He was hotter than ever, all the extra hours of workouts he had been putting in over the last few months were clearly working and my eyes reaped the rewards. I badly wanted to run my hands, and tongue, all over him, but I remembered how things were between us and it dampened down the rise in my temperature.
“Enjoying the view?” he asked, his voice so low it hardened my nipples.
I snapped my eyes up to Ryder’s and found him smirking down at me.
“So what if I am?” I challenged and broke my vow of silence by speaking.
I gasped when he suddenly grabbed hold of my forearms and forced me to step back until my back hit the bathroom door. I almost groaned out loud when his pelvis pressed against mine and I felt the hardened length of his cock press into me.
Shit.
“Careful, Branna,” he said, his voice low and husky. “I might think you actually want me with the fire in those pretty eyes of yours.”
I narrowed my eyes. “It’s not like you’ll fuckin’ do anythin’ about it.”
Ryder’s grip on my arms tightened.
“Excuse me?” he asked through clenched teeth.
I cleared my throat. “We haven’t had sex in months. Somethin’ about me has put you off wantin’ to have sex with me so I doubt you’ll do anythin’ to me no matter how much heat is in my eyes… or knickers.”
Fuck it.
If he thought he was going to intimidate me with his manhandling ways then he had another thing coming. He hadn’t put his hands on me in such a way in the longest time, and I was savouring his touch because I knew when I left the bathroom, it probably wouldn’t happen again for another few months.
“You think I’m not attracted to you?” Ryder asked, shock evident in his tone.
I shrugged. “What else am I supposed to think? There was a time when you couldn’t keep your hands off me, now you can barely stand to be close to me.”
Ryder growled, lowered his head, and thrust his hips against me.
I shuddered.
“Does it feel like I’m not attracted to you?” he almost snarled.
I looked away and remained mute.
“Branna,” he rumbled. “Look at me when I’m speaking to you.”
An electric jolt of pure pleasure shot straight to my clit and pulsed at his demanding tone. I licked my lips, turned my head and looked up at him, my mouth hanging open as I began to pant. Ryder lowered his head and surprised me when he snaked his tongue out and ran it over my bottom lip. I closed my eyes and almost hummed when he closed his lips around it and sucked it into his mouth.
Whatever control I had snapped because one second I was allowing Ryder to suck and nibble on my lower lip, and the next I was climbing him like a fucking tree. My hands were all over him, and his all over me. It’s like we were animals and roughly feeling one another to make sure what was happening was real, and not a figment of our imagination.
“Ryder,” I breathed against his mouth and tried to take a step backwards, but his hold on me was solid and kept me in place.
He lowered his lips from my mouth to my neck and growled. “I’m going to fuck you, Branna.”
My body practically sang with delight, but my heart frowned because it knew there would be no intimacy. This was purely primal. I momentarily thought about rejecting Ryder’s advances, but I was only a woman, and I missed him so much that I wanted to grasp at any chance to be close to him, especially since I knew it would probably be the last time I would be close to him for a long while.
I licked my lips. “So fuck me then.”
“Be careful,” he warned through clenched teeth. “I haven’t had you in a long time, if you give me the green light, I won’t stop until we’re both satisfied. That means you’ll be very sore for the rest of the day, you understand?”
My lips quirked. “Promises, promises.”
Ryder’s grip on me tightened. “You doubt me, darling?”
I shrugged out of his hold.
“I thought I told you never to doubt me.”
I frowned. “That was a long time ago.”
“It had no time limit when I said it, it still doesn’t.”
I sighed. “Yeah, whatever.”
“Who do you think you’re talking to?” Ryder almost growled.
I blinked. “You.”
“Are you sure you know it’s me because when I say I’m going to fuck you into soreness, I mean it. You’re acting like it’s someone else who is promising this to you. You know I follow through with what’s mine.”
I tilted my head to the side. “It’s been a few months, maybe I forget.”
“You forget what it’s like to me fucked by me, or you forget what it’s like to be mine?”
Without hesitation I said, “Both.”
Fire flashed in Ryder’s eyes and it caused me to back away from him, but like an animal, he followed.
“I thought I made it clear that you were mine, Branna.”
I nervously swallowed as I continued to back away from Ryder, who was still advancing on me, slowly, like a predator stalking its prey.
“Turn around, and bend over,” he ordered. “Now.”
My pulse spiked as excitement flowed through my veins.
“Wh-why?” I asked, not being able to hide the tremor in my voice.
“Because,” he growled as he undid his belt buckle, “I’m going to give you a hell of a reminder who you belong to, and when I’m finished, you won’t question it again. Now turn around. And. Bend. Over.”