Storm Front (The Charistown Series) (Volume 2) Read online

  “Danny, I said some pretty horrible things to her. I lost my temper and I didn’t trust her. And guess what, man, all of those things I did…they were all just as bad as any physical blow I could have dealt. I broke her trust and I broke her heart. I’m gonna be honest, man, there hasn’t been one day in the last three years that I haven’t gotten up and gotten out of bed with my only goal being to become a better man. A man worthy of that woman drinking at your bar.

  Did I do it just for her? No. I did it so I could look myself in the mirror each night before I went to bed. I did it so my mother could rest in peace knowing her son was no longer a fuck-up. But, Danny, hear me when I say, I’m still in love with her—always will be—and I will do whatever it takes to earn back her trust, and her love.”

  He wasn’t sure at what point he had stood up and started pacing around the small office but as new determination ebbed through his body he turned and met the gaze of the man in front of him. Danny sat comfortably, his ankle crossed over his knee and a wide cat-that-ate-the-canary sort of grin tugged at his face. Ryan had no idea what was going through the older guy’s mind and quickly let out a lung-full of air before sitting back down in his seat.

  Danny dropped his foot to the floor, laced his fingers together and again leaned slowly into Ryan. “Welcome to Charistown, son,” he said simply, unlacing his hands and clapping Ryan on the shoulder. “I think you are exactly what Little Miss Spicy needs. So, good luck. But know this—she’s family, and you’re a guest. You fuck up, we choose her. You got it?”

  Ryan nodded his understanding before both men stood up and headed back into the very crowded main bar.

  Lucky Charms

  “I HEAR YOU have a house on South Pine Street. Come on, I’ll take you home.” His voice felt like warm honey dripping down her skin—sweet, thick and desirable. Had she just compared his voice to honey? Fuck, I must be drunk.

  “You don’t seem drunk to me, Princess. You really have learned to hold your alcohol.” His smile coupled with the touch of his hand on her lower back made her panties wet.

  “Don’t call me Princess. Seriously, Ryan, I can take a cab home. I don’t live far from here.”

  “Ash, I promised your boss I would get you home safely and I intend to keep that promise.”

  Lost in her guilt-ridden thoughts, Ashley made no return remark. She had a promise to keep too. She had promised herself she would leave her past behind. The pain. The heartache. The guilt. But the fact that Ryan Baker was now standing beside her, guiding her gently to the side of his car, smelling all woodsy and masculine with a tinge of beer and mint, she knew she was in trouble. The fact that she wanted to rub up against him like a cat in heat as she took in his scent posed a definite threat to the promise that she had so earnestly kept over the past three years. As his hand hovered over the small of her back while he ushered her into the passenger seat of his 1998 Ford Mustang, she found herself incapable of refusing his offer. It was laughable. The car ride would only be two minutes at the most. Yet, she complied with his request and took her seat.

  Allowing herself one more whiff before he closed her in, her heart thundered in her chest as she watched him cross the front of his car. It was suddenly painfully evident that she was very close to breaking that promise. It was undeniable. She still craved him after all these years. Exactly two minutes later, she found herself lightheaded as she finally let out a breath. Her refusal to be assaulted by Ryan’s scent resulted in only two short breaths being taken during their ride to her apartment.

  While unbuckling her seat belt, she spoke for the first time since the parking lot. “Okay, Ryan, you got me home, safe and sound.” She exited the car and quickly walked to her front door knowing full well he was following close behind. “It was great seeing you today and catching up. Be sure to stay in touch…but not too in touch.” She snarled her dismissal and turned to unlock her door.

  “Ashley.”

  Her name was a breathy whisper as his hand glided up to her shoulder. The backs of his fingers scorched a trail where skin met skin. A soft moan escaped her lips and thousands of tiny goose bumps spread across her flesh. Her familiar response to his touch sent currents of electricity through her blood.

  “Ash, let me come in. Nothing has to happen. I just want to spend more time with you.”

