by Box Set
***
Tender. Ryder had been tender when Addison had expected crazy, insane sex and nothing more. Tiny aftershocks of her incredible orgasm still trembled through her. Ryder had sneaked past her boundaries, ridden beyond the finish line she’d established, and gone for the gold with his incredible focus on her needs while suppressing his own apparent desire.
She shouldn’t let need sway her resolve to keep things professional once they exited the serene bubble of freedom the meadow had given them. “I don’t know,” she said, stroking his brow and dancing her fingers along his stubbled jawline. Though they’d get back to their reality in a day, she wanted to understand how he’d developed the incredible capacity to give so much.
And why he’d hidden it from the world with his ridiculous string of shallow relationships when he could be the perfect man for someone.
Someone like her.
Not her, she reminded herself. Still, maybe they could be friends long after they went their separate ways. “But I liked it,” she said. “A lot.”
He laughed, then kissed her temples. “You’ll like what I’m about to do a whole lot more.”
His shaft jumped against her groin, and her sex ached with renewed need. “Really?” she asked, keeping her voice light. “You’re ready to go the distance, but did you come prepared?”
He grinned, and the charmer in him lit up his beautiful eyes. “Like a boy scout.”
Ryder shifted off her and she heard the rip of foil. He returned and she welcomed his powerful body back. A second later, his lips were on hers. And then he pushed into her in one long, deep stroke and filled her.
She lifted her hips to take him deeper, deeper still. Oh, he felt right inside her.
“Addison. You’re so wet for me.” He ran hot kisses over her mouth, her jaw, and on the sensitive skin at the base of her throat. “So fucking beautiful.”
The exquisite ache between her legs intensified, and sent waves of pure ecstasy throughout her body as he moved in and out of her. Deeper, faster, and then slower, torturing the folds of her sex with the tip of his swollen cock head.
“Ryder. Don’t stop.” She might die if he didn’t fill her.
“I don’t just want to feel you come all over me,” he said, plunging inside her and increasing his tempo. “I want you to come with me.” His hands were all over her, cupping her breasts and teasing her elongated nipples into tighter points.
His sexy talk excited her. She felt possessed, owned, and branded by his sheer determination to claim her with his body. He pumped into her again and again. She contracted around his incredible, thick length. She’d never been with a man so rugged, raw, and commanding.
She loved it.
Loved being with him.
Loved him.
“Make me,” she cried. “I want you to make me…” yours. She was losing her mind, unable to think or fathom where she ended and he began.
She knew one thing. Him.
“Ryder,” Addison cried, her orgasm building low and intensifying while he drove into her hard, fast, deep.
“Tell me you’re with me.”
“I am. Oh, I’m so there.”
He plunged into her one last time, his eyes locked onto hers, with his release shuddering through him. Stars burst bright white and she crested over the edge with him. And when she fell back into herself, she struggled to shut down the longing she recognized in his gaze. One that matched her desire and the intense yearning for so much more.
To be cherished. And to cherish. To be adored. And to adore. To be loved. And to love.
To belong.
Chapter 8
Addison stared at her desk top screen and reread the online tabloid’s headline, then glanced at Ryder who had plunked down in her favorite comfy chair. “Please tell me this is the last of your ex-girlfriends with stories to tell,” she said, then popped open her throat lozenge container and took one. After what she’d experienced almost a week ago with Ryder, she could certainly understand the trail of women who still wanted a piece of him. Most wanted to make bank on having been with him.
She, however, just wanted him. And the idea of all those perfect, skinny models being with Ryder resurrected her insecurities. Sure, she’d lost weight, and he’d been more than appreciative of the end results, but Addison was far from the perfection of the women he usually dated.
“I have no idea.”
“Miranda Sinclair won’t be easy to neutralize,” she said. “And your other teammates can’t share their up close and personal encounters with her, either. Half of them are on the 2016 Olympic squad.”
