Page 16 of Unexpected Sweetheart
The stars are aligning. The heavens have spoken.And I’m about to get the only thing I’ve ever truly pined for. I can feel it in my bones.
Stopping my spin, I hug myself tight, turning to flop back onto the bed, only to realize I’m far dizzier than I thought I was. “Whoops!” I hit the floor with a thud, letting out a groan from the force before laughing at myself and pulling myself back up. Just as I place my hands on the edge of the bed, Ryan bursts into the room. I shoot to my knees.
“What happened?” he demands, his eyes wild.
Maybe this is a crazy response, but I go a little gooey inside. He’s obviously torn up the stairs to make sure I’m OK.Swoon.
“I just tripped. I’m OK though,” I say, trying not to smile too broadly. He tries to act like he doesn’t want me around, but I notice the little things he does to take care of me. Like the pot of honey that appeared on the dining table to go with my oatmeal, and the books about interior design that were borrowed from the library and placed on the coffee table. He listens when I talk, and he’s thoughtful. I feel sure that if he’d just give this thing between us a chance, he’d realize he’s just as enamored with me as I am with him. I’m pretty sure I love him.
That’s a big deal for me. I’ve barely even liked a guy before. But Ryan, well, he’s just perfect in my eyes—even if he keeps pretending there’s nothing happening here and is a cranky ass to boot.
“What the hell are you wearing?”
“A dress,” I say, taking the opportunity to do a full turn so he can see the panels running up my sides. “It’s for the dance. Do you like it?” I feel wanton and sexy as I move my body for his eyes, my skin burning up as I feel his gazeeverywhere.
“It’s indecent,” he growls. “Take it off and find something more appropriate. You’re not wearing that.”
“OK,” I say instantly, my nipples pebbling as I reach my hands behind myself and pull the zipper down, recklessly following his instructions to the letter.
“What the hell are you doing?” he demands, his eyes widening as he licks his lips. There’s a warring in his expression, and I have to admit, it’s making me tingle in parts hidden from those wandering eyes of his.
“You said to take it off,” I reply, reaching up to my shoulders and pulling the dress to my waist. He groans as my breasts are exposed. “I’m just doing as you asked.”
“Don’t you dare,” he threatens as I hook my fingers in the waist and prepare to push it the rest of the way down.
“Or what, Ryan? You’ll spank me?”
“Lorelei.” There’s warning in his tone, but there’s also heat in his gaze and a tenting in his jeans. My heart hammers hard against my chest, and the only thing that matters right now is how much I want him.I know he wants me too. I know it.
“You can,” I whisper. “If you want. You could spank me for being bad. You could do anything to me you wanted, and I’d let you.”
“Lorelei.”
“Ryan.” I push the dress past my hips and it drops to my feet, leaving me standing naked in front of him.
For a long moment, there’s nothing but quiet in the room. But I feel sure that he can hear my heart and my breathing as I wait for him to move, to yell, tosomething.But after a slow perusal of my body, his eyes return to mine and he lets out his breath. “Put your clothes back on.”
I stick my chin in the air defiantly. I’m trembling, and petrified of being rejected again, but I’m also turned on and desperate for him topleasewalk over here and take me. I want to be his.
“Make me.”
He shifts on his feet. “Don’t push me, heiress.”
“Why?” My eyes drop to the obvious bulge in his pants. “Will you finally lose control?”
He reaches down and grabs his hard length through his jeans. “You think this is about control?”
“Yeah, Ryan. I think you hate anything you can’t control. It’s evidenced in how much you say you hate this ranch even though you’re using everything in your wheelhouse to fix it. Your pride won’t let you admit defeat, so you keep throwing everything you have at it, battling the odds and complaining every damn day because you can’t admit that maybe you love this place, maybe you don’t want to leave it. And that fact scares you, just as much as it scares you to look at me and find just one more thing you can’t control, one more thing you don’t know how to feel about.”
He scoffs and grits his teeth. “So wise for someone so young.”
“I might be young and spoiled and whatever rich girl thing you want to throw at me. But I’m not stupid or blind. You’re denying what this is because you don’t feel like you can control it. Stop trying to controleverythingin your life. Stop trying to control me.”
“I don’t want to control you, Lorelei.”
“Then what do you want? That hard-on seems to be the only thing about you admitting the truth.” I gesture to the tenting in his pants.
“Is this what you want?”
