Dirk's Love (6 page)

She sighed dramatically. “All right, you win. What do you have in mind to fill the rest of the time?”

Dirk kissed the tip of her nose before he slid out from under her and got off the bed. He quickly tucked his still hard cock inside his jeans and did them up, then turned to face Ryann. She lay on the mattress in all her naked glory, making him almost rethink what he’d just told her. Almost.

“
I thought we could work on some ads for the launch of the website,” he said, doing his best to hide the fact that seeing her like this, stretched out on the bed in open invitation, made him horny as hell.

She smiled coyly. “Are you absolutely sure that’s what you’d rather be doing? We could always work on them sometime later.”

Ryann didn’t know it, but she was playing havoc with his good intentions of easing her into his world first, before taking her as his mate. She had no idea how much he wanted to climb back on that bed with her and finish what they’d started. Already, his mating urge had dug its claws even deeper into him because he’d only come in her mouth.

Instead, Dirk forced those thoughts away. “Positive. I’m not going to mess up what we’ve started.”

“
Fine,” she said with a pout as she climbed off the bed. “Have it your way. But all I have to say is that we’re off to a pretty good start, in my opinion.”

He was about to answer her when his cell phone started going off. Dirk reached inside his front jeans pocket and took it out. Seeing the number, he silently groaned to himself. It didn’t take a brainiac to figure out why she was calling.

He hit the “send” button to answer, and said, “Hello, Roxie.”

“
Good, you answered,” she replied. “That must mean I’m not too late.”

“
Too late for what?”

“
To make sure you don’t forget about my rules when it comes to mortal mates. I know Ryann is yours. Since you’re the last of the Protectors to get matched up, I’m going to make sure you do everything by the book.”

He sighed. “So far so good. Okay?” Dirk followed Ryann’s movements as she gathered up her clothes before she put them back on. With each bit of skin she covered, he wanted to groan in disappointment.

“
I guess, but the question is, how long will that last?” Roxie asked. “All your brothers-in-arms caved. Are you with Ryann now?”

“
Yes.”

“
What are the two of you doing for dinner?”

“
I’d planned to take Ryann out somewhere.”

“
Come to my place. Have dinner with Beowulf and me. Jager and Daylen will be here as well.”

“
I don’t know, Rox. I promised I’d take her someplace nice.”

He was met with a short silence before Roxie said, “Are you insinuating my house isn’t? Or that I’m not a good enough cook? You’ve eaten enough of my meals to know that’s not the case.”

“
You know that’s not what I meant. Gee, don’t bite my head off or anything.”

“
Then you two will come over. And just so you know, that’s an order from the foretold one.”

“
I guess my answer has to be yes, doesn’t it, since you really haven’t given me much choice. But I’m still going to ask Ryann first if it’s all right with her.”

Dirk covered the mouthpiece of his cell with his hand and spoke to his soon-to-be mate. “It’s Roxie, and she’s invited the two of us to come over and have dinner with her and her husband, Beowulf. I know it won’t be just the two of us going out for a meal, but it should be fun.” Not. He had a feeling Roxie would be watching him like a hawk to make sure he followed her rules.

Ryann nodded. “Sure, I’d love to. I know she’s a good friend of yours, and that she helped you set up Mate Connection.”

He pulled away his hand, then said into his phone, “Rox, Ryann said she’s fine with it. So I guess we’ll see you for dinner. What time do you want us over?”

“
How about we have a late meal, say around seven? That way, I can get the baby to bed beforehand, so I can eat with no interruptions.”

“
Sounds good. We’ll be there. Bye.”

Dirk ended the call and put his cell phone back into his pocket. He closed the distance between him and Ryann and wrapped his arms around her waist to hold her close. “Thanks for agreeing to go over to Roxie’s. She was really quite insistent about it. Knowing her, if I refused, she would’ve just kept calling until she’d worn me down. She really does want to meet you.”

Ryann laughed. “No worries. So what time are we going over there?”

“
She wants us to arrive at seven.”

Ryann went on tiptoes and kissed his chin. “Then we’d better get cracking on those ads you want to work on. And maybe we should have a little something to snack on now to tie us over until then. I make some mean nachos.”

Dirk smiled. “I’m not one for turning down food.”

As he walked with Ryann out of the bedroom, he hoped Roxie wouldn’t hover over him too much this evening. He loved her like the sister he never had, but the state he was in, he’d only be able to stand so much.

Ryann sat in the passenger side of Dirk’s BMW convertible with the top down, enjoying the wind in her hair as he drove them to Roxie’s place. Since it wouldn’t be dark for another couple of hours, when Dirk had asked if it were okay if he took it down, she’d quickly agreed. She’d never ridden in a convertible before, or a BMW, for that matter. Ryann had had a feeling that her new boss had money, considering some of the things he’d said while they’d talked on the phone. The first and foremost giveaway had been the fact he lived in Marin County.

Dirk sent a quick look her way before he focused back on the road. “Is it too windy for you?”

Ryann tucked her hair behind her ears. “No, it’s fine.”

“
Just let me know if it is, and I’ll put the top up.”

“
I will.”

They drove in silence for a little while until Ryann noticed the neighborhood they were in. “Ah, I take it Roxie’s rich like you.”

He gave her a quick smile. “You could say that, but mostly because of Beowulf. You could say he comes from very old money.”

“
If that’s the case, I hope he isn’t one of those stuck up rich people.”

Dirk laughed. “I can assure you Beowulf’s nothing like that. He’s a pretty laid back guy. He even owns a nightclub. You might’ve heard of it. Wulf’s Den?”

