“If it were me, I wouldn’t.” His gaze returned to Amber, and he held steady beneath her withering frown. “But Amber’s not like that. She’s sweet, and she’s got a heart bigger than the Mississippi. I think once she hears me out, she’ll understand. All I’m asking for is a few minutes.”
Raylan held his breath, waiting to see if he’d been right to lay it on thick. He never talked poetically like that, but he was desperate. Being this close to Amber made him realize just how much he needed her, and he wasn’t ready to leave. Not yet.
“Oh.” Saline glanced past him.
Raylan caught Amber’s adamant headshake in his periphery, but forced his expression to remain pleading. When the blonde affected a dramatic yawn and stood, he had to fight the instinct to shout victory.
“Wow, didn’t realize it was so late. Got stuff to do tomorrow, better go to bed.”
“Don’t you dare—” Amber’s words were cut off when Saline walked out of the kitchen.
Silence crept in, and from the way Amber’s eyes rounded, Raylan was tempted to glance over his shoulder to see if a ghost was lurking there. She’d never been this high-strung, and he was damn sure out of practice easing a nervous filly. “You okay?”
“What makes you think I’m not?” And the defensive posture came rushing back. Her emerald-green eyes practically shot bullets.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe ’cause you’re looking at me like I’ve got a butcher knife in my hand and a freaking ski mask on. I know I left in a hurry, but I never physically hurt you.” Raylan took a chance and scooted to the chair next to her. “And I’d cut off my own hand before I ever did.”
She drew in a shaky breath, every emotion flickering through her mind mirrored in her face. The overwhelming projection was fear. Of him. His own asshole estimation of himself multiplied.
He needed to ease her somehow. Raylan touched her cheek, savoring the feel of her soft skin. She licked her lips, drawing his attention south. Blood rushed straight to his cock. That luscious mouth had always been a tad too big. Too sexy. And too tempting for him to tear his gaze away.
Did they still taste as good as he remembered?
No. Stop thinking with your dick. He was here to talk, to explain himself. Not fantasize about her mouth. “Did you miss me at all?”
“Not one bit.”
Her throaty whisper sent shivers down the base of his spine.
Maybe one kiss. Yeah, that was a great idea. He’d take the edge off this insane need, and then he could think straight. “I thought about you every day.”
He lowered his head and brushed his lips soft as a whisper across hers. Electric heat sparked, and he opened his eyes to see Amber’s glazed-over gaze locked on him. Unable to resist, he repeated the action—just a soft kiss, only this time she jerked.
The crazy spark that had ignited a fire between them all those years ago still existed. He hadn’t imagined it or built it up in his mind. The desire between them palpable. Raylan dipped down for more, but Amber yanked back.
Her heavy-lidded gaze grew angry. “You have a fine way of showing how much you missed me.”
Yes, he did, but he would make up for it. Starting right now. “I had my head stuck up my ass for the past few years. Took me a while to grow up and realize how stupid I was.”
Amber stood and crossed to the small bay window beside the table, giving him her back. “Honestly, Raylan, I don’t care what you’ve been doing. Just tell me why you’re here now, so I can go to bed.”
The image of her in bed beneath him, head thrown back, filled his mind.
She stiffened and snapped the blinds closed, yanking him from the fantasy.
“Why don’t you sit down?” Raylan gestured to the chair next to him, but she walked right past, over to the kitchen sink and peered out.
Had he expected this to be easy?
Amber lifted a blind and focused on something outside. She snatched her hand back, and he saw it tremble. Then she wrapped her arms around her middle. A tingle of alarm had his instincts firing. “What are you checking for?”
“Do I need a reason to look out my window?” She snapped the words out, her mouth set with a mulish line, but not enough to cover her fear.
“Yes.” Raylan eased to his feet.
“Maybe I’m checking to see if your brother is going to show up next and make some excuse to barge into my house just like you.”
She was lying. He knew it by the way her pupils dilated, and she plucked nervously at the light green material of her tank top.
