Taiya
“What are you reading?” Ryan asks, sitting down next to me on the couch.
I lower my book to peek at him. “A romance book.”
His eyebrows almost hit his hairline. “Is it porn… I mean erotica?”
I roll my eyes at him. “It does have sex in it, yes.”
He grins. “Want to re-enact one of the scenes?”
I bite my bottom lip, getting a little aroused at the thought.
“You liked that idea, didn’t you? Hmmm,” he says, leaning forward and kissing me on my mouth.
“Am I like the heroes in your books?”
I laugh. “You wish.”
“You’re right. I’m way better,” he says, smiling lazily.
I shake my head at his huge ego. “You need to get over yourself. Besides, the hero in this book couldn’t even get it up for another woman when the love of his life left him. You definitely didn’t have that problem.”
Silence, then, “So his woman left then he couldn’t even get it up for another woman?”
“Yep.”
“I’m a man, beautiful,” is his reply. “Perhaps he should see a doctor if he can’t get it up.”
“It’s romantic,” I scowl at him.
“It’s romantic that he can’t get a boner?”
“For anyone besides her, yes.”
He sighs, and pulls me onto his lap. “Is this really in the book or is this just a dig at me?”
My body starts shaking in silent laughter. “Did you really just say that?”
I flip back a few pages in the book and find the paragraph, then show it to him. He reads it quickly, frowning.
“I can’t believe you thought I made it up,” I mutter, closing the book.
He places a kiss on the back of my neck. “Apparently, I know nothing of romance books.”
“That’s okay. I love you anyway,” I say, leaning back into him. “I can’t remember the last time we both had a day off and just did nothing.”
“I wouldn’t say we are going to be doing nothing,” he says, reaching his hand down to cup my breast. “I don’t think I will ever get enough of you.”
The man is seriously insatiable. Not that I’m complaining. I suck in a breath when he turns my body, lowers his head and gently bites down on my breast through the soft cotton of my white dress. I watch as he then moves to my mouth, giving me a kiss that makes my panties wet. I tangle my hands in his hair, pulling on the ends, silently demanding for more. I straddle his lap, grinding myself into him, letting him know I mean business.
“Insatiable girl,” he mumbles, voicing my earlier thoughts about him. I grin against his mouth in reply, and resume kissing him with everything I have. My hands soon start to wander, running up his six pack of abs, feeling each sculptured curve. I end the kiss, moving my hands to pull his T-shirt off and throwing it behind me. I sink my teeth into my lip as I take him in. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of seeing him. Eye-fucking candy. And he’s all mine.
“Did you just mumble ‘mine’?” he asks, looking a mixture between turned on and amused. His lids are heavy, but there is a slight smirk playing on his lips.
“Did I?” I ask breathlessly, my eyes roaming down his body.
“Yes, you did, and I’m pretty sure that’s my line,” he says, running his large hands up my thighs, reaching for the hem of my dress and lifting it up over my head. The dress gets caught in my mass of curls, so I reach up and help him get it off. “Beautiful,” he breathes, running his thumb over my lace bra. I lick my lips as he swipes my nipple through the material. Impatient, I lean back and unclasp my bra, letting it fall, sliding the straps off my arms and throwing it on the floor. Ryan is sitting there in nothing but his jeans, and I’m straddling him in nothing but a pair of tiny silk leopard-print panties. I imagine we make quite the picture. I place my hands on his chest, my darker skin contrasting against his fair. I trail my hands down to undo his top button, trying to pull his jeans down with no luck.
“I need them off!” I growl. “Why do you have to wear such tight jeans?” I complain.
Ryan blesses me with a deep chuckle, lifting his hips up and helping me pull his jeans down to his thighs. I can see his cock straining through his boxers, and I grin pulling those down as well.
“There you are,” I mumble, lowering my body onto the floor so I’m on my knees before him. I lick my lips and look up at him.
Then I rock his world.
*****
“Here’s your drink, thank you,” I tell the man, sliding over his scotch. I don’t know how I ended up working at the bar tonight, when I have no idea what the hell I’m doing. Jade is sick, Tag is off today and has gone away with his little girl, and Summer and Reid are on the other side of town spending some time with Sephie. That leaves Ryan and me at the bar. And it’s a disaster. I’m so lucky to have someone as patient as Ryan as my husband, considering I’ve only been here two hours and already have dropped a glass and made two wrong drinks. I turn to look at him, charming a group of people and making five drinks quicker than I make one. Yeah, I think I’ll definitely stick to dancing.
“You okay?” Ryan mouths, and I nod and force a smile, turning to serve the next person in line. She orders a cocktail I’ve never heard of, so I quickly look down at the laminated chart Ryan gave me to use, showing me what to put in each drink.
An hour later, the bar has died down and I smile when I see a familiar face.
“Hello stranger,” he says, and I instantly feel bad that we haven’t spent any time together since Ryan and I got back together, apart from one family dinner.
“Hey Scott, how are you?” I ask, leaning across the bar to give him a peck on the cheek.
“Good, how are you? I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” he says, drumming his fingers on the bar table.
I wince. “I know. I’m sorry. What are you doing tomorrow?” Ryan is just going to have to suck it up, because I don’t want to be the person that ditches her friends the minute she gets into a serious relationship. Marriage. Whatever. Scott was there for me when I was heartbroken and I’ll never forget that.
“I have work all day tomorrow, but I’m free on Wednesday,” he says, smiling welcomingly.
“Shame, you’re busy Wednesday night, Tay,” comes a smooth deep voice from behind me.
