A/N: this chapter contains sexy bits. VERY sexy bits. You have been warned!
"Did anyone see you?" Emmie seized Ryker by the sleeve and dragged him inside her vestibule, quickly shutting the door behind him.
"The postman, an old lady walking her dog. Wait—is this a dirty game we're playing?" He clamped onto the arm she'd grabbed him with and moved in close to her. "Don't worry, your husband won't find out about us..." He raised an eyebrow. "Unless you want him to."
"My what? Oh, sweet Christmas, no I'm serious here, Ryker. Your sister is meeting friends tonight at Moon Beach Collective." She pointed to the wall on her right, beyond which lay the art gallery. "She could be there now."
"My sister is at home with the kids having the dinner Dan made for them, actually. That art thing never starts until after seven. Why are you so worked up? You can't be embarrassed of me... so what is it?"
"Well of course I'm embarrassed of you. I meet Trisha, she hires me, becomes my insta-friend, and then I go off and sleep with her brother the first day I lay eyes on him. And she knows... somehow she knows."
"Right, but so what if she does?" What was the big deal? They were two consenting adults. It seemed there could never be a time when Trish didn't interfere in his love life. Scratch that, this wasn't love. Sex life, then.
Scratch that. His sister was definitely not involved in his sex life. This had to stop now. "I don't usually keep things from Trish, but in this case..."
"It would be better if she didn't know. That's what I'm saying, Ryker. We want an uncomplicated relationship. If people know about it, especially your family, things will not remain uncomplicated. And that's not part of our agreement."
"I really should get this agreement in writing. You seem to keep rewording it."
"I do not. It's been solidly written in my mind since we agreed to it."
"The inside of your mind isn't exactly a spot I'm allowed access to."
"Just be glad I allow you access to the inside of other areas of me."
"Yes ma'am."
She pushed him off of her so they could maneuver the staircase. "Okay, now I am going to have to add something to our arrangement. Don't call me ma'am ever again. I'm only twenty-eight."
"Yes, miss."
"Better. Set the pizza on the table there." She eyed the box greedily. "I don't suppose it's deep dish."
"No, but it is clam free. That's got to count for something."
"Quite a lot, actually." She opened the box and they stood side by side for a moment, taking in that perfect combination of aromas: tomato sauce, yeast, and cheese.
"I forgot to ask if you eat meat so I played it safe and stuck with veggies."
"I'm not opposed to peperoni but this works too." With that, Emmie descended upon her dinner. She looked up after a few bites to see Ryker staring at her, his own food untouched. He couldn't help but admire her unabashed enjoyment. Some women would barely touch their iceberg lettuce salad when he took them on dates. He hated that they thought he would care if they consumed more than one hundred calories in front of him. Emmie definitely made no such assumption.
"Better eat up, too." She licked her fingers. "You're going to need your strength tonight."
That sounded promising. He did as she requested.
As they ate, Emmie asked him several surprisingly in-depth questions about UMA, which she claimed were made purely for the sake of general scientific enquiry rather than any attempt to get to know him better. There was only one place she was willing to "get to know him better" and that was in her bed. Soon, they found themselves there and Ryker was happy to oblige her in her academic pursuits.
She sat him on the edge of her bed and knelt in front of him, opening his legs and lowering her head to his thigh, then kissed her way towards his awaiting member, taking her time until he was practically panting in anticipation of her tongue upon him. He ran his fingers through her hair, encouraging her towards him. What a powerful hold this woman had on him – literally and figuratively, as it were. He was hard pressed to find any woman in his past that drove him into such a frenzy. No sooner had he had this thought then it left him. All rational thinking evaporated as pleasure took over, Emmie's mouth on him, a low hum emanating from her increasing the sensation.
"God." He breathed in and out quickly, head tilted back for a moment as she continued working on him. Then he leaned forward so that he could watch her. She had removed all of her clothing except for a lacy red thong. As his pleasure built, he became fixated on that thong. It didn't seem right that she should still be wearing it for some reason. He wanted her as naked as he was.
