EVERYTHING ABOUT RILEY was mysterious and exciting, and Harrison could safely tell himself that he’d never met anyone quite like her. She was confusing, too, in ways that made him want to discover all of her secrets. If she was so determined to get rid of him, why tell him about her plans and her plots to get rid of Brad? That had to elicit at least a small degree of trust, even he knew that. It would have been so easy for him to foil all of her plans and simply leave, so why had she told him?

He watched her with amused fascination as she grabbed her jacket and picked up her purse. She looked so confident and stand-offish, but at the same time there was a vulnerability and light to her that drew Harrison in; he hadn’t been able to escape that draw since the first time they’d met.

“I know you probably won’t like the idea, but hear me out. I have something you’ll want to see back at my penthouse. Promise, you’ll love it. I promise.” He offered her the most charming smile that he could muster and gave his eyebrows a playful wriggle.

“If it’s sex you want, then no. Not happening. Nice try, though.” Riley gave him a stare of disdain.

“It’s not, I’m telling you. Come on, you’ve trusted me this far. What’s a few more minutes of your time? My place is on the way to yours anyway, is it not?”

“Well... yes....” She sighed and clearly fought a smile, her focus lowering to the floor. “All right, fine. But it had better be good.”

“It’ll be good.” He winked at her and offered her his arm, which she took without hesitation this time. His palm pressed briefly against the back of her hand as he descended the stairs with her, and his heart pounded in his chest. There was no denying the attraction that he felt for her, and he knew –he just knew– that she felt the same way, too; maybe that was why she was scared because it damn well terrified him, too.

“Riley Byrne? Oh my god, it’s you!” An excited woman in her early thirties strode up to them, her whole face one giant smile. “Who is this with you? Your brand new beau? Weren’t you with Brad?”

Harrison stopped when Riley did, and while he had an umpteen number of things to say to the reporter, he was more than a little curious about what Riley had planned; so he remained quiet and simply waited.

“Brad has been a thing of the past for over a year now; what happened at the fundraising event was a mistake.” She leaned into Harrison and gave him a brilliant smile. “It’s always been him.”

“The great Harrison McCoy? People are going to be envious nationwide!” The reporter flushed and took several pictures before she hurried off into the small group entering the restaurant.

“Well... that wasn’t awkward at all.” Harrison grinned, pleasantly surprised when he heard Riley laughing. This was progress indeed!

“I had high hopes for her acting skills, but I guess I misjudged...”

“Just a little.”

They both laughed again, and Harrison could barely stop himself from brushing his knuckles across her rosy cheeks; she was even more beautiful when she was embarrassed or awkward. Thankfully they were back at his car, which gave him the chance to open the door for her and let her slide inside. He held his breath for several seconds and walked around to the driver’s side, telling himself that she was just a girl. That was all she was to him, nothing more. That was all that she could be.

For much of the drive to Harrison’s penthouse, it was silent. But it wasn’t an awkward quiet, and every once in a while he noticed Riley watching him from the corner of an eye. He pretended that he didn’t notice and hid his smile, a rumbling laugh threatening to rise from his throat every time she did it. How adorable.

“Do you think the reporter followed us here?” Harrison could barely contain his amusement as he parked in the underground garage and stepped out of the car. Her low giggle finally made it safe for him to chuckle, and as he led her inside and into the elevator, it was all he could do to not run his hands and his mouth and every part of his body all over her. That elevator ride to the top floor was the most challenging he could remember, but Riley thrived on being respected and she had boundaries that he had yet to understand; he needed to play all of his cards right if he was going to get her to stick around.

Arriving at his door, he unlocked it with an electronic gadget and a thumbprint. It clicked open, and the door swung wide to reveal the main foyer and living room of the penthouse. With more than 5,000 square feet of space, it was both private and spacious, which was precisely what Harrison needed in order to feel comfortable. He was a man of taste and high class, but he enjoyed the simpler things in life, too. The modern, open feel of the place coupled with the floor to ceiling windows that let ample natural light in was something that he never took for granted.

“This place, Harrison, it’s...amazing. How do you even afford something like this?”

