Page 23 of Branded Mine
His eyes closed. “Fuck.” I did it again, and that finally broke him.
Ryder pulled back slowly before sinking into me again, and the second thrust felt completely different now that my body had adjusted to him. Pleasure rolled through me, deep and heavy, and I moaned as he did it again.
He found a rhythm gradually, each stroke slow and controlled at first, giving me time to feel all of him. The belt around my wrists forced me to surrender to the movement instead of reaching for him, leaving me with nothing to do but take everything he gave me.
“Ryder,” I breathed.
His hand tightened around my thigh. “I’m here, sweetheart.”
The words did something to me I couldn’t explain. Yes, he was right there. Just like he had always been.
I lifted my hips to meet his next thrust, and whatever control he had been holding onto began to unravel. His movements grew deeper, harder, more erratic, the bed shifting beneath us as his hand moved to my hip and held me exactly where he wanted me.
The roughness should have felt at odds with the way he kept watching my face, but somehow it didn’t. Every time my breathing changed, he noticed. Every time the leather pulled against my wrists, his gaze flicked upward to make sure I was okay. Even when his control started slipping, some part of him remained completely focused on me.
“You have any idea how many times I thought about this?” he rasped.
My breath caught as his mouth moved along my jaw before settling against my ear.
“How many fucking times I thought about having you underneath me?”
His hips drove forward again, and a moan escaped me. “Ryder?—”
“Look at me.”
I opened my eyes to see that his pupils had eaten up his irises.
“You’re mine,” he said, but there was something raw beneath the possessiveness now, something that made the words feel less like a demand and more like a confession. His thumb brushed my cheek even as his other hand held my hip firmly beneath him. “Been mine in here for longer than you’ll ever fucking know.” He pressed his forehead against mine. “Say it.”
My heart slammed against my ribs as I stared up at the man who had been my safest place long before I understood what that meant.
“I’m yours.”
His pace grew more demanding, but even as his control slipped, his attention never left me. One hand stayed firm on my hip while the other slid between us, his fingers finding my swollen clit and rubbing tight, relentless circles that made my entire body tense beneath him.
“Ryder,” I gasped, pulling against the belt as the pressure built too quickly.
“I know, sweetheart.” His breathing was as ragged as my own. “I got you.”
That nearly broke me on its own.
The pleasure kept building until I couldn’t hold it back anymore. I came with a sharp cry, my pussy clenching hard around him as wave after wave tore through me.
Ryder stayed with me through all of it, his movements losing their careful rhythm as my body shook beneath his. His control finally broke moments later.
He buried himself deep with a guttural groan, his body going rigid against mine before shuddering with the force of his release.
For several seconds, neither of us moved.
Ryder’s face remained buried against the side of my neck, his breath hot and uneven against my skin while my heart slowly stopped trying to pound its way out of my chest. The belt still held my wrists above my head, but the moment he lifted himself enough to look at me, his attention went straight to them.
“You okay?”
I nodded, still trying to catch my breath. “More than okay.”
Something almost like relief moved across his face. He reached up and carefully loosened the leather, taking his time as he freed one wrist and then the other. The second my arms came down, he rubbed his thumbs over the faint marks left behind, checking my skin before bringing one wrist to his mouth and pressing a kiss against it.
The tenderness of the gesture hit me harder than I expected. This was the same man who had just held me down and demanded I tell him I was his, yet now, he was touching me like he needed to make certain he hadn’t hurt me.
