I shift my weight, allowing him to pull them off and toss them aside. My shoes clatter to the floor, and Ryland slides his hand up my thigh again, teasing my entrance and smearing my arousal over my skin.
“I’m not gonna be gentle,” he rasps.
My heart slams against my ribs as I hold his gaze. “I don’t care.”
With a noise that doesn’t even sound human, he guides the thick head of his cock to my entrance and slams his hips forward.
My mouth falls open as my head drops back, my back arching as every nerve-ending in my body screams. Ryland slides one arm around me, his broad palm coming to rest between my shoulder blades, holding me up as he pulls out and drives in again.
He didn’t lie.
Nothing about this is gentle.
But I didn’t lie either.
I don’t fucking care.
For most of the past week, I’ve felt anxious and on edge, disassociated from my body and untethered. But the hard thrusts of Ryland’s cock send me hurtling back to earth, grounding me firmly in the present moment.
There’s nothing else to think about. There’s nothing else to feel.
Just the connection between our bodies, the way he hits my clit every time he pounds into me, the way his lips slam down on mine with the same ferocity of his thrusts.
I loop my arm around his neck, holding on for dear life as he fucks me hard and fast.
My ass keeps sliding backward on the countertop, farther away from him, and he lets out a frustrated growl as he grabs my hips with both hands, hauling me back toward him. Now that he’s got me pinned, he drives into me even harder, and the punishing stretch of his cock filling me borders on pain.
But that doesn’t stop pleasure from spiraling through me too, building slow and steady inside me as a counterpoint to our frantic, desperate movements.
“Ryland…” I gasp his name, the word leaving my mouth in three syllables as my body shakes from the force of his thrusts. “I’m gonna come. I’m gonna… fuck… please…”
“Let me see you.”
He drives into me twice more and then stops, grinding hard against my clit and pressing into me so deeply that he hits the back of my channel. I gasp as pleasure turns to pain and back again, and he rears back, grabbing my chin and staring hungrily at my face as the orgasm crests inside me. He watches as my eyelids droop, my mouth drops open, a low cry falls from my lips.
And whatever he sees on my face pushes him over the edge too.
I feel his body shudder between my legs, and he draws back and slams into me again in three long, deep strokes as he comes hard. Sticky liquid spills out from where we’re connected as he strokes in and out a few more times, breathing harshly.
Then he wraps his arms around me and lifts me off the countertop, his cock still buried inside me as he carries me out of the kitchen.
We must look like a fucking mess. His pants are hanging low on his hips, the fabric of my dress is bunched around my waist, leaving me bottomless and topless, and his shirt is half unbuttoned, his tie half undone.
But I really don’t care about that either.
Chapter 11
I’m not sure where Ryland is taking me until we get there.
Keeping a firm grip on me with one hand, he opens a door with the other, stepping inside the guest bedroom where he’s been staying and kicking the door closed behind us.
I expect him to set me down on the bed, but instead, he takes a seat on the mattress, settling me on his lap with my legs straddling his waist. His cock pulses inside me, and we both give a little shudder before he pulls back to look me in the eyes.
His hazel irises are softer than I’ve ever seen them. Even the angular lines of his face seem less harsh.
He runs a hand through my hair, tangling his fingers in the dark locks, and I glance down at his disheveled clothes. I’m a little pissed at myself that I didn’t even get his shirt all the way off. I can see hints of the delicious ink that covers his torso peeking out from the opening where I managed to get his buttons undone. It’s beautiful, and I wish I’d gotten the chance to explore all of it.
As if reacting to my heated gaze, Ryland makes a noise in his throat. It draws my attention back up to his face, and the second my eyes meet his again, he leans forward to kiss me.
This is like our first kiss.
Soft and gentle, just the barest brush of our lips.
Only this time it’s better, because it doesn’t feel so much like he’s trying to pull away.
And neither am I.
The weight of what just happened settles over me as we break apart, and I tug my bottom lip between my teeth.
Is this totally fucked up? Is it insane for me to have feelings for all three of the men who’ve basically stalked me for the past two and a half years?
And did I just betray Marcus somehow?
Ryland shakes his head. I’m sure I didn’t say any of that out loud, but he seems to have read my thoughts somehow.
“Marcus knows.” His full lips, swollen and red from our bruising kisses, ghost over mine once more. “He knows how I feel about you. How Theo feels about you. He’s always known. And he meant what he said in the alley that night. I’m sure of it. We’ve never shared a woman before, but we all knew you were different from the very first moment you came into our lives.”
Something warm and sweet spreads through my chest. It’s almost painful how good it feels—the two feelings blending
