Bad Judgment (35 page)

The tears that fall from her eyes now are happy ones. “I thought you just wanted a piece of ass.” The words come out on a laugh.

I shake my head. “I told you, since that day you opened your mouth in Torts class, I knew you were a hell of a lot more than a great rack and perfect ass. I wasn’t going to stop until you were mine. Now I’m the luckiest fucking guy in the world because you are.”

She leans forward, her tears wetting my cheeks as she presses her lips to mine before drawing back an inch. “Can we agree that we’re both lucky?”

“Definitely.” I smooth the hair back from her face as her stomach growls. “Now, it’s time to feed my woman.”

She nods. “That too.”

I lift her up and carry her to the house, determined that this weekend will be the beginning of all good memories. She deserves it, and I’m going to work like hell to give it to her.

Justine

My lips are sticky with melted marshmallow as I finish chewing the fabulous concoction that also includes melted chocolate and crunchy graham crackers. I never thought I would be able to laugh and make s’mores, but Ryker is helping me systematically replace all my sour memories with sweet ones.

And who knew the guy I thought could be crowned King of the Douche Bags once upon a time would turn out to be the best man I know. Gramps would approve.

Ryker has been giving and giving, and now it’s my turn. I need to right the balance and give him back some portion of what he gives me.

“I love you.” The words come easier to my lips every time, and his face lights up in the glow of the firelight when I say them.

“You don’t know how fucking happy it makes me every time you say that. I love you. I want to show you just how good it can be.”

“I already know how good it can be. You’ve been showing me.”

I reach for the chocolate squares and graham crackers, and sweep the golden toasted marshmallow off the stick to make another delicious dessert. I hand it to Ryker and he wastes no time crunching into it.

“You want another?” I ask, reaching for the bag of marshmallows.

He shakes his head and I’m glad, because I know what I want next. While he finishes his s’more, I gather up the sticks and bags and boxes, and stow them in the kitchen. Ryker joins me in washing our sticky hands, and we both head back to the living room and settle on the floor in front of the fire.

His expression turns serious. “There’s something else we need to talk—”

I shake my head. “No more talking tonight. I don’t need more words. I just need you.” I reach for the hem of my shirt and tug it over my head.

“Baby—”

“No. Really. I need you. Take your shirt off.”

He hesitates for a moment before grabbing the back of his shirt and tugging the entire thing over his head in that solidly male move. I never tire of looking at him. His muscles are defined and sexy as hell. I get a very strong
I licked it, so it’s mine
feeling whenever I see them.

I push him back on the rug, my fingers going to the button of his jeans before pulling down the tab of the zipper. Ryker lifts his ass as I tug them down off his hips. His cock springs free because once again, he’s opted to go commando.

When I wrap my hand around his shaft, he stills, even though I know his heart rate is picking up. Normally he’s the one who makes me yell his name and writhe against him, but tonight, it’s my turn.

“Baby, what are you—”

“I think that’s pretty obvious,” I whisper as I lower my mouth and suck the head of his cock inside.

His groans, quiet words of encouragement, and the crackling of the fire are the only sounds I hear for long minutes. When I’ve teased him to the brink, and the salty taste of his pre-cum hits my tongue, he grips my hair and pulls my head back with a soft tug.

“I want to come inside you.”

I can already feel the heat building between my thighs, and I want the same thing. When I nod, he pulls me forward, his fingers tugging down the waistband of my leggings until the heat of the fire hits my skin. I shimmy them the rest of the way off, and because I took a page out of his book, I’m bare beneath them.

“Fuck, baby.” His hand cups me between my legs, and he groans at how slick and ready I am. “Always so wet for me. I love it. You couldn’t be more perfect. I want you on my face. I want to eat you before I fuck you.”

I look down at him, a smile tugging at the corner of my lips. “You mean before I ride you? Because this is my show.”

His blue eyes blaze with heat. “Then you’re going to ride my face first—until you scream.”

When I move up toward his face, Ryker’s hands grip my ass and guide me the rest of the way. “Fucking love your ass. Your pussy. Your brain. Your heart. Love you, baby. So much.”

I open my mouth to reply, but my words fall away as Ryker steals my power of speech and catapults me into pleasure. His tongue, his lips, his teeth—he uses them all in an effort to make me scream. And he succeeds.

“
Ryker!
”
His name bounces off the walls of the room before I collapse onto my elbows, hovering over him.

I’m only still for a second before he grips my hips and flips me over onto my back.

“I know you said you were going to ride me, but baby, I’m taking charge of this show.” He reaches for his pants, retrieves a condom from the pocket, and has it on before I can come up with a single argument as to why I shouldn’t let him take charge. Probably because my body is totally in favor of this plan.

Ryker slides a hand under my ass and tilts my hips upward until the head of his cock nudges against my entrance.

“Hard and fast. I’ll give you slow and sweet later.”

