonight, Ridge. Please.”
“Addison”—he shook his head as though he was registering what I’d just said to him—“what the hell am I going to do with you?”
I held my lips against his and whispered, “You’re going to make love to me.”
“A demand I don’t know that I can refuse.”
“Then, don’t.”
There was movement, but we didn’t go far, just to the large counter in his bathroom, the section between the double sinks, and that was where he set me down. Even though I was settled on the hard stone, my legs stayed around him, and my shoulders leaned back until they hit the mirror behind me.
The second the cold glass touched my skin, he sank into me, giving me every inch of his hardness that I’d asked for.
“Oh, Ridge!”
“Fuck,” he moaned.
But it was more than a moan.
It was a noise that set the whole mood.
The sound vibrated through my chest, making my nipples even harder than they already had been.
“You have no idea how tight you are.” His forehead pressed against mine. “How wet.” He wrapped his fingers around my breast and grazed my nipple. “How fucking perfect.” The rubbing turned to a pinch, followed by a pull.
I left his shoulders and held on to his upper arms; the muscles felt like rocks beneath my nails.
“Ridge!” I gasped in some air as he reared his hips back, making me instantly miss the fullness until he thrust back in. “Yes!”
Since he no longer had to hold me, he had the use of both hands, and one went to my face, his thumb tracing my lips before it dipped into my mouth.
I sucked on it—the tip, the base, the length—like it was his dick.
And then I moaned even louder than he just had, his thumb popping out in time for me to shout, “Harder!”
“Do you know what you’re asking for?”
His movements were steady, and there was nothing soft about them.
But I wanted more.
I wanted his power.
I wanted to feel it through my entire body.
“Yes,” I said, drawing out the word. “And I want it faster.”
“You’re a naughty fucking girl, Addison.”
When his hand disappeared from my face, I anticipated where I would feel it next, especially as his speed began to pick up. When his grunts were filling the room, when the wetness and bubbles from the bath were starting to mix with the sweat on his body.
What I didn’t anticipate was how it would feel when it landed on my clit.
“Fuck!” The back of my head hit the mirror. Not hard enough for it to break, just enough for it to make a sound. “Yes!”
“You want more?”
“Always.”
“Bend your knees, Addison. Wrap your toes around the counter.”
I followed his order, quickly realizing this new position gave me everything I’d been begging him for. Because now that my legs weren’t around him and they were spread a bit more, there was nothing holding him back; he could reach the farthest part of me.
A spot beyond what he had hit before.
But he didn’t just tap it, like his crown was the beak of a woodpecker, knocking endlessly. Instead, he stroked his tip across it, like there was a knot that he was massaging out, and when he drew back, he rotated his hips, caressing my walls, adding even more friction.
Nothing I was feeling was normal.
This was something on a whole new level.
“Oh! My!” I screamed, eventually following that with, “God!”
“You’re going to come.”
I didn’t know how he knew, but there hadn’t been a time when he was wrong.
This was no exception.
He gave my clit another flick, and within a few plunges, I was yelling, “Ridge,” at the top of my lungs.
Shuddering.
Losing all control of my body.
The tingles were coming in that fast and hard.
“Ridge!” I shouted again.
If there was somewhere to fall, I would have since I was positive I could no longer bear my own weight. But the mirror held me, keeping me in place while he thrust his strength into me, filling me, making the electricity swirling in my stomach rise as high as my neck and as low as my toes.
“Ridge,” I shouted one final time.
Because it was the only word in my head.
Because I couldn’t even imagine trying to form something that had more than one syllable. My brain couldn’t handle it, not when I was this wound up.
“Fuck, baby, it feels so good when you come.”
Even though my orgasm had passed, he was still sliding in and out, but his pace had slowed, and so did the amount of pressure he gave me. My breath hadn’t yet returned, nor had the numbness left my body; I was still in that sensitive place where every shift caused a spark.
“You get so wet. So tight.” His lips were against mine. “Your pussy becomes so needy for me.” He moved his mouth to my ear. “I want you to fucking need me, Addison.”
His words were making me moan.
The rawness.
The grittiness of his tone, like he’d just woken up but without the sleepy sound.
My toes released the lip of the counter, and my legs wrapped around him.
“Tell me you need me again,” he demanded.
“I need you.” My palms gripped the sides of his face. “God, I need you, Ridge.”
“Tell me you’re going to come so fucking hard that you’re going to milk the cum out of me.”
If I’d considered this less than a minute ago, I was sure I couldn’t get off a second time.
But that was how quickly things had changed.
That was what this slow, steady, relentless rhythm had already done to me.
“We both know you’re going to get me there quickly, so, yes, my pussy is going to milk you.”
“Quickly, huh?” His chuckle was as deep as his voice was. “I like a challenge I know I’m going to win.”
I dragged my teeth over my bottom lip. “Show me, then.”
I was off the counter in seconds and back in his arms. He carried me out of the bathroom and into his bedroom. Since my back was to the room, I couldn’t see his destination. I could only feel him lowering me and the softness beneath me when he set me down.
