And there he is.
I go tense, frozen, as Ryan Hunter stands there watching me—with a heat in his eyes so intense it is a wonder I don’t get burned.
Chapter Three
I start to yank my hand away and am rendered frozen by his sharp, firm, “No.”
My heart is beating. My skin is flushed. I’m embarrassed and turned on and confused. “Ryan,” I say. “I—what are you—”
I start to shift. I need to move. Hell, I need to run.
“No,” he says more softly this time, but the word is equally firm, and the force of it holds me in place. “Don’t stop. Come for me, Jamie. I want to watch you explode for me.”
I am tempted to tell him to go to hell. To wrap a towel around myself and run inside.
I’m tempted to do that—but only because I think that is what I should do. But I’ve never been a girl who pays attention to should. I’m all about want.
And what I want is to finish this.
What I want is to make him hard, to drive him crazy. And I know that he is close. I can see the evidence even from this distance. The bulge in his jeans. The tightness in his jaw. The way his hand is closed tight around the decorative finial on the gate by which he stands.
He is as turned on as I am, and that knowledge makes me bold.
He’d driven me a little crazy when he’d left me on the beach. And now, I think, as I run my teeth over my lower lip and slide my finger over my swollen clit—now it’s my turn to drive him wild.
And that’s a game I’ve been playing for years.
I don’t speak. Instead, I keep my eyes on him as I slide my hand further down. I’m wet and slick, and the tension I see on his face only excites me more.
I thrust my fingers inside, my hips bucking as I finger fuck myself with him watching, him wanting.
I slide my fingers in and out, teasing myself by rubbing lightly over my clit. I keep up the motion, my eyes on Ryan, my mouth open and my breath coming hard.
I draw my other hand up to fondle my breast, and as I do, I hear him suck in air. The sound only turns me on more, and I start to close my eyes as the tension inside me builds, higher and higher.
“No,” he says. “I want to see your eyes. I want to look at you when you come.”
I open my eyes and our gazes lock. He is heat. He is power.
He is everything I want, and I am starting to wonder if I will be able to survive this. If I will be able to withstand the force of the explosion that is building inside me.
“That’s it,” he says. “You’re close. Christ, Jamie, do you have any idea how hard I am? How much I want to be inside you?”
I thrust my fingers into my cunt and slide my other hand down, my hips bucking violently. I am wild. I am shameless, and my eyes never leave his. Not as the tension starts to build. Not as the sparks start to gather. Not as the electricity surges through me, building and building until there is nowhere left to go, and I cry out because there is no way I could keep that much passion inside.
I hold his gaze as my body shudders, as the tremors calm and I return to earth.
I watch his eyes and think that for the first time, someone has seen into the heart of me.
I lie there, my breathing shallow, as Ryan strides toward me, all power and purpose. His expression is hard, his eyes blazing. My lips are parted, and I arch my back without thinking, bringing my body that much closer to him in a silent plea for his touch.
He doesn’t reach for me, though. Instead, he stops beside the chaise and looks down at me. His gaze moves slowly over me with such sweet deliberation that I tremble, my body quivering as if in reaction to his touch.
“Tell me,” he says. “Tell me who you were thinking of.”
“No one,” I say though I know he will see through the lie.
“Don’t lie to me, kitten. I don’t like it.”
I lick my lips. “I had you wrong,” I tease. “I thought you were a nice guy. I made you eggs one morning, remember? I never thought that the nice guy I shared breakfast with would have—”
“Would have what?”
“Would have watched me finger fuck myself,” I finish boldly.
“Watch?” he repeats as he lowers himself to sit on the edge of my chaise. His hip brushes the bare skin of my waist, making me hyperaware of his proximity. “I did more than watch, sweetheart.” He lifts my hand, then strokes it slowly, making me even more crazy in the process.
“I imagined that these fingers were mine. That it was me stroking your skin, sliding under your suit.” He moves my hand to my belly as he speaks, then he places his own hand flat on the back of mine before easing our joined hands down.
“Do you have any idea how hard I got imagining how slick you were, how tight your cunt was?” He guides two of my fingers inside me, and I gasp in pleasure and surprise as he pushes them deeper and deeper.
“Please,” I beg, but I don’t even know what I am asking for. I am a wild mess of feelings, hot and out of control. I want to come. I want to explode. I want his hands all over me.
“That’s it,” he says as I thrust my hips shamelessly, wanting more. Wanting everything. “Oh, yes. You like that, don’t you, kitten?”
“Yes,” I whisper. “God yes.” And yet I don’t know this woman—this girl who melts at a man’s voice, who submits to his whims. The Jamie I know keeps control by keeping a tight grip on a man’s cock and leading him around with it like a leash. But this Jamie—oh, dear god, right then all this Jamie wants to do is surrender to pleasure.
He is only tormenting me, though, a sad fact I realize when he withdraws my fingers, then tugs our joined hands free. Then he raises my hand to his lips, and I begin to melt again as he draws my finger in, sucking and licking with such deliberate intensity that I can feel the tug of pressure all the way down to my clit.
“Am I a nice guy?” he asks as he releases my hand. “I don’t know, Jamie. I guess that’s up to you. If you need a nice guy, I’ll be a nice guy. But I don’t think that’s what you need right now.”
I try to speak, but can’t seem to manage. I swallow, then try again. “What do I need?”
But he says nothing. He just smiles. And, honestly, he’s turned me into such a confused and emotional mess that I’m not sure if I want to kiss him or slap him.
I don’t like being confused, and my discomfort makes me bold. I prop myself up on my elbows. “What the hell kind of a game are you playing?”
“Who says I’m playing a game?”
“I do.”
He cocks his head. “All right. Why?”
“I seem to recall you saying no to me on the beach. And yet here you are.”
“Yes,” he says. “Here I am.”
“Ryan.”
He shakes his head, then strokes a finger along the line of my jaw. It’s a familiar, almost sweet gesture, and it unnerves me. “You called me Hunter before you knew I was watching. I liked it.”
“Ryan,” I say again firmly. “What’s your fucking game?”
He looks at me for so long I start to wonder if I should just call it a wrap and go inside. “Do you know why I said no?” he finally says.
I shake my head.
“Because I’ve watched you, Jamie. Watched and wanted. I want to kiss you, to touch you. I want to fuck you, Jamie, but I want so much more than that, too.”
“What?” I ask, mesmerized by his words.
“Everything,” he says simply. “I want to tie you up and fuck you until you beg for mercy. I want to use my palm to redden that ass—because we both know how naughty you’ve been. I want to make you come so fast and so hard that you scream, and then do it all over again.”
I lick my lips, my body already tingling in anticipation.