CHAPTER 23
RYKER
I’m a man on a mission. No one better get in my way. Not right now. Not today.
Not when I finally got the all-clear from my doctor to completely resume normal activities.
That all-clear means I’m hunting a certain history teacher with a penchant for puns and a sassy streak which will bring me to ruin.
When I walk into the house, there is music playing which leads me right to the kitchen. Ezra is there, singing along softly as she finishes loading up the dishwasher while a tray of lasagna sits on the counter waiting to be put in the oven.
The moment she shuts off the water after rinsing the last bowl and putting it in the dishwasher, I’m right there to pull her into my arms.
“Titus,” she screeches while her wet hands land on my chest.
“Hey, Teach,” my voice is exceptionally chipper.
Her giggle has my heart beating hard in my chest. Fuck. I love that sound. The look on her face tells me she knows exactly why I’m so chipper.
“Hello to you too,” she drawls as her hands slide up my chest and wrap around my neck.
“You aren’t going to ask?” I can’t help but push a little.
When I wiggle my eyebrows, she presses her lips together to stop herself from smiling. I can see it in her eyes though. I can always see it in her eyes.
“Ask what?” The way she tilts her head and bats her eyelashes has my head tipping back as I laugh.
The song changes and I start to sway to it, but then it’s not enough for some reason. I twirl her away from me and then pull her back. The startled oomph she makes morphs into tinkling laughter, and I grin down at her as I lead us while we dance.
“What are you doing?” The question falls from her lips breathlessly.
“That’s not the right question,” I tease her.
“But a valid one,” she deadpans while dancing with me. As she looks up at me, her eyes soften and her voice drops into something conspiratorial, “This is a side of you no one else sees.”
“This side of me only exists because of you,” my voice is filled with sincerity as I stop our steps but keep us swaying in place. “Because you give me peace, a home, something to fight for and to protect. It’s all because of you, Ezra.”
I lean down and press my forehead to hers. Her blue eyes search mine, like she’s desperate to see something there. For a moment, I’m at a loss as to what she could be looking for.
Then it clicks.
My Ez is afraid.
“Since you won’t ask, I’ll tell you,” I keep my words soft, every one of them brushing over her face as I talk.
She sucks in a breath and then closes her eyes slowly, almost as if she’s saying goodbye to something. My hold tightens and I bring her even closer to my chest. Her hand brushes over that spot on my cut, the one she had patched for me.
I wasn’t expecting her to take care of it or even think about it. But she fucking floored me.
If I hadn’t already been in love with her, that moment would have done it.
But I fell in love with Ezra a long time ago. I didn’t even know it when it happened. I certainly ignored any twinges of it for a long fucking time. But it was there.
Steady.
Strong.
Waiting.
Now she’s in my arms and I’m never letting her go.
“I know,” her voice is shaky and I fucking hate it. I watch as she braces herself before forcing her tone to stay even, “Since you’re healthy and I’m not in danger anymore, I should probably start packing up and heading back to my place.”
“Ezra,” I growl her name, the sound curling around her with a dangerous warning.
She freezes in my arms, and her eyes widen in surprise. No, not just surprise. There’s lust there too. And need.
First, I need to make sure we’re on the same page.
“You’re not going anywhere,” my words are firm. Resolute. “I already told you. I’m not letting you go. I’m keeping you.” My words become slower, more deliberate, “You’re my Old Lady and you’ll stand by my side and ride on the back of my bike.”
“Are you sure?” Her question aches with hope.
“I told you at the hospital,” I remind her.
Her eyebrows pull together as she argues, “You did, but you were also on medication. Pain medication. You just had surgery,” she reiterates. “I’m pretty sure whatever said while doped up on pain meds is not legally binding.”
One side of my mouth twitches as I let how much this woman lights up my life wash over me. “You know you’re really cute when you babble and blurt things out.”
I look down at her shirt and bark out a laugh. She was still in my shirt the last time I saw her, but now she’s wearing one with a pixilated wagon and ox on it that says, ‘Get in loser, we’re going to die of dysentery’.
My voice drops an octave, “And I find you especially irresistible in your history pun shirts.”
“Don’t change the subject,” she scolds me.
“Ah yes,” I draw her flush against me, no longer swaying to the music, “the subject. I believe I was assuring you that I was completely in my right mind and in control of all my faculties when I told you that you’re staying.”
She studies my face in the same careful and probing way she was earlier.
