I closed down Grounded a few hours ago, telling my assistant manager I won't be in tomorrow. I packed a few waters and sandwiches, ready to make the trip to Sault Ste. Marie. It's a quiet town at the end of the U.P. on Canada's border.

Perfect for the introspection and time alone I need the next few days. I'm about twenty minutes outside town, passing through the edge of Marquette, when my phone rings.

I have to talk to Matt, however much it's bound to upset me right now.

“Sis? Where are you? We need to talk,” he says, little Holden laughing in the background. I hear another voice, mom's, which tells me he's home. He's probably also dropped the news about Ryan.

“We're talking now, Matt. You must be calling me because you've decided what you're going to do. Just tell me.”

There's a pause, and then a heavy sigh. “I haven't turned the asshole in. Not yet. He's dangerous, and he shouldn't be out on the streets, much less in your coffee shop late at night. I want you to tell me why he came back. What does he want with you?”

I think about his arms, his heat, the truth he promised last night. I remember Reg this morning, the bitter, violent edge in his voice, how he flung me around our kitchen and smashed his secrets – if that's what they really were – into a dozen pieces.

“He's trying to prevent me from making a mistake,” I say, as close to the truth as I can get. It's also the closest I think he'll come to understanding, since he's convinced I'm dealing with a monster.

“Mistake – what? Surely you don't mean marrying Reg?”

“I don't know, Matt. He told me some things. Even gave me what he said was proof of things Reg has been doing behind my back.”

“Kara, fuck, come on! You don't really believe that, do you? He's putting ideas in your head. You're happy together. Ain't like me and Maggie.”

He's so sure it hurts. I guess that's what I get for keeping the strain in our relationship to myself, hiding it from everyone. It was mostly his idea. God forbid his parents and their rich friends find out there might not be a wedding to deal with, when they've spent so much time and money planning it.

Well, there won't be now.

I'm still trying to form an answer when Matt swears again, his frustration boiling over.

“Look, I don't have time for this crap. Here's ma, I'll let her try to talk some sense into you.”

Great. I can't follow the road safely anymore with everything going to hell. So, I pull over, into a small scenic overlook. Down below, Superior's dark waters slap the rocky shore, mirroring the feelings kicked up inside me.

“Kara? Your brother told me everything. Listen, I know how much it hurt when he walked out. I saw the damage he did to you – we all did – but no one like me, first-hand. If you want him gone, honey, and you can't do it yourself, then let us take care of him. We can talk to Sheriff Dixon, make sure he's apprehended before he has a chance to play more games. We're here for you and –“

“Jesus. Fuck.” I'm gripping the steering wheel hard, ready to tear it off. “You don't get it, do you, mom? Neither of you. I'm the one who agreed to meet with him last night. I've known about him being back in town for almost a week. He isn't here to hurt anymore.”

“Kara.” She says my name in a tone that lets me see her holding up a finger. “You don't know what he's here to do. He's an awful man. You shouldn't trust him with anything. Honey, I've heard you might be having some issues with Reg. You're vulnerable. Ryan probably knows it, which is why he's come back here to mess with you again. Don't believe a word he says. Don't –“

“I don't know what to believe, but the only one who can sort it out is me. Nobody else,” I say, jabbing my finger against the dashboard. The pain gives me a nice distraction. “What is it he's done, anyway? Why won't anyone be honest about it? It seems like you know more than I do, as much as daddy took to the grave a couple years ago.”

She's quiet. No different than the other times I've asked her about what really happened that night, whatever they know that goes beyond old articles and rumors.

“Kara, your father wanted you to move past Ryan. Forget him. Pretend he never existed,” she whispers. “We don't need to relive his betrayal. He stabbed us all in the back when we least expected it. Maybe we failed to recognize the mental issues a boy like him had, coming from those foster homes that didn't take good care of him. It isn't our problem anymore, honey, and it isn't yours. He needs to be locked up so he can finally get some help.”