Ryann shifted in her seat to better face Dirk. “Are you kidding me? I’ve heard of Wulf’s Den. Where I used to work, that’s all the single girls talked about. How the hottest guys could be found there. Like off the pages of
GQ
hot. I think some of them went to the club every Saturday night, hoping to get lucky with one.”

“
Yeah, it does have a reputation for that,” he said with a chuckle. “Beowulf says it’s very good for business. So did any of those girls hook up with one of the guys?”

“
Only one.
Supposedly.
”

“
What do you mean by that?”

“
Well, she came back to the office that Monday, bragging about how the guy could keep it up for hours, even after he came, repeatedly. We, of course, thought she was full of crap.” Ryann looked at Dirk’s profile. “But after what we shared in my apartment, I’m starting to rethink that. She could’ve very well told the truth. Though I think I might have to do a little more research into it before I fully believe it. Do some testing of that theory on my own.”

The glance Dirk shot her was heated, making a thrill shoot through her from her head to her toes.

“
You can use me as your guinea pig any time you want,” he said huskily. “And I’m sure you’ll be more than satisfied with the results.”

If they hadn’t been in a car, driving on the road, Ryann would’ve unclipped her seatbelt and thrown herself on top of Dirk. Her pussy grew wet as her imagination ran wild with all the things she would do to him to test her theory. She was so very tempted to tell him to turn the car around and go back to her apartment, to forget about Roxie’s dinner invitation. And from the tight expression on Dirk’s face, she had a feeling he’d have no problem going along with it.

His knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel tighter. “God, you have no idea how much you’re killing me here. If it were anyone else but Roxie, I’d be saying the hell with it.”

“
She wouldn’t understand?”

“
Not even close.” He reached across and squeezed her leg. “We’ll get this over with, then leave shortly after the meal’s done.”

“
I’m going to hold you to that.”

Dirk put on his indicator to turn left before he pulled into a gated drive. He rolled down his window and punched in a series of numbers on the security pad located near the entrance and the black, iron gate swung open.

“
You must come here a lot, if you know the code to get in,” she said.

“
There are times I practically feel as if I live here, especially when Roxie was helping me set up the website.”

Dirk drove up the long drive, then parked in front of the garage next to a black Chevy Camaro. Once he turned off the car, Ryann got out and walked around to Dirk’s side. He took her hand and linked their fingers together as he guided her over to the mansion’s front door. It’d been years since she’d walked with a man like this. She’d actually missed it.

Dirk didn’t bother to knock and just walked inside. He called, “Rox?”

“
We’re in the living room, Dirk,” a woman answered.

Still walking hand in hand, Ryann allowed Dirk to move her in the direction the voice had come from. Once they stepped inside the room, the two sets of couples already there seemed to turn their gazes directly on her. She found it a bit disconcerting to be the center of attention to a bunch of people she’d never met. They didn’t stare at her in a mean way, more of a curious one.

As they came closer, a woman with long, golden brown hair got up from the couch where she’d sat with a man with longish, black hair. She headed straight for Ryann with a big, friendly smile on her face.

“
It’s nice to finally meet you, Ryann,” the woman said when she came to stand in front of her. “Dirk’s talked a lot about you these last couple of weeks. I’m Roxie.”

Ryann returned her smile. “I can say the same about you.”

“
Well, don’t just stand there. I’ll introduce you to the others.”

Dirk and Ryann followed Roxie over to the two couches. Once they were all seated, Roxie made the introductions. Ryann learned that the man with the black hair was Roxie’s husband, Beowulf. The other two people were Jager and Daylen, another husband and wife.

She couldn’t help but stare a bit at Jager and Beowulf. The two men were tall, muscular and had supermodel looks just like Dirk. Their spouses were pretty, but didn’t look like models found on a fashion runway. Ryann was thankful for that. At least, she wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb when it came to the looks department.

Ryann had just sat back as Dirk put his arm around her shoulders when Jager said, “So, have the two of you slept together yet?”

“
Jager!” both Daylen and Roxie said sharply at the same time.

“
What?” he asked. “I know you’re both dying to know, well, at least Roxie is.”

Daylen shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Just ignore him, Ryann. My husband has the bad habit of saying whatever the hell’s on his mind, regardless of how bad it sounds coming out of his mouth.”

With his long, light brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and tough looking exterior, he had the appearance of a man you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. Jager’s expression softened, showing the feelings he had for his wife when he looked at Daylen. “And that’s part of the reason why you love me,” he said with a smile.

Next to Ryann, Dirk groaned. “As another person who lives in the same house as you, I can definitely say it doesn’t make me want to love you. Sometimes it actually has the opposite effect.”

As the others laughed at Dirk’s quip, Ryann turned her head to look at him. “Jager and Daylen are your roommates? I thought you lived alone.”

The laughter petered out as he answered her. “They’re not roommates, more like family. I like to think of them as the siblings I never had. Along with the others we live with.”

“
There are more than just the three of you?”

Dirk nodded. “Altogether, including the new baby Jaden and Leif are expecting, there are eleven of us.”

Ryann looked at him, feeling very much surprised. “That’s one big family. I don’t know if I could live with that many people. I’m so used to it just being Tyler and me.”

“
Don’t worry, Ryann,” Jager said. “You’ll think nothing of it once you’ve moved in.” He grunted when his wife elbowed him in the side.

“
Would you shut up, Jager,” Daylen said. She then looked at Ryann. “Like I said before, ignore him. Who’s Tyler?”

Ryann couldn’t help the smile that formed. “He’s my three-year-old son.” She quickly added, “I’m divorced.”

“
Where is he now?” Roxie asked. “You could’ve brought him along instead of leaving him with a sitter. We have plenty of room here for him to sleep, if and when he got tired.”

“
He’s with his dad for the weekend.”