Guts & Glory: Ryder (In the Shadows Security Book 2) Read online

  His other hand grabbed a handful of her ass and he used his feet on the ground and his powerful thighs to drive upward. Every time he slammed into her, her breath rushed from her mouth and into his.

  But she didn’t pull away, didn’t tell him to stop. Because she liked it, she liked him. She liked this.

  There was something right about it all. But she had no time to figure out what. Instead, he continued his onslaught, holding her against him and thrusting upward hard and fast.

  She liked it like this, but she wanted more. She wanted to feel his bare skin on hers. She wanted to feel the wiry hairs on his thighs tickling her skin. She wanted to see the flex of his muscles as he fucked her.

  Because even though she was on top, he was the one doing the fucking. Not her. She was just hanging on for that ride. She had slipped the quarter in the slot and the mechanical horse was now doing the work.

  Next time she’d get more. Next time she’d get all of him. Not just a quick fuck in a barn or shed or whatever it was, on the vinyl seat of an ATV with both of them wearing his T-shirts, with the boxers she was wearing wedged to the side, with his jeans just pulled down enough to access his cock.

  Next time.

  Because this time it was simply to break the tension between them. To get past that point of contention, so they could both breathe.

  He said he saw her, but did he really?

  Or did he see what everyone else did?

  He broke the kiss and shoved his face into her chest, his breath coming hot and heavy, even through the thin cotton of the tee she still wore.

  “Fuck, darlin’, fuck,” he groaned against her, his fingers digging even harder into her ass, his thrusting turning into a pounding, which jarred her each time his hips lifted.

  The fabric from the bunched boxers scraped over her clit with each rise and fall, causing a shudder to sweep through her.

  She wanted to come, to let go, but she wasn’t there yet. And he seemed to be getting close.

  If he came without her...

  “Ryder...”

  “What do you need, darlin’?” came muffled from between her breasts.

  “Everything.”

  “Can’t give you everything. Not here. Not now,” he said on a broken whisper.

  When? Where?

  He lifted his head from where it had been planted. His frantic thrusting slowed, and he met her eyes. His grip loosened on her flesh. “Lift your shirt.”

  She grabbed a fistful of cotton and tugged it up until he had access to her bare breasts. He dropped his head once more, this time to snag one of her nipples between his lips, plucking at it a few times before sucking it deep within his mouth, sucking hard enough that she could feel that pull all the way to her core.

  She clenched around him and he groaned against her skin, the vibration of that making it more intense. His teeth scraped along her skin and over the taut tip of her nipple, making her jerk within his arms. Arching her back, she encouraged him to continue, one hand tightening around the back of his neck and the fingers of the other brushing through his hair.

  He couldn’t suck her breast into his mouth any deeper and when he let her go, her nipple was swollen and wet and he blew over the tip, making it bead even more.

  “The other one,” she groaned, pushing his head over.

  “Please,” he reminded her.

  “Please,” she whispered.

  Their gazes remained locked as he tugged on her other nipple with his lips, then opened his mouth wide and sank his teeth gently around the whole areola. The tip of his tongue alternating between flicking and circling the pebbled nub.

  Fuck.

  Ryder squeezed her ass cheeks and held her down as he lifted his hips and ground against her.

  “You wanna come?” he asked while kissing up her neck, along her jawline, his lips blazing a path to her mouth.

  “Please,” she breathed in anticipation of her not only having an orgasm but of him taking her mouth again.

  And when he did, she wrapped both of her hands around the back of his head and held him there, taking over, riding him by circling and grinding against him. Until she felt it, that buildup deep within her. She wanted to tell him, but she didn’t want to let his mouth go, either.

  He was the best kisser. His lips were soft but firm, his tongue skilled. And she couldn’t wait to feel his mouth elsewhere.

  Another time.

  Next time.

  She only hoped there would be one.

  He grunted in her mouth as she rode him faster, determined to reach the end of this ride successfully before her quarter ran out.

  She gasped, but he kept their mouths connected when she did so, kissing her harder, his fingers flexing against her ass.

  He was close, but now she was even closer.

  Then... she was there...

  She landed hard on his lap and their kiss broke when he grunted. As he surged up one more time, her orgasm raced through her, her muscles contracting around him, squeezing him as he came.

  Once again, with their gazes locked, both of their eyes widened with shock. Surprise. Disbelief that sex could be so good between them.

  Their eyes held for one pounding heartbeat. Two. Until...

  She dropped her gaze from his when something behind his eyes changed.

  “Kelsea,” he said, his voice raw.

  She couldn’t look at him. Not yet. Whatever happened was too new, too fresh for her to deal with. Instead, she shoved her face into his neck and wrapped her arms tightly around him, leaning into him and holding on.

  “Darlin’,” he whispered, his breathing still fast and ragged, his accent thicker than normal.

  He wrapped his fingers around her forearms, ready to peel her from him. To expose her vulnerability.

  But she wasn’t ready.

  She wasn’t ready to deal with what just happened.

  To try to figure out what it all meant. If anything.

