Free The Year of Living Shamelessly by Susanna Carr Page B

he was surprised his knees didn’t buckle from the impact. He clenched his teeth and a muscle in his jaw bunched. He was afraid to speak, knowing that his tongue was going to hang out, or worse, that he would say something he could never take back.
     
    “Hi, Ryder,” he heard her say over the buzzing in his ears. Katie swung the door open wider. “I didn’t expect to see you.”
     
    “Right.” His gaze traveled down the length of her body and he watched her nipples tighten in response. His skin was hot and prickly, his clothes suddenly constricting. He had to get out of here, get far away from Katie, but he couldn’t leave. Not yet.
     
    He gestured at her and immediately stuffed his hands in his coat pockets. He didn’t trust his ability to keep his hands off her. “What are you wearing?” His voice was rough and low.
     
    She placed one hand on the door frame and the other on her jutted hip. “Just something I picked up at the mall. Oh, like you’ve never seen PVC clothing before.”
     
    Ryder felt his throat tighten. “Not on you,” he said hoarsely.
     
    “What do you think?” she asked as she twirled around, sliding her hands over her chest and waist before gliding them over her hips.
     
    She looked ready for a bondage club. Damn, the rumor was true. It was only a half hour ago that Jake was laughing his ass off over nothing while they were packing up Ryder’s apartment. Jake thought it was hysterical that Katie had asked for directions to the bondage club in Seattle. The thought of Katie in that place had Jake rolling on the floor with rib-cracking laughter.
     
    Ryder didn’t find it funny at all. One minute he was staring at Jake in horror, and the next he found himself banging his fist on Katie’s door. He wanted to believe it was all a joke, but he knew Katie, and seeing her in that outfit confirmed his worst fears.
     
    Unlike Jake, he could imagine Katie walking into the club looking like that. She would have to beat off the men with a stick. But that wouldn’t stop them. They would be crazed with lust like he was right now, promising her anything just to fulfill one fantasy with her. Katie would be in over her head and deep in trouble, but wouldn’t discover it until she was trapped, chained to the wall.
     
    Hell, he wasn’t in the club and he was tempted to make some impossible promise just to fulfill one fantasy. In fact, he wanted to skip the negotiation part and tie Katie down onto the kitchen floor right here, right now, peel off her clothes and explore every inch of her.
     
    Nothing was stopping him. She sure wouldn’t. And that knowledge cut through the fog of lust like nothing else. If he wasn’t careful, he would take her like an animal. He would overpower her, seduce her into something she didn’t understand and couldn’t control. She would hate him for it, and that was one thing he couldn’t live with.
     
    “You’re not wearing that outside this house,” he ordered in a low growl and clamped his mouth shut. The less he said about her outfit, the better.
     
     
     
     
     
     
    That’s it? Katie frowned. That’s all he had to say? She was sure this outfit would provoke a bigger reaction. “We’ll see about that,” she said, hiding her disappointment, and took a step to the side to let him enter the house. “Come on in, Ryder. What brings you here? Did you forget something?”
     
    Ryder stepped inside and pushed the door closed behind him. “I know what you’re planning and you can forget about it.”
     
    “Hmmm . . .” She strolled to the kitchen table. “Could you be more specific?”
     
    “A bondage club?” His voice echoed in the small kitchen. “You want to go to a bondage club?”
     
    “Where did you hear that?” she asked as she sat on the corner of the table.
     
    “What did you expect when you asked your brother for directions to the closest bondage club? Or was that the point?” He moved closer to her. “Give it to me straight: Were