Ricochet (5 page)

“Shuttle. You can’t drive.” His hands squeezed her waist, moved up her back, down again, spreading fiery tingles through her body. He lifted one hand to her chin and tilted her face up. “That way I can touch.”

He lowered his head, and instead of leaning back the way Rachel’s lifetime of conservative instincts ordered, she lifted to her toes. Their lips met more deliberately than she’d intended. But, fuck it. She was sick of looking for the “right” guy. Sick of trying to satisfy the unfulfilled cravings that had developed over the last year. She wanted a man’s hands on her. A man’s mouth everywhere. A man’s body moving with hers.

He made a surprised sound in his throat, and it thrilled her to have taken a man like this off guard. Then the feel of his mouth sank in—firm, warm, supple—and her excitement burst into lust.

She should pull away now. Every voice in her head told her to stop. Told her she was devaluing herself. Acting reckless, careless, downright stupid.

You’re in an airport bar, for God’s sake.

He’s a total stranger. No different from the guy at the corner gas station.

Are you really this desperate?

Rachel lowered, pulling out of the kiss. Nathan, still fully involved, groaned in complaint and followed her down, reluctantly breaking the connection. The action created a sweet pang in her chest.

If wanting this man made her desperate, fine.

She was desperate.

Her lips pillowed beneath Ryker’s in the most luscious way, but it was the purr rolling from her throat, the way her body relaxed into his, the feel of her breasts pressing against his chest that made his thoughts evaporate and fire spread through his lower body.

He tasted her lips, and she opened to him, but her mouth remained tense with restrained hunger. One Ryker burned to release. And when her tongue eased past his lips and slid against his, all his thoughts sank into Rachel and the feel of his tongue moving in her mouth.

Public
, a little voice chattered in his head.
You’re in public.

But, dear God, her mouth was perfect—the heat, the movement, the taste. He wanted his cock surrounded by this mouth. Stroked by this tongue. Sucked by these lips. All while he fisted her hair and watched her fuck him, those big brown eyes looking up at him, drenched in pleasure.

“Your bill.” The bartender’s get-a-room tone snapped the moment like a dry twig, and he and Rachel came apart with a start. For an extended second, they stared at each other in surprise, maybe even a little awe.

Where the hell did that come from?
was rolling around in his head when Rachel licked her lips, tucked her hair behind her ears, and turned to scribble a signature across the credit card receipt, then slid the card into her purse.

“Let’s go.” She whipped her sweater and her bag from the chair, grabbed Ryker’s hand and started toward the door.

“Hold on,” he said, turning back toward the bar. “My stuff.” When he bent to pick up his duffle and backpack, his head swam the way it did from the percussion of an IED that exploded a little too close. She was already making him dizzy.

With his bags over his shoulder, he took her hand again, and the smile she gave him softened her sweet face and made his legs feel like he just finished a sweaty, sandy, mountain hike.

They didn’t talk as they made their way through the busy terminal toward baggage claim and out to the shuttle area. Ryker’s mind darted to the consequences of having Rachel discover who he really was, to Troy and Jax and the job he should be consulting on, to the surreal sensation of his hand wrapped in Rachel’s.

Rachel.

God, this was weird. She’d been popping into his head for the last week at the strangest times. And he hadn’t even known what she’d looked like then, only that she was funny and clever and didn’t easily take offense to his teasing. Some women could be so sensitive.

He scanned the curb outside baggage claim. Across the drop-off lanes, a burgundy Crowne Plaza Hotel van pulled up.

“Perfect timing,” she said, picking up the pace and pulling Ryker along.

He would agree—everything since she’d shown up at the bar had been perfect timing…if it weren’t for the fact that they really had been
scheduled
to meet earlier, and in a whole different way, and for a whole different purpose.

Guilt edged in. He stalled the realization, hoping the annoying emotion would dissipate. At the stairs to the van, he held her waist as she climbed, then sat beside her where she took a seat halfway down the empty rows. Three other passengers got on, all sitting at the front.

