Some people might think that is giving up a lot for a single kiss but this isn’t just a kiss.
This is a spark. A flame. Something ignited deep inside.
I am burning up, and a greedy fire is catching inside me that can’t be quenched. It’s no longer a mere flicker of desire at my core. Ryder kisses me and I’m consumed.
“You sure?” he asks, his mouth on my ear.
I whimper against him, every hair on my body standing on end. “I’m not the sort of woman who changes her mind.”
“I can see that, you know what you want.”
“I do.”
I like that he sees that in me, respects it. I like that he wants me as badly as I want him.
He told me he was horny and if my wet panties have a say in this, I’m horny too. I want it all at once, but I also want to take our time. I want him to take me against the wall, hard and fast, and I want to straddle Ryder; ride him nice and slow.
I want it all. I want everything.
But I don’t even know where to begin. Our mouths collide once more, but my teeth hit his, I nip at his lip, I nearly draw blood. And my hands, they don’t know where they belong. On his face? His belt? His manhood?
My cheeks flush with embarrassment. I am in over my head in ways I can’t admit. I want this, yet I don’t know how to get there. I don’t know where to go.
“It’s okay, Justine,” he whispers. “Let me help,” he says as he kisses a trail along my neck. “Let me take care of you.”
I close my eyes, grateful I’m not alone in a hotel room with Ryder’s ex-stepdad, a man who might rush me in ways I’m not ready for. I want this, absolutely, but I also want to remember my first time.
Tears well up, and I realize I had no idea what I was doing when I decided to auction off my virginity. I didn’t completely understand what it would mean to let a man run his hands over my body, to open myself up to a stranger who may not treat me as something fragile.
And while I am a strong, capable woman, I am also just a girl, needing a man. I didn’t know I could be both those things. But as Ryder pulls back my hair, exposing my shoulders, his ice blue eyes make everything crystal clear.
With a man like him, I can be anything I want to be.
“Can you get my bags from the car?” I ask. Suddenly I want to make this moment special, I want to make this night memorable.
His eyes lock on mine, as if asking if I’m going to try and run, but he should know by now that I am not here against my will.
If this auction would have been the other way around, and he was up on stage selling himself, I wouldn’t have held back.
I’d have been the highest bidder.
And tonight, I’ll be the one leaving with the prize.I stand in his tiny bathroom. Yes, I snooped and looked through his toiletries, and I was surprised to see that they were all high-end. All luxury, and to be honest it’s hard to connect the shampoo he uses to the rugged man who took me off the grid. But just like I can be more than one thing, maybe Ryder can be too.
I look in the mirror hanging over the sink and smooth back my long hair. I slide pale pink gloss over my lips and make a kissy face, pleased with myself for slowing down the sexcapades a tiny bit.
Yes, this is better. I cinch the tie of the white satin bathrobe and readjust my breasts in the lingerie. I straighten the pearl necklace and take a deep breath.
Now I’m going to step into the cabin and have sex. This shouldn’t be life-altering, but it is. Maybe because the auction amped up this moment to the max, but maybe it’s because it is Ryder out there waiting for it.
Ryder is not at the kind of man I expected I’d be sleeping with. Everything about him screams untamed and maybe that is the appeal. I know I’m not going to domesticate him in one night but I want this feral man to be the one who takes my virginity.
Especially since he isn’t just a rugged, bearded, hottie. He is also undeniably gentle with me.
He made me vegan lentil soup for goodness sakes.
I push open the bathroom door and see Ryder has stripped to nothing but a pair of boxers.
A small gasp escapes my mouth. Ryder is not just a mountain man; he looks like he was carved to perfection. His muscles reveal strength I imagined but couldn’t comprehend. His shoulders are broad and ripped with corded muscles. I can tell he moves his body constantly and all I want right now is for his body to move to mine, to undress me and take me and make love to me until the sun rises.