Ricochet (27 page)

Her heart beat hard; her breaths came fast. She’d promised herself that if he’d returned to his room alone, she’d make the jump. She’d throw caution to the wind and go to him. Offer herself. Because she wasn’t even sure how to seduce a man anymore. Now she wondered if she ever had.

But…he was so angry…

And, hell, what if he slammed the door in her face…

“Then I could say I tried,” she murmured, the answer surprising her own ears.

Before she could change her mind, she slipped off her panties, pushed into her boots, and walked out of her cabin.

The night wrapped around her, dark, quiet, and chilly. The cool air on her sex was exhilarating yet uncomfortable in its unfamiliarity, and by the time she’d reached his door, she had twenty reasons not to knock and just as many butterflies banging against her ribs.

Rachel licked her lips, shifted on her feet, rubbing her thighs together to ease the tingle between her legs, to ease the ache higher, and tried to formulate some stupid cover in case something in his face clearly told her he didn’t want her there.

But she could have stood there all night before she thought up anything decent, so she raised her hand and knocked twice, then stepped away and clasped her arms behind her back. She heard nothing for a few long moments and gazed down at the cement porch, wondering if she should knock again. She rested one boot tip on the porch and scraped her lower lip between her teeth, glancing over her shoulder.

The door swung open so forcefully, she gasped and turned, dropping her arms. “Oh…”

His scowl instantly turned to confusion. “Rach—” Then he looked behind her, took a step toward the door, rested a hand on the frame, and glanced down the dirt walkway.

“Josh isn’t with me, if that’s who you’re looking for.”

His shoulders relaxed, and he eased into that sexy stance she loved. He was barefoot, his button-down untucked and undone down the front, showing three inches of bronzed bare chest, and the two black-rubber lined, sexy silver tags hanging there.

“Is…everything okay?” His voice was rough, his mouth tense, the skin around his eyes tight. He didn’t step away and invite her in. Didn’t even look excited to see her.

With bees buzzing in her belly, Rachel licked her lips and glanced through the opening between his body and the doorframe, where a simple full-size bed sat at the center of the room. Folded sheets were piled on the edge, the same as they had been in her own bedroom, since the housekeeping staff wouldn’t arrive until the following afternoon.

“Yes,” she said, her breath coming out in a rush. “I was about to ask you the same thing.” Since he wasn’t going to invite her in, she slipped through the narrow space, her back scraping the doorframe.

“Rachel,” he said, his voice low and filled with warning. “I’m not in a patient mood. Which means this isn’t the best place for you to be…looking like that…wearing those boots.”

Relief spurted in her chest, followed by hope. Those emotions gave her the moxie that had vanished three times over tonight. She strolled to his bed and picked up the sheets, then set them on the small dresser. Picking up the fitted bottom sheet, she shook it out.

“I’m just checking that you have everything you need,” she said.

She turned her back to him and bit her lip for courage before she lifted her arms overhead to shake the sheet loose and let it float to the mattress. Her dress cleared her naked ass cheeks as soon as her arms were shoulder high, and cool air swept over her bottom, her thighs, her sex. Then the hem of her dress slowly hid her body from view again as she lowered her arms when the sheet touched the mattress.

“Since the housekeeper doesn’t start until tomorrow morning,” she said, talking to keep her nerves under control, “I’ll just make this for you real quick.”

At one corner, she bent enough for her dress to lift over the curve of her cheeks as she secured the elastic band around the mattress. Nathan was so utterly silent, she darted a sidelong look as she moved to the upper corner of the bed.

His mouth was open, his gaze dark and dazed on her body, as if he’d been shocked stupid.

A little thrill of accomplishment, of power, gave Rachel the confidence to continue. She leaned farther over this corner, working to get the sheet over the mattress, and her dress rode higher. “I’m sure you’re tired.”

His deep exhalation made giddiness bounce in her throat. She had to just go for it. All or nothing.

