Page 43 of Rush
All I could think about was Ryan. Ryan, Ryan,Ryan.
Turning over the receipt, I realized I was holding my bucket list. Reading over the things I’d written down that day at lunch with Ryan, I smiled, remembering each thing we’d conquered together. Experience the world like a child. Hot air ballooning. Free Fall. Pull an all-nighter.
My fingers brushed over bucket list number five. The big question mark signifying the great unknown of my future.Where to now, Jade?But maybe,just maybe, it wasn’t about what butwho. Who could help me awaken a side of myself I’d never discovered before?
Ryan Harper.
Dumping my bag into my lap, I shook out the lining. Finding a hole in the bottom corner, I cursed. This was a five-hundred-dollar handbag, and now it had a hole.Great. Talk about an epic metaphor.
Smoothing it out, I hesitated as something rattled inside against the leather. Poking my finger into the opening, I gasped.Was it…
Fishing out the mysterious object, I stared down at my palm in shock. It was my engagement ring.
I expected to feel relief, but as I studied the ring I’d once held so dear, there was nothing. All those diamonds represented was a union that had been destined for unhappiness. They were flawed, right to their core.
Ryan was wrong about one thing. I would never go back to Hunter. That part of my life was over.
Forever.
Slinking backinto Ryan’s apartment, my heart beat wildly in my chest.
I’d never propositioned someone before, so I wasn’t sure how this was meant to go. I wasn’t even sure he would be happy to see me after I’d run away, let alone fall to his knees when I asked him for sex. But he was a guy, right? Guys never turned down the chance to fuck. Or at least, that was the impression I got. Ryan wasn’t like other guys, which was probably the thing that was pushing me off my axis.
He was standing in the kitchen with his back to me. He’d heard me come in because his shoulders were tense and the air… Well, it was so thick you could cut it with a knife. It was clear his pride was hurt—my reaction to his sudden burst of passion had gone down like a hole in the head.
“I’m sorry,” I said, tugging at his shirt. “I panicked.”
“Whatever,” he muttered. “It was too much.”
“No,” I whispered, my hand finding its way to his skin. “It shocked me, is all.”
He tensed before turning to face me. “I want you, Jade.”
He’d said it straight out without fear. Why did he have to be so…wise? He was like the Yoda of self-discovery, and considering how different our lives were now, he put me to shame.
Rubbing my palm over his tattooed arm, I traced the lines of the design. It rose and dipped, molding to the curve of his muscles just so. Whoever had etched his skin had been a true artist.
“What do you want, Jade?” Ryan asked, his voice low. “I’m not going to touch you again. Not unless you ask.”
I knew the words, but my throat tightened, and I couldn’t get them out. How hard was it to say I want you to fuck me, kiss me, suck me, put your cock into me? Really hard by the looks of it, and it wasn’t a euphemism. What I wanted was filthy, explicit, and oh-so-dangerous given the circumstances. I was single now, but it still had a shade of forbidden around the edges.
Biting my bottom lip, I glanced down. I couldn’t go back. Not now. Drastic times called for drastic measures.
Before I could chicken out, I began undoing the buttons on my blouse. I started at the bottom, working the little pearl circles out of the material. When I reached the top, I glanced up at Ryan.
He was watching me with hooded eyes, his chest heaving with shallow breaths.
“Are you asking?” he murmured.
I nodded.
Stepping closer, he reached out and pushed my blouse off my shoulders. The silk fluttered to the floor, but I didn’t care. All I could feel was the throbbing between my legs, the rising ache as my arousal grew.
Ryan’s fingertips traced the swell of my breasts, lightly following the outline of my bra. Knocking off the straps on my shoulders, he wrapped his arms around me and deftly flicked open the clasp, then tugged the last piece of material that covered my flesh.
Resting his forehead against mine, he leaned back so he could take me in. His palms covered my breasts, massaging and rubbing until I was moving with him, my breath sharp. He’d hardly touched me, and I was already prepared to beg.
His arms felt divine around me, and the taste of his lips was intoxicating as his mouth finally met mine once more. His tongue plunged against my own, twining, sucking, tangling, devouring. He kissed me deeply and so fucking thoroughly, he stole my breath. My hands snaked around his neck, my fingers rubbing through his hair, and I was completely lost to the sensation.
