Chapter 19
He put her down next to the bed and tugged at the sweatshirt she wore over yoga pants. “Get naked as fast as you can. The situation is critical. Code red.”
Nikki giggled as she raised her arms to help him remove the shirt. “Funny you should mention red.”
Riley’s eyes bugged when he caught sight of her lacy red bra. “Whoa,” he said, nuzzling into the deep valley between her full breasts, which might be his favorite spot on her body, but it was hard to choose just one favorite. “You are so fucking hot.”
“Didn’t expect that under my so-called work clothes?”
“Not at all. You’ve totally distracted me from my goal.” He pushed his hands into the back of the formfitting yoga pants and shoved them down over her hips to reveal a matching red lace thong. Dropping to his knees, he put his arms around her and kissed her toned belly.
She buried her fingers in his hair to hold him there, and for the longest time, he simply breathed her in, the physical urgency tempered by something far sweeter.
Love for her beat through him like a live current, touching every part of him. He looked up at her gazing down at him and ran his hands over the backs of her legs, up to grasp her supple bottom.
“Lie back,” he said gruffly, arranging her the way he wanted her with her feet and ass at the edge of the mattress. Bending over her, he pressed his mouth to her core through the thin layer of silk that covered her.
She jolted in response, and goose bumps covered her skin while she waited to see what he would do.
Everything about her appealed to him, including the rich feminine scent of her arousal.
He breathed her in before moving the thong aside to worship her with his tongue and fingers.
After a week of nights with her, he knew exactly what it took to make her come so hard, she screamed from the power of it.
He kissed his way up the center of her, releasing the front clasp of her bra and using his lips to push the cups aside.
“Riley…” Her hand closed around his cock and guided him into her.
He’d planned to draw it out some more but couldn’t stop himself from taking what she offered.
Sliding into her was like experiencing all the benefits of heaven without having to die first. If he could stay right there forever, he’d never need anything else ever again.
“What’ve you done to me?” he whispered, his lips touching hers. “I want you all the time.”
“I want you just as much.”
Gathering her into his embrace, he held her tight against him as they moved together.
As if someone had suddenly given him the answers to every question he’d ever had, he understood that she was the one, the only one for him.
She would occupy the center of his life for as long as he lived, and nothing would ever be right unless he had her with him.
He wondered how that had happened so quickly, but in reality, it hadn’t been quick. Months had passed after they first met, and all that time, Riley had thought about her. It had been happening then, too, only he hadn’t known it at the time.
The heat they generated together threatened to consume him.
His sweat mingled with hers as they reached the apex at the same instant, leaving him breathless and demolished, as if he’d run a marathon.
A week of sleepless nights caught up to him in the hazy, sweet aftermath, with her head on his chest, her hair brushing against his face, her scent filling his senses with the essence of her.
He couldn’t recall a time when he’d been more relaxed.
Her hand moved in lazy circles on his abdomen.
Utter perfection.
She was becoming addicted to him. He walked into her house fresh from an after-work shower, and the only thoughts in her head were Mine.
Now. More. After years of avoiding the complications of men and sex, she couldn't get enough. But it wasn’t just the physical aspects with Riley, although those aspects were life-changing.
It was everything else. That she could talk to him—really talk to him—and he listened intently to her, valued her opinions, made her laugh.
And he’d fully embraced her plan to renovate the house, even though helping with what had to be the last thing he wanted to do after working long hours on an even larger renovation project.
He was good and decent and sexy as all hell, and she was crazy about him.
Crazier by the minute. She barely recognized the person she’d become with him, but she liked this new spontaneous version of herself who stayed up all night having sex and laughing and talking and then dragged through her days like she’d been partially sedated.
The change in his breathing indicated he’d fallen asleep, which he needed even more than she did. She worried about him getting hurt at work because he was so tired from losing sleep with her.
I can sleep when I’m dead, he’d joked the other night, but she didn’t want to think of him as anything other than beautifully alive and all hers.
Nikki didn’t think she would sleep, but she awoke when Riley stirred, realizing two hours had gone by.
Riley’s stomach growled loudly.
Laughing, she said, “That’s one hell of an alarm clock.”
“You want to go somewhere?”
