I didn’t take the time to wait for my driver. I rushed out into the street and hailed a cab. Giving the cabbie the address, I fell back against my seat and closed my eyes. One… Two… I tried the counting technique that sometimes calmed me down. Tonight, though, it didn’t work. Nothing worked anymore. Not distracting myself at the office or the club. Not beating the shit out of losers in the alley.
There was one thing I needed, and there was no substitute for it.
Rain started to come down as we crossed the bridge into Brooklyn. Traffic became lighter with each block covered. It was almost two in the morning, and Riley’s neighborhood had settled down for the night. I tossed the driver some cash and jumped out. The drizzle had turned into an all-out storm. Fat, warm raindrops hit the back of my neck and slid down my collar.
I went to hit Riley’s buzzer but thought better of it. I didn’t want her roommate waking up and talking Riley out of letting me in. Instead, I hunkered down under the front’s overhanging and called Riley’s phone.
It rang on and on. Just as I was sure she wouldn’t pick up, a groggy voice answered. “Hello? Xavier?”
“Riley.”
“What are you doing? It’s so late.”
“I’m downstairs. Let me in.”
A heavy silence followed.
“Let me in,” I repeated.
“You’re… downstairs?”
“Yes.”
Another moment dragged by. I was well aware that Riley might hate me right now. I could understand her point of view too. I wasn’t a revealing person. Perhaps she’d hoped I would be. Just like she’d hoped I was the kind of person who’d stick around on a regular basis.
I didn’t have any justification for doing what I was doing right now. Riley and I had both already seen the light. We were two different kinds of people who wanted very different things. That fact right there should have settled everything between us. But yet here I was, doing something I hadn’t thought through for reasons I couldn’t comprehend. It was like someone else had taken over my body.
“Okay,” she finally said. “Hold on.”
I took in the first real breath that I had since calling her. The line went dead, and a minute later I saw her through the glass, coming down the dimly lit hall. Her hair was disheveled, and there were bags under her eyes, but to me, she looked better than she ever had.
She unlocked the front door, and I pushed my way inside and out of the rain, bringing a puddle with me. Riley looked me up and down, her eyes wide.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
Since there was no real answer, I didn’t bother with trying to look for one. Instead, I stepped forward and pulled her into my arms. Her chest pressed against mine and our lips collided together. I was soaking wet, but there was no resistance on her part. She kissed me back right away, her arms going around my neck and holding me close.
I lifted her off the floor as we kissed, and she wrapped her legs around me. Her tank top and soft pajama pants were getting wet with rain water, but she didn’t seem to notice. The hunger in her kiss told me she craved this as much as I did.
I pressed her as tight to me as I possibly could, but it still wasn’t enough. Thoughts of what might have happened over the last week swarmed my head. Had Seth touched her? Had any man touched her?
Riley Carson was mine, even when we weren’t together. Even when circumstances pulled us apart. There was no denying that she was meant for me and no other man.
I instinctively walked for the staircase as we kissed. If I got my mouth off her for one second, she would speak. She would ask what was going on. She’d want to know if I’d changed my mind about us. Since I didn’t have any answers, I just needed to keep kissing her. I needed to keep our lips locked and my hands all over her body until the rest of the world faded away.
I stumbled against the bottom stair, and Riley disengaged herself from my arms. Jumping onto the first step, she took my hand and pulled me upstairs. Apparently, she was as eager to avoid talking as I was. We burst through her apartment door and into her living room. It was the first time I’d been inside where she lived, but there was no opportunity to check the place out. Riley guided me across the room and through an open door.
She closed the door behind us and then we were on each other again. My hands were in her hair, and I was lying her down on the bed. Her familiar smell and taste overwhelmed me. I thought of Seth getting even one whiff of her delicious aroma and fury seized me. I gripped the back of Riley’s head harder and crashed my teeth against hers.
Pinning her against the bed with my weight, I pushed down the waistband of her pajama pants. She was hot and ready for me. I drove a finger between her soft folds and took what was mine. Riley whimpered against the harsh touch, but it was the sound of pleased pain. I explored her completely, fucking her with my hand and reminding her that no one could do it like I did.
Taking my mouth down, I raked my teeth along the sensitive skin of her neck. I found her shoulder and gave it a firm bite, which made her yelp. Pulling my hand out from between her legs, I seized her thin tank top and pulled it over her head. Her tits heaved under the street light coming in through the cracked curtains.
“No one else gets this body,” I whispered. “No one but me.”
Riley looked at me with flushed cheeks. With her chest heaving and her lips trembling, she looked beside herself with arousal.
“Understand?” I asked.
“Yes,” she whispered back. “I understand.”
With a growl that came from a deep place in me that even I didn’t recognize, I tugged her pants off. Her naked body stretched out in front of me, ready for my damage. Crashing my lips against hers once more, I wrapped my arms around her back and tugged her close.
A burning crept up my balls and shaft, and Riley wasted no time responding to it. She seized the base of my dick and gave it long, squeezing strokes. I hissed into her mouth, each of my exhales becoming her inhales.
The burning in my cock became a fire. I ached to possess the woman underneath me as I never had before. Seizing her hips, I flipped her over and onto her stomach.
“On your hands and knees,” I ordered.
She lifted herself up on her elbows, her tight ass pointing toward the ceiling. I stroked my length and marveled at the beauty in front of me. Devouring her tonight would be more satisfying than any time before.
Pulling my arm back, I landed my palm on her ass. Riley jerked forward and grunted. I smacked the other ass cheek, then did it all over again. Red welts rose on her flesh, so intense that even the poor lighting in the room couldn’t hide them. My hands ached to do it again, but I held myself back. Any more, and she’d tell me to stop, and I wasn’t there to hurt her. I was there to worship and consume her. I was there to remind her of the irreplaceable position I held in her life.