For Her Pleasure (The Pleasure Series Book 2) (7 page)

His mouth curved ruefully. “That’s because a man
does
live here.”

“You know what I mean,” she added with a scowl although the way he was looking at her, made her stomach do some odd flip-flop thing.

He looked faintly amused. “Maybe one of these days, but for now I like my place just the way it is.”

“Bland and boring.”

“There’s nothing boring about what goes on upstairs,” he added and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and her mind conjured up explicit images of his tongue sliding across the slick folds of her sex before plunging inside.

She swallowed, with difficulty. “You’re so cocky.”

“And you like it.” His voice was deep and intimate as he leaned in so close she felt his warm breath against her nose. “Tell me you don’t.”

If she did, she’d be lying. Mackenzie met his penetrating gaze and felt so exposed. She pushed him away and moved into the kitchen and removed a beer from the refrigerator. “You want one?” she asked.

He followed her into the room and nodded. She reached for another, then retrieved the corkscrew from the top drawer near the sink, popped the cap from both bottles and handed him one.

“Thanks.”

Mackenzie took a long thirsty sip, then moved into the living room and stuck her iPhone in the docking station he kept in the corner. Mary J. Blige filled the air. She closed her eyes and started swaying to the beat of the music.

“I love that song.”

Her eyes sprung open to find Ryan standing in front of her.

He took another sip from his bottle and lowered it to the coffee table. “Let’s dance,” he suggested.

There was something in his eyes, she’d never seen before.
Wild and almost… predatory.

Mackenzie accepted his offered hand, hoping he didn’t notice how nervous she suddenly was.
 

He led her to the center of the living room floor.

“Bring it here girl,” he murmured, and she laughed as she moved tightly into the circle of his arms. She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face against the heat of his body.

The music was alluring, captivating and Mackenzie found herself moving to the beat. One of his hands was at her
waist,
the other was low on her back, bringing her breasts into contact with his hard muscles. Her nipples tightened, ached with the need to feel his lips on them again. What was going on?

Her heart was pounding, hands sweating, pulse racing. That was unusual, but then Ryan was far from normal. She couldn’t take her eyes off him, and apparently the feeling was mutual. His dark penetrating eyes set off a sweet throb between her thighs. With each step, she felt his cock through his jeans. It was unmistakable. He felt so hard and huge, pressing up against her, swaying, moving against her that her breathing came in haggard gasps.

He was a great dancer, especially one dance in particular. Ryan changed the rhythm of his moves and guided her with each step. “You don’t know
nothing
about that,” he teased and she tilted her head and stared up at him with a slight smile that quickly changed to an O. Ryan looked so sexy, he sent her heart pumping frantically against her ribs.

Mackenzie had to grip his broad shoulders to keep her knees from buckling beneath her as she whispered, “You’re such a show-off.”

“You know you like it.” His husky voice contained amusement as his hot breath fanned across her lips. She leaned closer, the woodsy scent of his cologne still teasing her nose. A desperate need to lean into him, kiss him again raged through her that was so intense, she drew back slightly. Unfortunately, he noticed.

“You’re running.”

 
“Running from what?”

“From this?”
Ryan took her hand and guided it over to his crotch. She could feel the length of his hardened arousal.

Mackenzie drew in a shaky breath and willed her pulse rate to slow down.

Smiling, Ryan lowered his head, and kissed her neck. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about last night.”

She felt his lips trailing a hot path down along her neck to the crook of her shoulder. Goosebumps spread across her body causing her skin to burn with desire. “What part have you been thinking about?” she whispered.

“All of it,” he said as a calloused hand moved downward, stopping at the edge of her neckline. “Starting with the moment you propositioned me at the bar.” She held her breath, while his hand moved down her arm and then around to cup her breast. Desperate need ricocheted down her body. Her nipples strained beneath her bra, begging to be touched. The pad of his thumb grazed her nipple and she gasped.

He sent her an amused glance. “You like that.” It wasn’t a question as he cupped both her breasts, holding the weight of them in his hands, then squeezed and caressed each until she was moaning and arching into his hand.

While Ryan played with her nipples, Mackenzie stared up at his face. He was so beautiful and extremely yummy, with his dark skin and strong, athletic body.

“Ryan,” she moaned as he caressed her nipples.

His lips were firm and hungry as he claimed her mouth. Mackenzie brought her hands to him and held on tight. The kiss was so powerful she was afraid she would fall. He had a way of weakening her senses making it almost impossible to think, only feel. His strong hands caressed her body in all the right places, leaving bursts of heat along the way. Mackenzie struggled for air as he slid his tongue down along her neck, tasting and sucking her flesh as his hands cupped her breasts beneath the fabric. “I want you. I want you so bad I’m about to lose my mind,” he said,
then
he was dragging her shirt over her head and unclasping a satin bra. As he lifted his own t-shirt over his head, she could see his underarms and the soft, dark hair at his pits.

