SOMEHOW, I DID eventually fall asleep. Maybe it was the way the seductive heat of Riley’s body surrounded me like a warm blanket, or maybe the general temperature in Cabo drew me under. Either way, I was happy to get a bit of shut-eye.
The sun was just starting to rise over the ocean when my slumber came to a sleepy end. The crashing sound of the waves breaking against the shoreline in the distance melded with the cries of seagulls. But the sounds of the surrounding world weren’t what woke me; it was the way Riley had rolled over, draping a heavy arm and a powerful leg across me, pinning me to the bed with his incredible specimen of a body.
I let out an undignified grunt of protest, mainly because his limbs were an awful lot more substantial than they appeared to be. Everyone always said muscle weighed more than fat. Apparently, the proverbial everyone was right, because Riley’s limbs must each weigh as much as I did.
When my eyes fluttered open, I found him staring down at me, apparently studying every tiny detail about me.
“Your eyelashes are blond,” he said, grinning like he’d just won the lottery.
“You’re heavy,” I replied. As soon as I realized what I’d said, I hated how stupid and petty it made me seem. And that it sounded like a complaint. Wasn’t that obnoxious of me, to start griping first thing in the morning? He wouldn’t want to stay married to me for long if I always sounded so ungrateful.
Somehow, his smile only intensified, though. “I’ve only got an arm and a leg over you,” he pointed out. “Just you wait.”
I didn’t know how he managed it, but the way he said it made it sound like a promise, not a threat, like I ought to enjoy the sensation of his body crushing me to the bed. To my surprise, I did enjoy it after a few moments—much more than I would ever have expected. He shifted until he was halfway on top of me, and I found myself wanting his body to be fully over me.
I bit my lower lip, but then I wished I hadn’t, because his gaze dropped to my mouth.
He dropped his head down to mine and took my lip between his teeth, and I sucked in a startled breath.
But, to my surprise, it didn’t hurt where he’d nipped me. The touch of his teeth was exceedingly gentle. It was just enough to impel me to open my lips, and then he slipped his tongue past my teeth to glide alongside my own.
My moan melded with his accompanying groan. He shifted until he was hovering over me completely, holding himself above me with his weight on the arms braced on either side of my body. A gentle nudge of his knee had me opening my legs for him to settle between them. His hips pressed me down into the mattress, making it perfectly clear just exactly how heavy he was. But it was a pleasant sensation, actually, his weight crushing me to the bedding. He grounded me and kept me from floating off into the marshmallow clouds of my imaginings.
Even with his massive size, Riley was keeping some of his weight off me by propping himself up on his elbows. In that position, he was able to look down at me, a wicked grin snaking across his features that made me tingle and shiver all over. “Somehow, you’re even prettier when I’m sober,” he said, the fingers of one hand twisting in my hair. Then he smiled and caught his lower lip between his teeth in an adorable, sexy move. “No beer goggle effect. Or tequila goggles, I guess.”
I laughed, even though I didn’t quite follow. Probably another example of how sheltered I’d been my whole life, but oh well. I couldn’t change the past, and I still had a pretty good idea of what he meant. My belly trembled at his praise before I felt a strange tugging sensation deep inside me.
“Somehow, you’re even bigger in the daylight,” I murmured. Then I wished I hadn’t said anything, because it made me sound feeble and kind of ridiculous, for already the second time in the span of five minutes. Granted, he would probably realize those things about me sooner or later, but a girl could hope for later, couldn’t she?
The hint of a grin crossed his features and made the corners of his eyes crinkle with silent laughter. “No more tequila dick. Is that a problem for you?”
My cheeks heated to an astronomical degree. “Well, I…” couldn’t come up with a response that wouldn’t make me sound simple and naïve, so maybe it was better not to say anything at all. I snapped my mouth closed.
Lucky for me, Riley didn’t seem to require an answer. He lowered his head to meet me, his lips slanting over mine in a gentle, irresistible tease. My heart fluttered against my ribs at the tenderness of his touch.
With a great deal more boldness than I usually possessed, I reached up to spread my fingers through Riley’s thick tangle of hair. He groaned, wrapping his arms around my waist and rolling over onto his back, dragging me with him until I was practically lying on top of him.
