Water lapped at the dock, as Emma swirled her toes in the lake, making it sway and creak with the slight movement of her swinging legs. A few leaves littered the surface of the water, breaking up the otherwise pristine stillness, and she tracked them as they floated by. The frigid water had numbed her feet hours ago, so that she didn't even notice the coldness anymore. Not that she'd noticed to begin with. She was too lost in thought to care.
It had been over a month; almost the end of September, now, and he still hadn't come to see her. Hadn't even called or texted. She desperately wanted to see him. Was even considering coming home, like Evan wanted, just to get a glimpse of him. She knew that they'd been speaking. Once in awhile, Evan would let something slip, but it was never what she wanted to hear. He didn't miss her, he didn't want her, shit, she wasn't even sure he even thought about her.
She sighed, and then sank her teeth into her bottom lip, hard, to stave off the floodwaters collecting in her eyes, again. Pulling her feet out of the water, she tucked her legs up, resting her chin on her knees. Blood began circulating, warming her toes, and she welcomed the pain. First the tingle, and then the electric prickling of her nerves coming back to life. If it distracted her from thinking about Ryan, it was worth it. Because that hurt worse than anything she'd ever felt in her whole life. Including losing her grandma and the beating she took from Daniel.
Even the nightmares were better than this waking agony. Those weren't real, she could wake from them. She could remember that it was just a dream; Daniel was dead, and couldn't hurt her anymore. But this, this was real. Ryan wasn't here, he wasn't coming, and she wouldn't wake up from it, and find that it was just a figment of her imagination.
Suddenly an excited "yip" burst out of Layla, and the warmth from where she was curled against Emma's back, left her. Emma sighed. She'd ignored Evan's calls for the last two days. She'd been expecting him to give her hell for it, but thought he'd wait until tomorrow, when he usually came up.
Heavy footsteps thudded against the weathered planks of the dock, and it dipped and swayed under the added weight. Layla pranced around, her nails scraping on the wood, grunting excitedly at the newcomer. Emma couldn't blame her, really. Even Evan was better company than she'd been lately.
"I'm sorry I didn't answer your calls," she said, without turning to look at him. "You could've waited until Friday to yell at me, though."
She was met with silence, then:
"I didn't come to yell at you," said a hoarse voice from behind her. "I thought it was time I come to see you."
Her breath caught in her throat, right behind the large lump that had suddenly arisen there. Squeezing her eyes shut, she hugged her legs tighter, and made a small, strangled sound in the back of her throat.
"Emma?" Ryan's voice was hardly a whisper, but she recognized it. She still didn't turn around, fearful that she was just imagining it, and he would be gone. But then he touched her, and all the oxygen exploded from her body in a loud sob. "Darlin', are you okay?"
She shook her head, "no," and he hesitated. And then, suddenly she was hauled upward, spun around, and crushed to his chest, his arms like bands of iron. She convulsed violently, all the tears she'd been suppressing, flooding down her face and soaking his shirt. Winding her arms around his waist, her hands clawed and fisted at the back of his shirt so tight that her knuckles whitened, and her fingers went numb.
"I thought you didn't want me anymore," she hiccupped, burying her face harder against his chest.
He swore softly.
"I'm so sorry, Emma." His arms tightened around her, and his head dropped to the side of her neck. "I'm so, so sorry."
Darkness was settling over them, quickly, and he gently untangled her arms from around him, leading her toward the cabin. Once they were inside, he collapsed onto the couch, pulling her with him, cradling her so that her head was tucked up under his chin, her hand playing with the collar of his shirt.
"Why didn't you come sooner?" she sniffled. "I waited..." she lost her breath again, and quieted, working to keep her emotions in check.
"Do you remember what happened the morning you woke up in the hospital?"
"No... I know what everyone told me happened, but I don't remember anything until later that day."
He cleared his throat. "When you woke up, and mistook me for Daniel... it freaked me out. I know, I knew that you didn't mean it..." He ran his hands over her body, almost like he was checking to make sure she was still there, and his words failed him.
"But?"
"I have always been afraid of being like him, of you seeing me like him. That's why I lied to you about him and your mom before, too. I've always been scared that somehow, I'll end up like him, whether I want to, or not. When you looked at me like that... shit, it was a nightmare come true. You were begging me not to hurt you..." he crushed her to himself harder, weeping brokenly into her hair. "I would never do what he did to you."
