by Imogen Wells
I enter the room to find Ryder and Russ standing at the dining table, a bag sits on the table between them. Ryder’s head lifts, locking eyes with me, while Russ continues talking. At Russ’ mention of the flowers, my spine stiffens, but thankfully Russ cuts off when he sees that Ryder’s attention is focused elsewhere. He follows Ryder’s line of sight, looking over his shoulder and spotting me there. A brief look of annoyance crosses his face, I assume at the intrusion, before he smiles.
“Hello, Camryn. I’m glad to see you back on your feet. I was just dropping off an overnight bag for you.”
I look at Ryder in question, but he keeps the mask firmly on his face. “Thank you, that’s very kind,” I say, feeling a little pissed at the idea of a stranger going through my belongings. Clearly, I don’t do a good job of hiding my irritation because Russ informs me that Jamie put the bag together for me.
“Right, is that all, boss?” Russ asks, directing his question to Ryder, who simply nods, “Good, then I’ll see you later.” He turns to me, “I’ll see you soon, Camryn, enjoy your weekend.”
Well, this isn’t awkward in the slightest.
Sixteen
Camryn
After Russ left, we moved to the lounge to wait for the takeaway that Ryder ordered. The tension is palpable, almost unbearable. Deciding I’ve had enough, and I need to clear the air, I tell Ryder I’m sorry for going off at him.
“It’s fine, Cam, you don’t need to apologise. But you damn well best understand that I’m not like your ex. I have never laid a hand on a woman in anger, and I don’t appreciate the comparison, especially as it’s not the first time. Is that clear?” The gruff, commanding tone of his voice sends a sliver of desire through my body, and despite all my best efforts, I can’t help automatically tense my thighs in response. Ryder’s eyes flick to the movement, and his lip curls up in a sexy smirk that has the dimple I like so much appear.
I nod, then mutter, “Bossy bastard,” under my breath. Why I thought it would escape his notice I don’t know.
“Don’t pretend you don’t love it when I get all demanding and bossy. Don’t think I didn’t see the way your thighs clenched together just now. I bet you’re fucking soaked.” he says, my eyes widening at his dirty talk. He crawls across the sofa towards me, prowling like a damn lion hunting its prey. “I bet if I was to slip inside those knickers of yours, your pussy would be dripping, ready for me to spread you out and feast on you like it’s my last meal.” I scoot further back, until I hit the corner of the sofa, now completely caged in as he reaches me. My breathing picks up, and if I didn’t know the difference, I’d think I was having a panic attack.
All too aware of how close Ryder is, I reach out a hand to stop him, but end up running my fingers up his chest, to his neck, and feel his pulse racing there, just like his tongue did to mine earlier. His hooded eyes, heavy with desire, watch as I bite my bottom lip with a hunger matching his own.
“You can’t hide from your demons, Cam, you have to embrace them. I see the darkness in your eyes, the way it turns you on when I take charge, the way your body responds,” he whispers, his smooth velvety voice is replaced with a deep, devilish tone that has everything in me lit up. He leans forward, and the roughness of his five o’clock shadow grazes my cheek as he places a soft kiss to the spot behind my ear. My hand follows his movement, trailing up and winding into the nape of his neck, my nails biting into the skin there and causing him to groan.
“Don’t tempt me, Cam. I’m hanging onto my restraint by a thread right now, and I’d love nothing more than to fuck you till you’re hoarse from screaming my name,” he grits out.
“Then why don’t you—” I’m cut off as the elevator dings its arrival. “Fuck!” falls from my mouth before I can stop it, and Ryder laughs.
“Fuck is right,” he grumbles. “Come on, dinner’s here, and I’m famished,” he says, winking and pulling me up from the sofa as he rises to his full height.
Ryder dishes up the Chinese he ordered, while I lay the table. Not oblivious to how domesticated it all is, nor am I ignorant of the fact that since we had sex earlier, I’ve reverted to calling him Ryder, even if it is just in my head right now. I try not think too much into it, or that I was just about to tell him to fuck me on the sofa before we were interrupted. Instead, I take Jamie’s advice and enjoy myself, get to know him and take a risk. How do you know if the risk is worth taking if you don’t try, right?