“Locked up why? Because you think he really killed Nelson Drayton? I've never understood why everyone is so fucking insistent. He sat at our table almost every night, mom. He was like family. I loved him. If he had a dark side, I would've seen it. He's not a murderer.”

I'm so sure of my own words I almost believe them. Almost.

What I really want is to get off the phone, forget about going east, and find Ryan. I want him to clear his name. I want to believe I'm not falling for another dangerous liar, when Reg has shown me that's all he really is.

“You don't know that. Kara, please come home,” she says, snapping at first and then softening her tone. “Please. We can sit down, talk about this, sort out what we're going to do. I'll leave a light on for you. We'll figure this out as a family, together. We won't do anything until I let you have your say, if that's what you want. You've seen him last, so you might know how to deal with him without anyone else getting hurt.”

I'm not going to change her mind, no matter how much time I burn talking. She clearly isn't opening up, and isn't going to tell me any new big, ugly secrets.

I hang up. Turn off my phone. Ignoring another text from Ryan while I do it. I can't let them trace his last communications to me if mom and Matt decide to turn him in, and it turns into a manhunt.

I need to find him, before the wolves close in, and rip him away from me forever. Whipping my car around, I peel back onto the highway, watching my headlights stab into the night.

* * *

My first mistake of the night is stopping at home, before I try to get in touch with Ryan. I'm surprised to see Reg's car there when it isn't even midnight. After what happened, I thought for sure he'd be gone.

As soon as I step inside, I hear something being thrown around upstairs, bounding loudly across the floor.

I take each step up cautiously. When I reach the hall, I look into our bedroom. It's a total mess. Clothes everywhere, drawers ripped open, debris from the master bathroom strewn around in the clothes. I've never seen Mr. Clean in such a chaotic frenzy, and it sends a chill up my back.

“Reg? What's going on?”

“Kara.” He stops, turns around, his eyes wide like I've just caught him pulling money from the safe. Thankfully, that seems to be untouched. There isn't a single fingerprint reflecting on the shiny metal buttons at the bottom of our closet. “I was going to leave a note, but...I'm leaving.”

“Leaving? What do you mean?” I say, folding my arms. “Another work trip?”

I'm so sick of his excuses. The only thing that stops me from walking away is the mess he's made, which tells me he's in a hurry to get the hell out. I'd like to know why.

“No, not work.” He shifts uncomfortably, stress lining his face. “Look, I'm sorry it has to go down this way. I'll be gone for the rest of the week, and I expect you to be out of my condo by the end of the week. Wedding's off, and we're done.”

My heart shouldn't hurt anymore. It's irrational. But it does, bleeding into itself, pain throbbing at the grim finality. I told myself I was ready for this. Hearing it is another story.

“So, it's over...just like that?” Anger invades my voice. I step into the room, kicking aside my dresses, which he's flung all over the floor. I'd say it's a disrespectful way to end, but it's no different from the way things have been the last six months.

He doesn't care. He never did. Never will.

I draw in a breath. “You know what? Fine. I'll be the bigger person and leave, since that's what you want. You've already turned my life upside down, wasted years, so what's another week?”

He doesn't say anything. For some reason, that's more infuriating than watching him stoop down like a scolded animal, tuck his toothbrush into his leather suitcase, and scurry past me.

He's halfway down the staircase when I lose it. I'll take his abuse, his nastiness, and his cold disregard, but I can't stand this vicious silence.

I'm snatching at everything I can find, throwing it after him. A bottle of dry shampoo hits him in the back of his head, causing a satisfying echo.

“Fuck!” He stops, turns around, and looks at me, waiting near the door. “Your boyfriend is fucking insane, Kara, and so are you. You're lucky I don't turn you both in, and tell them everything right now. There's a police bulletin out for you. Call the cops and tell them you're safe before I do. It's the last favor you're ever getting from me.”

I'm looking at him, trying to take in the insane things he's saying, one at a time. It's like my brain has reached its limit on crazy today.

