Free Seducing Avery by Barb Han Page B

dad?” she asked quietly, sympathetically.
    “No. She tricked me into not giving her away when I was young. I had no idea why she had men sneaking through the back. She said it was a game. The spy who gave away secrets would never play again,” he said and his tone was even. Too even.
    “That’s a terrible thing to do to a child. What happened when you got older?”
    “Guess I figured out what was going on and didn’t want to break my father’s heart. See, he actually loved her.”
    “You must’ve hated yourself for keeping up with the lie.”
    “I grew to resent my father for not knowing. Or turning a blind eye.”
    Ryker didn’t say more.
    They kept silent, allowing the weight of his confession to sit heavy for long moments.
    Avery leaned over and pressed a kiss to Ryker’s lips. She knew she was in deep and she had only a thread of reality to cling to. Before she could draw air back in her lungs, his lips, those glorious lips claimed hers once more with bruising need that drained her lungs.
    She broke free long enough to say, “This apple fell far from the family tree.”
    Avery was exhausted from fighting her feelings for him. So she didn’t. She had never wanted anything in her life more than this moment. He pulled her into his arms, and, without breaking eye contact, gently laid her on top of the folded blanket.
    His breath was warm and sensual when it touched her skin so lightly, so devastatingly, that it strengthened her as she yielded. His eyes lifted, locking onto her gaze. She was sure he read every one of her thoughts. His softened expression, his actions, said he’d somehow heard every word, even as she had yet to speak them. He was telling her she was beautiful. Perfect.
    And right now, she felt like the most beautiful woman in the world.
    Ryker dissolved any lingering doubt and Avery’s reserves along with it. Leaving her defenseless against his touch, his caress, his tenderness, she could do nothing more or less than surrender. All that registered was the desire intensifying inside her, a desire mounting with every stroke of his finger, every thrust of his tongue. He slipped her shirt off and her swimsuit top along with it.
    He groaned a low, throaty growl as his fingers stroked the bare skin of her full breasts. Taking a nipple in his mouth, his tongue glided and licked along the crest.
    Defenseless, her body took over, her hands needing to feel him, to touch every muscle. “Ryker...” she said breathlessly. Her fingers now pleated inside his sable mane.
    He arched over her, creating enough space between them to remove Avery’s jeans and swimsuit bottoms, and released a thick groan. “You’re not making this easy on me. I’m trying to slow down.”
    Avery’s fingers traced his strong jawline, down his chin. Her fingers moved down until she tugged at the waistline of his pants. She reached to palm his erection, but he stopped her. His strong hands gripped her wrists. “No. I want to really look at you.”
    “But—” was all she could get out.
    ****
    Ryker stripped off his shirt and pants faster than she could settle back on the makeshift bed.
    Without a doubt, bedding Avery would be the only way to get beyond his attraction to her. An attraction that created serious problems for him. Her fingers, pressing marks into his chest, told him she craved it too. If he had his wits about him, he’d stop. Allowing this to go further, giving in to this need, would obliterate his sense of self-control.
    With a groan, he put some space between them.
    It didn’t last. It couldn’t last. He wanted to be close to her.
    He pulled her to him where she fit him perfectly. She wanted this as much as he did. Damn the consequences. His body ached with need, and he had no plans to rush. No woman before her had awakened a hunger from so deep. Not one had been defiant and angry rather than eager and predictable.
    “I want you,” his declaration was bold. Final.
    He couldn’t get enough of her, and at