by Andrews, Amy
Juliet was stupidly flattered. He probably said that to all the girls. “You must have really bad porn where you’re from.”
He laughed. “Nothing beats a real live woman in the throes of a real live orgasm that you’ve been responsible for.”
“Ryder.” If he was trying to make her horny again, he was succeeding. “I really have to go.”
His gaze told her he knew exactly what he was doing, but he held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. Fine. Can I see you again?”
There was nothing on earth that could have stopped her. “I’m free tomorrow night.”
Something flicked quickly in his eyes before he nodded. “Shall we go to the pub?”
She frowned. “You have something on.”
“No, it’s fine.”
Juliet leaned her shoulder into the door frame. “You do.”
“Just a poker night with some of the team. It’s on every Wednesday night. I won’t be missing anything.”
She shook her head. “No.” Whatever was happening between the two of them, it could only be temporary. It made no sense for him to be giving up his routine for her.
“I don’t give one fuck about the poker game.”
But Juliet did. “No. How about Thursday night?”
“Yes but—”
She cut it him off. “Thursday it is. In the meantime, let me make it up to you by offering to dog sit Tiny for you tomorrow. Save your apartment from potential ruin.”
As if the Great Dane had been waiting around the corner, ready to hear his name, he appeared. He sat beside Juliet without being asked and she cooed at him for a bit before returning to the conversation. “Drop him to me at the shelter until you’re ready to pick him up.”
“I need to leave here at six to be at Henley on time for training, and I have club commitments all afternoon. I was going to go from them to the poker game.”
Juliet shrugged. “That’s okay. Drop him to mine on the way to training. I’ll take him into work and can keep him until you’re done with poker. The apartment has a biggish courtyard.”
“Really?” He shoved his hand through his hair, hope giving his face a boyish kind of innocence. That was no mean feat considering he’d just performed a very adult act upon her person. “That would be awesome.”
She smiled. “One good turn deserves another.”
“Quid pro quo, huh?”
“The least I can do.” Her gaze dropped to the zipper of his shorts, still sporting a significant bulge. “Think you can deal with that thing all by yourself?”
“I think I can manage after twenty-six years.”
She lifted her chin in the direction of the Ziggurat tiling. “Cold shower?”
“That’s one option. Although I do have an awesome new fantasy for my spank bank. It’d be a shame to waste it.”
The thought of Ryder jacking off while he thought of her was wildly exciting. She’d love to be a fly on the wall for that. Or…
“True. On the other hand, you could not do anything about it. And I…a real live woman could help you out with it tomorrow night after poker. Think how much more intense it will be after you’ve denied yourself for a while.”
The bob of his throat was visible from across the room. “Denial sucks.”
“But I could make it worth your while.”
He sighed. “If it doesn’t kill me first.”
Juliet smiled, knowing she had him. “What’s your number? I’ll text you my address.” She plugged it in as he dictated, then pushed off the door frame. “See you in the morning.”
“You couldn’t be naked when you answer the door by any chance?”
Juliet cocked an eyebrow. “Never know your luck in a big city, cowboy.”
She swore she heard him groan as she walked away.
Chapter Five
Ordinarily, waking at quarter to six would have left Juliette grumpy as hell, but she was too horny to be grumpy. Her ex’s rejection had done a job on her libido that not even a string of revenge one-night stands had really helped. But since Ryder had come along, it was growling on all cylinders.
She’d drifted off to sleep thinking about all the things she was going to do to his body and—surprise, surprise—she was so damn hot when she opened the door to him she practically climbed him like a tree.
Ignoring an excited Tiny, the duffel bag that dangled from one of Ryder’s hands, and the big tub of dog food in the other, she locked her legs around his waist and smooshed her mouth to his. He groaned against her lips, dropped both things from his hands, and grabbed her ass as he kicked the door shut.
His mouth was hot and hard, and he tasted all minty fresh, and she wanted to drag him to her bed and keep him there all day. But Tiny had other ideas, barking twice at them.
