Rescued by Love (Love in Bloom: The Ryders): Jake Ryder

by Melissa Foster

  Lizzie snuggled against Blue as they walked toward the dirt road. There were no cars on the island, only bicycles and golf carts, which suited Jake just fine. He hated to feel confined, and at around eight square miles, the island was barely big enough for a good run.

  Trish wrapped her arms around Boone’s neck and hung on him. “You love carrying me. Fake impregnator.”

  Jake raised a brow in question.

  “Don’t ask.” Boone swept Trish into his arms and followed Blue and Lizzie.

  Gage pushed another shot across the table to Niko. “There’s no way you’ve never done it on the beach. You live on the beach.”

  “Yeah, with an island full of nosy relatives. But if you don’t believe me, I’ll take the hit.” Niko tossed back both shots and turned a heated, glassy gaze on Addy. “You could help me change my answer.”

  Over my dead body.

  Jake was beside Addy in half a second and sank down into the seat Lizzie had vacated next to her, draping a proprietary arm around the back of her chair. He scoffed at the icy stare Addy pinned on him and palmed the curve of her shoulder. Oh yeah, that felt nice.

  “Sorry, man. I didn’t know you two were together,” Niko said, rising to his feet. “I’d better take off before I get my ass kicked.”

  Damn right. Jake tossed him a friendly, “See ya, Niko,” without taking his eyes off Addy.

  “I didn’t know you two were together, either,” Sally said, glancing at Gage.

  Gage shook his head. “Don’t look at me.”

  Addy was busy peeling Jake’s hand off her shoulder. “We are not together.”

  Gage laughed. Sally blushed. But Addy continued glaring at Jake like she couldn’t believe what he was insinuating. He couldn’t believe it either, but hell, he might as well go with it. Filling another shot glass, he pushed it in front of her.

  “Drink up, sexy girl.”

  Her jaw gaped, and just as quickly, she schooled her expression. Her eyes narrowed with defiance. “You only have to drink when you lie.” She set the drink in front of him. “You should be drunk all the time.”

  He moved the glass in front of her again, leaning in so close it took every shred of his restraint not to claim that sexy mouth of hers and show her just how much she was missing out on. He was vaguely aware of Gage and Sally saying they were taking off, and waved a hand in their direction, unwilling to look away from the woman before him. His eyes dropped to the frantic pulse beating at the base of her neck. He’d like to suck that throbbing vein between his teeth and feel her fingernails dig into him as he did it.

  Meeting her gaze, he said, “I don’t lie.”

  Her eyes darkened, and the tip of her tongue slid across her lower lip. She raised a perfectly manicured brow. “Oh no?”

  “I never said you were with me. That was their assumption. Your assumption. Or maybe your wish.”

  She searched his eyes. The lights from above reflected in hers. “Really? You don’t lie?”

  “Really.”

  “You didn’t lie three months ago when we were all at NightCaps and you told Blue it’d been weeks since you’d gotten laid?”

  He cringed. “You heard that?” When he’d answered Blue, it had been four weeks since he’d had sex. The stubborn, sexy girl sitting beside him now had refused another of his propositions two weeks and six days prior to that night. He remembered it well, because that was the night he’d cornered her by the bathroom and she’d hesitated for so long before denying him, he’d thought she was finally going to give in. He hadn’t been able to think of anyone but her ever since.

  “Everyone at the table heard it.” She smirked. “Truth or lie?”

  Fuck. He’d sound like a pussy if he answered honestly.

  She rolled her eyes and handed him the shot. “Drink it, liar.”

  “That’s kind of harsh, don’t you think?”

  She crossed her arms and pursed her lips.

  “Wait a minute. Why do you even remember that?” Man, did he like knowing she’d been thinking about him just as he’d been thinking about her. Well, maybe not in the same naked, kinky ways he had, but he’d at least been on her mind.

  She shifted her eyes away. “Drink, jackoff.”

  “That’s quite a mouth you have there, sexy girl.”

  “Like that bothers you.” She knocked back a shot, closing her eyes as she swallowed. She set the glass down hard on the table, licked her lips, and arched a brow again.

