Page 24
I don’t pull the blade away. I guide it.
Taking his hand, maintaining a heavy, deliberate pressure, I drag the blunt spine of the steel slowly down the front of my neck.
The blade glides across the rapid, trembling flutter of my pulse point, carving a cold trail down to the middle of my collarbone.
The intense contrast between the cold metal and the scorching heat of my skin makes my toes curl inside my boots.
I drag his hand lower, letting the steel sit in the warm hollow at the base of my throat before resting it between the center of my breast, right over my wildly hammering heart.
Ryder’s chest heaves with hungry, ragged breaths. The predatory composure he’s held all night cracks, disintegrating into a raw, feral desire that turns his eyes into black abysses.
In one blinding, violent motion, Ryder rips his hand away from mine and drives the heavy hunting knife sideways.
The blade buries itself inches deep into the thick, dense rubber of the tractor’s rear tire beside my head with a sharp, air-hissing puncture.
Before the sound even fades, he lunges forward and takes my mouth.
It’s a brutal collision. Desperate, and utterly intoxicating.
It isn’t a gentle kiss; it’s a takeover.
His lips crush against mine with a punishing, possessive force, claiming me with a violent passion unlike anything I’ve ever felt. He tastes like cold autumn air, dark promises, and lethal intent.
A quiet, unintentional sound sticks in my throat while my hands lift his hood, letting my fingers twist into the thick curls of his hair, pulling him closer, deeper.
I kiss him back with the same feral intensity, matching his aggression step for step, biting at his lower lip until he groans into my mouth.
His hands leave the metal of the tractor, sweeping down my sides like branded irons. His rough palms grip my hips, his strength terrifying and effortless as he lifts me completely off my feet.
He slams me back, seating me roughly on the curved, cold steel of the tractor’s tire well.
He breaks the kiss for a single, gasping second, his dark eyes wild and unhinged beneath the shadow of his inky lashes.
Without a word, his hands hook into the hem of my sweater. He yanks it up and over my head in one brutish, fluid motion, tossing the knit garment onto the damp grass beneath us.
The biting autumn breeze strikes my bare skin, triggering a violent shudder through me, but the cold quickly fades under the heat of his stare.
He pauses, his chest rising and falling as he gazes intently at my chest.
The vivid pink lace bra I wear pops against both my skin and the pitch-black night.
The heat of his gaze causes my skin to tingle and my nipples harden to an almost painful point. My breasts rise and fall in rapid, shallow breaths under his unblinking gaze.
“So fucking beautiful.” The words come out low, jagged, and dripping with sinful reverence.
He steps between my thighs, his broad shoulders blocking out the faint light from the distant pole lamp, plunging us into total darkness. He reaches out, his hand cupping my left breast.
The heat, roughness, and weight of his palm send a jolt of electric joy deep into my core. His thumb and forefinger slide over the thin pink lace, finding my hardened nipple and kneading it through the fabric with a firm, deliberate pressure.
“Ryder…” My head falls back against the cold tractor frame as a loud, helpless moan tears from my lips.
He doesn’t answer with words.
Instead, he drops his head, burying his face into the side of my neck. His mouth grips my throat, his warm lips and blunt teeth brushing over the very place where he had pressed the dull knife blade moments before.
Ryder gently bites, barely leaving a mark, before his hot, carnal kisses travel down my neck, over my collarbone, and into the hollow between my breasts.
His hands tighten on my hips, pulling me flush against the hard, unyielding line of his body. His erection digs forcefully into my wet pussy, and I move my hips ever so slightly, needing to feel more friction.
