When Ryan shut the door to Kylie’s lodge, a serious mood seemed to settle over the room. Anticipation surged through him, and he tried to ignore the fact that he was painfully hard, painfully excited for what was to come. After all, he was still trying to decide if this was going to be the least smart thing he’d ever done.

Kylie moved in front of him, delicious ass swaying in those tight little skinny jeans that had been driving him crazy since he first saw her at the bar. At first he’d been excited to walk in and see her familiar shape, her perky blond ponytail. Then he’d seen a man’s hand on her, and feral rage had surged through him. The need to protect his mate had nearly had his bear bursting through his body.

The surprising sight of her punching a full grown man, for him, had luckily pulled him out of the bloodlust he’d been feeling a moment before. Just the touch of her body on his was enough to calm him. As long as she was okay, nothing else mattered.

It reminded him of that night when he’d taken her from Rex. How could he have not known then that she was his mate and he was just avoiding the inevitable? If he hadn’t been such a jerk, he’d already be with her now, instead of pacing in her room and trying to decide if now was the right time to take her.

But she was aggravated with him, and besides that, he didn’t think he could hold out much longer. He wanted to feel her, taste her, more than he wanted his next breath.

“Kylie,” he said hoarsely. “I just don’t want to mess things up.”

“If we’re meant to be together,” she said, walking over to him and wrapping her arms around his waist. “How can it mess things up?”

“I want you,” he said. “You know I do. But we fought last time. You didn’t believe me, and I don’t blame you. But I don’t want to do it again until I know you’ll believe me when I say I care for you.”

She pursed her lips and eyed him warily. “You know, it sounds so odd, but I think I really do believe you.”

“Good,” he said. “Because I’m running out of ideas for flowers.”

“It’s not the flowers,” she said, pulling him to sit on the edge of the bed with her. “Those just get in the way, though they are beautiful. It’s just a feeling. The same feeling that made me chase you from the moment I met you.”

“I just wish I’d been better at feeling it too. I mean, I felt it, but I didn’t pay any attention. That was such a mistake.”

She pulled his head down to place a gentle kiss near his ear. “It’s okay. At some point, we have to forgive ourselves for our mistakes.”

“You’re helping me with that,” he said. “My hero.” He gave her a wide grin and once again had to keep himself from shifting to be more comfortable.

“Does that mean I’m the one who gets a reward?”

He pushed her hair behind her ear and leaned in to nip it. “Maybe.”

She sighed against him and leaned closer so he could take the lobe fully into his mouth. He licked gently, and then nibbled with his teeth while sucking the sensitive skin. She gasped and dug her hands into his hair to hold on.

Everything in his body responded to the pleased sound she’d just made. He grabbed her shoulders and pressed her down on the bed behind them and then crawled over her to straddle her.

“Damn straight you get a hero’s reward. You’ve put up with far too much crap from me for like an entire year, and I’m going to make it up to you. I promise.”

She bit her lip and arched slightly, displaying her perfect, round breasts. “Promises, promises. I prefer actions to words.”

“You know what?” he said. “So do I.” He scooted them both back until they were in the center of the bed. He reached for the hem of her shirt. She was wearing a thin sweater in a beautiful royal blue that brought out the gold in her hair. He started to pull it up over her head and then looked over at the door with a growl.

He jumped quickly off the bed and slid the deadbolt into place, double-checked that the curtains were completely closed, and then walked back to her.

“No one can see,” she said reassuringly. But her voice was tense with want, and he could see need burning in those soft blue eyes.

“They better not,” he said, getting back on the bed with her. He pushed the shirt up around her hands, leaving her bared to him in her bra. He loved the look of her plump breasts, rising up over the soft, satiny curves of the cups. “You’re mine. You’ve always been mine, and no one else is ever going to look at you, let alone touch you.” He bent to press a kiss between her breasts. “Say you’re mine.”

“I’m yours,” she gasped out. “Of course I’m yours. I’ve never wanted anyone else. You know that.”

His mind flashed to Taylor, but the thought made him growl and he pushed it away. Maybe it really was just some fluke she’d said it when she was falling asleep. Right now it didn’t matter. Right now he’d be the only man in her world. He’d effing guarantee it.