  His girl loved a challenge. He pressed his leg against hers, testing the waters. When she didn’t move away, he added a hand on her thigh. “Actually, I like your dirty mouth very much.”

  “Jake…” Her eyes dropped to his mouth, lingering there long enough for him to think about all the things he wanted to do with hers.

  “Yes, sexy girl?” He squeezed her thigh, feeling her muscles flex beneath his hand. He inched his fingers higher, to the hem of her dress, and squeezed again.

  “Does this usually work for you?” she asked with a sarcastic lilt to her voice. “All that ‘sexy girl’ stuff, and talking about dirty mouths?”

  He grinned, ignoring her question, because hell, it was ridiculous. They both knew how to get what they wanted, and he wasn’t about to admit that he’d never called another woman sexy girl in his life.

  “What do you want me to do with my mouth, Addison?” He let that question hang between them, his fingertips grazing her inner thigh. “Do you want me to drop to my knees and pleasure you? Make you come on my tongue while you claw at my shoulders?”

  She let out a long, slow breath, as if she was thinking about it.

  “Oh, you like that idea, don’t you?” They’d teased each other for so long it should feel normal, but he’d never taken it this far as to spell out exactly what he wanted to do to her. But he was done pussyfooting around. He used to be able to flirt at the drop of a dime with any woman who caught his eye. Now no one but Addy ever caught his eye. She’d ruined his ability to flirt with other women.

  She placed her hand on top of his, squeezing his fingers into her flesh. “Probably about as much as you like the idea of me on my knees pleasuring you.”

  “You are a dirty, dirty girl.” He took a strand of her hair and wound it around his fingers.

  Her eyes sparked with a dark challenge. “Have I ever alluded to being anything else?”

  No, you sure as hell haven’t, but you’ve denied me every time I made a move.

  Tonight she appeared to be dipping her toe in the Jake and Addy water. About damn time. They said weddings made women want in ways they never had, but he knew Addy had wanted him long before the wedding, even if she refused to let herself go there. It was in his mind that he was seeing more than a one-night stand in their future, and it had nothing to do with the wedding and everything to do with the sensual, witty, challenging woman before him.

  He tugged that luxurious dark strand of hair until it was taut. Her hand tightened around his, but she didn’t lean forward to ease the sting he knew he was causing, telling him more than that sassy mouth of hers ever could. The daring gaze never faltered, exuding confidence like no woman he’d ever met. The vibe she emitted was fierce, determined, and one hundred percent sexual, reeling Jake in like a fish to water.

  He leaned closer.

  She didn’t budge.

  He pushed his hand beneath her hair, holding tightly to that strand as he grasped the back of her neck and tugged her toward him. Her eyes widened just a little. If he hadn’t been looking for it he might have missed it. But he was this close to making Addy his, and he refused to miss a thing.

  “Jake.” The warning came across loud and clear.

  He nudged his knee between her legs, and with a hand around her waist, tugged her forward, so their legs were intertwined, their faces so close he could smell her shampoo. Jesus, he was breathing hard. How many months had he wanted to do this? To feel her body trembling, hear her breath hitch, for him?

  “Gabby and Duke,” she said b
reathlessly.

  “Will never know,” he answered, pausing long enough to give her time to protest.

  “We can’t screw this up.”

  “I never screw up sex.” He brushed his thumb along her jaw. “Scared, sexy girl?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Never.”

  “What, then?”

  She pressed her lips together, then opened them as if to speak, but no words came. Vulnerability flashed in her eyes, and in the next breath that innocence was gone, replaced with ferocity she couldn’t feign. She wanted this just as badly as he did. Thank fucking God she’d finally hit her breaking point.

  But he’d seen that moment of hesitation.

  He’d felt it in the way her body tensed, and not the good kind of tense. The oh-fuck-what-am-I-doing kind. Jake was a lot of things, and cocky asshole was probably near the top of the list as far as women were concerned. But he’d never take a woman against her will. He slowed down long enough to gaze into her beautiful eyes and make sure he wasn’t misreading her approval. Was she simply meeting a challenge? Would she do that? Give herself over rather than back away simply to prove she could?

