I want her . I so fucking want her. Yeah, I want to be inside her body as deep as I can get, but I want to be inside her heart too. I want to bury myself deep inside her like she is in me. Her words play on repeat in my mind.
“You don’t make me nervous. You make my heart nervous.”
She thinks I will break her heart? Knowing she thinks the worst of me terrifies me. I don’t know how I’m going to get her to give me a chance after the asshole way I treated her before. I’ve never once regretted the way I treat women, but since meeting her, all I do is feel horrible for the way I’ve treated her.
Lunch is planned to a perfect T, because I’ve decided today will be the day I tell her I knew who she is. There’s the basket full of goodies they delivered to my office earlier, with chocolate-covered strawberries, meat and cheese trays, and crackers, just to name a few things. After making sure she has a decent lunch, I’m going to make sure she knows how much she means to me and that I’m not mad that she didn’t tell me who she is.
The hours go by at a snail’s pace, and since I had a lot of paperwork that needed sorted, faxed, and documents signed, I’ve been in my office most of the day while she was out on the floor.
I decide to call her in early, the need to be closer to her consuming me. I don’t want to just jump her, but I need to kiss her. I need to feel her hands against my skin. She’d chosen me as the man she wanted to give herself to, and I want to make certain she knows I’ll take care of her.
“Ava,” I call her name, watching as her eyes lift from the paperwork she is sorting. Those dark whiskey eyes hold more than one secret, I’m certain. We didn’t meet under the most conventional of terms, me losing my father, and her going through her own things, but I am going to make it worth it for her.
She stands, smoothing out the wrinkles on her skirt, and walking over to me, her legs wobbly. I can see the anxious look in her eyes as she enters my office. I close the door, closing us inside together.
I have the basket on the desk and a blanket on the floor with a spread of food. Champagne and the glasses rest next to the food, and I know she is shocked when she takes in the sight of all that I have done.
“You did all this?” Her gasp is audible, and it makes me smile.
“I sure did. I wanted lunch to be perfect for you.” I hold my hands together, even as they itch to reach out and touch her creamy white skin. Her eyes scan over each object, and I swear I see tears well in her eyes.
“You didn’t have to do this, Ryker. You don’t owe me anything.”
“I know I don’t, and I didn’t do this because I owe you something. I did this because I wanted to. Because you deserve the best.” She shakes her head softly, bright blonde curls breaking free from behind her ears, and I cross the small space that separates us. I brush them from her eyes and cup her by the cheek, my thumb running across her lips.
They’re soft, plump, and tempt me in a way no other woman’s lips have tempted me before. I feel the shiver that my touch brings her and I want to feel it again and again. I want to run my fingers through her hair and feel the beat of her heart against my own.
I want to own her, to make her feel the way I’ve felt every single day since she left me that night in the hotel room alone.
“You’re everything, Ava...everything,” I whisper softly, leaning into her face. I can hear her heavy breathing and see the dilation of her eyes. She wants me to kiss her just as badly as I want to, and I decide then that I will.
Leaning in until I’m a breath away from her lips I whisper, “Can I kiss you?” She doesn’t say anything for a long second, her eyes moving from mine and down to my lips and back again. It’s then that she nods her head yes, her gulp noticeable.
I take her nod for permission and press my lips against hers ever so gently. A moan of pleasure escapes both of us, filling the room with noise. Electricity flows through my veins, slamming into my groin and making my cock harder than steel at the softness of her body nestled against mine.
I feel her small hands mapping out my arms and making their way up my chest. They blaze a path of heat and need that only she can extinguish.
I want her. I need her. She’s a hunger I’ll never be able to feed.
Her fingers grip onto my arms and I hold her, my lips devouring hers. I kiss her with a furious need, an all-consuming want.
She pulls away slightly, her cheeks pink and her eyes soft. Her features are fragile, so fragile I’m afraid if I make the wrong move I might break some part of her.
“Ryker we can’t do this… I have to…” She trails off as I grip her chin in my hands, forcing her eyes to meet mine. I know she’s scared, worried, terrified that something bad is going to happen. It’s in the way she’s begun to lock up. The walls around her heart are rising, and I have to tell her I know. I have to.
“I already know.” I let the words out with ease, feeling as if an elephant has been lifted off my chest. Ava’s eyes go wide, and she tries to pull away from me, her body going stiff like a rabbit that’s been caught in a trap.
“What...What do you know?” she stammers, panic easing into her features. I pull her against my chest, feeling the frantic beat of her heart.
I release a breath and then start. “I know who you are. I know that you’re the girl of my dreams. The woman from the bar, from the night in the hotel. I know it’s you, and I can’t hide that I know it any longer.”
She squirms in my arms, and panic consumes me for a second. What if she isn’t the girl from the bar?
“How...how do you know…?”
A burst of laughter escapes me.
“I know, Ava. I know because I feel it in my chest when you grow near. I feel this electricity flow through my veins. I feel this need to be wherever you are without any understanding of why.” Ava looks as if she doesn’t believe me, and I can understand why, but I need her to.
“You have nothing to be worried about, Ava.” I hold her cheeks in my hands and stare deeply into her eyes, feeling that connection snap into place. It’s as if I’ve found my soulmate, the other half to my heart.
“Ryker…” Ava starts, and before either of us can get a word out, the door to my office is being opened. Reed’s big-ass head pops inside.
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything, but Fallon is in labor. I just thought I would tell you.” The smile on Reed’s face is intoxicating, and I find myself smiling right along with him.
“Congratulations, brother!” I exclaim.
“Do you want to come up to the hospital with me? I’m so nervous.”
I nod, releasing Ava, but not before pressing my lips to hers again.
“Do you want to come with us?” I ask her, but she shakes her head, a shyness filling her features as Reed looms in the doorway.
“No. I have a ton of work to do, but thank you for the offer. Congratulations, Reed.” She gives him a small smile, and I hate how she seems more like that timid rabbit all over again.
“Thank you, Ava.”
“This conversation isn’t over, okay?” Her eyes divert to the floor, but she has to know she won’t be getting off the hook that easily. I’ve got plans for us, but first I have to make her see how much she means to me.
“Come on...let’s go.” Reed’s voice rises a bit, and I know he’s panicked. His wife is in labor, and he’s still here at the office.
I turn on my heels and grab my coat off the coat rack. Ava doesn’t move from the spot I left her in and as I head toward the door that Reed just disappeared from. I look at her over my shoulder and say, “This isn’t the end, Ava. Not by a long shot.”
And as I step out of the room, I swear I see fear well in those perfect whiskey-colored eyes, and I’m determined to do whatever I can to make her believe that I want her.