“Coach Jamison won’t go for it.”
“Exactly. Ryder, we have to reconsider going to the media with the truth about what happened with Tiffany.”
“No. I won’t let Eric get dragged through hell again.” Ryder sat straighter. “Use the team doctor’s documentation. I always pass my drug and alcohol screenings.”
“That’ll help.” But it wouldn’t be enough. Not with the barrage of online tabloid accounts. They’d run with lies and innuendos to get ratings, but people fed on rumors like candy. “I’ll get a news release out stating the facts, and up your appearances at local charity events.” Then she’d contact Eric discreetly and determine for herself if he’d object to the full version of the story coming out. She owed Ryder to check first, but she owed her agency and her father her due diligence. She stood and stretched her arms high, wishing she could squash the ex girlfriend like a bug.
The logistics of protecting Ryder squeezed her thoughts until her head ached. How could she save him, and the agency’s reputation, without losing Ryder’s trust?
“You weren’t drinking the night of the accident.”
“Alcohol isn’t my thing.”
Dear Lord, she loved the way he filled out his corporate sponsor’s jersey. Quickly, she averted her eyes and tried to focus on finding a fix to their current PR nightmare. Difficult when she had been with him, naked and together all the way. Even more, her heart had slipped, teetered on the edge when they’d made love last week. Because he was so good at using his body to please hers. At least, she kept telling herself that whenever she wanted another make out session with Ryder.
But she couldn’t afford to let her heart buy into what her body kept telling her.
“Thanks,” he said. “And thanks for believing me about the boozing bullshit before the reports came back from the doctor.”
“That’s why you’re paying Carrington Agency our commission,” she said, while inwardly warning her nipples to stay strong and not respond to the way his smoldering dark gaze held hers. “Besides, I’ve never seen you take one sip of alcohol. Not even when you were in university. Heck, even I got drunk a few times during college.”
“I’m an athlete,” he said casually. “My body is my temple.”
“Oh baloney. If your body was your temple, you’d stay clear of monster cheeseburgers and french fries.”
She grabbed the suit jacket she’d hung on the back of her chair and shrugged it on. Not only did she want to hide her arousal from Ryder, but she also wanted to understand why he made his choices.
“Maybe your background can help spin the press even more in your favor,” she said, then crossed the room to stand in front of him. Her hormones did a happy dance. Bad move. She stepped back. “I might even be able to tie it into another charity event.”
He’d been training non-stop since they’d returned from Saddle Creek, Montana, but Ryder had followed her PR directives. After she picked him up from the training course, he’d visited the numerous hospitals and community awareness events without complaint.
The man was a machine. Oh, what a machine indeed. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop thinking about the day in the meadow.
Ryder lifted one end of his perfectly sculpted lips into a half smile. He knew damn well his effect on her. “Ryder,” Addison said. “This is important.”
He shrugged, then shot her a whatever kind of look. “Okay, her
e’s the deal. My mom was a drunk,” Ryder said. “She had no idea where I or my sister were from the time we were toddlers. I’m surprised Mom stayed sober during her pregnancies. If she did, that is.”
“I see,” Addison said. But really, she didn’t. Nothing in her life experience compared to Ryder’s shitty childhood. “What about your father? Why didn’t he do something about it?” For all the problems she had with her own dad, she knew Alexander Carrington would never allow anyone to hurt her. He’d even shielded her from the pain of her mother’s illness and death to the best of his abilities.
“My old man is why I spent two years at Saddle Creek Ranch,” Ryder said, then tunneled his fingers through his hair.
The air bottled in her lungs while she absorbed Ryder’s revelation. She waited several beats until she spoke. “You said you didn’t have a juvenile record. Did he turn you in—like a tough love kind of thing?”
“Hardly. Love didn’t play a role in what he did.” He pushed out of the chair and moved to stand face-to-face with Addison. “He stayed in the cell next to me after our arrest.”