  When she resisted, and begged, “Don’t let me go yet... please,” he sighed softly, and his broad palms smoothed down her back until he was holding her just as tightly.

  She just needed a few minutes like this. She needed to be held. To feel secure in his arms.

  Maybe it was just a fantasy that he might care about her. But even if it was, she wanted to hold onto that fantasy for a little while longer.

  “Don’t let me go yet... please.”

  There was something about her request and her saying the word “please” that gave him a sliver of hope. It was stupid since it was only a word, but her asking instead of demanding, instead of being a brat, made a world of difference to him, made him look at her differently.

  She wasn’t saying it to be smart or sarcastic. It came from her honestly.

  A little common courtesy went a long way, especially after the way he had to deal with her so many times in the past.

  She wanted someone to see her. But he wanted her to see him, too. Not just as a guy who would show up and ruin her fun. Not as the one tasked with dragging her drunken ass out of a bad situation and delivering her home safely.

  Every. Fucking. Time.

  For this moment, she wasn’t his “job.” She was simply a woman and he was simply a man who wanted that woman.

  In truth, wanting her wasn’t smart.

  He had told himself he wasn’t going to fuck her.

  He did.

  Where they went from here, he had no fucking idea.

  But even so, he wasn’t letting his guard down. At this point, he still couldn’t trust her not to do something stupid.

  This short span of time in each other’s arms was just a positive in the midst of a whole bunch of negatives. He’d seen it before. He’d lived it before.

  One moment of sunshine in the midst of a storm. You enjoyed the warm light while you had it before the next dark cloud blew in.

  Because he knew the sunshine never lasted.

  So, he needed to be prepared to get caught out in the rain.


  Chapter Seven

  Ryder stepped out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his hips, and stopped to watch Kelsea digging through the bags on the bed.

  After she had showered, she apparently stole a clean pair of his boxers and another one of his shirts. At this rate he wasn’t going to have any clean clothes of his own.

  “I bought you some clothes.”

  She pulled a three-pack of white underwear out of one of the bags and held it up. “You mean these?”

  Okay, he had to agree, what he could find might as well be granny panties. What did she expect out here in the mountains?

  “Do you think the local grocery story has a rack of fancy undies? This is what they got. Take it or leave it. You’re not wearin’ it to go fishin’ for dick. It’s to cover that revolvin’ door that took all that strange.”

  She raised an eyebrow and dropped the package on the bed. “You mean that revolving door you just walked through yourself?”

  Yeah, that one.

  She turned with her hands on her hips and ran her gaze from the top of his still wet hair, down his bare chest and then hovered on the place the damp towel clung to. Which was his half-chub after seeing her bending over the bed, his boxers clinging to her generous ass.

  “You clean up nice,” she murmured, slowly walking toward him. He held his breath when she reached him and picked up his dog tags, turning them over in her hand.

  “Army,” she read as she ran a thumb over the raised metal. “I didn’t think Ryder was your real name. This tells me otherwise.”

  “Name I was born with.”

  She lifted her head and her blue eyes held a twinkle. “Dwight?”

  “Was born with that one, too.”

  “Dwight Ryder,” she repeated like she was tasting it.

  His chest tightened at his name on her lips. “You don’t like it?”

  “Do you care if I don’t?”

  Yes. “No.”

  She shrugged and let the tags drop back to his chest. “Then it doesn’t matter.”

  It mattered.

  They stared at each other for a few moments. Finally, she stepped away and went back to the bed. “So, you bought me socks but flip-flops instead of shoes. Granny panties, but no bra.” She snorted and lifted a sweatshirt from the bed.

  He saw that one and had to buy it for her. It was too good to pass up.

  “This all they had?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

  The sweatshirt had a big brown donkey on the front with the word “smart” over it.

  It truly fit her.

  “You realize it’s too hot to wear a sweatshirt?”

  “I know, but it was perfect for you.”

  “I take it you’re saying I’m a smart ass?”

  “Don’t have to say it, darlin’.” He smirked as he moved closer.

  “Guess you bought a matching one, then,” she said as she continued to dig through the bags. After a few seconds, she lifted her head. “Well, I guess I’m stuck with wearing your boxers and shirts. But since we won’t be in this cabin for a long time, I’ll get by.”

  “Walmart’s about an hour away. I’ll try to get there on my next run. You’ll just have to give me your sizes.”

  She frowned. “I’m sure I can last another couple of days.”

  Facing his dresser, he yanked his towel off and dug in his drawer for a pair of clean boxers. He didn’t keep a lot of clothes at the cabin, so if she kept wearing his stuff, he’d also need to hit a laundromat. “I’m sure you can, too, but it ain’t gonna be a couple days, Kels.”

  “Ryder...”

  He lifted a hand over his shoulder, not bothering to look in her direction. “Don’t wanna hear one word.”

  “I’ve got a job.”

  He snorted. “Right. A job you don’t bother to show up for. Left your sister in the lurch time and time again. Think she’s about done with your bullshit. If it wasn’t for Dex, she’d have fired your ass months ago. You better kiss that man’s feet next time you see him.”

