Page 3 of The Heat of Us

“Ok, you do that.” It made absolutely no difference to me. “And then send him up.”

Aleks grumbled something about alpha male murder statistics before hanging up.

After about ten minutes, a heavy knock sounded on my door. Who knew scanning a driver’s licence would take so long?

I had never seen Ryder from the neck up but his face was just as good looking as the rest of him. And I’d sure seen a lot of the rest of him. An eagle in human form, dark hair slicked back, strong brow and piercing hazel green eyes. Despite all his sharp angles, the flirtatious energy he exuded was blinding. I could picture him walking down the street and sending groups of teenage girls into fits of whispered giggles.

It was probably why he was very popular as Ryder Hard on OnlyA’s, making thousands of his subscribers cream over his jerk-off videos. He spent most of them describing at length how hard we made him, begging us to let him fuck us in a voice so deep and sex-laced it should’ve been illegal.

And if that wasn’t enough, the amount of cum his balls could produce needed to be studied.

For science.

By me.

“Huh,” I said, tilting my head to one side, taking in his tanned olive skin. Don’t ask him where he’s from, you don’t need extraneous personal info to fuck him on camera. “I thought you were blonde for some reason.”

He smirked. “Does the carpet match the drapes, Pink?”

I opened the door wide so he could step inside. “You know I have no carpet,” I sniffed.

Ryder laughed and kissed my cheek in greeting. A quick, inadvertent scent mark. The heat of a bonfire curled invitingly around me, warmth spreading down my exposed neck and chest. A secret flask and a covert, burning sip.

I shook my head, clearing his scent from my brain. Of course he had to be potent as well as hot. Ryder was staring at me, his eyes unfocused and distant.

“Is that your gear?” I nodded at the bag in his hands.

Ryder blinked. “Uh, yeah. It is. Where do you want me to set up?”

I had two nests. I led Ryder to the one kitted out with the very best Haven + Nest had to offer. The thread count was high, the cotton sustainably sourced and the down-to-feather ratio off the charts. It had to be, what with the 4K camera and 3-point lighting setup catching every detail.

Ryder whistled in appreciation. “Damn, and you have a viewing monitor as well.”

I shrugged. “It’s an investment.” This was my career and my livelihood, of course I took it seriously. “Once we add your POV cam that should be enough.”

His bag was open and he was pulling out a neatly coiled cable. “I’m going to add a mic too.”

I blanched. That was extra editing work. Ryder saw my face and laughed. “Don’t worry,” he said, eyes twinkling. “I’ll deal with the syncing and processing, you just make your pretty little noises into it for me, ok?”

“That would depend on whether you can get them out of me.”

Ryder was in front of me in seconds. Mic abandoned. I stared up at him challengingly, our impertinent smiles a matched pair.

He laid my palm on his chest. The muscle beneath was warm. Unyielding. Ryder covered my hand with his and guided it down. I could feel every curve and dip through the fabric of his shirt.

Nice, but not something to lose your mind over.

I held his bold gaze unflinchingly.

My fingertips danced over abs. One, two, a million of them. Hard, V-shaped muscle. Ok, that was a bit more difficult. I swallowed a gulp. My hand was moving of its own accord now, without his guidance. I could see the outline of his cock, thick and hardening against his thigh. It was one thing to see it on a screen but being this close to it was something else entirely. Warmth pooled between my thighs imagining myself taking it out and seeing if he tasted as good as he—

Ryder’s palm pressed down abruptly, stopping me. A small but embarrassingly needy whine escaped my throat from being denied.

“Fuck,” I swore.

Ryder released me and stepped back, laughing good-naturedly despite the explicitness of what just transpired. He didn’t gloat, even though he was very much entitled to it if he wanted, and just got to work setting up his mic.

I absently noted that his arms flexed very nicely the whole time. “Did you bring teeth caps?” I asked.

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