I steadied myself by putting my hands on his chest. Then I shivered, because oh my heck, this man had so many muscles everywhere, I just plain didn’t know how to process it. The ones beneath my hands flexed when he brushed his fingers through my hair, angled my head, and drew me down for another earth-shattering kiss.
He lowered his hands to my shoulders, then spread them along my back, drawing them along the length of my body until he reached my bottom. With a gentle but firm pressure, he ground me against him. That put pressure on my bladder, which I suddenly realized was very full, nearly to the point of bursting. I figured I should stop and go to the bathroom before we got in too deep with what we were doing, but I felt too shy and embarrassed to say anything about it. But if I didn’t, wouldn’t that be worse? Peeing all over my new husband while he was trying to get me into sex didn’t sound like the best plan.
I tried to pry myself away from his grip, but he only held on tighter.
“I need to use the bathroom first,” I explained, feeling a different sort of heat rush to my cheeks. The idea of talking about what we were getting ready to do was embarrassing enough, but adding a discussion of bodily functions to the mix was downright mortifying. I didn’t know if I would ever get over the humiliation.
“After, baby doll. It’s better to do that after.”
“After?” I wasn’t sure I could hold it long enough for that. Especially if, like last night, I couldn’t reach a climax and he kept trying to get me there for a long time.
“After,” Riley repeated adamantly. “Didn’t they teach you that when you had sex education in school?”
“I don’t remember having sex education in school.” In all honesty, I’d never paid too much attention in many of my classes. I’d always performed well enough, but I’d rarely retained anything longer than necessary to pass my exams. The truth was, I’d had so many different teachers and gone to so many different schools that, in many ways, I’d been a student who’d slipped through the cracks. The only sex education I’d had was what I’d learned in books. Fiction books, for that matter, so there was no telling how much truth could be found within their pages.
But Riley didn’t look at me as though he pitied me or wanted to laugh at my ignorance. He just kissed the tip of my nose. “Every woman I’ve ever been with has rushed to go pee after we finished. Something about it helping to prevent UTIs.”
“Oh,” I replied, for lack of anything else coming to mind. I nodded, as if it made perfect sense to me. This was just one more thing to prove how stupid and sheltered I really had been all this time. I knew nothing about the real world, a fact that had become abundantly clear over the past twenty-four hours.
But then he was kissing me again and touching me again, his hands and lips and tongue going all over my body, and it didn’t take long before I forgot all about my complaints.
Riley moved one hand between my legs and slipped two fingers inside me like he had last night, his thumb rubbing tiny circles over the spot he’d given so much attention with his tongue. I let out a whimpering sort of sound. It came of its own accord, completely against my will, but he didn’t seem to mind in the least.
“Fuck, baby,” he murmured against my lips. “You’re so wet.”
“That’s good?”
I knew it was, of course. Somewhere in the deepest recesses of my brain, I was aware of some of the basics involved with sex, thanks again to all the romance novels I’d read over the years. But I still felt the need for Riley’s reassurance.
“That’s very good,” he assured me, laughing gently and moving both hands to rest on my hips again, as though to keep me from flying off his lap. He was practically staring through me, he was looking at me so intensely.
This would be such a joke if it weren’t completely real. I was so naïve. So stinking sheltered from life. I realized that must seem like a contradiction, since I’d gone from foster home to foster home and had never had any sense of permanence, but it was the truth. The people looking out for me through my childhood had possibly done too good a job of protecting me from the realities of the world.
“You should laugh,” I said.
“I’m not laughing at you.”
“Then what are you laughing at?” I couldn’t stop myself from sounding disgruntled.
“I’m laughing because you’re such a refreshing change for me.” Riley pushed back a bit so he could look fully in my eyes. “Everything’s new and different and exciting for you. You don’t take anything for granted.”
“And you like that? It doesn’t make me seem…I don’t know, immature? Young and inexperienced? Unsophisticated?” Like a freaking idiot? I kept that last one to myself. No point in my putting thoughts of that nature in his head if they weren’t there already.
“Are you trying to tell me you’re a virgin?”
My cheeks suddenly got so hot you could fry an egg on their surface.
“Hey, it’s all right. That’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“Isn’t it?”
“Nope. Not at all.”