Juliet broke the kiss with a, “Shhh,” and wriggled to be let down. “Karen only got in at two and she’s even less of a morning person than I am. Come on.” She headed across the living room with Tiny on her heels and let him out through the French doors into a courtyard. “Go pee on a few things out there.”
Tiny went happily, padding across the grassy section to the shrubbed border. She shut the doors and turned back to Ryder, who’d obviously been checking out her ass.
“Jesus, you look hot.”
She wasn’t naked, but she did have a lot of skin on display in her standard snug-fitting T-shirt that had been washed to within an inch of its life and barely met the low-riding band of her tiny tartan boxers.
She’d never considered the combination hot. But the way he was staring at her, like he wanted to lick her like a lollipop, was causing her to revise her opinion.
She walked in his direction, totally eye fucking him in return. “Looking pretty damn hot yourself.”
He was in loose-fitting basketball shorts that came to just above his knees but clung to the musculature of his thighs and the hardness of his cock, due to a build-up of static.
Thank you, science.
A T-shirt with the Sydney Smoke logo stretched nicely over his shoulders and sat snug against his belly. She dropped her gaze to his erection as she stopped in front of him.
“Very…athletic.”
He snorted. “I’m pretty sure playing with a hard-on the size of Sydney Harbour will not enhance my athletic ability.”
“Oh…I can help you with that.” She smiled as she grabbed his hand, walking backward, tugging him in the direction of her bedroom.
He let her lead him, but his feet dragged a little. “I really can’t stay.”
His protest might have been more believable had his gaze not been glued to her breasts. Juliet just smiled and thanked the universe that her bedroom was the nearest as she pulled him across the threshold.
He looked at her messy bed and his throat bobbed. “I can’t be late for training. Griff can be a real sonofabitch.”
She smiled again as she let go of his hand to ruck up her T-shirt as he had done last night. “I won’t keep you long.”
“Holy fuck.” Ryder’s nostrils flared as his eyes followed the swing of her breasts. Her nipples puckered under their scrutiny, and he shoved a hand through his hair. “I…really don’t have time—”
Juliet shut her door, planted a hand on his chest, and pushed him against it. One step brought her body against his, the rub of his shirt fabric against the taut peaks of her breasts an erotic kind of torture. She pressed her lips to where his pulse throbbed alongside his windpipe.
“Did you jack off last night?”
He swallowed, his throat undulating against her lips. “No.”
“Really?” He wouldn’t be the first guy to lie about a quick wank.
“Cross my heart. Got no sleep at all.”
A surge of triumph shot through her system and her lips curved upwards. “You think” —she slid her hand between their bodies and groped his dick through his shorts—“you’re going to last very long when I get on my knees and blow you?”
Juliet revelled in both the unsteady timbre of
his breathing and the feel of him in her hand. The power she had over him in this moment hit her right between the legs. “I think I will last an embarrassingly short amount of time.”
His confirmation was like a shot of Red Bull to her system. “Well, let’s see, shall we?” She dropped to her knees and in one movement she’d eased his shorts and underwear down enough to expose the thick, hard length of his cock.
Her breath hitched at the sight of it. It was perfectly formed, perfectly proportioned, from the flushed plump head to the thick root and the fat vein running up the shaft. She curled her fingers into her palms so she wouldn’t reach for it—not yet.
She glanced up at him, her mouth perilously close to the bead of liquid pearling at the slit. His face was set into an agonised grimace, his abs rigid as he waited for her next move. “Whatever am I going to do with that monster, Ryder Davis?”
He gave a husky laugh. “I think you could probably just tell it to come now and it would.”
Juliet laughed, too, hers also a little rough and unsteady. She liked the idea of being some kind of cock whisperer, but she preferred a more hands-on approach. “Oh I think I can do better than that.”
Her palms slid up his thighs, one finding the base of his cock, gripping it firmly, the other sliding to his balls as she leaned in and opened her mouth over him.