"I know that, Ryan! Oh my God, do you think I ever thought that? Jesus..." she turned in his arms, winding her arms around his neck, and pressing her body flush against his. "There's a physical resemblance between the two of you that I noticed when he took me. But he was darker, evil. He had none of your humor, or gentleness, or love. When I woke up, I was drugged, it was dark in the room, I don't even remember it... but I never thought you would hurt me. I know you wouldn't." Grabbing his face, she forced him to meet her eyes. "I love you, I know you love me. You are not him, any more than I'm my mom. I should punch you in your big, stupid face for even thinking that," she huffed.
"I would deserve it," he mumbled, settling her back into his lap again, and chuckling lightly.
"Mmmm..." she agreed, yawning.
"Come on," he stood swiftly, picking her up with him.
"What're you doing?" she yelped.
"Bedtime," he grunted, carrying her into the bedroom. Dropping her unceremoniously on the bed, he unbuttoned his shirt, stripping off his pants and boots until he was left in his boxers. He watched as she removed her pants and exchanged his discarded flannel for her shirt, before crawling under the covers to join her. "I haven't been able to sleep without you," he confessed, tucking her snugly against his body.
"Me either," she whispered. "I'm still having nightmares, Ryan. If I wake up, just hold me, don't run away again."
"I won't," he promised, "I'll be right here."
~*~*~
The next morning, Emma woke for the first time since her abduction, feeling rested and relaxed. As she slowly, came awake, she realized she hadn't had a nightmare, either. A contented grin spread over her face, and she twisted in the arms of the man wrapped around her, stretching up to place a light kiss on his lips. Those moss-green eyes fluttered open, and her breath caught.
"Good morning," he rumbled sleepily.
"Mornin'," she responded breathily.
"Did you sleep well, love?"
"For the first time, in a long time."
"Good," he grinned, "me, too."
They lay there for a moment, drinking each other in, and then her eyes took on an intense expression.
"What is it?" he asked, slightly concerned.
"I love you, Ryan Cameron," she breathed. The emotions racing across her features ranged from wonder to disbelief to desire.
He rolled onto his back, taking her with him, so that she was straddling his hips in nothing but his flannel shirt and her panties. Sliding up from her hips, his fingers deftly unbuttoned the oversized shirt, pushing it off her shoulders. He lay there for a moment, just gazing up at her like he'd been knocked over the head.
"You're so beautiful," he breathed.
Then slowly, tantalizingly, he trailed his fingers across her shoulders and down her arms, barely brushing the sides of her breasts with his thumbs. And the entire time, he kept his eyes fixed on her face, reveling in the emotions he was evoking in her.
A sharp gasp escaped her lips as goosebumps swept over her, causing her dark, dusky nipples to pucker and harden. His hands stroked up her abdomen, and, still, he barely grazed the sensitive globes. Her head lolled back, and a throaty moan escaped her throat.
"God, Ryan, please..."
At her plea, he cupped the soft flesh gently before squeezing more firmly. When he roughly flicked the pads of his thumbs across the sensitive nubs, she bit her lip, emitting a strangled moan that sent blood surging to his groin. He rose up to capture her mouth in a possessive kiss, and his blood roared in his veins. He kissed her ravenously, completely consuming her. His hands stroked over every inch of her exposed skin, grasping and pulling her closer, and she responded readily, emitting little cries of ecstasy into his mouth.
Not breaking away from her lips, he frantically began pulling the blankets between them away, until all that was separating them was the thin fabric of their underwear.
"Too-many-damned-blankets!" he growled.
Taking deep, ragged breaths, he tried to slow down, dragging his lips along her throat and over her collarbone. Each time he blazed a new trail of hot, wet kisses along her skin, she moaned, writhing in his arms, until his control was on the verge of snapping. He reverently encompassed her breasts again, making the hard, little nubs stand out. Leisurely, he traced his tongue around the underside of them, and then placed little kisses and love bites on the swells. Her body was undulating against him, and she was emitting such throaty moans, it caused another surge of desire to race through him.