Before he walks out, he stops, and gives me the most hateful look I've ever seen on his princely face. “This is the last time you'll ever see me, but we're not done yet. Nobody assaults a Drayton and walks away. Your boyfriend doesn't either.”

Boyfriend? What the hell is he talking about?

The door slams behind him, and I walk to the nearest window, overlooking the garage. His grey, freshly washed Mercedes screams out a second later. I know in the pit of my gut it's the last time I'm ever going to watch him leave our home.

There's no time for tears, wine, or a lavender scented soak in the tub to calm me down. I'm going to go ballistic if I can't get answers.

Before, I needed to see Ryan. Now, I'm going to lose my mind by the end of the night if I can't find him. Hell has broken loose, spilling out a little more by the second, and I need answers.

* * *

His offices are dark. The security gate is locked up tight. A couple vehicles roam the lot, but I know they're mostly guards working night shift. I seriously doubt he's at work, especially if he's learned the police were trying to chase me down just a few hours ago.

If he couldn't find me, where would he go? It takes me a few minutes before I think I have an answer.

I drive on, leaving Punch Corp behind, heading for the spot where I believe he's likeliest to find me.

When I pull into the lighthouse parking lot, I see his lonely Tesla, and start to smile. How fitting.

He's upstairs, staring across the wide, dark sea. He doesn't wait for me to come up and join him. As soon as he sees my light, his solitary figure takes off, heading inside and racing downstairs. He bursts out the doors a second later. His big beautiful arms are around me before I've even had a chance to close my door.

“Are you okay, babe? Did he hurt you?” His voice scratches my ears. Low and rough, delicious as the drag of his stubble on my skin.

“Only a few bruises to the heart.” I sigh, pausing to breathe him in, the only man who's ever felt right.

Ryan's blue eyes are dark and beautiful in the night. He takes my face in one hand, tilts it up, forcing me to hold his gaze. After all the hell I've been through tonight, I love it.

“That's over,” he whispers, low as distant thunder. “I'm here, Kara-bou. Never letting go as long as I've got a pulse. You're spending the rest of your days with a smile on those precious lips.”

“I want to believe you,” I tell him, nestling into his chest. His hands roll down my back, lower, warming the chills running up my spine. “It's hard, after all this.”

“It's not.” His hand cups my cheek again, and his forehead touches mine. “This is our reset, Kara. The pain, the hurt, the regret, that's all over. I'll mend fences with you and my family. I'll throw him out of your life if he ever comes back to give you hell again.”

“Like it's so easy.” Sarcasm creeps into my voice.

“I never ran away from a challenge,” he says, flashing me his mysterious smile. “You're the best one of my life. It's easy, because I say so, babe. I told you what this is – reset. Whether it's easy or hard doesn't matter because I just pushed the fucking button, and this ride doesn't stop until you're happy, living under my roof, and curled up with me every single night. We've lost too many nights. It'll take a whole army of assholes like Reg to keep me away from you even one more time, and I'll still go down swinging to keep you.”

No more talk. I lean into him, and let his lips take what they've wanted.

Our kiss ignites the fireball building in my belly. Rampant, scorching heat runs through my veins. His tongue presses into my mouth. Mine dances against his in hot, furious ripples. I'm actually swooning in his arms, losing support in my knees, falling into an embrace that's just like home.

“Your ex is gone tonight, yeah?” he asks.

I can't help but laugh. He calls him my ex like it's already official, and I don't have a hundred loose ends to wrap up, getting Reg out of my life for good. Finally, I nod.

“Good. Then let's take this to your place. I'll get the movers in the morning to grab your stuff as soon as we've had our fun. They'll strip down everything that isn't his in that damned condo except the sheets we're about to ruin. I want him to rub his face in our love after everything he did to you.”

Sweet Jesus, he's insane.

But I have to admit, the idea has a certain wild charm to it. It satisfies my jealousy, my anger, and my hurt all at once. More than anything, I just want Ryan again, the sex I've craved for half a decade, suffering through abstinence and then the awkward encounters with Reg that weren't much better.

