25
Elle Kennedy
Annabelle moaned, her hips moving restlessly as he went down on her. “God, you’re good at that,”
she mumbled. She made a wheezing sound. “And if you say it’s because you’ve had a lot of practice, I’ll slap you.”
He laughed against her pussy. Yep, sarcastic even during sex. He’d known she would be, and damn, but he loved it. He also loved driving her wild, which he continued to do, flicking his tongue over her clit, licking every inch of her until she was moaning uncontrollably. He sucked her clit deep in his mouth. Her sweet taste made him dizzy with lust, and his cock throbbed, hard and full and dying for release.
Annabelle moved her hips faster, her breathing heavy, but just as he felt her clit pulse against his lips, he drew back. He had a crazy urge to see her eyes when she came. Abruptly, he shot to his feet, his cock poking out like an angry sword.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Annabelle grumbled.
“Condom,” he said hoarsely.
He went from the living room to the bathroom and back to the living room in less than a minute. Ten seconds after that, he had a rubber on and was entering Annabelle with one swift thrust.
“Oh Jesus,” he hissed out. She was so tight he nearly exploded from the feel of her inner muscles clamped around his dick like a vise. “Are you always this tight?”
“Probably. You want me to poll my other lovers?”
A laugh lodged in his throat. “No, please don’t.”
“Okay.” She pressed her palm on his chest and stroked his pecs. “Can we stop talking now?”
Her touch seared his skin, causing beads of sweat to pop out on his forehead. Damn, he liked her touch. He liked everything about her—her dark-brown hair fanned out on the floor, her rigid dark-pink nipples, the leg she’d hooked around his waist, the kung-fu grip of her pussy. She looked so fucking hot lying there beneath him, and he had no problem shutting up. In fact, he lost all capacity for speech as he started to move inside her.
Annabelle moved with him, lifting her ass and meeting him thrust for thrust, while her fingernails dug into his back, eliciting little sparks of pain mingled with pleasure.
“I need…fuck,” he swore. “I need to be deeper.”
With a husky growl, he grabbed hold of one of her legs and lifted it up to his shoulder, pushing his cock into her as deep as it would go. Annabelle cried out, a wild throaty sound ringing with pleasure. He nearly came right there and then as he watched her slide her own hand down her body so she could rub her clit.
Biting her full bottom lip, she met his gaze, then parted her lips, moaned and orgasmed.
It was the sexiest sight he’d ever seen, and he wasn’t far behind her, especially when she lifted her head to his shoulder and bit into his flesh, still whimpering and rocking beneath him. Ryan let go, shuddering as a burst of sheer pleasure rocketed through his body, sizzling through his blood and nearly 26
Heat of the Night
stopping his heart. His climax made the world spin, and by the time his shoulders sagged and his chest collapsed onto Annabelle, he felt ravaged and exhausted and so fucking sated.
Under him, Annabelle was breathing as heavily as he was, and he suddenly realized he was probably crushing her. He gingerly rolled onto his side and, wincing, peeled the condom off his still-hard dick, then raised himself up on one elbow so he could peer down at her. He grinned at the dazed cloud of arousal still glimmering in her eyes.
“I guess we can cross number one off the list,” he said roughly.
“Oh yeah,” she agreed, still sounding breathless. “That was surprisingly good.”
“Surprisingly?” he echoed in mock anger.
“There was always the chance you were all talk and no action,” she replied sweetly. “Overconfident men usually suck in bed.”
“I do not suck in bed.”
“I know. Like I said, you’re surprisingly good.”
“More like incredibly awesome.”
She shot him a sugary smile. “It’s nice to have a healthy ego.”
He bent down and planted a quick kiss on her lips, then pulled back and admired her perfect features.
“You really are beautiful, you know that, Annabelle?”
Her cheeks turned pink. “You already got me in bed—well, on floor—so you don’t need to sweet talk me.”
“I’m not sweet talking. It’s true. You’re beautiful.”
He figured she’d object again—all she ever seemed to do was object—but instead she smiled shyly and said, “Thank you.”
Those two words were laced with so much wonder that he had to ask, “Hasn’t anyone ever told you that before?”
A tiny frown marred her forehead. “No. My parents, sure, but you’re the first man who’s ever said that.”