"Ry... Oh, God... stop teasing!"
He flicked his thumbs across the sensitive tissue once again, and then his mouth was on her. Warm, wet heat encompassed one nipple as he kneaded the other one, and she let out a long, low groan. An aching heat flooded through her, simmering low in her abdomen. Mercilessly, he teased and tasted her, nipping with his teeth, flicking with his tongue, sucking her deep into his mouth, hungrily.
She encouraged him, driving him on with little sighs and breathy sounds. Each touch and flick of his tongue sent an electric jolt straight between her legs, and a deluge of moisture along with it. He pulled back, and watched with fascination as the wet tip glistened and contracted in the cool air. Then, he palmed it with his other hand, and moved to its twin, giving it the same treatment.
By the time he had thoroughly explored every micrometer of her breasts, she was a heaving, squirming mass of sensation. Splaying his fingers, he ran his hands firmly up her back and under her mane of curls, pulling her toward him until their lips were separated by millimeters. He inhaled as she exhaled, their breath mingling. She opened her eyes, heavy with lust, when he didn't close the distance, and their gazes locked.
"Emma... I love you."
She could see right to the bottom of his soul, and she knew it was the truth.
"Then show me," she demanded quietly.
He did. Closing the distance between them, he kissed her voraciously. He dove into the moist depths of her mouth, and tasted her completely, relentlessly. When they were both breathing heavily, and their bodies flushed with heat, he rolled her over until she was lying beneath him, her hair a wild halo around her head. Instinctively, she molded her body to his, and he settled between her thighs with the hard, unmistakable evidence of his desire, pressing to her core.
Leaning down, he kissed her neck and throat, the stubble from his beard scraping along her skin, and sending tiny electrical sparks along her nerves in every direction. Then, the tip of his tongue darted out, and he started laving it along the pulse fluttering wildly in her neck.
"Good Lord, you need a license for that tongue," she groaned.
He laughed huskily, and started slowly swirling nomadic little paths farther down her body. Taking his time, he visited the valley between her breasts, and then roughly sucked each nipple into his mouth once again, before continuing his journey. "You don't even know the half of it... yet," he rumbled against her hot, damp skin. She groaned in a mixture of impatience and anticipation. Her fingers threaded into his hair, urging him on. Grasping her wrists and removing them, he bit the soft flesh of her hip. "Hands off, Em."
Just as he reached the swell of her stomach, below her belly button, and right above the waistband of her underwear, the front door slammed.
"Shit!" Emma tried to scramble up, but Ryan's body weight kept her pinned. "Evan's here, didn't you tell him you were coming up?" she hissed.
"No," he growled, jaw clenched in frustration. He let her up, watching as she hurriedly threw on clothes, and exited the bedroom. He took his time getting dressed, willing his body to relax, before following her out.
~*~*~
When he entered the kitchen, Evan was seated at the table, while Emma was at the stove, cooking eggs. Evan raised an eyebrow, but otherwise said nothing. The three of them ate breakfast, keeping conversation to light chit-chat. Ryan managed to avoid looking at Emma for most of the meal, but toward the end, his eyes stole up to her, and their gazes locked.
He couldn't help it, he was curious to see if she still looked at him with the same love, glowing in her eyes that had been there that morning. He had no doubt they would have fully explored the desire sparking between them, if they hadn't been interrupted. Would she feel the same way now, though? The ardor of the moment had time to cool, clearer thoughts, time to prevail. If she still wanted him now... he had to know.
Intense heat flushed through his body. He couldn't explain it, but the second her eyes connected with his, he could feel the strength of her emotions for him. There was possession and desire there, and also... love. She was practically incandescent with the same intensity she had that morning, when she had risen over him and declared her love. Completely open, unashamed, and fierce. He lost his breath for what felt like forever, until Evan coughed, dispelling the thickness of the atmosphere between them.
Ryan couldn't even remember what they chatted about for the next two hours. He couldn't take his eyes off of her, and she returned his gaze with force enough to rival a gale. He was utterly flattened by the concentration of her hunger. Eventually, Evan couldn't take it anymore. He excused himself, mumbling something about needing to get home.
