Good grief, I need a filter. A hot flush surges to my cheeks. “I didn’t mean to say all of that out loud.”
His lips kiss their way down from my hip, along the tender skin inside my legs, before traveling upward again. “I would have been happy no matter what. Nothing would stop me from doing this.”
“Ryder, I don’t…historically, that is, this doesn’t normally make me—ohhh.”
“Hush,” he mutters against my skin. “We’ve already established that’s not on you.”
My grip tightens on his shoulders as Ryder gently splays me open. Air rushes over everywhere that’s warm and wet and aching. I’m flushed, hot, and shivering. When his tongue sweeps over me again, teasingly slow, I buck into his mouth instinctively.
“Ryder,” I whisper.
He grins against my skin. “Goddamn, you taste good, Willa. So, so good.”
I blush spectacularly. “Really?”
“Hell, yes,” he growls. His hands cup my ass and tug me closer.
Something he does with his tongue this time tickles and I giggle reflexively. Embarrassment heats my cheeks. What if I offended him? Have I ruined the mood? Ryder pulls back and smiles up at me. Just smiles.
“Too soft?” he asks.
“I think so. It tickled.”
He glances down at everything before him. He looks incredibly analytical for a second, just how he did when he was talking yesterday about troubleshooting the roof for a leak. Then a grin tugs at his mouth. “So beautiful. I get to see this, taste this, forever.”
“Forever, huh?” I ask breathily, trying to sound flippant. Even though my heart’s tripping at the weight and promise of his words. Ryder wants me. Forever.
“Yup,” he says quietly in between kisses that tease and torture me, so close to where I’m dying for touch. “I’m like a…barn owl. One and done.”
I snort and nearly fold over him as I laugh. “A barn owl?”
Ryder shrugs and kisses my belly as I straighten, his hands kneading my ass. “First monogamous species that came to mind. They pick one mate for life.” He nuzzles my bare skin and licks gently, firmer this time. “Just be glad I didn’t woo you with dead mice. You’d have to be very polite about it since you’d, of course, accept my offer.”
His lips whisper over my pelvic bone. I feel a jolt of pleasure swirl in my belly and dance to my breasts. “A-and how would I accept this offer?”
“Well, if you were anything like a female barn owl, you’d make a croaking sound.” He presses a kiss right above my clit. My knees buckle as some kind of ungodly noise leaves me.
“Pretty much like that.” Ryder does it again. Another kiss right over the sensitive skin protecting where I’m wildly sensitive. I gasp and lean into it.
“Ahh,” he murmurs. “She does like it. Noted.”
I sigh as he kisses me just like that again and again, as his fingers slowly tease where I’m so wet, I’m starting to drip down my thighs. Which—I’d like the record to show—has never ever happened before. My hands go reflexively to his thick blond hair, half out of its bun. I tug out his hair tie and run my fingers through those soft, golden strands, fisting them.
It doesn’t happen quickly, but Ryder doesn’t seem to mind. I tangle my fingers deeper into his hair and find a rhythm against his mouth that feels incredible. It’s a quiet, steady build, a candlewick catching, then slowly burning brighter, brighter—
“I’m close. Oh God,” I yell so loudly if there are people miles away, they heard it. I could not care less.
Ryder gently nods, a soft hum leaving his mouth. Tenderly, he lowers his lips to my clit and sucks, until my orgasm soars through my body, my toes, my fingers, my breasts, and settles heavily in the pulse between my thighs. More coaxing kisses and gentle words, then Ryder stands and sweeps me into his arms like it’s choreography he had blocked out from step one.
“So beautiful,” he whispers. I grasp his face and kiss him as he holds me. I taste myself and him, and I want him so badly I can’t find air, I can’t see the world around me. I just see and feel and want Ryder.
When he sets me on the bed, I sit up, tugging off his sopping clothes. Ryder shivers as I rub my hands up and down his arms, whipping back the sheets and thick comforter, then dragging him inside. Pausing, he unhooks the mechanisms behind his ears and carefully sets them on the nightstand.
When he turns back toward me, he grins one of those rare, bright smiles of his. Better than the sun slipping out from behind a dark cloud, firelight glowing in midnight blackness. It knocks the air out of my lungs.
His eyes roam my body, following the path of his hand as it cups my breast, travels down my waist, wrapping tight around my backside and hauling me close. We both gasp when his erection presses between us. Instinctively, I grip him and slide my thumb along the sensitive underside of his length. I savor him how I savored him last night, delighting in the soft, velvety skin that moves gently with my hand, the thick rigidity of his cock, how it pulses as I stroke him.
Ryder’s eyes slam shut when I slide his length along my soaked entrance. His head drops back as he falls onto the pillow. I’m doing that. I’m making him fall apart. When his eyes open, I sign good. So good.
He smiles gently and signs it back. Then I do something, sliding myself against him, that earns a pained sound of desperation. Grasping his arms, I pull Ryder over top of me. He drops his weight between my legs, making me cry out, and it feels incredible to be covered head to toe by his massive body, to feel pinned and held and consumed. Ryder’s long, powerful frame, burning hot, so solid over mine, is blindingly sensual. It’s comforting. Our gaze holds as he drifts over me, sliding the head of his erection right along my clit.
I ghost my hands over his fantastic backside, appreciating the gentle flex of his muscles as he moves against me. Eventually, my hands travel up his back to wrap around his neck. I bring him close and speak to his good ear. “I’m on the pill. I don’t want anything between us.”
His forehead drops to my shoulder as a groan leaves him, and when he picks up his head, his eyes are emerald flames. Molten gems, beautiful desire, as he leans back and guides himself until just the tip wedges inside me. He’s slow, careful as he begins to ease in.
I grasp his wrist and squeeze to earn his attention. More, I sign.
An exhale rushes out of him, as our eyes lock, as with painstaking care and steadiness, Ryder fills me.
“Ry,” I gasp.
It’s overwhelming. I’m full and stretched, but so much more, I’m pinned by his stare, heart-struck as his mouth falls open the first time he drags back and thrusts into me.
“Okay?” he asks.
I nod furiously. “Yes.” I cup his cheek and he leans into it, turning to press a kiss in my palm.
On the next sure roll of his hips, sparks dance over my skin. Each time’s easier, as my body relaxes, as I only get wetter. I’m drenched and Ryder’s gloriously hard. Somehow, we fit, just like he promised. Ryder drops to his elbows, and his hands cradle my head. His eyes hold mine, with each measured, sure thrust that sends air quietly rushing from my lungs.
I blink back tears which he thumbs away. He presses his lips to my ear and whispers, the cadence uneven, almost too soft. “Touch me.”