I groaned when he removed his fingertips from my clit. I opened my eyes as he brought said fingers to his mouth, but before he could suck my juices from them, I grabbed hold of his hand and brought them to my mouth instead. Ryder’s eyes were wide as he watched my lips wrapped around his fingers. He hissed when I sucked, and used my tongue to lick them clean.

I hummed and released his fingers from my mouth with a pop.

“You’re right,” I smiled. “I do taste sweet.”

“Oh. My. Fucking. God.” Ryder whispered.

I tilted my head to the side.

“Why do you talk to God so much when I touch you?” I asked, mimicking his earlier tone.

“Because,” Ryder growled as he pressed against me. “He needs praise for creating a fine specimen such as yourself.”

My lips quirked. “Always the sweet talker.”

“You know me.” Ryder grinned.

Warmth surrounded me. “Yeah, I do know you.”

Ryder lost his grin and stared into my eyes before he lowered his head and covered my mouth with his. We kissed one another with a hunger, and before I knew it, I was lying naked on his bed, with his naked body hovering over mine. When he entered me, it felt like heaven, but quickly turned to torture when he ceased to move.

“Relax for me, sweetness,” Ryder murmured, his voice caressing me like physical touch. “I’ll take care of you.”

“I can’t,” I said breathlessly, opening my thighs wider for him. “You need to move.”

“I’ll move when I’m good and ready,” he rumbled.

His firm tone only teased my body further.

“You’re killin’ me, Slater,” I hissed. “Fuckin’. Killin’. Me.”

Ryder pulled back, withdrawing from my body, but before he could slip out of me completely, he drove his hips forward and slammed into me with a resounding slap. My breath caught in my throat along with a scream of pleasure.

“Watch your mouth or I’ll fill it with something else to shut you up.”

Chills spread out over my body, and I found myself loving how domineering Ryder was during sex. A command, warning or even a little bit of a threat from him had me quivering with need for him. I never thought of myself as having a small submissive side, but my eagerness to please Ryder when he dished out his commands, and my need to hear those commands during sex was like wildfire.

Unstoppable.

“You’d like me forcing my cock into your mouth, wouldn’t you?” Ryder growled.

He sounded pained as he withdrew from my body, before thrusting back into my heat.

I moaned as sensation overcame me. “Yes.”

“Such a dirty girl.” Ryder rasped as he lowered himself down to his forearms that were on either side of my head.

He brought his lips to mine, and gave me chaste kiss before sucking my lower lip into his mouth. He hummed as he suckled before releasing my lip with a pop.

“I love how you taste,” he panted. “Your mouth, your pussy, your skin. I’ll never get enough. Never.”

I moaned in response, raking my nails gently up and down his back, watching him tense when I dug them into him every so often. I smiled when he caught me staring.

“Keep it up and I’ll dish out some pain of my own on this sexy ass of yours,” he warned.

My eyes lit up with wonder at the same time my pussy walls clenched around Ryder, making him groan as he drove in and out of me.

“That turns you on?” he moaned. “Damn, baby, I’ve hit the fucking jackpot with you!”

I allowed my eyes to roll back as licks of pleasure fill me. My mouth dropped open when Ryder’s hot breath blew into my ear in puffs followed by his warm tongue.

“Ah!” I cried out and tried to escape the sensation, but didn’t make it very far.

Ryder bit down on the nape of my neck and flicked his tongue over the flesh between his teeth. He bit down harder and slammed into me with such a force, my back arched up off the bed. I cried out as the first unexpected spasm of pleasure shot through me.

“Fuck!” I screamed.

Ryder released my neck and took my mouth in a passionate kiss as I rode out my toe curling orgasm. When I came back to reality, it was to the skin slapping sound of Ryder driving into me like the Devil himself was on his heels. My inner walls clenched around Ryder and it prompted him to shift the angle of his hips, allowing him to brush up against a part of my body that had my breath catching.

“One more, sweetness,” Ryder panted, sweat coating his skin in a thin layer. “Give me one more.”

He thrusted into me harder, faster, rougher.

I screamed when it all became too much and a second orgasm suddenly slammed into me with as much intensity as the first. I cried out Ryder’s name and I heard him growl mine. His hips slowed to jerked motions. Seconds later he slipped out of me, and moved to the left where he face planted into the mattress. He slung his arm over my waist, an action that caused my lips to quirk as I tried to catch my breath.

“I’ve decided that I’m keeping you,” Ryder said, and while the mattress muffled some of his speech, I got the gist of what he said and it made me giggle.

“You only want me for me body,” I playfully dismissed.

“No,” Ryder protested. “I’m all about your brain, your mind is a serious turn on for me. I’ve watched you figure things out almost instantly, and that gives me wood, not your body, I just put up with that because it’s attached to your head. I’ll get over the disappointment of it in time, don’t worry.”

I was laughing so hard that I snorted. Ryder lifted his head up, and turned it to the side. He watched me laugh with a smile, and after a few moments, the intensity of his gaze gave me butterflies in my stomach.

“You look like you’ve got somethin’ to say,” I mused.

He blinked. “I do.”

“Spit it out, I’m this close to fallin’ asleep in me double orgasm aftermath.”

“You’re welcome,” Ryder grinned.

“Out with it,” I laughed, again. “What did you want to say to me?”

He lifted his hand from my waist and brought it to my face where he cupped my cheek. He stared into my eyes for a few seconds, and then the smile I loved stretched across his face.

“I love you, Branna.”

I stared at Ryder, my eyes wide and unblinking.

He WHAT?

“Please,” I whispered after a few seconds of silence. “Please don’t say that unless you mean it.”

He turned on his side and pressed his naked body to mine.

“I. Love. You.”

My heart was slamming into my chest, chills ran up and down my spine, and tears threatened to fall at any given moment.

“How do you know?” I hesitantly whispered. “Maybe you’re just comin’ down with somethin’, I heard the flu is goin’ around.”

Ryder’s lips twitched. “I know I love you because I think about you all the time, I want to be with you all the time and fuck me, but your smile makes my whole day. Your laughter is my favourite sound. I could listen to you laugh all day. I love it. I love you. Everything about you blends perfectly with me, and I know that if I didn’t have you around me all the time, I’d go crazy. You’re my one, I know you are.”

His one, I thought. I was Ryder’s one.

“Omigod,” I whispered as my palms became sticky with sweat.

He leaned his face down to mine. “Don’t feel pressured to say it back, I didn’t intend to have this conversation right now, but after everything I told you, I wanted you to know that I’m very serious about you.”

Screw that.

“I love you, too.” I blurted. “I’ve been terrified of how deeply I feel for you because it has happened so fast, but I feel how I feel, and I love you.”

Ryder brought his face to mine and I swear the smile that was in place on his face was bigger than I’ve ever seen before.

“You know I’m never going to let you go, right?” he murmured.

Good, my heart countered, because I’m never letting you go either.