They just sat there, still. Like the moment before a huge storm hits, everything was too silent, too still, too much tension building to an immense pressure. Finally, Ryan couldn't take it anymore and crossed the kitchen. Wrapping his hands around her waist, he shoved her up onto the counter so they were eye to eye. Her hair was tousled and she was breathless from the force of his advance.
"I love you, Ryan. I would really, really like to continue what we started this morning," she leaned in, and bit his earlobe, "now."
And then she twined her arms around his neck and drew him to her. The moment their lips touched, he was lost. They could talk later, all he wanted in this moment was to taste her, to love her. Before they could become too lost, though, Evan reappeared.
"Oh, for- Get a room you two!"
Emma hid her face in Ryan's neck, hot from embarrassment, but Ryan was laughing.
"That's exactly what I was thinking," Ryan mused. He then grabbed Emma by her thighs and tossed her over his shoulder, making her squeal in surprise. He strode across the cabin, to the bedroom, tossing a, "See ya later," in Evan's direction.
Neither one of them heard the door slam shut, or his car drive away.
Ryan carried her like a caveman with a prized kill, and finally tossed her down in the middle of the bed. Towering over her, he admired the flush in her cheeks, and the way her laughter lit up her face. The combination of that with her plump, slightly parted lips and the way her long, curly hair splayed out around her, gave her a wanton look. He stood, gazing down on her, and slowly started removing his own clothes, never breaking eye contact.
The more of his muscled frame he revealed, the hungrier she looked. His jeans hit the floor revealing the hard ridge of his erection, straining against his boxers, and her teeth tugged at her soft, juicy bottom lip. He could see the lust firing in the gold flecks of her hazel eyes, and it was all he could do not to take her with the strength and ferocity he wanted to.
Gripping her hands, he helped her sit up and kissed her softly, stealing her breath. His hands slid under the hem of her shirt, and slowly glided up her torso until he had to break the kiss to lift it over her head. Her nipples jutted out against the dark purple lace of her bra. Playfully, he nipped at one puckered bud, while kneading the other through the textured fabric, causing her head to fall back, drawing a long, low moan from her throat. But he did not stay there, though she tried to lock him in place by knotting her hands in his dark, auburn waves.
He gripped her wrists and forced them behind her on the bed, so she was supporting herself, palms down, while he drew a long, hot trail from the valley of her breasts to the waist of her shorts. Licking around the perimeter of her belly button made her breath rush out, and her elbows almost buckled. When he looked up, she was gazing at him from under lashes, concealing eyes half-lidded with lustful fire.
His fingers deftly undid the button and unzipped her. His lips and tongue teased at the waistband of her panties as more of her silky, tender skin came into view. She had dropped back onto her elbows for support, her head lolling back, and he nudged her to lift her hips so he could slide her shorts off. Warm breath caressed her thighs and she sighed, parting them slightly, urging him to seek the source of her heat.
Instead, splaying his fingers, he caressed every inch of her legs, trailing his fingers lightly up the backs of her thighs. His mouth grazed the inside of her legs, and when he reached the tender flesh of her inner thigh, he grasped her round cheeks in his large, rough hands, tugging her closer, making her collapse back with a whimper of need.
She was utterly lost in the sensations he was creating. The few times she had engaged in such intimacy before, she made sure she was in control. The feeling of being manipulated or controlled by a man always made her stomach tighten with anxiety. She couldn't be with a man too weak for her, but she couldn't surrender to one with enough confidence to dominate, either. Until now. Giving control over to Ryan was the safest, most erotic thing ever. Somehow, she knew he didn't want to exploit her weakness, but rather share in her strength.
When his hot breath teased close to her molten center, all rational thought fled her mind. Her hips rose of their own accord, and her back arched, trying to entice him closer. But he held her thighs in a firm grip, trapping her arms behind her back. A pleading sob escaped her, and he chuckled, that warm, deep, low chuckle that sent goosebumps flying across her skin. He blew against the thin, silky barrier separating her most intimate place from his touch, causing her to choke out a curse and then sob again.
"What's the matter, Em?" he teased. "What do you want?" His voice was low, and sounded like the deep purr of a large panther.
"You know," she implored.
"No, tell me," he taunted.
"You," she whispered, "I want you." Then she met his eyes, and he was undone.