“Some luck and a lot of money. Now come on, I have something to show you that I think you’re going to like; don’t worry about your shoes.” He inclined his head and walked through the foyer and the living room until he got to a door. After checking to make sure she was coming, he opened it and stepped inside. His palms felt sweaty against the knob, and he could smell her faint mist of perfume when she approached closer. His arousal grew between her closeness and her smell, but he had to be careful; he didn’t want to scare her away.

Inside was a large room filled wall to wall with black lacquer shelves. And on those shelves were hundreds upon hundreds of comic books and graphic novels, all arranged by author and year, He heard Riley gasp behind him and did an internal victory dance. Barely hiding his grin, he stepped inside and turned around to face her. “So? Was it worth it, trusting me and all?”

“Um... yes! Wow... Harrison, I’m speechless. Again. This is absolutely incredible, how did you manage to get so many?”

He shrugged and flashed her a small grin. “This is what happens when you become obsessed with the things. I’ve been collecting them since I was a kid, and when I got this place I dedicated an entire room to them. Just seemed like the right thing to do. Some of them are originals, too. All of those on the east wall.” He gestured to them. “The rest of them are copies, and a few I even wrote myself.”

“Wait... you actually wrote your own comic books?”

“Yes. You sound surprised. Didn’t see me as the creative type, did you?”

“Well... no, not really.” She cleared her throat and brushed her fingers gently along the spines of several graphic novels. “I didn’t think that anyone who cared so much about money would be interested in anything else.” After a moment, Riley turned to look at him.

In that moment, when their eyes met, Harrison’s mouth went dry. His smile faltered, and he swallowed. Is it getting hot in here?

He stepped closer to her, holding his breath. “If you’re willing to give me a chance... I have a lot more surprises than just these comic books.” That was, bar none, one of the lamest pick-up lines he’d ever uttered, but it was genuinely true at the same time.

Riley looked like a doe caught in a hunter’s sights, and seconds ticked by. Time seemed to pause, and then she brushed past him and went for the patio doors that led out onto his balcony. He turned to watch her, quietly smiling because she hadn’t immediately made a run for the door; that was a good sign. After waiting nearly a minute, he slowly walked onto the balcony and stepped up next to her. His forearms pressed against the dark wooden railing, and he gazed at her. “I won’t lie to you, Riley... I find you unbelievably attractive. And since you didn’t bolt for my door and leave, I’m assuming you feel the connection, too. The chemistry. I know you do, I saw the look on your face when we were at that event. You didn’t want me to leave.”

“Or maybe I did, but was too polite to tell you otherwise.” Her voice was wooden, without passion.

“Damnit, Riley!” He grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. “I know you feel something! I’ve known it since the day we met, and I know damn well it’s not just because of my comic book collection. It can’t be my charming good looks, either, since Brad is a decent looking guy and you showed him the door. So there is something there, you can’t deny it anymore because I just know. Okay? I just know.””

The quick, startled gasp she made when he touched her almost made Harrison let her go, but he kept his grip and stared intently at her. Searching, hoping to see some kind of spark beyond the armor she kept throwing his way. “You’re right...” She looked away from him and folded her arms protectively across her belly. For many moments, Harrison didn’t think she was going to speak again, but she did: “Only Jess knows this, I haven’t told anyone else. But I had this boyfriend once, before Brad. His name was Nathan, and I swear to everything that makes this life worth living, he was the one. I gave myself to him, mind, soul, heart, all of it. And in the end, to repay me for everything I’d given to him?” She shrugged, still not looking at him. “He cheated on me multiple times. Made me feel worthless... like I was some object that he’d grown bored with and decided to throw away...”

“Riley... I get it.” His mouth flickered in a very small smile. “I’ve had...challenges of my own. A lot of them. The kind of challenges that will definitely ruin this mood, so–”

“No... tell me...” She turned to him and reached up to rest one of her hands over his, the one he’d had on her shoulder. “It’s okay, Harrison, I promise. I’ll listen.”

“Another time,” he whispered, just as he bowed his head and sealed his lips against hers. He let the kiss linger before he gradually drew back, his lungs very still, breath held as though he was waiting for something epic to happen. Or something utterly catastrophic. The only thing he could hear was the rapid thudding of his heart within his chest, as though it was trying to free itself to get to her. It was the strangest thought, but it was dominating his mind; he could think of nothing else.

