Ten

“Is that a bottle of champagne?” Tessa pointed to a bottle chilling in an ice bucket on the sideboard along the wall.

She could use something cold to tamp down the heat rising in her belly under Ryan’s intense stare. It also wouldn’t be a bad idea to create some space between them. Enough to get her head together and stop fantasizing about what it would feel like to kiss her best friend again.

“Even better.” Ryan flashed a sexy, half grin. “It’s imported Italian Moscato d’Asti. I asked them to chill a bottle for us.”

Her favorite. Too bad this wasn’t a real date, because Ryan had ticked every box of what her fantasy date would look like.

“Saving it for something special?”

“Just you.” He winked, climbing to his feet. “Why don’t we make a toast to kick our weekend off?”

Tessa relaxed a little as she followed him over to the ice bucket, still maintaining some distance between them.

Ryan opened the bottle with a loud pop and poured each of them a glass of the sparkling white wine. He handed her one.

She accepted, gratefully, and joined him in holding up her glass.

“To an unforgettable weekend.” A soft smile curved the edges of his mouth.

“Cheers.” Tessa ignored the beading of her nipples and the tingling that trailed down her spine and sparked a fire low in her belly. She took a deep sip.

“Very good.” Tessa fought back her speculation about how much better it would taste on Ryan’s lips.

Ryan returned to the sofa. He finished his glass of moscato in short order and set it on the table beside the sofa.

Tessa sat beside him, finishing the remainder of her drink and contemplating another. She decided against it, setting it on the table in front of them.

She turned to her friend. God, he was handsome. His green eyes brooding and intense. His shaggy brown hair living in that space between perfectly groomed and purposely messy. The ever-present five o’clock shadow crawling over his clenched jaw.

“Thanks, Rye.” She needed to quell the thoughts in her head. “This is all so amazing and incredibly thoughtful. I know this fantasy date isn’t real, but you went out of your way to make it feel that way, and I appreciate it.”

Tessa leaned in to kiss his stubbled cheek. Something she’d done a dozen times before. But Ryan turned his head, likely surprised by her sudden approach, and her lips met his.

She’d been right. The moscato did taste better enmeshed with the flavor of Ryan’s firm, sensual lips.

It was an accidental kiss. So why had she leaned in and continued to kiss him, rather than withdrawing and apologizing? And why hadn’t Ryan pulled back either?

Tessa’s eyes slowly drifted closed, and she slipped her fingers into the short hair at the nape of Ryan’s neck. Pulled his face closer to hers.

She parted her lips, and Ryan accepted the unspoken invitation, sliding his tongue between her lips and taking control. The kiss had gradually moved from a sweet, inadvertent, closed-mouth affair to an intense meshing of lips, teeth and tongues. Ryan moved his hands to her back, tugging her closer.

Tessa sighed softly in response to the hot, demanding kiss that obliterated the memory of that unexpected one nearly a decade ago. Truly kissing Ryan Bateman was everything she’d imagined it to be.

And she wanted more.

They’d gone this far. Had let down the invisible wall between them. There was nothing holding them back now.

Tessa inhaled deeply before shifting to her knees and straddling Ryan’s lap. He groaned. A sexy sound that was an undeniable mixture of pain and pleasure. Of intense wanting. Evident from the ridge beneath his zipper.

As he deepened their kiss, his large hand splayed against her low back, his hardness met the soft, warm space between her thighs, sending a shiver up her spine. Her nipples ached with an intensity she hadn’t experienced before. She wanted his hands and lips on her naked flesh. She wanted to shed the clothing that prevented skin-to-skin contact.

She wanted...sex. With Ryan. Right now.

Sex.

It wasn’t as if she’d forgotten how the whole process worked. Obviously. But it’d been a while since she’d been with anyone. More than a few years. One of the hazards of living in a town small enough that there was three degrees or less of separation between any man she met and her father or brother.

Would Ryan be disappointed?

Tessa suddenly went stiff, her eyes blinking.

“Don’t,” he whispered between hungry kisses along her jaw and throat that left her wanting and breathless, despite the insecurities that had taken over her brain.

Tess frowned. “Don’t do what?”

Maybe she didn’t have Ryan Bateman’s vast sexual experience, but she was pretty sure she knew how to kiss. At least she hadn’t had any complaints.

Until now.

“Have you changed your mind about this?”

“No.” She forced her eyes to meet his, regardless of how unnerved she was by his intense stare and his determination to make her own up to what she wanted. “Not even a little.”

The edge of his mouth curved in a criminally sexy smirk. “Then for once in your life, Tess, stop overthinking everything. Stop compiling a list in your head of all the reasons we shouldn’t do this.” He kissed her again, his warm lips pressed to hers and his large hands gliding down her back and gripping her bottom as he pulled her firmly against him.

A soft gasp escaped her mouth at the sensation of his hard length pressed against her sensitive flesh. Ryan swept his tongue between her parted lips, tangling it with hers as he wrapped his arms around her.

Their kiss grew increasingly urgent. Hungry. Desperate. His kiss made her question whether she’d ever really been kissed before. Made her skin tingle with a desire so intense she physically ached with a need for him.

