“Not true.”
“Don’t even try with me.”
A smirk plays around his full lips, and I let out an exhale. “Did you drive all the way over here to discuss my makeup routine?”
His eyes glitter. “Invite me in. Isn’t that what you have to do for vampires?”
I give him a quizzical look. “No, not all vampires. It’s different depending on who wrote the book. Twilight’s vamps can enter any door they want, but Stephen King’s scary vampires in Salem’s Lot have to be invited inside.” I wrinkle my nose. “His version is particularly scary. Razor sharp teeth, black eyeballs.” I take a big breath. I’m rambling.
“I’ll let you tell me all about it if you want.” His eyes flash to the inside of my house. “I want to come inside.” The silky sound of his voice vibrates every atom inside me.
Come inside…
I’m thinking bad thoughts.
“Why?” My voice is wobbly with nerves. I grip the door. “There’s only one reason a guy shows up at a girl’s house at one in the morning.”
“But you aren’t that kind of girl,” he says softly, his gaze lingering on my chest and working its way down to my legs. His eyes come back to mine and I falter, seeing the way his have darkened. “Goddamn, you’re beautiful.”
I suck in a breath.
He huffs out a laugh and props a muscled bicep against the doorframe then leans down until our faces are inches apart. “You ignored my text, Red. You ignored a text where I said some pretty revealing shit. I’m not sure how I feel about that.” He lifts an eyebrow. “Should I be pissed off? Should I pretend it never happened? Or better yet, should I just come over here and prove to you that I meant every word?” He pauses and pretends to think. “But you know, in a way, I’ve been doing that already. I feel like I’m always proving shit to you. Hell, I spent two hours fixing your car tonight. What else do you need to see that I’m the one you want?”
“You left me at Cadillac’s with another guy!”
“So you could see you didn’t really want him.”
My mouth is open, and I quickly shut it. My body, which has a mind of its own, leans toward him until I’m standing on the threshold, our bodies an inch from touching. “I want you,” I say.
He cups my face, his blue-green eyes at half-mast. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted you?”
“How long?” I ask on an exhalation, our breaths mingling. He smells like toothpaste and it makes me smile. He prepared before coming here.
“Maybe since the moment you wrote that article, and I saw you on campus and made the connection. You don’t care who I am. You’re the most honest person I know.”
“So before I spilled water on you?”
He laughs.
Butterflies flip in my stomach. I tug on his shirt until his lips are a breath away from mine. “Then shut up and kiss me.”
He captures my mouth and murmurs my name as his hands go to my lower back, pressing me against him. Forget that bookstore kiss. Forget every kiss I’ve ever had. This one is real. This one is fire and ice and burns so good. His tongue tangles with mine, going deeper, searching and tasting me. His lips consume me and I give it back just as good, our mouths battling for dominance. He pushes his hands into my hair and I moan as his teeth nip at me, his tongue insistent. Need and desire build momentum within me, and I think I might combust from a kiss alone. This. Him. I’ve wanted him forever. Maybe back to the first time I saw him come out of that bathroom at the Tau house with only a towel wrapped around him.
He stops to breathe, his forehead resting against mine as our chests heave. “Fuck me, Red. You’re on fire.” He presses his mouth against my neck and sucks hard, and I groan at the flashes of electricity it sends straight to my core.
“I’m so glad you came for me,” I whisper.
He pauses, and I look up to see his throat working. “I like those words on your lips.”
I take his hand in mine, and we walk inside. He shuts the door and turns back to face me.
My chest is heaving. His is too. My eyes flick down to the bulge in his gym shorts. God. He’s probably huge.
My eyes fly up to his face, and he’s wearing a smirk, as if he knows exactly what I’m thinking. His eyes go to my notebook on the desk. “You been writing in your notebook about me?” he asks, and it’s such a non sequitur that I shake my head.
Realization dawns and I gape. “You read the Holy Grail?”
He holds his hands out. “At Sugar’s, but before you freak out, I didn’t mean to.”
“What part did you see?”
“Where the Duke of Waylon ravishes the virgin with his big cock.”
