Chapter17
They fell onto the bed,mouths eagerly fused together as they fumbled with zippers and buttons. Ryan shrugged out of his jacket and shirt and unceremoniously lifted Anika’s dress over her head, dropping it onto the pile on the floor. All she wore underneath was a pair of black, full lace boy shorts that gave himpause.
Swearing softly, his heated gaze swept her body. He trailed a hand down the middle of her torso, awakening the sensitive flesh of her breasts with a series of sparks that made her nipples harden even more than theyalreadyhad.
“I’m so glad you came into my life again.” He said the words in a semi-detached way, not to her, but almost to himself. “You have no ideahowmuch.”
He reclaimed her mouth, and Anika came alive in his arms. Warm lips caressed hers, first plucking at the full bottom one and then nibbling at each corner. But it wasn’t enough. She wrapped her arms around his neck and sealed their lips together, demanding a proper kiss. Wrapping one leg around his waist, she grinded her pelvis against his hard shaft to ease the ache that echoed through her loinsunrestricted.
She tried not to go too fast, but excitement twisted in her stomach. It felt as if she’d been waiting for this particular kiss for years—the prelude to a meeting of the minds and bodies, resulting in a rapid pulse and goose bumps on her arms. Their tongues twisted around each other in a seductive dance. The dizzying exploration left her drunk on passion and her excited heart hitting against her ribs in an out-of-controlcadence.
Reed lifted his head and cradled her face in his big hands. With naked hunger in his eyes, he said, “It’s different this time, Anika. Do youunderstand?”
She nodded. “Ido.”
The first time they’d fallen into a whirlpool of emotion by accident, unexpectedly. This time, both she and he knew what they were getting themselves into. They were making a conscious decision to risk their hearts, and for the first time in a long time she wasn’t afraid. She wouldn’t date and run as she’d done withothermen.
Anika smoothed a hand over the silky skin of his chest and stroked the line of hair that covered his body, all the way down to where it descended below the waistband of his trousers. His muscles were a sight to behold. It wasn’t enough to touch him. She showered kisses on his chest that made him push out a low groan and licked his nipples until they transformed into hardlittlenubs.
The rest of his clothes came off with a quickness, and then Reed’s moist lips landed on her skin with a tender, almost reverential delivery before he shifted to stand on the side of the bed. He reached for her panties, and she lifted up so he could slide them down the length ofherlegs.
When she was completely naked, he lowered back onto the bed and braced himself above her. His gaze was like a soft caress, roaming over her bare shoulders and her swollen brown nipples tilted up to the ceiling. She ran her fingertips over her own sensitive flesh and watched his blue eyes darken to cobalt. Her nipples ached for his touch and fortunately, finally, became the focus of his undividedattention.
Reed ran his palms across the turgid peaks before closing one big hand over her right breast. He squeezed it. He massaged it. Until she sucked air through her teeth in pleasure-filleddistress.
Then his mouth enveloped the nipple of the left breast. Moist and warm, his mouth was relentless. He teased the throbbing nub with his teeth and tortured it with his tongue. His avid attention elicited a shiver and a moan, and a choked sound of helplessness that caught in her throat. Reed took his time, alternating between delivering open-mouthed kisses to the soft mounds and tonguing hernipples.
“Reed, Reed,” Anikapanted.
Barely able to contain the building pressure in her loins, she clutched handfuls of hair and held his face to her chest, straining her aroused body uptohis.
His fingers traced the line of her waist and over her bare hips, then moved lower to the strip of hair at her privates where his feather-light touch made her sensitive skintremble.
“No,” she whispered in a shakyvoice.
“No? I don’t think you mean that,princess.”
She didn’t mean it. Not when her legs fell apart and he rubbed her clit with gentle but firm strokes. Not when her toes curled and her heels pushed into the bed as she lifted into histouch.
He pulled her on top of him, fisting a hand in her hair this time and grabbing her ass with aroughhand.
Anika took full advantage of her position. She bit down on his hard shoulder and then covered the red mark with a soothing lick. She rained kisses across his throat and let her hands run free—free to explore the hardness of his biceps and the strength of his chest. She took pleasure in his manly form—the hair-roughened skin, the hard contours of his torso, and the power in his thick thighs. He was a big, powerful animal. Incredibly made andbeautifullymale.
Her hand clasped the pulsing-hard readiness of him and his jaw twitched as he groaned. When she took the engorged flesh between her lips, Reed dragged air into his lungs with a harsh, loud whoosh. The firm flesh filled her mouth—smooth and taut, hot andheavy.
It turned her on to watch him lose control—to watch him slowly unravel as he fought not tounravel.
“Not yet,” he muttered, and flipped her onto her back, effectively taking back control. “You’re trying to kill me,” he said, his voice husky as he took gentle nips atherneck.
“You’retrying to killme,” she whispered back. “I want you now, Reed.” She wiggled beneath him and tilted her hips at just the right angle so the tip of shaft pressed at the entrance to her sex. Lifting her hips, she applied a little pressure, eliciting a helpless groan from the back of histhroat.
“Now,” he agreed, reaching for a condom in the nightstand. As soon as he had sheathed himself in protection, he nudged her thighs apart and lifted one leg over his forearm. Slipping in with ease, he gripped the bedsheets as his hard fleshfilledher.
“Yessss.” Anika gasped, sinking her short nails into his buttocks. She marveled at how he completely controlled her body. The way her legs fell open in utter surrender. She was different with him. A tigress in bed, and utterlywanton.
Her fingers slid over the rippling muscles of his shoulders and upper back as his hips moved with the same motion of an undulating wave between her thighs. His gaze lowered to her jostling breasts and he reached for one taut nipple again, plucking it into his mouth and laving the flesh with his tongue. He moved faster. Shallow plunges became deep dives, and she yielded to the power in each drivingthrust.
Anika bucked beneath him, taking him further in a fast and frantic rhythm. The rattling bed testified to the strength of theirpassion.