“Want to try that again?” Dammit, he could’ve bit his tongue. He’d instantly slipped into interrogation mode. Being around her had siphoned all the common sense from his brain and poured it straight into his dick.
“No. I don’t. It’s none of your business if I’m looking for fairies and rainbows and unicorns. Why don’t you just say what you have to say and get out. You’ve already killed my buzz, and I’m starting to get a headache.” Amber walked straight over to the tequila bottle, grabbed a nearby shot glass, and filled it.
Desperation outlined her movements, and Raylan melted. He understood desperation. They were close personal friends.
“Don’t.” Raylan closed the distance between them, gently shackled her wrist, and took the glass from her fingers. “My guess is that you don’t do this too often. And you’re going to regret it in the morning.”
“I’ve regretted lots of things in the morning.”
Raylan flinched at her jab. “I don’t want tonight to be another one of those nights. Where are your cups?”
Just in case she decided to be stubborn, he tossed the shot down the sink. And thank God she didn’t get her back up. She indicated the cabinet to his left. Raylan quickly pulled the cup down, filled it with water, and set it in front of her. “Got any aspirin?”
Amber stooped over and dropped her head into her hands, resting her elbows on the counter. She lifted a finger indicating another cabinet off to his right.
Raylan quickly extracted two aspirins from the bottle and went back to her. With an easy nudge on her shoulder, he had her standing again. “I didn’t come here to be a buzz kill.” He couldn’t help the small grin. Raylan Wild had never been accused of that before. “Or give you a headache.” He placed the pills in her hand. “Let’s take care of you first.” He handed her the water.
She took it and swallowed the pills. “I’m tired, Raylan. Really tired. Why don’t you just spit it out so I can go to bed.” Her shoulders sagged.
Raylan scooped an arm beneath her knees and picked her up. She squealed and wrapped her arms around his neck, but didn’t protest. He went to the kitchen table, kicked out a chair and sat, keeping her firmly in his lap. Every single inch of her skin pressed against him burned through his clothes, and his already hard cock swelled painfully. No way she didn’t feel it nudging against her thigh. And that sexy little outfit she was wearing, some kind of tight, black cotton pants and spaghetti-strap shirt, drove him wild.
Raylan pulled her tighter against him and closed his eyes, pulling on every ounce of willpower he possessed. They had to talk first. Talk then sex. “I was scared after what happened between us. I never imagined anything like that existed.”
She trembled and her hot breaths puffed faster against his neck, sending chills skittering with each one.
“I was young and immature, and I’m fucking sorry. Never been more sorry in my life than I was for leaving you.”
That’s not the only reason. Tell her the truth.
But when he tried to say the words, his throat closed up like a meaty fist had wrapped around it and choked off his air.
Her next words cut that thought off completely.
“You broke my heart.”
Her ragged whisper nearly broke him in two. He’d acted like the lowest scum on the planet, taking her, and then disappearing. God, he’d been so stupid. Amber Atkins was a treasure, someone to be savored and cherished.
“I’m here today because i
t took me this long to work up the nerve to show my face around you.” Raylan tilted up her chin. Her cat-like green eyes, wet with tears, drew him in like a super magnet. “I can’t get you out of my mind.”
He kissed her nose, her cheeks. Relishing the satiny softness of her skin. “Can’t get you out of my dreams.”
Four
Raylan kissed her, and her thoughts scattered. Ex-boyfriends, traitorous best friends, and headaches yielded under the assault of his firm lips. Hot spikes of lust shot through her body, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. How could she have forgotten how good he tasted?
This is what she’d been missing.
And she gave in so quickly. Too quickly. Was she really going to just let him back in?
“Raylan, we can’t do this.”
His answering growl was the only response she got, before he crushed his mouth over hers once more. Damn her treacherous body responded instantly, her nerves lighting on fire from his touch.
He’d always kissed like this, demanding her all, taking everything she was willing to give, and then giving it back tenfold.