“Oh…Christ.” His head thunked back against the door, his hands flattening against it, too.
Juliet moaned at the first taste of him, swiping the salty liquid from his head before she sunk her lips down his shaft, her tongue swirling as far down as she could go. He tasted clean and smelled like passionfruit, and she savoured it for long moments before she swirled all the way back again, releasing his shaft with a soft, wet noise.
He groaned, his face a mask, his knuckles white against the door. She smiled. He looked like he was having a root canal instead of his dick sucked.
“Ryder.” It took a second for him to respond but the heat in his gaze when he did look down just about melted her underwear right off. “Look at us.”
He’d asked the same of her last night. Made her look in the mirror and watch what he was doing to her and it had been mind-blowing. Now he could watch her. Watch her mouth sliding on and off his cock. Watch as she ate him up.
And she would watch him, watching her.
“Jesus,” he muttered as she closed her mouth over him. She locked her gaze with his, looking up at him through her lashes as she slowly swirled her tongue over his head and took more and more of him into her mouth.
“Yesss.” His hiss spurred her to take him all the way to the back of her throat. His, “God, I love your mouth,” spurred her to get him there as fast as she could.
This wasn’t the time for fancy teasing, to work him up and drag things out and have him begging for completion. The man had to get to work. She didn’t want to get him into trouble with his coach. It wasn’t some hobby of his, it was his career.
She’d told him she wouldn’t keep him, and she was a woman of her word.
She went fast and furious, her pulse tripping as she sucked him hard, rolling and teasing his balls, their gazes locked as deeply and intimately as the act she was performing.
“Fuck…yes…fuuuck.”
His hands never left the door, his hips never thrust, he left the pace up to her, but he groaned and muttered and panted his approval with words and noises that stoked her own arousal to fever pitch.
Kneeling before him, she was excruciatingly aware of her own reactions. Of the tremble of her hands and the rapid skip of her heart, the noise of her breathing and the wetness building between her legs. The urge to touch herself as she serviced him was a living breathing devil inside her but she resisted.
This wasn’t about her. It was about him. And, as he’d predicted, it didn’t take him long to build, for his balls to contract and his ass to tighten.
“Oh…God. Juliet.” His low groan shot straight through her.
His breath sucked in and out, his nostrils flared, his abs contracted, his quads started to tremble.
Yes. Yes, yes, yes.
“I’m going to come.” His heated gaze burned a warning into hers, his jaw clamped so tight she thought it might shatter. “If you’re not into swallowing, you need to stop now.”
Triumph surged through her veins like a hit of speed, intoxicating in its intensity. She didn’t stop. She appreciated his consideration, but she wanted him to come in her mouth.
She liked swallowing. Wanted to swallow. Wanted to watch him as she did.
So she held his gaze and kept sucking, squeezing his balls now instead of rolling. He thrust, just once, crying out, his eyes bugging as his warm seed spilled into her mouth.
She sucked him through the throes of his orgasm. Sucked until he was spent and listless against the door, gasping for air, until his hands found her head, his fingers tunnelling into her hair, urging her up.
Only then did she relinquish her mouthful. Savouring the salty, musky taste of him as she eased his and her clothes back into place before rising to her feet. She laughed when he looked at her with eyes that weren’t quite focussed.
“Juliet…”
Her heart contracted at that look. Sexual satisfaction, yes, but awe and wonder, too. As far as compliments went, it was a goody.
“I…I…”
She stopped any more nonsensical mutterings with her mouth, kissing him deep and wet for long, drugging moments before reluctantly pulling away. “You’re welcome. Now go.”
He drew in a ragged breath, his hands sliding to her hips. “Just give me a moment. I don’t think I can walk without falling over just yet.”
Juliet laughed as she looked at her watch. “It’s six.” She pulled him off the door and opened it. “Go. You don’t want to be late.”
He pulled her to him for another kiss. “Have I mentioned how much I love your mouth?”
