I wouldn’t have changed anything. Ryder and I would never get enough of fucking one another, no matter how long we were together.
Chapter Fourteen — Ryder
New York was everything I expected and more. I hugged Jade tightly to me as we were driven through the overcrowded streets, taxi horns honking all around us, our driver taking it all in his stride. Jade had been sick on the flight, just as she’d warned me. She was still a bit shaky, but at least she wasn’t as pale as she’d been on the plane.
Maxwell’s apartment was on the Upper East Side, and although Jade and I insisted that we’d prefer to stay in a hotel, Max had absolutely refused, sending his driver to collect us from the airport.
“I haven’t laid eyes on you in two years and you want to stay in a goddamn hotel?” he’d barked down the phone when I’d told him I was bringing Jade too, and she’d suggested we stay in the same hotel as Rebecca.
“Jade and Rebecca want to be close so they can do some shopping on Fifth Avenue,” I’d protested lamely. Shopping wasn’t my thing, but hell, I'd tag along if I got to have fun with these two women and I could steal a few kisses from Jade.
Max had sounded really disappointed. “Look, I can’t force you. But, suffice to say, my apartment has everything you could want. And my driver will take you anywhere, including Fifth Avenue. It's just down the road from my little place.”
“Jade is nodding her head. I think that means ‘yes,’” I’d said, squeezing her hand.
That’s what I loved about her most: she always wanted to make other people happy. Not in a doormat kind of way, but in a sincere, caring way. There was a difference. And Jade’s brand was sexy as hell.
We dropped Rebecca at her hotel, promising to meet her for dinner that evening. She had to prepare for a meeting in the afternoon so that meant Jade and I had time to ourselves.
Letting out a whistle as we entered the lobby, I couldn’t help chuckling at Max’s comment about his “little place.” The apartment was on the top floor and even had its own elevator. It was huge, spanning two floors, and the entire side of the building that overlooked Central Park.
Even Jade, who was accustomed to lavish opulence, sucked in a breath as we were shown our bedroom by Maria, the housekeeper. The four-poster bed that dominated the room was made for sin and sex. It had cushions strewn over it as well as thin muslin curtains draped at the corners with large loopy ties to the bedposts that could be used for all kinds of kinky fuckery.
The sliding doors to a large balcony overlooking the lake in the park were thrown open. Yet another place I envisioned fucking Jade, her holding onto the wrought-iron railings as I pumped into her from behind.
But what intrigued me most was the gigantic domed skylight that Max must have retrofitted. I imagined having Jade on the bed, the dome opened, fucking like rabbits beneath the stars.
If I had my way, we’d hardly leave the room. I wiggled my eyebrows at Jade as she pulled one of the satin cords. She gasped, clearly not suspecting her actions to cause the whole dome to open up. We laughed and lay back on the bed, side-by-side, staring up into the blue sky, watching the birds and the clouds drift by.
Maria cleared her throat, bringing us back to earth. “Shall I serve lunch on the balcony, sir?”
Nobody had ever called me sir. I winked at her. “Sure, Maria, but only if you call me Ryder.” My stomach grumbled noisily.
She laughed. “Sure, Sir Ryder,” she said as she left the room.
I nearly kissed her when she appeared again moments later followed by a maid with platters of food. Besides a spread of bread, salads, cold meats and cheeses were an ice-cold beer, a bottle of wine, and two slices of authentic New York cheesecake. Jade clapped her hands in delight.
“Can I start with dessert?” she whispered when Maria left. I threw back my head and laughed.
“Babe, you can do whatever the fuck you like,” I said as I poured a glass of cold white wine into a crystal glass for Jade before setting the bottle back on ice. I loved seeing her smile at me.
It’s true what they say: a happy woman makes a happy man.
We sat in the stylish chairs, enjoying the simple pleasure of good food, good wine and one another. It was a lifestyle so different to my own, so completely the opposite, and it amused me that people actually lived like this every day.
I was proud of my little brother. He had come a long way from poverty to this—all by his own smarts and hard work. But in spite of all these riches, I wouldn’t trade my life for his. Yeah, Max jet-setted all over the world, drove fancy cars and lived in luxury. But he also worked insanely long hours, and from what I heard, had a wife he hardly ever saw. I'd never met her, but I’d seen pictures in magazines of the two of them at fancy social events.