45. Ridley

45

RIDLEY

I blinked against the bright sunlight, the beams making me squint. How late had I slept? Maybe the brightness of the sun was why I was so damned hot.

And then I felt it.

Colt. He was everywhere. Under me. Over me. Against me.

That scent of bergamot and cloves invaded my senses like a full-on attack. And as his hips flexed against my backside, I couldn’t help the moan that slipped out of my lips. The feel of him, that hardness against me, was too much.

Colt’s fingers pulled the hair away from my neck, and then his lips were there, skating over my tender skin. “You sleep okay?”

I nodded, not trusting my voice. The truth was that I’d slept better than I had in years. Since that night. Colt had kept his promise, like always—he’d stayed.

His arm slid beneath the covers, fingers trailing up my bare thigh. “How do you feel?”

“Fine,” I croaked. “Good, I mean.”

“Hmmm.” The sound Colt made buzzed against my neck. “Think I could make you feel a little better?”

Hell.

I needed to say no, to put some distance between us after last night. He was too close, in every definition of the word. And I knew what could happen when people were too close. It could destroy me when I lost him.

And I would lose Colt. One way or another, it would happen eventually.

“Colt—”

“I’m busy,” he said, nipping at my pulse point as his fingers explored higher up my thigh.

My breaths came in short, quick pants. My nipples pebbled against the cotton of my tee. Those damn traitorous peaks. I arched back into him, unable to resist.

Colt cursed, and his other hand came from underneath me, palming my breast and tweaking my nipple. “You live to torture me, don’t you?”

I couldn’t help the small smile that came to my lips. “Maybe.”

He nipped and licked his way up the column of my neck. “Dangerous. Lethal.”

My heart pounded against my ribs. Because that was what Colt was to me.

His fingers trailed higher up my thigh, freezing as he came to the apex. “Tell me you aren’t sleeping in just a T-shirt.”

I bit my bottom lip. “I’m not sleeping in just a T-shirt.”

He flipped me to my back, hovering over me. “You little liar.”

I grinned up at him, a giggle slipping free.

Colt’s eyes darkened. “ My T-shirt.”

I froze. I’d forgotten I’d put the old, worn cotton tee on last night in the search for comfort. “It’s soft,” I said defensively, trying to deny my real reason for slipping it on.

Those shadowy depths skated over me. “Love the look of you in my clothes.”

“Colt—”

He stole the sentence off my lips as he jerked the tee up and over my head. He flipped it behind me, making me arch on instinct, my breasts raising up higher. “Grab the headboard, Chaos.”

I sucked in a sharp breath as my blood heated. Shadows danced in Colt’s eyes, ones that held a delicious promise. He was like a drug. I kept telling myself just one more taste would be enough. One more night where I lost myself to the feel of him. One more endless moment of feeling .

I’d made countless promises to Avery that I would live. And no one made me feel more alive than Colter Brooks.

My hands lifted to the rustic metal bars above my head, the ones that fit so well with the rest of the décor in the room. But décor was the last thing on my mind as the rough texture bit into my palms. There was something about that, the friction of the metal against my skin as I waited for what Colt would do next.

I didn’t have to wait long.

Colt’s head came down, his mouth closing around my nipple as his hand dipped between my thighs. My back arched further, seeking everything that was him. His hands, his tongue, the slight graze of his teeth.

Another moan slipped free, and I didn’t try to hold it back. I let it fly and pushed my hips into Colt’s hand.

“My greedy girl,” he growled against my breast.

And I was. For him.

Two fingers slid inside on an easy glide as his tongue circled my nipple.

“Colt,” I breathed.

Those fingers swirled, stretching me. The slight burn melted into smoky heat—a heat I only wanted to sink deeper into.

A third finger joined the first two, and my mouth fell open, no words slipping free. I could only grip the bars above me harder as I tried to hold on, to soak up every ounce of sensation.

Then Colt’s mouth was gone, but his fingers kept working. That circle, then slide. The curving drag of fingertips down my walls until I was ready to beg.

As if he could read my mind, Colt’s other hand slid along my jaw. “Need more?”

I sucked in air, desperate for something to cling to. “Yes.”

“But not just any more. Tell me who you want.”

My head jerked, searching for those shadowy eyes. And when I found them, they burned. Branded me in a way that I knew I’d never be the same. I knew what Colt wanted. And the damn bastard played dirty.

But I couldn’t lie to him. Not while staring into those depths I knew housed a soul that understood mine. Depths that truly saw me.

“I want… you .” The words tumbled out between pants.

Colt’s fingers were gone in a flash and his boxer briefs shucked in a split second. His tip bumped against my entrance as he stared down at me. “Tell me again.”

“You, Colt. I need you .” Those words nearly broke me as the bars bit into my palms. Because they were true. And it was more than his body that I craved. It was everything about the man. The surly demeanor that hid the most tender caring. That gruff protective streak that shielded everyone he cared about.

He planted one hand on the bed as his other covered one of mine, encircling a bar on the metal headboard. And those shadowy eyes didn’t look away as he thrust inside me.

My lips parted at the feel of him. All of Colt. My eyes watered as I struggled to adjust to his size.

“Fucking perfect,” he breathed, those eyes I loved falling closed for the briefest second as he soaked in the feel of me.

There was power in that. A surge of heady strength that had my walls tightening around him.

Colt cursed, his eyes flying open again. “My girl wants to play.”

My hips rose up to meet him in answer, and he didn’t wait. Colt slid out on a delicious glide and thrust back in with more force this time.

“Hold tight,” he warned, those fingers gripping mine around the bar harder. And then he took me again.

The force of it was just shy of too much. But I wanted him to tip over that scale. I wanted to always carry a piece of him with me, to always remember what it was like to be his.

My legs tightened around him, heels digging in and silently asking for more. And Colt gave it to me. He took me like a man possessed. Each thrust deeper, tipping the scale into those slight flickers of pain. A pain that was ours—a pain that only drove the pleasure higher.

Because there couldn’t be one without the other. And if there was one thing Colt and I had both learned, it was that. Loss and hurt could turn you bitter, or it could make you appreciate love and life that much more.

“Eyes on me,” he ground out, his hand gripping mine tighter. “Let me in, Chaos.”

My heart hammered against my ribs. Of course it wasn’t good enough for Colt to simply have my body. He wanted all of me. My heart. My mind. My goddamned soul. All those pieces I kept hidden from the rest of world.

But he should’ve known he already had them. And finally, I let him see it.

“Colt,” I rasped as I let the walls down. Every shield I’d reinforced with steel to keep from being hurt again, -all of it was useless in the face of all this man was.

“There she is,” he breathed, his forehead dropping to mine as he arced into me again.

My walls clamped down, demanding more, demanding everything . And wanting to take that everything and hold it close.

A nonsensical sound slipped from Colt’s lips as he came. Guttural. Animalistic.

I took it all. Each wave of my orgasm pulling him deeper, closer, burning him into me. A forever brand. One I’d wear with pride.

We collapsed together, Colt rolling us so I was on top of him, taking care of me even in this. His fingers trailed up my back, tracing the bumps of my spine. “Never felt anything like this.”

My grip on him tightened instinctively as my fear raged. “Me either,” I croaked.

“Scares the hell out of you.”

I nodded against his chest.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be right here for as long as you’ll have me.”

That fear only dug in deeper at the thought of losing the beauty that was this man. “And he always keeps his promises.”

“Damn straight,” Colt said, his lips brushing my temple.

A barked meow sounded, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of fur. “Tater! No?—”

But it was too late. She hurled herself onto the bed and sank her teeth right into Colt’s ear.