  Inhaling sharply, Ashley stepped away, disconnecting from his touch and shaking her head to clear the lust that threatened to cloud her good judgment. “Romeo, do you honestly think I don’t remember your allure? Please, I know exactly what will happen if I let you in my house. Do you know how I know?” She watched his face, his eyes burned with lust, yet he still shook his head in denial. “I know because I look at you, I see you, and even after all this time, even after everything that happened, I still want you. I still burn for you. I remember what it was like to have your hands on my body and I want more. I want it all.”

  “I want you to inhale me, consume me, and devour me. I want to come apart knowing that you’ll be the one who puts me back together. And when you do, I want to watch you drown in the desire you once had for me. So you see,” her eyes ran the length of his body as she tried to keep her thoughts from scattering, “I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to step through my door, because there is no way the reality can hold a candle to the fairytale my memories have created.”

  Ryan moved closer to her. That one step brought him close enough that his scent once again surrounded Ashley. His warmth embraced her, desire assaulted her. She knew then and there that her self-promise was about to be a thing of the past.

  “Princess,” his voice raspy as the words finally freed themselves from their prison, he growled, “There is nothing wrong with your memory. Now, invite me into your fucking house.”

  Before she could protest again, Ryan closed the distance between them, cradling her jaw in his large hands and pulling her closer. He wasn’t gentle when he took her mouth for the first time. Her lips were so lush, so warm, so… Ashley. He stroked his tongue across her full bottom lip pulling in the small silver hoop that adorned it. He loved the way it felt against his tongue and his teeth. He threaded his fingertips through her hair and pulled her even closer. His head tilted to the side in an effort to deepen their kiss even more, and she gripped his shirt in return as she stepped further back into her house and yanked his body even closer to her own. The front door was kicked shut with a thud.

  They stood in the foyer making out like teenagers. Their bodies pressed tight against one another, their hands set in motion. Her moans sent tingles through his body—further amplifying the desire that had been simmering since the moment he’d first seen her behind the bar. Hell, the desire he had been harboring for years.

  Ryan’s heart was beating so quickly he was certain she could feel it pumping through his clothes. The deeper their kisses, the faster his heart thrummed. The quiet groans in the back of his throat got louder as she untucked his long sleeved Henley from his jeans and whipped it over his head. God, is this really happening? He moved to touch her sweet, smooth skin when she pulled away from his touch.

  “Holy shit, Ry.” With eyes round like saucers, she stared unapologetically at his naked chest. “Umm, so, obviously, I see what you’ve been doing over the past couple of years.” She purred as she ran her small hands over his chest. Ryan had always had a great body but now he was heavily muscled. He wasn’t meaty or overly thick, but he had spent the past thirty-six months improving each part of himself: his psyche, his emotions, and his body. “I’m flattered that you find my body so appealing, Ash,” he grinned smugly, “but can you show your appreciation a little closer?”

  “Still, cocky, I see,” she smiled, rolling her eyes before easing back into his embrace and mapping his torso with her hands and her lips.

  “Mmm, Ashley, you have no idea how amazing it feels to have you near me like this again, I…” He stopped speaking midsentence as she looped her tongue through the piercing on his left nipple.

  “I
love these, Ryan,” she whispered, lightly nipping on the steel ring. “Hmm, I see you got some more ink as well.”

  He wanted to respond to her observations, but once again, his words escaped him while his mind was processing boundless pleasure. His cock was fully erect and demanding release from the constraints of suddenly too tight jeans, and his fingers were itching to touch the creamy soft skin that he knew was waiting under her clothes. Here she was, in front of him, touching him and he could barely put words together as his thoughts scattered through his mind.

  “Let’s take this upstairs. Follow me,” she said with a crooked finger and a wicked smile. He followed as she led him to the staircase. Lust overtook logic as he watched the sway of her hips and admired the lush curve of her ass with each step she took from the first floor of the small house to the second.

  Once inside her bedroom, he finally gathered his wits and pressed his body up against hers. Melted together, his front to her back, he pressed his lips to the nape of her neck.

