This was exactly what Talaya needed. Her head tossed back knees planted on the bed on either side of Ridge while his thick dick filled her. She rode him like she was in a race for her life. Lifting her hips then slamming down on him until they were both breathless.

All she could feel was the pleasure. All she could think about was him. How he filled her, soothed her, pleased her. It’s precisely what she needed after the week she’d had—the stress from work, the weird ass phone calls and text messages, the battle between anger and fear, and then all that finally culminating with the dose of crazy ex she’d endured at the party. Hell, she needed to fuck all night, to come as many times as was humanly possible in quick succession, to have her body shivering and exploding with so much ecstasy her mind and body were numb to anything else.

But then Ridge stopped moving. His hands went to her hips to hold her still as well.

“Look at me,” he said in that deep sex-laced voice that always made her pussy pulsate. Now was no different as she jerked over him and brought her gaze down to his.

“Why’d you stop?” she whined because dammit, she needed this next nut like she needed air. It was the lifeline she had to hang on to this time, the one thing that would keep her tethered to sanity.

“Because I need you to know that you’re more than this,” he said holding her gaze. “We’re more than this.”

More than what? She didn’t voice that question as she tore her gaze away from him to look around the bedroom portion of their space at The Corporation. They’d moved here after she’d sucked him until they both came in the other room. Ridge laid her on the bed so gently and she’d watched him remove his clothes. She loved his body, loved every hard edge and ripple of muscle. Loved the dark hue of his skin, the sprinkle of hair over his groin and his legs. The scar along his side from when he’d been racing on a motorcycle and had taken a bad spill.

Now, he lifted up, still keeping them joined, but moving his fingers to her face to cup her chin and turn her face back to his. “You and I are more than this,” he said, enunciating each word as if he thought she hadn’t understood him.

She had, but it just wasn’t what she wanted to hear right now. Not what she wanted to be doing. She just wanted to feel something different, something better.

“I know,” she whispered and gyrated her hips so she could circle over his dick again.

His other hand applied more pressure to keep her still. “Do you?” His brow furrowed as his gaze bore into hers.

In that moment she felt bare, exposed and more vulnerable than she’d ever experienced before. And sure, she was naked with her wet pussy on top of this man’s hard dick, but that wasn’t why she felt this way. It wasn’t why her heart had started a loud thumping in her chest or why she attempted to once again look away. But Ridge’s fingers held her face still.

“Talk to me,” he said.

“Now?” She blinked. “I mean, this is really what you want to do right now, Ridge? You want to stop what we were doing to talk?”

“If that’s what it takes, yes!” he yelled back. “Because whatever is going on with you is why we’ve ended up here and when I’m inside you, Talaya, I want it to be solely because you want me there. Not because having sex with me is fixing something inside of you.”

“But I do want you there, baby,” she said, dragging her tongue over her lip and attempting to grind down over him. “I doooo.”

This time he grabbed her hips and moved quicker than she could blink. He repositioned them so that she was now on her back and he was between her legs, but not inside her. Dammit, she missed his presence already.

“I don’t feel like talking,” she spat and flattened her palms against his chest to push him away.

“Well, that’s just too bad,” he said with raised brows, not budging an inch at her attempt. Then he sighed. With his elbows propped on either side of her face, his hands cupped her face. “I love you, Tee. Tell me what’s going on in your head.” He lowered his forehead to hers. “In your heart.”

Dammit!

She closed her eyes and huffed.

Why did he have to be so sweet, so caring, so utterly irresistible? Why did he have to be so perfect for her? Messed up, confused and seemingly determined to be unhappy, her?

“I’m trying,” she whispered so softly she wasn’t even sure he’d heard her.

But he replied, “I know you are, baby.” Then he kissed the tip of her nose and pulled back enough so that he could look down at her. “Is this just about Yolanda?” he asked. “Because, baby, believe me she is nothing to worry about.”

Talaya shook her head. “No. No. I’m not worried about her silly ass. I know that if you were finished with her, you would’ve cut all contact. And as angry as she was tonight, I’m certain that’s exactly what you did. So, she’s the least of my worries.”

“Good,” he said with a sigh. “Then tell me what is bothering you.”

Again, she shook her head. “I don’t want to,” she told him. And before he could speak again, she continued, “And it’s not because I’m being stubborn or just want to finish what we were doing.” She gave him a slow smile. “Even though I do reeeallly want to finish what we were doing.”

He smiled in return. “I can get with that, but I need to make sure you’re okay first. Can you understand that?”

