Tamara

“Oomph!”

Strong arms wrapped around me, and the citrusy smell of Ryan’s cologne filled my nostrils as my nose bumped into his sweater. I’d spent the day reminding myself of all the reasons why it was smart to keep my distance from him—my raging hormones whenever he was close being at the top of that list—after it had only taken one evening and morning with him to convince me that I probably shouldn’t have bailed on him the night we slept together...and that was after he’d been a complete ass at the rink.

Ryan was hell on my willpower, so it figured that I’d bump into him as soon as I came back to my apartment. It barely took any effort on his part to get me to do things completely out of my character. Like the urge I had right then to yank him even closer and kiss the hell out of him.

Taking one last breath of his scent deep into my lungs, I forced myself to take a step backwards instead. He was dressed in dark blue jeans and a forest green cable-knit sweater that brought out the green in his hazel eyes. A lock of his dark hair hung over his forehead, and his mustache and beard looked freshly trimmed.

He looked deliciously perfect, while I was a disheveled mess after my strength training session at the gym since I hadn’t bothered to do anything more than brush my wet hair after I took a quick shower. Damn his sexy ass for catching me like this when he had the upper hand.

“I’m glad I caught you,” he murmured. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Umm, okay.”

His door was still open, and he tugged me through it into his apartment before I could suggest we go over to my place instead. Not that it mattered where we were; what was important was that we were alone. Again. And there was a bedroom just down the hall.

“What’s up?” I blurted in an effort to shove any thoughts of what we could do on his mattress out of my head.

“Come sit down with me.” He pulled on my hand and led me to his couch, settling us next to each other on the cushions.

I was getting the feeling that he had something serious to discuss with me, and my stomach started to tie into knots. “What’s going on?” An idea popped in my head, and that nervous feeling took a turn to nausea. I yanked my hand out of his hold. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

“No! Shit, Tamara. There’s nothing wrong,” he assured me. “And I sure as fuck don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Oh.”

He wrapped his hand around mine again and smirked at me. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounded like it’d bother you if I did.”

“Maybe.”

His smirk turned into a full-out grin, and his eyes filled with humor.

“Oh, stop,” I sighed. “It doesn’t necessarily mean anything more than I wouldn’t want to come between another woman and her man. And with our history...” My cheeks filled with heat as I realized I’d just brought up the very topic I’d hoped to avoid.

His hand tightened and he shifted closer. “I didn’t have one back then, either.”

“Good.”

“About that night—” he started.

“I don’t do one-night stands,” I interrupted. I wasn’t sure I was ready to hear what he had to say about what happened between us, but I definitely wanted to get that out in the open. “I’d had a shitty day the night I met you and you were...well, you.” I waved my free hand at him. “You’re too sexy for my own damn good, but then I woke up the next morning and had no idea how to handle the whole thing.”

“So you ran,” he murmured.

“Yeah.”

His thumb swept across my palm. “But it wasn’t because of anything I did wrong?”

“No, it wasn’t you. It was just me and my awkwardness.”

“I can’t say that I’ve never done the one-night stand thing before you.” My heart dropped, but it soared again with his next words. “But I can tell you that I haven’t been with anyone else since that night with you.”

“Nobody?” I gasped.

“You’re a tough act to follow, Tamara.”

“Wow,” I breathed. It’d been months since that night. Not for one second had I ever thought to even hope he’d spent all that time alone—like I had.

“See, that right there is why I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind. Only you could pull off that irresistible mixture of adorable and so damn gorgeous at the same time.”

My hand trembled in his hold, and his compliment made me blush. “I’m not the irresistible one in this duo.”

He tilted my chin up with his finger. “I’ve got a solution for that.”

“Oh, yeah?” I murmured.

“Yeah,” he echoed softly, his head bending towards mine. “Stop trying to resist me and go with it. Give this a chance.”

“This?” I whispered against his lips.

“Us, Tamara. Fate gave us a second chance, and I’d like to use it to see where this thing between us goes.”

I needed a little more clarification before I did something I’d regret later. “‘This thing’ as in a possible relationship?”