She cast one quick look to make sure he was still watching before she lifted one knee to the mattress, then the other. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep my boots off the sheet.” She lowered to her palms and slowly started crawling across the mattress, her ass and her sex completely exposed. She had to close her eyes against the confusing sense of both excitement and shame, and thanked God she wasn’t looking at him or she’d never have been able to do it. “These last couple corners are always the hardest, you know?”

“Mother of God,” he rasped, creating a spurt of joy through her body. Knowing his eyes were on her pussy, watching her move, made her ridiculously wet and horny.

She tugged the one corner into place, then started for the last, without any freaking idea what she’d do if he didn’t make a move by the time she had the sheet on.

His hand closed around her calf above the top of her boot, and she gasped just before he yanked. Her knees came out from under her, and she landed on her belly with a surprised screech, which continued as he dragged her to the end of the bed.

By the time he’d flipped her over, her dress was crumpled up around her breasts, her body on full, naked display. With his hand still tight on one calf, his gaze poured heat over her body once more before he met her eyes. And the look there punched her gut with lust.

“What the
fuck
do you think you’re doing?” he asked, his voice rusty and dangerous.

She lifted on her elbows, then pushed up on her hands. “Um…” She tried a tentative smile. “I really don’t know much about, you know, seduction, but…it’s all I could think of at the last minute.”

After his hungry gaze touched every inch of her bare skin, it returned to hers. His other hand gripped the opposite calf, and his jaw muscle jumped with tension. With a sudden jerk, he pulled her to the edge of the bed, parting her thighs and pulling her legs around him.

“Are you playing by the rules we talked about earlier?”

Her gaze ran over his body. She wanted him so bad, she hurt. Her pussy throbbed to feel his cock inside her. Her breasts ached for his mouth. Every inch of her body felt like a mess of electrical wires with live current arcing through but nowhere to go. “Yes.”

She pushed up to a sitting position, wrapped her legs tight around his thighs, curled her fingers into the waistband of his pants, and kissed his navel. Nathan’s skin quivered beneath her lips, and he growled at the same time that one of his hands drove into her hair and pulled her head back. The pressure along her scalp pinched, and she winced for a second as she looked up at him.

Then his hand relaxed. “Tell me what you want.”

“I want…to try it.” She forced herself to be honest, which required vulnerability. “I still think you’re too much for me. And I think your sexual needs will quickly overwhelm me.”

She closed her eyes and licked her lips, and when she opened her eyes again, so much emotion swirled in Nathan’s gaze, it reached into her heart. This was intimate. She didn’t care what label he put on it to make himself feel better, but she was baring herself to him in a way she’d never done with any man in her past. And the mere act of him hearing her and accepting her, as is, flaws and insecurities and all, was one of the most generous acts she could ever remember a man showing her.

“But I want you,” she continued, “tortured trying to stay away from you when you’re right here. And I know you’re only in my life for a very short time.” She pulled in a breath. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, interfere in anyone’s life, but I don’t want to regret not experiencing you when I had the chance either.”

The look that passed through his eyes was troubled. Deeply painful. And gut-wrenchingly raw.

She’d hurt him. She didn’t know how, but she’d hurt him. And regret slammed her chest like a brick. Emotion stuttered into her lungs on a breath. “I’m sorry—”

His head swept down, and his mouth took hers in a vicious kiss. Rough, fierce, borderline painful as he pulled her head back by her hair, stroking his tongue into her mouth like he was lapping up his salvation. His lips pressed and sucked at hers. His teeth bit and tugged.

Rachel turned her head, forcefully breaking the kiss. “Nathan—”

His teeth moved down her neck, lips sucked at her collarbone. Then he dropped to his knees, the sound thudding through the small space. He gripped her thighs, lifted her legs, and hooked the heels of her boots on the footboard, then forced her thighs wide and pulled her hips toward him at the same time.

“Nathan—” His mouth covered her sex in an open, erotic tongue-stroking kiss. “Ah God!”

