“I’m going to burn this dress,” I told her.
She bit her lip and nodded. Still keeping my clothes on, I removed her bra and scrap of panties.
Once she was beautifully bare before me, I brought out my next surprise.
“Lift your hands, sweetness.” She did immediately. I pulled out her cuffs that I’d found days before and latched them to her wrists.
“Put your hands above your head, and don’t move them.” I got up and went to her closet and grabbed a scarf. Her bed didn’t have anything to use the cuffs with, but the headboard did have space at the top to wrap the scarf through to keep the cuffs secured to the headboard.
I leaned back and looked over her. “Perfection.”
She squirmed under my gaze; her eyes were hooded over. Her nipples were pink and tight, begging for my mouth to taste them. I started with the top button of my shirt and continued to open them one by one until tossing it over my head. I watched as Andi’s eyes burned me with the heat in her stare. I took my time unbuttoning my slacks revealing my dick that was straining against my boxers, aiming like an arrow for Andi. I kept my boxers on while removing my pants. I needed some type of barrier to keep me from burying myself inside her.
I settled myself above her, and brought my lips to hers. Her chest rose and connected to mine. My hands roamed over her, touching every inch of skin they could. Her kiss was needy; I felt her need for me with every caress of her tongue, every nip of my lower lip. I gave her what she needed. My lips went to the spots I’d seen Gavin kiss. I replaced the memory of him with my mouth. She opened up for me, giving me the access I needed to continue moving over her. The need to hear her sweet moans drove me to sink my teeth into her lower neck. She cried out from the pleasure mixed with pain. My mouth moved and met with my hands on her breast. Snaking out my tongue, I swirled around her and lightly blew hot breath onto her hard peaks; they tightened. Seeing that urged me to attack them with a ferocious growl. I sucked and bit her nipple, causing her to arch into my mouth. I moved over and gave the other the touch it craved.
Her whimpers were turning into moans. I needed to hear her scream my name. Ceasing my sweet torture on her breasts, I licked her stomach down to her sex. Spreading her legs and settling in between them, the sight of her sweet sex made my mouth water.
Soaked.
Her sweet heat was a glossed pink, slightly swollen and begging me for release. My mouth watered thinking about how sweet she tasted. My mouth latched on to her, without starting slowly; there was no slow build. Her back bowed as much as her bound arms would let it. Her cries for release soothed my soul. Within seconds she was convulsing against me. Her legs squeezed tight, holding me to her. I wasn’t going anywhere. I wanted more. I plunged a finger into her mid-climax and started to pump in and out.
“Ryder! Oh fuck!” she cried out; it was music to my ears.
She barely had time to relax before her next orgasm hit her. It was like an ongoing wave, never truly ending. My body couldn’t wait any longer. Withdrawing my fingers from her, I quickly dispensed of my boxers, spread her legs, and drove myself into her soaking sex. Before moving, I reached up and untied the scarf, but kept Andi in the cuffs. Her arms flew up and went around my neck. I moved slowly, and her head lifted and touched her lips to mine. I groaned into her, driving my dick a little harder.
“I love you.” Her words were my undoing. I lifted her hands back above her head and laced my fingers with hers. My hips clashed with hers with an unrelenting force. Her breasts bounced with every thrust. Her pussy started to quiver, and I was done.
“Fuck, Andi!”
She clamped around me as we found our release together. I tried to be soft as I collapsed on top of her, but I wasn’t sure I succeeded. Our breaths were hard and labored.
“I fucking love you, Andi,” I huffed out. She tried to giggle, but it seemed she was out of breath. I reached up and released her wrists and threw the cuffs on the ground. Slowly pulling out and lying next to her, I had truly found happiness.
She rolled over and threw herself across my body. Just lying there. My arms wrapped around her automatically; they knew she belonged there.
“You know our song?” she asked,
“Of course.” I confirmed by lightly squeezing her.
