Page 92 of Redemption

Victoria kissed his neck, and not a little kiss—a hungry one.

She moved to his jaw, nuzzling her way to his mouth until she met his lips, and her back arched under his arms, her tongue slipped to his, and her hips danced side-to-side in a small-but-needy cry for him to join her without clothes.

He reached down and yanked off his boxer briefs, kicking them down his leg, and the arousal dampening between her legs met his skin. Victoria rubbed her slick folds against his shaft, teasing his head.

“I would’ve found you.” He reached to the nightstand where’d he left his wallet with a condom. The need to be in her was overpowering. Somewhere, there had to be a cardinal rule of sex that said thou shall not screw without foreplay, but she was drenched, and he was going to die.

She murmured against his cheek as he tore open the condom. Victoria lifted her hips, and he slipped it on.

“Eyes on me,” Ryder said.

Whisking a quick kiss across his lips, she listened, connecting their gazes, and it wasn’t until she was entirely still, maybe even entirely focused on him, that he guided the head of his erection to her sweet pussy.

Ryder rubbed against her. “You’re soaked, love.”

“Mm-hmm,” she agreed, not taking her eyes away.

“I barely touched you.”

“You don’t need to.” The breathlessness of her words made his heart trip over itself as he tried to hold back. “I see you. I want you. I hear you. I need you. I feel you. I am ready.”

This woman… He couldn’t keep from fucking her if he tried.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Ryder was a beast in the kitchen. Victoria didn’t have much in terms of groceries, and everything had come out of the pantry, but the man could cook. Somehow, normal pancake mix had turned into a fluffy, heaven-sent breakfast with the bacon she’d had in her freezer for a questionable amount of time fried up nicely. Even coffee was nicer when somebody made it for you. It wasn’t that he was doting; it was just that Ryder seemed to take over everything he put his hands on. Like her. He’d rescued her, and here he was, in her life—in Iowa—though she wasn’t complaining, especially when he made coffee like that.

“Why are you staring at your mug?” He crossed his arms over his chest.

Maybe the thing she liked most about Ryder here in Iowa was that he seemed as though he didn’t like wearing his shirt much. When they were at Winters’s place, he’d worn most of his clothes, except when they went swimming, which was to be expected. But today, he woke up without a shirt on and hadn’t found a reason to put it back on yet, and Victoria hadn’t found a reason to remind him.

“It’s really good coffee.”

“Secret ingredient.” He winked.

“I don’t know about that, but maybe I just like that you made it.”

“No, for real. I have a secret ingredient.” He laughed.

“Are you going to share?”

“Well, then it wouldn’t be secret.”

He could say all he wanted to. She knew exactly what she had in her house in terms of food and secret ingredients. There wasn’t much, and she also knew what she took in her coffee—cream and sugar. Apparently, his secret ingredient was finding the perfect amount of each. Somehow, in umpteen amount of years of drinking coffee, Victoria had never found the right balance for cream and sugar and coffee, and it took Ryder one time. “Well, then you keep your secret ingredients. And I’ll assume that I know what they are too.”

“Ingredient. One ingredient.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Okay, mister. But remember, I almost shot you last night. You almost died, taking that secret ingredient to the grave with you. Maybe you should share.”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

She leaned back in her chair and finished the last of her secret-ingredient coffee, drinking down the remnants of the best brew she’d ever had. “I have to run a couple errands this morning. It shouldn’t take that long, and when I get back, I can give you a tour of my town. Does that sound like a good plan?”

It had taken all through breakfast and a caffeine high to work up the courage to lie straight to his face about her plans to meet Lenora. Oh hell, she hated this, and she reached over and stole a piece of bacon from his plate and gnawed it even though she was too full to appreciate how good it was.

“I can ride with you.” He dropped into the chair next to her, acting suspicious as all hell.

Which he should be.She took another bit of bacon. “It’s just a thing. Won’t take me very long.” Now she was going straight to relationship hell. “You can hang here.”

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