Page 30 of Rival to the Billionaire

I can hear the soft sound of water flowing behind my head.

I can feel the liquid and the heat sluicing off my skin.

I can feel and hear Ryder's voice.

"I think about you all the time," he says.

He's taking me towards a long grass field. The air is cool, and a gentle breeze pulls at the hem of the long, grey sleeves of the dress I'm wearing. The blades are bent from the hot sun and the humid wind, parts of them snapped dry. They crisscross above.

"I've always wanted to…tell you how I feel," he continues.

He turns me around and kisses me, hard. His hands are on my hips, and I feel our bodies brush against each other as he moves against me.

"The summer never ends," he whispers into my ear. "People always say…you don't know what you have 'til it's gone. But I always knew."

I stumble back, shaken, and he pulls me into his arms.

"I always knew that I had you, Jenny."

He presses me close. Inhaling me.

Surrounding me as only he can.

"Ryder," I breathe. I look up at him. My eyes widen when I realize he is above me. Naked in my mind's eye. His hands up the skirt of my dress. Stroking me. Spreading me. Until I am nothing but a puddle of heat, waiting for him to sink into.

My hand shakes around the vibrator.

And then my eyes are closed and I'm wet and I'm warm and I'm gasping, murmuring incoherently into the air. My body climbs, my hips swaying as my knees constrict and my back arches, the pleasure taking me higher and higher until…

The sound of a door creaking.

The thud of a heavy footstep.

“Forde? You alright?"

My eyes snap open. I glance over to find the bathroom door cracked and Ryder's voice filtering behind it.

I sit up straight suddenly, sending waves of rose-scented water splashing onto the floor. "Ryder! Jesus! Get out! Quickly! You'll—" My words are cut off by a sudden and heavy thud against the bathroom door.

Takes me a second to realize I've thrown the purple vibrator against it. The buzzing toy stops vibrating upon impact, plopping unceremoniously onto the floor.

"Everything okay in there?" Ryder's voice calls again.

Drenched, I quickly scramble out of the bathtub and reach for my towel, rivets of water trickling down my cheeks—both sets of cheeks, in fact.

I wrap the towel around my body, throwing water into all corners of the room as I struggle, unsuccessfully, to recollect my breath.

Another couple of thuds comes from the bathroom door, these ones much softer than the first.

"Ryder! Leave me alone!" I yell back, audible through the door. "I'm busy!"

"Whoa. My bad." Ryder's voice is a smothered whisper, sounding just a little amused. "I heard noises—grunts and groans. I thought—I don't know, that you might have been getting attacked. I wanted to check you were okay…"

A lump forms in my throat when I realize he's overheard me.

Crap.

"I'm fine," I lie. "I'm fine. I'm just taking a quick rinse." I catch myself. "I'm gonna dry off now."

---