I hate him for lying, walking out, and wasting my time.

Unfortunately, there's also no telling what's true, and what isn't, since he wrecked the evidence on the thumb drive. What if I'm wrong about his affair, however suspicious he's been acting, and he's decided to dump me over something else?

He's a bastard for doing it, yeah. But does he deserve to be humiliated?

“Ryan...I don't know,” I say, pushing against his broad, incredible chest. “It's happening so fast. He never even admitted to cheating on me. I didn't see the data – he broke it before I could. Don't worry. I'm not taking him back, not after what he said to me today, or the way he walked out.”

“You need to see this.” His strong, square jaw smooths his smile. Ryan's expression turns deadly serious as he reaches into his pocket, flips through some keys on his phone, and then holds it in front of me.

It takes several seconds to recognize what I'm looking at. It's Reg on the screen. Nearly naked, red faced, looking like he's about to rip someone's head off.

He's cuffed to a leather chair, staring hatefully into the lens. The bastard's erection is still straining in his boxers, despite his gross humiliation. It's one dick I'm never going to miss.

Ryan flips through several more pics of my ex tied down. Then there's another one with a woman I don't recognize at first. She's wearing the tallest candy colored heels in the world, her ankles splayed, legs pressed defensively together at the knees.

Her face hits me through the makeup. Wedding planner Amy stares at me like a helpless animal. Frustrated, ashamed, and maybe a little afraid.

Really? Is there any low he won't sink to?

I can't stop shaking. I thought I'd braced myself, prepared to see undeniable proof of him being a cheating asshole. But doing it with the woman we sat with yesterday? The one who was supposed to help craft the happiest day of our lives?

I shove his arm away, threatening to knock the phone from his hand. “Sorry,” I mutter, turning my back, facing Superior's loud, steady churn.

“No, babe. Don't apologize,” he says, wrapping a protective arm around my waist. “It's a lot for you to take in, and there's not much time to do it. We're moving like the wind, but hell, we always did. We've lost time. That's the real tragedy here. Too many years robbed away by my mistakes and this asshole. Now, we're taking them back. Fixing everything.”

I turn, facing him, hot new tears rolling down my cheeks. His confidence comforts me. So does the inferno rising in his eyes, wide as open skies, ready to lift me up to a higher, better place.

“We're fixing it all,” he says again. “Kara, I love you. I never stopped. When I look at you, it's like the time we've lost doesn't even matter. Nailing that cheating fucker's coffin shut, making sure you're safe and loved against me tonight and every night after...that's all we've got to worry about. When I look at you, I see the sexiest, smartest, and most gorgeous woman in the whole damned universe. Same woman who said 'yes' to me all those years ago, who I'm hoping will say it again.”

My heart hits meltdown. It's not made to take this much happiness and pain, to be tossed from heaven to hell and back to earth again in a matter of days.

Before I can say anything, he pushes his finger softly over my lips. “Don't say it now. There's a time and place for that, love. I proposed to you once like a little boy, and when it happens again, it's going to be a man asking to put a ring on your hand.”

He's growling when he lifts my arm, lacing my fingers into his. God, they feel so right.

So perfectly, undeniably, impossibly right that I'd probably overrule my sane side and agree to marry him tonight if he just said the words.

Instead, he starts leading me to his car. “You okay with leaving your ride parked here tonight? I'll send for someone from the company to get it in the morning.”

“Of course.” Saying it is the last little thing I remember before I'm tucked into the warm leather seat next to him, the instrument panels lighting our faces in dull blue light, taking the winding roads into town.

It's really happening.

Holy shit!

It starts to sink in when Ryan's hand goes to my thigh just as we're getting into Split Harbor. He rubs circles there, each lap like a shock to my core, obliterating the night's emotional storm in rays of sweltering heat, want, and need.

I don't bother directing him to the guest parking. He pulls along the curb, parks, and several seconds later, he's opening the passenger door and lifting me into his arms.

