Page 22 of Ryder’s Storm

She greeted him with a loud moan, her sex warm and wet. He stroked his finger along her cleft, and felt her gasp at the touch, her fingernails digging into his shoulders now, holding on to him as if holding on to a life raft. He could feel her heart race, her blood rushing through her veins, her arousal spiking, her blood calling to him. The vampire in him was tempted, the taste of her blood within easy reach. But Ryder pushed him back. Instead, he thrust his finger into her, rubbed his thumb over her clit, and made her ride his hand. She didn’t protest and moved her hips, undulating her pelvis to create more friction on every descent and every withdrawal.

He’d never thought himself to be a selfless lover, but he couldn’t get enough of watching her as he pleasured her. She was without inhibitions, had no self-control, no restraints. All she demanded was pleasure, and he was happy to oblige her for as long as he could. Feeling her chest press against his now, her breasts molded to his muscles, he knew she was close to her climax.

“Ryder, please…” she begged.

He strummed her clit faster and with more pressure, his middle finger plunging deep and hard. She was so wet he felt her juices dripping on his hand and his pants.

“Please, fuck me. Your cock, I need your cock.”

Scarlet suddenly put her hands on the waistband of his pants and opened the button. Her hands were on his zipper, before he could take a breath. Another second, and his two cocks would burst from their prison. He grabbed one of her hands to try to stop her, but she continued working his zipper. He had no choice, but to pull his finger from the tight sheath and use both his hands to stop her from undressing him.

“No!” he said harshly and imprisoned her hands.

She stared at him, confused. “I need you to fuck me.”

“But I am fucking you.” He took both her hands into one and brought his right hand back to her pussy.

She protested. “I want your cock, Ryder, now!”

“I can’t, please, Scarlet, I can’t.”

“Don’t you want me?”

He wanted her more than anything, but he wasn’t ready to show her his two cocks. She would look at him and think him a freak. No, she had to get to know him and like him first before he could spring this on her. Before he could reveal his secrets.

“I do, I want you. But I can’t.”

Her facial expression suddenly changed to one of anger. “Why are you doing this to me? Do you enjoy torturing me? Do you?”

Ryder saw the unshed tears that now rimmed her eyes, and felt his heart clench with pain.

“No, I have no intention of torturing you. I would never hurt you,” he professed.

Scarlet pushed him away from her so unexpectedly that he lost his balance for a second. As he caught himself, she pulled her bathrobe around her and tightened the belt.

With a clenched jaw she glared at him. “I don’t know what kind of sick game you’re playing, but I’m done playing it. Go and find somebody who’s as cruel as you. I wish I’d never met you!”

She spun around and rushed back to her bedroom. When she jerked the door open, Ryder heard a stifled sob rip from her throat, before she slammed the door so hard that the entire house seemed to shake.

Ryder let out a shaky breath and ran a trembling hand through his hair. Fuck! This couldn’t have gone any worse if he’d tried. He should have never even kissed her tonight, but stuck to his plan to win her over with small gestures of kindness. Instead, he’d behaved like a caveman, destroying everything in his wake. Maybe he didn’t deserve a mate when he clearly had no idea how to treat the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his immortal life with.

That thought shook him to his core. He wanted Scarlet. He didn’t know how and when it had happened, but he remembered what his father had told him when Gabriel had first laid eyes on his mate.

“I looked at her, and knew that there would never be another woman for me, whether she would have me or not,” Gabriel had said, a moist sheen covering his eyes. “I had a snowball’s chance in hell. I saw myself as a monster, but your mother saw past all that. Because we were meant for each other.”

If his father had succeeded so could Ryder. He couldn’t allow himself to give up so quickly. He had to win Scarlet’s love, no matter how hopeless the situation looked right now.

13

Ryder hadn’t slept well. In fact, he’d been up half the night trying to formulate a plan of how to win Scarlet over after the disastrous event from earlier. But that wasn’t the only reason he hadn’t been able to sleep. Both his cocks had been rock-hard for hours after he’d nearly fucked Scarlet in the hallway. When he realized that they wouldn’t return to their relaxed state on their own, he’d given in to his needs, and masturbated to visions of Scarlet playing in his mind. He’d climaxed with both his cocks simultaneously, and the experience had blown his mind, and further cemented his determination to make Scarlet his.

Before dawn, he called Wesley, Scanguards’ resident witch.

Wesley picked up after several rings, sounding sleepy. “This had better be important.”

Through the line, Ryder heard a soft female voice ask, “Who is it, babe?” Ryder recognized Virginia’s voice.

“Ryder,” Wesley said.