Ryker (The Powers That Be Book 4) (16 page)

He looked my way with a smirk knowing exactly what I was doing because my breathing had become erratic.

“Stop it!” I hissed through gritted teeth, my eyes pleading with him because I really didn’t want to come in front of all these people and make a spectacle of myself. God!

He chuckled darkly and I socked him in the ribs making him grunt then laugh even harder.

“Just wait until I get you home,” I threatened.

“Can’t wait,” he fired back as he pulled his wallet out of his inside jacket pocket and handed his credit card to the waiter who returned shortly with the receipt. Ryker signed then slid out of booth holding his hand out to help me. And we were out of there in a flash.

~*~*~*~

On the drive home, I got him back by reaching over and unzipping his slacks snaking a hand inside to stroke him.

What really got him was when I unbuckled my seatbelt and leaned over to take his length in my mouth.

“Ah, fuck me,” he groaned as I rolled my tongue over his tip then sucking hard, moved my mouth down slowly as far as I could then did the same on the way up. “Francesca, stop,” he ordered when we came to a stop. I kept going because he’d tortured me in the same delicious way and this was his payback. “I’m not fucking kidding. Stop now! My mom’s coming toward the car.”

Fuck.

Fuck!

I jerked my head up quickly watching as he tucked himself back in while I pretended to be looking at a spot on his tie.

He rolled his window down. “Hey, Ma. What’s up?” he asked innocently.

“Just thought I’d drive the Mustang over so you didn’t have to go all the way to the house,” Mrs. Powers said.

“Good idea.” Ryker looked at me and bugged out his eyes instantly making me huff out a laugh. “Let’s get out, baby, and you can meet my ma.”

Yay. Meeting the mother.

He rolled his window up, turning off the ignition then got out and came around to help me. His mom had walked around too, so as soon as I got out, she sucked in a breath and put her hands to her cheeks.

“Oh, my word! You’re beautiful! You must be Francesca!” she said, moving in to grab me for a hug.

“Hello, Mrs. Powers,” I replied, hugging her right back.

She pulled away still holding onto my forearms looking me over. Glancing at Ryker, she scolded, “She’s so much prettier than you described!”

He’d talked about me to his mom? Wow.

“Hard to describe this kinda beauty, Ma.”

And now I was blushing at being the center of attention.

“Thank you. And you’re gorgeous, Mrs. Powers.” And she was. I wasn’t saying that to suck up to her. She had the same golden eyes that Ryker and his brothers had, her skin the same olive tone, and her hair the same caramel color.

“Oh, I like her, Ryker,” she said with a chuckle. “Thank you, Francesca. That’s very sweet.”

“Okay, I’m heading out. Don’t forget to dust tomorrow.” She raised an eyebrow at her son. “I’ll bring over Uncle Jack’s brisket for you and Loch also. That man. He thinks Gable and Zeke are still here and makes way too much!” She looked at me. “It was very nice meeting you, Francesca.”

“Nice meeting you too,” I answered with a smile.

“Be good,” she said to her son, tiptoeing up to kiss his cheek then got in her car and backed out of the drive and left.

I looked sheepishly at Ryker after she left. “Sorry.”

He snorted. “Sorry?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, sorry.”

“Get your gorgeous ass inside and I’ll let you make it up to me.” He swatted me on the butt making me yelp as I walked to the porch.

“You’ll
let
me? Honey, you’ll be
begging
me here pretty soon,” I retorted.

“Oh, someone’ll be begging, all right,” he answered, putting his arm all the way around my neck to where my head was in the crook of it, and kissed the side of my head.

17—Pinned

“Oh, God, please!” I begged Ryker.

He stood naked behind me and was trying to drive me insane.

When we’d gone inside after his mother left, we were all over each other, coats flying, lips locked, hands searching before finally making it to his bedroom because I’d reminded him that Loch could come home and I didn’t want to be caught in flagrante.

Once in his room, he’d lain on the bed putting his hands behind his head, ankles crossed and ordered me to strip for him. I’d protested at first then thought, what the hell? I could tease the crap out of him in doing it. So I’d started by slowly taken my dress down one shoulder at a time, not showing him anything of significance for a while.

“Baby,” he growled.

“What?” I asked all chastely, grinning at him seeing by the huge bulge in his pants what I was doing to him.

I turned my back to him, letting the dress drop lower in the front then the back to where he could see the top of my thong.

“Francesca,” he warned.

I turned back to him with a smirk, covering my breasts as I let the dress drop to the floor and stood in front of him in only my thong, stockings and heels.

“Drop your arms.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” he said, all authoritatively which actually really turned me on.

“Oh, all right,” I muttered letting one arm drop as I kept the other up still covering myself.

“That’s it,” he declared, getting up off the bed and stalking toward me like some dangerous jungle cat.

He took his tie off and grabbed me by my wrists putting them both in one hand and wrapping the tie around them.