Riley seemed to be in a frozen state, but her hands came up to press into his biceps, and her fingers tightened around his shirt. She sucked in a shaky breath, and Harrison was more than a little convinced that she was about to make some excuse and go. Instead, she stepped into him, slid her hands up to grip his hair, and pulled his head down to kiss him in return. “I’m going to hold you to that, Mr. McCoy. One day, when you’re ready, you’re going to tell me your secrets.”

It was his turn to gasp in surprise, but he didn’t hesitate. The soft kiss that she initiated was returned just as smoothly, just as gently, and as the moments ticked by he encouraged more depth, more passion, more intensity. All he could do was nod at her request as he heard the sounds of his own moans, hands tucking below her ears and pushing into the silken locks of her dark hair. He felt her tongue brush across his bottom lip, and he parted his mouth to invite it all the way in. He pushed his body into hers, and guided her back against the railing, pinning her between it and his hips.

“Harrison...”

“Shhh, don’t talk, Riley. Don’t talk.”

“No... Harrison... the railing is digging into my back...”

“Oh...” He swore he heard the softest of giggles, and a flush heated his cheeks. With the lowest of rumbles, he lifted her up and turned her away from the railing. Instead, he pushed her back against the glass of the sliding door and sweetly, heavily molded his mouth and tongue with hers again. Her breath against his skin was driving him wild, her smell, her body, her everything was absolute perfection. The way that her thighs squeezed around his hips, how her tongue was so demanding and so soft at the same time, the way that her face depicted how much she was enjoying this made Harrison feel as though his body was on fire; surely, before this was all over, he would be ashes in the wind because of her.

She was getting bolder the longer the kiss went on, and it encouraged him to feel beneath her shirt, his palms flush to her skin. He moaned again, the kiss torn away from him when she tilted back her head to suck in a broken breath. His mouth latched itself to her throat, sucking, tasting, and he reveled in the succulent taste of skin he had dreamed of for days. Short nails scraped into the skin of her back, and he let out a groan as her body shuddered. He pulled at her clothes, tugged, ripped at them until they came off. He could feel her doing the same, yanking and ripping, and he heard the sound of fabric giving way from the desperate force of her need.

“Riley...”

She drew in a hiss between gritted teeth and let out a half laugh. “You said no talking.”

“Shut up.”

They laughed together, and with a quick burst of strength, she pulled away from him. She giggled and rushed, naked, through the door and back into the penthouse. Harrison grinned and waited a heartbeat before he prowled inside to follow her. The sound of her footfalls was easy to follow, and he took his time; this was the kind of game that he enjoyed above all others, and he hated the notion that it could be over quickly because of his own impatience.

“Riley...” He called out to her in a sing-song voice. “Riley... there’s nowhere to hide. Just accept the inevitable and give up.”

Silence was his only response, and he hesitated before he stalked through the kitchen and into the living room as quietly as he could manage. There were no signs of her there, so he checked the guest room and then the laundry room. Still there was no Riley.

His excitement growing, he cautiously turned a corner that led to a straight stretch of hallway; the end of it was his bedroom. That was when he spotted her, almost within arm’s reach and pressed against the wall. When she saw him, she screamed in mock fright and bolted down the hall toward the only option of escape: his bedroom door.

Long strides carried him down the hallway, and he grunted in amusement when she rushed into his room and then slammed it shut in his face. He turned the knob, only to find resistance; she must have been holding it from the other side. Rather than try to negotiate with her, Harrison muscled the knob until he felt the door start to open. He heard her scream in delight, her footfalls pattering across the room toward where he knew his bed was. With a growl and a laugh, he shoved the door all the way open and charged inside, the scent of her filling his nostrils; his mouth watered from the memory of how she’d tasted.

A quick scan of his room told him that she was likely huddled under the blankets of his bed. With as much silence as he could muster, he crept to the side of his bed, paused for the barest of seconds, and then pounced on the human-shaped lump. Riley immediately writhed and laughed beneath him, her legs flailing as much as her arms until the blankets were no longer between them.

He didn’t give her a chance to escape, and instead locked his arms around her back and used his hips to pin her to the bed. He drove his hands into her hair to hold gently to her locks and keep her head against the mattress as his mouth devoured hers. She responded beautifully and rocked her hips into his own while her nails raked long, red lines down his back. Her whimpers drove him mad, and he could feel himself heating up, his body already drenched in excited sweat.

