Four of Hearts (4 page)

“I’m fine, Ryan. You didn’t hurt me,” she reassured. “That was the most incredible thing I’ve ever experienced. I can see why Fallon enjoys it so much. The tears are happy tears. No—joyful, blissful tears. I’m so happy I can’t hold it all in, that’s all it is.”

He’d never understand women. “We didn’t talk about this happening. I shouldn’t have forced them on you when you had no choice.”

“I had a choice, Ryan. I could have used my safe word and all of you would have stopped.”

He allowed himself a moment to imagine he’d done the right thing. He couldn’t live with himself if he’d misunderstood her needs. “Was that what you wanted? To have them touch you?”

“Yes. I don’t know how you knew. I didn’t know until Richard was binding me. Even then, I was embarrassed that I was feeling those things for our friends. I can’t believe you picked up on my feelings, and I really can’t believe you did what you did.”

“When I realized what was going on, I knew I had to let you experience it. It almost killed me, and I thought for a minute I might have to kill my best friend.”

“Because he touched me?”

He made sure she was looking at him. She had to know what length he would go to for her. “No, because he didn’t want to.” His voice sounded low and menacing even to his own ears.

“How did you convince him?”

“I didn’t. Fallon did. When he saw the two of you together, he knew I was right.”

“Well, I’m glad.”

Candace tucked her head on his shoulder. “Fallon wants to talk to you. I told Richard to tell her you would see her tomorrow.”

“Umm. Okay.”

“I love you, Candace.”

“I love you too. You are the most amazing man.”

If she knew where his thoughts were she wouldn’t be saying that.

Richard let himself into Ryan’s stateroom. He’d waited until Fallon called to tell him Candace was with her before he approached what was probably a viper pit. Ryan was on the balcony, sprawled in one of the chaises. His sunglasses shaded his eyes, but Richard knew he was awake. Every muscle in his body was as coiled as tight as a rattlesnake ready to strike.

“How you doing this morning?” Richard stepped out on the balcony and sat on the end of the other chaise.

“Get out.”

“I will, but not before we talk.”

“There isn’t anything to talk about.”

“I can think of a few things, like how your wife looks when she comes. . . .”

Ryan sprang and had Richard pinned by the neck to the chaise before he could defend himself. “Shut the fuck up!”

Richard recovered enough to return Ryan’s choke hold and throw him to the deck. He stood and moved to the door, leaving Ryan on his ass. “Listen, asshole. You started this. You’re the one who told me to touch her. You were right. She did want it, and you can either be an ass about it, or you can accept it. Candace loves you. If you can’t deal with what happened, you could lose her.”

“Don’t even think about touching her again.”

“I’m not. I won’t. Candace is a beautiful woman, a passionate woman, and for some inexplicable reason, she loves you. Just because she’s capable of the type of passion we unleashed yesterday doesn’t change anything. What will change the status quo is how you react to it.”

Ryan stood. “What do you know about it? You didn’t even know your wife had a thing for Candace.”

“I knew. I’ve always known.”

“She told you?”

“We don’t have secrets.”

Richard’s admission took some of the starch out of Ryan. He sank back onto the chaise looking less like a coiled snake and more like a lost dog. “Sit down.”

“Are you going to choke me again?”

“Not unless you say something stupid.”

Richard resumed his seat, but he wasn’t ready to let his guard down yet. Ryan was calmer, but far from at ease. He still had a corncob up his butt about the way their session turned out, and in that he was completely justified. “Look, I’m sorry yesterday went the way it did. That’s never happened before. Fallon and I aren’t that unprofessional.”

“That’s good to know. Candace and I always wanted to be someone’s first time.”

“Ha, ha.” Richard shifted, resting his legs onto the chaise. The viper was back in his cage for now. He could relax a little. “I never would have touched her, but you insisted.” He stayed Ryan’s protest with a glare. “You did insist, and then when I saw Fallon, that did me in. She told me about the time on the beach, but I never thought either one of them would well, you know.”

“I know. Candace told me about it too. I wrote it off as normal curiosity. You know how Candace was back then. She wanted to try everything. Hell, she still does.”

“How is she today? The first time can be pretty emotional.” He couldn’t help but remember the first time he’d bound Fallon, and the way he’d botched it, untying her and leaving her alone to deal with the aftermath. Fallon wouldn’t let him forget it, either, and that was why they made sure to follow up with the people who took their class.

“She’s fine. We haven’t talked about it much, but she seemed okay this morning.”

“So, are we okay with this?”

“Hell, no. I’m taking Candace off the ship in Miami. We’ll go back to the island. I need some time.”

“If you think it’s best. What about the Employee Performance Reviews you were going to get started on?”

“They can wait.”

Richard sat up and swung his legs over the side of the chaise, all civility gone. “You are not sticking me with that job. I’ll do a lot of things, but the Performance Reviews are your job.”

“I said I’d do them, just not this week.”

“So help me, Ryan, if you stick me with that job I’ll—”

“Don’t finish that sentence. Get out of here before Candace comes back. I want to be alone with my wife.”

Richard stood. “I’m leaving. I’d rather stay and spend some quality time with Candace. . . .” Ryan growled and made a predatory move. Richard laughed, but took a cautionary step toward the door. “Chill, okay? I’m kidding. Man, you never could take a joke,” he teased before he left.

