Page 12 of Tin

“Don’t move those,” he warns softly. Then he takes a long sip of the ice-cold water before he lowers himself between my thighs.

The second his tongue touches me I want to jump out of my own body from the sensation. The chill of the water and the heat of his breath are coming together on the most sensitive part of me, and I can’t help but writhe under his touch. Then the palm of his hand comes to rest heavily on my stomach, holding me in place while he continues to inflict the most euphoric torture on me I’ve ever endured.

“Riker. Oh, God. Riker!” I want to say his name over and over again, because I want him to keep doing what he’s doing, over and over again. But his idea of pleasuring me is a lot like watching the waves on the sand. They come closer and closer and then, just as you think you’re about to get soaking wet, they retract and return to the sea. And I love it. But I hate it too. Because I want to feel it all. And I want to feel it now. And mostly, I’m terrified of how much control he has over me in these moments. How he can manipulate my body into doing and feeling exactly what he wants. But I let him because it feels too damn good not to.

I’m clawing the edge of the table and I swear I’m on the brink of coming when I feel him moving away and force myself to open my eyes again just in time to see him slide the condom over his perfectly erect penis.

Grabbing my hips, he tugs me to him, and I sit up to watch him move inside me. It fascinates me. And it turns me on beyond reason.

Riker moves his palm up under my shirt and gently presses down on my chest, making me lie back down. “I thought I told you not to move,” his deep voice growls quietly.

As soon as I’m spread out on his table again, he begins to thrust inside me, pulling nearly all the way out before sliding back in until he fills me completely. He does this several times before gripping me harder with both hands and building the intensity of his motions until I’m screaming his name from the waves of pleasure washing over me, this time taking me from head to toe and pulling me under to the place I’ve been yearning to go ever since I ran out of my sister’s house this morning.

CHAPTER FIVE

RIKER

“Is it me or are you in an unusually good mood this morning?” Sid’s leaning over the side of the round pen watching me work Nox.

“I’m here at the crack of dawn taking care of this damn horse like I am every morning. I don’t really see what part of that is supposed to put me in a good mood.” Nox snorts. I swear that son of bitch understands every word I say.

“Don’t give me that shit. I know you don’t hate him nearly as much as you’d like him to believe you do.” She swings her leg over the top board and jumps inside. Waiting until he passes her, she continues toward the center where I’m standing listlessly swaying an old lead rope back and forth to keep him moving. It’s habit, really. Nox is trained on voice commands, so I’m really just holding the rope for my own sake, not his.

“What? You don’t have enough shit to do this morning, you gotta come here and give me a hard time too?”

She laughs. “Oh, I’ve got plenty to do. You know that. Running this place keeps me busy every second of every day. But that doesn’t mean I won’t squeeze in a little time here and there to check in with you. Especially since I know how much you hate it.” She nudges me in the side with her elbow. “Now spill it. You’ve been acting weird since last Sunday. And this morning when you pulled up, I heard you singing along with the radio. So think twice before you try to feed me some line we both know is total bullshit.”

Sometimes I forget how well she knows me. “Let’s just say your little drugstore run actually went to good use.”

Her eyes look like they’re about to pop out of her head, and her jaw is dangling somewhere near her belly button. “Are you shittin’ me? Yougot laid?”

“Damn, Sid. You could at least act like you thought it was a possibility.” I drop the rope. Nox notices instantly, slows down, and walks toward me. “What the hell did you buy me all those condoms for if you didn’t really think I’d ever get around to using them?”

She shrugs and brings her jaw back up to where it belongs. “I figured if it at least got you to reenter society with some miniscule hope of maybe meeting someone again, it was worth the investment.”

I pat the black stallion on his neck, running my hand under his long thick mane. If he didn’t drive me absolutely insane, I’d have to admit that I understand exactly what my grandfather saw in him. He’s smart. And kind. And probably the most beautiful horse I’ve ever stood shoulder to shoulder with.

“Well, joke’s on you, because I didn’t go anywhere near society. She just showed up at my house. And as far as the second part—“

“The wanting to meet someone again?” she finishes, a small hopeful smile on her face. It’s small because she knows. I’m not someone anyone ought to be wasting a lot of hope on.

“Yeah. That. Let it go, Sid.” Nox’s halter in hand, I start for the gate. “I have.”

“But what about this mysterious woman who just showed up on your doorstep? I mean, that sounds like it has fate written all over it!” Sid isn’t ever going to accept it. I get that. She needs me to find happiness again. Because somehow that will give her reason to believe that she’ll find it as well someday. But I can’t be the one who keeps us both from disappearing in this purgatory we’ve both been stuck in for the last few years.

“It’s not fate, Sid. It’s just sex. It’s amazing sex. But it means nothing. Not to me. Not to her.” I close the gate behind us. “So it definitely shouldn’t mean anything to you.”

QUINN

“Where are we going?” The trees outside my window get denser the longer we drive. The last time we were this far inland we were headed to the Shepherdson Ranch for Sophie’s birthday party. And I don’t really remember seeing much else that would interest Kirsten. But then, I’m still new here, so there are plenty of places I haven’t seen.

“Sophie has her first riding lesson today.” Kirsten winks at her daughter in the rearview mirror, and she giggles in return.

“Riding lessons? I didn’t know you signed her up for those.” I shift in my seat, suddenly fighting the urge to vomit all over her pretty BMW. I really hadn’t considered running into Riker anywhere other than his apartment. And even though we established that we wouldn’t be pursuing a relationship, I didn’t get around to mentioning the importance of keeping our little arrangement from my sister.

“Well, if you hadn’t been so busy flirting with the scuzzy barn hand, you would have been around to hear me talking to Miss Sidney about getting Sophie into lessons with her.” Her perfect little nose is scrunched up, and I know she’s totally disgusted with me right now. And she doesn’t even know about the stuff I did with the scuzzy barn hand after we left. Although, honestly, he’s so the opposite of scuzzy. I don’t know why she’s being such a bitch about it.

“Kirsten, I wasn’t flirting with him. And even if I was, so what? I’m twenty-two. I may not be a ten like you, but I can still walk out in public without wearing a paper bag over my head to cover the ugliness, so, you know, on occasion, menmayfind me attractive.”

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