Page 43 of Tempest

It was about time to change the subject, so Ryan jumped in. “What time is Garret coming by today?”

“He’s coming by around one. I spoke with Mama, and she offered to make a plate of sandwiches. I have to catch up on some projects for SAI, and I promised Rory that I would have them done by today.”

“Okay. I’ll finish installing the system here and then go over to Grams’s and get started on hers,” Ryan said around a mouthful of food. He would also have to figure out some time to work out. He was eating all of Ivy’s food and if he wasn’t careful, he was going to be out of shape before he reported back to Florida. He had a long commitment to combat readiness, and he didn’t want to let the team down, no matter how good Ivy’s cooking was. He’d seen firsthand last week how ops required them to function like they were still SEALs. Trevor had carried that girl for over three miles with all of his gear in high heat and humidity and kept his eight-minute-mile pace. The last thing Ryan wanted to do was be in a position to let his brothers down when they were in the middle of an op. “I’m going to work out today at some point.”

“Go whenever you want, honey,” Ivy replied.

He smiled as he ate a sausage. She had used an endearment and she probably wasn’t even aware of it. He silently let out a shout as he ate his breakfast. If he made a big deal of it, she would just deny it. And the last thing he wanted to do was give her something to fuss over. There was still someone out there who had taken a shot at her, and they were far from figuring out who that person was. Their relationship was going to be the easy part of her life, not the part she fought against. “Colin, you want to run with me later on? You can show me the town.”

“Sure. Why not?” he replied as he refilled his plate. “It’s not like my sister cares what I do.”

Ivy stuck her tongue out and then went back to eating. Maturity was the side dish they were missing on the table this morning. Maybe they could get some at lunchtime. A biscuit flew across the table and landed on Ivy’s plate.

“Thank you, Colin. I was ready for another one.”

Ryan laughed and then went back to eating. Some truces were easier than others.

***

Wednesday Evening

Ivy pulled herself out of the pool and plopped herself down on a chair. Ryan was swimming back and forth and it was a sight to behold. His strokes were smooth, and he moved through the water effortlessly. Made sense, since he’d spent so much time in the water over the last ten years. As she studied his massive arms lift out of the water, she thought back to last night and what they had done together. Her face heated as she remembered how shameless she’d been. Best as she could remember, there was begging involved. Good Lord, she had lost her good manners, and it was about damn time too.

All those years of polite dates, appropriate boyfriends, and bland sex had set her up for losing her sense spectacularly. It had finally happened and she couldn’t have been happier. In fact, she was wondering how quickly it could happen again.

A lot of ideas were playing across her mind… ideas that involved her mouth all over his body. He was a work of art, and she wanted to appreciate it from the top of his silky hair to the bottom of his feet. No doubt about it, she was head over heels in lust with the man in her pool. Ideally, he would be done soon and she could try one of her ideas out. They were going to be alone tonight, because her brother had gone back to Austin. So maybe sex under the stars would happen.

Lying back, she closed her eyes and made a little list of the things she wanted to do to him. She had always found prioritizing to be important, and she knew just what she wanted to put as her number one item.

***

Drops of cold water rolling across her stomach woke her up. Sitting up, she saw Ryan standing over her. “How long was I asleep?”

He grabbed a towel and dried himself off. “Maybe fifteen minutes.”

“I didn’t get much sleep last night, and I guess it caught up with me.” Levering herself all the way up, she found herself at eye level with Ryan’s crotch. Mmm, might be time to do the first thing on her list. As he was drying his hair with the towel, she untied his swim trunks and then ran her hand down his length. Licking her lips, she smiled. He definitely liked the feel of her touch.

“Ivy…what are you doing?”

“If you need to ask me that, then I think we may have a serious issue on our hands.” She slid his trunks down and his erection popped free. Lord and master, he was magnificent. “I didn’t have a chance last night, so I thought…” Running her hand up and down his length had him hardening even more. He took a sharp inhalation of breath as she licked the drops of excitement that were glistening on the head of his massive cock. It wasn’t a word that she often used, but it seemed to fit what Ryan had. It was a masculine word to describe what God had blessed him with. She took him into her mouth and heard his groan of pleasure. Looking up through her eyelashes at his face, she realized he was completely in her control. His eyes were closed, and the last of the evening light allowed her to see the streaks of red that slashed across his cheeks.

“God, Ivy. Amazing,” he said through gritted teeth.

She licked him from shaft to tip, stopping to nibble at the sensitive spot beneath the head of his length. Tension radiated from his body as she continued her ministrations and licked him like a damn lollypop. He was delicious, and she sensed that he was about to lose his famous control, as he held her head gently and thrust his hips slowly. Working her hand in tandem with her mouth, she moved down him faster. A loud groan escaped his throat as he pulled away. Gripping his hip, she tried to hold him in her mouth.

“Too close,” he mumbled as he slipped out of her grasp. He lifted her up, flipped her over his shoulder, and carried her into the house.

“Hey, where are you taking me? I wanted to have sex under the stars.”

“You’re too damn loud. We’d have the neighbors calling the police after I gave you one stroke,” he managed to get out while he dumped her on the bed. He stripped her of her bikini before she knew what was happening and had his mouth between her legs before she could form a response.

“I wanted to seduce you,” she moaned as her back came up off the bed. God, he was good with that tongue of his. “I had more planned.”

Lifting his face, he gave her a sly grin. “The night is young.”

He moved his mouth back and started sliding his tongue in a rhythm that had her mindless. “Ryan…” Incapable of saying more, she felt herself on the precipice of an orgasm when he took his mouth away and flipped her over. She was like a damn rag doll. “What are you…” He dragged the tip of his penis along her wet folds and teased her bud a few times before he held on to her hips and buried himself deep within her body. “Oh, dear God,” she moaned loudly as he held himself still. Nine inches was no joke.

“It’s going to be fast,” he groaned.

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