He was so close she could see specks of indigo in his eyes, and more. The complete sense of I-dare-you-to-judge-me pulsed between them. “Were you guilty?” she asked.
“Of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yes. I drove his beat up Cadillac out of the parking lot after he held up a convenience store.” Ryder didn’t break eye contact. “My high school detentions didn’t help my case, but my counselor testified on my behalf.”
His voice was devoid of emotion. Oh, how she hated hearing him this way. And, reading the lines bracketing his mouth along with the grooves marring his handsome forehead, she realized the memory was as fresh today as it had been fourteen years ago. Deep down, where it mattered, Ryder was still a kid who had been betrayed by the person supposed to protect him. No wonder he went beyond the call of duty to show the people in his life they could count on him.
“Why did your high school counselor go the extra mile for you?” She linked her hand with his, wanting to draw him out and yes, damn it, her heart yearned to comfort him.
A muscle jumped in his jaw. “He saw something in me. Plus, he knew I got into fights to make sure assholes stopped picking on my sister.”
“You have spent your entire life looking out for everyone,” Addison said, the dots in her brain connecting faster and faster. She’d make sure Ryder didn’t pay the consequences for the accident that sent his career spiraling into the danger zone. “You ever wonder what it would be like to have someone look out for you?”
“I had someone.” His grip tightened and he took her other hand. “My high school counselor and John were friends—when John still worked as a cop in Los Angeles in our school district. Dude pulled some strings, and I got sent to Saddle Creek Ranch.”
She squeezed his broad palms. “That’s where you learned how to be a champion.”
“That’s where I learned how to be a man of honor.” Ryder pulled her closer to his chest. “But I’ve made my mistakes.”
“No one’s perfect. Not even you,” she said, then rested her head against his shoulder. Oh, how she loved the integrity which had driven Ryder to risk his career and his reputation for his friend and his family. But the tabloid storm wasn’t going anywhere and she needed to quadruple her efforts to stop it now.
He released one of her hands and stroked her hair until he caressed her nape. “You deserved better from me. I should have protected you from those assholes.”
“That’s over. This is now. I know what kind of pressure you were under back then.” She glanced at him through her lashes. “For what it’s worth, what happened forced me to face myself and quit drowning my feelings with boat loads of chips, chocolate, and ice cream.” Though the former fat girl in her still lived deep inside, Addison had come a long way from that person.
Just as Ryder had come a long way from the teenager that trouble had a habit of finding.
“Your willpower is pretty damn amazing,” he said hoarsely.
Oh, with food, yeah. She could say no to a tub full of ice cream. Easy. But Ryder? His body sent all kinds of electrical charges through her and her body hummed with need. And her heart yearned to connect with his… in the one way to satisfy her craving.
“True,” she said. “However, I’ve realized I can’t get enough of one thing.”
“What?” he asked.
“You.” After all, who would discover she’d fallen off her do-not-touch-Ryder-wagon in the sanctity of her home? Nice, safe, and away from the limelight.
***
Ryder exhaled a breath, then angled Addison’s head upward and brushed his lips over hers. “Me, either.” He held her gaze and read more than need in the fathomless depths. Amber and emerald prismed a rainbow of longing and desire in her beautiful hazel eyes. “I can’t stop thinking about you. Whenever I’m in the same room with you, I remember how amazing you were when I was inside you. Living with you, sleeping down the hallway from you instead of sharing your bed, is driving me crazy.”
Her lips parted ever so slightly. “Crazy is an understatement where I’m concerned.”
“I don’t break promises.” However, in this case, he seriously reconsidered his I’ll-do-anything-to have-you vow on a continual basis all week.
“I’m the Queen of the PR spin.” She traced her fingers down his jawline, and rained small kisses across his cheeks and mouth. “How about we place a moratorium on the promise while we’re alone? Only stick to it while we’re out in public?”
