Authors: Pepper Winters,Tess Hunter
HOW DID I NEVER KNOW this existed?
I’d been born and raised a few counties over and had swum in Thorn River where it was publically sign posted, but I’d never snuck onto private property where the river meandered into paradise.
“Wow, Ryder.” I couldn’t pull my jaw from the permanent position of amazement. “This is stunning.”
The colours of green and turquoise over saturated my eyes with weeping willows, pockets of deeper still water, and babbling shallow brooks. Rocks stuck out of the velveteen water, slick with algae while reeds played in the depths like mermaid hair.
Sunshine speared around green leaves and brown bark, dappling the embankment.
I never wanted to leave.
“You’re the only one who’s seen this.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s my sanctuary. I’m rather possessive of it. Haven’t even shown it to my brother yet.”
I swivelled to face him. “Wait, you have a brother?”
He nodded. “Yep, two years older. Wildly successful.” He narrowed his eyes. “Why? Already planning on trading me in for a better model?”
I laughed. “No way. I’m very content with the one I’ve currently got on loan.”
“The loan could be made into a more permanent arrangement if you wanted.”
My lips parted. “Meaning?”
“This…” He motioned between the two of us. “It started off as a trial but I’m ready to cash in my thirty day right of return and keep you.”
My heart fluttered. “You say the most romantic things.”
His teeth flashed in the sunshine. “I try.”
A thunder of doggy paws interrupted our conversation. “Oh, help, they’ve found us.” Ryder chuckled.
I braced myself as a cloud of brown dogs, white dogs, spotty dogs, and patchy dogs hurtled around the huge oak tree protecting this amazing river grotto and berserk chaos found us.
When Ryder had grabbed my hand back at the kennel and unlocked the gate where a lot of the dogs were lolling in the grass or playing with one another, he’d assured me he’d done this before.
As the pack of mutts took off into the distance, Ryder guided me back to the house, entered a rickety temporary work shed, turfed out two bags of concrete that were taking up prime real estate in a wheelbarrow and wheeled it around to the front porch.
I’d known instantly what he was about to do.
And I couldn’t stand it.
Why was this guy so damn perfect? He had to have a flaw. He had to be a closet cross dresser or explosive temper or something that made him normal.
Because next to him, I felt like an unappreciative teenager while he was bloody Ghandi.
Without looking at me, he’d strode up the porch steps, scratched Scar behind the ear, and bundled him up with a nice fat cushion to plop him into the wheelbarrow.
The moment the weary dog was comfy, he pushed off as if it was an everyday occurrence to wheel a Pusky Bull across a perfect meadow while the raucous of unruly dogs barked on the horizon.
I’d stayed pace the entire way from his timeworn mansion, resting my hand on Scar’s back as his tongue lolled and he wheezed, sticking his nose into the air and looking so damn happy it made tears prick my eyes.
When we’d arrived at the river, we’d placed Scar under a large weeping willow in the shade, lashed a leash around his neck just in case he attacked the other dogs, and gave him some fresh water.
We’d had a moment’s peace before the pack arrived.
As the river went from serene to a splashing mess as dogs threw themselves at each other and barked and yipped and swam, I tried to count how many there were but lost track after nine.
Moving closer to Ryder, I asked, “Aren’t you afraid some of them will take off? How will you catch them all when it’s time to go home?”
He smiled. “I have a secret weapon.” Pulling his phone from his back pocket, he swiped on the screen and brought up an app with lots of blinking green dots on a map. “This is that lot.” He waved in front of us to the four-legged fiends. “When I rescue them, and after they’ve been assessed and micro chipped by you, I call up the company who own the recorders on the chips and assign them to a GPS tracking app that’s normally used for stalking cheating husbands or wives. If a dot goes red, it means they’ve gone ten metres too far and I use a sheep-dog whistle—” He pulled a small plastic horseshoe shaped device from his other pocket “—and call them back.”