In the battle for her heart, he was taking home the gold. Right now. And there was nothing anyone in the world could do about it.

He unhooked her bra and slid it over her head, pulling her shirt off so he could remove it. When her arms came free she instinctively folded them over her breasts and he grinned as he pulled them up over her head and tied them together gently with her sweater.

“Don’t stretch it,” she said. But her eyes were sparkling with excitement as she left her hands where he set them above her head.

“I’ll buy you ten more,” he said. “I’ll buy you a million. Whatever you want.”

“I just want you,” she said. “It’s always been you.”

“I’m just sorry I—”

She reached up and grabbed his face with her softly bound hands. “If you’re going to start apologizing again, I’m going to tie you to the bed.”

He cocked his head and raised an eyebrow at that. “Hot. But I like you tied down much better.”

She grinned. “Me too. It makes me feel things so intensely.”

He growled his satisfaction as he put her arms back over her head and pressed kisses to the tips of her breasts. “I want to make you feel everything. I want to make you burn for me.”

“Then do it,” she said, wriggling her body in a way that accentuated her curves and made his pants extremely tight. “Put your money where your mouth is.”

He grinned. “Actually, I think I’ll put my mouth where the money is.”

She squeaked and tried to roll away playfully, and he pulled her back and pinned her easily with one hand. He pulled off her pants and her underwear, baring her to him.

“Not so fast,” he said. “Now that I’ve got you, I’m never letting you get away.”

“Good,” she said. “I never want you to.”

He pinned her hands over her head once more and kissed her deeply, letting his tongue swipe through her mouth making promises he intended to keep over and over, going deep inside her until she moaned and writhed beneath him, rubbing her breasts up against his chest. He let her go suddenly and jumped off the bed to go into the kitchen.

There was something he wanted to try.

---

Kylie caught her breath as Ryan disappeared into the kitchen. Damn, the man knew how to work her over, and he’d barely started. She looked at the clock on the bedside table. It was still fairly early, and she hoped he’d take his time. Please her all night. At least until her body gave out under the onslaught of pleasure and possession.

Because that’s what it felt like with him. Full protective possession. That he wasn’t just kissing her, but was claiming her, marking her, ruining her for anyone else. Her body trembled as she waited for him, anxious to see what he was doing next.

When he came back, he was carrying a bowl of ice. What did he mean to do with that?

He sat on the bed and set the ice to the side of them. She tried to sit up to see what he was doing, but he pushed her gently back down and straddled her again. She was beginning to get the fact that he really liked being on top.

“I’ve been wanting to do this since we first kissed in the snow,” he said, holding an ice cube up in front of her and smiling. He put the ice cube between his teeth and leaned over her. She gasped at the cold, smooth, wet sensation that ran over her as he drew the ice cube down between her breasts, then over and around each of her nipples, which stood to painfully hard peaks.

She tried to sit up, because it was so intense, feeling the warmth of his breath and the icy coolness at the same time, but he took the ends of the sweater tying her hands together and tied it to the bottom rail of the elaborate head board on the bed. That made it even more intense, even more hot.

Because she was safe with him, and knew he’d never do anything if she didn’t want it, but having him be so dominant, so aggressive, made her feel so wanted, so desired, that she was instantly wetter than she’d ever been before.

The ice cube was trailing lower naughtily, running over and around her sensitive belly button as his hands came up to massage her breasts. His touch felt so hot after the torturous cold of the ice, and she writhed against the unfamiliar sensations. He definitely knew how to take things up notch. She’d been right when she’d guessed that things with him would never be boring.

The ice cube melted just as he reached the top of her legs, and he swirled his tongue over the last of the coolness as she clenched her legs together, trying to relieve some of the pressure.

“Not so fast,” he said, grabbing another ice cube. This time, he held it in his fingers. Watched her with hot eyes as he lifted one of her legs, caressing it with his hand, and drew the ice smoothly up the inside of her thigh.

