Ryder (Rope 'n Ride Series Book 2) (8 page)

Her orgasm rushed out of nowhere, so fast and mind-blowing that she threw her arms and head back and let the wave strike her. Her body hummed as her orgasm stole her senses.

Ryder’s lips and tongue never slowed, eating her like she was the best treat he’d ever tasted.

When she jackknifed upward, clutching his head to move him from her too-sensitive folds, he raised his gaze and met hers.

A breath trickled from her.

With quick movements, she pulled his shirt from his waistband and tore it overhead. The minute his carved body was locked in her vision, she thought she’d stepped onto stage with a male dancer. He was chiseled from deltoid to the cords on his forearms.

Wetting her lips, she leaned in. Slowly. He seemed to hold his breath as she kissed his neck. As soon as she tasted his salty-clean goodness, she was starving for more. With a moan, she spattered kisses over his chest, loving that he had some chest hair. Down to the washboard of his abs.

He stopped her when she reached for his belt buckle. “I can’t go slow with you. Not this time, Joy.”

“I don’t want slow.” She flashed him a grin. “Not this time.”

Now that they’d agreed to more, it was game on. She ripped open his belt. Their fingers tangled on his button-fly. He twisted and turned to kick off his boots and jeans, leaving him in red boxer briefs.

“We match,” she said.

He dropped his drawers. “I knew it from the moment we saw each other.” He rolled a condom from tip to root of his straining cock. A cock so thick she didn’t know if he might hurt her.

But when he spun her to lie on the futon and settled between her spread thighs, she forgot about any fears. Their kisses were long and deep, their movements wild. When he looked into her eyes and filled her with his fat tip, they both stopped, sharing a shiver.

“You’re. Tight,” he bit off, jerking his hips, stretching her inch by inch. She closed her eyes and let her body take over. So tense around him, milking him with each pulsation of her inner walls.

When he was fully seated inside her, they stared into each other’s eyes again. This time it felt different—so intimate and perfect.

“I’ve waited too long for this.”

“You hardly know me,” she panted.

“Still too long. Relax for me, Princess. Let me in deeper.” His brown hair fell into one blazing eye. The hardness of his jaw and the set of his mouth told her how much control he was spending in this minute.

Cupping his face, she drew him down for another kiss. As their tongues twisted together, she relaxed into his hold.

And he slid another inch deeper. Bottoming out in her. She cried out.

He growled.

Rotating her hips, she wiggled closer. He pulled out and eased back in with painstaking slowness.

“Thought you couldn’t go slow.”

His eyes rolled back in his head. “Keep squeezing me that way and I’ll be done before I’ve started.”

She wrapped her thighs around his hips and claimed his mouth again as he began to move. His pace too slow for her liking, so she bucked upward to take what she wanted. The action proved too much for him.

He slammed into her again and again, perspiration dampening his hair where it lay over his forehead. His eyes searing. Muscles straining. She cried out as his cock slid through her walls, bumping the perfect spot. When she felt her orgasm rush upward, she clung to him.

“Kiss me. I’m there.”

“Joy,” he said roughly. They tensed together. The thrum of her release washed over her as he stiffened and roared his own.

In the back of her mind, she registered how different this moment was. How nobody had ever looked her in the eyes when he’d lost control for her. And that might be because Ryder was the only man who ever had.

* * * * *

Hell, he was a goner. His heart had stopped.

No, he could hear it pounding in his temples.

Must have been his brain that had flat-lined. He couldn’t remember his own name.

But he recalled hers. Joy—the three little letters meant so much. She was such a big presence. Though not flamboyant, she caught everybody’s attention. And she’d definitely overwhelmed him. He’d barely thought of anything but her since they’d met.

She lay still, eyes closed. Her pulse hammered in her throat, and he knew he hadn’t killed her.

A chuckle burst from him, and she cracked an eye. “You’re laughing at me?”

“That sound, Princess, is pure relief that we don’t have a camera guy in here with us.”

“Or my father.” At that, she giggled. The sound was like champagne, fizzing over inside him. He captured her lips and gave her a sound kissing.

“Good thing you have a trailer to hide in,” she said.

“This isn’t my trailer. It’s Ridge’s. He bought it last season after two of his motel rooms had bedbugs.” And for more privacy. He loved the cameras just as much, and he’d had someone special a few months back.

She gave a shudder, and he set about kissing away the goose bumps that had risen on her throat and breasts. When he lapped her nipple, it hardened instantly.

