I craved his strength, loving the weight of it, the feel of it surrounding me. Holding his beautiful pale eyes with my will, I lightly dragged my nails from his muscular shoulder down his broad back and curved them over his ass. Simultaneously, we rocked into each other, rubbing exquisitely, grinding perfectly, point on point, over and over again, and I cried out with the flash of heat, which joined his rumbling growl.
“Ah...Ryder, you’re driving me crazy,” I whispered shakily.
“I want to make you crazy. I want you going nuts until you lose control.”
His rough voice made promises that I wanted him to keep, but I wasn’t going to be the only one.
I rolled over, pushing him down on his back, which took him by surprise. I found the hollow of his throat with my tongue. I nibbled and licked a line up over his jaw, and by the time I reached his lips, his hands were on my ass, squeezing roughly. With my teeth nibbling and sucking his delectable lips, my nails scraped down his chest, traced the cords of muscle in his stomach, which jumped under my touch, and reached my goal.
My fingers closed over his hot length, and I was rewarded with a deep, sexy groan.
His lips were parted, his breathing was rough, and I felt a surge of power that was heady. His cock was silky and hard at the same time, and I gently ran my fingers over it, loving how it felt. With tentative strokes, I pumped my hand a couple of times.
“Fuck, Taylor—” He hissed.
“Does that feel good?” I whispered, and I pumped my hand a few more times, loving the tortured ecstasy on his face. I wanted to learn his body. I wanted to know what made him wild.
“Shit, Taylor!” His lips were parted, his breathing harsh, and his hips moved in rhythm with my hand. I took a moment to dip my tongue in his mouth, and just that quickly, he became a wild man, sucking my tongue, squeezing my ass, and pulling my legs apart so I was straddling him.
“I need to be inside you,” he growled, and he slipped his fingers into me. With satisfaction he said, “You’re so fucking wet,” while his thumb rubbed at my clit.
“Oh!” I arched my back, feeling so close. “Now, Ryder. Now. Please!”
He slid a condom on and settled me over his hips so his cock slid into me easily on a deep, guttural moan. Flexing his hips sharply, he hit the top of my sex in one hard stroke, and I cried out with the pleasure of it.
We both stilled, feeling the perfect fullness of the union, staring into each other’s eyes, seeing the pleasure, heat and joy reflected there. But it wasn’t enough, and we both needed to move.
Putting my hands on his chest, I moved slowly up and down. Ryder reached to fill his hands with my breasts, plucking at my nipples as I drove us toward the inferno. Heat unfurled in sizzling waves between my thighs when his hands changed position. Bracketing my hips, he worked his thumbs against my clit as I moved on him, building friction and heat.
As the demand grew, I rode him harder, feeling him pound clear up in my womb, spasms gripping me as I got closer and closer. My climax hit hard, and harshly, I cried out.
“Ryder!”
My sex closed around his cock, squeezing him with hot, delicious convulsions. He stilled as I collapsed on his chest, but only long enough to roll me over to my stomach and lift my hips, driving into me from behind.
With the new position, head down and ass up, new nerve endings were exposed, and in a short time I was back to gasping in need, meeting him thrust for thrust. One of his hands reached around to my clit and worked it, making me crazy with white-hot pleasure radiating out through my core. I was on fire, needing to come again. I was getting wound tighter and tighter, my pleasure almost painful, when lightning heat broke over me, causing me to come like I’d never come before, crying out as sensation after sensation rolled over my body.
Ryder was with me, shouting his own release before lying over me, careful to hold the majority of his weight on one arm. Rolling us both to our sides, he remained deeply embedded in me, running a hand up to cup one of my breasts, simply holding me against him gently.
“Christ, Taylor. I can’t fucking get enough of you,” he murmured sleepily in my ear.
And it was with a sense of contentment that we fell into a deep sleep, still connected.
Chapter Fourteen
“Lin’de, you need to wake up.” The deep, rumbling voice vibrated warmly against my ear, and my lips curled sleepily, knowing exactly who it was.
“Let’s go back to the lake,” I protested, enjoying the feel of Ryder’s warm body pressed up to me, skin to skin, snuggling up to me from behind. I wiggled my ass a bit and enjoyed feeling the answering heat of his arousal and hearing his quick intake of air.
“We don’t have time for this,” he said huskily, though his breathing got heavy and he didn’t stop my movements. Rather, his scruffy whiskers tickled my ear as a soft kiss was placed on my neck, which gave me wonderful tingles and sent almost instant gentle heat waves of pleasure to the apex of my thighs. Such a wonderful way to wake up, my body already eager and wanting Ryder. I couldn’t help grinding against his arousal, wanting to feel it pumping inside me again. I also loved the growl of approval that told me this little interlude might be a go.
“You feel so good.” He nipped my ear just hard enough for me to yelp, but his lips soothed the spot. I had another ache that needed soothing too.
“Are you sure there’s no time?” My smoky, languid sex voice was making a comeback.
“Maybe just a little,” he muttered, letting his hand run down my back and curve over my ass until he reached my sex from behind. Pushing his knee between my thighs, he opened my legs.
