Page 9 of Love’s Patient Journey (The Relinquished #2)

His admission made her gasp. “Why?” He shrugged, not knowing how to tell her that she was all he could think about.

The truth was, no other woman was Jenna.

No other woman could tie him up in knots the way Jenna did.

He didn’t want to scare her any more than he already did tonight.

She was looking at him, studying him closely.

He decided to just lay it all out for her.

“I couldn’t be with anyone else when all I wanted was to be with you. You and Zac were all that I could think about these past two years. No one else interested me.” He was staring straight ahead again, afraid to look at her.

“Why did you stay away from us then, Ryan? Why didn’t you contact me or come see us when you were in town?” She pulled on his hand, trying to get his attention, but he still couldn’t look at her.

“I was ashamed of what I wanted from you. Controlling other women during sex seemed right to me because they meant nothing to me, really. But you, I think that you might mean something to me and asking you to let me tie you up—well, that just seemed wrong. For Christ’s sake, Jenna, you’re someone’s mother. ”

Jenna slid closer to Ryan in the truck. “Ryan, look at me.” He just couldn’t bring himself to look her in the eyes.

He didn’t want to see her disgust, her disappointment.

“Ryan, please—" Jenna was crying now, and it just about gutted him. He pulled her into his arms and looked at her. Instead of seeing anything he was expecting, he saw only compassion and love. No, that wasn’t possible.

“Honey, I’m sorry. Maybe I should just go.” He started to pull away from her, and he could feel her anger.

“Ryan, shut the fuck up and listen to me for two minutes.” Jenna was mad and sexy as hell.

Yeah, she had his full attention. “I may be Zac’s mother, but I’m also a woman.

As a woman, I like the idea of you taking control of my body in the bedroom.

I think it’s hot that you want to tie me up.

The thought of you doing that to me turns me on.

I’d like to try what you want to do. If I don’t like it, then we’ll figure things out. But let me at least try, please.”

She was pleading with him to have sex with her. He couldn’t take it anymore. They had talked enough. “Stay put,” he ordered. He ran around the truck and opened her door for her. She hopped out, and he scooped her up, carrying her to her front door.

“Ryan, my neighbors—” he stopped her objections with a deep, rough kiss. He set her down long enough for her to unlock her door. He lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around him, pushing the door shut with her foot.

“Baby—bedroom?” He couldn’t even make a complete sentence.

He could only think about her sexy legs wrapped around him, hiking up her miniskirt.

He wanted to take her in the entryway, but that would be too fast. He needed her to be spread out on her bed because Ryan wanted to take his time and study every inch of her body.

“To the right,” she gasped in between kisses. He wedged her up against the wall on his way down the hall to her bedroom. She needed fewer clothes on her body and more of him. He pulled her shirt up over her head and hissed when he saw her breasts; she wasn’t wearing a bra.

“Fuck, baby—that’s so hot.” He kissed a path from her mouth down her neck to her nipple.

God, she was more than a handful. He sucked and teased her nipple and moved to the other, giving it the same attention.

Janna’s back arched against the wall, and she ground her pussy against his jeans.

He was so hard that he almost came in his pants.

Ryan wrapped his arms around her and continued down her hallway to her bedroom, fumbling through her messy room.

Jenna had left clothes all over the floor, and he tripped over one of Zac’s toy trucks.

He fell, with her on top of him, onto her bed.

They were both laughing and kissing, tangled up in each other.

He rolled her underneath him and pinned both hands over her head, holding her wrists.

Ryan leaned up to look down her body. She was gorgeous, squirming against his body, trying to get more from him.

“Honey, I’m gonna take good care of you. Do you trust me?” He looked into her half-lidded eyes, seeing her need. He suddenly had the desire to be everything that she wanted and more.

“Ryan,” she moaned, “yes, I trust you, please,” she begged.

Ryan found himself chuckling, “Baby, I need you so bad, but I want to take my time with you. Will you do what I ask?” he rasped. Jenna nodded, and he felt his stomach flip-flop.

“I want you to lie, just like this, with your hands over your head. Don’t move!

” Jenna shyly nodded again. He wondered if she had any idea how sexy she was, lying there with only a miniskirt on, wanting him.

He stood above Jenna, looking down at her.

Ryan couldn’t decide what to do with her first. His dick twitched, seeming to have an idea of what should come first. He growled in frustration, wanting everything from her.

Ryan pulled her to the edge of the bed and helped her shimmy out of her sexy skirt.

Dear God, she wasn’t wearing any panties either.

She was going to kill him with her lack of undergarments.

Jenna was completely naked, spread open for him, ready.

Her slick folds called to him, and he hit his knees, pulling her up to his mouth.

Ryan rubbed his nose in her pussy, “God, baby, you smell so fucking good.” Jenna moaned and squirmed.

“Hold still, Jenna, and let me eat you.” Jenna stilled, trying to do what he asked.

Her need to please him made him even crazier.

He licked her from her opening to her clit.

He could tell that she was trying not to squirm, and it made him laugh against her drenched pussy.

Jenna moaned his name, telling him that she was so close.

He needed to hear her scream for him. He slid two fingers into her swollen opening and continued to lick her clit, lapping at her like he couldn’t get enough.

He could feel her release, all over his hand and mouth.

“Ryan, yes!” she screamed his name, over and over, and something inside of him snapped.

He stood and carefully unzipped his jeans around his straining cock and shoved them down his thighs. Ryan slammed into her wet folds and stilled when Jenna groaned.

“Honey, are you all right? Did I hurt you?” Jenna sat up and wrapped her arms around his neck. He lifted her off the bed and slid his hands under her ass, holding her to him.