So cold, so intense. It made her muscles contract and urged the pressure in her higher. As he got closer to her center, she closed her eyes, unsure if she could take it, but he simply set down her foot and reached for her other leg and ran the ice cube up the other side of her thigh, down along her calf, over the bottom of her foot. She arched, missing his hands on her breasts. This was pure torture, pure tease, and everything in her was already drawn tight as a wire.

He took a final ice cube and put it in his mouth as he covered her body with his, warming everything he’d made cold at once, heating her from the inside out. Pressing one muscled thigh between hers as he took her mouth and let the ice melt between them. She shivered but opened deep as their tongues swirled the wetness between them, as the ice slowly melted and the temperature between them rose.

“Ryan,” she gasped against his mouth. “You’re torturing me.”

“I know,” he said. “But you like it.”

She moaned at that, and he reached a hand between them to stroke lightly over her center as he kissed her again, taking her mouth fully like he could never get enough. His tongue stroked and dived as his hand moved against her. She was wet and hot and his tongue was searing against her, finding just the right patterns, keeping her moving ever closer to that moment of ecstasy that awaited her. One finger dipped inside her and she moved her hips trying to take more. He teased and slid another finger in and then groaned and pulled both out.

“You feel so good, Kylie. So wet, so hot. I can’t wait to be inside you.”

“So do it,” she gasped out, as his hand returned to gliding over the sensitive nub at the apex of her legs.

“Not yet,” he said. “I want you to go first. Want to feel the after shocks when I slide inside you. Want you to be wetter and hotter than you’ve ever been in your life.”

The words only made her hotter, so she neglected to tell him that she already was wetter and more ready than she’d ever been in her life. Perhaps this was why he’d made her wait a full week to experience this again, because he’d known that it would make her that much more desperate for him.

He stroked and pressed and took her mouth in the same rhythm as the pressure rose higher inside her. Then he pressed down hard on her most sensitive spot and she arched back as release came. Hot and heady, a full rush that made it nearly impossible to think of anything but how wonderful he was, how grateful she was that he was here with her.

She jerked free of the sweater and wrapped her arms around his back and was glad he was here to hold on to, because the sensations rushing through her were almost too overwhelming to deal with alone.

“Ryan,” she said breathlessly. “Ryan, Ryan. It’s only you.”

He growled against her neck. “Damn straight. You’re mine.”

“I’m yours,” she gasped, as he started moving again, stroking her nub as his fingers dipped inside, filling and teasing her as he murmured against her lips his pleasure at how she felt. His fingers felt amazing, but she wanted something more, and he knew it.

She writhed beneath him, trying to rush things, trying to get more of him, but he kept it steady, always teasing, always pushing her farther but not letting her escape without the full amount of pleasure he could give.

She arched back and once again he was there to hold her as she came, as she writhed in his arms and called out his name. She was already anticipating the next orgasm, when he pulled back slightly and went to grab his jacket.

She panted, waiting for him. “Ryan?”

He came back with a small black silk bag. “I bought this the other day, thinking of you. I mean, online.” He pulled out a small red and white vibe in a smooth, body contoured shape. “I told you I wanted to try it. After all, I keep imagining you using yours.”

She flushed. He’d been thinking of her?

“Show me how you use it.”

She nodded and turned it on. It was much softer, much smaller than hers, and it fit easily into the palm of her hand. Like it was made to fit between two bodies. She blushed as she realized what it was for. Then she pressed it to herself and closed her eyes, trying to get into the same place she usually was when she did this.

He growled and pressed a hand over hers, and she opened her eyes and remembered that he was there. That she wasn’t alone.

Never again.

He took over for her and it felt completely different. The same vibration, but being able to look up into his adorable blue eyes, being able to see his powerful body crouched over her, it felt like the pressure rose in her exponentially faster.

She bit her lip and tried to hold it off, but he slipped a finger in as he moved the vibe over her. After already being sensitive from multiple orgasms, there was no way she could slow things down. Her release came again, in hard ripples that were stronger now that she was even more sensitive. It was like the speed of it, the unstoppable nature of it, made it that much more intense.