Lowering his head, he roughly ran his tongue up the length of the silky fabric, her scent pervading his senses. When he reached the tight little bundle of nerves at the top, he scraped his teeth against it, causing her to cry out and buck her hips beneath him. His stubble rasped against the soft skin of her inner thighs, and his teeth grazed her nub a little more roughly, provoking the same reaction again. She was writhing, freeing her arms from behind her back.
He climbed up over her heaving, squirming form, until the length of his body-all of his rigid muscles-were pressing into her soft curves. His lips came down on hers, smooth and wide against soft and full. Her hands wound into his hair, pulling him closer as she parted her lips and let him delve inside to taste her. The stroking of his tongue against hers mimicked the ultimate joining they were racing toward, causing both of them to groan.
She hooked her leg over his hip and drove her hips upward, grinding her soft center against his pulsing length, which was pressing insistently against her inner thigh. He groaned at the friction, and bit her lip, panting hard while he tried to maintain a modicum of restraint.
He began trailing fiery little kisses from the corner of her mouth to her ear. There, he suckled and teased at the lobe, while his fingers found the clasp of her bra, which he released. Sliding one strap off her shoulder, he moved down licking at the sensitive spot beneath her ear, and then further to where her pulse was beating like a snare drum. His palm found her bared breast and he kneaded the flesh, reveling in the feel of the puckered bud. When he tweaked it gently, she cried out and squirmed against him, and he emitted an involuntary growl. Giving her shoulder a firm love-bite, he slid the other strap down, and off her arms, baring both soft, rounded globes to his gaze.
He slid one muscled thigh between her legs, pressing it to her apex, while one large hand encompassed the flesh of her left breast, teasing and tweaking the nipple gently before stroking over the entirety of it.
"You are so beautiful," he murmured low in her ear. When she met his eyes, he was focused on her face, and there was more than lust in his eyes. More than just want. Affection and love-real, deep, fervent love-shone through, and burned into her soul.
"Love me, Ryan," the words were whispered, but he could no more deny her than if she commanded him at knife point.
Caging her with his huge biceps, he laved and licked at her breasts hungrily, torturously, paying special attention to the sensitive nubs standing to attention under his ministrations. When she was mewling and moaning, between begging and cursing him, he moved on. Skimming over the quivering muscles of her stomach, he hooked his fingers in the waistband of her panties, and drew them down and off without ceremony.
He pushed her legs up and apart and gently blew against her silken folds. Nibbling and kissing at the crease of her thighs, he teased and tempted her until she was once again, writhing and crying out for him to touch her.
"What do you want, Em? You have to tell me." That dark, smooth purr was back in his voice and sent a shiver of delight up her spine.
"Lick me... Now." She reached for him, and he kept out of her grasp by answering her demands. Firmly, he laved his tongue right through her glistening folds before gently capturing the little bundle of nerves at the top in his teeth, and beating his tongue against it.
When he finally put his mouth where she'd wanted and needed it, her hands gripped fistfuls of bedding, twisting in them as her body bucked up off the bed wildly. One long, lithe finger stroked into her, and along with his mouth, strummed and played, sending her soaring closer and closer to the edge of a precipice. Every muscle in her body tensed, and his mouth completely closed over her pulsing clit, sucking hard. Screaming, she shattered against the onslaught of sensation he created, every atom in her body flying apart in ecstasy.
Panting hard, she barely caught her breath before he removed his boxers and his body was covering hers, sliding his turgid length against the slickened heart of hers. Teasing and tempting, but not penetrating, he coated himself in her essence, reveling in the lusty haze in her eyes. Suckling on her neck, nibbling, pinching her nipples, he built her up again. Like a kite on its descent that catches another gust of wind, she had barely started coming down from her first climax, and he was already driving her higher again.
"Now, Ryan," she implored, "I need you, now."
"I love you, Em." Cradling her face in his hands, he met her eyes and captured her in his gaze as he rolled his hips back and slid his tip to her entrance.
"I love you, Ryan."
And then he moved, spearing her in one stroke, he captured her lips with his, and drove himself through her silken heat until she was wrapped completely around him. Her breath rushed out, and he sucked it in, deepening the kiss. Slowly, he drew his hips back until he had nearly fully withdrawn from her, making her clutch at the muscles in his back with her nails. Then again, at a torturously slow pace, he slid back inside of her.
