I whirled around as his hands gripped my hips, picking me up and pitching me on the countertop. He spread my legs with his body, pushing up to me. His fingers curled over my jaw and drew my mouth to his. The moment our lips met, the barrier combusted, fracturing everywhere, sending white-hot energy into my chest and limbs. His mouth was desperate. His full lips demanding. Heat traveled down my spine and between my legs. My fingers glided over the braids on the side of his head, pulling him closer to me. His tongue slipped past my lips and an embarrassing moan broke from my throat. His reaction was immediate. His fingers dug into my scalp, drawing me in. Our kisses went from needy to frantic. He tugged at my bottom lip, driving my desire for him into a fury. My legs clamped around his waist. He lifted me and walked us over to a wall, my arms wrapping around his head, pulling me higher on his torso and closer to his mouth. He pushed against me as he flattened me back against the wall, our lips never breaking apart. Through his jeans I could feel him hard and ready. My body responded. I knew he could sense my reaction because he gave a low growl.
Sex. I wanted sex now.
“Heilige Scheiße,” a voice cried out in German.
Holy shit was right. We both froze and then slowly turned our heads toward the doorway. The group of ladies courting Ryker when I first walked in stood at the entrance. Their eyes wide and their mouths open.
Ryker stepped back, letting me slide down the wall, my feet touching the ground. It felt surreal, like he had taken me to a completely different place and time and now we were jarred back into the present. The women merely gaped at us.
“Leaving.” Ryker laced his fingers through mine, tugging me away from the wall, and advanced to the door. I clasped my hand over my mouth, trying to hide the enormous smile on my lips.
As Ryker pushed us past the group of women, one nudged my arm. “Go. Girl.” She spoke in broken English, looking him up and down. “He. Is. Hot.”
I gave her a conspiring smile and nodded.
Ryker weaved us through the throng of dancing couples and groups, out the doors. I stepped outside, expecting to feel the cool air crawl over my skin, refreshing me. Bodies were everywhere, taking up every available space. It was like going from one sauna to another.
Crowds of people lined the street and danced. Floats and groups of costumed dancers paraded down the narrow strip of road. Christmas tree lights and colored lanterns hung from the trees and across wires strung between telephone poles and lamp posts.
The air was heavy with excitement and energy. The late night was turning people’s energy sexual and carnal. Bodies pressed together, moving in either dance or trying to get through the crowds. The hot, humid night covered our skin in sweat, sex thick in the air.
Between that, the alcohol, and the fact I was a walking hormone, my mind was on one thing.
And I didn’t seem to be the only one. Ryker slithered us through the crowd and then stopped, turning back to me. His eyes hungrily consumed my face, centering in on my mouth. The dense crowd pushed our bodies together. Aligning us. He bent down, his hands cupping my cheeks. I pushed up on my toes. Our lips found each other. It was like I could breathe again. The moment my mouth was on his, the world disappeared.
A body slammed into us, pushing us apart. I didn’t want to stop kissing him. I had been kissed a lot in my past, but this was different. It went beyond earth shattering or any other stupid platitude I could think of. I had never felt completely safe before. Always on edge and waiting for the other shoe to drop. Security was always an obscure idea. Something I dreamed about having but never really understood.
I knew instantly what the difference was. He was home. It terrified me.
It was worse than any drug I ever tried or heard about. Even if someone had made an ultimatum between my life and kissing him, I wouldn’t be able to stop touching or kissing him. I needed him worse than I needed air.
This feeling was unlike me. Daniel never even came close to this. I loved Daniel. He was my bridge to another world. Another life, another me. I’m not in love with Ryker... so why does he make me feel this way?
Ryker stripped away all the pretense. This was me: vulnerable, scared, strong, wanting, sad, lonely, crazy, mean, and flawed. A fighter, an experiment, a human, a fae, a Collector, and now one of the hunted.
We were trained to hate each other, but still through it all, we found solace in each other. And I never wanted a man more in my life.