He carries me all the way through the door, and then straight up. Jacob isn't at the front desk to see us, thankfully. He respects the Draytons too much, just like everyone else in town. I'm sure he'd start dialing Reg right away if he saw another man leading me to the elevator, which has had a lot of work done lately because some mad man laid his fists to it, breaking the mirrors on the walls.

Upstairs, I reach for my keys, but I fumble several times. He's insatiable. Ryan slams me against the door, his mouth crushing mine. We're feeding a lust neither of us can handle with every kiss, surrendering ourselves to a greater power that won't be satisfied until we're naked, sweating, and totally spent.

He snatches me up in his arms again as soon as I get the door unlocked. I'm laughing when he carries me over the threshold.

It's everything I imagined five years ago, on what should've been our wedding night, entering our first place alone as man and wife.

“Upstairs,” I say, guiding him through our place. He doesn't stop to inspect anything.

His hands are all over my ass. Cupping, squeezing, forcing me to imagine everything that's coming next. I feel like it's a hundred and ten degrees when I think about his big, rough hands ripping off my clothes, rolling my nipples, bending me over.

His palms, slapping both cheeks if I don't ride him hard enough. God.

Not that I think I'll need any help in that department. After months – hell, years – of sub-par sex or nothing at all, I'm starving.

My purse drops as soon as we're next to the bed. Ryan starts tearing at my clothes, and I don't resist, moaning when he pulls one breast from my blouse, pushes down my bra, and bends me over the bed while his teeth pull on my nipple.

Oh, shit. Yes!

He sucks and licks for one outstanding minute. It's so good and hot and sudden I swear I'm about to come on the spot. But he pulls away before I can, pins my shoulders against the bed, watching me while I pant and writhe. My entire body begs for more.

“I'm clean, babe, in case you wondered,” he says.

I smile. It's sweet that he still cares. It also makes me a little jealous.

No, I don't hold it against him that he's been with other women – he's only human. I've been busy with Reg, deep in more kink than I ever wanted, and the wrong kind, too. But imagining him fucking anyone except me right now makes me want it more.

“I'm on the pill,” I say. Thinking about taking him skin-on-skin, feeling him erupt deep inside me, sends a delicious tingle through every nerve.

That hot, sly smile hanging on his lips gets wider. He doesn't say another word. I watch in awe as he starts pulling off his suit, piece by piece.

First the jacket, then the tie around his neck. His fingers work each button loose. When he throws his shirt off his chest and lets it drop to the floor, I gasp.

The tapestry covering his rock hard muscles wasn't there before. It's rich, dark, fiery ink. What looks like dark skies spewing lightning through clouds, and a tiny boat rowing out to stormy seas, where a dragon pokes its head up with a ferocious smile.

The lightning ripples outward, tapering into stripes that go down his arms. Each one looks like a band stretched across his massive biceps, down to his wrists.

Now, I know why he needs to wear full suits everyday. Anything cut low, too business casual, and the whole world will know what a freak lurks underneath the whiz entrepreneur.

“When did you get that?” I ask him, sitting up on the bed so I can touch it. His skin feels warm, smooth, delightful beneath my fingertips.

“Been a work-in-progress since I set up shop in Seattle. A little of my sub-conscious working its way out on my skin, I guess.”

“A little?” I wrinkle my nose and smile. “It's amazing, Ryan. Whoever did this work has crazy talent. Not like the amateurs here.”

“Here?” He raises an eyebrow. “Are you telling me you're hiding something on that beautiful skin?”

I blush, and don't say anything. It's his job to find out.

He moves faster, drawing off his belt, kicking down his trousers. He leaves the huge, throbbing bulge underneath his boxers to taunt me while he locks me up in his arms, pushes one hand below my waist, and starts undressing me.

He isn't finished until I'm down to just my panties and the stockings underneath my long dress. They're sexy for an autumn outfit. He growls his agreement into my ear, kissing at my neck, fisting my blond hair in his hands and pulling. Hard.