“I’m good, Ryan, don’t stop.” That was all he needed.

He started thrusting into her, pressing her into the mattress, trying to gain more leverage.

He needed to be deeper in her; it was all he could think about.

He raised her arms over her head and pinned her by the wrists.

She moaned into his mouth as he licked his way into hers and thrust into her body so hard that he knew she’d wear his marks.

The room was filled with the sounds of his flesh smacking hers, and he lost control, coming deep inside of her.

He collapsed with her on top of him, exhausted.

That’s when he realized that he had taken her bareback. He stilled, not knowing how to tell her that he didn’t protect her. This had never happened to him before. He always wore a condom—always. He just got so caught up with her that he lost control.

“Jenna, I—I’m so fucking sorry. I didn’t use a condom. Tell me that you’re on the pill.” Jenna stilled on top of him. She pulled away from him, and the look on her face told him all he needed to know—she wasn’t.

“I’m not,” she shook her head. “I haven’t needed to be on it since I got pregnant. There was no one—I didn’t even think about using a condom. God, I’m such an idiot!”

Ryan pulled her close; he couldn’t stand that she was blaming herself.

“Baby, this is my fault! I was the one who should have thought of the condom. I was the one who should have protected you—I’m the idiot!

” He stood and went to her bathroom, starting her shower.

He needed to get himself together. How could he have gotten so out of control that he forgot the condom?

He told her that he would take care of her.

He told her that he wanted to be in control, but he wasn’t, and he let her down.

Ryan walked back into her bedroom to find her sitting naked on the end of her bed.

“Honey, let’s take a shower, and then we can talk.

” Jenna stood and went to him, taking his hand.

He pulled her to the bathroom, and they got into the shower together, both groaning as they stepped into the hot spray.

Ryan grabbed Jenna’s shampoo. He loved the way her hair smelled like strawberries.

He helped to get her hair wet, and then he started shampooing her, massaging her scalp.

She leaned back into him, seeming to enjoy his attention.

He filled his palm with her body wash and started cleaning her, paying extra special attention to her breasts.

Jenna laughed, “Ryan, I think you got them pretty good.” She turned in his arms, “I can’t stand how quiet you are. Can we please talk now?”

“I’m so mad at myself, Jenna. I fucked up. I would never hurt you, not the way Jake did. I would never force you into something that you don’t want. I need you to believe that.” Jenna looked at him like he was crazy, then her eyes widened.

“You know that Jake fooled around with my birth control, and that’s how I got pregnant with Zac?

Ryan, I would never think that you are capable of doing something like that.

We were both caught up in the moment, and it just happened.

It’s no one’s fault, not mine, and not yours.

If something happened, then we’ll deal with it. ”

He wrapped his arms around Jenna, pulling her soapy body in close. “Baby, if something does happen if you are pregnant, I want you to know that I’d take care of you—all three of you.”

“Three?” she questioned.

“Sure—you, Zac, and our baby.” He choked on the last part, emotions straining his voice. Just the thought of Jenna pregnant with his baby made him long for that reality. He knew that he and Jenna were nowhere near ready to have that conversation, but he did know that he wasn’t letting her go.

Jenna pulled free from his arms, covering her face with her hands. Ryan pulled her hands free from her eyes and saw that she was crying. “Jenna honey, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I can’t believe that I was so fucking stupid. Please don’t cry.”

“I just—I’m usually so alone. I’ve had to take care of Zac alone.

I have to deal with Jake and his parents harassing me alone.

I’ve never had someone say that they want to take care of me.

It’s—well, it’s everything.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her face on his chest. “Thank you, Ryan.”

He couldn’t help but pull her into his body.

He wanted nothing more than to take care of this woman.

Sure, she was alone, but that had nothing to do with his need to take care of Jenna and Zac.

He wanted to be with her and her son. They were all he could think about.

He needed to tell her how much she meant to him.

She was the driving force in every decision that he made in the past two years.

“Hold up,” he pulled back from Jenna, “Jake and his parents have been bothering you?”

“Yeah,” she breathed, “Jake has sent me some personal letters, and a few of them came from his lawyer, telling me that he’s entitled to parental rights.

Jake has no desire to be Zac’s dad; he told me that many times.

Scott and Barbara Ashbrook are the ones who concern me.

I think they want to take Zac from me. I have letters from their lawyers, saying that they are going to petition for grandparents’ rights, but I haven’t been able to afford a lawyer.

Mr. Ashbrook has so much money and power; how do I compete with that?

I’m so scared.” Jenna shivered, and Ryan cursed.

He turned off the shower and grabbed a towel to wrap her in, grabbing a second for himself and drying off quickly.

“Honey, I’m going to dry you off, and then I want you to get into your bed; you're freezing. I’d like to see the letters they have been sending to you.

Will you let me read them?” Ryan asked. Jenna just nodded, still looking at her feet.

He lifted her chin with his fingers and kissed her, pulling back from her to run his thumb over her bottom lip.

It was swollen from him kissing her earlier.

He grabbed her towel and started drying her.

She had purple marks on each of her nipples, where he sucked them into his mouth.

He dried down her body and found his finger marks where he had dug into her ass, holding her against the wall on their way back to the bedroom.

The caveman part of him was satisfied with himself, but he still felt a little guilty.

“Jenna, I um, I think I was a little rough with you. I left marks.” He cringed when she looked down at her body, examining his marks.

She shook her head, smiling at him. “You’re a Neanderthal, Ryan.”

Huh, she seemed to like the marks. He pulled her naked body into his, grabbing her ass where his marks were. “And you’re mine, Jenna,” he promised.