* * * * *

“I’m back,” Candace called out as she entered the luxury suite. She looked like sin in the sun. Her skin glowed from good health and an inner light only she seemed to possess. Ryan wanted her instantly and desperately. All he’d thought about since she’d left their bed this morning was how she looked the previous night. Seeing her with Fallon, and Richard too, he had to admit, was one of the most erotic things he’d ever seen. A war waged in his mind. He should have hated the idea of his best friend touching his wife, and he did hate it, almost as much as he obsessed about seeing it happen again. And Fallon. He couldn’t stop thinking about her either. She’d been damned hot in her gold rope slave chains, and when she’d touched Candace, Christ, he thought he’d lose it right then. Richard would kill him if he knew the kind of thoughts he’d had about Fallon since last night. All the more reason to get the hell off this ship and put some distance between them before they all did something they’d regret later.

Ryan forced his wayward thoughts out of his mind, and his libido down, but allowed himself to take Candace in his arms and kiss her as if he hadn’t seen her in weeks, not hours. She clung to him like seaweed on the beach, but smelled a hell of a lot better. He broke the kiss. She tilted her head to the side. His lips skimmed the pulse in her neck, as he tasted his way down.

“Ryan.”

“Hmm?” He edged the top of her sarong down to expose one nipple. It hardened to a ruby peak when he flicked his tongue across it.

“Oh, that feels good.”

Her small hands cradled his face. He took it as a good sign and pulled her closer. Her ass fit perfectly in his hands, and her stomach was the perfect pillow for his aching cock.

“I need you,” he murmured against her breast.

“I need you, too.”

Her sarong slid to the carpet. His dropped beside it. He bent his knees, grabbed her ass in his hands and lifted her. Candace wrapped one arm around his neck, and the other snaked between them to guide his cock to her entrance. She sank down on his shaft, and it was all he could do to keep from coming right then. His balls drew up tight, aching to release his load. “Ah, God, you feel good,” he whispered against her ear. After a year, she could still do this to him every day, make him feel like he’d died and gone to heaven.

“God, Ryan, you’re so big.” She flexed her hips, grinding her clit against him. “I needed you so bad, you’re all I could think about all morning.”

“I’ll always be there for you, sweetheart. Always.” He managed to walk as far as the Kama Sutra chair and eased them down so she straddled him. There were dozens of the chairs around the ship, and though they had been expensive , they were popular with the clientele. At this moment, Ryan knew it was one of the best investments he’d ever made.

Nestled in the deep curve of the chair with his back against the high end and Candace astride him, all he had to do was relax and let her have her way with him. He watched her through heavy lids. She rocked against him, finding her own rhythm. His hands were free to explore, and he did. He touched every inch of skin he could reach, stopping to pay close attention to that tight knot of muscles between her sweet ass cheeks, the one that made her lose her rhythm when he touched it.

Her breasts rose and fell, scant inches from his nose. He pressed his palm between her shoulder blades until he could take one perfect ripe mound into his mouth. She lost her rhythm again, gaining him another moment inside her. He didn’t want it to end too soon. It felt so good to be inside her, he wouldn’t care if it never ended.

This is what he’d been looking for, this feeling of being home. He felt it anytime he was with Candace, but when he was buried inside her, the feeling was the most intense. No matter what other desires she had, she loved him, of that he was certain.

She pressed a finger between them. He felt her gaze on the top of his head. He grazed his teeth over her nipple, fingered her rosebud ass, and clung to her as she came apart in his arms. With a caveman grunt, he released her breast, pressed her as close as possible and flooded her channel.

Candace wiggled her hand from between them, and then sank against his chest with a kitten sigh. Ryan wrapped her in his arms and held her until the aftershocks subsided, and their breathing returned to normal.

“Candace?”

“Hmm?” He felt the vibration from his chest to his cock, still buried inside her.

“Do you have feelings for Fallon?” She stiffened in his embrace, but didn’t move otherwise.

“I don’t know. I. . . .”

“It’s all right if you do. I understand.”

She pushed away from him. He had to look up to see her face.

“I’m glad you understand, because I don’t. Can you explain it to me?”

He saw her inner turmoil in her eyes, eyes usually alight with good humor. He hated to see the conflict there. “You want Fallon. She wants you. But there’s more to it, isn’t there?”

“I don’t know. She’s become more than a friend to me, but I couldn’t ever give you up. Not ever,” she assured before melting against him again. Her complete trust in his love and acceptance, helped him say what he had to say.

“Then you need to explore your feelings.” He stroked her back as if she was a child needing reassurance. “I’ll be there for you. I love you, Candace. That you have the capacity to love beyond what we have doesn’t surprise me. It’s your passion for life that drew me to you in the first place, your willingness to accept what’s inside you and inside others. Your capacity to love. You saved me from a life of loneliness. I won’t deny you a chance at another relationship, as long as you continue to love me. I. . . ,” He held her impossibly tighter, “I couldn’t live without you.”

“I can’t live without you either.” She shifted against him and his cock rose to the occasion. Her hands framed his face. She placed a kiss on his lips, so gentle and sweet he wanted to cry. “I love you, Ryan Callahan. I love you more than anything, or anyone, in the world.”

“You’re mine, Candace Callahan.” He returned the gesture, framing her face in his palms. He tilted his head and brushed his lips across hers. “You’re everything to me, and I’ll do anything—
anything
to make you happy.”