He momentarily forgot about it, however, when she brought her hand up to cup his balls and then grabbed and stroked the base of his shaft. "Damn, Emmie."
Soon, though, his thoughts returned to her thong, and he repeated in his mind what she'd said earlier: "Just be glad I allow you access to the inside of other areas of me."
As much as he was enjoying their current activity, he wanted access to another inside area, and he wanted it now. "Emmie." He pushed gently on her shoulder. She broke away to she look at him questioningly. Before she could say anything, he hoisted her up and onto him then rolled both of them over onto the bed with Emmie under him.
He slid his hand down her side until it met with the silk of her panties. The fabric was moist to his touch. "Did you like having me in your mouth?"
She nodded, her eyes glazed over. "Yes."
He yanked at her panties until they tore away from her. She gasped and reached her hands around to his backside. He settled in right against her with her legs wrapped around him. "Do you want me inside of you?"
She nodded and tightened her legs and arms around his back.
After the work up she'd done on him and the desperation to have him pooling off of her, he could resist her no longer. It was like dipping into a steaming whirlpool. One hand still on his ass, the other reached up to grab onto the slats of her wooden headrest. He caught her wrist and held it down as he thrust in and out. Soon her gasps turned into prolonged moans. Ryker reveled in them, letting his own bliss mount as hers did.
Maybe the buildup was no bigger than last time, but it seemed as though it was to Ryker. Last time was a tremor compared to this; the whole earth seemed to shake. And if Emmie's ecstatic cries were any indication, it was the same for her.
Afterwards, they both lay on her bed, eyes gazing at the undecorated
drywall ceiling, speechless and spent. Ryker wanted to ask her what she was thinking, what she was feeling, but there was no point, he knew. They had an agreement, an entanglement clause. He had served his purpose in her life, for the night at least.
She was sleeping by the time he slid out of bed, located his shirt and jeans, and got dressed. Before leaving, he allowed himself to look at her, hair askew, face turned in his direction, the dim light from the hallway shadowing her neck as though the blanket was pulled up high over her instead of lying in a tangle around her naked waist.
He reached over and pulled the blanket up so the shadow matched reality, then, without thinking about it, he brushed her forehead with his lips, leaving a gentle kiss in his wake. For a long time that night he would wonder why he'd done that, fear of the answer keeping him up until the day had slipped into the next.
#
It was a good thing Iola's provided Emmie with a steady stream of coffee. She poured herself her third cup of the day (she'd switched to decaf after the first cup, but psychologically it still gave her a boost) and took a quick gulp before returning to mind her tables. It was a slow morning, which was bad on several levels: less tip money and more time to think about things she'd rather not dwell upon. She'd already spent more than enough time dwelling on Ryker. She still couldn't believe he'd tucked her in and kissed her before leaving. She couldn't for the life of her decide if he'd broken one of the rules she'd created for him. Probably he had. But to be fair, she'd laid out the terms for him only so far, thinking he'd intuitively grasp what she was going for: be a responsive sex partner, and avoid the mushy afterglow like the plague.
Never mind that the gesture had been sweet. He wasn't supposed to be sweet. He was supposed to be a rich arrogant prick. Next time she saw him, she'd have to remind him to be more shallow and selfish. She took another sip of coffee, its bitterness sliding down her throat like a welcome pill. This was ridiculous. There was nothing wrong with what Ryker had done. He was simply being polite and here she was reading far too much into it.
She went out to the front of the restaurant, took a table's order and then headed back to the kitchen, where she nearly collided with Trisha. She gave the cook, Delton, the order ticket and then turned to Trisha, admiring her burgundy wool coat as she slid it onto a peg in the adjacent hallway. "Love that jacket. The color looks great on you."