“This isn’t over,” he said.

“I thought you said a one-night stand. You got it.”

He leaned on his elbows to stare down at her. “It’s not night.”

“So you’ll be satisfied by tomorrow.”

He bit off a growl of irritation, but her soft touch on his chest made him forget why he didn’t like what she said.

“If my dad catches us together, he’ll end your career.”

Now that got his attention. He sat up and pulled her with him. “What the hell? You’re serious?”

She bit into her lower lip, making the flesh plump out in such an inviting way that he was hard all over again. “I’m sorry to say, yes. He hates the thought of me with a cowboy let alone a rodeo man.”

Ryder pushed out a harsh breath. Then he scuffed his hand over his jaw. She followed the action, looking way more absorbed than a woman just looking for a one-time deal.

Reaching for her, he pulled her into his lap. She curled against him, and his heart flexed so hard that he
knew
he wanted more than one night.

“What’s he got against a rodeo man?”

“He’s seen a few in his time. Knows how they’re all players.”

“Not all. Was he a player?”

She lifted a shoulder in a shrug, making him feel as if he was holding a fragile bird. “I was a child. I hardly knew what was going on in his adult life. Besides, my mom was gone.”

“I’m sorry.” He’d read articles about Thunder’s hardship—his wife taking off and leaving him to raise their daughter. Actually, she’d run off with—

A rodeo man.

No wonder he had a chip on his shoulder against them. Ryder would just need to prove him wrong.

Compared to the reality show filming, Joy’s father was a small mountain to scale. Ryder refused to put her into the camera lens. She deserved better than this mess he was in.

He rested his nose on the fragrant part of dark hair and inhaled. “If your old man tries to stop me from seeing you, I’ll have to take him out.”

She laughed. The sound high and clear and true. Damn, she was such a breath of fresh air in his smoggy world. For a year he’d fought with lawyers over the will his father hadn’t changed before dying, and then being bombarded with a fame he didn’t welcome.

“He’s got a bum shoulder. If you’re going to take him down, go for the shoulder.” Her tone teased.

He caught her smile and it spread through his whole system. “It’s good to know a man’s weaknesses.”

“What’s yours?”

He thumbed her cheeks and gazed into her gray eyes. “You.”

A pretty flush coated her face, spreading over her breasts. He made a sound she recognized as wanting.

“We’re going to be missed. We’d better get back to our lives.” She stood, and he watched with fascination as she dressed.

Finally, he got up and dealt with his condom and dressed too. When she turned to him with bright eyes, he grabbed her and held her. Nose buried in her hair, he said, “This isn’t finished.”

She withdrew from his embrace and let herself out of the trailer. As soon as she stepped out, a camera loomed up at her side.

With a roar of fury, Ryder leaped out and wrested the camera from the guy. He’d seen the crew work with their equipment long enough that he knew the basics. He flipped open a little door and ripped the SD card free.

“You can’t do that. It has Ridge’s ride—” the guy started.

Too late. The card was in the dust crushed beneath Ryder’s boot heel.

Chapter Four

“What were you thinking? You just jeopardized your contract, right along with Wynonna. No interference.” Lane opened his eyes wide to impress his words upon Ryder.

Raising his shot glass to his lips, Ryder drank off the whiskey. It barely burned on the way down—it was his fourth shot, after all.

An angry cameraman had gone to his production manager—who was an emotional wreck after being dumped by Wynonna. Who knew what would come out of the meeting. Nothing good.

“Another,” Ryder said to the bartender, lifting his glass.

“Make that six.” Buck’s deep voice sounded from his side.

When six glasses were set up before all the siblings lined up at the bar, they looked at each other and raised their glasses.

“For you, Dad,” they said down the line and swallowed the liquid.

The acrid edge of the alcohol took Ryder’s aggravation away—but it also drowned out the flavors of Joy that still lived on his tongue. That was his only regret.

After she’d walked away from the trailer and the crushed SD card debacle, she hadn’t spoken to him. He’d supported his family members in their events. Then he’d taken his own bull and given the ride his all.

Knowing Thunder was there to watch nudged him toward a bigger greatness than he felt he’d achieved yet. He wanted to prove to the man that he was worth it—but his determination wasn’t about bull riding.

He wanted him to see he was worthy of his daughter, dammit.

