“You said,” Ryder murmured, “to keep my dick and hands away from you, you said nothing about my tongue.”
Said tongue slid over the curve of my hip and up the side of my body causing me to suck in a sharp breath.
Be strong, woman.
“Ryder Slater,” I managed to say. “Back away.”
He did almost instantly, but I practically felt his frown.
“Damn,” he murmured. “You really aren’t in the mood?”
I shook my head. “I’m tired. We have sex every single day, most days more than once. I’m only a woman, not a machine.”
“Are you complaining?”
“No.” I laughed because he sounded so disgusted. “I’m definitely not, but I need time to rest or I’m never goin’ to be able to keep up with you.”
I thought we were straying away from the topic of sex until Ryder opened his mouth and caused my eyes to roll towards the heavens.
“Can we swap you stroking my ego for stroking my cock instead?” he asked, and then laughed when I blindly kicked back at him.
“Goodnight, Ryder.”
I felt lips press against my shoulder.
“Goodnight, baby.”
I smiled when he settled behind me and hooked his arm around my body then covered our naked bodies with our bed cover. I snuggled into my pillow and sighed when my body started to relax once more. I blinked my eyes open a few minutes later when my mind refused to follow suit. I turned to face Ryder, glaring at him when I found he was looking at me with his shining grey eyes.
“I can’t go back asleep now, you bastard.”
He smiled. “So talk to me since we’ve got nothing else to do.”
“What about your run?” I questioned.
Ryder shrugged. “It takes me two seconds to get dressed, which gives you twenty minutes to do what you keep yapping on about.”
I grunted. “What do I keep yappin’ on about?”
“You always say we don’t talk enough, so let’s talk.”
I glared at him. “You’re puttin’ me on the spot.”
“So?”
“So I don’t have a topic in mind.”
“I do.”
“Shoot.”
“When can we get married?”
I felt my mouth drop open, and it made Ryder laugh.
“What?” he asked. “You look like you didn’t know that we’d eventually move on from being engaged to actually getting hitched.”
My mouth went very dry, so I licked my lips.
“No, I know that, obviously, I just didn’t think you would be thinkin’ of that.”
Ryder’s lips quirked. “I knew what I was doing when I asked you to marry me outside of the hospital that night two years ago, Branna. I imagined my life without you and I couldn’t, but more than that, I didn’t want to. I love you, baby.”
Without thinking, I got to my hands and knees then straddled his body with mine. I leaned my face down to his and said, “I love you too, and we can get married whenever you want to. I’m so ready.”
Ryder smiled. “We’ll figure it out.”
“We always do… and since we’re figurin’ that out, I’m gonna figure your problem out.”
“What do you—oh!”
I suppressed a giggled.
“Yeah,” Ryder breathed when I shimmied down his body, and took him by surprise by taking his hardened length in my mouth. “I’m definitely going to grow old with you.”
Present day…
“Where are you goin’, Ry?” I mumbled aloud to myself when a couple hundred metres ahead of me Ryder took a right turn that would lead into a secluded part of the mountain side where there were no street lights, no houses, no people.
Hell, there was barely a road to drive on.
I had been following him for only ten minutes, but I sensed we were near his destination. For the tenth time, I ignored the vibration of my phone from my pocket because I knew it was the twins who were calling me.
I switched my headlights off and took the same turn behind him but made sure to drive extra slow so I didn’t wreck Dominic’s car and also so he wouldn’t see me. I didn’t worry about losing Ryder because his car was the only car on the trail, and his taillights still shone brightly like a beacon.
I jumped when I drove over a pothole that caused the car to lurch. I gripped the steering wheel tightly and blew out a nervous breath. I was wired and couldn’t control much of my body because I had a sudden case of the shakes. My entire body trembled with fear and anticipation of what was going to be the outcome of my mission.
I didn’t have to wait long to find out as Ryder stopped his car up ahead and parked it in front of a white Range Rover. I could see the colour and make of the car because when Ryder got out of his car, he left his keys in the ignition and his headlights switched on. I stopped driving, put Dominic’s car in park and switched off the ignition. I exited the car, closed the door quietly and thanked God for the dark of the night as cover.
I said a little prayer, and on unsteady legs, I made my move.
I ducked down and crept forward until I was not too far away from where Ryder stood. I hunkered down behind a hedge only a mere twenty meters or so from him and the white Ranger Rover. I was close but not close enough because I couldn’t hear what was being said. I could only hear the tone of Ryder’s voice and that of another voice.
A female voice.