Dinner is lovely. I haven’t had a Chinese this delicious in ages. When I ask Ryder where it’s from, he tells me it’s a secret and maybe he’ll take me one day. I’m not too surprised that he knows his way around the city, it’s clear from this apartment that he lives here. Something tells me that this isn’t his only home, so I’m not that shocked by his answer when I ask him.
“No, I also have a place outside London. Well, it’s actually a house in Surrey. “
“No way!” I say excitedly, “I was born in Surrey.” My smile drops slightly at the look on his face. “What, why are you looking at me like you just killed my dog or something?”
He fidgets in his seat, and that can’t be a good sign, coughing into his closed fist before saying, “I know where you were born, Cam. I also know your real name, date of birth and your favourite colour.” I sense the last part is tacked on to soften the blow of exactly how much he knows about me.
Feeling foolish for not realising he would know so much about me, I brush it off, “Of course you do.” I can see he’s not fooled, but I ignore it. “So, come on then, tell me something about you. I mean, I’m completely in the dark here.” I swallow down the anxiety swirling in my gut and wait for him to answer.
“I’m really not that interesting,” he states, a small frown furrows his brow. I raise my eyebrows at his reluctance to share. When it becomes clear that I’m not going to drop it, he starts talking.
I learn that his parents are still alive and living in Surrey. He talks fondly of his mum, Dawn, but I sense some animosity between him and his dad, Richard. He tells me about his brother Kyle who died at twenty-one, and I can see the pain and sorrow losing his sibling causes him. After the death of Kyle and the pain his parents went through losing their son, Ryder decided to leave the army and set up business with Rick.
Wanting to steer the conversation in a happier direction, we play twenty questions for the next hour or so. It’s kind of hard to play with a moody arsehole not keen on sharing, but I’m hardly one to talk. Funnily enough the conversation never touches on relationships, marriage and children, and I’m glad, but a little surprised too.
Around 7pm, Ryder gets a call that he takes in the bedroom. Desperate to get out of my work clothes, I head to the room he showed me earlier. It’s a simple room, a double bed with cream bedding, and a cream blind covers the floor to ceiling window in the room. There are two bedside tables, one with a lamp, a built-in wardrobe and a cream chest of drawers.
Digging through my bag I find my bikini, if you call two scraps of material a bikini. Jamie picked the most revealing one I own. One she bought, insisting that I could catch the eye of any guy in it. Oh, I don’t doubt her on that. Pretty sure walking around almost naked, no matter your size, is enough to turn heads. Why would she even pack it? Then I remember the hot tub. Thinking back to our conversation earlier and my decision to take a risk, I quickly put it on before I can change my mind. I grab a towel from the en suite on my way out the door.
There’s still no sign of Blue when I get back to the main room, so I go ahead and open the doors that lead to the balcony. The space is much bigger than I thought, and there are soft lights dotted through the tiles on the floor and set in the wall around the balcony. Glass panels with a handrail, allow a magnificent view of the Manchester skyline. I slowly walk to the hot tub taking in everything as I go, it’s beautiful.
Once I figure out how to work the damn thing, I set the temperature and climb in, just as my teeth start to chatter from the chilly breeze that’s blowing across the balcony.
I sink into the heavenly warmth of the water, resting my back on the side and look at the night sky.
I find the brightest star in the sky, Venus, this year, and my thoughts drift to my daughter. She loved the stars, we would lay out in the garden in the summer, with a book on astronomy and try to identify as many stars and constellations as we could. I used to tell her I loved her to the moon and back, and she’d always giggle, then tell me she’d go there one day just so she could see just how far my love reached.
Suddenly, I sense I’m no longer alone, and as the sounds of soft music begin to play, I know I’m right. I can feel his presence behind me, and I wait for the moment that he reaches out to touch me, but he doesn’t. I watch as his hands appear on the edge of the hot tub either side of me, then his voice whispers in my ear.