I nod. “As long as I’m getting you, I don’t care.”

His gaze never leaves mine as he presses forward, burying himself to the hilt in a single stroke.

Full.
I’ll never get over the feeling of fullness. I love every single second of the stretch as my body takes everything he has to give.

Ryker leans down to take my lips in a hard kiss before pulling back. “Hard and fast,” he murmurs before delivering on his promise.

With every stroke, he owns me. My climax barrels down on me, and his name rings out from my lips again. He fucks into me harder and faster until he finally stills with his release.

I belong to him. I’ve found my place, and it’s not a
where
. It’s a
who.

Whatever happens now, I’m stronger for having him in my life and experiencing this.

Justine

My phone chimes over and over on the nightstand.

Shit. Alarm.

I’m not ready to get up. I’m not ready for this to be over. If I could have conjured the perfect weekend out of thin air, it wouldn’t have been better than this one.

We cooked, we ate, we joked, we teased, we fucked, we made love, and more than anything—we laughed. Laughter hasn’t been a constant in my life, but with Ryker around, it’s now coming quicker and easier.

Neither of us wanted to let this weekend go, so when Ryker suggested we stay Sunday night and head back to school early the next morning for class, I didn’t hesitate to agree.

But my alarm is signaling our return to reality.

I grab my phone, intending to hit the screen and the snooze button to make it shut up. But when I hear a voice instead of silence, I sit up straight, waking Ryker.

“Shit. What’s—”

“Where the hell are you?”

The voice finally penetrates my sleep-muddled head. It wasn’t my alarm. It was my ringtone for Merica.

“Where the hell are you?” she repeats.

I look down at the screen, my stomach dropping at the time.
Fuck,
it’s already after eight.

“Shit! My alarm didn’t go off!”

Ryker bolts up in bed next to me. “Fuck, we gotta go. We’re missing class.”

“Justine—” Merica’s voice sounds like a muted yell as I hold the phone away from my head.

“We’ll be there. I gotta go.”

“Wait—”

But I hang up. I’m already in panic mode as I vault out of bed.

“We gotta go. I don’t know what happened to my alarm.”

Ryker grabs his phone off the nightstand. “Fuck, my phone’s dead, so my alarm didn’t go off. I’m so sorry, babe. I know how you feel about missing class.”

“It’s okay. I probably set my alarm for PM or some stupid crap like that. Let’s just go. Maybe we can make the next class.”

Ryker nods. “Pack our stuff. I’ll shut down everything in the house and we’ll be on the road.”

“Sounds good.” I lean over to press a kiss to his lips. “We’re a good team.”

Twenty minutes later, we’re headed back to reality as my phone chimes with a text.

M
ERICA
: Call me before you get to campus. We need to talk.

J
USTINE
: I’ll be there as quick as I can. Talk soon.

Ryker looks over at me as he pushes the truck harder and faster down the highway.

“Everything okay?”

“Merica wants me to call her, but I’ll see her after class. I owe her for calling and waking us up.”

“I’m sorry we’re missing—”

I cut him off. “Don’t be. It’s not a big deal. Missing one class isn’t going to kill us.”

He reaches across the center console and squeezes my hand. “I love you, baby.”

“Love you.”

We hold hands as we haul ass toward campus.

I should have listened to Merica. I should have called her, shouldn’t have hung up on her. If I’d done any of those things, I wouldn’t have walked blind into the shitstorm that meets us at the doors of the law school.

When Ryker and I walk into the building, we’re still holding hands, and I have one of those
everyone is staring at us
moments.

“Why is everyone looking at us like that?”

He wraps a hand around my hip and pulls me closer. “Because you’re fucking gorgeous, and they’re all amazed you finally gave me the time of day.”

I shake my head because it’s more than that. I can practically feel the buzz of gossip flying through the air.

“It’s something else. Something bigger.”

Ryker presses a kiss to my forehead. “Babe, don’t worry so much about everything.”

We step out of the elevator, and Ryker is proven wrong.

Everyone
is
watching us. A few look up from newspapers to us and then back down again.

“What the hell is going on?” It’s not the student paper they’re holding, but the local paper.

Merica rushes toward us. “I told you to call me!” She grabs me by my free hand and drags us both toward a corner. Merica shoves the paper toward Ryker.

“Did you know?”

He takes it from her and flips to the front. My stomach twists and cramps as I lean over his shoulder to read the headline: “Abuse of Power at Every Level.”

There’s a picture of Justice Grant and a woman I assume is Ryker’s mother just below it.

“Fuck.” Ryker whispers the curse. “I have to call my dad.”

I yank the paper from his hand and read the article as fast as I can.

My eyes lift to Ryker’s as I get to the part about his mother being in rehab because she caused an accident and left the scene, which resulted in a law student going to jail. The article says that Justice Grant knew about the accident but didn’t report it.