A need for Ryan’s kiss. His touch. The warmth of his naked skin pressed against hers. The feel of him inside her.

Hands shaking and the sound of her own heartbeat filling her ears, Tessa pulled her mouth from his. She grabbed the hem of her dress and raised it. His eyes were locked with hers, both of them breathing heavily, as she lifted the fabric.

Ryan helped her tug the dress over her head and he tossed it on to the floor. He studied her lacy, gray bra and the cleavage spilling out of it.

Her cheeks flamed, and her heart raced. Ryan leaned in and planted slow, warm kisses on her shoulder. He swept her hair aside and trailed kisses up her neck.

“God, you’re beautiful, Tess.” His voice was a low growl that sent tremors through her. He glided a callused hand down her back and rested it on her hip. “I think it’s pretty obvious how much I want you. But I need to know that you’re sure about this.”

“I am.” She traced his rough jaw with her palm. Glided a thumb across his lips, naturally a deep shade of red that made them even more enticing. Then she crashed her lips against his as she held his face in her hands.

He claimed her mouth with a greedy, primal kiss that strung her body tight as a bow, desperate for the release that only he could provide.

She wanted him. More than she could ever remember wanting anything. The steely rod pressed against the slick, aching spot between her thighs indicated his genuine desire for her. Yet, he seemed hesitant. As if he were holding back. Something Ryan Bateman, one of the most confident men she’d ever known, wasn’t prone to do.

Tess reached behind her and did the thing Ryan seemed reluctant to. She released the hooks on her bra, slid the straps down her shoulders and tossed it away.

He splayed one hand against her back. The other glided up and down her side before his thumb grazed the side of her breast. Once, twice, then again. As if testing her.

Finally, he grazed her hardened nipple with his open palm, and she sucked in a sharp breath.

His eyes met hers with a look that fell somewhere between asking and pleading.

Tessa swallowed hard, her cheeks and chest flushed with heat. She nodded, her hands trembling as she braced them on his wide shoulders.

When Ryan’s lips met her skin again, she didn’t fight the overwhelming feelings that flooded her senses, like a long, hard rain causing the creek to exceed its banks. She leaned into them. Allowed them to wash over her. Enjoyed the thing she’d fantasized about for so long.

Tessa gasped as Ryan cupped her bottom and pulled her against his hardened length. As if he was as desperate for her as she was for him. He kissed her neck, her shoulders, her collarbone. Then he dropped tender, delicate kisses on her breasts.

Tessa ran her fingers through his soft hair. When he raised his eyes to hers, she leaned down, whispering in his ear.

“Ryan, take me to bed. Now.”

Before she lost her nerve. Before he lost his.

Ryan carried her to his bed, laid her down and settled between her thighs. He trailed slow, hot kisses down her neck and chest as he palmed her breast with his large, work-roughened hand. He sucked the beaded tip into his warm mouth. Grazed it with his teeth. Lathed it with his tongue.

She shuddered in response to the tantalizing sensation that shot from her nipple straight to her sex. Her skin flamed beneath Ryan’s touch, and her breath came in quick little bursts. He nuzzled her neck, one large hand skimming down her thigh and hooking behind her knee. As he rocked against the space between her thighs, Tessa whimpered at the delicious torture of his steely length grinding against her needy clit.

“That’s it, Tess.” Ryan trailed kisses along her jaw. “Relax. Let go. You know I’d never do anything to hurt you.” His stubble scraped the sensitive skin of her cheek as he whispered roughly in her ear.

She did know that. She trusted Ryan with her life. With her deepest secrets. With her body. Ryan was sweet and charming and well-meaning, but her friend could sometimes be a bull in the china shop.

Would he ride roughshod over her heart, even if he didn’t mean to?

Tessa gazed up at him, her lips parting as she took in his incredibly handsome form. She yanked his shirt from the back of his pants and slid her hands against his warm skin. Gently grazed his back with her nails. She had the fleeting desire to mark him as hers. So that any other woman who saw him would know he belonged to her and no one else.

Ryan moved beside her, and she immediately missed his weight and the feel of him pressed against her most sensitive flesh. He kissed her harder as he slid a hand up her thigh and then cupped the space between her legs that throbbed in anticipation of his touch.

Tessa tensed, sucking in a deep breath as he glided his fingertips back and forth over the drenched panel of fabric shielding her sex. He tugged the material aside and plunged two fingers inside her.

“God, you’re wet, Tess.” The words vibrated against her throat, where he branded her skin with scorching hot kisses that made her weak with want. He kissed his way down her chest and gently scraped her sensitive nipple with his teeth before swirling his tongue around the sensitive flesh.

Tessa quivered as the space between her thighs ached with need. She wanted to feel him inside her. To be with Ryan in the way she’d always imagined.

But this wasn’t a dream; it was real. And their actions would have real-world consequences.

“You’re doing it again. That head thing,” he muttered in between little nips and licks. His eyes glinted in the light filtering through the bedroom window. “Cut it out.”

God, he knew her too well. And after tonight, he would know every single inch of her body. If she had her way.