Skin Deep (14 page)

Groaning, he tried to maintain focus, but she was robbing him of the self-control that made him a generous lover.

Grinding her hips and clenching him mercilessly, she licked a path up his neck, placing wet kisses in the hollow of his collarbone until he fisted the sheet in his hands, cursing her name.

“I want you to realize this control thing works both ways, Ryan,” she said, licking the shell of his ear. “You have to relinquish control too, make yourself completely open and vulnerable and trust that I’ll be there to take care of you when you fall.”

He knew she was talking about relinquishing control in and out of the bedroom, something he’d never done before, but her issues with men necessitated it. She wouldn’t have the self-confidence to let him take a strong lead in this relationship for a long time, and he was happy to let her set the pace as long as they charted the course together. “I’m okay with that, baby,” he said, gritting his teeth as she drew him in deeper, only to relinquish her hold and start all over again. 

“What’s wrong?” she asked, sinking her nails into his hips. “Can’t take it anymore?”

Leaning back, he smiled as he prepared to turn the tables on her. Pounding into her hard, fast, relentlessly, he watched his cock disappear into her tight channel only to slide out completely.

“Ry, stop,” she pleaded, wrapping her legs around his waist. “Stop teasing me, I’m almost there. I need to come.”

Rubbing circles on her clit with his thumb, he watched her surrender to the power of the building climax. He loved watching her come apart in his arms, with his name on her lips. He would never tire of that sight, no matter how many years passed.

He grabbed her waist and followed his body’s merciless demands, fucking her so hard, so fast, he had to slide her back down the bed so she wouldn’t smack her head on the headboard. “Sweet Jesus,” he muttered, cursing when he saw stars dancing behind his eyelids. Sweat dripped down his forehead, between his shoulder blades, and still he wasn’t ready to surrender to the force of an orgasm that threatened to knock him out. He wanted to draw this out as long as he could, milking every last second out of it, just as she was draining his engorged cock. “Fuck!” he shouted, throwing his head back. His whole body tensed and clenched as his balls drew up, getting ready to spew hot bursts of his seed deep inside of her.

“Mine,” he hissed, holding and tipping her hips until she drained his cock completely. 

She smiled, stroking his biceps. “I’m all yours.”

Chapter Eleven

The next morning, Ryan woke up to the sensation of soft lips trailing intimate kisses over his jawline. At first he thought he was dreaming, until she curled into his side, giggling.

Groaning, he pulled her into the circle of his arms, praying she intended to put that talented mouth to work on another part of his anatomy.

“Good morning, handsome,” she whispered, running her hand over his chest.

“I’m certainly hoping it will be,” he said, pressing a kiss to her temple.

Laughing, she slapped his stomach. “Behave yourself. Today is my brother and Jackie’s wedding day. As their best man and maid of honor, we have our work cut out for us helping them to prepare.”

He could think of things he would rather do, like spend the day in bed with Alana, but today was an important day for her family, and he was honored to be included. In case they still doubted his intentions where she was concerned, he intended to put their minds at ease by letting them know that if he had his way, the next couple to walk down the aisle would be him and Alana. In his mind, that couldn’t happen soon enough.

“I should go down and get some coffee,” she said, struggling to sit up.

He pulled her back down, linking his arms around her waist. “Why don’t we just call room service? That would buy us a few more minutes.”

“I wish we could, but we have all night and six glorious days ahead of us, honey. Today is about Justin and Jackie, right?”

Grumbling like a spoiled child who’d had his favorite toy taken away, he finally released her. “Fine, but hurry back. You can join me in the shower…”

“Somehow I have a feeling that could take all morning.”

He threw the sheet back and lazily perused every inch of her exposed flesh. “Wrong, that wouldn’t be nearly long enough.” He stacked his hands behind his head, watching her as she padded barefoot across the room to her suitcases.

She bent over to tease him and wiggled her tight, heart-shaped butt in the air, eliciting a groan from him.

He threw a pillow in her direction and warned, “You have fifteen seconds to get that cute little ass out of this room, or you’ll be lucky to make the wedding at all.”

She made quick work of throwing a pair of spandex yoga shorts on with a tight white tank top. Finger combing her hair in the hall mirror, she shrugged. “I guess it’ll have to do.”

He frowned at her choice of attire. “I can see your nipples through that top.”

Grinning, she lifted her hands above her head to fix her long hair in a high ponytail. “Oh yeah, you like what you see, Doc?”

He liked it too much, and he was sure every man in the vicinity with a pulse would agree with him. “What if you run into that asshole from last night?”

Rolling her eyes as she slid her feet into a pair of black flip-flops, she said, “I’m sure we’ll run into him at some point over the next week, Ryan. It’s only a big deal if you let it be.”

Watching her scan the messages on her Blackberry, he said, “What if he expects to pick up where you left off with that kiss?”

After blowing him a kiss, she smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll tell him I’m officially off the market.”

“You damn well better,” he muttered, folding his arms over his chest. “Because if I have to tell him again, I can guarantee he’s going to wish he never met you.”

She shook her head, smiling, as she secured her purse and phone in the safe. “Who would have thought you’d be so insecure?”

“Insecure? Me, insecure?” he said, sitting up. “You can’t be serious.” A lot of adjectives were used to describe him over the years, but he was never called insecure.

“Certainly sounds that way to me. You worried Billy might steal me away?”

“Billy, the guy’s name’s Billy?” He scowled. “Sounds like he’s five years old; probably has the maturity of a five year-old, too.”

She threw her head back, laughing. “Look who’s talking.”

