14
***Maggie***
“ T hat you’re worth the wait and that you’re still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” Ryan toyed with the end of my braid and smiled. “Do you remember the last Fourth of July you spent at the beach house with everyone?”
I groaned. “Unfortunately. Why?”
“You wouldn’t get in the pool. It was a hundred degrees out and you were being so stubborn about it.” He huffed and stretched out on the blanket next to me so I followed suit. “I could tell that you wanted to swim. The first time Brad brought you to the beach, you were in the water the entire time.”
I stared up at the twilight sky and sighed. “That was before Brad happened. On the way down to the beach that day, he grabbed my stomach and made a comment about my body that I’ll never forget. I couldn’t imagine taking my coverup off in front of everyone after that.”
Ryan’s head snapped in my direction but I kept my eyes on the sky. “I’ll fucking kill him.”
I rolled my head over to smile at him. “Nah. I like Christina and she seems to want to marry him. It would suck for her to lose her wedding day.”
“That makes no difference to me.” He rolled to his side and watched me. “I didn’t know that something was wrong. I just wanted you to be happy. Looking back now, maybe I shouldn’t have thrown you in the pool.”
I laughed, genuinely happy to think about the second half of that day. “No, you saved the day. After I was in the pool, I had fun. Probably because Brad stayed in the house with Sharon. She is a total nightmare as a stepmom, isn’t she?”
“She is absolutely a nightmare.” He reached out and gently stroked his knuckles over my cheek. “Your smile in the pool that day almost made me throw caution and sense to the wind. I wanted to be with you so desperately. Your eyes were so green next to the blue of the pool and there were water droplets on your eyelashes… I wanted to kiss you. I wanted to take a photo and savor it forever. Instead, I forced myself to talk to Dad about my next trip. I was miserable.”
My stomach was riddled with nerves, ones that sank both higher and lower than they should’ve. I turned my cheek into his touch. “You’re saying things that I needed to hear so desperately that day. And every day, honestly. The things Brad said still cling to my hips and stomach some days. This helps, though. Between your pictures and your words, I might go home feeling pretty today.”
He leaned over, his face closer than ever. “I want to make you forget everything he ever said to you.”
My breath caught in my throat as he slowly moved his mouth closer to mine, giving me all the time in the world to stop him. I didn’t want to, though. I just wanted him to take the kiss he’d always wanted.
When his lips were just a breath away from mine, he searched my eyes and then let out a soft groan. “Fuck me, you’re beautiful, Maggie.”
I smiled and then he was kissing me. His lips on mine were soft, almost just a whisper of a touch, and then more. Slowly, he kissed me and eased back, testing the waters. I let him set the pace and it was a sweet kind of torture. He slid his hand into my hair and took his time deepening the kisses. When he did finally dip his tongue past my lips, I was beyond ready. I whimpered at the deep groan he released and gripped the blanket under me with both hands.
Ryan lifted his mouth from mine and met my gaze. “I’m ruined.”
I didn’t get a chance to ask him what he meant. He lowered his mouth to mine again but it was more urgent that time. He moved his hand down to my stomach and let it rest there. He felt me tense and growled.
“You’re fucking perfect, Maggie. You’re soft where you’re supposed to be soft. For me. For this.” He rolled on top of me, letting one of his thighs press between mine. His body was a solid weight on top of me, the pressure of his thigh a mind tingling tease. “You fit perfectly under me. You’d fit perfectly on top of me, too. I’ve dreamt about this body for years, Maggie. Years.”
I gasped as he ran his hand up my side and back down, only stopping when he had a handful of my thigh under my dress. I searched for his mouth but he turned his face and stopped me.
“I’m not done.” His grip tightened and he lifted my leg until it was cradling his hip. He rocked his hips into me, just once, just enough to let me feel how hard he was. “I know you can feel that. I’m fucking aching over you, over this body.”
I tightly gripped his curls and pulled his mouth back to mine. I felt like I was out of control but Ryan wasn’t. He kissed me just as slowly as he wanted, only stroking his tongue over mine every few kisses. When I rocked my hips against him, he smiled into our kiss.
“Do that again.” When I did, Ryan’s control slipped and his kiss grew wilder. “Again.”
I lost track of when I stopped trying to make him break and when I started chasing an orgasm. It was like I didn’t even realize what I was doing until I was already halfway there. I’d dropped my hands to his hips and I was panting into his kiss as I rocked my hips and ground my core against his thick thigh.
Ryan felt me hesitate and his grip on my thigh tightened. “Use me to get yourself off, Maggie. I want to see you.”
I pressed my head back, into the ground, and moaned when he kissed my neck. “ Ryan .”
He started rocking his body into mine, thrusting against me until I could feel the rough bite of his jeans against my inner thighs. His breathing sped up to match mine and he swore into the side of my neck. “Yes, Maggie. Ride my thigh and come for me.”
He met my gaze and when I started coming, he kissed me hard, swallowing my moans. My body shook and I dug my feet into the ground to meet his rough thrusts with jerky ones of my own. I came and felt him stiffen against me before we both went limp.
He was half on top of me, holding most of his weight off, with his cheek pressed to mine. “And now my jeans are as ruined as I am.”
I snorted and then covered my face as I laughed. “Oh, my god.”