She grinned. “Go.”
He stepped out into the hallway and she followed him to the front door. Tiny appeared to still be happy peeing on things in the courtyard.
“I brought food, and can I leave this bag here for tonight?” He toed the object that had been hastily discarded when she’d crawled up his body earlier. “It’s just a change of clothes and stuff for the morning.”
“Oh?” She quirked an eyebrow and folded her arms. “Planning on staying, are we?”
He snaked out an arm and jerked her to him, kissing her hard and brief. “I’m not planning on getting any sleep. Neither should you.”
Juliet’s pulse went a little crazy at the silken promise hot on the heels of his kiss. “Go.”
He sighed and reached for the doorknob. “Yeah, yeah. I’m going. I’ll text you when I’m on my way to you tonight.”
Her pulse went a little crazier.
“Tell your coach to take it easy on you. I’ve already warmed you up.”
He hooted out a laugh. “I don’t think Griff’s been laid in two decades. I don’t want to rub it in.”
Juliet stood at the door and watched Ryder leave, a stupid grin on her face and a tiny trill in her chest.
Tonight couldn’t come soon enough.
…
Thirteen hours later, Ryder was swinging on a chair in Bodie’s apartment, his Akubra pulled low on his forehead, staring at a hand of cards that would have made him weep any other night. But if it meant tonight would be over quicker, he didn’t care.
He’d played like shit all night, his head—big and little—in Juliet’s bedroom, her mouth on his dick. Not on cards.
“You know what this poker game needs?” Bodie asked.
“Fuck you, Spidey,” Linc said.
Everyone laughed, even Ryder. The answer was chicks. It used to be Linc’s lament every poker game since Tanner had made the no chicks rule in the beginning. But now he was seriously loved up with Em, they took it in turns to say it just to remind him what a pain in the ass he’d been.
Normally, Ryder would be eating up all
the banter. He loved poker nights. The usual suspects were here and a night of smack talk with the guys, away from the pressures of the game, was a welcome relief.
But he was too distracted tonight. It didn’t help that Tanner, Dex, and Linc, who were all in relationships now, were disgustingly smug. Even Dex, who was coping with a rabidly nesting pregnant wife, looked like the cat that’d swallowed the canary.
He’d like to have that look about now. He was pretty sure it’d be plastered all over his face tomorrow morning. But he had to get through a few hours of poker yet. He couldn’t leave early. Not when he was usually the last one standing, or after giving the other guys constant crap about leaving early to get home to their women.
Putting the hoes before the bros and all that stupid bullshit he hadn’t understood until Juliet blew him this morning and it had been all he could think about.
Now he was counting down the minutes until it seemed acceptable to leave. Nine o’clock. He could probably make excuses around nine without rousing suspicion. He could be at Juliet’s by nine thirty. He could have her naked by nine thirty-two.
“How was Dollywood karaoke last night?” Bodie asked as everyone contemplated their cards.
An image of Juliet’s face in the mirror last night, eyes huge in the throes of her orgasm, floated out at him. Who needed karaoke? “Didn’t go.”
It took him a few seconds to realise the whole table was staring at him. It was almost as if a record had been playing and someone had abruptly scraped the needle across the vinyl.
“Bullshit,” Bodie said.
Dono, who’d been about to take a swallow of his beer, snorted. “Since when.”
“You get some kind of concussion?” Tanner asked.
Ryder realised his error. A quarter of poker night was usually taken up by his exploits at The Cock and Bull. The guys loved to give him shit about it, and he lapped it up.
“Nah. Something just…came up.” His dick had come up, that was what. Hell, it’d been more up than down in the last twenty-four hours.
“Yeah.” Bodie frowned. “That’s why you usually go to The Cock and Bull. All those women looking for some cowboy action.”
Ryder kept his ace and tossed the crap into the centre of the table. “I’ll have four.” It wasn’t his turn, but he was hoping it might distract them enough to get things back on track.