Page 55 of South Beach Bodyguards

Ryan’s mouth was open and I thought for the briefest held breath, that he was going to say he was it. That guy. The moment held in the air, hope clinging to me like dew on a leaf in the earliest dawn. But then the drop gave up its hold on the leaf and plummeted to the ground.

His shoulders dropped and he closed his mouth. He rubbed his jaw. Then he moved around me to the front door. He reached for the knob. He put his hand on it.

My heart crumpled.

At least I had tried. I had said what I needed to. Now it was time to put my crush behind me and move beyond all of this. I had already been making huge strides, creating the next phase of my life, and this was closure. It was like slamming your finger in the door when you did, but hell, it was closure. No looking backwards.

But Ryan turned. I braced myself for whatever he was going to say. It would hurt, whatever it was. I knew that much. I was ready for it.

He didn’t say a word. He strode the few feet between us with hard, pounding steps, his hand reaching out and gripping my hair. Startled I stared up at him, about to ask him what the hell, when he kissed me, a fierce, possessive kiss. When he let go a minute later I was breathing heavy, heart and inner thighs aching.

“I’m that guy.” Ryan reached down, and swept me off the floor. “No one else is going to touch you, because Isabel, I’m that fucking guy. I’m going to make you laugh and smile and miss me for no reason. I’m going to give you a stupid nickname and I’m going to cuddle the fucking hell out of you, for real this time.”

There was a huge ass lump in my throat and I swallowed it so I could speak. “Why?” I needed to know. I needed to hear it.

“Because I’m crazy, stupid, irrationally in love with you.”

My jaw worked but I had no words. Only a smile. I hadn’t been expected the movie ending but I would be damned if I wasn’t going to enjoy it.

Ryan carried me up the stairs one at a time, effortlessly.

When he lay me down on the bed, I realized I had my head injury and subsequent amnesia to thank. I should send Juan a card in prison.

He started to peel the blanket off of me. “What are you grinning about?”

I shook my head, not wanting to talk about the idiot who had clocked me. “I’m just hoping for a happy ending.”

Ryan gave a chuckle. “I’m about to give you more than one.” He covered my breast with his palm, stroking my nipple into a taut bud. “All I’ve been thinking about is you and your body. You’re unforgettable, Is.”

My cheeks warmed from both his words and his touch. “You’re pretty damn unforgettable yourself.” I reached a hand between us and reaching down so I could stroke the outside of his jeans. He was already fully hard. “I think you’ve ruined me for other guys.”

“Good,” he said vehemently. He bent down and kissed me, slowly this time, savoring.

We melded our mouths, tasting, reacquainting. It was different now. These kisses had intention, emotion. There was a history there and a future. A promise, a commitment. They were sweet and sexy kisses, his broad body held over me by those muscular arms. I slid my hand up his cheek, scratching the hairs there. He needed to shave. He needed my touch. I knew it in the way he turned into it, the way he let me cup his cheek, the way his eyes briefly shuttered, before he kissed the inside of my wrist.

If his job was to protect me, mine was to love him.

It was that simple.

“You’re so sweet,” he murmured. “My sugar.”

My heart felt like it was being squeezed. I wanted to remember this moment, even more than the first time. He was all here with me this time and it was in his eyes, in the gentle awe of his touch, in the soft words he whispered into my ear. He nuzzled my neck, teasing my nipples, and my body felt heavy, the ache between my thighs growing. We kissed for an eternity, until our lips were damp and swollen and his hips rocked against me with increasing urgency. At some point he stripped off his shirt and briefly pressed his bare skin against mine, before descending down the length of my stomach, trailing with his tongue, and making me squirm. His finger found its way inside me and I sighed at the pleasure of him stroking through the damp arousal.

I expected him to tease me, draw it out, go down on me. But he didn’t. A few seconds later he had his pants off and he was inside me.

It definitely felt different this time. He slid in easier, without so much strain and coaxing. It was like my body knew what to expect and wanted some of that. I dug my nails into his biceps and cried out at the agonizing pleasure. “Ryan.” Then I shocked both of us by coming, hard, barely two minutes into his rhythmic and slow strokes.

As I watched Isabel shatter beneath me, her eyes wide with desire and love for me, I knew I was never letting her out of my sight again. She was crazy enough to take all this mess on, and I was crazy enough to let her. She felt good, so goddamn good, her moist body opening for me, my dick harder than it had ever been. People always said that sex was better when you loved someone and I had always figured that was a bunch of bullshit made up to sell greeting cards.

But there was truth to it. It wasn’t just physical when I touched Is, it was emotional too. Me, the dude with the broken nose and the fucked up family, felt like glass when I was with her. She could poke me in the eye and I wouldn’t care. Was that love? Probably. But Isabel would never poke me in the eye.

Funny how that worked.

Her orgasm was beautiful. It made her chest turn pink and her lips drift apart, soft sounds of pleasure falling from them. She had never been anything but open to me and I wanted to give her the same. I wasn’t sure if I could, but I was going to try.

She nodded then, as if she could read my mind. Goosebumps swept over my whole body. “Let go. Just come with me.”

For a second I thought about pulling out. Drawing out my anticipation and hers. But then I just wanted to give her what she wanted so I increased my pace, taking her so hard the headboard of my old bed banged the wall with enough force to send flakes of plaster drifting down onto the floor. Her nails dug deeper into my skin. Her heels bounced off my ass. Her eyes glazed over and her tiny pink tongue slipped out and moistened her bottom lip before she pulled it back in and sank her teeth down in ecstasy.

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