Warriors of Ryon: Bayden (11 page)

“Hey.” He waited until she looked at him. “I understand.” He smiled. “I get it.”

A cool breeze whispered over her skin and raised goose bumps on her arms. She got to her knees, pulled back a corner of the sleeping bag, and snuggled under it. “It’s a beautiful night but chilly.”

“Are you warm enough?” He tucked the bag around her legs.

A shiver racked her body and made her teeth clank together. “I didn’t realize I’d gotten that cold. Are you cold?”

“No. I’m a little warm.”

She gaped at him. “You can’t be a little warm.” She pressed her hand against his chest, and heat radiated from him. “You heard of snuggling?” She patted his thigh. “Uncross them, please.”

He did as she asked, and she crawled onto him and cuddled against his chest. When she burrowed her face in his vest, his spicy scent hit her like a tidal wave. Her body clenched in awareness of the hot man she was plastered against. She almost moaned but caught it before it escaped her throat.

“Ellie?”

“This is the part where you wrap your arms around me. Remember? Snuggling.” She waited, wondering if he’d comply, and when he finally hugged her, she felt as though she’d been wrapped in an electric blanket.

“You
are
warm.” Every muscle in his body tensed, and she looked at him.

His gaze locked on hers, and her stomach fluttered. He dipped his head, and she snaked out her tongue to wet her lips. His gaze followed the motion, and his eyes darkened. She waited for his kiss.

“Hey. What are you two up to?” Zaira said.

“Why are you here? You’re supposed to be with the others.” Bayden said.

“Do you have any idea how boring it is watching Sarek examine rocks? And for four hours?”

“He deserves time to do his research and to enjoy himself.”

“I know how I could enjoy myself better,” Zaira said.

Bayden carefully set Ellie from his lap. She shivered, and he wrapped the bag around her shoulders. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay?”

She nodded. Damn Zaira for interrupting them. Ellie’s lips were still tingling in anticipation of a kiss that never came. Bayden got to his feet and walked away. Zaira followed.

Bayden’s back was to her, and Zaira stood in front of him. Ellie could clearly see the woman’s face, and didn’t miss the glares aimed in her direction.

“Go back to the group,” Bayden said.

“Why don’t you come with me, and we can take a little detour on the way?” She ran one fingertip down his chest.

A hot poker of jealousy singed Ellie’s insides, and she squirmed, trying to assuage the discomfort.
He’s not mine. If he wants to let the queen of peroxide touch him, that’s his call.

“I’m going to take a leak. You need to be gone when I get back,” Bayden said.

“I can come along, then after you finish, maybe we can do something…like each other.”

Ellie bent her fingers while she imagined scratching Zaira’s eyes out.
What the hell is wrong with me? Just stop.

He looked at the sky and scrubbed at the stubble on his jaw. “How many times do I have to tell you that this isn’t going to happen?”

The moonlight painted a perfect picture of the anger clouding Zaira’s face. “It’s already happened. I don’t see what the big deal is.”

Blood rushed to Ellie’s ears. The buzzing sound reminded her of a swarm of bees.
Bayden and Zaira slept together?

“It was a long time ago, and it isn’t going to happen again,” he said.

Zaira took a step closer. “But what we had was special.”

“For fuck’s sake!” He cast a quick glance over his shoulder toward Ellie, then lowered his voice. “What we had was sex. You know it. I know it. In case you forgot, you have a lot of it with a lot of different men, women too, if I’m not mistaken. If what we had was so special, you wouldn’t have been sleeping with other guys within days after we were together.”

Ellie fought the urge to cover her ears so she wouldn’t have to listen anymore.

“I can see how you’d think that, but it’s not true. I needed to make sure what I felt with you was real.” Zaira said.

“By fucking other guys?”

“Yes!”

Bayden shook his head. “I don’t even understand this conversation. It makes no sense. You make no sense. We’re done. Over. We shared a couple of nights together a long time ago. That was it. I’m pretty sure you even made it clear that it was just sex.”

“I was wrong.”

“I can’t help that. Get over it. I’ll be back in a few minutes, Ellie,” he said over his shoulder before stomping off.