Guilt wiggled deep under the layers of alcohol and desire floating at the top. The thought of betraying Daniel arose, but the whiskey pushed his image away, giving me courage to act on what I wanted right then.
I withdrew from Ryker and grabbed his hand, ignoring the exclamations from the crowd as I pushed through the mob. I shoulder checked a few people before I tugged him past the horde and into an alleyway.
“Ever thought about playing football?” Ryker smirked.
I turned to face him. “Shut up.”
“Yes, human.” He grinned. He picked me up, my legs wrapped around his waist, and we fell against the brick wall. The smell of garbage and urine was strong, but I ignored it. His hand moved under my skirt, cupping my ass. His fingers nudged under the fabric of my underwear.
My hands ran over his lips and face. “What are we doing?” I whispered.
“I don’t know.” He nipped at my ear.
“We should probably stop,” I said as I continued to explore his skin.
“Yeah. We probably should.” He nuzzled into the crook of my neck, his beard tickling it. “Be the smart thing to do.”
The thought of him actually stopping charged fear into my lungs. I placed my hands on either side of his face and dipped my head, covering his lips. The kiss started off slow, exploring and thorough. Then it turned, surging with desire. It was so strong and powerful I didn’t even realize I was unbuttoning his pants. I slipped past his boxers, my hand finding the length of him. He groaned.
Holy shit. The Viking rumor was correct about their “size,” if not a little understated.
Touching him made my entire body more than ready for his. We were in a dirty alley, but I didn’t care. I wanted him inside me so badly I couldn’t think. My hand explored him. He tipped his head back, taking in staggered breaths. I wiggled down, pushing my underwear to the side. I drew the tip of him to me.
“Zoey. Stop.” His voice was thick.
“Why?” Embarrassment and rejection flooded my cheeks. I didn’t want to stop. I moved farther down, taking a little more of him to me. I was hot and ready, and he could feel it.
“Oh, gods.” He placed a hand on the wall beside my head, leaning against it. He took in a shaky breath. “You are not playing fair.”
“What? You don’t want this?” Anger crept into my words, and I released him from my grip.
A burst of laughter came from him, only incinerating my wrath and humiliation.
He tucked himself back into his pants and adjusted me higher on his waist.
“Let me down.” I struggled against his hold.
He only smiled, pressing me harder against the brick wall. His face growing serious. “I want this more than you can possibly know. And we will be doing this.” His voice was confident and it froze me in place. “Just not here.” He glanced around. I finally took in the area. I could see vomit in the corner, spoiled food in and outside of the trash cans, and rats scurried in the far dark corners.
Okay, not the most desirable place to have sex, but sadly I’d had worse.
He grabbed my chin. “Zoey, when I’m inside you, I don’t want it to be a quickie in the alley. I want to spread you out and take my time.”
Air caught in my chest.
“You got it?”
I nodded.
He put me back on my feet.
“Now, let’s try and find the fastest way home or I might forgo that idea.”
“Yeah.” I was still nodding like a fool. Oh, I can get us home really fast. I grabbed his hand, closing my eyes I tried to think of the
room we were staying in. I peeked from under my lashes. We still stood in the passage.
“Yeah. Not usually happy about you using them, but right now it would be nice.”
“Why doesn’t it work when I really want it to?”
“They still haven’t fully adapted to you, and it only works when your emotions are extremely heightened.”
“My emotions aren’t heightened enough for them right now?”
“Obviously not. They seem to come out when you are scared... really scared.” He took my face in his hands. “Not horny.”
“You should fear me now.” I poked at my chest, talking to the powers.
“Good try. Doesn’t quite work like that.” He turned me toward the entrance of the lane.
It took us more than twenty minutes to get to our room. It was only a five-minute walk from the bar, but between the crowds and many moments spent stopping to fall into each other, it took us a lot longer than normal.