Harrison didn’t even understand what Riley was doing before it was done: one hand dragged his ass tighter to her hips while her other gripped his solid shaft and eased it into her sex. There was no time to ask about birth control or protection, her actions thrusting him into unbridled arousal and ecstasy. Being responsible seemed like such a mediocre thing in the wake of what Riley’s body was doing to him.

She gripped his face with his hands, and their kiss intensified. He could barely even breathe through flared nostrils as his hips rocked in rhythm against her own, each thrust meant to pleasure her more than him. The soft, urgent sound of Riley’s gasps and pants only drove him faster, harder, and the headboard began to bang against the wall. Her thighs clenched his hips with almost enough power to cause pain, and he felt the heels of her feet as they dug against the small of his back. She met each and every thrust without a single falter, and in a last minute effort to help her orgasm, he reached between their sweat-slicked bodies to rub the pads of his fingers across her clit.

“Oh, gods... gods... oh my...god!” She jerked her head back and broke away from their kiss, and her back arched off the bed. Her feminine walls clenched and clutched and massaged his member again and again with sensations that threatened to cripple him with ecstasy. With every ‘oh god’ that she shouted, he moaned and hissed and bared his teeth. Soon, the only sounds were the erotic slaps of their bodies each time they met, along with the sounds of their breathing and every noise that went with it.

Riley came just before he did, and she screamed so loud that his ears popped. He cried out with her, rapidly losing control of his thrusts. His hips rocked and bucked wildly, and within moments their juices were mixing together to honor their carnal reunion.

“Harrison... Harrison... Christ... oh my god...” Riley buried her face into the crook of his neck and held onto him with both arms and legs.

“I’m here,” he panted. “Right here...” Purring, moaning, he kissed her mouth, her cheeks, her forehead, everywhere he could touch with his lips. His hips still quivered, the afterglow of such passionate sex making him feel comfortably warm.

There was no telling how much time passed before he felt Riley shift beneath him. He kissed her lazily and rolled onto his side, his eyes closed. When he felt her shift away from him and slide off the bed, though, he opened his eyes and sat up. “Hey... you all right?”

“I’m fine.” She didn’t look at him as she turned away and padded out of the room. He swore, though, that he heard her whisper something along the lines of, “this is insane, what am I even doing?”

Harrison felt only confusion, especially when he heard Riley getting dressed. He got up and followed her, only to find her pulling on her shoes and heading for the door. “Riley?”

“I have to go, Harrison; this can’t happen again. Not ever.”

“Riley!” His voice took on a harsher tone than he’d intended, but it did stop her from rushing out the door. “Stop. We just had amazing sex, and now you’re just going to get up and leave? What’s going on? I deserve at least some explanation.”

While he had no idea what was going through her mind, he swore he could also see her processing her options. Seconds later, her shoulders slumped, and she leaned back against the door frame. “Harrison, I’m scared. I feel like I’ve known you all my life, and I don’t know... I’m just... it freaks me out. I don’t feel this way about other people, not ever. And suddenly here you are, and every time I see you or hear your voice, the only thing I can think about is how badly I don’t want you to leave. I know it makes no sense, but-“

“No, it does. It makes perfect sense. I get it.” He smiled at her, trying to be reassuring. “Sometimes life smashes us with a wrecking ball, and we’re left reeling for months, years, decades. Our whole lives. So know, Riley, that if you ever need to talk about anything, I’ll listen. Because I’m scared, too, this freaks me out as much as I think it frightens you, but we’re in this together. And I really...” He paused and took a step closer to her. “I really want to get to know you more. Not the things you tell just anyone, but... everything else, all of it. You just have to let me.”

He could hear her hard swallow, and all he wanted to do was wrap his arms around her and clutch her close. He wanted to ignore her very obvious desire for space and protect her, now more than ever. Her admission of fear sparked something inside of him, and even though he didn’t know what she had gone through, he did understand how ugly and how painful old scars could be.

“I will... I promise, I will. But right now...” She rubbed hands down her face. “I really just need to go. I need some space to think, okay?”

“Okay.” He said the word almost too softly to hear and watched her as she quietly backed out of his home and vanished down the hall.