Inserting it into his mouth, he puffed. The highest, sharpest whistle erupted.
Every single one of the dogs, including Scar, stopped dead. No tail wags, no tongue lolling. Utter focus and awareness.
“See?” Ryder smirked at the undivided attention. “Works like a charm.” Patting his thigh, he ordered, “Come here.”
As one, a cloud of dogs trotted forward under his complete command. Even Scar, leashed in his wheelbarrow, tried to heel.
I gasped at the level of respect these mismatched mutts had for Ryder. He was their pack leader with no argument or contention.
Once we were surrounded by canines, intensely waiting for the next order, Ryder put the whistle back into his pocket and clapped his hands. “Okay, guys. You’re free. Continue to play.”
Instantly, whatever spell he’d put them under broke and the sheer focus in their intelligent gazes switched to unruly happiness once again. The pack broke up into little groups, leaping and nipping, returning to their river games.
I whistled low. “That’s impressive. I’ve seen owners go to puppy school for months and still unable to control a single dog.”
He shrugged. “Like you said last night. It’s all about the internal intentions. They know when I’m relaxed and happy for them to be animals and embrace freedom. But when I whistle, it’s listening and obeying time. Otherwise, they’re out of the pack.”
“You should teach people how to be better carers.” I nudged an algae covered pebble by my foot. “So many people yell and scream and don’t take the time to understand doggy language.”
Coming toward me, he tucked a loose curl behind my ear.
I trembled at the soft but sexual feel of his finger.
“I’m not saying I know what I’m doing. But I will admit the whistle is useful. I currently have eighteen four-legged brats but once I had over thirty. I haven’t lost one yet, and this way, I can take them on a group walk and not worry about them vanishing on me. Not to mention, when I find their forever home, I give the new owner all the information including the app so they’ll never lose them again.” His eyes turned sad. “Too many pets are lost and put into the system and killed because loving owners never tagged them or bothered to register the microchip correctly. A lot of pointless deaths could’ve been avoided.”
We stood side by side, watching as the dogs slowly calmed from their manic antics and broke off into smaller packs to investigate bushes and interesting smells. One or two detoured to check out Scar in his wheelbarrow but one vicious snarl from the killing Pusky Bull and they quickly kept their distance.
I was worried that Scar would try to jump free and chase them. That he’d feel left out or his murderous training would be too hard to overrule, but the moment the dogs had vanished in a shiver of foliage, he calmed right down and closed his eyes with contentment.
“Ah, peace at last.” Ryder took my hand, looping his fingers with mine. “Now, I believe it’s time for your bath. I can’t believe you’re still wearing the same clothes, you dirty girl.”
I laughed as we walked along the river edge toward a deeper blue swimming hole. “You can’t talk. You’re constantly in dusty work clothes. I can’t tell if your entire wardrobe is an unknown renovation designer label, or if you don’t own a washing machine.”
“Did you just offer to do my washing?”
I pushed him. “I did nothing of the sort.”
His dark hair caught the sunshine as he glanced at me. “I think you did. I think you were complaining about my lack of cleanliness and like any good girlfriend offered to care for her man in order to keep him fresh and publically acceptable.”
“I’m your girlfriend now?”
He balanced on one leg, ripping off a sneaker before doing the same with the other. His socks flew off, too. “Do you want to be?”
I cocked my hip, tapping my finger against my lips in serious fashion. “Hum, that’s a loaded question. What terms and conditions does such a title come with?”
Tearing his t-shirt off, he looked me up and down. “For starters, you get me.” He boldly unbuckled and stripped his jeans and boxer-briefs off in one go. Fisting his cock, already standing tall and at attention, he murmured, “You get this any time you want.”
“Well, that’s very tempting.” I tilted my chin, allowing the sunshine and jokes to warm me inside and out. “But I reckon I could have that any time I wanted without being your girlfriend.”
His eyes narrowed. “Are you calling me easy?”