Stepping back, he stared at her in awe. Like him, she liked what she saw. He was beautiful, dark and strong.

Hard muscles dominated his chest, his abs
were
chiseled, and his belly button sexy. His shoulders were wide, his arms powerful, strong, and amazing to look at.

“What are you waiting for,” she whispered.

Ryan lifted Mackenzie into his strong arms and carried her swiftly, against his bare chest, through the house and up the stairs. She closed her eyes, listening to his heartbeat as he carried her inside his bedroom. It too still looked the same. Nothing but a dresser and a massive bed… but that was all that mattered.

Ryan put her down on the mattress and lowered on top of her, the weight of his body pinning her against the cool sheets. His kisses were delicious. His hands were everywhere, caressing and stroking and running up and down along the zipper of her jeans while his tongue slid along her neck and down to suckle at her breasts. With each caress her breath came short and quick. Mackenzie brought her hands up to cup his head as he lowered his kisses across her abdomen and lower to her belly button where he flicked, teased and tortured. She wiggled and moaned against his tongue, desire was building and had her whimpering for much more. She felt his hands move down to the waistline of her jeans, stroke her hips, and graze lightly over her thighs.

While staring at her, he reared back, unzipped her jeans and yanked them down over the curve of her hips, past her feet, before tossing them to the floor. With one tug her panties followed.

“Now it’s your turn,” she coaxed.

He grinned as he rose from the bed. “Whatever the lady wants… the lady gets.” His eyes never left hers as he stepped out of his jeans. While he stood there in black cotton boxers, she admired his large powerful thighs and the bulge in his underwear. He was so hard and ready for her. Goodness the man was gorgeous!

“You see something you want?” he teased. His voice was silky and hot.

She averted her gaze to his face and smirked, “Only if you’re willing to give it to me.”

“I think that can be arranged.” He reached into his drawer and removed a condom and sat it on the pillow beside her, then lowered back on the bed.

Ryan took her breast in his hand, then leaned forward and slipped her nipple into his mouth. His lips were wet and warm, his tongue skilled, and she arched her back and cried out, “Ryan… yes!”

He teased and nipped at it gently with the sharp edge of his teeth then moved to her other nipple, licking and sucking her.

She was so caught up in the feeling that she hadn’t realized he was now kneeling at the foot of the bed.

“Open your legs, sweetheart,” he murmured as he kissed the inside of her thigh.

She parted her trembling legs just as his lips traveled closer to the source of her frustrations.

“Oh God!” she moaned and closed her eyes as his mouth licked its way to her feminine folds. And when his tongue finally flicked the tender flesh, she jerked up off the bed.

“Look at me,” he ordered. Staring up at him, she found him looking at her with hunger in his eyes and she sucked in her breath.

He blew on her clit and Mackenzie’s hips jerked forward, then he was pushing her thighs apart, tasting her with his tongue.

“Awww!” she cried out in pleasure and twisted the sheets in her hands. His tongue was so intense, she tried to move away. “Ryan, please!” she begged.

Ryan ignored her pleas and held her firmly in place, causing her to submit to pleasure like she’d never known.

Finally, his licks slowed, allowing her a chance to slow her breathing, but it wasn’t long before he was lapping at her wet center again, his tongue dipping in and out until she was whimpering in sweet agony. What was he doing to her?
she
wondered, as her ecstasy climbed higher and higher. Her breath came in short gasps as the tension became almost unbearable. Ryan’s tongue was confident and ruthless, making her shake. Mackenzie clutched the back of his head just as her world exploded.

“Ryan!” she screamed as she twisted beneath the assault of his tongue. By the time she was just starting to catch her breath, Ryan sheathed himself in a condom. He positioned himself between her thighs and pushed, filling her deeply. With each thrust, he went deeper still. Ryan’s eyes were closed, his jaws flexed.

She gripped his shoulders as he rode her, digging her fingernails into his skin. “Harder!” Mackenzie ordered and then he obliged her.
Harder, deeper until she was gasping, crying, and begging for more.

Ryan lifted her hips to meet each hard thrust as he rode her. He was huge and slammed into her so deeply, she cried out from a combination of pleasure and pain.

“Babe, I can’t—” Mackenzie whimpered.

“Yes, you can. You can handle this dick. Just relax. Yeah… that’s it baby… rock your hips… just like that.”

He was pounding away, her body tensing in extreme pleasure, and she was spreading her legs wider wanting to feel every single inch. “Yes…
yessss
,” she cried.

“Oh shit,” Ryan growled. He gripped her hips, and pumped until he finally shattered with one deep, hard thrust. As he shouted her name, Mackenzie cried out in joy as another orgasm tore through her body.

