Chapter 10
Creedence
Had I known today what I would know in only a few hours... I could have saved myself a lot of heartbreak.
But when it came to Alexander Richard ‘Ripper’ Lawrence... I was powerless.
***
I knew he wasn’t busy.
That little freaking liar.
Oh, payback was going to be sweet.
I smiled.
He told me that he couldn’t meet me for ice cream after school.
The man was playing poker.
That didn’t make you busy.
After classes were over for the day, I climbed into my car and started planning.
He was going to have to sit through the movie that made me cry every time I watched it, Deepwater Horizon.
I got home just in time to see Dad loading Mom’s overnight bag into the SUV.
I parked next to it, grabbed my bookbag, and climbed out.
As I rounded the hood, Dad hit me with a smile, “Hey, princess. How was school?”
I shrugged, “Like any other. Kind of boring.”
He chuckled, “That’s school for you.”
Mom came around the corner of the house then and handed Dad another bag, “Where are you two going?”
Mom smiled, “A little weekend getaway. Connor is hanging out with some friends. Ripper will be by later to make sure you're safe.”
I nodded, “Okay, please be careful.”
She winked, “Always.” Then she stepped around Dad and pulled me in for a hug.
Her belly was adorable, and I grinned as I hugged her back. “And make sure my little brother or sister stays safe, yeah?”
She giggled, and Dad responded, “Have you met me?”
I giggled, “Right.”
In other words, anything that wanted to hurt Mom was going to have to get through Dad. And nothing got through Dad.
I stepped away from Mom, lifted on my tiptoes, and kissed his cheek, “Love you.”
He winked, “Love you too, Princess.”
As I headed into the house, I heard that all-too-familiar sound of Dad slapping Mom on the behind.
“You couldn’t have waited until I was in the house for that?” I called over my shoulder.
“You couldn’t have told Ripper not to kiss you in front of me the other night at the club?” he asked.
I spun on my heel and narrowed my eyes at him, “You’re the one who thought we had already kissed before the lake. What did you expect?”
Mom burst out laughing, and Dad just grumbled.
I smiled triumphantly all the way into the house.
I had just set my bookbag down on the end of my bed when my phone pinged with a text.
Ripper – What do you think?
Ripper – *picture of him in a new pair of jeans, shirtless*
I bit my bottom lip. The way that denim hugged his hips and that ass of his, the way his muscles flexed—I started thinking.
I could respond with, ‘Oh, so now you want to talk to me after you ignored me earlier and told me you were busy, and I know you were only playing poker,’ or ‘How can I still be yours when you haven’t made it that way fully yet?’
And then... as if my fingers had a mind of their own, they moved across the keyboard as I texted him back.
Me – You know, I don’t think I’m truly yours.
Ripper – Wanna explain that shit?
Ripper – ‘Cause it was my mouth on yours the other night.
Ripper – And it was your tongue that was down my throat.
Me – And? I heard that for a woman to be yours, you had to make her yours in every way. We have yet to do that.
Ripper – What do you expect me to do about it?
Me – What do you think? I’ll be here waiting.
I swallowed.
Then... because I just decided on another form of payback, a devious smile hit my lips. I raced to my bathroom, removed a few items of clothing, and then... snapped the picture.
And before I could talk myself out of it, I hit send.
His reply was instantaneous.
Ripper – Star Shine.
I didn’t reply.
Ripper – Creedence.
Again, I didn’t reply.
Ripper – It’s like that?
I smiled as I headed out of my room and to the kitchen to make myself something to eat.
Because I had a feeling I was going to need it.
And not even twenty minutes later, someone was pounding on the front door.
I grinned as I headed to it from the kitchen.
And the moment I had the door open, there he stood in all his handsome glory with both hands braced on the doorframe.
His mossy-colored eyes were heated.
“Yes?” I asked.
“You got five seconds to tell me to leave,” he growled.
I smiled.
His eyes smoldered as he growled, “One.”
I kept my smile.
They got even darker, “Two.”
I stared into his eyes and waited.
His jaw ticked, “Three.”
I licked my bottom lip.
“Fuck it.”
His hands went into my hair as he pulled me to him, then he crashed his lips down on mine.
My hands fisted on his kutte as I pulled him into the house, then I heard the front door slam shut.
He ripped his mouth from mine and asked, “They gone?”
I nodded, “Yes,” and then I reached up on my tiptoes and slammed my mouth onto his.
He moaned deep in his throat.
I bit his bottom lip.
“You sure?” he asked.
I nodded, “Never been more sure about anything in all my life.”