“I see you found the bikini I told Jamie to pack for you.” I can almost feel the smirk on his face, thinking he’s clever but he’s not.
Feeling brave, and more than a little turned on, I say, “Haven’t you ever heard of skinny dipping, Ryder?” I can’t see his face, but I hear his small intake of breath at the idea of me sitting here naked. “Are you coming in, or just going to stand there all night?”
“Oh, I’m coming in, don’t you worry about that.” I hear the rustle of clothing behind me, and my bravado takes a small nosedive when I realise it’s him that’s going to be skinny dipping. Oh, shit! I don’t have any more time to panic as he tells me to slide forward. I do and then he’s sliding in behind me, his legs outside of mine, and when he’s settled, his arm wraps around my waist making me gasp as he pulls me back towards his chest.
Visions of another man behind me flit through my mind, and I’m reminded of the scars that mar my back. I shove them away, determined not to let them ruin this moment. I slowly relax into him and feel him do the same.
We sit in silence for several long minutes before I ask him if everything was okay with his call. He tells me that it was just work, and it’s likely he’ll need to go back to London for a day or two next week.
We chat about his work and where he’s travelled to, and I tell him I’ve always wanted to visit Niagara Falls, New York and especially California so I can shop on Rodeo Drive. He laughs and asks if he should start calling me Vivienne, which earns him an elbow to the ribs. The movement has his hips thrusting forward, confirming my suspicions about his nakedness as his cock, his very hard cock, rubs against my lower back. The hand that’s wrapped around my waist moves to splay across my belly, and I feel the exact moment he brushes across one of the scars there. Ryder’s whole-body tenses.
“Don’t. Don’t ask, Ryder, not right now. Please.” I hate the begging tone in my voice, but I just want to forget, enjoy his hands on me without questions. I hear a quiet ‘Okay’ before I feel his lips on my skin, where my neck and shoulder meet. I drop my head to the side, giving him better access. He doesn’t waste a second at my invitation.
Ryder’s other hand comes up, joining the one on my belly before both begin a trail up the side of my body, coming to a stop just below my breasts. I run my hands down his thighs, and as I reach his knees, his fingers edge under the bottom of my bikini top slowly lifting and pushing it up out of the way as my grip on his legs tightens in anticipation.
Continuing to trail kisses along my neck, his fingers scrape across my pebbled nipples before tweaking and pulling at them. A groan falls from my lips as my back arches, filling his hands with my heavy breasts before he squeezes to the point of pain, and I bask in the glorious darkness that clouds my vision at the feel of his rough hands on my body. Needing to put my hands on him, I spin around, kneeling on the seat in front of him, and he grabs my arse, yanking me forward before taking a nipple into his mouth. The warmth of his hot tongue against my chilled nipple sends a delicious shiver down my spine that has me gripping his shoulders and curling my fingers into his skin. As he continues to lave at my taut nipple, my hand slides into his hair, gripping tightly and holding his head in place. Ryder bites down, sending a spark of pleasure straight to my clit, and I cry out.
“Ahhh, harder.” He happily obliges before switching to the other one as his hands work to undo the strings holding my bottoms in place, and as they fall away, I open my legs allowing him to skate his fingers through my folds before thrusting two fingers inside. Ryder pumps his fingers in and out while continuing his frenzied torment on my nipples. He suddenly pulls out and grabbing my hips, he forces me to stand.
“I need to taste you.” Moving my feet to either side of him, he slides down in the water until his head rests on the edge, pulling me forward by my hips until my pussy rests over his mouth. His tongue flicks out, running the length of me, then again before he focuses his attention exactly where I need it. Within minutes my legs are trembling, my breathing choppy, the butterflies in my belly flutter desperately for escape as Ryder slams two fingers inside me, sucking and biting down hard on my clit, and I explode, screaming his name into the night sky.
