by Ryan Michele
The blonde turned her back to the brunette, and it didn’t take long before the brunette was dancing by herself. Several men tried to take over where the blonde had left off, but the brunette was having none of that. She looked up to the ceiling, then headed toward the bar, making a path through the throngs of people.
“That’s me,” I called out, getting up from the stool and making my way through the crowd, hearing my brothers behind me. Their teasing about failing like Dryerson made me want to laugh.
They knew better. I’d learned. Failure wasn’t an option.
She glided up to the bar, and the bartender gave her an easy smirk that probably got him a lot of pussy in the day. She flashed him a gorgeous smile.
I watched as something dark crossed her expression, and when the bartender set her drink down, she took it fast and ordered another by tipping the empty glass at the man. He asked her something, and she gave a fake smile. Whatever it was, the bartender went to make her another drink, leaving her alone again.
Another man, this one shorter and having no game at all, tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. When she turned to him, her eyes rolled to the ceiling as I saw the words ‘go away’ mouthed from her beautiful lips.
I moved fast, coming up on the other side of the beautiful woman, saying, “Just ignore him.” She turned to me, her mouth dropping and eyes going sexy round.
It took her a few beats to get her lips to work, but when she did she rocked me. “Now why would I want to do that?”
Damn, she was beautiful. The kind of beautiful where she really didn’t know how striking she was which made her all the more pretty. From her small nose and glowing green eyes, she was a force to be reckoned with.
“No answer,” she retorted when I said nothing.
“You’re the sexiest woman I’ve seen in years. You think I’m lettin’ you go?” Fuck, she was something else. Loved her snark.
To this, she threw her head back and laughed. “Flattery will get you everywhere. What’s your name?”
“Micah, you?”
“Cyrus.”
“Beautiful name for a beautiful woman.”
She laughed full out. “Beautiful name? No. More like a life sentence.”
I leaned into her ear. “Sexy Cyrus. Yeah, I think it’s damn perfect.”
Sexy as fuck.
That was exactly what Cyrus was. I wanted to explore, lick, touch and taste every curve. As she leaned into me, the smell of her perfume pulled me in deeper. It was floral, but not overpowering. Subtle. Nothing like the woman herself. She was a siren. One look and you were hooked. Fuck, I was hooked.
“Let’s dance,” I said, holding out my hand to her. She stared down at it like it was a live wire. I waited.
“You want to dance?” she asked, quirking her brow.
Leaning in again, my lips brushed her ear. “You can tell by the way a man moves on the dance floor how he’ll be in bed. Trust me. You want to know.”
She shivered as lust spiraled around her. I could actually smell it, and it was utterly tantalizing.
“Lead the way. See if you can keep up.”
Lacing our fingers together, we moved through the crowds of people and with my bulk, a spot cleared. The song was upbeat and perfect. Wrapping her in my arms, I turned her so her ass was lined up with my cock, and we moved.
Seeing her out here earlier was nothing compared to being side by side with her and feeling her lush body move against mine with ease. The first song turned into four, and by this time we were both a sweaty mess. My cock was aching, and she was looking at me with lust-filled eyes.
“You wanna get out of here?” I asked after spinning her around so she faced me. Her eyes were the color of bright emeralds and seared onto my brain, never to forget this exact shade.
“Where would that be?”
My hips pressed harder against her so she could feel what she had done to me. “My hotel.”
She studied me for quite a while, contemplating. So much so that I’d thought I’d lost her.
Her eyes darted over to her blonde friend who Dryerson had completely occupied. “I’m texting my friend so you can’t kill me.”
“Never can be too careful.”
The following moments were a blur, and the next thing I knew the hotel door was slamming against the wall as we entered. Her legs were wrapped around me and lips attached to mine. My cock rubbed against her heat, just begging to get attention. Moans escaped her as she felt the grind of my hips on her nub.
Her legs released and fell to the ground, and she kicked off her heels which lowered her a couple inches, but my lips followed.
Hands gripped my shirt and pulled it from my body, as her hands trailed down my chest. Each touch made something inside me come alive. This was beyond the physical; there was just something about Cyrus.
Too bad we only had one night. It wouldn’t be enough to satisfy my hunger for her, but it would have to do. Time to make the most of it.
**
We laid on the bed. Our breaths labored as we came down from the most incredible high I’d ever thought of.
“You seem surprised,” I said with my arm over my eyes, trying to catch my breath. She seemed to have sucked it all out of me.
“I’ve never…” Her breathlessness had my cock hardening once again. I did that to her. I caused it.
“Squirted?” I asked.
I felt her head nod next to me. “Yeah. That was a first.”
Rolling into her, I pulled her into my arms. “Glad I was a first.”
Her laugh was as beautiful as she was. It was something I stored inside my head for those long nights ahead of me on tour. Add in her body and I’d have enough to get me through another year. Yes, there was something special about her.
“Don’t tell me you’re done for the night?” she started, but I had her on her back once again, arms pinned over her head, and locked our lips together. Slipping the next condom on, I thrusted inside her once again. She felt like heaven wrapped in silk. The only thing better would be feeling her ungloved, but that shit would not happen. I always wrapped up.