He made love to her languorously, reveling in the sensations-watching her pleasure paint her skin in flushed tones, her expression one of uninhibited sensuality. When she could stand it no longer, her moans and begging having no effect on the leisurely pace he seemed intent on keeping, she wrapped her legs tight around his waist and propelled her hips upward, driving him in, deep and hard. Her inner walls clenched around him at the sudden invasion, and they both moaned loudly. Gritting his teeth against his own release, he lay buried inside of her until he was able to move again. But no more at a slow and leisurely pace. He withdrew, and then plunged back inside of her, hard and measured, increasing his pace with each thrust.
His name was a litany on her tongue, egging him on. He started to thicken, and she suddenly clenched down on him like a vise, her back arched, and her eyes flew wide open as she screamed her release. His rhythm quickened and he gave one final, powerful thrust, roaring as he reached his own explosive climax. Collapsing on top of her briefly, he rolled to the side and pulled her so she was sprawled atop his heaving chest.
It was many long minutes before they could breathe easily enough to speak again.
"That... God... that was incredible," Emma gasped out, exhaling raggedly.
"You are incredible," Ryan whispered, nuzzling into her neck.
"Let's do it again," her eyes danced with a salacious glint, and he chuckled.
"You're going to kill me at this rate, little girl."
"Mmmm... but I promise, it won't hurt a bit," she murmured, as she nibbled his earlobe, and then started sliding down his muscled torso.
~*~*~
Hours later, they both lay sated in one-another's arms, Ryan tracing imaginary circles on her back, and she, running her fingers through the whorls of hair on his chest.
"Em?" Ryan broke the long silence.
"Hm?"
"What do you want?"
"What do you mean?" she gazed up at him quizzically, propping her chin on her hands. "Like for dinner?"
"No," he chuckled, "I mean, what do you want from this, from us?"
She seemed lost in thought for a moment, and his heart stuttered.
"You don't have to answer that, if you don't want to," he assured her.
"No, I do, I was just thinking. Remember when we were cleaning out the basement a few months ago?"
"Yeah?"
"I told you how I felt so alone, so disconnected from everyone. You told me, you promised me you wouldn't leave me alone. Told me I was strong enough to get through all that shit."
"I remember," he squirmed uncomfortably. "I am so sorry for not coming up here sooner, Em. I know what I said back then, and it seems like I didn't mean it, but-."
"Will you shut up," she laughed. "I'm talking about how you kept at me, even when I rejected you, even when I couldn't return your feelings. I don't feel alone and isolated anymore, Ryan.
"And it isn't just with you. I don't know how to explain it, but with everything that's happened, I just realized how much I was missing out on. I held everyone, even the ones I was closest to, at arms-length, but you made me let you in. Because of that, I'm closer to my brother, and Ro, I've been able to forgive my mom and my dad, and even found new friends in Manny and Ron."
"So, what does that mean?"
"No one else has ever gotten so close to me, Ry. No one else. I never believed I was loved; that I deserved love. I always thought, eventually, everyone would abandon me. Maybe if you hadn't come up here, I would still think that, but you did. You never really gave up on me." She sucked in a deep breath, "I think that's the kind of person I want to spend the rest of my life with. I want to marry you and have your babies. Besides, I can't sleep without you, anymore, I'd be a chronic insomniac for the rest of my life."
"Well, we can't have that," he laughed, cupping her face in his hands, and resting his forehead against hers.
"Why are you crying?"
"I love you, Em. With all my heart, I love you."
"So... you want to marry me?" she asked tentatively.
"I already have the ring, darlin'. Since you proposed, we just need to set the date," he winked.
"You're sure?"
"As long as I'm alive, you will never be alone, Emma. I've never been so sure of anything in my whole life. I love you." He captured her lips in a sweet kiss, taking his time, pouring all the love and tenderness he felt for her, into it. He kissed her until there was no doubt left in her mind, and no shadow in her heart:
He was hers, forever, and he was never going away.
A/N:
If you enjoyed this steamy little excerpt of Untethered: The Steamy Bits, please go check out the full novel, Untethered on my profile!
Thank you for reading!