Rachel dug her fingers into his hands, her body shocked by the intense pleasure. His mouth was as rough and hungry as it had been on her mouth, and she couldn’t hold still, couldn’t stay quiet. His mouth covered her, his tongue stroking and plunging, his lips sucking. He seemed to have no boundaries, no place he wouldn’t lick her, no time limit on pleasuring her.

The approaching orgasm flooded fast. Too fast. She wasn’t ready. She needed more. Needed slow. Needed to feel his body close. Needed…

“Oh fuck.
Fuck
. Nathan…wait…please…”

Too late. The pleasure rose in a mammoth wave and broke hard, so intense she screamed. But Nathan’s hand was over her mouth, muffling the sound, his mouth still on her pussy, pushing, pushing, pushing for more. Her body obeyed, her hips lifting off the bed, her pussy against his mouth until another orgasm gripped her in hard convulsions, bowing and flexing her muscles, twisting her body, arching her back.

Ryker watched Rachel’s hair fall across her face with every toss of her head. The way she pushed her pussy into his mouth was the hottest, most erotic thing she’d done with him—and she’d done her share. But having her let go enough, trust enough, to use him to go after what she wanted showed she was ready for a level of sexual freedom even she wasn’t aware of yet.

Her thigh muscles quivered as she came down from her second climax, and Ryker licked her pussy again and again, drowning in her tangy, musky taste, floating in her wildly erotic scent. Her flat belly rose and fell quickly with ragged breaths, and she threw her forearm across her eyes as her thighs gave and fell open.

Ryker smiled. This was beautiful. Spent and unguarded. Trusting and comfortable. Oh, what he wanted to do with her. But he remembered her reservations about his sexual needs and decided not to push too fast. They still had a couple of weeks, after all. Plenty of time to explore. It wasn’t like he wanted to turn her into a dominatrix or a slave or anything. Just expose her to a small, slightly more erotic slice of sex. He kissed his way down her inner thigh, scraping his rough cheek along the sensitive skin, then up the other.

Her fingers sank into his hair and tugged. “Come here,” she whispered, her voice heavy with satisfaction. “I want to give you the same pleasure.”

Blood flooded his cock to painful levels. He lifted his head, gripped her waist, and moved her up on the bed, then crawled over her on hands and knees and couldn’t help himself when he dove in to kiss her. Her mouth was soft and open and hot. She gave back to every kiss, every stroke of his tongue, every suckle of his lips, every moan while her hands worked his pants open and down his hips, then inside to pull him free.

Electric fire tore across his cock, poured through his balls. Ryker broke the kiss and sucked air, pressing his forehead to her shoulder. “Want you…” he rasped. “So bad…”

“Let me taste you,” she whispered in his ear. “Let me suck you and lick you and touch you and stroke you—”

“Ah fuck…” He rocked his head side to side while pulling his cock through her palms and thrusting back into them. “I love hearing you tell me what you’re gonna do to me, what you want me to do to you… Love hearing dirty words come out of your sweet mouth.”

He’d heard the words used countless times by countless women in the same way, but Rachel’s words cut through him with an erotic edge so sharp he trembled.

He moved farther up, gripping the headboard for stability and straddling her shoulders. Dropping his head to watch her hands work his cock, slip between his balls. Watch her take the head of his cock between her lips, eyes fluttering closed with an expression of pleasure on her beautiful face while titillating the space behind his sac with feather-light fingers.

“God, yes,” he groaned, urging his hips forward slowly, trying to control the strength and depth of his thrust so he didn’t give her too much, too fast. But the sight of him sliding between those plump lips and pulling out wet and glistening made him shake with restraint. “Do you have…” Her tongue flicked against the sensitive underside of his cock, then circled the explosive ridge. Sensation added pressure. Pressure pushing him higher. Ryker gritted his teeth around a moan and fought to enjoy the process instead of strive for the finish line. “…Any idea, how fucking erotic…it is to watch you…suck me like this?”