Ryker pressed me into the door before we entered. He kissed me tentatively. He didn’t say anything, but I understood. The moment we opened the door and crossed the threshold, everything was going to change. Things were already a bit different, but sex altered the relationship refutably. Right now we could blame it on liquor or try and pretend it never happened. I felt deep in my gut sex with him would not be something I would be able to come back from. Not unscathed.
I lived my life in compartments. Sometimes I’d been the responsible girl, sometimes the wild reckless one. Always playing a part. Tonight I was going to simply be me. And I wanted to get in bed with him and never come back out.
My response to his kiss said everything. Without our lips breaking contact, we stumbled inside, banging into everything remotely in our way. The lights were off, but the TV blared in the background, halting me.
Sprig.
Shit.
I searched the room for the little fuzzball and found him passed out on top of the TV. Dried honey-coated mango chips stuck to his fur. His mouth hung open as he snored.
I snorted, covering my mouth.
“No. Way.” Ryker stepped around me. He collected Sprig gently in his hands and moved toward the bathroom.
“What are you doing?” I followed.
“He’s sleeping in here.” Ryker tugged a towel off the bar and balled it underneath Sprig before placing him in the tub. Sprig sighed sleepily and curled up in the cloth.
“Wait. In case he wakes up.” I held up my hand and went back into the bedroom. Pam was lying on the bed. I snatched the stuffed goat and took it back to Sprig, placing it next to him.
We watched him for a moment before Ryker touched the small of my back, leading me out of the room. He shut the door behind us. “That was sweet,” I said over my shoulder.
“What, locking him in the bathroom?”
“Not tossing him out the window so you could get laid.”
Ryker put his hands on his hips and stared at the floor. Silence. I could feel the change in the room. His sudden doubt choked me. “We should walk away.”
I whipped around. “Is it what you want?” I whispered.
His jaw clenched. “What I want and what is smart are two different things.”
I sank my teeth into my lip. “Yeah.”
“I’ll find somewhere else to sleep.” He kept his gaze everywhere but on me.
“Probably wise.” I tried to keep my voice even, but sadness, frustration, and chagrin colored it.
He nodded, staring out the window. The noise from the celebration below came through the open windows, crashing against the suddenly somber mood in the room.
My body was overly aware of his proximity, aching to be touched again. My fingers longed to caress him. “Please go.”
His mouth clamped tighter as he rubbed at his forehead, but his feet stayed glued against the wood floor. I could no longer stand there with him this close. The bathroom was my only escape from his presence.
As if our thoughts were on the same thing, we both took a step. I went to the restroom, he for the room door, our figures bumped, blocking the other of their path.
Instantly a lightheadedness swirled my brain. It was like I could feel his hormones. They crawled over my skin, hinting at what they wanted to do to me. We both froze, trapped in each other’s space. Only inches apart, our lungs moved in and out frantically.
Ryker lifted his hand, tucking a piece of my purple hair behind my ear. His head dipped lower. His mouth so close it was taunting me.
I never experienced instant desire like this. His hand grazed my skin, and I was ready to jump him. No longer able to hold myself back from him, I went up, crashing my lips into his. Warm. Wanting. Whatever barrier we were trying to build up dissolved, opening the floodgates. The desire for each other hit another level.
He grabbed the bottom of my tank top and whipped it over my head, inciting me to do the same to his shirt. My hands and eyes took in his chest and ripped abs. The V-line poking out of the top of his pants. His ass. It felt strange I could touch him. Freely. I could finally explore his body without being embarrassed by the thought.
He seemed to sense what I wanted because he stood there, letting my fingers move across his stomach, touching the dented line at his pants line, and over his chest. His lungs pumped in and out faster the more confident I grew in my exploration. One by one I undid the buttons of his pants, letting them fall to his ankles. I walked around to his back, the tips of my fingers never leaving his skin. I traveled over his wide shoulders and strong back, finally stopping at his ass. For a long time it had goaded me to run my hands over it. Gripping both sides of his boxer briefs, I pulled them down. Ryker took in a deep gulp of air as his boxers joined his pants around his ankles. My hand skated over his buttocks, and muscles flexed under his skin. He had the finest ass I had ever seen on a man. Perky, muscular, and taut. Impulse sent me onto my knees, kissing his lower back and working down.