  “Mmm, you still smell so goddamn good,” he murmured as he slid his tongue along the curve where her neck met her shoulder. That had always been a hotspot for her. He grinned to himself when her body responded to the soft breath he blew over the moistened area. Her barely contained whimper had his cock begging for a release that his mind wasn’t ready for. He wanted to savor every single moment of this night. He wrapped his arms around her, cupping her firm, full breasts over her tank top. Rolling her hardened nipples between his thumbs and middle fingers, he continued to nip the flesh at her neck and shoulders. “You taste like fucking dessert, too. I can’t wait to taste all of you, Princess.”

  His erotic words were turning her on and setting her off all at once. “What are you waiting for?” She replied huskily and quickly turned around to face him. Her next words caught in her throat as she was struck by the intensity of the beautiful man staring back at her. He was so fucking gorgeous. Why had she ever let him go?

  You didn’t. He threw you away.

  The memory flashed through her mind sending a jolt of pain through her body. “Baby, you okay?” Ryan asked looking at her as if he knew the tremor that moved through her body had nothing to do with pleasure.

  “I’m fine,” she whispered putting herself back together as she always had before. “Just come closer. I need you.” She didn’t need to ask him twice.

  “I’ll come as close as you want me to be.” Ryan ran his hands up her bare arms and back down, lighting small fires on every inch of her skin. “Lift your arms, Princess.” She heard his sharp intake of breath when she complied so quickly to his demand. He slowly glided her tank top up her torso and over her head, revealing a lacy baby-blue bra that barely covered her full breasts. “Jesus Christ, baby, I didn’t think perfection could be improved.”

  She would have called him out on his tacky line but the sincerity in both his raspy voice and his hungry eyes told her that he believed every word coming from his mouth. “Looks like you got some paint on your canvas too, Princess.”

  Thousands of goose bumps varnished the surface of her skin the moment his calloused finger traced the ink that scrolled across her ribs. “The darker the storm, the deeper the pain. Huh? Where’s the rest of it, Ash?” He asked, referring to the second part of Leo’s tattoo that she had purposely left off when replicating her brother’s on her skin. She had known the second Ryan removed her tank that this tattoo would be a discussion, but had hoped he would be too afraid of bringing up the past to call attention to it. As always, when it came to Ryan Baker, he didn’t do what she assumed he would.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Ry,” she murmured, leaning in to brush his chest with soft strokes of her greedy tongue and effectively ending any discussion about her tattoo or Leo’s lost words. As her hands slid down each ripple of his abs, she felt excitement and moisture building between her thighs. God, she had waited for this man for so long—dreamed of this moment for so many years—and now the moment had finally arrived.

  He skated his trembling hands from her waist up the plain of her back and deftly unhooked the delicate fabric of her bra. Their eyes met and gazes locked as the lacy straps slipped from her shoulders. Ashley lifted her hands to clutch the cups to her breasts. His eyes were filled with longing and her chest rose and fell with each shallow breath.

  “Let me see you, Princess. I’ve been dreaming of this night for a lifetime.” His words were her undoing.

  She relinquished her hold of the bra and her body at the same time. The soft sound of the garment hitting the floor was absorbed by the sharp intake of Ryan’s breath. She could see the fire burning in his stare as his nostrils flared slightly with want and passion. In the years since leaving him, she had never seen that kind of passion replicated in any other man’s eyes and had all but come to terms with the fact that she may go the rest of her life without ever seeing it again.

  “Holy fuck, beautiful.” She knew why he was smiling and she grinned back at him.

  “I’m assuming you like?” She teased.

  “You got your nipples pierced too?” She watched as his eyes drank in the sight of the small barbells that ran through her pale pink nubs. “Christ, Ash, I-I don’t even know what to say. That’s so fucking hot. What happened to the sweet, perfect, Princess I used to know?”

  The smile on Ashley’s face faltered, replaced by the plastic mask she was so used to wearing that it almost felt like it was a part of her. “I’m sorry, Ash, I didn’t mean—”

  “Stop talking, and start doing.” Ashley unbuttoned her jeans and eased them down, revealing her lacy baby-blue thong.

