Page 121 of Pucking Wild

Her hands that were clinging to my hips soften. Slowly, she brushes them up my sides and under my leather cut to splay over my chest. She drops her gaze, watching where her hands touch me. My body heats all over, loving the feel of her closeness. I want her. Icraveher. But I’m going to respect her boundaries and move at her speed.

“Ryan.” Her hands smooth over the planes of my chest.

“What do you need?” I say, voice low.

Her hands go still as she looks up into my eyes. Parting her lips, she says the word that is music to my ears. “You.”

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“Ryan, please,” I murmur, my hands going up to his nape, fingers brushing his hair, as I step in closer. “I need you.”

“What do you need?” he says again. His hands are at my waist, smoothing over the leather of my skirt. “Tell me what you need.”

I’m not good at being vulnerable. I’m not good at letting people in. I’d rather walk around the world stark naked than walk around admitting to having faults and feelings and insecurities.

And boy, has this man seen me naked. Maybe that’s why everything has been so topsy-turvy with us. We started with me naked. No walls, no hiding. Just me, exactly as I am, with curves and freckles and sunburned shoulders.

He’s known what I am,allthat I am, from day freaking one. Now the question becomes: Will I let him knowwhoI am? Will I let him in?

Taking a deep breath, I look in his eyes. For him, I’m willing to try. “I want this, Ryan,” I say. “I want you inside me. I want you to fuck me. Here. Now.”

His energy darkens as he smooths a thumb over my cheek. “Tess—”

“Wait.” I lift my hand to cover his on my cheek. “I want to let you in—I—god, I’m gonna try to let you in, okay? But my head can be a crazy place sometimes,” I warn, dropping my hand away.

“I’ve noticed,” he says with a smirk. His hand lowers, too, his thumb brushing along the curve of my shoulder.

I shiver, loving the feel of his gentle touch. Centering myself in that feeling, I give him my vulnerability. “Ryan, the last man who touched me did so in anger. I think it’s making me afraid to take this step with you. I’m afraid of the surrender, of the loss of control.”

He goes still, holding his breath as his eyes flash.

“I want you to help me reclaim it.”

He raises a brow. “Your control?”

“And my consent,” I say with a nod. “Both.”

“How do we do that?” he asks, searching my eyes.

“We fuck,” I reply. “And we hold nothing back. I want to give myself to you, Ryan. I want to trust that you won’t hurt me, that you’ll only bring me pleasure.”

“Jesus, Tess.” He drops his hands away.

My heart flutters in nervous anticipation. “You don’t want that?”

He groans. “Well—fuck, I can’t have this conversation in front of Drunk Cleopatra,” he says, waving his hand over at the bed where poor Tegan is softly snoring.

I stifle a laugh, taking his hand. “Come on.”

“Wait—”

I pull him from the room, glancing right towards the crowded game area before moving left.

“Tess, what are you doing?”

My heart races as I open the next door, peeking in to see a bathroom. No way. I am not fucking this man next to a toilet. Shutting the door, I move down and open the next.

“Tess—”

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