I turn and frown. “Busy doing what?” I have two dance classes and that’s about it.
“Busy fucking me,” he says in a serious tone. I look at him, blink twice. Open my mouth, then snap it shut. I swear I thought I just heard him say…
“Did you just say…?”
“Yes,” he says, before I can finish my sentence.
I tighten my lips and narrow my eyes. “Don’t be rude,” I whisper-shout, then turn back to Scott, whose wide-eyes are solely on Ryan. “Sorry,” I mouth, trying to smile a little to make the situation less awkward. Which it doesn’t, at all. I clear my throat and then continue. “Wednesday works fine.”
“You’re not going out with him, Tay,” Ryan says, his tone final.
I bite the inside of my cheek. “Since when do you control my life?”
“Since you’re trying to spend the day alone with a man who clearly wants in your pants,” he says, his eyes still on Scott, who looks like he wants to be anywhere but here right now. And I don’t blame him. Even I want to be anywhere but here. I turn my back to Ryan, hoping he gets the point. Of course, being Ryan he doesn’t, and decides to move in closer, getting in my personal space.
“I don’t want you going somewhere alone with him,” he says, his voice softer now. He must have noticed I was pissed off and is trying a different approach. Smart man.
I give Scott a drink on the house and he goes back to the table with his friends. I really don’t like being spoken to like that in public. If Ryan had his concerns, he should have pulled me aside and spoken to me quietly, not pee all over me in front of anyone within earshot. I serve another three people and I feel his gaze on me the entire time, but I don’t look at him. I just try and pretend he’s not there, which is pretty hard. It’s extremely difficult to ignore a tall, muscled, sexy man, standing there, watching your every move.
“How long are you going to give me the silent treatment?” he asks, standing directly behind me and gripping my waist gently.
I drop the tea towel in my hand and sigh. “And this is why husbands and wives shouldn’t work together.”
He kisses the top of my head, and turns me around to face him. “I was jealous,” he admits. I lift my gaze to him, surprised by his admission.
“Jealous?” I repeat softly, wanting more of an explanation.
“I know you two are just friends, but… he knows you. He knows you well, and I don’t like that. I want you to be only that close with me,” he says, pursing his lips.
“He’s just a friend, Ryan.”
He rubs the back off his neck. “A friend who you were around while we were separated. I don’t know. I’m not good at explaining things. I just don’t like it. I know he has feelings for you; trust me I know. You can deny it all you want, and fuck, I don’t blame him because you’re amazing. But, you’re mine, and I don’t want him even thinking he has a chance.”
“Ryan--”
“And how would you feel if I was hanging around with a female friend?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.
I puff out a breath, not liking that one bit.
“My point exactly,” he says, looking smug.
I suck in my cheeks. “He doesn’t want me. He knows that we’re only friends. Do you really want me to be the type of person that just ditches all the people that were there for her when my heart was broken?”
“At least I fixed it,” he mutters under his breath, looking down.
“I didn’t say that to make you feel bad. I was just trying to get you to understand.”
“I know,” he says, placing his hand on my back. He’s about to say something else when more customers walk up to the bar, wanting drinks. “To be continued later.”
“Okay,” I say, sighing and looking over at Scott who has his eyes on me, a frown marring his expression. Great, he probably thinks Ryan’s controlling me and I’m some weak woman who lets him walk all over me. I stock up the fridge, and tidy everything up as much as I can. I’m collecting empty bottles from one of the tables when Scott walks up to me and pulls something off my back.
“What’s that?” I ask, looking at the piece of paper in his hand. He raises an eyebrow and hands it over to me. The paper reads, ‘property of Ryan’ and he’s stuck it onto my back with a piece of sticky tape, like one would a ‘kick me’ sign. I scrunch the paper up, not knowing whether to laugh or yell. I catch Ryan’s gaze and he gives me a boyish grin and a wink. I shake my head at him, and throw the ball of paper, aiming for his head. He ducks, his shoulders shaking with laughter.
“I’m heading out,” Scott says from next to me. I turn to him, and give him a chaste kiss on his cheek.
“Nice seeing you, Scott. I’ll message you about catching up, okay?”
He smiles and nods, waving once before leaving with his friends. I pick up another empty beer bottle and walk towards the recycling bin, putting them in. Everyone in the bar starts to clear out, and I for one am grateful.
“What time do we close?” I ask him as I approach.
“In about ten minutes. Are you okay?” he asks, taking me into his arms. “You look tired.”
I hide my face into his chest. “I’m fine. A little hungry.”
“Better go feed my woman then… hmmm,” he rumbles, squeezing me tighter. “I’ll quickly close up and then we can go and get something.”
“What do you want me to do?” I ask, looking around.
“The place is sparkling; you’ve done enough. Why don’t you sit down and I’ll make you a drink?” he says, lifting me in his arms. He gropes my ass a little before placing me down on the seat.
“Perve!” I tease, sticking my tongue out.
He stares at my tongue. “Don’t give me any ideas.”
“Like I’d need to!” Let’s just say Ryan can be very… creative.
“True,” he says, smirking.
“And no thanks on the drink. I’ll grab something when we head out.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I’m not really thirsty. I’m sure I will be later though,” I say, my tone making an innocent sentence sound extremely dirty.
His lips curve into a panty-dropping smile, and I watch as he goes about his business, closing up and emptying the cash register. About fifteen minutes passes before he walks back over and lifts me off the stool.
“Let’s go feed my girl.”