Captured Love (24 page)

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“Bitch!” she shouted. “Cow, tramp, slut!”

My blood boiled and I jumped on her.

Ryan shot out an arm and pulled me back, drawing my back into his chest.

I jerked against him. “You’re the bitch, Caryn. You are.”

She came at me. This time, Jason stepped in the way. “Enough, Caryn,” he said, keeping her back.

Caryn’s friends came to her aid, and Sophie and Rachel jumped to their feet to intervene.

Ryan retreated, taking me away from Caryn, and I kept twisting in his arms, trying to get free so I could finally claw her eyes out.

“Stop it,” he hissed in my ear. “Everyone is watching.”

Stilling, I looked around. Every head in the room was turned toward us, their eyes wide. Some had their mouths hanging open; 412/504

others were gossiping. It was just a matter of seconds before the almost chick fight news hit Twitter.

Ryan dragged me out of the bar. I thought he would let go of me once we were on the sidewalk, but his grip was firm around my waist while he pulled me along with him.

“Let me go,” I said, trying to elbow him in the stomach.

“Stop fighting me.”

“Then let me go.”

“So you can go back inside and keep doing what?” He looked down at me. His eyes were hard and his jaw popped. He wasn’t happy. “Stop and think for a moment.

Whatever you two were doing, it was ridiculous.”

He was right, of course, but I would be damned if I admitted that to him. Besides, I was a little proud of myself for standing up to her. Sixteen-year-old me would never have stood up to a bitch like Caryn.

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The anger slowly receded and the dizzi-ness from the alcohol took over. “It’s okay. I won’t go after her. I promise. You can let go now.” He eyed me suspiciously, but dropped his arm from around me. I stopped and looked around. We were half a block from The Pub. “Where’s Rachel’s car?” I resumed walking back to The Pub and reached for my cell phone to send her a message that I was waiting outside. Three steps later, my heel caught on the sidewalk and tipsy me tripped.

Pain shot through my foot, and I flailed for a second, sure I would kiss the sidewalk, but Ryan was right there. He caught my elbow and pulled me up before my knees touched the ground.

Gritting my teeth, I limped the next step. “Shit.”

He looked down at my legs. “Did you hurt yourself?”

“I think so. My ankle is hurting.” I tried taking another step and I whimpered. The 414/504

pain was even worse than before. With a loud sigh, Ryan swept me into his strong arms. My breath hitched. “What are you doing?”

“My apartment is right there.” Walking, he jerked his chin ahead. “We’re gonna sit down and see what happened to your foot.”

“No, it’s okay,” I protested. “Just … help me to Rachel’s car. I’ll text her and she’ll take me home.”

“We’re already here,” he said, walking us past his closed garage. He went up the stairs and paused in front of the door. “Hold on to me.”

“W-what?”

“Just hold on to me, please?”

Wary, I wound my arms around his neck. The arm supporting my back dropped, and he fished his keys from his pocket. As if he did this every day, he unlocked the door without looking, and carried me inside. He 415/504

kicked the door closed and deposited me on the couch.

In the same rhythm, Ryan got an ice pack from his fridge then sat beside me.

With gentle hands, he put my foot on his leg.

Because I was wearing a dress and didn’t want to flash him, I grabbed a pillow and placed it on my lap. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice.

Ryan moved my foot from one side to another, and I hissed.

“It’s swelling,” he said. “But I think you only twisted it, nothing major.” He placed the ice pack on my ankle.

At first, the coldness shocked me, but in seconds, it began soothing the pain.

His eyes met mine, something hard and raw written in them. “What were you thinking?”

“About?”

“Letting Caryn get to you like that. Reacting to the bullshit she said.” 416/504

Shrugging, I averted my eyes. “Maybe I can blame the tequila.”

“Even so. You shouldn’t give her the time of day.”

I returned my eyes to his. “You do.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“No, you don’t get to do that.” He held my foot a couple of inches up and shifted on the couch, turning his torso to face me before depositing my foot back in his lap. “Don’t in-sinuate something and then shut up. Talk to me, Jess.”

Talk about what? About how Caryn was right? About how it hurt to see them talking and standing close together? About how I was leaving soon, and she would stay here to take care of him? Disgust rolled in my stomach.

