Chapter 34
thirty-four
one serious entanglement
C aught in her spell, Ryan did as he was told and lit the candle. The soft vanilla scent mixed with Elissa’s powdery fragrance. He wanted her more than he’d ever admit even to himself.
She returned before he could second-guess his decision to stay, flushed and breathless and clutching a handful of condoms. A primal instinct told him he could have her, have all of her, if he just reached out, if he just had the courage to ask.
He allowed a grin to tease at the corner of his lips as he glanced at the hand holding the condoms. “Seems a bit ambitious.”
Her face went from pink to red as she followed his gaze. “I could count them, if you want.”
Ryan rose from the bed and snagged an arm around her waist. He pulled her tight as he took the condoms from her. Without looking, he tossed them toward the nightstand. At least one hit its target.
“I think we’ll manage.”
And he kissed her. She tasted of white wine and Thai spices and peanuts. His hand slid into her curls, and they wrapped their silky tendrils around his fingers. He could spend all night just kissing her. His cock hardened, objecting to the idea. Well, maybe not all night.
She kissed him back, her fingers trailing up his chest, lingering in the dark curls. He let go for a moment to shut the door behind her.
“When does your roommate get back?” He tugged her tight against him, reveling in her silken skin as his hands inched closer and closer to the bra closure.
“Midnight, at the earliest.”
“Mmm, good.” With a deft flick, he undid her bra.
Elissa gasped. Oh, he loved that little noise. He brushed his lips against hers but quickly moved on to her jaw. Another kiss on her ear. A trail, feather-light, down her neck.
One hand brushed a bra strap down her arm, then repeated the motion on the other side. He put enough distance between them for her undergarment to drop to the floor. Ryan took her mouth again, and her soft breasts pressed into his chest.
His hands trailed along her spine, and she shivered beneath his touch.
“Please,” she whispered against his lips.
He silenced her with another deep kiss, teasing her tongue with his as one hand drifted to those luscious breasts. His fingers grazed her nipple, and she gasped again. He swallowed the sound.
“Please what?”
“I don’t know. Just, please?”
He trailed kisses down her neck, down her chest. She panted, her hands clutching his hair and tugging in a deliciously sexy way.
“Use your words.”
He brushed his thumb over a nipple once, twice, a third time.
“Fuck me. Please, fuck me.”
He drew the nipple into his mouth and sucked while his hand teased and tweaked her other nipple.
She’d been dropping curses all night, here and there.
He loved that he caused her to lose control.
And he couldn’t wait for her to shatter under his touch.
Watching her come undone was going to be the highlight of his life.
The moans coming out of her pink mouth were enough to harden his cock almost painfully. He stroked her nipple with his tongue as his hands moved down her sides and found the button and zipper of her slacks.
With a quick flick, he had them open.
“It will be your pleasure.” He pushed her over onto the bed.
She bounced, first with a gasp, then a giggle.
Ryan undid his pants and pushed them down.
She canted herself up on her elbows and watched as he quickly tugged off his socks.
She stared at the tent under his boxer-briefs and bit her lip.
With her distracted, he grabbed her pants legs and yanked them right off.
Elissa squealed delightfully, but they quickly turned to gasps as he trailed kisses up her legs. His fingers drifted behind, and goosebumps rose in their wake. As he approached the apex of her thighs, the kisses stopped, and he licked and nibbled. She clutched the covers tight.
“Hands on me, Elissa.”
Her eyes were glassy with desire, but she released the comforter and clutched at his hair again.
“Better. Tell me if you want me to stop.”
“I don’t want you to stop.”
“You might change your mind.”
“I won’t.”
Ryan traced his tongue next to the leg hem of her panties. Beige to match the bra, but with lace detailing that made them sweet and sexy. She squirmed delightfully at his attention. His finger traced the other leg hem, dipped under, and found her wet and ready.
“All this for me?”
He glanced at her. The flush painted her tits pink and crept up her neck.
“Yes,” she breathed.
His finger brushed over the curls and folds, finding her clit.
He gave one slow, circular rub before withdrawing.
She whimpered in protest. He didn’t give her time to do anything else, though.
He grasped her panties and pulled them off.
Ryan knelt on the ground and pulled her to the edge of the bed, hooking her legs over his shoulders.
“I want you to come on my face.” He placed a kiss on the inside of her thigh.
She shuddered. “But what about you?”
“I can wait. There’s plenty of time, and you seem to be under the impression I won’t thoroughly enjoy myself. So, what do you say?”
“Please.”
“Good girl.”
She started to chuckle, but it turned into a sensuous moan as his lips found her clit and sucked. Her hands curled into his hair, holding him in place.
His tongue circled her clit, over and over, then he slipped a finger into her. Her muscles clenched briefly. She was close, so close. And she tasted divine. He rubbed his cock through his underwear and squeezed, hoping to relieve the pressure enough so he wouldn’t come before he was inside her.
It worked, for now.
He hooked his finger and found that spot while sucking hard on her clit. She exploded, moaning his name. God, the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard. He wanted more. He wanted it all. Every word, every breath, every climax.
Ryan wiped his mouth with his hand before lying next to her. He kissed her slowly while his hand traced lazy circles on her belly.
“Mmm, that was amazing,” she murmured when he finally broke the kiss.
“Yes, it was. Want more?”
Her fingers tapped down his chest, following the trail of hair lower and lower. She brushed against his hardened length through the cloth of his underwear.
“Is this the more?”
“If you want.”
“I want. Please.”
“Then you shall have.”
She hooked her fingers in the waistband and tugged, and Ryan helped. He kicked the underwear off the bed. Her hand wrapped around him and stroked. A moan escaped his lips, and Elissa smiled down at him.
