Chapter Twenty
Madison
If the day could go any slower the hours would be going backward instead of forward. I’ve never been this bored at work before. There’s usually a lot to do, but this week has been halted to a dead stop because of the bad weather. I grab my calendar out of the drawer to check the schedule for next week and thankfully we have quite a few clients and deliveries to keep Tyler and I busy. I just have to wait out the rest of the week until then. I place my elbow on the desk and rest my chin on my palm as I spin the pen to my right around and around and…around. That quickly gets boring, so I click the pen open and make circles on the pad in front of me. I make circle after circle, the tip of the pen going around and around and…
“Why does the love of my life look so sad?”
I lift my head. Ryder is leaning against the doorjamb, arms crossed and looking delectable enough to eat. I swipe my tongue over my bottom lip remembering the salty taste of him on my tongue. A smile makes its way to my face as I stand to greet him. “What are you doing here?” I say, squeezing him into a tight embrace.
He reciprocates the gesture, placing a soft kiss on my forehead. “Now there’s that beautiful smile I love seeing so much.”
“Why aren’t you at work?”
“I took the rest of the day off.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“What’s with the third degree? Can’t I take some extra time out of my day to spend time with my girl?”
“Of course you can, but that’s not why you’re here. You never take time off work unless it’s absolutely necessary.” A bit of panic begins to settle in my stomach because what I said is true. Maybe someone in his family was sick? Maybe something happened to the boys at school? I did add Ryder as an emergency contact if the office couldn’t get in touch with me or Tyler. No, it couldn’t be the boys, Ryder would have called me right away. Which brings me back to my original idea. “Is everything okay? Is your mom sick again?”
He chuckles. “No.”
“What’s so funny?”
He kisses the tip of my nose. “Nothing, it just amazes me how lucky I am to have such a caring, amazing woman in my life.”
“Well, then why are you here?”
“Why are you so suspicious?”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Ryder.”
“Fine, I wanted to show you something.”
I roll my eyes, exhaling an exasperated breath. “Ryder, you cannot do that here.” He grabs my elbow as I walk away.
He laughs. “No, I don’t mean that. But, now that you mention it, I do have plenty of time to...”
“Ryder!”
“Okay okay. Seriously though, I do want to show you something. Can you go on your lunch break now?”
“Sure. Things are pretty slow today. Let me tell Tyler I’m leaving.”
Twenty minutes later we pull up to a beautiful two-story home surrounded by huge evergreen trees lightly dusted with snow. The picturesque scene looks like something straight out of a magazine. He walks around to my side of the car and opens the door for me. I follow him up the few steps to the porch and he jostles a set of keys in his hand. He sticks the only silver key in the lock and pushes the door open. Stepping to the side, he allows me to enter ahead of him and closes the door. I look around the open floor plan of the house, admiring the warm beige tone of the walls, vaulted ceilings, and modern light fixture hanging above the rustic wood table in the dining area. There isn’t much furniture, in fact, there isn’t any furniture on the first floor except that table. “Ryder, why are we here? Whose house is this?”
“It’s mine. Escrow closed the other day.”
I throw my arms around his neck, squeezing him hard. “Ryder this is amazing. I’m so happy for you!”
“You like it?”
“I think it's beautiful.”
He bows his head, looking at the floor. “I know it isn’t much, but…”
“It’s yours.”
He smiles. “Yeah.”
I know how much this house means to him. He’s told me he always wanted to have a home of his own. I just had no idea he’d made an offer or was even looking right now. “Well, show me around.”
“There’s really nothing to show yet. I still have to buy more furniture because the stuff I have in my small apartment downtown doesn’t really fit here; and it wouldn’t be enough to fill the rooms anyway. The only piece of furniture is that table over there and that framed painting on the wall next to it.”
I crane my neck to see the painting, but it isn’t visible from this angle. “What painting?”
He takes my hand, leading me over to the table. When I get closer, my breath catches in my throat when I see the painting on the far-right wall. I don’t know what it is about this one, but it has always been special in my eyes. The abstract artwork appealed to me from the very start. The large brushstrokes in various shades of red, yellow, and black is the perfect background for the couple embracing. The male figure is painted all in black with his arm wrapped around the woman painted in white. Her flowing blonde hair covers her bare back and her long, silky, pale yellow skirt hangs low on her hips. Neither of them have faces, but the love they feel for each other is obvious. “Ryder, it’s…”
“Your favorite painting.”