Zaira came over, grabbed Bayden’s pack, and opened it.

“What are you doing? That’s Bayden’s.”

“Pretty sure I already know that.” Zaira continued scrounging in it before pulling out what looked like two bars wrapped in blue foil. She closed the pack and tossed one of the bars to Ellie.

“What is it?”

“Food. I assume you know how to feed yourself?” Zaira glared at her and did some stomping of her own toward the direction the rest of the group had gone earlier.

Ellie placed the bar under the edge of the sleeping bag, saving it for later, and lay down on her back. She stared up at the stars, trying to think of anything other than Bayden and Zaira…naked and writhing. Bayden had made it clear that his time with Zaira was over, but Zaira seemed to think otherwise.

But why in the hell Bayden had chosen to sleep with Zaira in the first place was beyond her.
Blonde hair, gorgeous figure. Yeah, really hard to work that one out. It doesn’t matter. It’s nothing to do with me. Besides, we all make mistakes
. And a mistake is what she chose to think of Bayden’s choice to sleep with Zaira, even if she didn’t know the details of their relationship.

She pushed images of them from her mind. She remembered how things were before the meteor and wondered what she’d be doing right now if it hadn’t hit. Before long, her eyes grew heavy, and she nodded off.

Chapter Eleven

Bayden stared down at Ellie. Her creamy skin glinted under the moonlight, giving her an angelic appearance. Her mouth was set in a firm line, and her brows were drawn down. He frowned and wondered what she was dreaming about.

Maybe she was dreaming about her family, friends, or her life before the meteor hit. Had she been happy? That made him think about his own life. He’d rather be shot than ever come into contact with his foster parents again. But their treatment of him, however heinous, helped form him into the man he was today.

He’d never thought he’d live to see the day when he found himself grateful for the abusive treatment he’d received at his parents’ hands. Looking back, it taught him valuable lessons. Two of the most important were to never hurt anyone just because you could and to never judge others by their looks or lineage. Rich, poor, dirty, clean, people were all people, and their outer appearance or breeding didn’t automatically make them what you might think. People were neither good nor bad because of whose blood ran in their veins or because of the fancy clothes they wore. They were who they were because of their choices and environment.

A small moan escaped Ellie’s lips. Her wavy hair, tousled from sleep, bunched under her head as she began tossing it from side to side. Her face contorted, and more moans escaped her lips. Wanting to comfort her, he knelt and reached for her. Her eyes flew open. Terror danced in them, and his chest ached, a pain he didn’t care to explore at the moment.

The fear slowly crept from her eyes as she focused on his face. She took his breath away. His heart thundered, and he itched to touch her, sooth her, take her. His cock twitched at the thought, and he closed his eyes briefly, willing the offensive hard-on into submission. It didn’t listen.

“Bayden?”

“Yes.” Her sexy, raspy voice caused a thin sheet of sweat to break his skin. He’d never met a woman who could make him want her by simply uttering his name.

“Wh-what are you doing here?” She propped herself on her elbows.

“You were having a bad dream.”

“Oh.” She tugged at her ear.

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

“No.” She toyed with the corner of the sleeping bag.

“Is something wrong?”

“Are you still attracted to Zaira?”

“No. I’m attracted to you.”

She flashed a brilliant smile at him, brighter than the stars. The ridiculous joy dancing through his veins at her response made him feel like a young, carefree boy—or at least what he thought a young, carefree boy would feel like.

“She still seems attracted to you.”

“The only reason she’s attracted to me is because she can’t have me.”

“Did you love her?”

He choked and then coughed. “No.”

“Maybe she’s in love with you.”

“The only person she’s in love with is herself.”

“Have you ever been in love?”

“Love isn’t for me.”

She tilted her chin up. “Love altogether? Or just the falling in love with someone?”

“Just the falling in love with someone part.”

“You do realize that you can’t actually control that part of you, don’t you?”

His heart banged against his ribs. “Is that so?”

She nodded. “You can’t make yourself love someone, but you also can’t make yourself
not
love someone.

“Have you ever been in love?” He feathered his knuckles over her cheek.

“No.”

