Page 48 of Mountain Challenge

If she hadn’t been looking at Ry, she might have missed the way his smile suddenly froze, his eyes tightening at the corners. She followed his gaze to see two people emerge from thegendarmerie. One was a slim, middle-aged man, dressed in a navy blue suit. He was saying something to a younger, angry-looking man wearing a neck brace.

Then the younger man looked up in their direction. She knew who he was. Hatred shone bright in his eyes, making her shiver. And she hated the fact that she hated him back. She’d never imagined she might hate someone she’d never even met, but to think of the way he’d treated Ry, the pain he’d caused him … all in a quest for money … it repulsed her.

She held herself very still until the two men disappeared into a black car.

“Hey. It’s okay,” Ry said, squeezing her hand. “It’s over.”

Isla’s mouth opened in shock.Hewas trying to comforther? After everything that had happened?

Ry smiled. “I can tell you’re angry.”

“I’m sorry this happened to you,” she said, because she felt someone had to say it. She’d seen how much it’d hurt him, over the last weeks, and he’d had to deal with it on top of his injury. “I’m sorry because?—“

“Thank you for being upset on my behalf. But it’s over,” he repeated. “And it doesn’t change anything. I will not let it change anything. Most people aren’t like this. I refuse to be scared everytime I go out there.” He squeezed her tight. “But thank you for having my back.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him she would always have his back, but something made her hold the words back. Because the wordalwayswas a big one, and one they’d never said to each other, and her lastalwayshadn’t ended well in the past.

“So … lunch?” she said, smiling brightly.Coward.

His smile was blinding. “I’m not that hungry, but I’m always in the mood for dessert.” He took her hand in his much larger one and pulled her forward, towards her car. “Come on, let’s go celebrate.”

23

Ry

“You taste so fucking sweet,” Ry said from between her legs.

A small groan tore from Isla’s throat. “I thought … I thought you said you wanted dessert.” Her fingers tangled in his hair, tightening as his tongue came out to lick at her clit.

“Thisisdessert. The sweetest, most delicious dessert in the world,” he said, punctuating each word with a lick that started at her clit and moved all the way down her slit. Then there was no more talking, as his tongue found its way inside her. Isla tensed, pleasure building.God.He was going to kill her.

“Please,” she begged. “I need to come.”

“Not yet, baby,” he said, once again going back to those soft licks. Ry pulled at her shaking knees, making space for his wide shoulders, giving himself better access.

“Fuck me. Please.”

“I plan to fuck you,” Ry said. “I’m going to fuck you so long and so hard, you’re going to remember me all day and all night.” He pushed one thick finger inside her, slowly. So slowly. “But not yet. Not until you tell me how badly you need it.”

Isla lost her words. She lost language, directly, and moaned, instead. Ry must have liked that, because that thick finger started moving inside her. Then a second finger pushed in, joining the first. And they felt so good and slick and delicious, but not as good as his cock would when he filled her. So she had to find the words.

“Inside me …”

“Iaminside you, baby. You feel so tight around my fingers.”

Isla’s hips shot forward, looking for more pressure, more movement.More. Because she couldn’t come unless hemoved.

Ry’s mouth came right against her ear. “I’ve got a condom on already,” he said. “But I’m not going to make love to you until you come all over my fingers.”

Though she would never admit it, it was the wordlovethat made her orgasm. Or at least, she happened to come at that exact instant, her internal walls contracting around his fingers. And still his fingers speared her, dragging on her pleasure, her orgasm going on and on. When at last his fingers left her, she felt empty—so empty—emptier than she’d ever felt before. Then his cock was at her entrance. Full and thick—so much thicker than his fingers. He pushed forward, through her orgasm, and it was the brightest, best feeling in the world.

Eventually, she lay back, spent.

Oh. My. God.

Ry had the decency to hold himself very still inside her. “Good?” he asked.

“I’m … so much.”

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