“Then the men you’ve dated before are complete morons.” He dragged his fingers down her bare arm, then rested his palm on her stomach and rubbed the soft skin there. “You’re gorgeous, Annie.”
“So are you, Rick.”
He chuckled. Man, he really liked this chick. Her well of sarcasm never seemed to run dry, and he found himself laughing constantly when she was around. And who could forget the mind-blowing sex they’d just had. When was the last time he’d felt this sated?
Next to him, Annabelle shifted, arching her back to form a little bridge with her naked body. “God, my back kills.”
“Isn’t it worth it, though?”
27
Elle Kennedy
She mulled it over. “Yeah, I guess it is.” She raised herself up on her elbows, her breasts jutting out enticingly. “I should probably take off.”
“What’s the rush?” he asked, wrinkling his forehead.
Discomfort flitted through her brown eyes. “I figured you had, I don’t know, things to do or something.” She paused. “And it just occurred to me I don’t know a thing about you, except that you live in the building and were sort of involved with Christina.”
“I’ll tell you what, if you stay, I’ll tell you every last thing about myself.”
He sensed her reluctance, and an odd spark of panic lit in his gut. He didn’t want her to go. Weird, since they’d only met yesterday, but for some reason, he wanted her to stick around.
“Come on,” he urged. “It’ll be fun. We’ll order some pizza or Chinese food, spend the afternoon and night naked, and get to know each other.”
The corner of her lush mouth lifted. “That does sound pretty appealing.”
“It’ll be fun,” he reiterated.
Her smile widened. “How much fun?”
Grinning, Ryan placed his palm on her thigh and stroked gently. “
A lot
of fun.”
The shrill ringing of the phone woke Annabelle up at five in the morning. And it wouldn’t stop. It kept ringing and ringing and ringing, and next to her, Ryan made no move to pick it up. Groaning, she buried her head under the pillow, as Ryan shifted beside her, letting out a groan of his own.
“Who the fuck is that?” he mumbled.
“This isn’t fun,” Annabelle mumbled back. “You promised me a fun sleepover and then stuck me with a five o’clock wake-up call. I’m very unhappy at the moment.”
The phone mercilessly stopped ringing. For half a second.
Then it started right back up again.
Annabelle shot up into a sitting position. “If you don’t answer it, I will kill you.”
Groaning again, Ryan stuck out his arm and began rummaging around for the cordless phone. He finally got it off its cradle, jammed on the talk button and lifted it to his ear. “What?” he barked into the receiver.
Annabelle heard a male voice talking excitedly, but couldn’t make out any of the words. Ryan, however, was instantly awake. He sat up abruptly, a wide sleepy grin filling his face. “Seriously?
Now
?”
He paused. “Okay. Yeah, definitely. We’re on our way.”
“We?” Annabelle burst out, wiping the sleep from her eyes.
Ryan ignored her. “Huh? No, that’s Annabelle…yeah, long story…she’s kind of strange but—”
“Kind of strange?” she yelled.
28
Heat of the Night
“—pretty cool,” Ryan finished. “Yeah…okay, see you in twenty. Tell her to hold it in until I get there because I totally want to see the head when it—hello?” He glanced at Annabelle. “Bastard hung up.”
Shoving the sheets off the bed, Ryan got up, suddenly as alert as a watchful guard dog. He moved around the bedroom, grabbing pieces of clothing, as Annabelle sat on the bed, shaking her head in confusion. “What on earth is happening?” she demanded.
“Shelby’s having her baby,” he said without breaking his stride.
“Who?” She went pale. “Don’t you dare tell me you got some girl pregnant.”
“She’s Garrett’s wife,” Ryan replied, sinking down on the edge of the bed so he could roll on a pair of socks. “Garrett’s on my SEAL team, I mentioned him yesterday, remember?”
She only sort of remembered. She was still having a tough time reconciling the fact that Ryan was a Navy SEAL. In between having super awesome sex, they’d spent all of yesterday talking about their lives, and when she asked him what he did for a living, she figured he’d say something like “pro surfer” or
“personal trainer” or maybe “gigolo”. The Navy, she did not expect. Sure, he had the most extraordinary body ever, all toned and muscled and hard just about everywhere, but she couldn’t imagine him holding a gun, or creeping through the jungle, blowing things up, taking down terrorists…it was actually kind of hot when she thought about it. She’d never slept with GI Joe before.
