Ryder looked down the street and blew out a long breath. “Woman, you’re making this real hard to take our friendship slow.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” she said innocently.
“No, you know exactly what you’re doin’.” He gripped her waist tighter in his big, strong hands. “Everything in me wants to drive you to a back road, pull over, and flip you over in that backseat.”
“And do what?” she asked on a shocked breath.
“You know what.”
And oh, she could see it—her ass in the air, tits brushing the seat fabric, getting pounded from behind by Ryder, his powerful body flexing against hers as he drove her to release. The warmth in her middle turned to magma, and her breath trembled on every exhale.
Ryder lifted his chin but kept his now-gold eyes on hers. “You smell sexy as fuck, Lexi.” He pulled her harder against his long, thick erection and murmured, “I’m about to start making real bad decisions if I don’t say goodnight to you now.”
Did she want that? Did she want to say goodnight and get her head back on straight, or did she want to give two flying middle fingers to caution and get herself taken by the Air Ryder?
“Woman, stop lookin’ at me like you want my dick buried inside of you, or it’ll happen. I’m trying to do this right.”
She opened her mouth to tell him she definitely wanted to be bad and do dirty things with him, but Sprinkles barked again. And at that interruption, Ryder was now looking mighty determined to slow them down. Sprinkles was a cock blocker.
Ryder eased her back and opened her door, then waited there, arms locked against the opening as she buckled in.
She didn’t want to leave him. Tonight had been amazing. The whole day had been. She’d settled into something so comfortable and interesting with him in just a few meetings, and today had sealed her heart to him. But she couldn’t be that girl—the one who begged for more time when he was clearly saying goodbye. She’d done that before and had more pride now. She could tell him something else, though, something she felt compelled to share.
“Ryder?” she asked quickly before he could shut her door.
“Yeah?”
She used his words from earlier because she felt them down to her marrow. “You feel different to me, too.”
Ryder’s gold eyes sparked with intensity as he leaned into the front of her jeep. He cupped her neck and pressed his lips to hers. He wasn’t patient like with their first kiss. This time, he plunged his tongue past her lips, demanding she let him in, demanding to taste her.
She slid her hands over his shoulders and gripped the back of his hair, raking her nails against his scalp. Ryder’s reaction was instant, pressing her against the seat, kissing her so hard it stole the breath from her lungs. God, she loved this. Loved the way he tasted, loved the way his lips were moved on hers, loved the way his mouth fit hers so perfectly. She’d never met a man who could kiss her like this. One who could make her forget where she was. Ryder had the uncanny ability to make the rest of the world fade away to nothing.
He pulled her hand from around his neck and pressed her palm against his chest, right over his pounding heartbeat. She smiled against his lips. How could someone make her feel this happy? This okay? This whole? This wanted?
Perhaps Weston had visions of the future, but Air Ryder was magic.
He bit her bottom lip gently and disengaged, gave her a peck, and then another and another, each getting more gentle until he eased away completely.
Without a word, he tugged her cell phone from the cup holder, saved his number into it, then called his phone. She was glad he was handling the number-swap because right now her arms and legs were numb and her fingers probably wouldn’t work on account of him kissing her so thoroughly.
He pulled her hand to his lips, kissed her knuckles, then backed out of the car and shut the door. Right. Now she had to remember how to drive.
And just like he had on the side of the road, Ryder watched her leave. Except this time when Lexi glanced in her rearview mirror, he didn’t look troubled.
He looked hopeful instead.
Chapter Six
Ryder dropped the stack of logs from their resting spot on his shoulder to the ground. They clattered and scattered, but without a single second’s break, he strode back into the woods to grab the others he’d felled.
He and Wes had dreamed of starting a business like this since they were kids, but then they’d grown up, moved out of Damon’s Mountains, and lived in different places. Ryder had become a welder and Wes a logger, and he’d never thought this would be possible—their childhood dream.
But then Harper had called them in to give Wyatt some backup, and the small reunion with old friends had turned into so much more. They’d all landed an unexpected crew, and yeah, sometimes it was hell trying to figure everything out with the Bloodrunners, but this right here—the opportunity to follow through on a dream with his best friend—made Ryder feel like maybe he was supposed to end up here with the Bloodrunners all along.
Then he’d met Lexi. And holy shit, he’d never encountered a more terrifying woman. She had grown the ability, in an overwhelmingly short amount of time, to destroy him completely. Serena had tried and failed to break him, along with the other women he’d tried to bond with, but Lexi had power she didn’t realize yet.
Maybe he should keep it hidden from her. Maybe he should slow them down, or even grind them to a halt until he could wrap his head around how much he liked her. Wes had told him to take it slow, and the fact remained that not only had the Gray Back Crew’s seer, Beaston, not seen Ryder with a mate, but Wes hadn’t seen it either. That bothered Ryder.