Her thumb brushed the tip, wiping away the drop of pre-cum.
She brought it to her mouth and licked it off.
No one should look that sexy. The urge to pin her down and bury himself in her hot depths almost won.
Instead, he reached over her and grabbed a condom, gently sucking a nipple into his mouth on his way.
“Are you ready for me, Elissa?”
She didn’t answer with words, but she cupped his face and kissed him madly, deeply.
Ryan tore the package and rolled the condom over his cock. He nudged her thighs aside and positioned himself at her entrance. With tight, controlled movement, he pressed into her. Slowly, first just the tip. Then a little more. Her pussy took him easily. He pulled out.
She groaned in frustration and locked her legs around his waist.
“Stop teasing.” She arched her hips, taking even more of him.
He lost control and buried himself.
She sighed his name, like a prayer—no, a blessing. Fuck. He was a goner.
His fingers found her clit and rubbed as his thrusts grew erratic. It didn’t take long for her to shatter around him, and he joined her as her pussy clenched his cock tight. God, he saw stars.
He collapsed on his elbows above her and kissed her again, slow and deep.
“Let me clean up. I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”
She smiled sleepily at him as he slipped out of the room. The bathroom was directly across the hall, and it was still far from midnight. He dropped the condom in the trash and splashed some water on his face. When he returned, she was half asleep on top of the covers.
Ryan pulled back the sheets and tucked her under them before crawling in next to her.
Elissa curled into him, her head on his chest. Ryan tucked an arm behind his head and ran his other hand through her hair.
She sighed, her breath drifting across his chest. A contented smile pulled on the corners of his mouth as he contemplated the ceiling of her bedroom.
A buzzing noise coming from somewhere in the vicinity of his pants woke him an hour or two later. Ryan carefully extricated himself from Elissa’s warm presence. She settled onto her other side as he pulled his phone out of his pants pocket.
Iz. Shit. He hadn’t expected to stay for so long, and they were calling to check on him, like the good friend and worrywart they were. With haste and a sprinkling of stealth, Ryan pulled on his underwear and pants and left the bedroom. He called Iz.
“Hey, dude. Where are you?” his friend asked.
“Ummm,” Ryan said, stalling. “At a friend’s. Sorry I forgot to let you know I’d be late.”
“He’s fine, Teo, at some woman’s place.” Iz didn’t bother to muffle their voice as they spoke to their significant other. So Teo had initiated this round of mother-henning. Ryan liked Teo, he really did, but Iz was perfectly capable of ruining his night all on their own.
“I didn’t say it was a woman.”
“I’m the only friend you’d be out so late with unless you were getting laid, so, by process of elimination…”
“Ha, ha. I’ll be home soon.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it. Spend the night. Just placating Teo. Have a good one.”
The line went dead, and Ryan stared at the phone. Shit, what was he doing? He didn’t spend the night, but he doubted Elissa had ever not spent the night with someone. He didn’t do entanglements, and Elissa was one serious entanglement.
He flopped down on the couch, fingering the silk shirt she’d left on the pillow.
God, when she’d stripped this off, he’d known he was wrecked.
He brought the shirt to his face and breathed in her scent from it.
Powdery, faintly floral, it went straight to wherever sex memories were stored, and he desired her as much as ever.
Ryan tossed the shirt on the couch and rose in time to see a tall, thin woman with dark hair come in the door.
She took one look at him, half undressed, and grabbed the baseball bat next to the door he hadn’t noticed earlier.
“Who the fuck are you, and what the fuck are you doing in my home?” she growled at him, taking a step away from the door. This must be the roommate.
He held up his hands, his phone still in his left, and used a soft voice. “I’m Elissa’s friend. She’s asleep, and I needed to take a call.”
“If you were the kind of friend she’d be sleeping with, I would’ve known about you. I’m going to call the police.” Jules pulled a phone from her pocket.
Great, the last thing he needed was to deal with the police. He’d been working so hard to convince his father he was playing ball, turning his life around. This could ruin everything.
“My name’s Ryan DeMarco,” he said. “I don’t know if Elissa has mentioned me, but we know each other from work. Go wake her up if you don’t believe me.”
Her thumb hesitated over the phone screen. “Jerk-Ryan?”
He gave her the DeMarco megawatt smile. “None other.”
Jules put away the phone but kept the bat up. “Are you leaving?”
Ryan glanced down at the shirt he still held, then at the bat.
“Do I need to?”
“That depends. Elissa isn’t a one-night stand kind of girl. If you’re not planning on sticking around, it might be for the best. I’ll tell her you said goodbye.”
“You’re very protective.”
She bounced the bat against her shoulder, never taking her eyes off him. “She’s my best friend, and no one else watches out for her. I’ve got her back.”
“I’m glad she has someone like you.”
“So, are you staying, or are you gonna run?”
Excellent question. His instincts should’ve kicked in by now, and he should be hightailing it home. But the image of a peacefully sleeping Elissa drew him right back to her bedroom, and all he wished to do was crawl in and sleep next to her.
“I think I’m gonna stick around.”
“Okay. Break her heart and I will find you and hand your balls to you on a silver fucking platter.”
“Understood. Does it buy me any points if I say I’d want you to?”
She returned the bat to its place next to the door, the slightest smile on her face.
“One or two. Goodnight, jerk face.”
He gave Jules a sarcastic salute and rushed out of there. The woman was scary in her devotion.
Ryan ditched his pants and tossed the shirt over the chair in the corner. He crawled under the covers. Elissa murmured unintelligibly in her sleep and snuggled closer. He kissed the top of her head.
As he fell asleep, a stray thought lodged itself in the back of his mind. Maybe it was time for him to entangle himself.