Rachel angled toward him and swung her thigh over his, leaning in and looking up at him with those big, warm eyes.

Shit.
He had to tell her.

“Hey.” He wrapped an arm over her shoulders and pulled her close, nudged a strand of hair off her forehead with the other hand. “I should tell you—”

Her fingers pressed against his lips. The van doors closed, and the vehicle started moving.

“The only thing I want to know now,” she said, voice soft, “is, one: if you’re married.” He shook his head. “Two: if you have a disease you could share.” His lips curled beneath her fingers, and he shook his head again. “Three: if you don’t have condoms.” He chuckled, shook his head, and covered her hand with his. “Four: if you’re wanted for violent crimes.”

He lifted her hand and kissed her palm. “No.”

“Or five,” she said, “if you’ve changed your mind about the hotel.”

He kissed her hand again, letting his tongue travel up from the center of her palm and along her middle finger before taking it into his mouth. Her lips parted, and surprised heat flooded her eyes.

He stroked her small digit with his tongue, loving the complex emotions darting through her gaze—lust, confusion, and ultimately surrender, as pleasure eased her expression.

She was so different from the women he ended up with—experienced, overtly sexual, wickedly dirty. He’d always thought that was what turned him on. But he’d obviously been wrong, because with little more than a kiss from Rachel, he was harder than concrete. Sure, he was pretty much constantly horny, but he was discovering that the physical need to fuck was very different from wanting to fuck because a woman turned him on.

He was too damned old to be learning shit like this.

“And,” he put her fifth concern to rest, “hell, no, I haven’t changed my mind.”

That smile, the one that did weird things to his stomach, flashed again. “Then you don’t have to tell me anything. In fact, I’d prefer you didn’t.” She lifted a hand to his face, and stroked her fingers across his jaw, her gaze on his mouth. “I’d really like to leave all reality behind tonight.”

He couldn’t ask for more. She was exactly what he needed when he needed it.

He slid his hand under the hem of her dress and up the back of the smooth, warm, tight thigh lying over his. She turned into him, her breasts supple against his side, and lifted her hips so she could get closer. The sexy move made Ryker think about her doing the same as he thrust deep inside her. And,
God
, he wasn’t sure how long he could wait to get there.

His stomach balled into a fiery knot, and he squeezed her thigh. “Damn, you are such a sweet surprise.”

He lowered his head and suckled her lips. Stroked them with his tongue. Nibbled on the bottom one until her fingers dug into his arm, and she groaned. He moved the hand on her thigh higher. And higher. So warm. So soft. “You feel like heaven,” he whispered against her cheek. “Bet you taste like candy.”

Her hand released, flexed, released, and she pressed her pelvis against his hip, rubbing on him like a cat. One he wanted to pet all over.

“I can’t wait to get my mouth on you,” he whispered, kissing her temple, her hair. “Lick you everywhere.” The more he talked, the closer she pressed. By the time they got to the hotel, she’d be dripping. “Thank God we have all night, because before the sun comes up, baby, I’m going to have tasted every…literal…inch of you.”

She sighed, turned her head, and pressed her face against his neck. “Too good to be true,” she murmured before closing her lips over his skin. Then scraping with her teeth.

Ryker slid his hand over the little silk panties covering her ass and squeezed, pulling her closer. The softness between her legs rubbed his hip again, and she groaned. The lust settled low in his body spread. Her hand dropped to his thigh, and heat gathered beneath her touch and rose into his groin.

Then she stroked his entire package, cupping his balls, rubbing his length. A bold, confident move that made Ryker suck air and grit his teeth against the urge to get noisy. He almost lost it when she closed her hand on his cock and gave a little tug. He pressed his mouth to her hair and groaned. Tightened the hand on her ass.

“Want you…” she whispered, her fingers moving to the button of his pants. . “So bad…”

“Rachel,” he said, struggling to keep his thoughts above the haze quickly filling his brain. “We’re not alone.”