“We can, cher. Don’t think, just let me hold you.” His accent thickened.
Amber pulled back, needing to see his obsidian eyes and midnight black hair. The combination should be illegal.
Maybe if he’d been harsh or commanding, she could’ve found the strength to tell him no, but the pleading in his deep voice took her reservations and twisted them into pure yearning.
Amber caved with a moan and pulled him down to her. His touch, his taste, the temptation of Raylan Wild too much to deny.
He lifted her, sitting her back down so that she straddled him, her legs dangling on either side of his hips. Her core came in contact with the large bulge in his pants, and her switch flipped. The languid heat lazily warming her veins turned into an almost animalistic lust. She ground herself against him, seeking that connection, and cried out when he tore his mouth from hers. Then he ripped her shirt downward and latched onto her nipple.
“Raylan, oh God.” She froze in his arms, rigid with pleasure as he lavished attention on her aching bud. His calloused palm covered her other breast, tweaking and twisting until she was moaning and writhing on his lap.
Tommy had never made her feel like this, not even close to this. No one had.
Raylan switched to her other breast and grabbed her hips, grinding himself hard against her clit. Shudders worked through her body at the intense spike of pleasure. She needed more of him. Knew she could take more.
She fumbled with his shirt, found the hem and ripped it over his head, splaying her fingers wide on his chest. The sinewy muscles rippled beneath her hands as she traced the hard lines down to his navel. He was more muscular now, lean and cut, and even sexier than she remembered.
When she flattened her tongue against his nipple, he groaned and threaded his fingers into her hair, holding her head as she lapped at him. “Cher, your fucking mouth is even better than I remember.”
She grew flushed with his praise, and she trailed kisses across his chest, and up his neck to nibble that sensitive spot on his earlobe.
His breath caught, and he yanked his head away. “Tigress. If you keep this up, you’re going to make me come in my pants.”
She gave him a wanton smile, and action completely unlike her. The calm and reasonable Amber had disappeared. Without a word, she leaned in and nipped his ear, relishing the chill bumps her touch elicited across his skin.
Raylan gripped her hair and pulled her back. She protested, but he held her away from him. And then he lifted her and turned her around so that she straddled his thighs, facing away from him. His hands wrapped around her chest and cupped her breasts, using them to pull her back to his chest. Then he wound her hair around his fist, lifting it nearly over her head as he took the nape of her neck into his open mouth. If he hadn’t been holding her down, she would’ve come off his lap.
Instead, she cried out, and then shoved the back of her fist into her mouth to try to muffle her moans.
“I remember your sensitive spots too, kitten.”
He bit down on the curve in her shoulder, and she came apart.
His mouth and hands controlled her, molding her for his touch. She was helpless to deny him, the waves of lust racking her body, demanding release. He wrapped an arm around her middle, bent her forward and licked up her spine.
Amber shuddered, near shattering. Raylan surrounded her, his scent, so raw and masculine, filling up her senses. When his hand snaked down between her legs, she let her knees fall apart, automatically seeking his touch.
Raylan didn’t disappoint. His fingers found her clit through her pants and used the soft material to ruthlessly tease her oversensitive nub. His arm lifted her and locked her back against his chest, and he shoved his hand in her panties. When his finger slid inside her, she clenched around it, close to coming. She stopped breathing. Stopped thinking. He pulled out and thrust into her again and again, until she bucked against him, nothing in her mind but the need for release.
He shoved a second finger inside her and she came apart, her pussy clenching around him. “Raylan!
He didn’t give her time to come down from her earth-shattering high. He stood her on her feet and turned her. She grabbed his shoulders for support as he yanked her pants down. Her panties came next, leaving her completely exposed.
Raylan took off his jeans and tossed them to the side, his cock springing free. Huge, hard and jumping for her touch.
Without a word, Amber placed her hand against his chest and pushed him back into the chair. Then she straddled his hips and took his mouth in a soul-scorching kiss that left both of them breathless.