“Definitely a relationship, baby. Now that I’ve found you again, I’m not going to settle for anything else. I’ve gotta make sure you don’t have reason to run again.”

Running was the last thing on my mind as he claimed my mouth in a passionate kiss. Fisting his hands in my hair, he held my head in place while his tongue tangled with mine. Just like it had so many months before, his kiss set my body aflame. By the time he lifted his head, I could barely catch my breath.

“You have no idea how relieved I am that you said yes.” He rubbed his nose against mine in a gesture that should have been cute but instead had me shivering at how intimate it felt.

“As if I have the willpower to say no to you.”

“Is that another yes?” His hand wrapped around my back and pressed us close together, my pebbled nipples brushing against his chest.

“Yes to what?”

His cheek slid against mine, and he whispered his answer into my ear, “To letting me have you again. It’s been too long since I felt your tight pussy wrapped around my cock. I need you so damn bad.”

My walls clenched at the reminder of our night together, my body screaming for me to agree. So I did. “Yes.”

We tumbled back onto the couch cushions, ripping at each other’s clothes—just like we had in his hotel bed the night we met. His mouth devoured mine, and I dragged his sweater over his head. Then I went after the snap and zipper on his jeans while he stripped me out of my long-sleeved shirt and bra. His hips lifted up to let me drag his jeans and boxers down his legs while he whipped my workout pants and underwear off my body.

With his body levered over mine, I trailed my fingers over his chest and down his abs, wrapping my hand around his cock as his mouth claimed mine again. “Fuck that feels good, baby,” he groaned, his hips rocking and pressing his hard-on deeper into my palm. “Too damn good since it’s been so long.”

He trailed his mouth down my chest to my breasts, nibbling and sucking on one while his hand kneaded the other. I kept working his cock while he switched back and forth between my breasts until I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Please.”

“Not until I make you come with my mouth. I miss the taste of you.” He kissed his way lower. “And I’m not going to last long once I get inside you.”

He slid off the couch, going to his knees on the floor and settling my legs over his shoulders. The muscles in his arms flexed as he cupped my ass and lifted me towards his mouth. With his hazel eyes locked on mine, he lowered his head and swiped his tongue through my wetness.

“Ryan,” I gasped, my fists pushing against the couch cushions while I lifted my hips higher.

He took that move for the encouragement it was and devoured me. Sucking. Licking. Fucking me with his tongue as he built the need within me. And when he slid two fingers inside me, I flew apart. He ate me through my orgasm and then crawled onto the couch with me, wrapping my legs around his waist and positioning his cock at my entrance.

“Fuck,” he bit out. “I don’t have a condom.”

“None?” I gasped.

“I told you,” he growled. “There hasn’t been anyone since you, so I haven’t needed ‘em.”

“I’m on the pill.” His hips jerked forward at my admission.

“Are you saying I can take you bare?” His head dropped against my forehead, his eyes blazing into mine. “Fuck, please let that be what you’re telling me.”

It was way too soon for promises, but he’d called what he wanted a relationship and wanted to forgo condoms and there was only one way that was going to happen. “If I’m going to trust you with my safety, you have to promise me there won’t be anyone else.”

“I swear it, Tamara,” he hissed out, rocking his hips forward and inching inside me. “I have no desire to be with anyone else. You cast some sort of spell on my cock and it only wants you.”

“I guess that makes it mine, huh?” I laughed.

He pushed forward slowly, inch by inch until he was buried to the hilt. “Just so long as you know your pussy is mine, too.”

I nodded jerkily, and he pumped his hips. He thrust in and out of me hard, pinning my hips to the cushions with his hands to hold me in place. It didn’t take long for another orgasm to build in me.

“So close,” I panted.

He swiveled his hips and ground against my clit, sending me over the edge. With my pussy clenching down on his cock, he planted himself deep and exploded inside me. As we both tried to catch our breath, he wrapped me into a tight embrace and rolled onto his back. Lying in his arms and basking in the afterglow of my orgasms, I felt like I could run a marathon even though I was still jet lagged and had a double workout day, with sessions both on and off the ice, plus power skating drills with the team. Sex with Ryan did wonders for my stamina.