Moments later, Mackenzie lay there spooned against his naked body wrapped in his strong, powerful arms. She pressed her cheek to his chest and listened to the beat of his heart, feeling closer to him than she ever had before. It was supposed to be purely physical. She was supposed to stop herself from feeling anything. But Mackenzie suddenly realized their fourteen-day fling wasn’t going to be so easy to walk away from as she had originally thought.

SIX

Mackenzie was in her office when Kaelyn popped her head in the door.

“Hey.”

She looked over at the bride-to-be, her eyes shining bright. “Good morning. Come on in. I’m just lining up the band schedule for next month.”

Kaelyn walked over to her desk and lowered her curvaceous body into one of the visitor’s chairs across from her. “When were you planning on telling me that you and Ryan were an item?”

She laughed. “We’re not an item.”

Kaelyn leaned back on the chair, her jeans-clad legs crossed. “Then what do you call two people walking along the beach eating ice cream?” There was no denying the accusation in her voice.

Mackenzie groaned. Sometimes she hated living in this small town. “Ryan and I always go down onto the boardwalk for ice cream.”

She gave her a look that said she didn’t believe her.
“
Holding hands
?
I thought this was just about sex.”

“It is just about sex.” But even as she said it Mackenzie no longer believed it. The last few days had been like nothing she had ever experienced with a man. Ryan had her thinking about things she never thought she would—a future with one man. “At least that was the truth in the beginning.” She released a heavy sigh and noticed her best friend’s worried look.

“If it was with anyone else I guess I would be happy for you, but Ryan?” she cautioned, frowning over at her. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Mackenzie drew a deep breath, rose, and wandered over to the window. She was starting to think that maybe it might already be too late for that. They had ten days left and already she regretted even putting a time limit on their relationship. If they hadn’t, they could have just rode out the heat until the attraction fizzled, although she had a feeling that wasn’t going to happen any time soon and that was the problem. She wanted so much more with him even though neither had promised any more than two weeks.

Stick to the plan Mack!

Looking over her shoulder, she replied, “Ryan would never do anything to hurt me, at least not intentionally. We have an agreement. Two weeks of fun and good sex, then we’ll end it on a good note. The last thing I want is to walk away hating him.”

Kaelyn nodded sympathetically. “Yes, but if you have feelings for him, then it’s going to be even harder to end things. What are you going to do when you see him with someone else?”

Mackenzie returned to her desk and avoided eye contact. Just the thought made her sick to her stomach to think about Ryan doing to another woman the things he’d been doing to her. It wasn’t fair. She didn’t set out to want him in ways that were prohibited, but knowing everything she had already known about him, it was destined to happen. “When that happens, I will be a big girl and wish him all the best. Really, it’s going to be okay. He’s not looking for anything serious and I don’t want to make more of this than it really is.”

“But I—”

She held up her hand. “No buts. We’re good. And I’m sure you didn’t come here to discuss my sex life. My fabulous sex life, might I add.”

Kaelyn shook her head, sending her long hair swinging across her shoulders. “You’re too much.”

“So I’ve been told.” Mackenzie rose and then reached for her purse. “
Come,
let’s go find you a wedding gown.”

With an upcoming wedding on her mind, Kaelyn quickly stopped butting into her best friend’s personal life and instead started rambling about the type of dress she wanted to buy. Mackenzie followed her out the door pleased to have something else to focus on. Hopefully in the next hour she could get Ryan off her mind, but she doubted it.

*
 
*
 
*

Mackenzie looked up at the clock on the wall of her galley-style kitchen and muttered something under her breath before she rose and padded across the room. Reaching into one of the oak cabinets over the sink, she removed a storage container.
Might as well put the food away.

Ryan hadn’t called.
Texted.
Nothing.
She had made Buffalo wings in the oven and that was saying a lot, because one thing she wasn’t was a cook, but she figured store-bought
cole
slaw, potato chips, and beer was enough to make a meal. But Ryan was supposed to come over at eight. Now he was two hours late and she was starting to worry. He could be an ass, but standing up a woman wasn’t his style.

She put the food away in the refrigerator, then padded down the carpeted hallway of her two bedroom duplex to her bedroom, walked around her queen-sized bed and grabbed her cell phone off the nightstand. After hitting redial, she waited with bated breath for the phone on the other end to pick up.

“Hello?”

“Ryan! Are you okay?” she asked in a rush.

“Hey babe.
Yeah, I’m okay,” he replied, but she heard something weird in his voice.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said, but the tone was weary. “Unlock the door. I’m pulling up.”

Mackenzie ended the call, then hurried into the bathroom, reached for her mascara, brushed it across her lashes and sprayed a little perfume at her wrist. There was a knock at the door and her heart rate sped up. She straightened the short, blue nightie and hurried down the hall.
 
She was prepared to act as if his being late was no big deal, but when she swung the door open, all thoughts erased from her mind.

“Ryan?”