“In the words, he says her soul is evergreen. You know, you and me, we are evergreen. We are lasting and permanent. Thank you for finding me, Ryder.”
I kissed her forehead and soaked in what she said. Evergreens never shed their leaves; they were permanent. We were permanent. We were evergreen.
The night rolled into morning, and I woke up Andi in the best way possible. A good old-fashioned tongue-lashing.
CHAPTER 35
Andi
My body was utterly sated as I stirred the pancake mix. Ryder woke me up with his mouth on my sex. I swore he was going to kill me with orgasms. Dressed in panties and his dress shirt from last night, I had the music blaring and was shaking my hips while making pancakes.
“Tie-dye?” His questioning voice echoed from the back door. He was just outside playing with my boys.
“Why not? Everything is better with a little extra color. So tie-dye pancakes it is!” I stuck out my tongue and went back to my cooking. Truth be told, I loved to put color in everything. One minute I would have blue ice cream and make green donuts the next.
Strong arms wrapped around me, bringing me in for a hug. Ryder’s chin lowered and rested on my shoulder as he watched me make my tie-dye pancakes. My body hummed with delight at being enveloped by him.
“I’m enjoying a little color in my life,” he whispered with a touch of his lips to my neck. I pressed my backside into him, pushing him back.
“Oh no, mister, I need a break. I swear if I have another orgasm, my body will collapse.” My head turned as I narrowed my eyes at him in warning. I may have also pointed my spatula at him, which may not have been a smart move.
“I would just carry you everywhere, but now I’m getting a feeling that you’re threatening me.” His eyes flashed with heat.
I knew if I ran, he would chase me and we’d wind up doing it wherever he caught me. So I turned around and scooped the pancakes out of the skillet and onto a plate.
“Here you go.” I smiled widely as I handed him the plate.
He just shook his head and walked over to the table.
After breakfast we settled in and played with the boys in my backyard. My house was surrounded by trees and a fence, so no one could see us playing. Ryder softly tackled me to the ground, and my boys licked my face to death. It was really nice; I never wanted it to end. We spent the rest of the day hanging around the house; I read a book while Ryder slept. He was pulling a lot of late hours on this case.
When we were full from the pizza I’d order, we relaxed on the couch and started watching an episode of Friends.
“I really enjoyed today.” My side was snuggled up to Ryder, his arm around my waist.
“We’ll have more when this is all over. I’m thinking a vacation somewhere. My parents usually rent a cabin in the mountains, maybe there.” His voice was casual, but I was grinning like a fool. He wanted to make plans with me.
“I love you.” I lifted my head so I could see his face.
“I love you, cupcake.” He leaned in and kissed me tenderly.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of you saying that,” I said in between kisses.
“That’s good. I plan on sticking around for a while.”
We settled back and laughed our asses off until it was time to go to bed.
He made love to me sweetly until we both collapsed and fell asleep in each other’s arms.
I woke up in the middle of the night to find Ryder not in bed. I wrapped the sheet around myself, and set off to find my bedmate.
I found him sitting in the living room, petting Vince. Turnip was passed out asleep in his bed. Vince turned his head when he saw me and started wagging his tail. The fact that Ryder didn’t turn
his head gave me a little clue things weren’t right.
He finally turned toward me when I sat down next to him. I didn’t speak; silently letting him know I was here for whatever he needed. A few moments later he told me what was up.
“Gavin called.”
My body tensed, and my breath got stuck in my throat.
“He’s going forward with the deal. We’re meeting when he gets back from Miami, on Monday around ten in the evening.”
The breath I was holding rushed out.
“That’s good, isn’t it?” Gavin would sell Ryder whatever he was going to sell him, and Ryder would bust him. Game over.
“Yeah, but something feels off. He didn’t say anything that should make me feel this way. but as stupid as it sounds, I’ve just got a feeling it isn’t going to be good.” His voice was calm, but I could tell he was like a duck on the water. Calm on top, but crazy underneath. I leaned my head on his shoulder.