The bed banged against the wall as her cries intensified. Her hips rose and met mine with every movement. Fuck, she was perfect.
Each second I memorized. Each sound, touch, and taste I stored deep inside me. These things I would never forget. The woman didn’t know it, but she’d captured a part of me that would always and forever be hers. Something I swore I’d never give another woman. Somehow in one night she’d made her way in.
Her walls tightened around me as I released in tune with her, letting everything around us fade away but us. Fuck yes.
We passed out, her head resting on my chest.
Jolting awake, the sound of my alarm rang. Fuck. It was time to head out, and I couldn’t be late.
She laid soundly, the rise and fall of her chest the only thing I felt. It was a damn good night, but that was all it was. One night together. While I’d love to have more, time was our downfall. I was due back and would be on time.
Slipping out of the bed, she laid with the sheet around her waist, her bare skin creamy and on display. I could still taste her on my lips, each spot I kissed and licked.
I watched her as I got dressed. Feeling my phone in my back pocket, I took a quick picture of her. Maybe I’d have enough time to get it printed before we needed to report. One could hope.
With one last look at the bed, I left, this time knowing deep inside I’d left something with her. I’d never thought in one night meeting a woman would change me forever.
It had changed me forever. And she was here. In Sumner. I needed to find her.
11
Ensley
My heart thumped in my chest, threatening to make a break for it. Air came in soft pants as I grabbed Remy from the play area away from the other children and darted to my car. My body moved on its own accord. I didn’t stop to think; I simply reacted. We had come too far. Remy and I wouldn’t be separated. I
couldn’t bare it.
“Ensley?” Austyn called out, but I didn’t stop. Feeling the need to escape at all costs, there was no time to stop and explain. Remy was crying, wanting to go back and play with the other kids, so she was fighting me as I pulled the car door open and put her inside.
“I know. I know. Calm down.” My tone was frustrated, and I mentally chastised myself because I wasn’t that mom. The one who lost her cool with her kid … ever. I was so blessed to have Remy, I never wanted her to feel my tension. That was something I read in one of the books while I was pregnant. Kids can sense that shit and feed off of it. Only right now I couldn’t calm down, but I needed her to.
She didn’t take my words to heart, and buckling her in was a challenge as she squirmed, making the task very hard. She didn’t understand. She didn’t get what had just happened. Hell, I didn’t get what had just happened. It was all a confusion of thoughts creating a war in my head.
All I knew was my momma bear instincts kicked into high gear, and I had to get the hell out of here, now. Time was precious, and there wasn’t a second to waste.
“What’s going on?” Austyn asked as I shut the door to the car with Remy screaming at the top of her lungs as tears ran steadily down her cheeks. She was fighting the straps, but luckily she hadn’t figured out how to unlatch them yet. Tiny contained fury had control of my daughter who frankly didn’t understand the desperation I had to escape. Fight or flight, I wasn’t a coward, but this was my little girl.
Mine.
I wasn’t taking any chances. I had no room for error or a single miscalculation. She couldn’t comprehend the sheer gravity of our current reality. In a split second, everything changed. No one knew but me, and I needed to keep it that way for Remy. She was tiny but damn, she was mighty.
And she was one hundred percent my reason to breathe. No one was taking her from me. Come hell or high water, I would keep us together.
“Get my cousin and come to my house. Now.” For the briefest of moments, I thought I would fall apart right here, right now. I didn’t have time for all these explanations. I didn’t have time to fight with Remy to get in the damn car seat. What I needed was the safety and security of my home, my space. Austyn and I were close, but I couldn’t give her the answers that she desperately sought. It was written on her face. As soon as I got Remy away from here, the better, and then calmly, rationally, I would explain everything to Austyn, and more importantly to Ryker because he would help me figure out what would come next.
Austyn eyed my warily, but nodded, then turned on her booted foot and made her way back into the clubhouse. Everything was a blur behind me, but vaguely I could tell there was a bit of chaos. Thank the lord someone was holding Micah back from coming out here. I couldn’t face him, not right now, and possibly not ever.
Micah. Shit.
How many nights did he fill my dreams? How many days had I looked in Remy’s sweet face to see his eyes burn through me once again?
One night.
We had this one spectacular night that completely changed my life.
Where would I be without Micah? Where would I be without Remy?
That thought alone had me more than determined to get the hell out of here.
Getting in the car, the engine turned over, and we escaped quickly.
What in the hell was Micah doing in the clubhouse? This felt wrong in all different ways. I didn’t know what I pictured when it came to the moment I could see him again, but it wasn’t this. Not only that, his face looked like someone had beat the hell out of him. The man was cut, seriously built like he had spent hours training. How did he manage to get the shit beat out of him? Was he in danger? The more my mind contemplated all that was Micah, the more my heart raced.
My hands shook the entire way home as I tried to get my mind to focus on the road in front of us. Fear like no other took root. It was so deeply engrained I could feel it through every pore of my body. It was like a spider web branching out, threatening to take me completely over.