When his free hand starts plumping my breasts, I'm done.

My knees buckle. I have to lean back into the bed for support. Beyond ready for him to throw me down, rip away the sopping wet mess between my legs, and fuck me like I've missed for too many years.

He's rougher than I remember. His hands move with the confidence of a man who's learned a few things over our absence. His touch, his lips, his teeth all coax different points on my body into one steaming, sensual pulse.

I need this. Fuck, do I ever.

Everything he does starts so delicate, and quickly turns wild. His soft, teasing lips take mine when he twists my head. His tongue conquers, slipping in and out of my mouth, a crude promise hinting everything to come.

“Ohhh,” I sputter when his hand glides down my belly, brushing my side, pushing below the waistband to my panties. “Oh, yeah.”

Yeah. Everything I've ever wanted oozes in that word when his fingers find my slick folds, run up and down them like he's teasing me with the head of his cock. He spreads his hand to cup the warm, dripping mound dying for his heat.

“I see it” he growls, distracting me with his fingers when he finds the tattoo along my side, hugging my right hip. “It's beautiful, babe. Even if it's a little sad.”

It's a pitch black heart, split in two pieces, melting like it's wax over fire. For a second, I ignore the pulse between my legs to marvel at how I've had it for almost four years. I got it during the dark days when I'd just flunked school and moved home, empty and rudderless.

“You know, you're the first one who's ever seen it and given a damn,” I say, wrapping my hands around his handsome neck. “I've almost had it for four years. Not once did Reg ever ask.”

His eyes narrow, and he silences me with a kiss. When he pulls away, his hand is back in my hair, pulling harder than before. “Fuck him, and fuck everything he did, too, baby girl. You can tell me all about your ink after you're done coming, dripping my seed.”

“Shit, that sounds –“

Amazing never gets out. His fingers press back into my panties, and this time they're coming off. One hot, angry jerk shoves them down my legs. He drops to his knees, kissing his way back up my thighs.

His breath teases, entices, quickening the tremor in my leg. I swear to God, if he doesn't put his face there right now, I'm going to –

Ryan grabs my legs, holding them apart. His lips taste my pussy for the first time in forever, and it's hard to even stand.

The tongue I've missed for an eternity goes to work.

Licking. Sucking. Vibrating his growl each time he runs its tip through my folds, devouring me like he can't get enough.

He inhales my scent. I struggle to breathe at all. I flop over at the waist, grabbing the edge of the bed, fighting the urge in my legs to close, to soften the merciless wave crashing through me each time he brings me closer to completion.

His hands won't let me go anywhere. I'm his willing prisoner, captive to his mouth, and it gives me the most exquisite torture a woman can experience.

There's ripples in my thighs by the time he brings his attention to my clit. I'm panting, moaning each time his tongue flicks my hot little bud. One hand climbs higher up my leg; up, up, up, until his fingers stop near my ass, grazing the very center.

“God, yes!” I pant, my eyes clenching shut. I'm bracing for a firestorm. “Ryan, don't stop. Ryan, fuck! I'm about to –“

He preempts me. Two stiff fingers push gently into my ass while his teeth pull my clit. He holds it, smothers it, flogs it like it needs to be punished for missing his mouth for this many years.

Maybe, just maybe, it does. Before I can reconcile anything in my brain, my muscles coil up and everything goes blinding white.

Coming!

I come on his mouth with my ass clenching his fingers, my body still hungry to take more of him inside it. Dragging my nipples into the blanket strewn over the bed, I'm screaming, loving the roughness coursing through every part of me.

This is what I missed, what I've only had a taste of my entire life.

I need my sex wild, spontaneous, with no apologies. Ryan delivers, tongue-fucking me straight through my convulsions, making me ride his beautiful face for every sweet spasm.

I'm in the ether for what seems like an eternity. When I start coming down from it, he eases me onto the bed, ass up as he backs off my pussy, kissing up my back.