“Were you jealous I was talking to Caryn at the bar?”

“W-what? Of course not!”

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“We weren’t actually talking, Jess. We were—”

“I don’t want to know.”

“—acting like our usual selves. She bothers me. I try to let her down nicely, but she pushes it until I snap. Still she comes back. I think she’s a masochist.” It was too good to be true, but how would I know if he was telling me the truth?

Besides, it didn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter.

As I kept reminding myself, I was leaving and he was staying.

I slid my leg from his lap and put my foot on the ground. Pain shot up my muscles.

Shit. How would I walk away from here? I grabbed my pumps—one had a broken heel, great—in one hand and my cell phone in another.

“What are you doing?” Ryan asked, leaning forward.

“I should go,” I whispered.

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His warm hand touched my arm and I shivered. “Stay. Just for a while longer.”

“I shouldn’t.”

“Just hear me out,” he said, his tone almost pleading. I looked at him. “I need to say thank you. Thank you for helping at the site, for bringing others who also helped a lot.

Thank you for taking me to see Brody. Thank you for calling John.”

“I … You’re welcome.”

“Jess, I probably shouldn’t say this, but I’m glad you came back, even for a short while. I’m glad we were able to heal, like you said. To find closure.” He ran his hand through his hair. “There’s one thing you should know before you go.”

“What?”

“When we started flirting, that trip was already scheduled, but I had forgotten about it. You made me forget about it. I … I don’t know how to explain. I had never experienced anything like what I did with you. It 419/504

was like you could see the good in me, and you also knew my flaws, but you were willing to help me out, to wait for me to come around. I had no idea how much I had fallen for you until that night.”

I scooted to the edge of the couch. “I’m not sure I want to hear this.”

“By then it was time for the trip and I wasn’t sure I wanted to go. I even told you that, but you insisted I go.”

“You’re gonna say it’s my fault now?”

“No, not at all. The guys were giving me a hard time, but it was my fault. I went on the trip, dead set on behaving, on having a good time, but I wasn’t going to sleep with anyone. I was just there to have fun with the guys. But it wasn’t fun. It was torture. The guys pushed alcohol on me, and the girls sneaked into my tent at night.”

“Please stop.”

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“No, hear me out. Whenever they came into my tent, I left. I drank, yes, but I didn’t sleep with anyone.”

My eyes went wide. “W-what?”

“I didn’t sleep with anyone.”

“But Caryn … and the pictures? She showed me a picture of the two of you on a mattress.”

“She sneaked into my tent when I was sleeping and lay beside me. I woke up to the flashes of her camera. She was able to take a few more before I was fully awake and sent her away.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was trying to, but then your father overheard us, and …”

I shut my eyes and shook my head. “I can’t believe you let me think you had slept with Caryn for so long.”

“Like I said before, I tried calling you, but I couldn’t seem to find a way of reaching 421/504

you. It was like you had disappeared off the face of the Earth.”

“You didn’t sleep with Caryn that weekend,” I whispered, trying to absorb the information.

He shook his head. “I didn’t sleep with Caryn. Not that weekend or after.” I bit my lip, but the words came out anyway. “But you did before me?” A knot appeared over his pained eyes.

“Yes, but it was months before you.” I stared at him. That last bit of info hurt, but I tried focusing on what mattered.

He hadn’t slept with Caryn that weekend. He hadn’t cheated on me. Oh my God.

Everything we went through was because I thought he had cheated on me, because I thought he didn’t care about me.

A sense of longing filled me and I knew this moment was our closure—and we had to make the best of it.

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I let the bit of alcohol in my veins take over before I chickened out, and I knelt on the cushion. I placed my hands on his shoulders, pushed him back against the couch, and straddled him. His eyes went wide and his mouth parted, but the shock didn’t stop his hands from closing around my waist. My dress rode up as I adjusted myself, pressing my pelvis against his, all the while staring into his eyes, loving how the surprise in them morphed into lust.

“Jess,” Ryan whispered. “What about your boyfriend?”

I let my hands run over his taut biceps.

“There’s no boyfriend.”

His eyes bugged again. “No boyfriend?”