I could feel I was already wet with anticipation, which just made me feel wonderfully wanton, and when his fingers found me so, he groaned deep and low. He moved his fingers gently around my folds. Then one slipped inside me, and he rubbed softly in a place that made me gasp.
“You’re so wet.”
I panted and moaned softly, feeling the urge to move my hips for more friction. His fingers continued their gentle torture.
“You’re soft everywhere, lin’de,” his voice whispered against my ear. His finger slid out and rubbed around my clit, spreading moisture and making me tremble with need.
“I want to feel you.”
“Where?” he asked innocently.
“Inside me. I want to feel you there.” I felt like I was pleading.
After taking a moment to slide a condom in place, he ran the head of his erection over my swollen sex lips, spreading the creamy moisture, and shoved into me, overcoming my soreness from the previous night with the delicious feeling of fullness.
“Ah, damn, Taylor,” he said through gritted teeth. “You feel so good. Open your mind to me.”
Tearing down my mental barrier, I let him feel my spiraling heat, the slow burn that was sweeping over me. With a slow pump of his hips, he made me moan with the sharp pleasure of it. Caressing my shoulder and neck with his lips, he pumped his hips again, building a steady, slow rhythm that was sweet and hot and beautiful. His fingers curled around mine, palm down on the sheet, and we held on to each other, riding the crest of the wave.
“Ryder...”
“I know...” He pumped harder, and I could feel the buildup, the tightening. We were riding the edge, and it was so close and so hot and so good.
My muscles bunched, my toes curled, and I spun a beautiful free fall. I cried out as the ripples of pleasure swept through me. Ryder growled his own release, but he continued to pump into me softly a couple more times, breathing in deep, primitive grunts. Then he was covering me, pulling me powerfully into the curve of his body, still attached, so he could press a lingering kiss to my neck.
“You are...precious to me.”
Blossoming joy unfurled in my heart at his tentative admission. I sensed they were words he hadn’t said to many,
if any. Tears pricked my eyes, and I couldn’t help but say, “I care so much about you too, Ryder. This is all new to me.”
He pressed a fervent kiss to my neck, leaving his lips there like he was trying to soak me in. “I’m glad I got to show you the lake last night. It’s meaningful to me.”
“Does that mean I can come back to it with you?”
“I would love to take you there in person.”
“Can we go skinny-dipping?”
I felt his grin against my neck. “I’ll hold you to that.”
I wiggled my ass against him again and said, “You can hold me to that any time.”
Ryder chuckled, a sound that was like beautiful music to my ears, making my heart melt. “That can be arranged. But right now, you need to get dressed. I need to take you to the high court.”
It took only a second for my reaction.
“I have to do what?” I couldn’t help the slightly screechy tone that came out of me as I sat up, clutching the sheet again. The bloom was off the rose as panic set in. “Wasn’t that where you were going to take me for, like...torture?”
The sheet pooled at his hips as he sat up and languidly leaned against the blue stone wall behind him. The sight of his washboard stomach distracted me. I still hadn’t traced the ridges with my lips and tongue. Definitely a pleasure I wanted to indulge in at some point.
“Don’t look at me like that,” he warned with a sharp look. “We need to get moving or we’ll be late. And just so you know, I wasn’t going to take you to the high court yesterday.”
“You were trying to scare me,” I deduced with a scowl. It had worked. I’m not big on pain.
“Look, Taylor. I think you have a better sense of the history of our survival now. It wouldn’t be unheard of for someone to do anything to infiltrate our ranks and breach security, including enlisting Earth humans. We’re always at risk.”
“Okay, okay.” I did know. I had actually experienced one of those breaches in security at the marketplace. “Can I assume they just want to know what happened yesterday?”
“Yes. I also insisted they keep it informal. Instead of using the high-court chambers, we’re going to meet in my father’s office.”
“That’s right. Your father is going to be there. Did I understand correctly that he’s in charge of the high court or something?”
“Probably both of my parents are going to be there.”
“No problem,” I muttered. No stress here. I just had sex like three times with their son, was contemplating another quickie in the shower, and still had to look them in the eyes.
“Don’t worry. You’ll do fine.” He gave me a crooked, heartwarming grin. “I’ll take you up on the shower idea later.”
I answered his grin with one of my own. I hoped he would.
The cool thing was that I actually had clothes and shoes that fit. Cynthia had left them for me from our purchases of the day before. My confidence was boosted in that I was dressed appropriately, and attractively. The drape of the cottony pants was actually elegant, and the blue blouse was soft and fitted. Cynthia was right that it made my eyes pop.
After a quick, solo shower, I dressed, fluffed my hair and nervously took note of my overall appearance to see if there was anything missing. I didn’t have any makeup, but I didn’t usually wear that much of it anyway.
“You look beautiful,” Ryder said from the doorway. He was wearing his usual: jeans, T-shirt and boots. He was also back to wearing his closed, inviolable look, which made me nervous. It was like he was somewhere else. I had a sense that he wasn’t entirely comfortable with going to the high court, and I wondered if it had to do with me.