"Oh yeah? Thanks! We had a clothes swap at our ladies' night last night. I scored one of Ava's hand knit sweaters too. I can't believe she was giving it away. Says it doesn't fit quite right, but I have to say, it looks fabulous on me. Oh, I picked you up a pair of boots I thought you'd like too. Size seven, right?"
Emmie nodded as she pulled a plate with a stack of pancakes on it from under the heat lamp for table three. "That's nice of you."
"They were Shelly's. She claims they're too narrow for her, but really, she goes through boots like a librarian goes through books. They needed a more deserving home. You'll be a better boot mommy for them."
Emmie delivered the pancakes to her table then returned to the kitchen to check on her next round of orders. Trisha stood nearby chopping carrots, red onions, and bell peppers for the salad of the day. "I'm sorry I couldn't make it last night. It sounds like you had fun."
"It sounded like you had way more fun than us, actually." Trisha laughed.
Emmie froze. "What?"
"You know, several of the ladies in my group were jealous. That Sam must know what he's doing. In fact, we nicknamed him 'Yes Man' because of all of the yesses that kept coming out of your mouth."
"Oh my God."
"Oh my God... I believe we heard that phrase a few times too."
Emmie's cheeks flushed. She silently willed Delton to finish up the veggie scramble ASAP so that she could escape back to the front of the restaurant. "This is so embarrassing."
"Come on, don't be that way. It's fine! You should enjoy yourself. I'm glad you took my advice about Sam."
Sam. Well at least Trisha hadn't realized Ryker was actually her "Yes Man." This did bring up a new complication, however. The last thing Emmie wanted to do was to lie to her new friend, so she kept her response vague. "I'm grateful for your advice. I don't know now if I'll be able to face meeting all of your friends. They're going to think of me as some kind of sexpot. Trust me, Trisha, I'm really not that way. I just... I don't know. Oh look, table eight's order is up. Gotta go!"
"You have nothing to be ashamed of. Seriously, you're the most interesting thing to happen to Moon Beach since my brother opened his robot paradise here." Trisha grabbed Emmie's arm. "Real quick—I have to know." She kept her voice low. "Have you told Sam about the baby?"
"I'm not a walking soap opera, Trisha."
She smiled indulgently but didn't let go of Emmie's arm. "Come on, spill."
"Well..." Sam did know, of course. It would be easy enough to say he did. But Trisha wasn't really talking about Sam, she was talking about the man Emmie had spent last night with. "He doesn't know. Please promise me you'll keep this a secret. From everyone."
"Of course I will." She let go of Emmie's arm and handed her the plates for table eight. "But you know what they say, Emmie. Three things cannot be hidden for long: the sun, the moon, and the truth. And that truth?" She lowered her eyes to Emmie's belly. "It's going to pop up like the sun sooner rather than later. Maybe things with Sam aren't serious, but you need to consider telling whomever you let into your life what's going on. You owe it to them. But mainly you owe it to yourself. You deserve relationships based on honesty."
Hearing those words coming out of the mouth of a woman who had been nothing but kind to her made Emmie's heart fall. She couldn't be honest with Trisha, or with Ryker, or with anyone here. Her whole life was a lie. Obviously a baby was a truth that would have to be revealed, but not yet. She would keep Ryker in the dark for a little longer and just hope the sun or the moon didn't rise before she was ready to face the light.
A/N: An extra long, extra steamy update to make up for last week's short one... I hope you liked it! I have to say, I'm embarrassed for poor Emmie... but Trisha is hilarious. How do you think the mistaken identity of the "Yes Man" is going to play out? And what do you think Ryker's sweet kiss was all about. Was Emmie reading too much into it?
Thank you for reading the story up to this point. I'm so glad you're still with me! Today's votes will be collected and used to sound proof Emmie's bedroom so that Trisha and her friends can no longer overhear Emmie and Ryker's shenanigans. Trisha might be disappointed at first but once she learns the true identity of the Yes Man, she'll be profoundly grateful.