She was right; he was acting like a jealous, insecure jerk, but he didn’t give a shit. She was his, and he wanted the whole goddamn world to know it, especially the single guys fixated on getting into her pants, like Billy boy. “We’re going to have define this relationship soon, sweetheart.”

Frowning, she asked, “What are you talking about?”

He glanced at her bare hand. “I’m thinking I may need to put a big-ass diamond on that finger so guys like Billy the bonehead get the message.”

“You’re crazy,” she said, slipping a key card into the waistband of her shorts.

“What the hell’s so crazy about wanting you to wear my ring?”

She paused at the door to the bathroom. “Don’t you think this conversation is a little premature?”

No, he thought it was long overdue. He was ready to propose to her a year ago, the night he first laid eyes on her at that Christmas party. Now that may have been premature, but since then he’d spent hundreds of nights lying in his big bed alone thinking about her. He was ready to put an end to his misery already. Frowning at the closed bathroom door, he considered his options.

A few minutes later, she came out of the bathroom. “Okay, I’m on my way. You want something to eat?”

“No, I’ll grab something later.”

“Okay, see you in a few,” she said, wiggling her fingers at him.

He would prefer another kiss, but that had to wait. He got up, put his jeans on, and walked into the adjoining living room. Glancing at the phone, he decided there was no time like the present to start putting his plan in motion. He dialed the familiar number and waited for his sister to pick up.

“Yes?”

Good morning to you, too,” he said, smiling. His sister, the legal eagle, believed in cutting to the chase, claiming she didn’t have time to waste on social niceties. He took the chair facing the walk-out to the balcony as he braced himself for the fight he was sure would follow his announcement.

“Hey, I didn’t expect to hear from you. Mom said you went away to some wedding in the Caribbean.”

“Yeah, I did, but I need to talk to you about something important.”

“Sure, what is it?”

Squeezing his eyes shut, he pinched the bridge of his nose, mentally preparing for the barrage of questions he wasn’t ready to answer. “So here’s the deal: I want to buy a Porsche dealership.”

She laughed, pausing when he didn’t share the joke. “You can’t be serious. What the hell do you know about running a car dealership?”

“Nothing, but I’ll hire a manager to run it. How hard can it be?” He winced when he realized how that sounded. “Listen, I don’t want to get into the details right now. Let’s just say that the family has fallen on hard times, and I happen to know they’d love to have someone take it off their hands.”

“Okay, what’s in it for you?”

“Come on, we both know it’s only a matter of time before things start to turn around. When they do, people will start spending money and the dealership will start making money again. In the meantime, I can probably get it for a steal.” In reality, he’d happily pay more than market value to help Alana’s family out of this financial bind, but he wasn’t ready to share his motives with his sister yet. Too many times over the years she had lectured him about all of the gold diggers he spoiled with expensive gifts and trips. He didn’t want his sister to think that Alana was just using him for his money.

“I don’t know about this,” she said. “It sounds risky and a little impulsive. You like to play it safe with your investments, real estate…”

“Listen, I’m not asking your advice about this, Lorna.” Feeling like a heel for snapping at her, he said, “I’m sorry, I know you’re just looking out for me, but I know what I’m doing, honey. This has been in the works for a while. I’ve had my financial advisor do a little digging so I know what I can get it for if…”

“At the risk of having my head bitten off, I feel compelled to ask again, are you sure you want to do this?”

“I’m not making this decision impulsively, trust me. But here’s the thing, the family who owns the dealership can’t know that I’m the one making the offer.”

“Why the hell not?”

He didn’t want them to think of this as a handout, especially Alana. He would tell her, when the time was right, but first he wanted to make sure all the pieces were in place. “I’ll fill you in on the details later, but I want to make the offer under the corporation’s name.”

She paused. “You want to use the name of your numbered corporation on all of the legal documents pertaining to this sale? You don’t want your name to appear anywhere, is that correct?”

Finally, she had put on her lawyer hat and shed the protective big sister hat. “That’s right. No one, except for you, can know that I’m doing this, okay?”

“Whatever you want, kid. Good thing you’ve got money to burn.”

He didn’t care if he took a financial hit on this. Giving Alana the freedom to pursue her dream would be worth it. “Okay, so I’ll email you the details in a bit. Thanks for doing this for me, hon.”

“Anytime. I know you think I’m sticking my nose in where it doesn’t belong, but I love you and I just don’t want to see you make a stupid mistake that you’ll live to regret.”

“I love you too, Lorna.”

“Your niece and nephew miss you, by the way. They want to know when Uncle Ryan is coming by to take them to the waterpark like he promised.”

He grimaced, berating himself for letting that promise fall through the cracks. “Tell the kids I’m sorry. I’ll be by to pick them up next Sunday, and we’ll spend the whole day together, I promise, okay?”

“I’m going to hold you to that, and so will they, little brother.”

“You got it. I’ll see you then. Thanks again.”

Alana felt nauseous. She slipped back into the room because she forgot to ask Ryan how he took his coffee. She hadn’t expected to overhear a conversation with his wife or ex-wife, whoever the hell Lorna was, about his plan to “steal” the dealership her father had spent his lifetime building. She couldn’t believe the man she’d given her heart to would do this to her.

Ryan set the phone back in the cradle and got up, re-tracing his steps back into the bedroom when he spotted her. The color drained from his face, and he suddenly looked as sick as she felt. “Shit,” he said, raking his hands through his hair. “I didn’t know you were there, baby.” He glanced at the phone. “How much of that did you hear?”

“Enough to know that you’ve been planning this all along.” She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing her fall apart again. She would save her tears for later, when he was long gone. “I want you out of here, now.”