“But it means I am all those things I said.”
“No, it doesn’t.” Riley planted a hard, quick peck on my lips. “It makes you seem sweet and innocent and utterly perfect. Or at least perfect for me. Trust me, I don’t want you to be anything other than exactly what you already are.”
“You’re sure?” I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Riley was a professional athlete. Why would he want to have anything to do with me? Especially considering how out of touch with the world I seemed to be.
“More sure than I could ever attempt to explain.”
The way he said it made me think there was something more at play in his response, but it didn’t seem to have anything to do with me. Most likely, it had everything to do with his ex and his brother, the ones he’d mentioned last night before we got married. And while that thought did relieve my anxiety to a degree, it made me curious to know more about this man who was now my husband.
But then he leaned forward and took my lower lip between his teeth, biting down hard enough that it made me gasp and open to grant him entry but not hard enough that it truly hurt. Apparently, learning more about Riley would have to wait.
Or at least, learning more about him in that way. He seemed intent on the pair of us getting to know everything possible about one another in an entirely different manner.
Both his hands on my hips, he dragged me forward until I was straddling him. There was no mistaking the fact that his manhood was very much hard this morning. Tequila dick wouldn’t be a problem today, even if my bladder might be.
I braced myself with my hands on his shoulders, trying to keep my weight balanced on my knees and calves. He took advantage of our positioning, slipping a hand between us to rub me between my legs again. Riley’s touch set me on fire, especially when he set his mouth to my breast. The suction might as well be connected by a direct line to my sex.
“You’re so wet,” he murmured, sucking my nipple between his lips. “So sweet.”
His thumb rubbed over my most sensitive spot, and my legs trembled so hard I feared I might collapse. Riley, apparently catching on to my distress, did some sort of ninja move that flipped us around on the bed until he was hovering over me, his hips pressing me down into the mattress.
He reached over to the bedside table and brought back a foil wrapper that he ripped open with his teeth. A condom? Must be. Good thing he had thought of it, because I certainly hadn’t, and I wouldn’t have had the first clue what to say otherwise. A moment later, he lifted his hips away from me and rolled the condom into place before settling his weight over me again.
And then he was pressing against my entrance and gliding inside, filling me to the point I was certain he couldn’t go any farther. But somehow, my body gave way and accepted even more of his invasion.
“Oh,” I breathed in surprise and a bit of shock at the sharp bite of pain that struck me. It wasn’t awful pain—just startling, I supposed.
He came to a stop, allowing me a moment to breathe and adjust to the new sensation, then dropped his head onto the pillow next to mine. His raspy breath felt hot against my ear. “Fuck, baby doll, you’re so tight.”
“I’m sorry,” I said automatically. Apologies were always quick to fall from my lips. If there was a problem, it must be my fault—that was what I’d always believed, and I doubted I could change that for no greater reason than being married now. Having a husband didn’t make me any less of a screw-up and a problem than I’d always been.
“Don’t you dare apologize for that.”
“No?” I blinked up at him, confusion drawing my brows together even as the pain gradually receded from my body, slowly replaced by a growing warmth.
He grinned down at me, his hard, overheated body covering mine in every way. “No. No apologies.”
“But it means I don’t know what to do. How to…please you.”
“Then it means I get to be the one you learn with.” His eyes lit up like nothing I’d ever seen before. “And you already please me.”
“You’re sure?”
“More than sure. You don’t have anything to apologize for. Not to me. Not to anyone.”
He was wrong about that. Surely, he must be.
But then, he started to move, retreating somewhat before once again pressing himself deep inside me. His movements were focused, deliberate, stealing my ability to think of all the things I was bound to be doing wrong.
“Okay,” I murmured, but it sounded almost like a question. I could hardly take a full breath from the startling intensity of what we were doing.
The friction as he moved in and out of me was powerful and concentrated, but it was nothing compared to the sensation of him filling me. I cried out in surprise when he thrust in harder than before, reaching some unknown depth that felt new and exciting and a little bit terrifying.
Riley stilled, deep within me. He scanned my face with a worried crease between his brows. “Did I hurt you?”
“No, I’m not hurt.” It had stung a bit at first, but the sting was already diminishing.