He stepped inside her place, wearing a blue SBFD t-shirt, the smell of smoke and sweat was all over him. “I’m sorry for not calling.”

“No, no,” she began as she closed the door. “I don’t care about that. What happened?” she asked searching his eyes.

“Another house fire,” he spat, but there was nothing routine about the look on his face.

Uncertainty vibrated through her.
“Everything okay?”

Ryan met her eyes, shook his head, and then she knew.

Mackenzie hugged him tight. Her heart ached for him. Military, fireman, police… all public servants, and she had no idea how they did it. She sighed. Ryan was the bravest man she knew.

“As soon as I left the station, I found myself driving to your place.”

She released him, drew back and gazed up at him. “You have soot on your cheek, and you smell like smoke. Did you even shower?”

He gave her a crooked smile. “I was going to shower at home, but instead I came here.”

Her heart did a
thump, thump.

“Then let’s get you showered.” She was already dragging his t-shirt over his head and then grasped his hand and led him toward her room. “Get those pants off, Lieutenant.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Get undressed,” she ordered,
then
walked across into the master bathroom, turned on the shower, and by the time the water was running hot, he stepped through the door.
Goodness
. She swallowed, her throat tight with nerves and blood pounding with excitement. She could no more divert her gaze from straying to his eyes than she could have stopped breathing. He was gorgeous. Ryan was standing there naked, his beautiful cock hanging from a fine dark bed of hair.

“Get in with me,” he told her and then lifted the nightie over her head.

They climbed in and then he was kissing her. The water was running down their faces as his tongue slipped inside. The kiss was hard and greedy and she gave him everything he sought. When his mouth left hers to slide across her cheek and neck, Mackenzie reached around him for a pouf and covered it with liquid soap. His lips were tempting and she liked the feel of his tongue lapping water from her skin.

He released her long enough for her to lather his body. In slow strokes, she started at his forehead and worked her way down to his crotch. He then took it from her hand and brought the pouf across her shoulders, then traveled lower. When he reached her breasts she drew in a slow breath and then another. How could something she did every day that seemed so routine and normal become so sensual when Ryan was involved?
 

The pouf slipped from his fingers and then his hands were all over her body. Touching…petting… feeling her all over. Reaching up, Mackenzie dragged his lips down to hers and was kissing him, trying to take away the images from the fire that she couldn’t begin to imagine.

Ryan lifted her up into his arms and pinned her back against the wall of the shower. Desperately, she reached down, guiding his cock to her folds. Before she could draw a breath, he plunged hard between her folds and then was pumping wildly inside her. Each stroke coaxed a moan from her parted lips. That familiar warmth started at her stomach, then tightened all over which meant an orgasm was
fastly
approaching. Ryan eased into her again and again and she met him thrust for thrust until she cried out his name. A whopping orgasm ripped through her and she rocked her hips, enjoying the roller coaster of pleasure. His growls fired her blood and then she felt him pulsing within her.

Mackenzie was breathing heavily as he reached over, turned off the water,
then
carried her out of the shower and into her room.

“We’re wet,” she panted.

“We’ll dry off in bed.”

She laughed as he tossed her gently onto the bed. Mackenzie reached over and turned out the side lamp as Ryan slid under the covers. She rolled into his arms and laid her head on his chest.

“You must be exhausted.” She suddenly realized he had worked over fifteen hours.

He released a heavy breath. “Yeah, I’m worn out.” And even still he had made love to her.

Mackenzie’s
 
heart
was pounding like crazy while she drew figure eights on his arm.

“Three emergency calls… one of my rookies fell off the ladder on the last call.”

“Is he okay?”

Ryan sighed again. “Yeah… but a pregnant woman we rescued from the back bathroom didn’t make it.”

She felt his body stiffen with emotions. Mackenzie brought her lips to his chest and kissed him. “I’m so sorry.”

Dragging her tightly in his arms, he whispered, “I’m sorry for bringing my frustration over here. I didn’t use a condom.”

Mackenzie brought her lips to his damp skin again. “It’s okay… I’m on the pill. Although with all
them
hoochies
you be sleeping with maybe I should be concerned.”

He laughed and squeezed her close. “I’m always careful. But for some reason it’s hard to keep my head when it comes to you. Why is that I wonder?” he managed between kisses.

“Probably because I’m so irresistible.”

They laughed and rolled around the bed and then things got quiet. Mackenzie lie there listening to him breathing deeply as his body began to relax.

“Do you still think about her?”

It took Ryan so long to speak she thought maybe he had fallen asleep. “Yes, all the damn time.”

She had been around his wife a handful of times.
Beautiful woman.
Pretty smile and so personable that others gravitated to her. She remembered once thinking that they could have been close friends. And then she was dead because some stupid teenagers were drag racing, shattering Ryan’s dreams of having a family.

“I still miss her.”