  He yanked the boxers up his legs and adjusted his dick into place before grabbing a pair of camo cargo pants out of another drawer. He pulled those on, too. He still didn’t glance behind him to see what she was up to.

  Probably silently cursing at him.

  He found an old olive-green T-shirt and dragged that over his head before turning around.

  Her eyes were heated as she stared at him.

  Well, that wasn’t what he expected. Fuck.

  He adjusted his dick again.

  “You have a nice ass,” she murmured.

  “So do you, darlin’.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t have gotten dressed.”

  He steeled himself against the purr in her voice. “Got things to do. Just because we’re out in the middle of nowhere doesn’t mean I get to lounge around in bed all day.”

  “I bet you’re never lazy and take a day just to spend it in bed.”

  He tipped his head but didn’t answer, because he’d done it only once. But then, he had a really hot brunette in his bed that day at the Inter-Continental Hotel in western Kabul and she was a very good reason to stay there.

  He doubted Kelsea wanted to hear about his hookup with a British war correspondent. Or the sexy French photojournalist that joined them.

  Nope. He doubted she’d want to hear that story.

  But it was a good one. He had turned on his southern charm real thick-like. They ate that shit up. That wasn’t the only thing they ate—

  “Where are you going?”

  He’d been walking toward the front door, adjusting himself once more when her question made him pause. He glanced over his shoulder. His breath caught as he took in her wild blonde hair and... When had she changed into one of his wife beaters?

  Fuck.

  He’d bought them to wear under his flannel shirts, so they were white and, apparently, practically see-through since he could just see the pink of her nipples that were pressed against the thin fabric.

  Fuck. He didn’t need to get her any more clothes from Wally World. What she was wearing right now was perfect.

  The only problem was, her wearing that made it way too tempting to take a day and be “lazy” in bed. That was after fucking her until his balls were drained dry.

  And then fucking her all over again.

  She lifted her eyebrows at him.

  What? Oh yeah. “To get dinner.”

  “Already? It’s early yet.” Her blue eyes lit up. “Is there a burger place locally?”

  “Somethin’ like that.”

  “Really?”

  “Got a smoker out back. Gonna make some smoked whistle pig sandwiches,” he announced with a grin.

  “Is that a specialty around here like Bangin’ Burgers at home?”

  Ryder turned his head away, pinning his lips together. “Mmm hmm.”

  “Can I go with you?”

  “No.”

  “What am I going to do while you’re gone?”

  “Clean.”

  He slammed the door shut behind him and began to hum Luke Bryan’s Huntin', Fishin' And Lovin' Every Day as he headed toward the shed to get his ATV and Remington Varmint .223 rifle.

  Today was going to be a good fucking day.

  He expected her to clean. Like she was his maid or something.

  Suuuuuure.

  She’d get right on that. Maybe tell him to pick up a little maid outfit from the costume section at Walmart.

  She scowled at the toilet brush in her hand and after one last swipe around the rim of the toilet bowl and a quick flush, she tossed it into the sink.

  What was she doing? Why did she feel the need for his praise? Or the need to see a smile from him directed at her?

  Why did she even care?

  He’d been gone for almost an hour already and when he got back, he probably wouldn’t even notice that she put away all the remaining groceries and the clothes he’d bought. As well as made the bed and scrubbed the tiny bathroom.
/>   She was done. If she was going to remain here for a couple more days, she needed to spread out his “chores,” otherwise she’d get so bored she’d start climbing the walls.

  While the sex earlier had relieved some of the tension and frustration—at least for a little while—that tended to be deep-seated in her bones, it was now starting to creep up on her again. The edge she traveled was beginning to narrow and turn razor sharp.

  She glanced around the cabin and found a pile of old magazines on a rough-cut built-in shelf. She went over to thumb through them and wrinkled her nose when she realized they were all about hunting or fishing.

  Yawn. She had no interest in camo-colored rifles or tree stands. She hoped she was out of this cabin long before she got desperate enough to start reading them.

  She had snooped around the cabin this morning when he’d done his grocery run, so she knew the cabin was completely dry. Which made her wonder if he ever drank.

  And if he didn’t, why not?

  Her gaze landed on the pair of flimsy flip-flops he’d bought her, and she rushed over to slip her feet into them. Peering out one of the back windows toward the shed, she checked to see if he was out there.

  He wasn’t.

  But she noted the glass certainly needed a good cleaning. However, that would have to wait. She’d put that on the what-to-do-when-she-was-bored-to-death list.

  Right now, she had more snooping to do.

  She quickly escaped the cabin, passed something that looked like a metal barrel positioned on its side and mounted to a stand with smoke rising from a little chimney. Whatever wood was burning smelled really good.

  But if he was planning on smoking a deer in that thing, she figured it would be difficult. One, it was too small to hold a whole deer. Two, they wouldn’t be eating that tonight since she assumed it would take a long time to smoke that much meat.

  She shrugged. But what did she know about hunting?

  Her mouth watered at the thought of having some really tender venison. She’d had it plenty of times since her Uncle Ace was always stocking the freezers on his farm with deer and sharing it with his family. She never turned her nose up at his deer bologna.