“Thank you.” I walked toward him hesitantly. “Everything okay?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” Answering a question with a question. Was he stressed? I didn’t have time to ask, because a beeping sound prompted him to snag a device from his pocket that fit into the palm of his hand. In a clipped voice, he said, “Ryder.”
“We’re coming,” Nick responded just as shortly.
“We’re ready. Out.”
“Out.”
A few seconds later, Cynthia and Nick pushed through the narrow passageway from the private transfer room. It was that quick. We met them in the main rec room. Cynthia was wearing a floral tunic in a light material, while Nick wore a uniform of black pants, long-sleeved shirt, boots and armed utility belt.
I no longer sensed anger between them, but kind of a delayed anticipation. Cynthia was being closemouthed about it, and I had too much to think about, what with facing some very official-sounding people, so I just gave her a hug and was glad to see her.
“You look fantastic.” She smiled. “I knew that was a good color for you.”
“I trust your fashion sense, Cyn,” I offered, trying to find the behavioral rhythm I usually had with her. “You always manage to look superchic.”
“Why, thank you.” She bowed her head in teasing acceptance of my praise.
“We ready to go?” Nick broke in impatiently.
What was his deal? I stole a quick look at Cynthia, but she was rolling her eyes with exasperation.
I was about to affirm I was ready when I realized something was missing, and it sent me into a panic. My mother’s bracelet. I hadn’t seen it since work a few days before.
“I’ve got it,” Ryder offered, reading my thoughts. With an indulgent smile he added, “The latch got caught in the blanket two nights ago. You were drunk, so I took it off to keep it safe.”
“I was not drunk,” I replied teasingly, “and if I was, it was entirely your fault.”
“Yes, you were drunk, and yes it was my fault.”
“I’d love to wear it now. Is that okay?” I didn’t want to break any cultural codes or rules of conduct in public or whatever.
Nodding, he answered, “It’s fine. I’ll get it.”
Again, I know my mother was a drunk and a drug addict, but for some reason, her bracelet helps me feel strong and confident. Maybe it’s because it represents evidence that at some point she’d been healthy and in love. The fact that she gave me this bracelet that was so important to her is also the proof I need that shows me she used to love me. Any way I look at it, it just makes me feel good.
Ryder put it on me, his expression softening as he clasped it. Lifting my delicately boned wrist to his lips, he pressed a kiss to my inner skin that sent small tingles up my arm. I met his eyes with an open mind and heart. Whatever he saw there made him still. We were in our own world, trapped in each other’s eyes, feeling our energies reaching out to twine and braid together, surrounding us with warmth and a humming energy that vibrated with life. It felt so intimate.
“We need to go.” Nick scowled, looking down at his boots. Cynthia was looking at us slack jawed.
“Remember to guard your thoughts,” Ryder warned me as he drew me into a tight clasp. “Let’s go.”
I threw up my trusty-dusty brick wall, wanting to make sure I didn’t commit a faux pas that was likely the equivalent of showing up without pants.
It was no sooner suggested than we were all emerging from a bright blue light, standing in a cavern chamber underground where no ambient light filtered through. Lit by large trinium wall sconces, it was probably the size of my apartment, and it had a common worktable in the center and a number of built-in nooks where private office spaces were set up. Three-dimensional computer projections had me gawking in several of the offices. Earth had nothing over these folks in technology. Fingers moved quickly and furiously over completely smooth keyboards on the desk, kind of like touchpads, only the workers were manipulating the images and words in the projection three-dimensionally, directly in front of them.
“You haven’t seen these before, have you? Cool, isn’t it?” Cynthia whispered in my ear as Ryder stepped off
to speak with one of the soldier guys.
“How can you guys have better technology?” I whispered back.
“We’ve managed to snag the best scientists from different parts of Earth. We actually have a committee that researches the latest innovations.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“And by the way, you owe me deets. You’re holding out on me.”
“You’re a fine one to talk.” I smirked.
“Definitely need some girl time. Soon.” She muttered the last word and gave Nick a dark look. His eyes were watching her coolly, assessing. He definitely had some plans in the works for Cyn.
“Senior officer.” A young man stepped out from one of the office compartments and gave Ryder a formal bow. He was dressed in a uniform similar to Nick’s.
“First officer.” Ryder acknowledged him. “Are they ready for us to enter?”
“Yes, sir. They’ve been waiting for you in your father’s office.”
Ryder took my hand and led us down a lit pathway deeper into the cavern. I was glad not to be claustrophobic, or I would have really been in serious trouble, because I was already feeling fingers of trepidation clinging to my mind over just the meeting. We got to a heavy wooden door that was built to custom-fit the large archway, and my butterflies set to fluttering in my stomach with a vengeance. I slowed to a stop and took a deep breath, trying to calm them. Ryder paused and looked down at me questioningly.
“You okay?”
“I—I think so,” I said.
“I’ll never let anything happen to you.” His green eyes burned into mine, and I nodded as though appeased, but that deep sense of dread was only growing worse. There was a feeling of inevitability, and I didn’t know if that was good or bad, but I felt like I was heading down an invisible road, and all I could do was hang on and trust that I would be able to handle whatever was coming.
Quicksilver Dreams (Dreamwalkers) Page 29