  “I see some things never change,” Ryan grinned moving closer, fingering the lace sides of her thong. “Still like your bottoms to match your tops, huh?” Her sexy smile was the only confirmation he needed.

  Taking a final step into her, he closed the distance between them and rested his hands around her narrow waist, practically able to encase the entirety of her frame in his large hands. The pleasure he felt when she shivered from his touch made him feel like a king for the first time in years.

  Dipping his head forward, he pulled one of her adorned pink nipples into his mouth, laving the hardened peak with the tip of his tongue. Her nipples had always been highly sensitive but having his own piercings, he knew that she was probably even more sensitive now. Pulling her tight peak into his mouth, he used his thumb and index finger to stroke, pinch, and play with the other one. Her body felt incredible under his touch, it was taking super human restraint not to throw her down and devour her.

  “Ahh, Ry, that feels so good. I love your mouth on me.” Hearing his name fall from her lips in that sexy, dreamy state had his body blazing with satisfaction and his mind churning with memories. Stay in the now, Baker, stay here. Don’t go back. He switched to her other breast and let his hand slowly start to travel south. Keep things moving forward. Don’t let your mind go back.

  “Ryan, suck harder. I love the way your tongue feels on my tits. Please!” He paused, his lips hovered over her puckered nipple, her use of crude language washed over him, making him smile, making him even more aroused. He briefly stared at the perfection before him and then greedily gave her what she begged for. Her body trembled under his touch as he continued to lick and fondle her magnificent breasts.

  Red-hot flames of desire danced in her eyes as he stalked toward her, backing her up until the edge of the bed knocked into the back of her legs. “Lie down.” By the way her eyes widened and her sweet mouth formed a perfect “o”, he could tell his rough command turned her on.

  He kicked off his boots and unfastened his belt and his jeans, pushing them to the floor before climbing onto the bed from the bottom and wedging himself between her legs. He ran his hands from her ankles to her thighs and stopped at the waistband of her barely there thong. His eyes moved up her body. Every part of her was inviting, from her silky multicolored hair to her bow shaped lips. His gaze settled on hers. The look of wild abandon was
gone only to be replaced with something else.

  “God, Ash, you are so fucking beautiful. Seeing you like this…” He closed his eyes and pulled in a deep breath. “I just never thought I would…”

  How could he put into words what he was feeling? How sorry he still was. How could he explain that he had spent every day of three years working to get to where he was in that very second? Taking in a deep breath, he decided it was time to tell her the truth.

  “Ash-”

  “Ryan,” Ashley interrupted his thoughts with her sexy words. “I want you to touch me, to lick me, to suck me. I want you to talk dirty to me and most of all, after all of this time, I want you in me. Can you give me that?”

  God, who was this woman? Was it the alcohol or something that happened in the last three years that had made her so brazen?

  He watched her for a quick second to see if her request was in jest, but desire in her eyes was anything but funny. “Yeah, Princess,” He growled, “I can give you everything you need.” His nose drifted across the silk of her already flooded panties, and from below, his eyes met hers as he spoke. “Mmm, I can smell your arousal, baby, and just like I remember, you smell amazing.”

  He pressed his thumbs under the scrap of lace that covered her mound and tugged them off at lightning speed. “I’ve been dreaming of your sweet pussy for a long time, Ash. The way you writhe beneath me when I lick you, the way you grind yourself into my lips when I plunge my fingers deep inside you and pull your clit between my teeth for a gentle nip just before you come undone. Now, lie back and let me finally taste your luscious cunt, baby.”

  His dirty words melted her and scared her in ways she couldn’t describe—ways she refused to think about. Was it embarrassment or self-preservation that caused her to snap her legs closed in that moment? She had no idea, but as her body begged for her to give in, her mind screamed for her to stop. She felt herself tense, the warring within her, tightening the muscles of her legs as she brought them together.