“As far as the club is concerned, the only thing missing from my claim is me making it official at the table and you getting your property cut,” my voice is gentle and coaxing.
I brush a stray tendril of hair away from her face. As I take her in, I marvel once again. She’s wearing her glasses today and my cock is begging me to mess her up. To take her primness and dirty it up.
Fuck; I’m desperate for it.
She wasn’t willing to touch me while I was healing. The fantasies I’ve racked up are immense. I hope she’s ready because I’ve been cleared now.
And she still owes me.
“Stay,” I urge, a plea slipping into the word.
Ezra’s eyes become glassy with unshed tears. “I’ll stay,” she whispers.
I sweep her up into my arms and head toward our room. Our room; it really is our room now. “Titus,” she protests while clinging to my neck, “put me down. You were shot.”
“Teach,” I pout before kicking the door closed behind me, “I have been given a clean bill of health. I’m fine. I’ve recovered.”
I toss her down onto the bed and she scrambles to the other side so quickly that I reach for her but only touch air. After blinking at her in surprise, I give her a look filled with confusion.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” she says while holding her hands up in front of her.
“Not going to fucking happen,” I grit out the words while stalking around the bed.
Ezra backs up with every step I take. She glances toward the bed, and I know what she’s going to do before she knows. When she launches herself toward the bed to get to the other side instead of being cornered, I’m a step ahead of her.
I grab her easily and haul her against my chest. She looks up at me with wide eyes, but I can see the hunger there. My cock is throbbing behind the fly of my jeans. I’m desperate to be buried in her tight, wet heat again.
“You know,” I slide my nose along the column of her neck, “you still owe me a blowjob. Are you going to pay up, Teach?”
She shivers in my hold, but she doesn’t pull away. A whimper falls from her lips, and I know she’s as desperate for this as I am.
“Are you wet for me?” I breathe the question against her earlobe before snagging her flesh between my teeth and biting softly.
Ezra’s body arches in my hold and I let out a sinister chuckle.
“I know you are. I know you’re dripping for me,” I rasp the words. “Tell me.”
“Yes,” she mewls, “I’m soaked for you.”
A groan rips out of my chest as I set her on her feet. I strip her quickly and soak up the sight of her being unveiled for me. While I love her history pun shirts, I prefer her like she is now.
Naked with her cheeks flushed and her wide blue eyes staring up at me like she’s the lucky one.
I know the truth though. It’s me; I’m the lucky one. There’s no question—I don’t deserve her. But that doesn’t mean I won’t fight every day to be worthy of her and to ensure her happiness.
Ezra drops to her knees, her hands steady even though her breathing is ragged as she undoes my jeans and yanks them down my legs, along with my boxer briefs. My cock springs free, the head already coated with pre-cum.
She reaches out and her fingertips gently graze my balls. I grunt, the sound more animal than man. My nostrils flare with every breath I take. Then her eyes find mine and my lip curls up in a snarl.
When her hands wrap around the base of my cock, I barely hold onto my control.
“Fuck,” I grit out through my clenched jaw, “I almost painted your face with my cum right then and there.”
Her lips curl into a smile that’s pure seduction and smoke. My knees buckle when she curls her tongue around the tip and collects the pre-cum there. The humming sound she makes, like she can’t wait to taste more of me, has my hands diving into her hair.
“Be a good girl, my Ez, and take me into your mouth,” my voice almost cracks as my need for her rides me hard.
When her lips part, my fingers tighten my grip on her hair to stop myself from surging forward and fucking her face. Her tongue swirls around the crown and she flicks the underside in just the right place to make my head fall back while I moan.
The sound seems to delight her because she starts moving up and down my length, taking more of me with every pass. My legs are shaking and my fingers tighten in her hair just a little bit more.
I almost lose control completely when I look back down at my woman to see tears at the corners of her eyes and her lips stretched around my shaft. Fuck, it’s a sight.
“You look so fucking pretty like this,” my voice is husky as I praise her. “Your mouth is fucking perfect.”
She moves faster and I start to pump my hips in time with her movements, never forcing too much. It feels like riding the knife’s edge.
I could topple over the other side.
When she moans around me, my control slips and I move faster and go deep. Ezra gags and I pull back.
Something in her eyes, a plea maybe, makes my heart pound even harder.
“You want me to fuck your pretty face, Teach?” There’s something dark in my voice, the words more feral than feeling.