This time, instead of holding her, he let her twist her hands in the sheets, completely lost to the world, as he stripped off his shirt. Her mouth fell open at the sight of his cut, sexy muscles. His square, bulging pecs, his wide shoulders, his biceps that flexed as he got back on the bed with her. He unbuttoned his jeans and pulled something out of the pocket before he pulled them all of the way off and tossed them to the side.

“Thank heavens,” she said. “Finally.”

He just grinned and then lowered his head to kiss her between her legs. A long kiss, deep and hard, his tongue dipping to stroke inside her. She moaned and gave him a look that said that although this felt good, it wasn’t exactly what she wanted, and he grinned and slid the condom on his hard length. Her mouth watered as she tried to recall the exact feel of him. It was amazing, that much she knew. Totally filling. Pleasure that was just on the edge of pain.

He readied himself at her entrance and she waited, legs tensed. Then he lifted her legs up around his waist and slid into her with one smooth stroke. As he settled deep inside, hip to hip, skin to skin, she looked up at him and wondered where he began and she ended. But she didn’t care. If she could be this close to him always, she’d be the happiest woman alive.

When they were joined like this, everything was right.

And then he started to move. He held her legs so that all she had to focus on was the pleasure filling her as he moved, the sensation of his length against the sensitive spot near the front of the inside of her body. Each time he stroked over it, lighting heat moved through her, a different kind of heat compared to being stimulated from the outside, but equally amazing.

She gasped and raised a hand to her mouth, needing to do something to deal with the intense emotion waving through her as he pleased her. She didn’t want to go, didn’t want this to end.

And then he reached for the vibe.

He flicked it on with a smooth motion and then slipped it between them. She hoped he was using water based lube, but then forgot to care as she felt a vibrating pulse over her sensitive clit combining with the deep pressure of him filling her.

It was officially too much. No one could hold on through that. She went after two more strokes, letting out a scream into the night, not caring who heard. She couldn’t believe what he’d just done, couldn’t believe the power of the contractions surging in and out of her body, couldn’t believe how good it felt to contract around him, and to look up into his eyes and swear she could see love there.

She wanted to reach for him, but he wasn’t done, so all she could do was hold on to anything she could grab and ride it out.

He started to move again, and this time she waved the vibe away. He looked at her questioningly.

“Just us,” she said, reaching a hand up to stroke his hair. “I just want to focus on us this time.”

He beamed with pride as he looked over her, and then leaned forward to kiss each of her breasts. He ran his hands down along her curves, worshipping her body with his touch and his eyes. “I do too. You’re so amazing, Kylie.”

“You aren’t bad yourself,” she said, wrapping her hands around his back and letting her legs relax as he began to move again. Each thrust brought them closer together. She could feel his breath, sense his heartbeat, scent the unique woodsy scent that was all him. It reminded her of pines covered in snow. Cold and spicy. As he moved, she could see the tension building in his face. Found it so hot as his arms began to tremble, as his abs clenched as he strove to keep going. When he looked down at her, nearly over the brink, she gave in to the pressure that’d been rising again ever since he’d started moving.

As she went over the edge for what felt like the millionth time, he joined her, and she made an effort to open her eyes despite the pleasure so she could watch him go. His handsome face darkened as he came, his expression contorted as he pumped deep inside her. When he raised his eyes to hers, they were lost in a haze of pleasure, almost like he was confused by how strong it was.

She was pleased to the core that she’d made him feel even a fraction of what he’d done to her.

He gasped as he fell over her, his body still trembling lightly. He was huge but somehow her body didn’t mind taking his weight.

“Each time with you is just such a shock,” he said. “It always feels like the first time. Like I have no idea what I’m doing. Like I’m desperate to please you so that you’ll let me do it again, but like I don’t feel worthy of you.”

“Oh shut up,” she said playfully, trying to catch her breath. “It’s not about being worthy. It’s just about what we want.”

“I want you,” he gasped out, kissing her lightly over her cheeks, her neck, her lips, and her forehead. He took her face gently in his hands and looked down at her with an intense gaze. “I want you.”

She raised up to press her forehead to his. Their breaths were synchronized, both hearts still racing from their release. “I want you too.”

“That’s all I need,” he said, resting against her. “That’s everything.”

She stroked his hair, wondering at the fact that he was really with her, and had to agree.