I clutched my bag in my lap as we rode through the streets of the city. Buildings were passing us by at a fluid pace and I wondered where it was Ryder lived. Every time I thought we were slowly down to turn into an apartment complex, we rode past it. Every time I thought we were turning into a driveway, we smoothed by it. My leg was jiggling with nerves as my eyes took in the way the city fell behind us, and soon it was nothing but trees and rolling hills.

“Where do you live exactly?” I asked.

“In a house,” Ryder said.

“Where?” I asked.

“We’re about five minutes out. Trust me, the ride’s almost over.”

I nodded and settled into the chair as the world passed me by.

I felt us turn and go over a bump. I whipped my head up from my chest and watched as a wrought iron gate opened in front of us. I furrowed my brow deeply as we wound up the driveway towards a massive brick and stone house.

I gawked at its sheer size.

The house was beautiful. Two stories of sprawling estate with what looked like an in-law quarters out back. Ryder pulled us up to a four-car garage and opened it up, revealing the three other beautiful cars he had in there. I had no idea what kind they were, but they were painted all sorts of colors. One was yellow and the other was a deep cherry red. The one on the far end was navy with chrome accents and the one we were riding in was completely blacked out.

We inched into the garage before he shut down the car.

“Let’s get you inside,” he said.

I followed him up the stone walkway and he unlocked his front door. We walked into the foyer of his house and I let loose a breathless giggle. The floors underneath our feet were marble and the two staircases leading up to the second floor shone brightly against the light from the crystal chandelier above our heads. I tilted my head back and took in the very high-vaulted ceilings as I slung my bag over my shoulder.

Straight though between the two staircases was a fireplace. Stacked with wood and waiting to be lit as chairs sat on either side of it. To my right was a library. Filled with shelves of books and comfortable couches that beckoned for me to sit in them. And to my left was the entryway into the kitchen.

I could see the stainless steel appliances and beautiful dark granite countertops.

I was shocked. Stunned to my very core. I was scared to walk across the floors, afraid I would dirty or sully them in some way. Ryder shut the door behind us and began punching something into a keypad. It beeped and sang out, then started rattling off all the things in the house that were armed.

Windows armed.

Front door armed.

Back door armed.

Basement armed.

Bedrooms armed.

“The bedrooms are armed?” I asked. “Wait, there’s another floor to this thing?”

“Each door and window in the house has a sensor. If the alarm is set, it not only notifies the authorities if someone doesn’t input a passcode, it records all the doors and windows opened and vandalized in a period of one hour. And yes, the house has a basement.

“What’s in the basement?” I asked.

“Another apartment-like set up. A room. A bed. A couch with a television. A bathroom. Things like that.”

“And you live here.”

“I do.”

“I thought you were a security guy,” I said.

“I own the company, remember?” he asked.

“Yeah. Right.”

I took my first step into the foyer and my footsteps echoed off the walls. It was beautiful. Definitely not the type of home I saw Ryder living in someday. Not that I’d envisioned him living somewhere or anything. But given the kind of man he was, the house almost didn’t suit him.

“Why are you doing all this?” I asked.

“To keep you safe.”

“No, no, no. All of this. Everything. The footwork it takes to protect a client. If you own the company and can afford something like this, why run around and do all the grunt work?”

“Grunt work?”

I turned around and saw him grinning at me.

“Yeah. I’m sure you have an office somewhere. Why aren’t one of the guys from my apartment looking after me?”

“Honestly?” he asked.

“I’d appreciate it.”

“I wanted to protect you personally.’

“What do you mean?”

I watched Ryder take a step towards me and reach out for my bag. He took it from me and slung it around his shoulder, removing the burden from my body. He towered over me. An endless tale of strength and muscle as my eyes met his. I could feel his heat radiating against my body. I could see his eyes darting down to my lips. I felt my body come alive in his presence, and I curled my toes into the floor to root me.

To keep me from falling into his body.

“When Brendan called me and said your name, I knew I wouldn’t pass this off to anyone else. I knew it had to be me. I wouldn’t have trusted anyone else with it.”

“Why not?” I asked breathlessly.

He took a step closer to me, closing the distance between us. My hands flew up in an automatic response, ready to defend myself. But instead of having to fight, I pressed the palms of my hands into his strong chest. I felt the divots of his muscles. The lines of his etched form. I felt his heart beating underneath the tips of my fingers as my bag fell from his grasp.