“You have to be sure,” Raylan growled. “I need to know you want this. Because if you do, I’m not going anywhere.” Raylan grabbed her hips and held her a couple inches above the tip of his cock. The harsh rasp of his voice caressed her skin as hotly as his touch.
She didn’t want him to go anywhere. If he left now, she would go up in flames. In answer, Amber took him into her hand and lined him up with her entrance. “I want you.”
Slowly, she lowered herself onto him, moaning in pleasure as he filled her. Stretched her. She wanted to savor every single slide of skin against skin.
But Raylan had other plans. His grip on her hips tightened, and he yanked her down, filling her in one hard thrust.
Amber screamed, unable to control her response at his sudden intrusion.
“That’s it, cher. Take me.” She tried to get her feet on the ground to help with the rhythm, but he just thrust harder and faster, driving away any thoughts of helping as another orgasm exploded. This one took her further than the first. Her entire body clenched and squeezed, all she could do was hold onto his shoulders and let him drive.
He continued his strong thrusts. His jaw clenched in concentration, eyelids dipping low and sexy. She felt him swell inside her. And then he threw his head back, veins bulging on his neck, and exploded inside her.
Amber collapsed against him. Both gasped for breath. Amber rested her head on his shoulder as she attempted to suck in air.
When she could finally breathe again, she pushed back from his chest and kissed him.
“You’re so fucking beautiful.” Raylan sucked her lower lip between his teeth.
She closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation. “You’re not so bad yourself.” Indeed he was even more ruggedly handsome, more muscular than she remembered. Every single hard inch of him.
His hands splayed across her butt cheeks, and he stood, holding her to him.
Amber wrapped her legs around his waist and hooked her arms around his neck, pressing her sensitive nipples to his chest.
She didn’t want him to leave her, not yet.
“Where’s your bedroom?”
*
Raylan kissed her all the way to the back of the house, following her gestures to end up in the last room on the left. He didn’t take time to assess her bedroom
, instead he kicked the door shut behind them and fell onto the bed with Amber beneath him. The movement sent blood rushing to his cock again, and instantly he hardened, still slick with both their juices.
Amber whimpered in the back of her throat, and possessiveness completely overtook him. Raylan threaded his fingers through hers and shoved her hands over her head, thrusting softly into her, savoring every single sound she made. Her head tilted back, eyes closed and her lips parted in invitation. She stole his ability to think.
He’d come back to town on a thin thread of hope of seeing her again. Never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined he would be here tonight, taking her. “I missed you. Missed this so much.” He thrust hard, eliciting another cry from her.
She arched and dug her heels into the edge of the mattress, and he pounded into her, needing to imprint himself on her mind, body and soul. Unable to tolerate even an inch separating them, he gathered her to him and urged her arms around his neck, and wrapped his around her back. The friction of their bodies sliding together as they moved drove him insane. Drove him past reason. He thrust into her with an instinctual need to dominate.
“Yes, Raylan, yes.” She wrapped her legs around his hips, urging him deeper. She clenched around him, pushing him to the edge of control. When she screamed his name and came, she shoved him right over edge and he arched, pouring himself into her.
Somehow, he roused himself enough to pull covers over their bodies. Amber laid her head on his shoulder and slung a leg over his waist. A feeling of peace settled over him. For the first time since he’d left, Raylan finally felt like he was really at home.
Five
Amber woke to deliciously sore muscles and a dreamy content, only to be slapped with the hard reality that she’d screwed Raylan Wild.
Again.
She desperately wished last night’s events would be hazy from drinking, but she didn’t even have that luxury. All she had was an aching head and the satin hardness of Raylan’s chest beneath her.
When he took a deep breath, his skin scraped hers, and awareness, hot and instant, lit her. No matter how much she wanted to blame her careless and stupid decision on alcohol, her body’s reaction called that wish what it was. A lie. No matter how much she longed to cuddle in his strong embrace and pretend they were happy, the past was one glaring mistake replaying over and over in her mind.
Raylan Page 3