He worked her shirt over her head and tossed it to the floor, then tugged on her shorts. Without taking her mouth from his skin, she shimmied out of her bottoms, and they soon were on the pile of other discarded clothes.
“Pink today,” he rasped, grazing his fingers along her lace panties.
She ran her hands down his chest, admiring all the hard ridges of his abs, and then she smoothed her palms over his sides, down his hips, and back up his rock hard stomach. She could stay there, on her knees, delivering sweeping touches across his impressive body for an eternity and never get bored.
She kissed the top ridge of his abs, nipping it, then moving down to the next set of defined muscles. And lower, until she ran her tongue along the V of his hips.
“You’re like my very own lollipop,” she said, biting and licking his hips as she unfastened his belt and pulled his jeans down until his hard cock was freed and bobbed in front of her.
He stepped from his pants and kicked them away. She’d thought his being shirtless was a sight, but Ryder Diamond put his own image to shame as he stood in nothing but a Stetson and a smile.
Her stomach flipped with butterflies, and the instant need to feel him everywhere.
“Do you have any idea what you do to me?” he asked.
She delivered one wet kiss to the head of his shaft, then looked up and said, “Tell me.”
His gray eyes sizzled. “You make me feel like I’m climbing high and in control when I have a hold of you.” He wove his hands through her hair. “But then I realize it’s like trying to hold onto a strong, hot breeze. Soothing and sinful while it lasts, but then it knocks you on your ass and leaves you with the truth that you never had a good grip on it to start with.”
Her eyes searched his face. He was hitting her with so much honesty tonight it was heating up her chest in places that had long ago frozen over with ice.
“You’re holding on right now,” she said.
He nodded, his brow furrowing as his thumbs traced back and forth along her cheekbones.
“It would appear so.”
She wanted to please him. Feel him. Get lost in the lust and crazy passion only he made her feel. With a final kiss on his hip, she lay down on her back, her head hanging off the edge of the bed, and she looked up at him.
“Come here.” She opened her mouth.
The moment her intentions registered, the expression on his face was priceless. Awe and excitement transformed his handsome features as he took his hat off and tossed it across the room.
“You’re a damn dream, sweetness,” he said, holding his hard cock and stepping closer. He bent slightly to run the crown along her lips. Her head was hanging off the edge of the bed, elongating her neck as she stared up at him. She opened wider, waiting for him to close the last bit of distance.
She flicked her tongue out, urging him on.
“You ready?” he asked.
She nodded, and it was all the assurance he seemed to need. He pushed his cock into her mouth and groaned as inch after inch disappeared into her throat.
“Fuck, sweetness,” he moaned and leaned over her, his hands gripping the sheets on either side of her hips. He slowly withdrew, then thrust back in, surging in and out the way he would her core.
“Spread your legs wide for me,” he rasped.
She did, bending her knees and letting them fall wide. She heard the sound of ripping lace and felt the material tug and give way under his strong hand. He’d torn them clean off. She was left spread wide and bare. He growled with approval.
All she could see were his hard abs flexing right above her face as she sucked him over and over. And when she felt his hot tongue flick her clit, she jerked at the instant pleasure.
“I may be your lollipop, but you’re the best damn dessert I’ve ever had.” He took the little bundle of nerves between his lips.
She moaned around the thick cock in her throat, which made him tongue her faster. Harder. She concentrated on breathing through her nose while Ryder lashed her sweet spot with lick after lick.
Sparks flew across her skin, and she didn’t even feel her orgasm creep up, it simply hit like a bolt of energy, snapped across her body like lightning hitting a dry tree, splintering it down the middle. An internal storm surged, raining heat and power through her veins.
She moaned and writhed, but Ryder just kept eating at her like the dessert he’d described.
“I’m with you, sweetness,” he said. “I’m going to come…but I don’t want to. Not yet…” He kissed her once more, then pulled away, leaving her gasping for breath and trembling from aftershocks.
She barely registered him grabbing a condom from his discarded pants and putting it on. He moved her to the middle of the bed and was between her still-shaking thighs in record time.
“Climbing high,” he said, repeating his earlier words. She really made him feel like that? He made her feel crazed.
He sank inside of her with one long thrust. She spread her legs wider, trying to give him better access, but he gripped her knees and pulled them around his middle. “Cling to me. I’m not ready to let you go yet.”
She dug her heels into the backs of his thighs as he fucked her hard. Deep. Over and over, banging his hips against hers, looking for every last inch he could take. And she gave it to him.
“If I can’t hold on to you, you’ll hold on to me,” he rasped in her ear. He gripped her wrist and brought it to his shoulder. She clung to him. Like he wanted. Like she wanted. But she couldn’t admit that now. Because while Ryder might think she was the breeze blowing wherever she pleased, he was the clap of thunder that boomed down, taking over her whole world and leaving her with nothing but shivers and the vibrating aftershocks of all his power.
And she was starting to fear that he was the kind of storm she wouldn’t be able to escape.
So she would cling to him until it passed. Wrap both arms around his back and sink in her nails. And that’s what she did—gripped tighter than she’d ever gripped anything, while he moved inside her.
She arched her back and let him take her over the edge. A slow burn moved along her entire body, starting at her toes and stretching to her neck, pulling and warming everything in between until all her skin was sensitized and buzzing with his raw lust.
Her release was intense, hot, and unending.
“I feel you,” he said, thrusting deep and staying right there. His body tightened and shook. His cock inside her hardened further and shot with his own pleasure. Every inch of his skin flushed with heat, and she felt him turn on like a furnace as he spent himself.
And she was there, clinging to him, catching every last ounce he’d give her, and praying to God she didn’t have to let him go just yet.
Chapter Twelve
Ryder’s eyes creaked open, and he was greeted with a glaring light. It took several moments to realize he wasn’t in his bed, he was in Whitney’s. And she was gone. The pillow next to him was cold. His hat rested on the pillow, and a single note propped on it read:
Had to work early. Didn’t want to wake you. Have a good day, cowboy.
He grinned…until he caught sight of the clock.
“Shit!” He was late. Davenport would be at the job site today, and Ryder was fucking late meeting with him.
He hustled to get dressed, and on his way out, he fastened his hat on top of his head and looked in the mirror. He almost didn’t recognize himself. He looked brighter. Rested, maybe? He’d slept better last night than he had in years, but it would be a hell of a price to pay for a good night’s sleep if he didn’t get his ass in gear.
Speeding from the lodge to Davenport Hall on Main took only ten minutes, and thankfully he had a button-down on and a Stetson to hide his bedhead. With any luck, Davenport was running a few minutes late himself. But when Ryder pulled up, he saw Davenport’s car already parked out front.