Nikki groaned. “Not even kinda. How about I make us some pasta while I can still cook?”
“That’s fine with me.” He ran his index finger down her backbone, making her jolt when he didn’t stop at her waist. “I was thinking that you should come stay at my place while yours is torn up. Then you wouldn’t have to live in a war zone.”
“What about Finn? Would he mind?”
Riley’s brows furrowed. “He’s thinking about going back to Connecticut.”
“Does that bum you out?”
“Kinda. I wasn’t expecting him to say that, but I think he’s sort of lonely since my dad moved in with Chelsea and I started hanging out with you.”
“He’s lost his best friend,” she said sympathetically. “I know how that feels, and it sucks.”
“No word from Jordan?”
She shook her head.
“Is there someone you could call to check on her?”
“There’re a few people who work for Zane, but I’m trying to disengage. Reaching out to them brings me back in. I keep telling myself if something was wrong, it would make the news.”
“Have you checked online?”
She looked somewhat sheepish when she nodded. “Nothing.”
“No news is good news, right?”
“Usually, but I can’t help but feel anxious the longer she goes without reaching out to me or our grandmother. Although, she knows we don’t approve of her going back to him, so maybe that’s why she’s gone silent.”
Trailing his index finger down her arm, he said, “I’m sorry you’re worried.”
She offered a weak smile and linked her fingers with his. “Seems to be the new normal where Jordan is concerned. Anyway, it’s her loss. She would be so excited to hear that I’ve been seeing you.”
“Is that what you’re doing?” he asked, grinning. “Seeing me?”
“Seeing all of you.”
Laughing, he drew her in even closer to him, until she was half lying on top of him, their legs intertwined. “You think she’d approve?”
“Definitely. She knew I really liked you when we first met.”
They stayed wrapped up in each other for a long time, until his stomach growled loudly again and made them laugh.
“How about we see about some dinner?” she asked.
“My stomach says yes, please.”
Nikki sat up and reached for the flannel shirt he’d had on earlier, fastening only two of the buttons.
Riley found a pair of sweats in the bag he’d brought and put them on.
They went downstairs, made dinner, polished off a bottle of wine and ended up back in bed an hour later.
“I thought we were going to get some work done tonight,” he said after they’d made love again.
“Eh,” she said, yawning. “We’ll work tomorrow.”
“I recruited Finn to help with demo, so we need to be decent by noon.”
“Define decent.”
He squeezed her ass. “None of your good parts showing.”
“All my parts are good,” she said indignantly.
“Mmm, they certainly are.”
She loved how he constantly touched and caressed her, as if he couldn’t be near her without touching her.
One stroke at a time, he was repairing the wound on her soul that Griffin had left there.
And while she didn’t expect she’d ever “get over” that, every minute she spent with Riley proved she was capable of having a real, loving relationship with a man.
For a very long time, she’d doubted whether that could ever happen.
Now she knew that not only could it happen, it could change her life in all the best ways. “Thank you,” she said softly.
“For what?”
“This. All of it. You have no idea what it means to me to be here with you this way.”
“I can’t believe you’re thanking me. I feel like I should be down on my knees in front of you. This has been the best week of my entire life.”
With her hand on his face, she drew him into a kiss. “I feel so lucky to have met you.”
“Me, too, babe. So fucking lucky, it’s not even funny.” Gazing into her eyes, he kissed her again. “I love you. I’ve never said that to anyone but you, and I’m really glad I saved it for you.”
She blinked back tears. “I love you, too, and I’ve never said that before either. I was waiting for you.”
He hugged her fiercely, and during the most perfect moment of her life, the old insecurities came roaring back to remind her not to get too comfortable. How could something so amazing possibly last?
Riley and Nikki slept until ten, lolled about until close to noon and then dragged themselves out of bed to shower and get dressed before Finn arrived.
“Today,” she said, flexing her biceps, “is what Chip calls ‘Demo Day.’”
“Tell me again who Chip is,” he said, focused on getting another cup of coffee into his system so he could begin to function.
Nikki stared at him, agape. “Who is Chip? What rock do you live under, Riley McCarthy? Chip Carter Gaines is the master renovation guy on Fixer Upper, one of the best TV shows ever.”
“Until I met you, I’d never heard of him or the show.”