In all honesty, I couldn’t come up with the right words to describe what I was feeling. Nerves. Magnetic intensity. An anxious need to be whatever Riley needed me to be, to do what he needed me to do. An odd combination of taut, tense muscles and a hot, languid loosening of them as pleasure gradually overtook all the rest.
For what felt like an eternity, Riley studied my face, not moving even so much as an inch. Gradually, my body stretched and accepted him until, when he started to move within me again, it felt like the most exquisite sort of torture. Not pain, exactly. No, this was a maddening sort of yearning that seemed to skitter just out of my reach every time I got close to it.
“You’re not breathing,” Riley murmured, his lips hovering just too far away from mine for them to connect. “I need you to breathe for me.” He nipped my lower lip, making me gasp for air, and placed one hand between us, holding himself above me with all his weight braced on the other arm.
“I’m trying,” I said.
He winked. “Try harder. You won’t come if you aren’t breathing, you know.”
As a matter of fact, I didn’t know anything of the sort, but I couldn’t waste the energy to tell him when I had other things demanding my attention.
Then he started swirling tiny circles around my tight nub with his thumb, making it next to impossible for me to breathe like a normal person. How was I supposed to focus on anything so basic and common as sucking oxygen into my lungs when my body was on the verge of internal combustion?
“Will I know?” I asked.
Riley laughed and nipped my lower lip before sucking on the flesh. “Will you know what?” Good heavens, his voice was so deep and husky and sexy right now it made me shiver.
It took me a moment to remember what I’d been wanting to know. But then it came back to me in a rush. “If I come? When I come, I mean,” I corrected myself when he gave me a disgruntled look. I didn’t want him to think I doubted his abilities, even if I might doubt my own. “How will I know? What does it feel like?” Because I couldn’t imagine anything feeling better than this did, with Riley’s thick length gliding inside me, his strong hands working me into a frenzy, his soft lips and determined tongue tasting me all over with the bit of scruff lining his jaw scratching my skin, the powerful cords of his muscles bunching and releasing as he moved above me and inside me.
But in lieu of giving me an answer, he slipped his tongue into my mouth to tangle with my own. He swirled his tongue and angled his hips so that he could thrust more deeply, and I forgot to worry about anything.
And then, just when I’d finally forgotten to worry any longer, it hit me, the most exquisite and fierce sort of pleasure I could have ever imagined. It curled up from my toes and spread like wildfire through my limbs. The sensation didn’t let me go until I was entirely spent, a flash and a long fizzle, followed by utter and complete bonelessness.
Was bonelessness even a word? I wasn’t sure, but it didn’t matter, because this was everything I could ever have imagined and more.
“You’re squeezing me so tight, baby,” Riley said, his face buried against my neck. “So fucking tight.” Then he thrust into me one more time and let out a muffled shout against the pillow before collapsing on top of me and becoming still.
My heart and lungs were still struggling to keep up when he rolled off of me and wrapped his arms and legs around me, dragging me up against his side. He tucked my head under his chin. I was just as hot and sweaty as he was, not to mention far more out of breath even though he’d done all the heavy lifting. But somehow, I couldn’t bring myself to feel self-conscious, not even with my nakedness.
For long minutes, we lay there together, waiting for our breathing to steady and our pulses to slow. I could only wait so long, though, because my bladder was seriously about to burst. That meant I had to disentangle myself from Riley’s grip—which was easier said than done since he seemed to already be falling asleep again.
I wriggled over somewhat, hoping to get away without disturbing him.
No luck. His eyes shot open, and he gave me such a sexy grin that I thought I might very well melt on the spot. “That was way better than tequila dick,” he said, grinning at me.
I blushed. Don’t ask me why I was so embarrassed after everything we’d done together in the last twelve hours or so, but my face felt hotter than the surface of the sun.
“You are so damn pretty when you blush,” he said. “Makes me want to find all the things I can do to make you blush.”
“It probably won’t take much.” Even as the words fell from my lips, I felt my cheeks grow even hotter.
“Sounds like a good plan for how we can spend the next few days.” He winked, and my knees went weak.
Yeah, cue internal combustion. This man was way too hot for my safety. I was playing with fire. Which meant I was bound to get burned, because no one had ever bothered to teach me how to protect myself around an open flame like Riley Jezek.