I turn on the shower and step in, closing my eyes.
“Why are you here? Nothing good can come out of this,” he growls, so different from the man I knew ten years ago.
I take a step back and hit the wall behind me. “Gia needed me.” I sound breathless. He stalks me. I’m trapped. Nothing but a wall and a bed to my other side.
“Don’t come any closer.”
He smiles as he closes the gap. I try to memorize his face. After today, who knows if I’ll ever see him again. He smells like smoke and bourbon, and it makes me want to bury my nose in his neck.
I gasp as he roughly grabs me. His lips hover close to mine.
“Stop, Ryder, you have a girlfriend or something, right?” I snarl, trying to pull away.
He smiles, and time stops as I lose myself in his golden-brown eyes. “Who, Cindy? She’s not mine, just a broken doll.”
My body stiffens. That’s entirely different from what I thought he’d say.
“That’s not what everyone is saying.” I turn my head away from his lips.
He laughs. “Put your claws away. She’s not a threat. You’re the only face and cunt that haunts me,” he hisses in my ear. “Only you, Julianna.”
My eyes pop open as the hot water almost stings my skin. That day was so incredibly wrong, yet I didn’t care. The way he thrust into me, taking me right there, his lips bruising as his mouth bit my neck?
Primal.
I lick my lips as my hands caress my aching breasts, twisting my nipples like he does. I can’t stop myself and moan at how good it feels.
“Fuck you, Ryder,” I say as I close my eyes and spread my legs, arching my face up into the spray of hot water while my fingers find my slick clit.
“Yeah,” I whimper, the echo almost startling me as I frantically rub, my other hand reaching to the glass to brace myself. My pussy instantly contracts and pulses when I orgasm, quick, fast, and needed.
Reaching up, I turn off the water. I open the glass door and reach for a towel, then scream, almost slipping and falling on my ass because I’m not alone.
“Holy God.” As I step out, I hold the towel up to my chin and try to stop my heart from leaping out of my chest.
I’m not alone.
He’s standing, in the doorway, arms crossed, making himself look bigger and scarier than usual. Either that, or I’m so freaked out he might have caught me getting myself off that I’m making this worse than it is.
“God can’t help you on this one, Bellezza.” His voice bounces around the bathroom, and there goes my hope that he didn’t see me.
“What are you doing here?” I almost scream. My hands shake as I try to cover myself.
“I live here. The real question is why can’t you obey?” Ryder’s voice is almost a caress.
I lift my head and glare. This is his fault.
“Eve and Dolly told me that you fucked Cindy, and they’re having a party for Charlie and her husband…” My mind goes blank on what the guy’s name is.
“David? Poet?” he says like he’s being helpful, arching a dark brow at me. I bite my lower lip because he didn’t even flinch at me saying I heard he fucked Cindy.
“Yes, him. They’re having a party here, tomorrow, and Cindy is coming… and you’re with her.” I vomit all this out a bit hysterically, which is uncharacteristic for me.
“They said I’m with Cindy?” Once again, his voice is calm, but his eyes flash.
I hold up my hand. “No. I mean, they said you fucked her not very long ago.”
He reaches up to hold the doorframe as my eyes travel down to the V where his T-shirt’s ridden up.
“I’m not with Cindy.” Sounding bored, he drops his hands to enter the bathroom.
Suddenly I can’t breathe.
“But you know that.”
I bring the towel up to my lips when he stops right in front of me.
“Now, did I tell you not to touch yourself?”
My mind is spinning. He’s a master at twisting everything his way. Otherwise, how has this Cindy thing been discarded so fast?
“I… yes. But I was angry—”
“Shh.” He reaches for my face with both hands. His eyes caress my face, stopping at my lips. “I liked you telling me to fuck off, while you finger fucked yourself.”
“I didn’t know you were there.” Which sounds stupid. Of course, I didn’t know.
Again, he shoots me a smile and my heart squeezes. “Get on the bed and wait for me. I need to let Frosty know I’m gonna be late.”
“Ryder…” He lets go of me and walks out of the bathroom and over to his dresser, texting as he goes, then sets his phone down and looks back at me.
I walk out, drying myself while he waits, then sitting on the edge of the bed. He turns and opens a drawer as my pulse races.