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“Why don’t you give her my number.Just in case.”

“Okay,” I said.Although I was actually more interested in getting his number for me, like it would connect us somehow.

He gave me his number, and I sent him a message under the pretext of checking that it worked because I wanted him to have my number too.

“We good?”he asked.

“Yes,” I said.

“Then I think it’s time we got your punishment out of the way.”

“P-punishment?”I stammered the word out as I turned to stare at his reflection in the window.It showcased our size difference.When I stood at his side, it wasn’t so apparent, but now I realized how my head came up to his chest, with his broad shoulders higher still.

“Are you joking?”

He shook his head slowly.“Baby, I never joke about discipline, and you are in sore need of some.”

Nerves exploded, but not the bad kind.No, these were the hot, delicious kind.His hand squeezed lightly over the back of my neck, drawing my attention to the place we were connected.

My vulnerability hit me out of nowhere.Ryder could snap my neck with terrifying ease, should he choose to, yet I still liked his hand there.“I’m not due any punishment.Is this…like a pretend punishment?”

His lips tugged up in a smirk.“Baby, it’s really not.”

ChapterFive

Emma

It was quiet here.I could hear the faint drum of traffic coming from beyond the window, but it was distant.Inside my mind, the dark, sensual tune from the club played, wrapping around me, gathering me up, and taking me to a place beyond my understanding.

This man, this alpha, was more than anything I’d experienced before.Instinctively, I knew I wouldn’t be the same after whatever came to be, that he would change me irrevocably, but I was all in now.Perhaps in years to come, I would look back on this as a wild adventure, one I blindly stepped into.I wanted the experience and didn’t care whether it left the kind of scars that never really healed.I already knew no other man would measure up to Ryder.How could they?

I just wanted him.“I trust you,” I said again.

His stillness became absolute.I couldn’t see the color of his eyes through the reflection, but I felt the intensity of his gaze.His big capable hand slid from my neck, skimming over my shoulder and all the way down my arm until he shackled my wrist.I liked men’s hands, and Ryder’s were enormous.Having him touch me like this sent a thrill racing through my body all the way down to my pussy.Beside him, I was tiny and breakable, yet I hadn’t lied—I did trust him.

His hold was gentle, but for reasons that escaped me, I tried to pull away.

I couldn’t.There was no pressure.His hand simply held.

How was it even possible without hurting me?

“If you want to be free,” he said, “just say so.”

But I didn’t say, and instead, I tugged a little harder…just as a small test.

“Do you like that, baby?Do you like being trapped?”

If the hitch in my breathing was any indication, I definitely did.I stopped fighting.“Yes,” I said.“I very much like being trapped.”

“Tell me to let you go.”

I shook my head.

“Tell me to let you go.”

I was confused.I didn’t want him to let go, yet his command was absolute.

“Let me go.”The words came out on a pant, and instantly, he released me.It was a lesson, it would seem.He wanted me to understand that whatever he did would always be on my terms and I could always tell him to stop.