Was he going to take her? Did he know about Remy and that was why he was there? How did he know where we were? So many doubts crept into my thoughts. This could not be happening. It just couldn’t.
I didn’t even know the man’s last name, and I was supposed to believe that he’d shown up just out of the blue. There was no way. Things like that didn’t happen. There had to be a cause for why he was there. Why he just popped up out of the blue?
He knew about Remy, and he wanted my daughter. That had to be it. Sumner, Georgia was too small for coincidence. This was deliberate. I clenched my hands around the steering wheel, trying to calm my nerves.
No. No way would he get her. Ever.
I’d run to the ends of the earth before that happened. Nothing and no one would take her away from me. Even a big guy like him, I’d fight to the death before he took my little girl.
“Mama, pay!” Remy cried from the back seat, only adding to the chaos eating away at me. She didn’t have a clue that I was losing my shit up here, and her screeches were only making my anxiety worse. While part of me wanted to yell and tell her to stop it, I controlled myself. Remy needed a mom who was stable at all times. I was going to give her that even if I shattered into a million pieces over and over again inside.
My eyes burned with tears. If he thought for one second he could take Remy from me, he had another thing coming.
My body was on fire from the tips of my toes to the top of my head, everything coming to life. My body. My head. My heart. My soul. How in the hell was that even possible?
Thoughts had shut down, and all I could see, feel, and think was Micah. It was a feeling that had never happened to me in my life. No one had been able to take me away. True, I’d only been with one other man, and that was nothing to get excited about. This was on an entirely different level.
Micah picked me up, tossed me onto the bed, and was in a frenzy ripping his and my clothes off that he didn’t give me any time to appreciate his build. The man was hard in all the right places, and the ink of him was sexy as hell. The clear plastic on his arm showed the Marine symbol. It must have been where he got his strength.
He was on top of me quickly, lips attacking mine and hands all over my body. Not quite sure what to do, I allowed my body to take over. ‘Do what feels good. Do what feels right.’
The passion between us was electric and sparking everywhere, igniting the room. The heat all around me was unreal.
His lips trailed down my neck, collarbone, then to the V of my tits. His hands gripped them hard, his teeth taking turns nipping and sucking my nipples. Each movement had my core sizzling. I tried to move my body, but his held me down in so many delicious ways, leaving me unable to find my friction. He was in control. He was in demand.
Fingers entered me, and my back bowed off the bed. Micah moved down my body, his eyes coming up to meet mine.
“I’m eating this pussy until you can’t breathe.”
There was no comeback, because his tongue flicked my clit, then sucked it in deep. My entire body exploded in a crescendo of pleasure. I had zero control over my body as it bucked and bent, letting the orgasm wash over me.
Micah didn’t stop as my screams took over and my body shook.
His lips left mine, but I was out of energy as I sagged into the bed.
Vaguely, I heard the sound of a foil packet tearing. “Don’t give up so soon.”
My head popped up at his challenge. Challenges. They’d always been my downfall. It was like a dare I had to do them. This was no different, except I wanted to do everything Micah could dish out.
“Show me what you’ve got,” I threw down my own. Micah’s sexy grin came back as he grabbed my knees and pulled my ass to the edge of the bed. In one solid thrust he was deep inside me, thrusting so hard the bed shook. He was much larger than my first partner, and my body shuddered, trying to stretch to take him fully.
The low curl spiraled up again. His cock was so long it hit my cervix r
epeatedly. Micah flipped me over to my stomach, grabbed my ass, and pushed deep inside once again.
This was even deeper, and after several thrusts this feeling came over me. It was deep in my core, clenching my abs. My fingernails dug into the bed as whatever the hell this was burst literally out of me.
A gush of fluid poured from me as my cries were muffled in the sheets.
What in the hell was that?
I had very limited experience with sex with only one partner before Micah, and that was nothing like had I experienced with Micah. It was child’s play.
Micah had explained to me what had happened during my orgasm, and I’d never heard of such a thing even from my books.
Later, when I found out I was pregnant, I realized that was the moment when Remy was conceived.
Pulling up to the apartment, we parked, and I got Remy out quickly as I tried to soothe her. She’d cried so much she was having trouble keeping her eyes opened. Getting into the apartment and locking the door, I rocked my girl back and forth in my arms, telling her everything was fine and she was okay.
It wasn’t, but she didn’t need to know that.
The minutes passed before my girl was out like a light. We’d skipped afternoon nap to go to the clubhouse, and with the tantrum she threw in the car, it wasn’t a surprise she was out.
We made our way down the hall and into the bedroom, but I couldn’t set her down just yet. I needed to hold her, feel her, know that she was here with me and safe. The weight of her against me was the solid reminder she was with me. Until this moment when I allowed myself to breathe, I didn’t realize how much I needed to hold her. It wasn’t about the screaming and crying. My instincts screamed to soothe her, but this was more. This was the intense connection between a mother and her child.
After all the fighting we’d had to do to get us to this place in our lives, no way would this change the course of it. No way would this be something that brought us down. I wouldn’t let it.