Take the Bride (The Knight Brothers 1.5)

She glanced at their entwined hands. “Do you have any idea how much you hurt me back then?”

His silence told her that he did. Or at least, now he knew.

“You took all my hopes and dreams and crushed them because you decided you knew what was best for me. That just because I once wanted to go away to college, I couldn’t change my mind. You didn’t trust in me, the things I told you I wanted, the hopes and dreams I spun for us… You let them all go.”

“I–”

“I’m not finished,” she said, staring at the blank television screen across from the bed, not looking at him as she let all the feelings of the past spill forth. “You let me think you didn’t love me anymore, and I know you dated other women after me. Of course you did.” The pain of that sliced through her as if it were fresh and new.

“None were you,” he said so low she had to lean close to hear.

So close she smelled his natural scent and wanted to burrow into his embrace. But she couldn’t because that would be cowardly.

Dealing with her life, then being alone were both brave and necessary. “I need to go home, Ryder. I need to talk to Jason. We need closure.”

“I don’t like it,” he muttered.

She didn’t laugh at his petulant tone. “You don’t have to. That’s just the way it is. And I need time to think.” About them, she thought, letting the words go unsaid.

“I said I don’t like it but I didn’t say I don’t understand it.” He sat up, jarring her because she’d been leaning against him.

The next thing she knew, she was on her back on the mattress and he was looming over her, his hands on either side of her shoulders, his big body warm and tempting above her. Those beautiful green eyes stared into hers, and she saw the truth in their depths. He loved her now. And she was very much afraid she loved him, too.

But she wasn’t ready. Just because she was suddenly single didn’t mean she could make decisions about another relationship or commitments to a man who’d once pushed her away.

“Ryder–”

He shook his head. “No more talking. I’m going to take you home and give you what you say you need. But I’m going to give you one last thing to remember me by before you go,” he said before his lips descended on hers.

Her hands came to his head, sifting through the silken strands, holding him tight as he kissed her. Wanting him with every fiber of her being.

Unlike many of their moments together here, this wasn’t the frenzied, hot and heavy sex she’d gotten used to. The kind with the fire that burned out of control. This was slow and sensual. As if he wanted her to feel every glide of his lips, every stroke of his tongue, and memorize the sensations.

She knew she’d never forget. He was gentle as he made love to her mouth, slowly relearning all the spots inside that were made just for him. He kissed her like that for what felt like hours, reminding her of the times when they were younger. When they knew they couldn’t go further but they could kiss and make out and he could grind himself against her, and it was hotter than the sexual act itself.

His thick erection slid over and over her sex, gliding against her clit, rocking her ever so slowly to orgasm. She’d forgotten what these kinds of make-out sessions were like. The sweet intensity. The deep kisses. Hands moving everywhere. And hips rotating over and over until the heavy waves came at her almost out of nowhere, then consumed her.

“Oh God, coming, coming, I’m coming,” she whispered on a ragged moan, the hard press of his cock thrusting against her sex.

Only when she’d succumbed to her last tremble did Ryder speak. “Eyes on me, sweetheart.”

She hadn’t realized she’d closed them. Forcing her heavy lids open, she met his gaze.

Desire flashed in the depths of his eyes. “I want you to know who’s making love to you,” he said as he notched himself at her entrance, then slowly, deliberately thrust in deep.

Her eyes opened wider as he took her completely, filling her up, both her body and her heart. Damn him, she thought, tears threatening. She didn’t want to cry at how good they were together. She couldn’t do that and leave.

But she was going to leave him. She had to figure things out alone.

“Stop thinking.” Arms braced on either side of her shoulders, he raised his hips, and she shuddered, aware of every inch of his velvety length as he pulled out of her, then shoved back in. “Feel us, Sierra.”

She couldn’t do anything but feel as he thrust in and out, over and over. But before she could even start to build toward a climax, he stopped and pushed himself to a sitting position, taking him with her.