“You’re tying me up?” I screeched.

“Behave,” he warned me yet again.

Then pulling me with him, he went to his closet, opening the door to pull out yet another tie. This one he put over my eyes, tying it behind my head.

“Wh-what’re you doing?” I questioned, my hands clasped and my arms curled against my chest.

“Quiet,” he whispered, taking my chin between his fingers then his mouth was on mine, not for a kiss but to suck on my bottom lip which was strangely erotic.

I heard him undressing and next the ripping of a condom, and then he was behind me as we were now, his hands coming around finding my nipples and rolling them between his thumbs and fingers as he pressed his erection against my bottom.

“Baby,” I moaned when he put his palm against my belly and slowly slid his hand down to cup me between my legs, pushing his palm into me making me push my hips forward. Then his hand was gone.

I heard his knees crack as he knelt behind me and he smoothed his hands over the backs of my thighs down to my calves, back up to my bottom, squeezing each cheek before kissing each.

“Spread your legs for me,” he demanded and I did as told.

He kissed the insides of each thigh just missing where I really wanted him, doing this several times, teasing, always teasing.

Not being able to see enhanced everything. His touch burned, his kisses pricked my skin, the teasing was tenfold frustrating.

“Ryker,” I breathed out. “Please!”

I heard his dark chuckle again as he stood, smoothing his hands up my back then reaching them around to my front again, one drifting up to caress my breast, rolling my nipple, the other proceeding down where he slowly slid a finger through my folds, moving it to circle my clitoris lazily, then sliding his finger away and through my folds again then back to circle, over and over, all the while kissing my shoulder, his lips advancing up to kiss my neck then back beneath my ear before they traveled back down to the tendon between my neck and shoulder where he gave me a horse bite.

And that’s where we were now, me begging him for more, him withholding, driving me crazy.

“Please, what?” he asked, sliding his cock between my legs back and forth, his breath hot against my neck.

“Please make love to me! Fuck me! Have me! Anything!” I cried out.

I felt him smile against my cheek. “That’s my girl,” he praised. His hand on my breast slid to my throat and gripped it, his fingers pressing in firmly holding my head against his chest. “You get to this point faster, Francesca, we can fuck faster. We clear?”

“Yes, God, yes!” I was dripping for him, could feel it running down my leg. “I need you, Ryker! Please!”

Keeping a hand on my throat, the other went behind me to grip his cock. He bent his knees and I felt him lining himself up then he slowly fed himself inside me. He retreated slowly and pushed back in slowly.

So slow.

Too slow.

“More!” I cried, literally cried because this was torture. “Please…” I choked out.

He finally gave me what I needed, thrusting up hard, impaling me, filling me over and over and I came harder than I ever had before. My body was electrified, every nerve ending lit up, on fire. I heard a scream so loud in the room, echoing off the walls, and realized it was my own. My God, what had he done to me?

Next, I found myself bent over the bed where he removed the ties from my eyes and wrists. He then turned me, picking me up and I wrapped my arms around his neck, my legs around his waist. Putting a knee to the bed, he crawled onto it, taking us to the center of it.

I felt him kiss my forehead. “You okay, baby?”

I pulled back, panting, to look at his beautiful face, and breathlessly nodded just as he thrust up inside me causing a loud moan that I had no control over to emerge from my throat. Now holding me close, his arms wrapped tightly around me, I knew he sensed that I was a bit out of it as he pumped his hips into me.

“You’re mine, Francesca, understand?” he said huskily, his hips powerfully thrusting up again and again.

I nodded because I was his. Would always be his. He’d taken me higher than I’d ever been, and I loved it, loved him.

He came hard too, driving up so deep inside, his thrusts forceful, measured, and I held onto him tightly as he finished. He fell back on the bed me on top of him and we lay there in silence, our breathing the only sound in the room.

“I told you,” he mumbled between breaths.

I had just enough energy to lift my head and look at him questioningly.

“Told you someone would be begging.”

I nodded before dropping my head heavily onto his chest because he was not wrong.

~*~*~*~

We were in the kitchen having a midnight snack. We’d both passed out but I’d awakened just before midnight starving. I’d kissed him awake and told him to feed me. He was at the stove in a pair of gray shorts making grilled cheese sandwiches. I sat at the bar wearing the slate blue shirt he’d worn to dinner.

And we were having the talk. The one where he explained his rules and I was listening intently.

“I had two best friends growing up, Alex and Will. We did everything together.” He flipped the sandwich and continued. “When we started middle school we all three signed up for wrestling. We were good. Alex was better than Will and me but that was okay. We were all in different weight divisions. In high school, we won the State Championship and all Alex and I were State Champs in our divisions. Will was a semi-finalist. But it was awesome.  We all were getting recruited to wrestle in college.”

He used the spatula to put the sandwich on a plate and brought it to me before going back to the stove to make his own. I ate as I listened.