He licked his bottom lip, and that was when I knew... knew that things were going to change.
Because in a manner I’ve never witnessed, nor felt, he softened his hold on my hair, and then slowly—ever so slowly—he brought his lips down on mine.
I lifted on my tiptoes and met him halfway.
The moment our lips touched, he buried his hands in my hair and moaned deep in his throat. I smiled against his lips.
As our lips moved in a frenzied dance, I opened my mouth, giving him instant access.
I felt his hands squeeze my ass, and I did a little jump.
He growled as I circled my legs around his waist, and immediately, I felt his hard cock grind into my stomach.
Yeah, it was as big as I thought it was that day in the lake.
And I couldn’t wait to have it inside me.
To have all of him.
Finally.
He ripped his mouth from mine and growled, “Last chance to tell me to fucking leave.”
I tightened my legs around his waist in response.
Those mossy-colored eyes of his stared into mine, and then he nodded, “You got it.”
And then his lips were back on mine as he carried me through the house.
I knew we were in my bedroom because he squeezed my ass cheeks once, and I got that he wanted me to unwrap my legs from his hips, so that was what I did.
The moment my bare feet were on the hardwood floor, he grinned, then slowly walked me backward until the backs of my knees hit the edge of my bed.
Then he applied slight pressure on my shoulders.
The moment my ass hit the bed, he stepped back, licked his lips, and removed his kutte.
He laid it on the bed at my side.
Then he removed his ball cap and handed it to me. I slipped it atop my bedpost.
His eyes heated at the move.
Then, with one hand, he reached behind him and pulled his tee off.
I licked my lips at the action—it was sexy as hell.
His eyes smoldered, “You like that?”
I nodded, “Yeah.”
He winked.
Then he reached behind him and pulled something from the small of his back. It was his 9mm. I knew he had started carrying it when he prospected for the club.
He set it on my dresser.
His eyes never left mine as he undid his belt and unsnapped his jeans.
And then I couldn’t wait any longer to have my hands on him.
I rose from the bed and stepped toward him, “Do you want to sit so I can undress in front of you?” I asked, placing my hands on his chest.
He shook his head, “No, Star Shine, you do that, I’ll come in my jeans. And the only place I’m coming is in you.”
I growled.
His eyes flared.
Then he lifted the hem of my tee, and I lifted my arms.
The moment the fabric was pulled from my body, he had his hands and lips on everything he could see and touch.
My head tilted to the side as his lips skimmed over my neck, my collarbone, my shoulders.
Then he dipped low to run his tongue over one bra-covered breast and then the other.
When his hands moved down to my ass, he lifted and tossed me onto the bed.
I bounced once, twice, and then settled with a giggle.
He watched me as he toed off his boots, then his socks, and then, with his eyes still on mine, he lowered his jeans.
He stood in front of me clad only in a pair of black boxer briefs. Seeing his bulge... I knew he was big, just like the rest of him, but I hadn’t realized just how big he was.
I didn’t even notice that I voiced my thoughts aloud.
Not until he winked, “I was made for you, and you for me. It’ll fit.”
Then, slowly, he moved to the edge of the bed and crawled up it.
I stared into his eyes as my hands roamed over every inch of his skin I could reach.
His head lowered, and our lips met in the briefest of touches before sliding over my cheek and down my neck.
His hands slid over my shoulders, and then I felt him slide a hand beneath me. With a quick movement of his fingers, my bra was loosened from my body.
He shifted so he could remove the material. If this man didn’t already hold my heart in the palm of his hand, he would have gotten it just then—because his eyes didn’t narrow to my breasts.
No, they stayed locked on my eyes.
And then well... I was done waiting.
I writhed beneath him, “Honey, please.”
He grinned, “Knew to hear you beg, all I had to do was this... should have done it sooner.”
I glared up at him, “It wouldn’t have meant as much.”
His nostrils flared, “You're right. It wouldn’t have.”
Then he shared, “And from now on, when we make love, you call me honey.”
I smiled, “You like that?”
He shook his head.
I frowned.
He winked, “Fucking love that.”
Then he moved his mouth to one breast, kissing all over it, while his other hand came up and worked on my other nipple. I got all his weight on top of me; I moaned in happiness.
He sensed it and gave me more of his weight.
My hands wound themselves in his hair as his lips sucked my nipple into his mouth.
With one stroke, I pressed my hips into his, needing something—needing friction.
As his tongue, teeth, and lips worked on my nipple, I did it again and again, and then found it.
“Yes,” I moaned.
He chuckled as he moved to my other breast and gave it the same attention.
Moisture was coating my panties.