“Whatever happens, we’ll make it through. We’re evergreen remember?” I believed every word I said. It would be okay.
“Yeah, cupcake, we are.” He wrapped his arm around me and brought me onto his chest.
“Let’s just enjoy the rest of the weekend. No Gavin, no FBI. Just me, you, and the boys, and I’m thinking pie tomorrow sounds good.” I added the last part in for giggles, but now that I’d thought about it, I totally wanted some coconut cream pie. Badly. Mentally I went through my kitchen to make sure I had everything I needed to make that. It was so happening tomorrow morning.
We just stayed like that on the couch for a while, just enjoying each other’s warmth. Then Ryder softly scooped me up and took me to bed, while I was still wrapped up like a little burrito in the sheet. A little smirk was on his face as he set me down and settled in next to me.
“Love you, cupcake.” He pulled me to him and put my head on his chest and a thigh thrown over his hips.
“Love you, my King.”
He chuckled at my use of his last name. He could be my king, and I his queen, and we coul rule over all things sugar. Like Candyland. I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at that thought.
“You’re gonna be King Kandy, and I’ll be Queen Frostine!”
Between laughs, I looked up at him and saw he looked confused. So I explained my thought to him.
“Candyland. We are gonna be the king and queen of all things sugar. You know, like Candyland.”
He just shook his head and lightly pressed my head back onto his chest. I kept up the silent laughs until I realized his breaths had evened out; his grip on my waist wasn’t as tight. He had passed out. I titled my head back up as slowly as I could and just looked at him. I loved this man with everything I had. I prayed that his bad feeling turned out to be nothing. I couldn’t lose him, and I didn’t want him to lose me. We had to be okay. I pushed the thought out of my head and drifted off to sleep.
The next day came and went in a blissful blur. We touched every chance we had. We still hung out at my house, but Dallas came over to visit, and then Rex came over, and that was a little awkward. Dallas tried to avoid looking at him, but I caught her giving him sideways glances when she thought no one was looking. Rex wasn’t any better. He acted like nothing was going on, but he was looking at her like she was a tasty cookie. And he really liked sweets too. He’d become one of my best customers—and a nice friend. He had helped me sneak around to see Ryder. We would laugh and gab about nonsense. The only person missing was Nikki. I missed her a lot, but she had extended her honeymoon again. Thankfully it was still summer, so those naughty teachers weren’t missing school.
After having my second helping of coconut pie, I dug through my hallway closet and pulled out something I had been wanting to do since last night.
“Oh my God, I love Candyland!” Dallas screamed. Last night’s giggles came back to me. My eyes found Ryder’s, and I saw a bright smile on his face.
“You guys are so going to get owned!” Rex cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck. Which made me laugh harder. It wasn’t like this game was intense. We played until Ryder spanked us all hard. Who knew he was so good at this game?
After everyone left, we settled back into bed, where I took control and gave Ryder his reward for winning.
CHAPTER 36
Ryder
My mind was going a thousand miles a minute; on the outside I was calm. But, fuck, something just didn’t feel right. Gavin set up the meeting in a marina that I happened to know his family owned.
Andi and I had the perfect weekend. We laughed, we played, and we spent the night—and some of morning—naked in each other’s arms. It was amazing.
Now I was standing at the marina with Garret by my side. Rex was nearby with a sniper rifle; backup was hidden, waiting for me to give Rex my signal. It was going to go down in approximately fifteen minutes. I tried to ease my weird feeling. I knew I had everything set if this went badly, but I would try my damn hardest to make sure nothing went wrong.
“You ready?” I asked Garret; he was looking a little antsy himself.
“Yeah, my daughter is with her mom right now. Never makes me feel good,” he confessed as he blew out smoke from his cigarette.
“We’ll help you take care of that. You’ve done your job.” He looked at me and gave me a nod in appreciation.
Our heads turned quickly to the suburban that was approaching us.
“Show time,” I muttered.