“Alex was the best and was being recruited by the big dogs, the likes of Penn State and Minnesota. Will and I weren’t as good so we’d planned on wrestling at Hallervan. Alex ended up going to Penn State and we were so proud. Our freshman year, when our schedules didn’t conflict, Will and I would watch him either on TV or the school’s website would stream it. He was doing so well. God, he was good.”

He stopped to get more cheese out of the fridge and I remained silent as I finished my sandwich. I knew this was big for him and I knew letting him tell me with his back to me was the right thing to do too.

“He loved it. Penn State had won the national championship the year before and Alex contributed to their winning his freshman year. He was so excited about it. I’d never seen him so happy.”

He flipped the sandwich and stared at the stove for a few minutes. I watched his broad back expand and contract as he took several deep breaths, the Grim Reaper looking even more heinous as if he himself were breathing. That made me shudder.

“Alex came home that summer for a couple weeks and all three of us got together to hang, chill whatever. One night Will called and said he and Alex were going to some all-night gym to workout. They wanted me to come with them but I had a girlfriend at the time and she didn’t want me to go. Looking back, she was a controlling bitch and I should’ve cut her loose immediately.”

Ah. The reason he never got serious with anyone since and also the reason he’d freaked out when I told him I loved him.

He put a sandwich on his plate and started making another one. He was quiet for so long I wasn’t sure he’d continue.

“I tried calling them around one in the morning but neither answered. I went to bed thinking I’d talk to them in the morning.”

More deep breaths.

“Got up the next morning and tried calling but still got no answer from either. I told my dad about it but he said they’d probably gotten drunk and were passed out.”

He turned the sandwich.

“When I still hadn’t heard from them by noon, I got really worried. I called Alex’s house but no one answered there, so I called Will’s.”

He put the sandwich on the plate and turned off the burner keeping his back to me as he continued.

“Will’s Aunt Lisa answered and she sounded like she was crying. That’s when I knew something had happened.”

Big breath.

I got up and went to him, hugging him from behind, just holding onto him.

“They’d gone to that stupid gym and worked out then went inside the steam room. Wrestlers do that sometimes to help them lose weight. Alex had been complaining that since he’d been home his mom’s cooking was making him fat.” He laughed. “He wrestled at 149 and had gained maybe ten pounds. It was no big deal.”

He was quiet again and I rested my head against his back, holding on tight.

He blew out a breath. “They think the door to the steam room jammed and they couldn’t get out. That or they’d passed out beforehand. They didn’t find them until the next morning when someone went to clean it. The room was on a twenty-four hour timer so it went off at midnight, but a night worker reset it for them when they told him they wanted to go in.”

He hung his head and I held on tight.

“Both of them gone in one shot. They were… they were like brothers to me. Such a waste.” He turned around and wrapped me in his arms. “Such a fucking waste.”

I kept my arms around him, resting my head on his chest listening to his heart pounding and realizing that’s what the tattoo on his back was all about. Two dead warriors and one still fighting.

God.

“That’s why I had to have rules. I needed to win for them. To fight for them. It’s all been for them.”

He gave me a squeeze.

“Then you came along and were a distraction and I didn’t know how to make it work. I’d been so focused for so many years. That’s all I knew was to stay focused. But I wanted you. God, how I wanted you. But I couldn’t figure it out.”

He leaned down and kissed the top of my head.

“Then you were gone and things got even worse. I kept telling myself I could go back to what I’d been doing that it’d been working. And I tried. But I couldn’t get you out of my head.” He pulled away and looked down at me. “You got in.” He shook his head. “Somehow, you got in.”

He bent to brush his lips against mine.

“You saved me, Francesca.”

I looked up at him, my brow coming down.

He nodded as he said, “I knew it was all coming to an end and I didn’t know what I’d do after. I mean, my brother went to the NFL. Basketball players can go to the NBA. Wrestlers can go pro and do that fake shit on TV or they can become MMA fighters. But then what? Only reason I’d do any of that would be for the money, not for Alex and Will. I’ve dedicated the last three years to my friends, my brothers, but I got lost this year not knowing where I was gonna go after. You saved me.”

He picked me up and set me on the counter. “Like this shirt on you, baby,” he said with a smirk. It was like a dress on me, hitting me mid-thigh. He put his hands on my thighs and pushed the shirt up, all the way to the bend of my legs at my hips. He saw that I didn’t have on panties and looked up at me. “I really like this shirt on you.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and looked up at him. “I’m sorry for what happened. You’ve been a hero for your friends, wrestling in their honor. And you’ve done it well. So well. I’m proud to know you. I’m proud
of
you, Ryker. That’s a lot for anybody to take on and you did it honorably. Do their families know?”

He shook his head.

“It doesn’t matter. Alex and Will know what kind of man you are. Your family knows. I know. You’re a good man, Ryker.”