Page 36 of Like Home
Her eyes take on a mischievous gleam. She takes my hand and pulls me up to stand in front of her. “Enough about me. Your turn.” I whip off my shirt so fast she laughs and then sucks in a breath, trailing her hands down my chest, following the line of hair down until she reaches my belt buckle. “God, I forgot how stunning you are,” she says, and now it’s my turn to blush. No woman has ever called me stunning, and I think I like it. Sure, I’ve been complimented, but something about “stunning” just holds a certain reverence to it.
Her red-tipped fingers make quick work of my belt and zipper. I’m down to my briefs with my jeans pooled at my feet faster than I can blink. I kick them off and mold my hands to her jaw, tilting her face so I can kiss her deeply. She opens on a whimper. I pull back to stare at her kiss-swollen lips. “Fuck,” I groan, taking her in.
With a wicked smile, she drops to her knees in front of me and quickly has my briefs joining my jeans at my ankles. She leans in and places a chaste kiss on me, and I think that’ll be it until she grabs me by the hips and pulls me into the wet heat of her mouth. I gather her still-damp hair in my hand so I can see her better. The sight of her before me, head bobbing and hair wrapped around my fist is nearly enough to undo me. “You’re gonna have to stopif you want to do anything else tonight,” I eventually manage to say despite being unable to form a coherent thought. She looks at me through her lashes and releases me.
“Just thought I’d return the favor,” she says, coming to stand in front of me. Her tongue darts out to lick her bottom lip and I think I lose my mind a little. “Come here,” I say, sitting on the couch and gesturing for her to straddle me. While she slides her underwear off, I pull the foil-wrapped condom out of my discarded jeans.
“Here?” she asks uncertainly, and I nod. She straddles me then and we both work to get situated. As she sinks down on me for the first time, our eyes lock and I can see the same disbelief I’m feeling at how good this already is reflected there. Her eyes are hooded and cheeks rosy with pleasure. We both moan as we move together, finding our rhythm.
Her nails dig into my shoulders as she leans down and tugs on my ear lobe with her teeth. I bring one hand up to palm her breast, bringing it to my mouth. I nibble and suck in tandem with her rocking over me, and I feel her muscles clench around me. “Ryan,” she breathes, coming apart with a shudder around me.
I take her mouth with my own again. I grind her harder onto me until pleasure crawls up my spine and I erupt, moaning into her mouth.
She pants resting her head on my shoulder. “The couch was agreatidea,” she says between breaths.
When she sits back and looks at me, a shy yet satisfied smile on her face, I know then that I’m falling hard and fast for her. And there's no turning back. This beautiful, amazing woman who has trusted me with her body and her heart is quickly becoming my everything. I almost say it, but I don’t want it to come off as a post-sex confession that she might second guess.
I kiss her mouth softly and then press gentle kisses to her chin and cheeks where beard rash has made her red and tender. Sheslowly slides off of me and collapses on the couch, legs thrown over my lap.
I look down and say, “Let me just take care of this real quick.” I stand up and head to the bathroom. Just as I’m washing my hands, Summer comes in to clean up as well.
“Want to watch the nextGuardians of the Galaxy?” I ask while she’s washing her own hands.
She perks up. “There’s more of them?”
I laugh and kiss her temple. “Ha! I knew you’d like them. Nerd.”
“You can’t call me a nerd for liking the movie you suggested,” she says, smacking my butt before she leads me back out to the living room. A naked Summer walking around is a sight I could definitely get used to.
CHAPTER 24
Summer
Ryan spends a few nights this week in my bed. While we agreed to take things slow, it’s easy to have him spend the night when Emma isn’t with me. I’m choosing not to evaluate it too closely because this is the first time in a while that I’ve done something just for me, and I don’t want to ruin it by overthinking.
On Friday morning, after being woken up by Ryan’s roaming hands and hot mouth, we both get ready for work. He’s started leaving a few things here so he doesn’t have to run home early in the morning. I insert my earrings while Ryan trims his beard next to me and am shocked by how natural it feels.
I could get used to this.
The thought scares me. I got so comfortable with Jared that I allowed myself to be treated terribly for years. I fell into what was comfortable and didn’t have the foresight to know I deserved better. Jared wasn’t always an asshole. What if Ryan turns on me too? I study him in the mirror and try to tell myself that even if things don’t work out between us in the long run, Ryan isn’t that kind of guy.
“What are you looking at?” he asks, leaning over the sink so it catches all the stray beard hairs.
“You,” I say simply. It’s true. This week he’s caught me looking at him many times. I’ve also found him staring at me like he thinks I’ll disappear if he blinks too hard.
“I know I’m pretty to look at, but you have alook.One of those doubting yourself looks,” he says jokingly. When I don’t respond, he tugs me into him, my hands landing on his fantastically bare chest. “Summer, what’s up?”
I take a second to search his open, sleepy-eyed face and say, “Sometimes you just feel too good to be true. I worry that it’ll all fall apart.”
“I worry too.” He takes a deep breath, as if bracing himself for what he’s about to say next. “I’ve been scared that you’ll see whatever Lydia saw in me and walk away too. I worry that after a while, you’ll realize that I’m not what you want in the long run. I’m afraid of being a placeholder even though you’ve done nothing to make me feel that way.” He uncharacteristically looks down and away from me.
“I could never get bored of you,” I say, putting my hand on his bearded cheek so he’ll look at me again. “What she saw as boring, I see as dependable. You are the whole package, Ryan. I feel lucky to have you. I’m not letting you go anytime soon.” I get on tip-toes so I can kiss his cheek.
“Thank you,” He says, brushing an answering kiss to my forehead. “I’m incredibly lucky to have you, too. I think if you have a good thing going, it’s natural to be a little afraid of losing it. The key for both of us is to push past that fear and enjoy what we have. After losing people or being hurt, it’s easy to put your guard up and not let anyone in. It’s a lot harder to be open again, so I think we’re being brave.” He brushes his hands down my arms and pulls me in for a hug. I smile and inhale his scent, which is starting to smell like home.
“You’re right. We are. I’m proud of us.”
“Me too. I’m going to work every day to show you that this is right and good. You’re worth putting in the work, Summer.” He puts a hand under my chin, tilts my head up, and presses a sweet kiss to my lips. I can’t believe that Ryan sees himself as a placeholder. He has endgame written all over him. I’m going to work to show him, because he deserves to have someone putting in the effort, too.