“His wife is having their baby and Carson says it’ll be any minute now,” Ryan said, jarring her from her thoughts. “I’m gonna be an uncle, babe!”
Although she didn’t know Shelby or Garrett or Carson, Ryan’s enthusiasm was contagious. “God help that baby,” she said with a laugh.
He stood at the foot of the bed, shooting her an expectant look. “Well, come on, get up. We have to go to the hospital.”
Her enthusiasm faded. “Why? I don’t even know these people, Ryan. I don’t want to intrude.”
“You won’t be intruding.” He waved a dismissive hand. “They’ll all be happy to see you, especially Holly.”
“Who’s Holly?”
“I’ll tell you in the car. Now get up already.”
Annabelle slid out of bed, then paused, realizing she was totally naked. Almost immediately, Ryan’s eyes darkened to a midnight blue, and she could see the flicker of arousal in his gaze. Funny enough, she didn’t feel self-conscious. She never walked around naked in the condo she shared with Bryce. Neither did Bryce, for that matter. As their moving-in present, he’d bought them matching robes. To preserve her modesty, she’d thought, but that was before she’d discovered he was a prude.
“I need to go upstairs to Christina’s to get some clothes. I only have my bikini here,” she reminded him.
Ryan offered a wolfish grin. “Wear it to the hospital.”
29
Elle Kennedy
“You wish,” she said with a snort.
“I do wish. All my friends would be jealous.”
Laughing, she went over to the chair near the bed and picked up one of the T-shirts lying there. “Can I wear this?” Without waiting for him to agree—he’d be an asshole not to—she slipped the shirt over her head. It hung down to her knees, and as she walked toward Ryan, he had a devilish look in his eyes.
“You look seriously cute in that shirt,” he said, then elicited a startled squeak from her mouth by planting his hands on her waist, pulling her close and kissing her.
His lips were so soft, so warm. Annabelle’s toes curled as his mouth moved over hers in a teasing caress. God, he knew how to kiss. He knew how to do everything, in fact. They’d had sex three times already, and each time he pushed that thick cock into her, it took her breath away. Not that she was surprised. Just looking at him, you knew he’d be good in bed. What would Bryce think if he could see her now?
The notion brought a pang of guilt to her belly, followed by a jolt of anger. Screw Bryce. Who cared what he thought. He hadn’t thought twice before hooking up with someone else, so why should she?
“Okay,” Ryan groaned, breaking the kiss. “If we keep doing that, we’ll never get to the hospital.” He reached his arm around her and gave her butt a little slap. “Let’s get a move on.”
“Do we have to?”
“Yep. Don’t worry, Annie, it’ll be fun.”
She didn’t bother to correct him this time. He’d simply pick another annoying nickname if she said anything, and truth be told, she was beginning to like it. Nobody had ever called her Annie before. Her mother maintained that the nickname sounded too “common”. Annabelle, on the other hand, now that was a name that screamed wealth, according to Sandra Holmes.
Ryan waited somewhat impatiently as Annabelle got dressed upstairs, but she refused to rush. She still wasn’t sure why he insisted she come with him. She didn’t know any of his friends, and the birth of a child seemed like a rather inappropriate place to bring a girl you’d only known for two days. Yet for some reason, she wanted to go. She liked Ryan. She was drawn to him. And she couldn’t help but be curious about his life, about
him.
They left the building fifteen minutes later, and Ryan led her to an olive-green Jeep parked at the back of the lot. He didn’t open the passenger door for her, and she resisted making a sarcastic remark about chivalry. Bryce always opened her door, and it drove her crazy. She was perfectly capable of opening her own door, and when Bryce did it, there was nothing chivalrous about it. It felt more patronizing if anything.
“So what’s the deal with this Bryce guy?” Ryan asked as he started the engine. “Am I helping you cheat on him? ’Cuz I’m not sure how I feel about that. I do have a moral code, you know.”
She grinned. “Yeah, I’m sure you do.” The smile faded as she pondered his question. She’d told him about Bryce earlier, but mostly skimmed over the details. “I guess Bryce and I are broken up.”
30
Heat of the Night
He shot her a sideways look before turning his attention back to the road ahead. “Were you really engaged?”