Now, she lifted her hands, tracing her fingers over his eyebrows, then down his cheeks to his bearded chin. “I do understand,” she said. “You love me.”

He nodded. “More than words can ever express.”

“I know,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes. “I know and I swear that makes me feel better than I ever have in my life. The fact that you want me in your life and you love me enough to deal with all my crap, it fills me with so much joy, Ridge.”

He thumbed away the tears that spilled from her eyes. “Then why are you crying, baby?”

She sighed. “Because I love you too,” she told him. “I love you and I never want to stop loving you. And tonight, I wanted to show you that love. I wanted you to feel it coming from everything I did to you and, in return, I wanted to feel the depth of your feelings for me in everything you did to me.”

He tilted his head then as if he were really absorbing her words. Then his lips spread into a grin.

“Great. So now you’re laughing at me,” she said and snatched her hands from his face. “First, you deny me another orgasm, now you think I’m a joke.” She attempted to squirm her way from beneath him, but he held her to him.

“Nah. Nah, that’s not what I’m doing,” he said and was still smiling even though a somber tone had taken over. “I’m just really happy,” he continued. “I’m happy to hear you saying what I’ve been feeling all these months. To hear the thoughts that have been such a jumble in mind most days, but then at night, once I’m able to touch you and slide inside you become so crystal clear. I love it, baby. And I love you.”

Then his lips were on hers and he was kissing her with the depth of emotion swirling between them. She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him to her as he deepened the kiss. It was so slow, and so sensual, and lasted for so long that she felt like she was floating even though he wasn’t inside of her stroking her toward bliss.

She was lost in him, in the feel of his weight on top of her, the soft touch of his lips against hers, the stroke of his tongue, and that hoarse moan that came from him when she tilted her head allowing the kiss to go even deeper. She could kiss him all night, lay with him like this all day, marvel in the perfection that their two broken souls seemed to forge when they were together. There would be no other love like this, no other man for her, no other relationship she’d give every drop of her soul to. This was it; he was it for her.

He eased his mouth from hers just enough so they could suck in air as he moved his hips and positioned himself to sink inside of her. It was a slow thrust, a get-every-inch-of-his-dick inside of her motion that had her spreading her legs wider and moaning in welcome. Then his mouth was on hers again and it was his turn to swallow her moans, to stroke her so slowly and completely that her nails dug into his back and her legs wrapped around his waist.

It went on like that for what felt like forever but at the same time wasn’t long enough. He dragged his lips over her jawline, down to her ear where he whispered her name repeatedly. He lifted her legs, pushing them back until her knees were close to her face and his thrusts went even deeper. She felt like he was a part of her now, mentally and physically as his body, his words, everything about him seeped into every crevice of her being, filling her until she wanted to scream with joy. Yell with the pleasurable sound their bodies made together. She kept her eyes glued to him afraid that if she dared to blink or look away, this would all disappear. That it would have been a dream, one she never wanted to wake up from. “I love you, Ridge,” she whispered. “I love you.”

He sighed, nipped her earlobe with his teeth then licked the spot before moaning her name. Then he was pushing back just enough so that he could stare down at her as he continued to pump inside her. His fingers tightened on the backs of her legs and he balanced himself over her, still dipping deep into her, faster now, so fast they were both panting, both climbing, reaching desperately for that blissful end.

“Mine,” he groaned as he slammed into her again and her thighs began to shake when her orgasm hit. “Today.” He pulled back and thrust deep again. “Tomorrow.” Again. “Always,” he said through gritted teeth before moaning as his release spilled from him.

Hours later, Talaya felt weightless as her head rested on Ridge’s shoulder. They had Sunday brunch with Aunt Birdie and the rest of the family tomorrow, and they couldn’t be late for that. Aunt Birdie would never let them live it down if they were. So, they’d opted not to spend the night at The Corporation. Instead, they’d cleaned up in the bathroom and dressed in their evening clothes again. Only, she hadn’t wanted to put those shoes back on because that little strip of leather across her toes had been painful. Ridge had told her to carry the shoes and he’d carried her to the truck. If Sage thought that was weird, she didn’t say a word, which Talaya knew was a task for her. She liked Sage a lot and had come to depend on her to keep Ridge safe.

It was somewhere around four in the morning and she’d just started dozing off when she heard Sage curse. Ridge tensed beneath her and Talaya’s eyes flew open just in time to feel the SUV swerve, to see a blinding light and then to feel…nothing.