Chapter Twenty-Three
I really should’ve taken a shower, but the best I could do was wash my makeup off and brush my teeth.
After I did my business in the bathroom, Ryan went in with his backpack, and I pawed through my drawer for something that said sexy and captivating.
I found no such nightie and settled on sleep shorts and a tank, vowing a sexy nightie for Ryan would be my first purchase after I got caught up on bills, put some money back into my savings account, and had at least two months of payments set aside for my dad’s home. Oh, and paid to fix my freaking car.
I heard the door to the bathroom open. The light went out, and for some silly reason my heart started pounding.
The covers pulled back, the mattress dipped, and my belly did a somersault.
Ryan’s arm slid under my pillow, he rolled me closer to him, and I felt like I was on one of those amusement park rides that took you up five hundred feet, letting you hang for a few seconds before you plummeted back to earth.
I was right at the top, hanging there, the anticipation thick, waiting for the fall.
Though truth be told, I’d fallen a long time ago—it was just that this was now our beginning.
“You good?”
I did not trust my voice, so I nodded.
“All right, baby, get some sleep.”
I was exhausted. He had to be tired. But this was Ryan, and he was finally in my bed; there was no way I was falling asleep.
I should’ve been counting sheep, but instead all I could think about was Poppy’s very unhappy—dare I say hurt—expression when Beckett followed Sterling and his guests out of the bar. To make matters worse, he’d had his hand on the woman’s lower back while they walked out into the lobby.
Once I decided that I was going to call her tomorrow and give her the third degree and demand she spill her guts and admit she had the hots for the Grizzly Adams wannabe, thoughts of Naomi invaded.
I couldn’t say she was friendly or that I’d exchanged more than a handful of words with her, but I needed to find a way to make the girl talk and see if she’d mention Sterling or what a feast was.
And Muriel. She’d be a tough nut to crack, but I wondered—if I let it slip that I needed money and mentioned hearing something about hostessing, if she’d know anything about that.
And Sterling. He was going to be a problem.
On the drive home, I’d watched Ryan get more and more tense the longer he talked to Beckett.
At one point he’d taken his eyes off the road and looked over at me in the passenger seat, with danger signs flashing in his eyes.
I knew that was when Beckett had told him I’d tripped and Sterling had caught me.
Shitty timing for me to have a slip and almost fall.
The worst timing ever!
“Baby, you are the loudest thinker I know.”
Oh no, was I moving around?
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
“Nothing to be sorry for. Do you have something on your mind you want to talk about?”
“You’re tired—”
He gave me a squeeze and pulled me even closer.
“Never too tired to listen if something’s weighing heavy on your mind.”
There was so much weighing heavy on my mind it would take a decade to unload.
“Sleep, honey.”
Suddenly I was on my back, Ryan was up on an elbow, and he was looking down at me.
“Chloe, tell me what you need to unburden your mind.”
I wasn’t sure what I needed, but I sure did know what I wanted.
“Kiss me.”
His mouth descended, hit its mark even in the dark, and he kissed me.
Not hot and heavy.
Soft and sweet.
Infinitely sweet.
So softly his tongue was coaxing, teasing, unhurried. This kiss was nothing like the ones that had come before.
He gave me some of his weight. My hands came up, encountered warm skin, and went on a fabulous journey of discovery. I touched everywhere I could touch. Ryan kept the kiss gentle but added his hand to the side of my neck, his thumb slowly skimming up and down.
This lasted a long time. Long enough for my legs to get restless and the spark that he ignited when his lips touched mine to catch.
I needed more.
Ryan didn’t need me to verbalize this request. He rolled off me, his hands went to the hem of my tank, he yanked up, and whoosh, it was gone. Next his hands went to my shorts, and those too were gone, along with my undies. There was some shifting, then Ryan’s boxers went flying.
I thought from there, since we were both naked, he’d move things along.
Boy was I wrong.
Another gentle kiss, this time while his hand was tangled in my hair.
This again went on a long time. So long, I slid my hand down his back, reached as far as I could, and dug my nails into his firm ass cheek as a plea for more.
Ryan didn’t give me more. He nipped my lip before he broke the kiss.
“Not yet.”
“Honey—”
“Our first time’s gonna be special, and you’re gonna let me give that to you.”
It wasn’t our first time, but it was. It was the first time after our truce. After he’d declared us an us.
If Ryan wanted to go slow and give me something special, who was I to argue? Not that I could argue—I was too busy swooning.
Hearts- and flowers- and rainbow- and unicorn-type swooning.
“As you wish.”
“Now you’re getting it.”
Before I could respond with a snappy quip, his mouth was back on mine. That kiss didn’t last nearly as long as the ones before. He broke the kiss but not the contact as he dragged his lips down to my chin, over my throat, between by breasts, over and across my nipple.
