RYDER
My entourage, minus Chandler and KeeMac, finally made it back to the hotel with bodyguards and a few extra women in tow. Joel didn’t disappoint when it came to claiming his perfect woman. I stepped out turning to help a quiet G’Anna. Her silence lasted through the party, and she stayed pinned to my side listening as I made my way around the room visiting with the crowd. These parties were necessary because we had nothing without our fans who won contests and the sponsors who conducted them. We learned long ago to happily endure them.
When the elevator doors shut, I wrapped her in my arms and pulled her flush against me. Sparks of lust shot through me as I ignored the rest of the elevator passengers. Family understood me, and maybe they knew my fierce need to share, the excitement with someone after all this time.
I never considered she might not like the idea of others knowing we were seeing each other. Maybe that’s why she shut down tonight. I supposed I should’ve discussed it before I latched on to her at the party. Knowing all the reporters who stood around drinking our booze like I did, they took pictures on the sly. The two of us might be top billing on their media feeds before they sped off to the next party.
“You okay?” I whispered in her ear and then nuzzled her neck.
A soft noise of pleasure responded before she swallowed. My lips moved back to her ear, and I ran my tongue up the rim from top to bottom before taking the petite lobe between my teeth for a tug to the edge. Her body responded with a shudder that I felt run down the length of her torso pinned against me. Definitely one of her pleasure points. I needed to remember that.
She lifted to my ear, whispering, “People are all around us.”
A smile formed on my lips as I continued assaulting her senses with delicate kisses under her ear and down her neck until I reached the curve. Here, I bit and dropped soothing kisses.
“Ding, ding.” The chime for our floor sounded causing us to move apart.
“I should go to my room tonight.”
“This is your room, sugar. Your stuff’s already moved, remember?” I pulled the keycard from my billfold. “We should have gotten you a key of your own, but since we’re leaving it the morning, guess you don’t need one.”
As the door opened, I turned back to her. “Do you not want to stay here?” If she said no, I started preparing the reasons why she should change her mind. I held it open so she could walk in first. She looked at it and then moved through the entrance. Thank God.
“What I don’t want to do is impose. Chandler said this was your family time, and with me here… I might be in the way.” Her face dropped as she finished her comment.
“I promise you this, the two of them will be in their room, doing, uh… well, you know what they’ll be doing. We won’t see them until morning, and if I hear them, I’ll make them get their own room at the next stop.” I hoped my lighthearted comment removed her apprehension from staying in our suite. I wanted her here, but maybe she didn’t understand the hints I’d dropped all evening. Certainly, she felt it on the ride up.
She turned and pierced me with warmth from those deep brown eyes. “The real question is, do you want me here? I mean, you’re not simply trying to be nice to include me in the lavish rooms you share?”
“Lavish rooms, huh?” I stepped into her and pulled her into my arms. “I’d want to share the No-Tell Motel with you right now.” I dropped my lips to hers and kissed her hard. Our lips, teeth, and tongues tangled for control. My arms tightened around her, and my hands slid down to her fine-for- squeezing ass.
With a cheek in each hand, I ground her against my growing length and a deep moan worked its way up her throat and into my mouth setting off another round of plumping and grinding. Breaking away from her lips, I bit down on the opposite neck from before. Nips and licks that might have left marks ran from below her ear to her collarbone. Her head lolled back allowing me better access to the tender skin of her throat, and I assaulted it with equal passion back up to her swollen red lips.
Sucking her lower lip into my mouth, I ran my tongue across the soft flesh. Damn, this woman started a fire inside me that wasn’t going away anytime soon, until the door swung back hard enough to crash into the wall behind it. We broke apart in time to see Chandler’s legs wrapped around the tall body of her lover’s as he slammed her into the wall and kicked the door closed. He ground against her, and I felt sure it would have been actual sex if clothes didn’t block the way.
“Uh-hmm,” I let out. “Go to your fucking room for that, please.”
Chandler dropped her legs from his waist, and he stood her on her feet. “Oh, sorry, Ryder. We didn’t know you were still awake.” If circumstances of our lives had been different, this would have been a great father-daughter moment, one we could laugh at later on in life. Since we were still in an infant stage, my reaction to their lust for each other still bothered me.
“You have a room. We’d appreciate it if you’d use it.” Trying not to sound like a total buzzkill for them, I added, “Or we can go to another room if y’all need us to.”
“No, not necessary.” Chandler took KeeMac’s hand and dragged him to their room shutting the door but not before we heard his loud laughter and “busted.”
G’Anna looked at me. “Was he talking about them or us?” And she started laughing, too.
“Dammit, this whole dad thing can be annoying at times.” I smiled at her because we both knew I loved every minute of having my daughter with me.
“Don’t suppose you want to make our way into my room and pick up where we left off, do you?” My eyebrow cocked up as I asked.
“You know what? I’m kinda tired, and we do have to get up early in the morning.” Knowing my face held disappointment, she added, “Maybe we should save it for another time.”
I sucked in a deep breath and let it out. “I guess you’re right, but I am going to hold you to ‘another time.’” I walked over to the door where her luggage waited inside and opened it. “Goodnight, sugar.” I bent and gave her an easy kiss. Fuck, I wanted more.
She slid through the doorway and turned grabbing the side of the door. “Goodnight, Ryder Steel.”
I stood looking at the white panel separating me from what I wanted. In another time, I would have kicked that son of a bitch down and taken what I wanted, but now, I’m a different man. Hell, I’ve been a different man for a long time. Women didn’t affect me this way anymore, so what changed when G’Anna walked onto this scene?
Walking to the bedroom that held my empty bed, my head needed to wrap around this situation. Did I want her in my bed because it was easy? No, nothing about her would be easy. No, instinct told me the beautiful woman behind the wall came into my life for more than easy. The real question that plagued me now was, am I ready for her?