Page 28 of Something to Someone

“Be good,” I warned.

Ryder picked up a cookie and inspected it before taking a large bite. He chewed for a moment then said, “That goes against everything I believe in, Caroline. There’s a reason you call me Trouble, right?”

Narrowing my eyes, I tried to renew my depleted willpower. The longer I sat there in his space, remembering the way his stubble scratched my inner thighs and the ecstasy he drew from my body, the more likely I was to give in. He sat with his ankle crossed over his opposite knee, and the image made my brain short circuit.

“You are fucking trouble,” I said quietly, choosing a brownie that was covered in caramel and chocolate sauce. I took a bite and set it back on my plate.

He leaned forward and reached toward me. Before I could react, his hand was wrapped around the leg of my chair so he could tug me closer.

A very girly and uncharacteristic squeak left me but was concealed by the scrape of the chair across the hardwood floor. Inches away, I could smell the chocolate on his breath and feel the heat radiating off his body. The electricity arching between us was almost too much to bear. It was hard to ignore when we were so close.

“You know you like it—the trouble, the danger. I think youlovethe fact that it’s dirty and wrong. But it didn’t feel wrong when you were coming all over my tongue. Even though you want to avoid it, which I’m sure is why you’ve been ignoring me all week.”

The room disappeared around us the longer he held my stare. The melodic background music and the noise filtering in from the main dining room vanished. My world narrowed to the look in his eyes.

“Denying how much I like it seems meaningless at this point,” I admitted before I could consider the statement. My pulse quickened, and my heart collided with the inside of my chest. My willpower was fading fast, and lying to myself wasn’t doing me any good. My brain was losing the fight with my heart and the rest of my body.

And watching Ryder fight, witnessing how much he wanted it—wantedme—made it feel pointless and impossible to win.

“Which is exactly why we should do it again,” he said, reaching forward to brush his thumb over the exposed skin of my knee. The only sliver of skin peaking from between the slit in my skirt. My eyes dropped down to follow the movement, and I fought the need to shudder. “I’m not opposed to more begging or convincing. Even right here in the middle of the restaurant. Tell me to get on my knees, Caroline. Right here and now. Right where anyone could see.”

I simultaneously loved and hated how out of control I felt. And watching him get back on his knees and beg for anything I would give him would give me back that control. But I couldn’t risk it.

“Be on your best behavior while we’re here, and I’ll consider it.”

Ryder immediately straightened and sat back in his chair, trying and failing to hide his triumphant smile. “Anything for you, pretty girl. Literally, anything.”

FIFTEEN

CRAWL TO ME

Ryder

I knewwhen I walked into the dining room an hour and a half earlier that I would be going home with her.

My confidence in the outcome wasn’t the result of cockiness or some toxic, masculine bravado. Before the doors had opened, I was worried she’d throw me out of the room altogether. That she’d rather call Stephen and Miles and tell them she refused to work with me than spend another second alone together. I hoped that wouldn’t be the case, but with Caroline and her steady silence, I didn’t know what to believe.

No, what had changed my attitude from hopeful skepticism to excited certainty was the look in her eyes when she saw me. Her own excitement was skillfully hidden but plain as day to me. Years of studying the woman sitting at the end of the table gave me invaluable insight.

Her blonde hair swept up in a clip, it showed off the long line of her neck and the subtle cleavage beneath her lilac satin top. The first few buttons were open, and I wanted to undo the rest with my teeth, taking my time to tease and taste her skin. But it was the fucking skirt that made me want to drop back to my knees and crawl to her if I had to.

When I said I’d do anything she wanted, I meant it.

Which was how I ended up parking my car in her garage as she’d instructed. The door quickly closed behind me, and the room was pitched into darkness but for the dim overhead light.

I wouldn’t have needed to park in the garage and hide my car from my mother who lived down the street if we’d gone to my apartment. But it was inconveniently across town, and I didn’t want to make her drive all that way. Besides, her house was the Ritz compared to my one-bedroom.

I stepped out of my car and surveyed the tidy garage as I headed toward the door leading into the house. I reached forward, but the door swung open before I had a chance to try it.

Caroline only stood in the opening long enough to see I was there then she disappeared down the hallway. I hurried inside, quickly closing the door behind me in enough time to see her push open her double bedroom doors and peek at me over her shoulder.

I was already walking toward her, but the bold, wicked glint in her eyes made me move even faster. I stepped over the threshold to see her drop into a dark leather chair on the opposite side of the room near the sliding glass doors that ran the length of the wall behind her.

The late-afternoon sun cast a golden glow across the large cream rug and the king-sized bed. But my eyes didn’t linger on the finer details of the room when Caroline reached behind her and unclipped her hair, letting it fall in loose, waves just past her shoulders. She set the clip down beside her and let her eyes settle on me.

I took a step, and she raised her hand. A silent command, not a request, which I heeded.

“If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it my way. And to be clear, this doesn’t change anything,” she said.

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