My back arched, he moved to the other side, swiped his tongue over that nipple, then he was back on the move. Lips gliding, tongue tasting, teeth grazing, light nips here and there.
By the time Ryan made it to my belly button, I was panting.
When he skimmed his lips over the triangle of hair, I groaned.
I was wrong earlier—now I was at the top of that ride, suspended, anticipation coursing through me.
It was the most maddening, gentlest, most beautiful torture.
“Open for me, Chloe,” he ordered.
I did as he asked.
Ryan kissed my hip, fell through the space I made, and took his time, driving my need to a place that I didn’t know existed.
A place where only Ryan and his mouth and his tongue lived and his sole purpose of living was to pleasure me.
He did not eat me out, he didn’t devour me—he did something altogether different.
My hands slid into his hair, my hips surged up, and Ryan continued to worship between my legs until my climax rolled through me. He stayed between my legs, gently lapping until my thighs stopped shaking and my orgasm ebbed.
His journey up was no less slow, and when he finally pressed a kiss to my jaw, I sighed.
“I want you looking at me, Chloe.”
It was dark, only the streetlights illuminated the room, but still I righted my head on the pillow.
“The whole time, baby,” he said, and I felt the head of his dick nudge my entrance.
“Okay,” I breathed.
He slowly gave me more, only to pull out and start the whole process over again. Inch by inch, he fed me his cock. Inch by inch, I felt something shift inside of me.
“Wrap me up tight.”
I hooked my legs around his hips and slid my hands up his arms until they found purchase on his shoulders.
He lowered his head until his nose nuzzled my temple. “Can you feel it?”
“Yes.”
“Yeah you can. There’s no missing this kind of beauty.”
My heart lurched.
My eyelids fluttered closed. I desperately wanted to lock away the moment, keep it for always, tattoo it on my soul, brand it on my flesh.
Ryan lifted away.
My eyes opened.
His thrusts came faster but still measured.
The buildup was slow, a gentle hum, a yearning, an ache, a craving that wouldn’t be denied.
“Ryan,” I moaned, and dug my heels into his lower back.
“Not yet.”
I rolled my hips. Ryan ignored my wordless demand. He and he alone was in control of my pleasure. And that only inflamed my desire.
“Please,” I begged.
“Keep your legs tight. Palms on the headboard.”
Without delay, my palms hit the wood planks above my head.
Ryan planted his elbows on the mattress, caught my face in his big palms, and rolled his hips.
I fought the need to close my eyes and bask in the bliss that hip roll caused.
“Don’t stop looking at me.”
I was never, ever going to stop looking at him.
“Christ, you’re gorgeous,” he grunted. “I feel like I’ve waited my entire life for this moment right here.”
That ride dropped, my heart went with it, and I was in a free fall.
“Honey—”
“I want you coming with just my cock, can you do that for me?”
I didn’t need anything but him.
“Yes.”
His thrusts turned into drives, the slow burn he created sparked, and I was once again climbing.
“I’ve never felt anything more beautiful than you,” I moaned and let my orgasm pull me under.
I had approximately three seconds to luxuriate in the sublime descent into bliss when I heard Ryan’s rumble and felt his cock drive so deep inside of me, I was no longer basking. I was soaring. There was nothing controlled or measured when Ryan pounded into me.
I whimpered.
Ryan growled.
The power behind his hips so powerful I could barely catch my breath.
My neck started to arch but Ryan tightened his hold on my face, forcing me to stay put as my climax overwhelmed me.
“Ryan.”
“Fuck,” he gritted. “You feel so goddamn good, I don’t want to stop.”
He proved that to be true when he continued to buck into me until he lost his rhythm and planted himself to the root, and with a long, rumbled groan, I felt his cock jerk.
That had to be the sexist thing I’ve ever felt in my life.
It took a while for both of us to come down.
I knew he’d come back to himself when his grip on my face loosened.
Not long after that, he brushed his lips over mine, pulled out, and situated us with my back to his chest. A few seconds later, when he reached an arm around me and cupped my sex, I would understand our position.
Then he did the second sexist thing that had ever happened to me and started gliding his finger through our combined releases.
“It’s good you learned early how to quiet my mind.”
It took less than a millisecond before Ryan busted out laughing.
“Yeah, baby, that’s good.”
I was relaxed, sated, my mind was quiet. I knew Ryan was nearing dreamland when I remembered something.
“Can I have my panties back now?”
“Fuck no.”
“Ryan—”
“I’m framing those fuckers.”
I was no longer relaxed or sated.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Bet.”
“Ryan—”
“I just blew so hard I think I lost consciousness. But I can rally if you need me to.”
I smiled into the dark.
“I’ll go to sleep.”
Ryan kissed the back of my head and snuggled closer. His finger stopped gliding but only because he’d pushed it inside of me.
Never would I have thought I’d be able to fall asleep that way.
A few minutes later I found out I was wrong.