We’re made for each other.
“You said you were going to wait to check it was really him,” Rachel says, shrugging.
I bite down, stopping a roaring noise at the last second. Whenever my woman shrugs, her juicy big breasts heave, shifting up and down and making my balls swell. It’s difficult not to give in to the primal insistence – grab her, massage those creamy tits, making her moan and shiver until I’m certain she’s soaked for me.
“Do you feel safe?” Autumn asks. “That’s my only concern.”
“You can take a video of me if you like,” I say. “That way, if anything happens to her, you have proof I was with her…I’m not saying anything would or could. I wouldn’t let it. But you’re clearly protective, which I appreciate.”
I wish I’d had a protective older sibling, but I don’t add that part.
“So whatever makes you feel safe.”
Rachel is nodding fast, my eager girl, like she can’t hold herself back.
“I think that’s for the best,” she says. “That way, everybody is happy.”
She finally looks at me, her blush deepening, her eyebrows raised.
It’s like she’s asking me a question without using words.
Maybe it’s something like….
What are we going to do when we’re alone?
CHAPTER TEN
Rachel
“What happened to Rusty?” I ask.
We’re finally alone. Autumn agreed to make a video, and then, after making sure her number was on speed dial all while Ryland watched the whole thing – she left us.
We walk around the edge of the park, under the shadow of the tall trees.
With his sculpted abs and arms bulging from beneath his T-shirt, Ryland is all muscle and power. We’re close, but we’re not touching.
Is it too optimistic to add a yet?
I remember what he said to Autumn about thinking I was attractive, and wanting to date me.
“He’s your dog, Rusty? I got the name right?”
Ryland looks down at me with that unreadable glint in his eyes. His lips are somewhere between a grimace and a smirk. With the sunset in the backdrop, his silver hair glistened. My fingers itch as I imagine running my fingers through it.
“He was exhausted when I left. I decided to leave him.”
“Oh.”
Ryland chuckles. “He’s real, Rachel.”
I mock glare. I almost playfully punch him on the arm, but I stop myself at the last moment.
“I never said he wasn’t.”
“I know. But I get you’re going to feel suspicious.”
“Maybe a little,” I admit. “But you can’t say this isn’t completely crazy. You’re a celebrity, and I’m…nobody.”
We pause at the edge of the park, coming to a stop without discussing it. It’s a small thing, the way we stop walking without needing to exchange any words. Perhaps it isn’t worth freaking out over, but I can’t help it.
It feels so couple-like as if we’re already boyfriend and girlfriend. And even that feels like I’m undervaluing what we have.
“So tell me about yourself,” Ryland says firmly. “You said you’re nobody. I already disagree with that. But fine, you believe it. Then make yourself somebody. Who are you, Rachel?”
I giggle as I wave my hands. The response strikes me as juvenile, but I can’t help it. It comes out despite my best efforts to keep control of this situation.
His every word sets me alight.
“That’s a difficult question to answer. Where do I start?”
He moves forward. We’re still not touching, but I can feel the heat of his body. I’m certain I can feel all the hunger and the lust radiating from him. Or perhaps that’s a projection, a reflection of what I feel sent back at me.
“Wherever you feel is best,” he says in his husky voice. “I just want to know you.”
“What?” I tease. “You didn’t get enough through the chat service?”
He grins, flashing his teeth, more wolf than man. “It was nowhere near as good as this.”
“Good?”
“Good,” he says firmly. “As in – you’re here, I can see you. You’re even more beautiful than in your photo. That’s what I mean.”
“Come on,” I say.
“What?” he grunts. “I mean it.”
“I’m beautiful?”
“Yes.” He narrows his eyes. “That’s the easiest question I’ve ever answered.”
I turn away from him slightly. It was so much easier when I had the protection of the laptop screen, a shield to keep between us, a way to stop me from feeling the full force of how handsome, hot, rugged, muscular, and perfect he is.
It’s difficult not to latch too strongly onto his words, not to let myself believe he’s anything other than flirty and friendly. Even that is a miracle, and I should be grateful.
But I can’t stop thinking about the never-going-to-happen future, where he wraps his arms around me from behind, as we both watch our children play in the yard, or he leans in and kisses me softly on the cheek, telling me I’m as beautiful now as the first moment we saw each other.
He’s smirking at me, his eyebrows raised. I get the sense he’s been talking to me as I’m standing here, staring off into space, lost in daydreams.