Alpha Knows Best (Wicked Good Witches Book 2) (7 page)

Thank God, she’d at least worn a matching bra and panties set today. Bright pink, making her skin look the color of cream. She worked hard to keep her hands by her sides, rather than letting them enclose around herself. He’d already seen what she looked like. He either liked it, or didn’t.

Dumb dumb dumb,
she repeated to herself.
I didn’t even suck in my pooch.
Ugh… dreaming about this is so much easier.
Melinda sucked in and thought,
Fuck it! I’m not doing anything like I would normally today.
Her eye caught him staring at her… he was looking right at her stomach, licking his lips like she looked… yummy.

She jerked her head forward, worked-up-level threatening to boil her blood at any second. Except this time, it wasn’t a dream. Motorcycle man was just a few feet away. Undressing. Because she’d asked him to.

She didn’t know why she felt so comfortable and daring around Riley. Maybe it had nothing to do with him and everything to do with her. Still, she had a gut instinct that she could trust him. But that instinct had led her into the arms of jerkwad…
fuck that douchebag.
And that wasn’t her, just her under-utilized hormone levels that didn’t want to hold the title, virgin, any longer. Maybe she could just pretend jerkwad didn’t happen. It hardly counted as real sex anyway. He certainly didn’t leave her satisfied.

Regardless of her past choices, there was something different about Riley. She wondered how many naive women had said that same thing right before a serial killer took them and snuffed out their lives.

Melinda didn’t want to lose her nerve. She moved to the edge of the quarry, her toes dangling precariously over the edge of the granite. She glanced over, unable to see the bottom as steam and fog rolled lazily across the surface.

Riley stepped up alongside her, just a few inches away.

Her gaze wandered to his nearly naked body. He wore just a pair of form fitting knit boxers. A sudden urge to reach out and stroke the tanned skin of his magnificently shaped chest nearly broke her balance, sending her plummeting over the granite cliff.

She sucked in a deep pocket of air and ordered him to take hold of her hand.

“Um, why?” he asked, with slight trepidation. “You’re not going to do what I think you’re going to do, are you?” he backed away a few steps.

“Are you afraid of heights?”

“Not really, but, you can hardly see the water. How do you know what’s down there?”

“I could jump anywhere in this quarry with my eyes closed. Do you trust me?” she asked him again. 

Riley eyed her, his look one of uncertainty. Was this some test of bravery? Meant for him, or her? He supposed if this test were something she needed, he’d oblige. He rejoined her, standing so close that their bodies were practically touching.

Melinda had no idea where this newfound bravery was coming from, but she refused to question it. Adrenaline surged through her body and she didn’t want it to stop. It felt like she had been asleep for a very long time and had just awakened and remembered she had a life to live.

“Take my hand,” she whispered with a hard swallow.

He did so.

Melinda jumped, taking Riley with her.

She didn’t even know if he screamed on the way down. All she could hear was the rush of air flying by, and the waterfall crashing onto the water’s surface below. Cool water bit at her sun-warmed skin as she hit the surface. She plunged underneath, fully submerged, moments later kicking upward, her head popping out of the water.

She’d lost her grip on motorcycle man.

“Riley,” she called out. He didn’t answer and she couldn’t see him.

Her heart raced, blood pumping through veins that had been sedentary for years, each pulse surging with an intoxicating rush she wanted to repeat.

She’d left the old Melinda Howard up on the ledge. She spun around in the water, looking for Riley to surface. Her heart thudded hard when she didn’t see him. Had she messed up? Had he been injured during the jump?

It was difficult to see; the mist was thicker than she had expected.

She gasped, suddenly grabbed from behind and spun around. Riley’s moist lips charged her own. The sting of the cold water and the rushing of blood through her veins was nothing to the electrifying thrum the touch of his lips shot through each nerve. All thought, all reason, dissolved into lips consuming each other.

When Riley pulled away, his breath came out in a frantic push. “That was such a rush… I’ve never done anything like it before.”

“The jump, or the kiss?” she asked breathlessly.

He swam closer, looking like he was going to kiss her again.

Melinda’s willpower sank, and drowned. She wanted a lot more than another kiss.

His eyes widened in surprised delight when she reached behind her back and unclasped her bra. She wiggled out of it, and it floated away with the churning whirlpools created by the waterfall. She left no question as to what she wanted.

Riley got her message loud and clear.

“Your wish is my command.”

She swam backwards; he kept pace until she slowed down, granite sweeping across the bottom of her feet. She stopped when cool granite caressed her back. The water reached her chest, hiding most of her from the shoulders down. 

Riley grabbed the top of the granite wall, drawing his body closer to hers. His lips trailed down her cheek, her neck, nibbling on her ear. It was heavenly as she thought it would be.

“I’ve never met anyone like you, Melinda.”

“I bet you say that to all the girls.”  

“There haven’t been that many,” he returned. “But they were just that.
Girls.
” The way he said the word was like describing her as the epitome of womankind.

Heavenly puffs of white steam enclosed around them.

His lips lowered, nuzzling the curve of her breasts.

Her reaction pleased him. He lifted his head, finding her lips again. It wasn’t a full invasion. He seemed to be holding back. Or maybe he wasn’t, Melinda had no idea. She only knew she was falling hard. And fast. Too fast, she was certain most any sane person would say.

Shit. Shit. Shit.
A surge of doubt swept through her.
What am I doing?

He pulled away gently, almost as if he sensed her tension. He was far too perceptive.

“I feel like I’ve known you forever, Melinda. Like we were destined to meet.
Wow,
sorry,” he said with a hint of disbelief. “Even to me that sounded like a lame ass pick up line.” He let out a frustrated chuckle.