  She was looking at him like she wanted to devour him, licking her lips like she couldn’t wait. All the right signals were staring back at him. But that moment of hesitation, no matter how short-lived, held him back. His body pushed him to take, take, take. It was what he did, what he excelled at, what he knew.

  But this was Addison.

  The woman he’d fantasized about for months on end.

  His brother’s wife’s best friend.

  A friend he cared about.

  Shit. He hadn’t really picked that apart before. He’d always thought of Addy as Gabriella’s friend. Once removed. But she was his friend, too. Hadn’t she called him when she wanted to surprise Gabriella for her birthday and asked him to help by keeping Duke busy while they set up the surprise? She could have asked Trish, or Cash, or Blue. But she’d called him. Jake, I need you. He’d actually thought it was a booty call, and he’d told her it was about time she realized she needed a real man in her life. He’d been thinking, in her bed, but he’d bitten his tongue. She’d set him straight then, too. Wishful thinking, big guy. I don’t want or need a man like you in my life. They’d argued that point. And he’d hung up wondering why the hell they’d argued. He hadn’t been looking to be any woman’s man. And then he’d helped keep Duke busy, as she’d asked, and they’d gone right back to being friends who toyed with each other’s emotions.

  This was totally fucked up.

  She was watching him with that bold look in her eyes, waiting for his next move. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t sure what that move should be.

  “Addy,” he pretty much growled. “Do you want me to kiss you?” Where the hell did that come from? He couldn’t remember ever asking a woman’s permission before kissing her.

  She blinked several times, as if he were speaking another language, and then she was kissing him. Her hands were in his hair, and she was moaning into their kiss. She was so fucking hot, he didn’t hesitate to devour her eager mouth. She moved even more sensually than he’d imagined, hard and hungry, arching against him like she couldn’t get enough. And damn, he definitely wanted more. His arm circled her waist, and he lifted her onto his lap, taking the kiss deeper. She was so petite his hand nearly covered the width of her back, and he had the strange, intrusive thought that if he wasn’t careful, he might break her. She rocked against him, her sweet ass creating mind-blowing friction.

  The lights strewn above them suddenly went out, and they both pulled away, breathless and panting. Instinct sent his arms protectively around her as he scanned the area. They were alone beneath the starry sky, the sounds of distant waves breaking through the darkness. It took Jake’s lust-addled brain a minute to remember the lights were on a timer. Breathing a little easier, he ran his hands over her soft curves. A salty breeze swept up the hill, blowing a lock of Addy’s long brown hair across her face. He tucked it behind her ear, feeling the softness of her cheek against his fingers. Addy had that vulnerable look about her again. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips swollen from their kisses. Gone was the take-charge vixen he knew her to be, causing his chest to feel full.

  “Jesus, you’re beautiful.” The words came easily, taking him—and by the shock in her widening eyes, Addy—by surprise. He’d thought it many times, but man, those words sure felt powerful coming out of his mouth. Jake loved the soft, feminine feel of women. But in his mind, he had always lumped them into a group. Women. Realization hit him like a kick in the gut. He was noticing her, not the gender she was born into. He ran his hands along the length of her arms, soaking in the feel of her warm skin and trying to chase away the Addiness in her and fit her back into the general category with which he was comfortable.

  As if she realized this lowering of the veil, she drew her shoulders back, and a cavalier laugh sailed from her lips. She glanced down at their bodies. Her dress was bunched around her thighs, her legs straddling his lap. “A little late to be buttering me up, don’t you think?”

  To cover up his momentary lapse in emotional control, he scoffed and tugged her in for another passionate kiss.

  Chapter Three

  ADDY’S MIND SAID, Slow down. Think, think, think. But her body had completely disconnected. It had hung up the phone, thrown out the memo, and was sprinting toward the finish line. The lust that had coiled deep in her belly at the first touch of Jake’s lips had swelled, flooding her veins, her limbs, and seeping out her pores. His big, hungry mouth consumed her as his hands roved and teased. And her hands followed suit, exploring his incredibly hard chest, while her very lonely girly parts enjoyed another deliciously hard part of his anatomy.