I blink, adjusting to the knowledge. “Well, you seem to have gotten the gist of it.”
He trails a finger down to my sweater and unbuttons the first button. His lips brush my collarbone. “I can make it come true.”
“Big appendage and all?”
He undoes another button, eyes like fire as they brush over me. “Oh, Red, you have no idea.”
I don’t. I really don’t. “I’m a virgin. I know I told you already, but I feel the need to point it out again.”
“I haven’t forgotten.” He undoes the next button and parts the sweater until the lace bodice of my camisole appears. “Beautiful,” he murmurs.
“Well, don’t get your hopes up.” I wave my hands around my chest. “This is all smoke and mirrors. My bras are all padded.”
“Is that so?” He gives me a hot look as he unbuttons the last one and pushes the cardigan off my arms. It drops to the floor, forgotten. With a slight brush of his fingers, he cups my breast through the camisole, his fingers tweaking my nipple. “You couldn’t be any more perfect.”
His eyes hold mine and the air is electric.
I’m going to die if he doesn’t do something soon.
I must have spoken aloud because he chuckles and pushes the top of my camisole down, easing the delicate straps lower until the garment slides down and my breasts are free. My nipples rise to meet him as his head lowers and he kisses them. He cups me in his palms and massages, tugging until I clasp his head in my hands, gripping his scalp as his tongue toys with my peaks, taking them in his mouth and sucking. He’s gentle then rough and hard.
I can’t breathe. Delicious sensation wraps around me. “Ryker.”
“Hmmm,” he moans as he kisses up my neck to my ear. “Where’s your bed?” he whispers.
I point him in the right direction as he sweeps me up in his arms and carries me to my room.
“Shit! Jock!” Vampire Bill squawks.
Ryker laughs and sets me down on my feet. I reach down to pull up my camisole, but he stops me. “No, don’t hide your body,” he murmurs as he trails a hand through my hair.
I reach for him, and we kiss, the intensity rising. I tear at his shirt, but the buttons are tiny, and I can’t get it open fast enough. He rips at it until they fly around the room, landing with little pings on the hardwood floor. He whips his arms out and tosses it away as if it offends him.
He stands there, his sculpted chest rippling with muscles, the deep V of his hips disappearing into his shorts. I touch the golden curls on his chest.
“You wore the white shirt…for me?”
He smirks. “I know you like it.”
A long sigh escapes my lips, and I curl my hand around his shoulder then tug him close until we’re pressed together. I lean down and tease his nipple with my mouth.
“Red,” he moans, tightening his arms around me.
I lean my head down to listen to his heartbeat. It’s as erratic as mine, and I know, I know…
“You’re perfect,” I say, my voice bemused. Happy.
“Don’t stop kissing me,” he groans before taking my mouth again. We kiss and kiss until I can’t think. His lips skate down my neck to my chest. He falls to his knees, his hands cupping my ass. He moves slowly and deliberately as his tongue finds my navel and explores while I arch my back to get closer. I call out his name, my hands twining in his hair. His touch is masterful.
With a deft motion, he pushes my lace shorts down to my ankles and his mouth kisses my hipbone, sucking there.
“What are you doing to me?” I breathe.
“Whatever you want,” Ryker replies, looking at me with dark, heavy-lidded eyes.
I want it all, my heart thunders.
“We don’t have to take this all the way,” he says softly. “But I’m going to make you come. Hard. You’re going to be begging me to fuck you. You’re going to be begging me to fuck you every single day you’re alive…”
I nearly orgasm right then. “You’re the cockiest sonofabitch I know,” I murmur.
“Is that a yes?” he growls, his hand sliding in between my legs and sawing back and forth over my clit.
There’s a boldness in his gaze as he watches me. Rapt attention. He quivers, a full body tremor as I spread my legs apart, and he eases me down on the bed. I’m half on and half off as he kisses the top of my foot, the inside of my knee, the birthmark I have on my thigh, lavishing attention. His fingers pinch my nipples lightly, as if I’m a fine piece of porcelain and he’s exploring it. His mouth trails hot kisses over my stomach and he’s murmuring my name and saying how good I am, how beautiful—