Chapter Two
Ryker knew the stories. He’d heard similar tales often in his childhood, passed down from previous generations. His mother had always told him that one day he would meet a woman he couldn’t walk away from. When he’d asked how she could know such a thing, how he would know if it ever happened, she’d merely said that he’d know.
Damned if his mother hadn’t been right.
All he’d wanted was a drink when he’d made his way up to the bar. The scent of the attractive, respectfully-dressed woman sitting front and center had barely reached his nose over the usual stench that accumulated in a biker bar at night. But the moment it did, the moment he processed that amazingly alluring smell, he’d froze. Right up until she’d turned around and damned near kneed his suddenly straining erection.
At first Ryker told himself it’d just been too long since he’d bedded a woman. Especially a woman with real curves. He tried convincing himself he simply needed a good lay and he’d forget all about this luscious female he was practically fucking drooling over. But by the time he’d escorted her to the table he usually claimed when he drank here, there was no denying it. Never in his long life had he wanted a woman so powerfully.
All he really knew about her, aside from her destiny, was her first name. He needed to take the time to learn more.
It was hard to focus, though, when his instincts begged him to pull her into his lap and bury his aching cock inside her. Public, clothes, and decency be damned.
Doing his best to keep his focus away from that temptation, Ryker refrained from draping his arm around Willa’s shoulders and leaned into the wall for easier conversation. “You don’t strike me as the kind of woman who spends a lot of time in dives like this.”
Willa wrapped both hands around her glass, the siren-red nail polish reflecting off the fluorescent lighting overhead. He could hear her heart racing and he watched her chest rise with a deep breath. “To be honest,” she said, her voice wavering for the first few syllables, “this is my first time here.”
Ryker smirked. Lucky me. “What inspired you?”
She turned a sweet smile to him and his breath caught in his chest. “Thought I’d try something new.”
His eyes narrowed the moment she looked away again. She’s lying. But he had to let that go. For the time being, at least. She didn’t know she was his. Curling his fingers into the vinyl of the booth behind her to keep his arm in place, Ryker asked, “Any reason?”
Willa pulled her lip between her teeth for a long second, one finger drawing patterns in the sweat on the side of her glass. “Ah, I just realized I needed to live a little more, you know? Expand my horizons.”
Oh, that was absolutely not her real answer. So much for hoping she’d spill with a little prodding. But he could tell from her scent that she was trying to mean what she’d said, and that perplexed him more.
Ryker took a breath, attempting to find a reasonable response that wouldn’t send his apparently-innocent human running in terror. “Expand your horizons?” he repeated slowly. “That could mean a lot of things.”
Her smile returned, teasing now, and he sensed a wave of determination wafting from her. “I suppose it could,” she agreed. Her gaze flicked away for a moment, toward the crowd in front of the bar, and she asked, “Do you dance?”
Knowing perfectly well that his meaning showed in his eyes, Ryker lowered his voice a bit and said, “Not in public.”
Her sparkling brown eyes went wide and he could make out a tinge of pink on her cheeks before she dropped her gaze to her drink. She chewed her lip as if contemplating something and proceeded to knock back the rest of her rum and Coke.
Ryker leaned forward until his lips were barely not brushing her ear and whispered, “Relax, Willa. I only dance with a willing partner.” The desire in her scent spiked in tandem with her heart rate. It was all he could do not to let his tongue slip out and taste her skin.
Her response was not what he anticipated.
She turned to face him before he’d pulled back, and he was suddenly staring into her eyes. He curled his fingers harder into the vinyl and locked his muscles in place. Her full lips, coated in a shade of red that matched her nails, parted and he couldn’t stop his stare from falling to watch as they formed words.
“Be honest with me,” she said firmly. “Is this some kind of prank?”
Ryker’s gaze snapped back up to hers. He said nothing for a long moment as he tried to form a coherent enough thought to understand her question. Prank?
Willa released a breath and her shoulders slouched ever-so-slightly. “Someone put you up to this, didn’t they? Dared you to flirt with me or something?”
Was that the treatment she was used to? He didn’t know. But he did know she’d never be asking that question again. “No,” he said, his own eyes narrowed with intensity.
She blinked up at him for a second, sighed, and said, “It’s okay. I understand. But I think I’m going to go now.”
Releasing a growl on a harsh exhale, Ryker released his death-grip on the vinyl, buried his hand beneath her wavy, deep-red hair and hauled her lips up to his. He kept his free hand fisted on the table top to minimize temptation and stroked her lips with his tongue. A soft, whimpered sound bubbled up her throat, and her lips parted. He wasted no time sweeping his tongue inside, letting the taste of her wash over him. It was hard not to growl into the kiss. Harder still not to pull her body flush against his. But he kept his lips to hers, kept one hand in her hair and the other off her entirely. He was making a point, not just seeking satisfaction.
Her hands had landed on his chest, just beneath his shoulders, as soon as he’d kissed her. By the time his tongue was mapping out her sweet mouth, her fingers were curled in his shirt. Holding on.
He released her from his kiss with foreign reluctance and eased back just enough to give her room to breathe. The hand in her hair slid down to the nape of her neck. “Willa,” he said, his voice rough. “Make no mistake. I want you. No one’s put me up to this. No one had to.”
She was still taking heaving breaths as the shock settled on her face. The disbelief was obvious in her eyes when she quietly asked, “You … want me?”
Ryker grinned and brushed the side of her throat with his thumb. “Badly.” He suspected if he were too honest too soon, she’d flee, so he opted to leave it at that.
Willa broke from his stare and looked him over as if for the first time. He held still, letting her absorb his words. Confusion and desire vied for dominance in her scent. He really wanted to ask why—why she would possibly be so shocked to be wanted. But he held himself in check, just this once.
Her tongue darted out, trailing slowly over her smeared lipstick as she lifted her gaze back to his. “Can we ditch this place?”