His cock hardened. And those tiny kisses made his blood run hot. Wanting her hadn’t surprised him. The desire to connect at a deeper level, and his intoxicating need for her had caught him off guard. He couldn’t even erase the intense craving during his training sessions.
A first.
“No PDAs works for me.” He pressed his rock hard shaft against her. “But I want to touch all of you, make you come for me and with me, whenever we’re alone.”
“Ryder.”
Everything he wanted deep down resonated in her voice—an unspoken plea for so much more than sex. His need mirrored in her gaze.
“I can’t get enough of you.” Ryder twisted her long, beautiful and silky blonde hair in his hands, and turned her face up toward his. Her lips parted, and the pulse in the hollow of her throat fluttered wildly. “I don’t know if I ever will.”
He’d never had such a deep connection with a woman. And the world seemed to shift under his feet after he’d confessed the truth to Addison. He didn’t want to hear her response—not if it wasn’t what he thought he’d read in her eyes. So he locked his lips onto hers, and lost himself in the way her body answered him.
Addison skimmed her palms along his back and circled his neck, clinging to him while he slicked his tongue with hers. She melded perfectly into his. Addison made him long for something he’d fought against wanting his entire life. She had cracked past his guard years ago with her sweet, giving nature. Then she’d shown him days ago her generous, loving heart still existed.
That heart held the promise of snuggling together while watching the ocean crash onto the shore. That heart held the key to allowing him to be at his most vulnerable and trusting her to accept him 100 percent. That heart held the secret to having a future filled with family, friends, a lifetime together.
He was terrified of breaking that heart again. But he couldn’t stop himself from reaching for it one more time.
“Addison,” he said, wrenching his mouth from hers. “I want to have you—all of you. Here. Now.”
“That makes two of us.”
The last of his self-control evaporated, and he kissed her with all he had inside him. More. He had to have more of her. He wanted to touch every last inch of her skin with his hands, his mouth, his entire body.
He skimmed the length of her back, unzipped her pencil skirt, and jerked it down her hips until it puddled around her shoes. She moved to toe them off. “Leave them on,” he said
hoarsely while tugging her cream-colored silk shirt over her head.
His breath caught in his throat when he took in her see-through bra and lacy thong. “You’re beautiful.” He cupped her breasts, felt the hard points of her nipples against his skin. “So responsive.” And she’d been made so perfectly for him that his chest hurt.
He lowered his head to suck in a nipple through the fabric. Her gasps filled the air and she twined her fingers in his hair. “Oh. My. God.”
“That’s it, sweetheart.” Ryder moved to her other breast and teased the rosy bud with his teeth, then slicked his tongue across her bra. “Let yourself go with me.” And only him. For now, and forever. But he didn’t articulate the thought. No way would he jinx this moment when he was so close to being right where he belonged all over again.
He lowered his head, sliding his tongue from her sensitive breasts lower, and lower still until he reached the apex of her thighs. Her sweet scent of honey and spice enveloped him. She smelled so damn good—he knew she’d taste even better when she came all over his mouth.
Kissing her sexy panties, he slid his finger under the thin strap of fabric between her sex’s slick folds and pushed it into her wet heat.
She trembled and her hips hitched. “I don’t… I mean I’ve never…”
“You’ve been missing out,” he said, easing another finger into her and pushing it deep while edging her around until the backs of her legs nudged her oversized chair. “Let me love you with my tongue, Addison.” With his tongue and his entire being.
She sank into the seat. “Only you.”
“Yes.” He lifted her long legs over his shoulders and kissed her sweet spot. “Only me.” Knowing no other man had done this to Addison sent a surge of possession through him. He loved that he was her first lover this way.
Ryder shifted the pretty panty aside, and pressed his lips onto her throbbing bundle of nerves. Her clitoris jumped and her velvety warmth convulsed around his fingers. Soon. After he made her come, he’d slide his cock into her and give them both what they needed, wanted, craved.