“How long has it been since you've come like that?” he whispers, threading his fingers through my hair. “Be honest.”

“Too long. Not since the night we got engaged.” I pause, hit by the enormity of what I've just said. “Jesus. I wasted a lot of time with the wrong man, didn't I?”

“He kept you waiting for me,” Ryan says, turning me around, stopping to brush his lips against mine. “I've missed your taste, Kara-bou. Missed it like my own damn reflection. I've had to see Tanner Brooks staring back for the last five years, living a lie I never wanted. When you're naked in front of me, screaming my name, I see the man I used to be. I see Ryan, and I want to bring him back.”

“You will,” I whisper.

My legs keep shimmying against his boxers. I want to return the favor.

He couldn't have missed my taste more than I've yearned to have his cock in my mouth again. I want to bear down deep on every inch, rub my tongue on his swollen tip until he floods my mouth.

I want him grunting, grinding, clenching the sheets like he's about to explode.

Because once he does, the mistakes we made die a little more. Every time we come is a little more assurance this bitter road ends here, and a new one opens.

We're staying here, entangled, right where we belong.

“Does Tanner like to fuck, or make love gently?” I ask, pursing my lips, desperate to see his cock again.

He smiles. “Ryan fucks both ways, and that's who you're with tonight, Kara-bou.”

He straightens, hooking his thumbs against his boxers. They come down too slowly for my liking. His cock springs out, into his fist. He kicks his boxers off behind him, and then he's crouched on the bed, giving me a magnificent view.

It's just as glorious as I remembered. Huge, thick, throbbing and – what the hell? – pierced?

“No way,” I say softly, sitting up so I can get a better look. “You're just full of surprises, aren't you?”

“Only the best kind,” he whispers, taking my hand. He opens it, pulls my fingers apart, and wraps it around his seething length. “Come closer. Get a better look. You ought to see what you're dealing with before it's in you, babe, making you come harder than you've ever come in your life.”

Holy shit. I don't think he's lying.

No, I know he's telling the truth when I run my fist up, edging the tip with my thumb. Thick, hot pre-come spills out his little slit. I lean in, hovering over the silver bead in his dick, and give it a quick kiss.

“It's warm.”

“Just like the rest of it,” he says, taking my wrist again. He grabs both arms, laying me back, spreading me apart to make way for him as he moves between my legs. “Much as I want your lips wrapped around me again, I have to see your face when I fuck you, Kara. Need to see every muscle twitch when I'm balls deep, scratching that five year itch, spilling everything I've got inside you.”

How could I possibly argue?

My legs open for him automatically. He takes his sweet time, rolling his eager dick across my folds, tormenting me with just the tip. It brushes my clit, sending lightning through my blood.

The beautiful bastard's going to make me beg, isn't he?

“Please,” I whimper, moaning when he edges his dick lower, pressing its head against my entrance.

I'm soaked. Crazed. Dying to feel him inside me already.

“Louder,” he says, flicking his cock against my pussy faster. “I've waited so long to hear how bad you want this.”

“Please. Ryan – oh, God!” My legs can't stop brushing his, and my hips are trying to bring me closer. I'd be grinding against his cock, if only he weren't holding me down. “Fuck me. Please.”

Please.

His smile grows. It's an evil one now. I'm rolling my head, thrashing back and forth, animal need taking over.

“Please!” I say it once more, the last time before I'm going to bite him in the face.

His hips move. They roll forward, sinking his dick into me, good and deep.

Five fucking years. I can't believe I'm having him again, taking every inch to my womb, anchoring him in me with my legs draped over his, panting like mad.

I can't hold back. He only thrusts for half a minute before I'm coming. I've barely sampled what he offers, and I'm already losing it. Giving up my pleasure to his lips, his thrusts, my eyes fluttering every time he plows deep.

He's stretching me open. He's massaging me in places I've never felt before each time he moves near my womb, owning my pussy with the smooth, hot bead in his tip.

