I grip his shoulders, gasping against his mouth, as he’s thrusting fast and rough. His cock is so very hard and tears of intensity leak from the corners of my eyes. I want to do something—to take him like he’s taking me—but I can’t. He’s pinning me to the wall with the strength of his body and he’s taking what he wants. My surrender.
With one hand he cradles my face while the other thrusts into my hair. “Anyone could find me fucking you.” He licks over my bottom lip before he nips it, shifting his hips upward, pounding into me. “Does that excite you?”
“God, yes,” I breathe, my eyes rolling back into my head. “Don’t stop.”
He squeezes his hand around my cheek, pushing my lips together, until he’s kissing my swollen mouth, sucking my lips into his. Then he backs away and intensity greets me when he stops thrusting. His stormy eyes on his target. Me. “Why does this excite you?”
I’m soaring so high that I can’t even think of refusing to answer. My lips part and out comes, “Because I want to be caught with you.” My reply sounds like it’s coming out of someone else’s mouth. “I want them to see how incredible we are together.”
The side of his mouth arches, but it doesn’t look sweet. It looks deadly, like he’s claimed me as his and he’s decided to let me in on it. He thrusts upward and I gasp as he releases the tight squeeze around my cheeks and slides his hand to my bottom, lifting my leg higher on his waist. He pumps his hips harder now, faster. His eyes don’t leave mine, and there’s just something in them I’ve never known. It’s what he offers me when he gives his body to me that no one else ever has. All of him. Right there out in the open. He has nothing to hide. And the freedom of all that truth and honesty breaks down walls I didn’t know were there. Because I don’t know that kind of freedom. But I want to. Badly.
I squeeze my inner muscles, wanting to give him all that I can.
His jaw muscles clench and he grunts, “Do that again.”
Again, I do as I’m told.
Pleasure washes over his face, his mouth parting with his low moan. “Fuck, yes, that’s perfect.”
When he looks at me again, I’m lost in him. He begins shifting his hips faster and harder, and the intensity in his expression is driving me higher and higher, because I know it’s my body getting him there. I squeeze tight, giving him as much pleasure as I can, until suddenly there’s no thought behind my squeezing him. I bear down against the swell of sensations that rush across me so fast that my mind goes blank…until all there is is me and him and our deep breathing.
Sometime later, I vaguely hear, “Do you…”
I force my eyes open, returning from the foggy high. “Pardon?”
His hands are braced around my face, so tight, as his strong eye contact holds me. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes.” I place my hands over his, breathless. “Of course.”
“We’re going to get through this.”
“I know you’ll do whatever you can to help me, Ryder. I’m just not sure that it will be enough.”
His eyes flare, with…annoyance, irritation, possession…I’m not exactly sure what he’s feeling, when he says, “I asked you if you trusted me and you told me yes. Was that a lie?”
“No, of course not.”
He leans in and drops his head, his eyes right in line with mine. “No matter if that video gets out, Hadley, we’re going to deal with this. You will not face this alone. Do you understand?”
I swallow the emotions that come along with what he’s telling me as I choke back the promises I’m hearing between the lines and give him a soft smile.
He brushes his thumbs across my face, holding tight, and I believe that he’ll never let me fall when he adds, “If we can’t stop the video from coming out, we won’t run from it either. We won’t hide from it. You’ll tell the truth like you told me, and you’ll face the media bravely, proud of the incredible woman you are.” I can barely breathe, air seemingly impossible to inhale, as he continues, “And I will be standing by your side as you do it, promising to deal with anyone threatening to shame or hurt you. Tell me you hear me.”
I don’t just hear you. I feel you. “You won’t let anyone hurt me.”
Chapter 12
Ryder
Ten minutes later, as we exit through the hotel’s front door, we’re greeted by a streetcar whizzing by and typical San Francisco pedestrian traffic filling the streets. The warm breeze brushes across my face, bringing a plethora of city smells along with it.
Though it’s the woman next to me who garners my attention. Hadley fiddles with the side of her dress and wiggles her hips. “Next time we go anywhere remind me to bring a spare pair of panties in my purse,” she says, her amused eyes flicking to mine.
“Next time don’t look as beautiful and we won’t have a problem,” I tell her, liking the heat I find in the depths of her eyes. In fact, I’m discovering I like a lot about her, beyond how much I crave her body. Being in public with her like this, regardless that today wasn’t a date, wasn’t a horrible thing, I decide. In fact, being with her feels pretty damn natural and that feels oddly…good. “Besides,” I continue, lowering my voice in the way she sensually reacts to, “we both know that I like that you can still feel me inside you. And you like that you can, too. So I say, next time skip the panties altogether.”
As expected, her eyes flare red-hot with desire. “Blackwood, you are a dirty, dirty man.”
“I accept that title with pride, sweetheart.” I take her hand in mine and kiss her palm. “And you like that, too.”