Chapter 25
Willow turns her screen my way, and I frown, sure that I’m not seeing what my brain tells me I’m seeing.
“What is this?” she asks again, her voice full of hurt. Not anger. Hurt.
And that sets me on edge, because someone has hurt my girl.
“May I?” I hold my hand out for her phone, and she gives it to me. I don’t hide what I’m doing from her. I zoom in on the image.
It’s a photo of me with a girl named Darcy, the same one from that night in Seattle when Wills and Aiden were at my retirement party. The one that Willow said had been eyeing me all night. But this photo was taken a different night, months ago.
We’re in the same place, Darcy is in my lap, and my lips are on her neck.
“Who sent you this p>
“It’s an unknown number,” she says. I can hear the hurt growing in her voice, and it both pisses me off and makes my heart ache because I never want my girl to feel insecure. The fact that my past was thrown in her face like this makes me fucking feral. “Talk to me, Ry p>
“Obviously, it’s what it looks like. This was probably close to a year ago, or more, and I was partying with the guys p>
“And you hooked up with her p>
I tap her screen, send the photo to myself, and then delete it off her phone. She doesn’t try to stop me.
“First of all, I sent that to myself so I can have Gideon look into it, not so I can save it. And I probably did hook up with her, yeah. We already said that we aren’t going to bring up who we fucked in the past p>
“If someone sent you a picture of me all over one of the men I’d had sex with before you, you’d be cool about it and not get your feelings hurt p>
“Fuck no, I’d want to find him, cut off his hands, and bring them to you in a box p>
She blinks and then blows out a breath. “This is fucked up p>
“I have not touched another woman since you and I p>
“I know.” She shakes her head and stands to pace. “I know that. So what was the point of that text? Someone just wanted to piss me off p>
“Probably.” I stand with her and pull her to me, wrap my arms around her and rock her back and forth. “I didn’t delete the number from your phone. I’ll see if Gid can find out where it came from p>
Suddenly, her phone blows up again, and she reaches for it, and her eyes widen as she scrolls on her screen. I have a bad feeling about this.
“Jesus p>
She closes her baby blues and swallows hard and simply passes the phone to me.
When I look down, the fire of a thousand suns streams through my veins.
So many photos.
Of me, with plenty of different women. Some in bars, some at the arena after games. But some are inside my motherfucking penthouse.
Naked.
I’m fucking them in my bed.
Willow lets out a shaky breath and brushes a tear off her cheek, and I immediately call Gideon.
“Miss me already p>
“I’m sending through some photos that you’ll want to bleach from your brain. They were sent to Willow just now. All of me, from an unknown number. I need to know where these came from p>
He’s all work now, his voice hard and cold.
“Send me everything you’ve got. I might need her phone to trace the caller, but I’ll reach out to the cell provider first p>
“Whatever you need. Find this asshole. They hurt my girl, and now we hurt them p>
“Understood. I’ll be in touch p>
I forward everything to Gideon, who replies with one word.
Gideon: Fuck.
Yeah, fuck.
Gideon: Are we going to find out that there are photos of you fucking Willow that get leaked to the goddamn media?
Fuck.
Me: There better not be, but I don’t know anything right now. Jesus fucking Christ, Gid.
Willow’s standing by the windows, looking out into the darkness. Her arms are wrapped around her, and she’s rocking back and forth, as if she’s trying to soothe herself.
“Sweetheart p>
She shakes her head. “Don’t apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong. I just can’t unsee that, and I never wanted to know p>
“Hey, I know.” I want someone to bleed for this. Anger is a living thing inside me, but I need to reassure her, to remind her that she’s all that matters.
“They were in your house. Do you film the women you fuck? Christ, did you film us p>
“Absolutely fucking not p>
I turn her to face me and hold her neck and jaw between my hands, gently rubbing her lips with my thumb.
“Look at me right now. In my eyes, Trouble.” Her stormy gaze finds mine. She looks scared, and that fuels my rage. “I did not take those photos. Someone planted that camera in my place, and I’m going to find out who, and when I do, they’re going to regret it. I would never violate someone that way. What happens between you and me is just that: between you and me p>
She swallows hard and closes her eyes again before she nods and another tear escapes, spiraling down her cheek.
“I know you wouldn’t do that p>
“That’s right, you know me. Christ, baby, just the thought of it makes me sick. Those women might not have meant more to me than that one night, but they absolutely did not deserve that, and I will make sure those images are destroyed. He violated me and them, and he’ll pay for it p>
“Oh, God, you’re right. Those poor women. I’m so selfish p>
“Stop it.” I kiss her forehead, and then her nose. “Come here p>
She walks right into my arms, and the relief is immediate. She’s not running away from me, even after my past was literally thrown in her face in glaring detail. She’s right. She can’t unsee that.