“Nope. There never was one.”

His shocked expression changed back to lust, propelling me. I leaned into him and brushed my lips on his. So soft, so warm. His eyes fluttered closed and he moaned. He slid one of his hands up my back and clasped my 423/504

nape, holding me close. Then he crashed his mouth against mine, claiming my every breath. His soft lips moved in a sensual, almost frantic rhythm, and his tongue pro-voked mine, making me moan. His hand on my waist snaked to the small of my back, pressing my breasts against his chest.

Swimming in desire, I rolled my hips, increasing the friction between us. He broke the kiss and drew in a sharp breath.

I took advantage of that pause to tug his shirt up. He helped me take it off, and then his hands were around my back, looking for my dress’s zipper, while I skimmed my fingers over the tattoos on his toned pecs and abdomen. Damn, he was ripped, much more than four years ago, and I loved it. Under the tattoos on his chest, I could see the faint scars from the accident. I let my fingertips graze over the long, thin lines—a shiver rolled down Ryan’s body. I stared into his eyes, hoping he could tell I was okay with 424/504

them. They were a part of him now. They made him even more special to me.

He leaned into me and his mouth found my neck. He grazed his tongue on my skin, making me shiver, while he undid my zipper.

He leaned back to pull my dress over my head, and stayed there. Eager to touch him, to taste him, I bent closer, reaching for him, but he grasped my upper arms and held me back.

“Let me look at you,” Ryan said. His husky, thick voice wrapped around me, making me shiver. I was self-conscious and excited by the way his gaze skimmed my body.

It was as if he was devouring every inch of me with his eyes. His fingertips traced the cup of my bra from the middle of my chest, up the strand to my shoulder. That simple, fluttering touch ignited my skin, sending waves of want to all my nerve endings, and I shivered again.

I loved the way he looked at me.

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Somewhere in my hazy mind, I thanked my good sense for having chosen a matching black lace strapless bra and panties to go with my dress.

“That’s hot,” he said. The corners of his lips curled up as he reached behind me and undid the clasp of my bra. He drew in a breath as his eyes scanned my body. “Fuck, Jess, you’re so beautiful.”

Finally, he reached for me, hooking an arm around my waist and clasping one of my breasts with his free hand. He lowered his face to my chest and fitted his mouth on my other breast. His tongue lapped one nipple while he pinched the other, making me cry out. Heat rushed through my body, settling between my thighs.

Oh, he was making me crazy, but I would make him crazy too.

With some jiggling, I undid the button and zipper of his jeans and slid my hand under his boxers. He groaned, nipping at my 426/504

breast. I closed my hand around his length and squeezed, moving my hand up and down.

“Oh shit,” Ryan muttered against my skin.

Before I knew what was happening, Ry-an had laid me on his couch. With his eyes on mine, he slipped off his boots and jeans, and then covered me with his body. I moaned, loving how warm his skin felt, how wonderful his weight on me was. But it didn’t last. His mouth found my neck, and slowly, his lips and tongue tortured my skin from my collarbone, down my breasts and belly, to my thighs, leaving a trace of heat and desire.

He slid off my panties before parting my legs. Anticipation clutched my stomach, and I felt like I would explode before he even touched me. He lowered his face to me and I held my breath. His tongue teased my inner thigh, making me jump with each lash.

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“Ryan, please,” I whispered. How could he tease me now? “Please.”

Finally, his tongue flickered over my clit. I cried, arching my back. He swirled his tongue around my sensitive spot, and his finger teased my entrance. Tension built inside me. I wouldn’t last long like this. Neither did I want to. I knotted my fingers in his hair as he sucked my clit and slid a finger inside me.

“Oh, God,” I cried.

Ryan slipped a second finger inside me and thrust them deep before curling them, hitting the perfect spot. He repeated the movement a few more times, and when he increased the pressure of his tongue on my clit, I stilled for a brief second.

“Ryan,” I cried. The ecstasy hit me hard and I trembled, completely undone.

Slowly, I came down from cloud nine.

Ryan stood beside me, watching me. Desire burned in his eyes. It was unbelievable how much I enjoyed seeing him like this. Almost 428/504

as undone as I was. It was delicious.