“It’s dark.” She pulled his earlobe between her teeth, bit gently, then suckled, all while sliding his zipper down.

He wanted to do her right here. Right now. Knew he couldn’t. But checked on the passengers and found two caught up in their phones. The other had his head back against the seat as if he were dozing. Ryker glanced at the driver, who was humming, her gaze darting out the side window, the windshield, the rearview, but only resting on the two of them a split second before moving away again.

Flesh-on-flesh contact shocked his attention back to Rachel. To her small hand flattened low on his belly and moving lower. “Shit… Rach—”

Her palm slid over his length, and heat blasted through his cock, into his balls. Pleasure sliced deep in his belly, and his eyes closed on a groan he tried to muffle against her hair.

Why did this feel so good? Because they were in public? Because Rachel didn’t know who he really was? Because she was as sexy and ballsy as he’d found her to be over the phone? Maybe it was just all of them combined. And the alcohol he had on board. But something was different. He hadn’t gotten this excited by such little interaction in a long damn time.

He fisted the soft strands of her hair and dragged her head back, then closed his lips over hers, plunging his tongue into her mouth. She gave back, deeply, erotically, while the stroke of her hand stayed perfectly snug and slow and maddening.

He broke the kiss. “If you don’t stop,” he murmured, “I’m going to come in your hand.”

She met his eyes. Hers were gold and dazzling with heavy lids when she whispered, “I’ll lick you off my fingers.”

“Good God…” This had to be a dream. One he didn’t want to wake up from. “Where the fuck did you come from?”

She grinned, and a grenade exploded in Ryker’s chest. He kissed her again, letting go of the resistance, the logic, the reservations, and took all of her. He loved the way she kissed, passionately, hungrily, openly. Inviting him to take everything he wanted. Ryker slid his hand deeper between her legs and found the lips of her pussy as wet as he’d imagined. Her little gasp interrupted the kiss, and Ryker pressed his mouth to her cheek while he focused on this new find.

This new hot, slick, oh-so-fuckable find.

She responded to every slight move of his hand, her body lifting and rocking to his touch. “Baby, you’re so sexy.”

Her hand stilled, fingers wrapped around his cock. “Nathan…”

The word was filled with questions and awe, and Ryker’s focus shifted from his own pleasure to hers. He moved his hand deeper between her legs, spread his fingers over her pussy—tight, small, hot. He wanted to shove his face between her thighs, make her arch and scream. And he wanted her screaming
Nathan
, not Ryker, like every other woman.

“So wet,” he murmured against her hair, his fingertips covered with her, stroking the plump folds. “So soft.”

“Oh, God…” Her voice grew lighter, tighter. Her pussy clenched and released as she lifted her hips into his touch. Her fingers tightened on his cock, creating both pleasure and pain.

“Shh.” He eased her head to his shoulder to muffle the cries he planned to elicit. “Stay quiet, baby.”

A subdued moan vibrated against his collarbone.

Oh yeah. This would definitely take all night to explore. He loved the way she responded instead of demanded. The way she savored the fire instead of expecting it. The way she enjoyed what he gave instead of ordering him to finger fuck her right now.

Yeah, he liked forceful, forward, and dirty. That was just his style. At least he’d thought so. But now he wondered if it had always been that way or it had become that way because it was all he’d ever known. Because this woman drew him and made him want to give more, and more. And more.

Moving deeper, he slipped his fingers into her heat, just an inch, just to feel her. And, damn, she was perfection.

A needy sound vibrated in her throat and she lifted her hips toward his hand, forcing his fingers deeper.

“Oh my God,” she whispered, her voice shaky.

Ryker moved inside her, stroking and stretching. She wiggled toward his touch, wanting more. He wished he could get deeper, give her what she was searching for, but they just didn’t have the mobility. Or the privacy. And he was already pushing those limits.