But I can do my best to wipe it from her memory.
I lift her bridal-style and walk up the stairs and to our bedroom. It’s no longer mine. It’s been ours for weeks now, and that’s what it will always be.
She’s clinging to me, her face buried in my neck, her hands in my hair.
When I get to the foot of the bed, I set her on her feet, and then I peel my shirt over my head and toss it aside.
Her hands immediately fall to my chest.
“The tree.” I drag her hand over to my side, and she gently traces the dark lines of the willow tree, and every brush of her fingertip sends heat through me. “Look carefully p>
She frowns up at me, but then she turns her attention to the ink. Then she blinks, and her eyes widen.
“Ryker p>
“What do you see, baby p>
Her eyes fill with tears, and she leans her forehead against my chest. “Ry p>
“Hey.” I cup her chin and make her look at me, wiping at her tears with my thumb. “What do you see, Wills p>
“I see me.” She swallows hard. “In the branches—it’s my face p>
I kiss her then, so tenderly, breathing in her breath, consuming every bit of her sweetness.
“It’s you,” I whisper against her lips. “Always you, baby. And it will only ever be you for as long as I’m breathing. You’re it for me. You’re in the marrow of my bones, seeped into every broken crack of my being. You smooth out my rough edges. You always have, since the first day I met you. You’re all I want, and all I need, and I’ll spend the rest of my life proving it to you p>
“Get naked, Captain.” She brushes the last of her tears away, and she’s watching me with hungry eyes that I’ll never say no to.
I kiss her once more before I push my jeans down, along with my boxer briefs, and then I reach for her. I ease her little white tank over her head and toss it aside, then push my fingers into the waistband of her denim shorts and tug her close, drag my lips down the side of her neck and grin when goose bumps break out over her soft skin.
“You’re so fucking beautiful it almost pisses me off,” I murmur and feel her chuckle.
“Why would that make you mad p>
I kiss the ball of her shoulder as I unfasten her shorts, and they fall around her ankles, leaving her in pink-and-green-striped panties that have my already-hard cock weeping. I cup her and feel that the fabric is soaked, and groan against her neck.
“Because every man will look at what’s mine and want you. But they can’t have you, can they p>
“No p>
“Why is that, Willow p>
“Because I’m yours p>
Fuck me sideways.
“That’s right, baby. Because you’re mine.” I push my fingers farther down her slit, over the soaked panties, and bite the fleshy part of her shoulder. “You’re so wet for me p>
“Always.” Her hands coast down my sides and around to my ass, and then I simply lift her around the waist and set her down in the middle of the bed. Sliding my fingers into the elastic of her panties, I pull them down her legs and bury my nose in them, breathing deep.
“You smell fucking fantastic p>
She bites her lip, and I set the underwear aside.
I’ll be keeping those.
With her legs spread wide, I can see her cunt glistening, just begging for my mouth, for my cock, and this sexy-as-fuck woman cups her breast and pinches her own nipple.
“Christ, you’re beautiful p>
She grins. “Yeah? You like what you see, Captain p>
I cover her body, my pelvis cradled between her legs, and rest on my elbows so I can kiss her sweet mouth.
“I don’t like it. I love it. Every gorgeous inch. Now, I need to ask you something, and I want you to be honest p>
She brushes her lips back and forth against my own. “Okay. I’ll be honest. As long as you keep hitting my clit like that with your cock, I’ll tell you anything p>
“Anything?” I feel a sly smile slip over my face, and I move my hips back, then forward, and graze over that hard bundle of nerves. “Do you really think that I’d take photos like that without someone’s consent p>
She pulls back and scowls up at me. “No, of course not. No p>
“Do you not see that you’re it for me?” I slip my dick through her sopping wet slit. “That you’re all I see in this world p>
“I know.” She cups my face and kisses me tenderly, slides her tongue over mine.
“Do you know how much I love you?” I push inside her, making us both groan when I bottom out, and push my hands into her hair. I’m covering her, I’m inside her, I’m everywhere. And yet it’s not enough.
It’ll never be enough.
“I love you too p>
“There is no one before you or after. It’s only you, Willow. And I’m going to make you forget what you saw. I’m going to wipe it from your mind, because you’re all I want, all I need, and the only thing that matters p>
“Fuck, Ry p>
My hips are moving faster, and my anger from earlier is starting to come back to the surface. That anyone would try to fuck with what I have with this woman makes me lose my mind.
I pull up onto my knees and look down to where we’re joined together, and then I pull out and flip Wills onto her stomach.
“Head down, pussy up, sweetheart p>
She eagerly sticks that perfect ass in the air, and I push a pillow under her hips to keep her up before I smack her ass and push inside her once more.
“Oh, God, that angle is incredible.” She’s hugging a pillow and buries her face in it, but I want her moans.