“How did you know? I never told you it was.” Then I realize there is only one way he’d know that information without me telling him. “Tyler?”
“Yep.”
Closing the distance between us, he wraps his arms around my waist from behind and brushes his lips across my nape. “I know it’s only a print, but I wanted you to feel comfortable here. I wish I had enough money to buy you the real one hanging in the museum.”
I turn in his arms, combing my fingers through his soft brown hair. “Ryder, you never have to buy me extravagant gifts. Ever. That’s not why I fell in love with you. I fell in love with your heart.” I bring my hand to my face and tap my chin with my finger. “Hmm. Or maybe it was that perfect pierced dick of yours.”
His pupils dilate until the steel gray of his eyes becomes barely visible and the heat radiating off him is burning hotter than a five-alarm fire. He walks me backward until my ass hits the edge of the table. “Damn Peaches. You know I like it when that pretty mouth of yours says the dirtiest things.”
A pool of liquid heat forms between my thighs. Knowing I can turn him on so easily gets me worked up in the best way. My heart races, my breathing coming in short bursts as I try to suck in enough oxygen to fill my lungs. He grabs me by the waist and turns me around, his erection now digging into the small of my back. Taking my wrists in his hands, he leans forward, placing my palms flat on the wood table and bites my shoulder. “I want you so bad. I’m gonna fuck you so hard.”
I gently push back, straightening us and tilt my head to the side. “Ryder?”
“Yeah?”
“I went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago and…”
“Is something wrong? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I…”
“You what?”
“I went to the doctor to get a prescription for birth control.”
“And?” He gives me a confusing look, a deep V forming between his brows. It takes him a few seconds to realize what I’m trying to tell him. A coy smile crosses his lips as he frames my face in his hands. His voice goes low and deep. “Is that your way of asking me to give it to you raw Peaches?”
I avert my gaze, feeling embarrassed that I said anything in the first place. I mean yeah, it’s something he should know, but maybe now wasn’t the right time to be having this discussion. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t…”
Without warning, he slams his mouth to mine, sucking my bottom lip between his teeth. He pulls back slowly. “There’s nothing I want more than to be buried deep inside you with no barrier between us.’” He kisses the tip of my nose and brushes a loose curl away from my face. “I’ve never been with anyone that way before Madison. If you’re worried about...I mean I’m clean...I’ve been tested...”
I touch my fingers to his lips. “So am I. I haven’t been with anyone since I got pregnant with Caleb and I kind of had no choice but to get tested myself because of Mitch.”
“Well, what are we waiting for? We’re standing here wasting precious time. Time that I could be spending driving my perfect pierced dick in and out of that sweet pussy of yours.”
I settle my hands back on the table and slightly spread my legs apart, swaying my ass to entice him further. “It looks like you're the one wasting time.”
The sound of him unfastening his belt buckle echoes in the room, making my belly flutter with anticipation. His hands wind around my waist, inching his way up my stomach to cup my breasts through my shirt and bra. I reach for the hem of my shirt to take it off, but he grabs my wrists and holds me in place, keeping me bent over the table.
“No time. I need to have you now.”
I peer over my shoulder and see he hasn’t removed his shirt or pulled down his pants, they’re hanging low on his hips with the front open, his erection on full display. He strokes himself and presses his hand between my shoulder blades, pushing me down onto the table. I rest my cheek on the cool wood as it scorches my heated skin and wait for his thick cock to enter me. He fists the fabric of my shirt, digging his knuckles into my skin and leans into me. “You may want to hold on to something.”
“There’s nothing to...” With one quick, hard thrust he pushes inside me, propelling us and the table forward. The heavy piece of furniture scoots across the floor and Ryder holds me by the waist to steady me.
Squeezing the curves at my hips, he chuckles. “I told you to hold on.”
I laugh. “What was I supposed to hold on to?”
Jeans hanging half off his ass, exposing his toned right cheek, he pushes the table against the wall. “There. Now get over here.”
I take my position back at table and he lifts his pants with one hand as he guides his hard shaft to my warm entrance. This time he pushes into me slow. Inch by inch, he stretches my tight walls, filling me until he’s fully seated. He pulls out halfway and slowly glides back in, rubbing the piercing over the spot that always has me coming way before I’m ready to. Only now the sensation has been amplified a million times over because he isn’t wearing a condom. “Ah. Ryder.”