This was craziness. A few weeks ago he’d been evading anything remotely resembling commitment. Now…

When he ordered another shot, Lane shook his head at the bartender and she brought him a beer instead. “Can’t even get ripping drunk with you monitoring me, Lane.”

They moved off toward a table at the back that would hold all of them. Once they were settled, they stared at each other, nothing to say.

After a long moment and half his beer, Ryder lowered his bottle and said, “At least there isn’t a Calhoun kid on the way.”

“What the hell?” Buck said.

“Was there a chance you were unsure?” Wynonna leaned her elbows on the table, her hands upraised in exasperation.

He set the bottle on the table. “A bunny called me her baby daddy, but she had the time frame all wrong.”

“Jesus, Ryder. We can’t let you off the ranch.” West shook his head.

Some of the whiskey was taking effect and he was much mellower than he had been a few minutes ago. Which was good—he needed it to deal with his family.

“I don’t think we need to worry about Ryder’s bastard children as much as we should about our contracts for the show.” Buck’s ominous tone silenced them all.

Dipping his head into his hands, Ryder tried to give a damn that he might get kicked off
Rope ‘n Ride.
But he couldn’t feel further from that. “I lost my cool.”

“You think?” West dropped his sarcasm into the mix.

“You’d do the same if someone you cared about might face a scandal because she was filmed in a place she shouldn’t have been with a man she shouldn’t have been with.” His voice cracked.

They all looked at him. “What the hell are you talking about, Ryder? Or is it the whiskey talking?”

“No, it’s me.” He met each solemn gaze. “I was with Joy Humphries—”

“Jesus.” West smacked a palm on the table.

“You know how to choose the most untouchable woman, don’t ya?” Ridge asked.

Ignoring the outbursts, Ryder raised his hands for silence. “I’m only telling y’all because if anything comes of this…
moment of anger
I had, then you’d find out anyway. I don’t keep shit from you.”

“Except secret babies.”

He stabbed a finger at Wynonna’s nose. “The kid is not mine!”

“All right, let’s calm this down. Wynonna, you aren’t in any position to talk.”

She clamped her lips so tightly shut her face looked like it might turn inside out. Her auburn hair was loose and curly, looking like something boiling over. Her eyes echoed this.

Buck placed his hands on the table. “We’re all edgy with these people around us all the time.”

“Can’t get away from them,” Ryder spat.
Can’t even steal a kiss without them—and America—knowing it.

Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing if they lost their contracts. He could do without the money. Peace of mind was far more important.

Buck cleared his throat. “I know. I’m trying to be a good husband to Channing and a supportive partner to Asher with cameras down my throat too. I can barely walk because I’m pretty certain one’s wedged between my ass cheeks.” Buck’s words had the effect he’d been shooting for.

They all laughed, tension trickling out like a poison and leaving them all feeling better.

“Look,” Buck continued, “we just need to keep our heads on straight. Everything we do is no longer private, and that includes our relations.” He looked pointedly at their sister.

She kept her gaze downcast. “It was a big mistake.”

“You’re young,” Lane said as if to soothe her, but a heartbeat didn’t pass before Ryder knew he’d said the wrong thing. Their sister saw it as a red flag and charged head-first.

“I’m two years younger than you, Lane. Age has nothing to do with it!”

“Shhh.” Ryder tipped his head toward a group at a nearby table who were obviously eavesdropping.

Wynonna shut her mouth with a snap, and Lane returned to nursing his beer. Buck spoke low, “It’s easy to lose our control, but we have to be more careful going forward. We can’t lose these contracts. Not right now.” Something in his tone gave Ryder a bad feeling.

“What aren’t you telling us?”

Buck pushed away from the table and stood. “I’ve got a baby on the way and my wife and I don’t have health insurance because nobody will insure a rodeo guy. I need this cash.”

Ryder studied his brother. He knew Buck better than anybody. As kids, they were inseparable. And there was more to his story than he was sharing. Ryder didn’t press, though.

“As soon as I’m soberer, I’ll apologize for the camera incident,” he said.

Buck latched onto Ryder’s shoulder and squeezed. “I’m going back to my room. All of ya, keep your noses clean, okay?”

As soon as he was gone, West released a low whistle. “Instead of what would Jesus do, we’ve got what would Buck do?”

A moment’s silence and then they all burst out laughing. Ridge ordered another round of beers, and they sat drinking long into the night. When Ryder walked his sister back to her hotel room, he hugged her and told her everything would be all right.

But in the morning, it most definitely wasn’t.