I giggled. “Hey, if the description fits.”
Ryder growled. “Woman, I’m anything but easy. Ask my brother.”
“Ah, yes. The brother I might upgrade to.” I squinted in the bushes. “Is he around by any chance? I might get him to dish the dirt on you, seeing as you’re asking for such a big commitment.”
Prowling toward me, Ryder watched beneath a lowered brow. “He’ll be here in two weeks. You can ask him then.”
“Two weeks?” I sighed dramatically. “That’s a long time. I don’t know if this ‘arrangement’ between us will last that long.”
I took a step back as Ryder lashed out and grabbed my wrist. My heart winged as he jerked me into his naked chest. His lips slammed against mine as his hands tangled possessively in my hair.
Our tongues clashed, our mouths connected, and our breathing switched from rational to completely erratic.
By the time he pulled away, I swayed on the river bank as my pussy throbbed. I’d slept with this man once but it hadn’t taken my edge off. It’d done nothing to damper my desire for him.
If anything, it had added more firewood to an already out-of-control inferno.
Cupping my nape, Ryder whispered against my mouth, “If you think two weeks is a long time, I pity you.”
“Pity me?” I blinked, trying to understand.
A tell-tale smirk twitched his lips. “Yes. I pity you because you really have no idea what you’ve just done.”
I shivered as his touch dropped from my nape, down my arm, to grab my fingers. Never breaking eye contact, he pulled my hand forward and ever so slowly wrapped my palm around his hot, hard cock. “Two weeks is a single heartbeat to me, Vesper. The moment you turned up at my house last night was the moment you became mine.”
He groaned as I clutched his erection.
“You mean, you’re going all alpha on me, after all? I’m yours now?” I jerked up and down, stroking the soft velvet of his skin. “If I’m yours, what does that make you?”
“Yours, of course.” His head fell backward as I continued to stroke him. “I’ve been yours for months. My cock, my thoughts…” He wrapped an arm round my shoulders, embracing me hard as he shuddered. “…all yours since I walked into your practice.”
I trembled as my hand continued to pump up and down. His touch trickled down my spine, moving to my front to cup my breast. Our hearts relocated into every fingertip, pounding with lust and togetherness.
I couldn’t deny hearing him say he was mine made me wet, wet, wet. But hearing what he didn’t say—hearing the message his thumping heart blared—made me happy and afraid at the same time.
That same feeling of more from last night came back, head-butting away our jokes and making every moan and whisper loaded with emotion.
Where had such intensity come from? How did we slow it down? How did we give our minds time to catch up with what our hearts and bodies had already agreed was the perfect solution?
My head lolled as Ryder’s mouth found the base of my neck and collarbone. “Fuck, Vesper. Two weeks is nothing. I want a thousand two weeks with you. I want—” He cut himself off, his tongue lapping and teeth nipping at my skin.
I didn’t ask him to finish.
I knew what he wouldn’t say.
I want you forever.
Forever.
What an odd concept of time. But suddenly, it was exactly what I wanted. With him. Always.
He stole my daydreams as his fingers cupped my pussy. I moaned as he pressed hard on my clit through my jeans. “I think it’s time you were cleaned, don’t you? Can’t neglect my girlfriend.”
The thought of being naked with him outside was too much. The idea of him bending me over and taking me like a savage dog made me bite my bottom lip with overwhelming desire.
My fingers squeezed him. “What do you plan to do with me once I’m clean?”
His eyes darkened. “I have a few ideas. Don’t you worry about that.”
“Oh, I worry, Ryder Carson.” I lowered my voice. “I worry that I like you far, far too much.”
His gaze melted even as a sexy smirk twisted his lips. “I told you last night not to be afraid. Trust me.”
Not looking away, he undid the rest of my blouse and pushed it off my shoulders. The kiss of a gentle mid-morning breeze made my arms fly up and cover my aroused nipples.