Chapter 23
Angus
If sex had an ice cream flavor, it would be Ryleigh. Sweet and delicious, soft and creamy. I could kiss and touch her forever. She’s the yin to my yang in the bedroom, and I’ve never met a woman I’m more compatible with. I plan to coax a few more orgasms from her, but not yet. She needs something different from me tonight, and while it should make me uncomfortable—I don’t do emotions when it comes to sex—I can’t seem to refuse her.
Asking me to own up to leaving marks on her skin doesn’t scare me—if she wants people to know where it came from, I’m happy to tell them. But I don’t think she does. I think she likes the idea of us sharing a dirty little secret.
Leaving a mark will just remind her where it came from.
It might even make her want to come back for more.
I already know tonight won’t be enough.
I don’t know how many times I’ll need to fuck her to get her out of my system, but I plan to keep trying until I figure it out.
But first, I need to kiss her.
Until her mouth is completely in sync with mine…until our bodies are molded from shoulders to hips…until she can’t remember anything but me. Us. This.
I don’t know if there’s an us—she’s only here for a limited time—but it feels like there is. We’ve been butting heads and trading barbs for weeks now. But that’s not what I want.
She sighs against my mouth and opens her beautiful green eyes. They’re filled with hazy lust and casual desire. Like we have all the time in the world. And tonight, I suppose we do.
I roll my hips against hers and she runs her hand down to grip my erection.
“Is this all for me? No barrier?”
“I never go without a condom but right now all I can think about is how it’s going to feel to have your sweet cunt milking me.”
She groans, squeezing a little harder, but I move her hand. Then I take both hands in one of mine and hold them above her head.
I glide my cock through the wet heat of her lower lips and coat it with her arousal. The slickness makes it easy to tease her and I drag my cock up and down, taunting her clit with the tip. Our eyes are locked, watching each other as I keep her on the edge of arousal. Her lips are parted, breath coming in little huffs, her chest rising and falling.
This right here is sexual nirvana, and I smile before dropping my mouth to her neck. I suck on the soft, fleshy area just below her ear and she squirms beneath me.
“Angus…”
But I don’t stop.
I can’t.
Now that she’s put it in my mind, all I can think about is marking her. Letting her and everyone else know that she belongs to me. I don’t know for how long but tonight, tomorrow—for as long as we’re together—the whole world is going to know she’s mine.
I bite and suck and lick, in the same spot, over and over, the head of my cock slipping and sliding through the arousal between her legs. All while she wiggles and squirms and begs me to fuck her.
And finally…finally… after we’re both panting and desperate for release, I thrust hard and deep. Her eyes roll back as I bottom out, her mouth falling open in a silent cry. She shudders against me, and I realize she’s already coming, jerking as her pussy flutters and squeezes.
“That’s it,” I urge. “Make my cock nice and wet. Because I’m going to fuck you so hard you’re not going to know your own name.”
She moans, clenching around me, and I still for a few seconds.
My cock pulses in protest, but I’m in total control.
I can hold on long enough to get her off a second time.
I watch her glassy gaze slowly start to sharpen as she looks at me.
Then she smiles.
“Fuck me, Angus.”
I pull out to the tip and then slam back in, beginning a pounding rhythm, going so hard and so deep that the bed starts to move. Every time my hips hit hers the mattress bounces up and our bodies slide closer to the edge, but I’m not worried about falling. I bite down on that spot below her ear again, adding a touch of pain to her pleasure, and she groans.
She wiggles, fighting against my hands, but I’m not ready to let go of control—I need her to completely surrender. To whatever this is between us. The spell I’ve been under almost since the moment I first saw her.
My breathing is erratic as I continue pounding into her and I plunge my tongue into her mouth. She hooks one leg around my ass and meets each thrust, our mouths moving almost as frantically as our bodies. Pleasure races down my spine and there’s nothing I can do to keep from spilling into her. But she’s right there with me, shouting my name as she shatters around me.
“Fuck!” I can’t help but yell as I continue grinding into her, until finally, I collapse. My cock twitches a few more times, making her pussy flutter in response.
She lets out a tiny little sigh that I can only describe as one of satisfaction and I release her hands. She immediately loops them around me, holding me tightly.
Like she’s afraid I’m going to leave again.
Fuck.
That isn’t the memory I want this glorious creature to have when she thinks about me. When she’s back home and I’m in a different city every night. No, I want her to smile when she thinks about the things we’ve shared.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I murmur against her hair.
“You left a mark,” she says simply. As if that explains everything. “I warned you there would be consequences for that.”
