“What would you do with a girl who didn’t have a family?”
His eyes burned into mine. “I’d ask her if she would consider allowing me to be in her life. Taylor, don’t go.”
“Ryder...” I turned away uncertainly, a mixture of tenderness and fear clogging my throat.
“Please, stay.” He came up behind me and curled his body around mine, his front to my back, his strong arms gently encasing my rib cage. His rumbling voice was soft against my ear. “Tell me I can be in your life.”
“Why?”
“I need you.” He paused a moment and nuzzled the side of my neck, inhaling deeply, which made goose bumps trail delicately down my arms. He rested his forehead against the back of my head before answering in his deep voice. It seemed vulnerable and naked. “I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you. It’s making me crazy that your life is in danger, and it threw me for a loop that you were tied to my world and the world of my enemy, an enemy that I’ve warred against for my entire lifetime.”
Reluctantly, I allowed myself to acknowledge that I understood that. I couldn’t fault him for that.
“I don’t see you as an enemy.” He nuzzled my ear and squeezed me close to his hard body. “I see you as an innocent. I don’t usually lose control like this. I don’t recognize myself. I can’t seem to control my emotions when I’m around you.”
I didn’t know what to think of that, except that it was working to warm the cold chill that had invaded my heart. “Then what’s this about? Why are you picking a fight with me?” My voice was softening, my spine bending, fitting into the curve of his body almost naturally.
“He was looking at your legs. And you were smiling at him.” Ryder sighed.
“Who is ‘he’? Who are you talking about?”
“Sy.”
“You’re saying Sy was looking at me, and I was smiling at him? So what?”
“I wanted your smile, and you’d stopped giving it to me,” he said simply, as though his actions made perfect sense. “It made me mad. And it was making me nuts that he was enjoying looking at your body.” He said it so logically that I had the sudden urge to giggle, though I tamped it down.
“Is this about you being jealous?”
“I don’t want anyone, which includes Sy, being near you.” He nipped at the side of my neck for emphasis, which made me shiver and feel warm at the same time.
“You know that’s unreasonable, right?” I breathed deeply, trying to remain on topic.
“I know. I don’t think... I’ve experienced jealousy before. I’ve never...cared about anyone as much as I care about you.” He kissed the spot he’d nipped, and more sparks of warmth zinged me, branching out to my breasts, which began to feel fuller.
“You aren’t handling it well.” My voice had acquired that sexy, breathy, I’m-getting-turned-on tone as my heart tapped a quicker beat against my chest. I knew he could hear the change in my tone.
“I’ll do better. And I’ll try not to kill Sy in the meanwhile. You are mine.” He had that gruff, rumbly voice vibrating with raunchy suggestion next to my ear, making my toes curl with expectation.
“Oh, Ryder.” And just like that, warmth blossomed in my heart, and I turned around to face him. His beautiful green eyes were glowing with intensity, and a sense of completion that I couldn’t quite verbalize settled over me. The truth of his words was reflected back at me, and with that, I was done in, a tender smile curling my lips. He saw it, and it was like a weight lifted from his shoulders.
A sinful gleam with a smile to match slid over his face, making his eyes focus in on me with pure, lascivious intent. A sweet ache pulsed gently in response between my thighs, and I realized that in just two days, he had my body trained to respond to a look with sweet anticipation. Day by day, he was becoming a master of my body, learning it intimately and knowing just what buttons to push to make me crazy.
Purposefully, deliberately, he grasped my hips, his fingers digging firmly into my flesh, and he walked me back two steps against the wall, caging me there. His green eyes burned into mine, and he captured my lips in a deep, hot, soul-stirring kiss. It made my blood pound like a bass drum and my senses reel instantly. He was declaring himself, claiming me, owning me, and I welcomed it, wanting to be his. Ryder’s woman. “I love your lips,” he growled against them. “You taste so good.”
“You can have them.” I nipped his scrumptious bottom lip and teased him with the light touch of my tongue, inviting his invasion, his dominance. I craved him. Our energies swirled and braided together, adding to the feeling of heat and desperation.
His tongue was like rough silk as it swept through my mouth, and I sucked on it, refusing to let him go. I felt his deep, guttural moan of pleasure and his sudden loss of control. His arms curled around my back roughly, one hand sliding down to palm and squeeze my ass, curling me into his stiff erection. I found myself crushed against the wall, feeling every inch of his body pressing into mine.
“Your legs have been driving me crazy,” he growled against my lips, and he slid his hand from my ass down my thigh to yank my leg up around his hip, grinding against the apex of my thighs deliciously.
“Oh, Ryder,” I whispered with awe. There was the perfect alignment of his hard cock rubbing against the seam of my shorts, setting off sparks of sensation. “That feels so good.”
“You like that?” He circled his hips slowly, and I held on to his arms as my legs shook, my blood beginning to pool thickly in one major spot.
“Yes,” I exhaled sharply, my lips parted, trying to breathe through the fire building.
He continued the slow grind. “I’ve been visualizing you wrapped around my waist all afternoon. I just want to be deep inside you right now.”
“Yesss. I want that too.” My sex swelled, and more damp heat had me aching and needy. I knew my panties were going to be soaked.
He let go of my leg to peel my shirt off, and seeing the lacy cups of my bra, paused to admire. His eyes flared as he traced the pattern where my nipples stiffened through the transparent, silky material with light, teasing fingers. It was just a light enough touch to make me moan with the sizzling heat that attacked my womb.
“Do you have matching panties?”
“You should find out.”
His eyes were fiery, watching my face, while his fingers undid my button and zipper, dropping my shorts to the ground.
“Damn, Taylor...so fucking hot.” His eyes devoured the white lace of my barely-there thong, running his fingertips over the front of the triangle. I yearned for his fingers to touch me. Helplessly, my hips curled against his hand, feeling such incredible need pumping through me. It was like a thirst that needed immediate quenching.
“Ryder...” I went to yank his shirt loose, but he snagged my hands and manacled them in one of his large ones above my head, arching my breasts out.
“This is a good look for you.” His eyes raked over me. “I want to watch you come,” he murmured, and he ran his fingers down the front of my panties.
“Here?” I gasped, heat from his fingers on my sex making it burn hotter.
“Right here.” He nipped at my ear again. “You’re so fucking wet, I can feel it. So fucking wet,” he rumbled in my ear, gently rubbing the lacy material.
With his strong thigh between my legs, the denim rubbing sensuously on the soft skin of my inner thighs, he used his knee to push my legs farther apart. His fingers pulled the flimsy material of my thong aside and rubbed gently, caressing my hot, sensitive folds. My legs were open to him, my back arched against the wall, and all I could do was moan and writhe as he watched, circling and circling the most sensitive group of nerve endings on my entire body, his heated expression looking darkly satisfied.