Greatest Distraction (Distracted #1) (19 page)

“That’s my girl,” he said roughly, tightening his hold on my ass
, and it sent me over the edge. I yelled a mangled version of his name as he stilled, his orgasm following mine. His face rested in the crook of my neck and I shuddered as he placed his lips on my skin.

We stood there panting together, using each other as support for what seemed like hours, neither of us willing to move or break the spell between us. The water was starting to drop in temperature, the once-relaxing spray now making
goosebumps break out where it touched my skin. After a moment longer, Dane straightened, still holding me.

“Come on
, baby, you’re shivering. You’ll catch a cold.”

He walked us both out of the shower, and sat me down on the toilet before wrapping a fluffy towel around me.
Draping a towel across his waist, he grabbed another, and wiped the water from my face. For some reason it felt indescribably intimate and I blushed. My stomach chose that moment to grumble again, my forgotten food hunger returning. Dane looked at me and we both burst out laughing.

Once we were relatively dry, me dressed in a different pair of yoga pants and a tee, him only in jeans, we ordered Chinese takeout. We sat on the couch and ate out of the cartons with chopsticks while watching Gordon Ramsey’s
Kitchen Nightmares
on BBC. Dane kept mimicking Gordon to perfection, poking fun at our food, while I giggled and tried to keep from spitting, very unladylike.

I was surprised that things hadn’t become awkward between us. A small part of me had expected it; thankfully, the pessimist in me was denied. Dane was still Dane, except now he sat right beside me, jacking the small corn on the cobs out of my carton while I swatted at him. When we’d finished our food, he’d taken the containers back into the kitchen, putting away the leftovers.

“You don’t have to do that; I’ll do it,” I told him, starting to stand, but he waved me back down.

“No. Stay.”

“Did you really just tell me to stay? Like a dog ‘stay’?” I asked him, feigning petulance at his command. Who was I kidding, I was enjoying just watching him.

“Ha. No. I’m almost done – no point in getting up.
”

“So tell me,” Dane asked as he picked my feet up off the couch and sat down, resting them in his lap. His hands started to massage the arch of my foot and I sighed happily. A girl could get used to this. “Why did you come up here,
Ryen? To New York, I mean.”

“I needed a distraction or four.”

“From what?” he urged, his hand moving to caress my ankle.

“I told you.” My words were clipped – despite the fact this hands were magic, and I’d do pretty much anything to ensure he didn’t
stop, I didn’t want to talk about this again. For the life of me, I could never figure out why people asked questions they already knew the answers to.

“The asshole? The one that stole your trust from the entire human race?”

“Pretty much, yes.” I shrugged, pulling my legs back and my knees to me. I held onto one, allowing my head to rest on it.

“That’s sort of pathetic.”

Okay … not what I was expecting at all. I started to open my mouth, to argue with his assessment, but I decided to think first – a novel concept for me, I’ll admit, but still. Maybe he was right. I mean, I was on my death bed – shut up, you know how sick I was – and then just
happened
to run into Aaron. That meeting prompted a pity party of epic proportions, before an OCD cleaning spree to vacuum up the mess I’d made because of said pity party, and then a breakup with a baby who called himself a man.

“Okay, so it was pathetic
… asshole, much, for pointing it out?”

Dane’s laughter rumbled from him, the sound sexy and masculine, enticing. A smile lit his whole face, and I couldn’t help but joining in.
Ass.

“Well, someone had to tell you
… I mean, didn’t Elle tell you the same thing?”

“No
, she actually thought it was a good idea…” my thought trailed off as I recalled our conversation. She hadn’t really said it was a good idea, but she didn’t fight me on it – she’d accepted the things I’d said, what I’d declared I was doing, and helped me accomplish them. “Okay, she didn’t say it was a good idea. She just … she knows me. She and I have been friends forever and I’m sort of stubborn. When I decide I’m doing something, or not doing something, I stick to it.”

“You’re going to be a pain in my ass, aren’t you?” he asked, pulling on my leg to release the hold I had on my knee.
Once freed, he grabbed me from behind both knees and tugged, forcing me to him. I opened my mouth to answer him, but he interrupted me. “Shut up, Ryen, don’t even deny it. You’re going to be a class-A, pain in my ass, and one hell of a distraction.”

With that, he lowered his mouth to mine, effectively shutting me up. I wasn’t sure if I was impressed that he’d learned how to quiet me so quickly, or if it pissed me off. When his tongue played against the seam of my lip and I opened to him, I decided it didn’t matter. He was like a gift from
someone above who knew just what I needed – a man who wouldn’t take my shit, regardless of how frequently I spouted it or gave it; a man who was strong enough, and grounded enough, to be his own person, and was independent. And, along with all those, a man who knew that sometimes a woman just needed to shut the fuck up, accept hands on her body, and surrender.

I was surrendering now, my body responding to him, his palms moving a trail up my legs. I’d never wished so hard that my pants would magically disappear – I wanted him to touch my bare skin,
to feel him. Stupid fucking yoga pants – why did I even
buy
yoga pants, it wasn’t like I actually yoga-ed in them. Is that even a word?

Dane’s hand lifted my shirt, his fingers on my stomach snapping me out of my clothing despair. Heat blossomed in my center as he pushed the tank top up, up, up and over my head, baring my chest to him. He broke the kiss, pulling back to take in my breasts as if he’d never seen them before.

“So fucking beautiful – your last boyfriend was a dumbass,” he said before he bent and took a nipple into his mouth, sucking hard, stealing my breath. When I moved my hands to tug his head away, overwhelmed from the sensation of his tongue playing circles on my sensitive skin, he clamped his teeth down, tugging, not releasing me.