We watched as the one SUV pulled up and parked. I was not looking forward to talking to this fucker, but I was ready to end this. Two men stepped out the car; one man was Max, the bodyguard from the club, and the other… FUCK ME SIDEWAYS.
I quickly hid my emotions as I watched Draco Skeller get out and walk toward us. Behind them the back doors opened, and I sucked in a huge breath. He didn’t.
Gavin had a dressed-sexy Andi on his arm as he walked towards us. He shouldn’t have brought her here. My muscles were tense; I was close to getting extremely angry. I couldn’t believe he fucking brought her to this.
“Travis, you’re looking well.” Gavin smiled as he held out his hand for me to shake. I took his hand and gave it a firm shake.
“You as well. Miami must have been good to you,” I commented. “Andi.” I gave her a nod hello.
“Gavin, may I speak with you in private?” He nodded, and we stepped a few feet back from the crowd.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“I’m not sure this type of deal is something your woman needs to see.” I was grasping at straws trying to get him to get her out of here, but he just smiled and chuckled a little. He slapped me on the back and turned toward Andi.
“She’s my special woman. She’s gonna be on my arm a long time. I want her to see what I do.” He walked back to Andi and introduced me to his father.
“Mr. Christensen. My son says you want to collaborate on a business deal. What is it you have to offer?”
My mind clicked to business mode. It was the only way this was going to end nicely.
“Yes, sir. Like I told your son, I like my money, and I think you would agree that one could never have enough.” I gestured to Garret, telling him to get our stuff. He reached into the trunk of the Mercedes I got from the FBI impound.
“These are your AK47s or AK choppers.” I lifted the one bag and opened it up, grabbing one of the guns and showing it off. Then I handed it to Gavin to check out. It wasn’t loaded; I didn’t want him to try to shoot me and take my guns. I didn’t wanna get shot in general.
“Nice,” Gavin muttered and handed the gun back to me.
I opened the second bag and pulled out a Glock .40 caliber handgun. I had about ten of each gun in these bags.
“I like this gun,” Gavin said after I handed the Glock to him. He handed it back, and I stashed it back in the bag.
“Very appealing offer you have, Travis. My son told me you also have payment for the shipment,” Draco said while rubbing his chin.
“Yes, sir.” I nodded again to Garret
as he pulled out the third bag full of cash.
Draco walked to me and went to shake my hand, solidifying our deal.
“Good things will come of this,” he commented and stepped back.
“Great! Your boat’s name is the Lazy Lady. You’ll find her in dock C.” Gavin spoke, then leaned down to kiss Andi quickly. I was just about to give the signal for everyone to take them down, when Gavin spoke the words I didn’t want to hear.
“Now that’s over, let’s get down to the real business, Ryder.”
My face was unreadable. He said my name; I gave him no indication I knew that name.
“Yeah, you can cut the shit. I know who you are. I also know you’re alone in this. No one is gonna help you here. My intel in the FBI told me all about you. You’ve been trying to take me and my family down for, what”—he looked around trying to come up with the number—“three years? Yep, that’s right. You’ve wanted me for a long time.”
He was smiling while laying down all my information, but thank fuck he didn’t know that I did actually have back up. Whoever his intel was didn’t know shit, and I would beat the hell out of whoever was helping him.
“But today is your lucky day, Ryder. I’m gonna give you a shot. I’m feeling like a generous man. Max, please guard Andi for me. I wouldn’t want Ryder to use her against me.”
My head snapped to Andi’s to see her face pale—and shocked. She was frightened. She was completely still as she watched me, her eyes only for me. Crap, this was not going well. Garret was waiting next to me; he was ready to rumble if we had to.
“Come on, Ryder. Let’s have a go at it, man to man. You think you’re some badass military man. I’ve been training since I was a young boy. I’m gonna give you your shot at me.” He was teasing me, trying to egg me on. He pulled a gun from his back waistband and threw it to the ground.
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