I wasn’t on the bed.
I was on the bench in front of it. A wide, oversize rectangle, decorated in black velvet-like fabric.
“Get on your knees.”
My chest released the longest exhale as his command simmered through me.
When I didn’t instantly move, he held my chin, aiming my face up at him while he pumped his dick with his other hand. “Hurry.”
Between his order and the sight in front of my eyes, the amount of hotness was explosive.
I lifted myself from a seated position and flipped around onto my knees, spreading my legs just enough to grant him the access he’d had on the bathroom counter. I balanced on my palms, my fingers bending around the edge of the bench.
While I waited, I glanced over my shoulder. Ridge was still stroking his cock, but while he did it, he was taking in my body, covering every inch of me with his stare.
“Fucking look at you,” he said, dragging out each word, his gaze finally meeting mine. “I can’t believe I get to fuck you.” He licked his lip. “Or that you’re mine.”
“All yours.” I gave him a playful smile. “Now, hurry.”
The height of the bench was just the right alignment, so all he had to do was step forward, and his tip was already at my entrance. Both of us were so wet that he slid right in.
“Fuck yes,” he rumbled.
The fullness was what I experienced first.
Even though I’d already felt it tonight, the new position was entirely different from the last one. I didn’t know how it was even possible, but it felt like he was reaching an even deeper spot.
And when he dived into me, fully burying himself, he stayed there for a pulse. Part of it felt like a tease; he was making me miss the friction. But the other part didn’t need the pressure because my body was building without it, using the stillness to ramp up my orgasm.
“Ah!” I panted. “This feels”—I took in more air—“so good.”
What never stopped moving was his hands. They were everywhere, constantly wandering my body, squeezing my nipples, slapping my ass, gripping my hips.
“Addison,” he hissed. “You’d better stop pumping your ass like that, or you’re going to make me come.”
I was meeting him in the middle. But beyond that, I was bucking my hips upward, forcing him to hit my walls, and with that came a whole new sensation.
One that was sucking all the wind out of me.
“I want you to come,” I pleaded.
Because I was on the verge.
And I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold it back for much longer, not with how quickly my body was returning to that place. And especially not if he kept up this pace, the slamming, the arching, the twisting—a combination I couldn’t come back from.
I locked my arms and tightened my grip and looked at him over my shoulder. The hunger in his eyes was feral. The tug of his lips made him look unhinged.
This wasn’t just the sexiest man alive.
He was a man giving me everything he had.
And both of us were on the verge of screaming.
Not only could I feel it inside of me, but I could sense it in his strokes. How they had turned into short, sharp thrusts, each one ending in a long, loud grunt.
“Ridge,” I cried, the tingles moving higher in my body, “I want you to come right now.”
The last word had barely left my mouth when he reached around my side and grazed my clit.
“Oh!” I searched for air, for words—for anything. “Yes!”
He gave my clit that tiny motion again and again, sending my whole body into overdrive.
Waves of pleasure were spreading through me at a rate I couldn’t even fathom, and what made the moment even more intense was getting to watch when the same thing happened to him. When his eyes narrowed, when his lips drew wide, when his teeth bared. When the sensations were flushing through his body so strongly that he shouted, “Fuck! Yeah!” And, “Goddamn it, Addison, yes,” came next.
By the time he reached his peak, his momentum starting to die out, I was already shuddering, exhaling, “Ridge,” every time I was able to take in a breath and release it.
My knees were weakening.
My arms were no longer locked, my hands threatening to give out.
“I’m filling you with my fucking cum.”
Why was that image so incredibly sexy?
I could feel it—the extra wetness. Especially as he began to slow, both of our bodies needing a point of stillness.
And when he finally gave it to us, I was still looking at him.
Gazing.
Taking in that face, those eyes, the Cole nose, and his scruff that I just couldn’t get enough of.
He’d done everything I’d asked of him.
And now, tonight wasn’t even a bad memory. Tonight, aside from this, hadn’t even existed, as far as I was concerned.
He gently pulled out, wrapped an arm around my stomach and another behind my knees, and flipped me around after he lifted me into the air, carrying me back into the bathroom, where he stepped into the shower. He set me in the corner while he turned on the water, adjusting the temperature to the heat he preferred before he pulled me in to join him, guiding me under the stream.
“You awakened a fucking beast inside me.” He squirted some soap in his hand and gently washed between my legs, rinsing me off, along with his fingers, before he cupped my cheeks and pointed my face up at him. “You know that, don’t you?”
“Because you don’t have to wear a condom?”
“You would think that.” A smile moved across his face. “But, no.” He rubbed his nose against mine, and then his lips brushed my pout. Somewhere during one of the passes, he kissed me. “It’s because you gave yourself to me.”
I’d just found my breath, and yet it was still so hard to breathe.
So hard to think.
So hard to believe that this was the man who wanted me. Who had waited for me. Who had done everything in his power to protect me tonight.
“What’s going to happen when I tell you I love you?” I didn’t know where the question had come from; it just fell out of me.
“Why don’t you say it and find out?”