“
Eep!” Yes, I’m slightly ashamed that was the
actual
sound that escaped my lips, a mixture of pleasure and pain and surprise. And, of course, a chuckle escaped Dane, vibrating against me and making me moan again.

“I want to take you to bed,” Dane told me as he finally lifted his head. I glanced down at his face, deliriously wrapped up in him, my arms entangled around the parts of his neck I could reach. I opened my mouth to answer him, to say yes, when he spoke again. “I’m
going
to take you to bed, Ryen.”

Before I could approve or deny his plan,
him being Alpha, he lifted me in his arms and walked toward the stairs. He hesitated only briefly at the bottom of them, and I looked up, counting the steps. There were a lot of them … I couldn’t even calculate the numbers in the state I was in. My gaze dropped to his face as he cradled me, thinking he was nuts. Sure, he was … buff … but that many steps? If he fell, I was going to break my neck and be seriously pissed.

“Dane…”

“Trust. Trust me, Ryen.”

With that, he trudged us both up to the master bedroom, never missing a step or faltering. He held me strongly, firmly, and ironically I felt safe – despite the possibility for imminent death. Wordlessly, I pointed to the door to my room, and as he put my feet on the floor, I bolted to the closet to shut the door. I didn’t want him to see the mess I’d left my clothes in
… I wasn’t a slob, but when you’re frantically trying to get dressed and pick the right outfit, things sort of fly around small rooms.

Dane raised an eyebrow as I perched at the end of the bed, still sans tank top. I was very aware that I was
topless, breathing heavily from my sprint to the closet and arousal, and that he was here, in my room, also shirtless. I flushed, unable to find a way out of explaining.

“It’s
… um … sort of a mess in my closet,” I said sheepishly.

The man in front of me laughed and shook his head, the gesture clearly showing his non-understanding of me. I kn
ew because I’ve seen the expression before, often even. Dane moved closer to me and I spread my legs, making a space for him. He rested his arms on either side of my thighs on the bed, his muscles showing as he kissed me softly. He was strong and intoxicating this close; I was anxiously awaiting for him to lay me back on the mattress, but he didn’t. Instead, he pulled back, looking at me.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you something,” he said as I fidgeted, suddenly nervous. Thoughts were playing across his face faster than I could read them and it felt like forever before he continued. “My mom wants us to come over for brunch tomorrow
… do you have plans?”

“Um
… no,” I breathed, relieved and grateful that was the ‘something’ he wanted to tell me.
He wants you to meet his mom?
the voice inside my head asked, throwing red flags and alarms fast enough around to make me slightly dizzy.
Well … no … his mom wants to meet me,
I told it.
But he’s agreeing.

“Is that ‘um no’ you don’t have plans or ‘um no’ to having brunch?”

“I don’t have plans … but do you really want me to meet your mom? I’m not very good with moms … or people, really … Well, I am, but only sometimes. See, I’m sort of … odd – you should know this by now. And surely you wouldn’t want me to meet your mom after a day of knowing them. Especially a girl … me.” Okay, so I was stammering and probably not making any sense, but I swear it made sense before the words left my mouth. I was good with people I didn’t feel the need to impress … but while I spent the day getting to know Dane, and last night of course, I still didn’t
know
Dane.

“Technically it’s been
two
days now,” Dane stated, pulling me out of my mental rampage. “And I don’t mind you meeting Mom … she’s good people. Besides, I don’t really get a choice in the matter. I asked, but it wasn’t optional.”

I stared at him, confused. I’d heard him, but my brain wasn’t really understanding him – it was like he’d burst out speaking Swahili and I was
trying to follow along using hand gestures.

“
Bring that beauty over here tomorrow – I want to talk to the girl the prodigal son came home for
– her words, not mine. We have reservations at Ouest tomorrow at eleven.” I’ll give it to the man, he’s really good at reading my face … or my mind. Oh yeah, I almost forgot he was magic.
How could you forget that?

“Um
… okay, if you’re sure,” I agreed, a smile crossing his face before he kissed me again. This time he did push me back onto the silk sheets of my bed, making quick work of removing my yoga pants and panties, letting them drop to the floor. The air in the room was cold for only a moment, until Dane crawled above me, his body bare and warm against mine.

“Is this a good enough distraction for you?” he whispered against my ear as he ground his erection against me. I was thrown a little by the change in topic, but my body overpowered my mind and I moaned.

“Yes.”

“Good enough just isn’t good enough.” With that, he thrust into me, wasting no time and seating
himself to the hilt inside me. I gasped, and before my body could adjust completely to his intrusion, he pulled back and slammed into me once more.

Wrapping my legs around him, I
arched into him as he chose a rhythm, neither fast nor slow, just perfect for me. Occasionally he’d capture my mouth, swallowing the sounds I made, regardless of me trying to keep them in. It was just too much, he was too much. He overwhelmed every part of me, to the point of the most exquisite pleasure. I wasn’t used to it, this much pleasure, and it didn’t take long for my body to quiver.

“Shit,
Ryen,” Dane whispered against my cheek, never missing a beat in his movement. “Come on. Give it to me.”

His words, paired with his assault on my body, were enough to send me over
the edge. The exclamation that left my lips was embarrassing, but I didn’t care; my world spun in circles and frayed at the edges. I distantly heard him shout before his movements slowed and he rested his head at my neck. We lay there, saying nothing, both panting and me shaking against him. I felt like I had no control of my body – my limbs were weak, Jell-o, and twitched uncontrollably. After what seemed like forever, he rolled to the side and pulled me into his arms, my head on his chest.