Ryker made a sound I never heard before, but it got my blood boiling. I wanted to worship his entire physique. I moved around to the front. I took a moment to appreciate the man’s form. My hands slid up his legs as I slowly kissed his inner thigh.
His cock throbbed and twitched under my lips. Ryker closed his eyes and grabbed the dresser. I felt sexy and powerful. This was usually something I avoided with other men—it felt more intimate than the actual act of sex. Now I wanted nothing more than to taste every inch of Ryker.
Another moan came from him, and he grabbed me under the arms and threw me back on the bed. “I’m sorry, but I’ve been waiting too long for this.” He kicked off his boots, leaving his clothes behind as he kissed me. His lips were hot and demanding. “It’s my turn.”
He pulled my skirt over my hips. He dropped the first layer on the floor and came back for my underwear. He tugged them down, his eyes exploring me. He leaned over and unsnapped my bra, dropping it with the other clothing. I was completely naked. He spread me out. His hands skated over my skin, leaving trails of quivers in their wake. He kneeled at the side of the bed, his lips moving up my thighs, until his tongue found its way inside me.
I gasped as he nipped and kissed me. I was usually not a vocal person. The sound coming out shocked me. It only enticed him. His tongue and lips grew more intense. Loud wails of pleasure tore from my throat. Then they grew high, clear, and more pronounced.
“Oh my God, Ryker. I need you now.” My fist clutched at his hair. “Please.”
He smirked and went deeper. I widened myself, letting him go. He moved with me, building my orgasm until pleasure ripped through me, shaking me to the core.
“Holy shit.” I blinked at the ceiling, my limbs limp. “You expect me to be useful after this?”
He gave the sensitive area one last kiss before he moved back out to my thighs, his lips skimmed them. He stood up. I scuttled back to get higher on the bed. He crawled after me, his body covering mine. His elbows went on either side of my head, keeping some of his weight off me. His white eyes were bright in the dark
and glinted with smugness.
“Oh, someone is all puffed up. You’re going to be insufferable now, aren’t you?”
“Really no different from before.” He grinned. “But I do like knowing I can make you scream.”
“I’ve never done that before.”
“I’ll have to make sure it wasn’t only a one-time thing.” He leaned down, his lips finding mine. The heat of his mouth, the feel of him pressed against my stomach ignited the fire raging inside. A light breeze came through the window. The sounds of the celebration drifted up. I don’t know if it was me taking on fae qualities, but I could feel the energy from the streets, filling me with vigor. Was I feeding off them in some way? Absorbing their energy? Right then I didn’t care as Ryker’s mouth found my breast, stirring me alive again.
He hitched my leg around him and rolled me over on top of him. We explored and tasted: kissing and nibbling, his skin on mine, his hands touching me, fingers slipping up my spine, his palms running over my breasts, lips on my stomach, my throat, my hip, lower back.
Light from the fireworks burst through the windows, highlighting his face in a ray of colors and reflecting in his eyes. I stopped and stared down on him.
Wow.
I held him at arm’s length, never appreciating how absolutely striking he was until now. His chiseled face, the scruff along his jaw, the scars marking his battles, his unbelievable build, and his gorgeous white-blue eyes. His hair, plaited tightly against his scalp, was another shield, keeping people at a distance. I did not want to be kept away so I lifted my hands and threaded my fingers through the braids, loosening them. His soft hair fell around the pillow. Golden and beautiful. He was magnificent, in a distant, don’t touch way. With his hair down he appeared far more accessible.
Perspiration glided between my breasts. The humidity swelled in the room. He sat up, his tongue followed the line of liquid, catching it. My skin tingled and craving welled between my legs. Our eyes locked again.
The Barrier Between (Collector Series # 2) Page 10