She recalled feeling the same way when she’d run into him the evening before. Like destiny had knocked on her door. “Well, since we’re being lame and cliché, you should know I don’t normally do this sort of thing. It’s so… not me.”

“And not to meet, or beat, your cliché, but I usually do like to date, first,” he said. “If you want to stop, Melinda, we can. The truth is...” he let out a timid breath. “The truth is, from the moment I ran into you last night I haven’t stopped thinking about you. I don’t understand it exactly, but when I looked into your eyes they begged me to love you. To wrap you up in my arms and protect you. To please you in every way possible. I’ve had an urge to do just that ever since and that’s not going to change if you want to slow down.” He looked directly into her eyes to be sure there was no doubt.

She glanced down into the water and smirked.

“I didn’t say it would be easy to stop.”

Riley was a stranger and yet she looked into his eyes and all doubt swept away.

“I won’t ever do anything you don’t want me to,” he whispered, a slight tremble in his voice. “I want you to know you can trust me, Melinda. However long that takes.”

God, could he be anything but perfect? Could he say anything that wasn’t exactly what she wanted to hear? Warning bells should have sounded in her mind, but instead, they were drowned out the pulsing of her heart. Belief in what he was saying to her even if it was naïve. Erased and replaced by a need she had to have satisfied before she lost her mind. She was done not living her life anymore. Finished wasting away the days without taking a chance. A risk… everything required risk. It was time she took one without worrying about the consequences.

She reached in front of her and grabbed hold of Riley’s boxer shorts, pulling them down over his ass. He kicked them off, needing no further encouragement. They popped up somewhere behind him, floating away into the steamy plumes. Riley’s hands ran down her sides, eagerly sliding hers down over her hips. She wriggled out her pink panties and lost them in the swirling water. His hands wrapped around her backside, bringing her body up against his.

Her arms slid around him.

The hardness rubbing in between them sent a jolt of current through her.

“I want to take you out of the water, Melinda.”

The jolt fizzled, her breath caught.

She didn’t answer him right away. There’d still be steam hiding them from onlookers, but there would be nothing hiding her from Riley. He’d see every part of her. There would be no way to hide anything.

“I may have given you the impression I’m a confident person, Riley, but I’m not,” she admitted painfully. “I don’t… it’s very… exposed.”

“Then I’ll make you see why you should be confident.”

As if to prove the point, his thick bulge pressed into her, reminding her what she was doing to him. She let out a rushed exhale.

“Your hot little body is driving me insane.”
 

“There you go again… saying every right thing. How do you do that?” She almost felt tears welling up.
Seriously? Tears? He did call me hot. Fuck the jerkwad! He can take his
adorable
and shove it up his ass…

Riley shook his head. “It’s all you, Melinda. You make me say things, think things, I’ve never thought before. Never imagined saying to anyone before.”

“Okay,” she whispered. “Take me out of…” he didn’t give her a chance to finish. He picked her up and carried her until they’d reached a granite surface he could sit her down on. Her feet dangled in the water, her legs straddling the sides of his legs.

She was bare ass naked and out of the water. Steam rose from the heat of the sun and the watery mist hitting the granite.

“How about a partial compromise?” he said with a naughty grin. “I’ll let you keep your toes in the water if you really want to.”

She lifted her legs and wrapped them around him in reply. He leaned her back, moving out of the water with her, gently pulling her across the sun-warmed granite.

He stared intently into her eyes.

“Will you tell me if I do something wrong? Or if you don’t like it, will you tell me to stop?”

She nodded, unable to vocalize a yes.

“I may come across as confident as well, Melinda, but if I’m to be completely honest, I haven’t done this a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean only once… I mean one girlfriend. We dated for over a year. Broke up. Months ago. And I can’t believe I’m talking about this.”
Okay, you can shut the fuck up now if you haven’t already ruined the moment.

However, he felt Melinda melting into him. As if his admittance calmed her, was exactly what she needed to hear. He felt her lips capture his, pulling him down to her. Knowing Riley was inexperienced as she was changed everything.

He was probably more experienced, but still, she’d expected he’d been with way more than one girl. And maybe he was lying… she didn’t care. His show of vulnerability broke down any barriers of doubt she might have had.

His mouth turned greedy, tasting her lips, her neck; his chest rubbed against her hardened peaks firing bolts of lightning surging downward, between her thighs. Her legs opened wider, her needy mound pressing into the hard shaft separating them.

“What you’re doing right now…” he breathed out heavily, “is so fucking hot you have no idea what it’s doing to me.”

She’d only ever heard words like that in her dreams. No one had ever said that to her in real life before. Her hand trailed down his chest, rubbing down his silky hardness. “I can feel what it’s doing to you.” She couldn’t believe the daring of her own words.

“God, if you keep doing that, I’m never going to make it inside of you.”

She let go, mouths colliding, tongues tasting, devouring. His lips slid off her mouth and down her neck. Trailing to her right breast. His tongue teased her peak.

It wasn’t enough. Her back arched into him. “Harder. Please, Riley.”

He groaned, happily obliging. Taking her stiff little tower in between his teeth.

It awakened something in Melinda. A desire to act out every lust filled dream she’d ever had. Every fantasy she’d ever spent hours in the bathtub, dreaming up.

His gaze darted up toward her face to see her reaction. He didn’t need to. He felt it, shuddering through her, into him. He let go with a gasp.

She felt air connecting with her skin and opened her eyes to see Riley sitting up on his knees, peering down at her. His eyes hungry. Reverent. Looking at her like she was a goddess to be treasured.