car slid to a stop, shattered the heartbreaking moment. He pulled back, his eyes heavy as he looked down at me. For a moment, I saw something in his eyes that made me think I could learn to like the soft. The gentle.
But this time, my sane side and my inner deviant joined forces. He’s not for you, they said in unison. You need more than that. And he deserves someone who can give it to him. Not you. Never you.
“Willow?”
I tried to give him a smile. A light hearted laugh. Not to let him see the burn of humiliated tears that threatened. “You’re one hell of a kisser, Ryker. You should come with a warning label.” I ducked under his arm and hurried away as fast as I could.
He didn’t call after me this time.
The tears slipped past my control as I pushed through the front doors and out into the sunshine. I’d never felt more alone in my entire life.
Chapter 28 – Ryker
You’re one hell of a kisser, Ryker. You should come with a warning label. Her words banged around my mind like they were the steel ball in a vintage pinball machine.
Her lips had been everything I thought they would be. Decadent, plush, velvety. What hadn’t been in the top ten descriptors I’d come up with for her mouth: Uninterested. But that’s exactly what I’d felt from her.
As if she’d been locked away behind a frozen sheet of glass, I hadn’t been able to reach her. Get her to respond. Get her involved. Nothing like the moaning woman from last night who’d all but writhed in my arms. Or called me last night to check on me.
The doors slid closed, cutting her off from my view. What the fuck had just happened? I replayed the whole scene again. She’d been right there with me. Edgy as fuck, her breathing uneven, her body sending all the right signals. I hadn’t been imagining them or misreading them.
I banged my forehead softly against the stainless steel elevator doors. I’d forced myself not to maul her. Not to crowd her back against the wall and take what I wanted. She’d said on multiple occasions she didn’t want to sleep with me. I wasn’t going to coerce her into it by getting her too revved up to say anything but yes.
My women came to me fully aware and wanting. No blurred lines. No confusion on what was happening.
I’d sipped from her mouth even though I’d wanted to drown myself in her flavor. Cradled her chin when all I wanted was to wrench it back so I could attack her neck with my teeth. But I’d held back. Invited her to join me.
I’d gotten nothing. Less than nothing, in return. I’d held her against my body and felt her disappear.
The doors opened again, jolting me out of my thoughts. I gave the two business men a tight smile as I moved back and leaned against the far corner of the elevator. You should come with a warning label. I gritted my teeth. She’d spoken of her cupcakes with more passion than when she uttered those words.
I finally made it back to my floor. I stormed out, grabbed up the baker’s box from the reception desk where I’d left it on my way to her. I flung the lid open, dug one of the little cakes out. I hooked the Thor ring over the tip of my pinky finger as I licked up a stray flange of frosting.
It melted in my mouth. A low groan rumbled through my chest. I was going to decorate her body with this stuff and lick it off her for hours. I toed the door shut so I could fantasize in peace as I settled behind my desk. I was already running late to the virtual meeting with some of my overseas suppliers. They could wait a little longer.
I slid the baker’s box onto the desktop and peeled the paper cup away from the desert. The scents of cinnamon and sugar drifted into the air. I angled the cupcake to the side, bit into the moist spongy cake.
Flavors exploded on my tongue. I hadn’t even known that cinnamon cupcakes were a thing, but I was going to start buying them by the fucking truckload. The sweetest hint of vanilla merged with the spice as I took another bite.
Leaning back in my chair, I cracked my knee against the edge of the drawer. “Fuck!” I rubbed the sore spot. A