  He fisted his hand in her hair and bit down on her lower lip, hard enough to sting. She cried out and he stopped cold.

  “Too hard?”

  “Never.”

  She barely got the word out before he was kissing her again, ravishing every crevice of her mouth, then moving on to her jaw, her neck, her shoulder, nibbling and sucking, abrading her skin with his whiskers, while hanging on tight to her hair. She closed her eyes, enjoying each and every sensation: the exquisite sting on her scalp, the wetness of his tongue, sharpness of his teeth, and most of all, the low, appreciative groans he made as he took his fill. He clutched her hip, still gripping her hair, holding her as she ground against him and rocking up to meet her efforts. This was what she craved and what no man had been able to give. Raw, untethered passion. Manliness, and not the whip-me-baby kind. No, Addy wasn’t about to be anyone’s submissive, but she liked strength and virility, the feel of a man’s rough hands on her skin, the repositioning of her body exactly where he wanted it, the hard pounding between her legs. When he’d asked her if she wanted him to kiss her, she’d wondered if she’d made the wrong decision teasing him as she had. If there was one thing she’d had enough of, it was men who pretended to be one thing when in reality they were the exact opposite. She was thrilled to find that Jake knew how to take control, and she was surprised to realize that she was also strangely touched that he’d sought her approval.

  He released her hair, and she grabbed both of his hands. She soaked in the look of surprise in his dark, hungry eyes as she captured his mouth. A torrent of excitement swept through her. Taking rather than giving was her second favorite thing. And take she did, claiming him in another scorching kiss, nipping at his scruffy jaw. Releasing his hands, she worked open the buttons on his shirt, and he watched, those deep-set eyes drinking her in as his hips created a perfect rhythm beneath her. God, she loved that.

  She tore open his shirt, sending the last few buttons flying across the lawn and baring his glorious muscles, hidden only by a dusting of dark chest hair. Her eyes slid to the Superman tattoo on his left arm. She’d seen it before, and she was dying to know what it meant to him, but there was no way she was slowing down to ask. Not when there were lickable abs in reach. Another flick o
f her eyes to his intense stare brought a resurgence of desire. She lowered her mouth to his nipple and bit down.

  “Fuck, Addy.” His hips bolted off the chair, sending her hands to his biceps to steady herself.

  His arms were as hard as steel, just like in her fantasies, only a million times better.

  “Again,” he growled.

  Oh yeah, Jake definitely wasn’t all talk, no action. She repeated her assault on the other side, and he hissed out a curse. She laved her tongue over the bite, then sucked that tight peak. A long, low groan rumbled up his chest, vibrating against her mouth.

  He clutched her hips, forcing his words through gritted teeth. “Why did we wait so long to do this?”

  Her eyes snapped up to his, her heart stuttering at the answer she was trying not to think about. “Why do you have to talk?”

  He flashed an arrogant grin.

  Her mind reeled back to all the times he’d propositioned her, cornering her in bars when they were out with friends, whispering in her ear as they left clubs. One thing had been constant, and it had been enough to hold her back from accepting his offers. Gabriella had always been present, an important reminder that she shouldn’t have a one-night stand with someone who was soon to be—now was—her best friend’s family. But now that she’d tasted his kisses, felt his power, she was past the point of no return. She wanted him. All of him. And there was only one way she could get through this without guilt stopping her at every turn.

  “No talking.”

  He arched a brow. “Seriously?”

  “Yes. Unless you’d rather I stopped.”

  He swept a hand toward his body, offering himself up. She lowered her mouth to his chest again, but damn it, her mind was stuck on the reason she’d always held back.

  She breathed him in, loving his potent musky scent, and closed her eyes, trying to get back into the moment. She concentrated on the feel of his hot skin, the way his heart beat hard and steady against her lips. But with every kiss, every touch, she worried about the ramifications of their hookup. She sat up again, needing guidelines, rules, expectations, and earning another arched brow from the incredibly sexy man beneath her.