“Don’t muffle your sounds, beautiful. Give them to me. I’m fucking greedy for every noise you make p>
“Ry,” she groans, pushing back against me with every thrust. “God, yes p>
I slide my hand up her spine, around her neck, and then stick my thumb in her mouth.
“Suck it p>
She does, without hesitation, and when it’s good and wet, I pull it out of her mouth and cover her puckered hole with it, just teasing her there. She stiffens up on me but doesn’t pull away.
“I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do,” I assure her as I rub the pad of my thumb back and forth over that tight opening.
She doesn’t tell me to stop, and she doesn’t pull away, and with my next slam into her, I push just the tip of the digit inside her, and she growls.
“Why is that so good p>
I grin and lean forward so I can kiss her, right between her shoulder blades. “Do you like that, Trouble p>
“Yeah. God, I like that p>
With each thrust, I ease into her a little more, until I’m in as far as my knuckle and Willow is writhing and moaning, and I know that I’m not going to last.
With my free hand, I reach around and rub her clit, and she immediately shivers around my cock.
“That’s it, baby. I want you to come on this cock. Come all over me, sweetheart p>
“Oh my God,” she yells out before she comes apart, squeezing me so hard that I have no choice but to succumb to my own climax. I fall forward and cover her, kissing her neck, her shoulder, and then I finally move to her side, and she pops an eye open and smiles at me. “Hi p>
“Hey.” I can’t stop touching her. My hand glides down her back to her ass and then back up again. “You okay p>
“I can’t feel my body right now, but I’m sure I’ll be fine in about two years, when I’ve recovered p>
With a chuckle, I bite her arm, and she yelps. “You felt that p>
“I guess I can feel my arm p>
“Hmm.” I reach out for her and drag her to me so she’s lying on top of my chest. “Come here. I can’t get close enough to you tonight p>
“We’re okay, Ry. What happened earlier made us a little needy for each other, but we’re okay p>
“Promise p>
She smiles up at me so sweetly, it steals my breath. “Promise. Gideon will find the asshole. He might kill them, even with an injured leg p>
“Not if I get to them first.” I kiss the top of her head. “I don’t ever want you to feel insecure about us. Because I’m not going anywhere, and I don’t give a rat’s ass about anyone but you and that boy in the bunkhouse. And probably Gideon p>
She smirks and nuzzles into me. “I don’t feel insecure. Mostly, I was just jealous p>
“I don’t want that either.” I shake my head. “You have no reason to be jealous, Trouble p>
“But it’s normal, Ry.” She nudges back so she can look at me better. “It’s one thing to know you’ve been with other people. For fuck’s sake, you’re thirty-five. Of course you’re not a virgin. But it’s another thing altogether to see images of it. So yeah, I was jealous. And let’s not forget, it wasn’t that long ago that you were irrationally jealous over a phone conversation that you overheard between me and a colleague. So I won’t apologize for being jealous of literally seeing you fuck other women. Because I overthink literally everything p>
“Okay, let’s talk about that.” I brush my finger down her cheek. “What are you overthinking p>
Her blue eyes go stormy, and I nudge her chin up. “Nope, just tell me. Don’t get all up in your head p>
“I believe that’s the very definition of overthinking p>
I narrow my eyes, and she sighs. “I was so enjoying the afterglow. I guess my mind wanders to silly things like, was she better at something than me? Did he like it when she did this or that? Does he think about the time he had her on her knees and she p>
“Okay, whoa.” I roll her under me and kiss her senseless until I feel her relax into the mattress. “I’m not like that. I can’t speak for all men, but I don’t think that way. It may sound callous, but I don’t give a fuck, because we’re in our safe place and I can speak freely p>
She nods, watching me with wide eyes.
“I don’t remember much about most of those girls. Maybe bits and pieces, here and there. I was probably a little drunk with some of them. Or they were just a quick fuck, and then I moved on with my life. What you and I have is completely and utterly different. The sex is the best of my life p>
“You don’t have to say that for my ego p>
“Good. Because I’m not. It’s the truth.” I raise an eyebrow, and she rolls her eyes.
“Yeah, it’s the best of my life too p>
“You sound so convincing, baby.” I chuckle and nibble on her lips. “But it’s more than the sex. It’s this. Talking with you, laughing with you. It’s the whole package, and that’s something that I’ve never had with anyone else. So whatever you saw in those motherfucking pictures is not applicable to us. We’re so much more than that p>
She sighs and kisses my chin. “Okay p>
“That’s it? Okay p>
“I mean, what else do I say to that? I do wish I could sterilize my mind’s eye p>
I lift an eyebrow and nuzzle her cheek as I press inside her. “I guess I’d better get to work making you forget. I’ll fuck you until this is all you remember, Trouble p>
She sighs and wraps her arms and legs around me, pulling me into her. “I won’t argue with that p>