“Fuck—Ryder, ahhh!” My body bucks and rocks, riding the waves of pleasure crashing over me, and as my body goes slack, knees giving out, I don’t get a second to catch my breath before Ryder is pulling me down and slamming his hips up, ramming his cock into my still convulsing pussy. A growl escapes Ryder as he settles inside me, and then slowly I rise up his length before gliding back down, finding my rhythm and leaning forward to take his lips in a ferocious kiss. I can taste myself on him, and it sends my body wild. I speed up, his hands holding my hips in a bruising grip as he nears his release. Breaking the kiss, I nip along his jaw, down his neck, biting and sucking, marking him as mine, and then he howls out as I feel his hot cum releasing inside me.
He slides a hand up my back, grabbing a handful of my hair, and pulling my head back as he takes my nipple in his mouth, slowly he licks his way up my body, reaching my lips, I open for him, and as I slip my tongue inside I feel him getting hard again inside me. Pulling back, I raise an eyebrow at him, but all I get is a slap on my arse before he’s on his feet with me in his arms, legs wrapped around him and heading for the bedroom.
Seventeen
Blue
Laying here with Cam curled against me, I think about the scars on her body. After I took her a second time in the bedroom, she passed out instantly, her face flushed and lips swollen. I watch her sleep while scanning every inch of her and cataloguing every damn scratch that taints her beautiful body. Each mark, and there are many, makes my blood boil. I may know about the abuse, but I don’t know everything, and that in itself is an issue.
I saw her face after I admitted that I knew her real name and where she was born, it barely touches the surface of what I actually know, but I’m not supposed to share the details of a job with the client. Fuck, I’m sure as shit not meant to sleep with one either.
This job, Sean Donovan, is personal, and I really can’t afford to get distracted by a beautifully damaged woman, wrapped in a body of sin perfect for me to get lost in and quietens my own demons while I fuck her. Cam’s different and that worries me. This woman has the potential to bring me to my knees.
As Cam begins to stir, I harden my resolve, putting my arsehole mask firmly back in place. Her hand rests on my chest, and as she wakes, she trails her fingers down my abs to the edge of the quilt that rests just above where my cock starts to rouse ready for round three. She slides her fingers underneath, but before she can reach what she’s seeking, I grab her wrist stopping her.
“As much as I would love to fuck you again, we need to talk, Cam.” She sighs, trying to pull her hand from my grip, but I tighten my hold. And when she tries to fight harder, I pull on her arm forcing her body on top of mine. I soon realise that was a bad idea, as her warm heat makes contact with my ever-hardening cock. And for all of a second, I forget about the conversation we are meant to have and imagine sinking my cock into her again and again.
Grabbing her face in my hands, I gently draw her to me, brushing her lips with mine. But she’s not satisfied with that an
d using her hands for leverage, pushes herself closer, kissing me savagely and biting my bottom lip. Before I even catch my breath, she’s straddling me with her hands on my chest as she begins to rock her hips. Her pussy is soaked with the remnants of her own orgasm and my cum, and it takes everything in me to grasp her hips and stop her movements.
“Cam,” I implore, and as I look into her eyes, it’s like looking in a fucking mirror. Her demons are riding her hard right now, she needs this. I’ll give it to her, but she’ll have to give me what I need too. “Start talking,” I demand, my voice hard and leaving no room for her to argue. Rolling my hips, combined with the hold I have on her, allows enough friction so she gets the message of what the deal is.
“You’re using sex to make—” I roll my hips again making her groan, “to get what you want. That’s fucked up, you know?” she stutters out, and I just cock an eyebrow at her.
“Yeah, but we’ll both be happy in the end,” I say, with another roll of my hips that has her head falling back and eyes closing with pleasure.
“You’re a fucking arsehole!” she breathes out, digging her fingernails into my chest. I welcome the bite of pain as my cock pulses beneath her. She’s not wrong about me being an arsehole, but she’ll give me what I need.
“Talk, Camryn. What happened today?” My hold is firm as she tries to move, and she huffs out a breath.
“I went to lunch, and when I returned there was a delivery on my desk,” she pauses, taking a deep breath before continuing, “it was a bouquet of flowers,” I roll my hips, encouraging her to continue, “of black lilies,” she breathes out on a moan.
“Who were they from?” I ask her, she shakes her head. Initially, I take it to mean she doesn’t know but I’m wrong.