“Because I wanted to make sure the job was done to the best of its ability. Seen through until the very end, no matter what it took.”

His words hung heavily in my ear as I tilted my gaze up to his.

That was the sweetest thing anyone had said to me in a very long time.

Ryder’s hand cupped my cheek and I nuzzled into his palm. His hand slid to the back of my head, cradling it as I looked into his dark, brooding stare. His lips came closer and I could feel his breath upon my lips. Pulsing against me. Warming me as I fisted his shirt.

I drew him closer to me and our lips connected, his tongue sliding along my skin. I opened myself to him. To the familiarity of his touch and the taste of his skin. We collided. Our bodies careening at top speeds as he backed me further into his home. His free hand rushed down my back, grasping my ass and hoisting me against his body.

He walked us all the way back into his house before pressing me against the wall. Our teeth clattered together as his hand flipped something on the wall. The fireplace roared to life and I gasped, looking over at the flame as my brow furrowed.

“It’s electric?” I asked.

“Looks real, doesn’t it?”

“It really does.”

His lips fell to my neck as my hands ran along his shoulders. Massaging his thick muscles and feeling his girth grow against my body. I wrapped my legs around him and he pulled me from the wall, then fell to the floor and pressed me into the rug next to the fire. His lips were everywhere. My neck. My chest. My breasts as he pulled them from my bra. Our hands stripped each other down, casting clothes along chairs and laying them next to us on the floor.

I arched my naked body into him, feeling his leaking cock dripping along my thigh.

His touch hadn’t changed. Still rough and commanding, but with an essence of softness. He ran along my form and grabbed at the dip in my waist. My legs parted for him, allowing his thick thighs to fall between my legs. I felt my pussy lips capture the tip of his cock as he slid it along my folds. Coating himself in my arousal.

“Should we get something?” Ryder asked. “Do we need protection?”

“No,” I said breathlessly. “I’m protected. The pill. It’s okay.”

I dug my fingertips into the swell of his back as he pressed into my body. I felt him stretch me with every inch my pussy swallowed down. I legs grew tight and I gasped in shock.

I lost myself in his world of euphoria.

Our bodies rolled together as sweat dripped down my face. My hands tangled in his hair as my heels planted into the soft rug. I met him with every thrust he dealt. Every slap of skin against mine and every time his balls hit my ass. I clung to him. Buried my face into the crook of his neck as electricity coursed through my veins.

I needed this. Wanted this with someone I could trust. For years, I’d faked my orgasms. Wished for a man to get off me. And now, I couldn't get one close enough. I couldn’t get him close enough.

Ryder.

The man who broke my heart.

The man who set the standard for all men to fail in my life.

Our lips collided and our teeth clattered as my pussy milked his cock. I felt his hips stuttering as he pounded into my body. I rolled into him. I wrapped my arms around his neck. I felt his tongue rake across the roof of my mouth, sending shivers down my spine. I shook against him as he held himself above me. Hovering with his predatory stare as his body shielded me from the harshness of the world. My head fell back to the rug and my back arched. His trimmed curls tickled my clit, throwing me into a frenzy. The room began to spin and my toes began to curl. Fire shot up my back and blinded me with a searing heat. My jaw unhinged and I could feel his lips wrapping around my nipples.

Sucking my engorged peaks.

Pressing every button he’d memorized in high school.

I unraveled beneath him. Coated with the heat of the fire and the strength of his body. I raked my hands along his shoulder, down his arms, along his chest. His hands found mine and he pinned them above my head, dropping down to me and losing himself in my wetness. I could feel my arousal trickling down my ass while his cock pumped me full. Thread after thread of heated arousal filling my body until it had nowhere else to go. Shooting out with each pump until Ryder was breathless with exertion.

His face fell into the crook of my neck and I accepted his body, wrapping my arms around him and pulling him closer. Deeper.

With his cock still buried in my body.

The flames crackled from the fire as I caught my breath. My head was spinning with desire as I shook against him. It had been years since I’d felt that good. Since I’d felt cherished and beautiful in the arms of another man.

I kissed Ryder’s neck as he slid out from between my legs.

He rolled off the the side and held me in the light of the fire. We laid there, the scent of our bodies swirling around us as the sun began to set. His arm slipped around my waist, pulling me close to his body.

And for the first time in years, I fell asleep without feeling afraid.