“So maybe we all aren’t programmed to fall in love, after all.”

“I just hadn’t met the right person yet.”

An ocean of possibility and years of longing engulfed him. His skin tingled with an itchy sensation. “And you have now?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Maybe—”

“Kiss me.” She reached for him, curled her fingers against his scalp, and tugged his mouth down to hers.

Heat seared through his veins, and his body hardened. Her lips were soft and tasted like wicked promises of pleasure. What started as a tentative exploration turned urgent and demanding. Delving his tongue deep, he savored her essence and fiery passion, stealing the breath from her lungs, taking her deep inside where she’d always be a part of him.

He tunneled his fingers through her hair and cupped her slim nape, anchoring her to his mouth, angling her for a deeper possession. He’d never felt consumed by such raw passion, such need. He craved her. He wanted her, longed to conquer her, hear his name on her lips as he coaxed her body over the edge.

Why shouldn’t I have her?
He pulled back, and she cried out, which silently echoed his own sorrow from the loss of her lips on his.

“Bayden?”

“No.” He shook his head. “We can’t do this.”

“But—”

“No. You deserve more than a quick screw on the hard ground.”

She ran her fingers down his chest. When they continued on to his buckle, he sucked in a sharp breath.

He stood. “What are you doing?”

She got to her feet, and her gaze met his. She placed her other hand over his mouth and slowly shook her head. “Shhh.”

The woman shushed him. He’d never been shushed before, and he was about to say so right before she touched him where he ached for her most. After that, all the blood in his brain rushed to his cock, and he couldn’t remember his name much less that he’d been shushed.

She knelt and cupped him through his pants. His balls tingled, and a jolt of white-hot need surged through his veins. He pushed against her hand. He moaned, and she continued rubbing him. She unbuckled his belt, unfastened his pants, and pushed them down over his hips. The cool air did nothing to hamper his erection.

Tugging on his hand until he knelt on the ground, she gave him a firm push. His back hit the ground, and he grunted. She sprawled across his chest. Her mouth was on his again, but before he could take control, she edged down, kissing his jaw, then nipping and licking along his neck. It wasn’t but a few seconds before he felt her warm breath on his cock. Was she truly going to do what he thought? A tremor racked his body, and he held his breath. The mere thought of Ellie’s mouth on him almost made him lose it. Before he could consider why that was so, her lips parted and she swallowed him down her throat.

He tangled his fingers in her hair and watched stars dance behind his closed lids. Her hand cupped his balls, fondled them. He thrust his hips forward, burying his cock into the hot heaven of her mouth over and over. The groans of her obvious excitement vibrating over his shaft yanked him to the edge.

Her other hand slipped beneath him and cupped his ass, her fingernails digging into his skin, encouraging his ride. He wouldn’t last much longer, but when he tried to pull away from her, she tightened her hold on his butt and sucked him down deeper. His eyes flew wide, and when he looked down and saw himself buried between her lips, her passion-glazed stare glittering back at him under half-closed lids, his control spiraled away from him in an instant.

His skin tingled from his toes to his fingertips, and the volcano boiling inside him erupted. He clamped his teeth together to keep from yelling out and exploded again and again down her throat. When she’d finally milked him dry, he pulled her up beside him and held her, feeling humbled and a little appalled at what he’d allowed her to do.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”

She placed her fingers over his mouth and shushed him again. “There’s no need to be sorry. You didn’t force me to do anything I didn’t want to do.”

Damn, she was gorgeous.
Yeah, and not for me.

He rolled up to his knees and righted his clothing. He stared down at her for a moment, and his body twitched with demand. Although she’d pleased him until his eyes had nearly crossed, he still felt as though something were missing. That
something
was him buried inside her welcoming heat.

The thought of riding her with those gorgeous legs wrapped around him was nearly more than he could take. “I can’t even put into words how much this meant to me.”

He kissed her firmly on the lips but didn’t allow his tongue to dip inside the sweetness of her mouth as he craved. He got to his feet and walked away. The need to pleasure her as she had him roared inside him, but he knew if he didn’t leave now, next time there’d be no stopping until Ellie was screaming his name.