I can’t help but smile.
“You did.”
“When Kirsten inevitably asks me where I got the hickey, you know what I’m going to tell her?” Her eyes gleam with mischief.
I chuckle. “Probably. But tell me anyway.”
“Angus Jeffries fucked me so hard we almost broke the bed.”
I throw back my head and laugh. “Totally fair.”
I slowly pull out and turn onto my back. She immediately curls into my chest and we lie there like that for a while. For the first time in years, I’m content to just lie here, enjoying the moment. The intimacy. A woman who truly doesn’t want anything from me. The scope of her job doesn’t bother me—she’s got a lot to draw on from the whole band—and I feel like I can be myself with her.
She knows who I am.
And she doesn’t care.
I honestly don’t believe she’s interested in my money. She’s incredibly independent, and I respect the hell out of her for it. I wish she’d let me help her with health insurance or something but know she won’t.
“Should we shower?” she asks softly. “If we’re getting up early, we’re not going to want to do it then.”
“We can shower,” I say, sitting up. I get to my feet and hold out my hands.
She gives me an impish grin. “I’m probably too weak to walk,” she says. “I might need help.”
“Is that right?” I grin back before leaning down and scooping her up.
She fits perfectly in my arms and feels so damn good.
I like being able to take care of her, and I’m not just talking about sex.
It bothered me to know she was sick enough to rupture her eardrum but didn’t feel comfortable enough to ask for help. We collectively failed her, especially me. I’d like to blame Kirsten but she couldn’t do anything if she didn’t know, and Ryleigh is as stubborn as she is independent.
Kind of like me.
I should have trusted my band with my identity, but it felt like I’d be bringing drama to the band. I’ve essentially done that anyway so it was all a big waste of time and heartache. Just like Ryleigh’s eardrum wouldn’t have ruptured had she come to us.
After the way we left things the last time we had sex, I can’t blame her for not coming to me—but there’s no reason she couldn’t go to Kirsten.
My feelings are getting complicated.
I want to protect her.
Lose myself in her.
Take care of her.
But to what end?
In some ways, I’m too old, with so much baggage, it doesn’t feel like it would be fair to her to ask her to…what? Be my girlfriend? Get into a relationship? Come on tour with me? None of that would be easy or… Or what? Fair? My life is currently a shit show, and I’ll just drag her down with me, especially if things go south with the band.
I didn’t think this could ever happen, but things are off-kilter and I don’t know how to fix them. My family life is a disaster too, since it doesn’t appear that anyone is speaking to me other than Alden. The fans haven’t been overly concerned about my connection to the Hollingsworth family, but we aren’t that big yet.
If we do hit, that could change.
The warm water sluices over us, and I realize that Ryleigh is nestled against my chest, much like she’d done when we were in bed, and it’s so natural I barely noticed. I’m not sure it’s necessarily a bad thing, that being together is so effortless, but I’m not the kind of guy who does relationships.
Am I?
She’s so young and mostly unburdened by the negative aspects of life in the public eye. She struggles a bit financially, but her life is pretty good otherwise. If she’s with me, that will change. She won’t be able to go anywhere without being recognized as a woman dating the Hollingsworth heir. Changing my name won’t matter in that regard. I’m still August Hollingsworth as far as the public is concerned.
I know she could handle it—the question is whether or not I want to pull her in.
“Why are you so quiet?” she asks, gazing up at me. “You’re not thinking about running again, are you?
I want to laugh and make a joke, but I don’t have it in me. And she deserves better. She deserves honesty—something I didn’t afford my band or my family.
“I feel like we need to talk about…this.”
Because it’s suddenly all I can think about.
Being with her.
Making this official.
Or something.
I don’t quite understand it, but I’m crazy about her.
“This?” She cocks her head.
“We both know what’s happening here has the potential to be more than sex.”
“Okay.” She seems a little surprised but not opposed to the idea. “I thought you don’t do that?”
“I don’t.”
She squints. “I’m not sure where you’re going with this. Do you want to date or not?”
“You know what’s going to happen if we go public as a couple, right?” I ask. “Even if we’re keeping it casual.”
“Women everywhere will be heartbroken that you’re off the market?”
“I’m being serious, Ryleigh.”
“So am I. What’s going to happen if we start dating?”
“No matter what I’ve done to change my identity, or how hard I try to stay away from Holland-Burke Pharmaceuticals, I’m still August Hollingsworth, the third. I’m still the first-born son of August Hollingsworth, Jr. Do you have any idea what it’s going to mean if word gets out that you’re my girlfriend?”