“Yes, yes! Ryan – yes!” He fucks me faster when I start convulsing.

Oh, this man. This wonderful fucking fire.

More, more.

Yes!

My pussy clenches around him so hard I think we're melting into each other. He rumbles his delight, slamming into me faster, fucking straight through my first release like a train without brakes.

Fingers, toes, everything curls. Bending to the pleasure, the heat, the love I've missed for so long.

He stops to kiss me alive again when the maelstrom stops. His dick is still moving, deep inside me, making slow, hard strokes. Stretching my walls apart for the only man worthy of owning them.

“Yeah, fuck yeah, babe. This is our night,” he says, whispering while he takes my earlobe with his teeth. “I'm going to turn you over. Fuck it all out on my dick. All of it, Kara. Every time you've missed me, every time you've dreamed about us, every time you knew he was wrong for you. We don't stop until we've torn these sheets. I want you to squirt all over them, and I'll bury every hot load I've got in your sweet cunt.”

I'm almost squirting with every rough, dirty sentence rolling out of his mouth.

Ryan's strong hands lift me up, put me on my knees, and guide me down. I'm stuck for a breathless second, burying my face into the sheets Reg and I shared for the last time.

Behind me, he tilts my ass up. His cock mounts me from behind, sinking into me again, fisting my hair.

His thrusts come quicker this time. I fuck back against him slowly, slamming my ass into his lower abs.

It's love. It's hate. It's everything I missed and everything I thought I'd lost, everything I secretly wanted when Reg would try to fuck me like a man, and failed miserably.

I was blind, or just put to sleep by his bedroom antics, plus wishful thinking. But I'm awake now, electric and alive, moving my hips to the savage thud in my heart.

“Fuck me!” I scream it, beating my hips into his, hair flying everywhere that isn't collected in his fist.

His fingers catch, pulling me back, making it hurt so good.

The entire bed shakes like never before. I don't even know if this hand-crafted wood can hold up to the beating it's getting. I'll break it before I slide off his cock.

“Are you ready, beautiful?” he growls, slamming his hand into my ass.

The sharp, brusk heat catches me by surprise. My pussy blazes again on his cock, close to overload.

“Are you fucking ready?” he asks again, his last words snarling out.

The frantic twitch in his hips as his cock stabs into me tells me exactly what he means. He's about to come inside me, marking me again from the inside out.

“Come!” I whisper, voice trembling. I never knew it would be so hard to wish for something I want this much. “Come inside me, Ryan. Please.”

He lunges. Burying his cock in me to the hilt, he rips at my hair, grabbing my hips with his free hand to hold me onto his length.

Then there's nothing but hellfire.

His heat picks me up, slams me down.

He fucks me, fills me, pours himself in, bathing my pussy in molten, satisfying warmth.

I'm undone. Lost. Coming, coming, coming like a lake storm, sudden and fierce.

His cock drills deeper, flinging my body against him like a doll, grinding his roar through his teeth. Swelling, shooting, exploding, he empties himself several times over, digging his fingers into the red burn he's left on my ass cheek the whole way through.

When it's over, he pulls out. His heat runs down my thigh, liquid fire making me shudder.

I collapse in his arms. We breathe, we gaze into each other's eyes, but we don't speak.

I don't know what happens next, except that he's going to fuck me many more times before the night is through.

He turns to me when we've both replenished the air in our lungs. “I'm heading back to Seattle for a few days next week. Come with me.”

He doesn't ask. I smile because we both know he doesn't need to.

There's no need to answer him with anything besides another kiss. Hot, sticky, and full of new love.

“Is that a yes?” he says, smiling because he knows it is. I give him another kiss, hotter than before, lowering my hand to his cock.

What we've kindled tonight is precious. There's so much more to fix before we can just be, and all our problems will be here when we get back, if we can put them on hold at all.

After tonight, they don't matter. I'll follow him to the ends of the Earth.

Anything, everything, and always to hold onto this second chance.