Page 35 of Riding the Line (Willow Ridge #2)

Duke

Walking out of the bathroom to find Cherry on my bed, wrapped in a towel, wet hair trailing over one shoulder, has me stopping in my tracks.

The sunset pours through the window, dousing her skin in an otherworldly golden glow.

Against the canvas of my white sheets, she’s the subject of the most glorious painting I’ve ever seen.

I lean for a second in the door frame – something to hold me up – and make sure I’m not dreaming.

This is Cherry goddamn Hensley .

The beautiful, strong, cunning woman who sets my body alight, and is goddamn torturing me with her slender body and soft curves. The mischievous twinkle in her eyes when she bites down on those lips. The way her delicate fingers wrapped around my cock in the shower—

‘Duke?’ Cherry asks, pulling her legs up onto the bed.

I adjust the towel slung loosely around my hips, though it does nothing to hide the raging boner I’m still sporting. The way Cherry glances down to it, pressing her lips together, says enough.

There’s no way that’s going to fit.

Fuck.

Slow. This has to be slow.

For both me and her. I’ve waited too long for this, I can’t rush it, can’t get too caught up and not savour every moment with her like she deserves – especially now I know how much this means to her too. Now’s the time to prove to her how much I care, to devote myself entirely to her pleasure.

Besides, she’s younger, she’s … possibly less experienced than I originally thought given the bucket list.

Have a guy give me an orgasm.

I’ll give her every orgasm she needs, along with the fucking world. But we’ll take it slow. No rushing to try to tick things off some silly bucket list, and then burning out.

‘Mhm?’ I reply, stalking towards her. Letting her gaze devour me as I get closer, like I’m her last meal. And, God, I cannot wait to taste her again.

‘You were staring.’ Her big brown eyes watching me with something like wonder. They glance down once to where my hard cock is caged behind the towel, and she swallows. Then she licks her goddamn lips, like she’s getting ready to take me.

Nope. Can’t have her eye-level with my cock any longer.

‘I’m always staring at you.’ I press my knee into the bed beside her and begin climbing on. She edges back when I nod towards the head of the bed, lying herself down until I’m hovering over her. ‘And even when you’re not around, I’m still thinking of you. How goddamn breath-taking you are.’

‘Yeah?’ Cherry breathes out.

‘Can I?’ I run a finger along the top of the towel, awaiting her nod before I unfold it from her body, laying her bare for me.

Dusky pink nipples point up at me, begging to be played with. I want – no, need – to make her body quiver again like I did in the shower.

‘I thought you said I was the bane of your life ?’ Cherry quips.

I press a kiss to her neck and her body instantly arches up into mine with a soft moan, like I’m the hit she needs to come alive.

‘Oh, you’re that too. This,’ I trail a finger down her body as I continue to brush my lips along her collarbone, relishing the way her breath begins to race, ‘is fucking torturous. Always on my mind. Why do you think I’m always so quiet?

It’s because I can’t stop thinking about you. ’

And with that Cherry wraps her arms around my neck and tugs me into a kiss.

She’s frantic, opening her mouth to me immediately, those years of pent-up desire spilling out like a waterfall again.

But I only give her gradual, relaxed strokes of my tongue until she calms and matches my slower pace.

Her hand brushes over my head, fingers trailing about the patterns shaved into my hair.

A small moan escapes her mouth as I sink my teeth into her bottom lip, tugging, just like I’ve been dreaming of doing for years.

And it was worth the wait.

Nails rake up my back, my skin exploding into goosebumps, the sensation shooting straight down to my already aching cock.

I trail my lips along her jaw and down her neck, sucking and kissing at her tender skin, revelling in the way her body jolts below me.

It’s almost enough to distract me from her hands sliding down to the edge of my towel and—

I catch her wrists with one hand and pin them above her head. Cherry gasps and presses her chest up towards me, those perky breasts just grazing my chest. Fuck, she looks damn edible laid out for me like this.

‘Not tonight,’ I say, pressing kisses slowly down towards her breasts.

Cherry lets out a needy whine. ‘But – oh, fuck —’ I take one of her nipples in my mouth, rolling my tongue around it ‘—but why not?’

‘Because.’ I pause to do the same with her other nipple, giving this one a quick nip and getting far too much satisfaction at the way a tremble rushes through her body.

‘I want to take this slow. I’ve been waiting so long to get to taste you, to feel you.

I can’t rush this.’ I press a kiss to her sternum, her body lifting as my lips leave her skin.

‘And … I want to prove to you how much I want this. How much I need this. I’m not good with words, and I’ll work on that, for you, but until then, let me show you instead, Cherry. ’

Cherry’s eyes soften at me, a devastatingly beautiful smile following – one that deserves to be in a gallery.

‘So,’ I begin, dropping my lips back to her chest, ‘let’s start with you telling me how you like to make yourself come.’

‘What?’ The word is barely more than a breath as I make my way up to her neck, kissing her just below her ear, whilst I keep her hands locked above her head.

‘I want you to tell me how you make yourself come.’ When I pull back to look into her sparkling eyes, lids heavy with desire, she swallows.

Watching her slender throat work forces me to kiss it again.

I could stay here for hours just worshipping every inch of her beautiful body with my mouth.

‘If I let go,’ my fingers pulse against her trapped wrists, ‘are you going to be a good girl and tell me how you like to play with yourself?’

She nods, still trying to bite back her smile. I release her hands and she admits, ‘I normally use a vibrator.’

‘Okay, noted for next time,’ I say, making sure that ordering a vibrator is the first thing I do tomorrow.

Lazily, I trail a finger down the centre of her chest, over her stomach, and down one of her thighs, avoiding the spot that’s already glistening for me. ‘And when you don’t have a vibrator?’

Cherry’s gaze is trained intensely on where I’m stroking her. She swallows again, her body tensing as my finger traces circles up her thigh.

‘Then I … use my fingers.’

There we go.

‘Like this?’ I ask, finally swiping my fingers through her slick centre, a growl vibrating in my throat at how wet she is. My cock throbs, knowing how hot and wet she’s going to feel when I can finally sink into her.

Cherry’s arousal coats my fingers, and I spread it over her clit, then start circling lightly. She lets out a breathy moan, gripping for purchase in my sheets. She tries to nod and make a noise of agreement, but it’s basically a whimper, so I press a little harder just to tease.

‘Duke …’ Cherry begins, one hand coming up to massage her own breasts, as if she’s acting out how she’d feel herself when she’s alone. It’s so fucking hot.

‘Yes, baby?’ It’s taking every ounce of my self-control not to bury my face between her legs right now, to lap up all that need pooling in her centre. I just know the taste of her will be divine.

‘I … I also put my fingers inside of me.’

‘At the same time?’

Another little nod and whimper. She wets her lips and I settle onto my knees.

‘Then spread your legs wider for me, baby.’

Shuddering breaths race out of her pretty mouth as she carefully lets her thighs fall further apart. I don’t think I’ve ever been as hard as I am right now, staring straight at her glistening pussy. I’m in heaven.

Quickly, I switch to rubbing her clit with my thumb, keeping up the rhythm, as I slide one finger into her, my cock twitching at the feel of her slick heat, at how tight she is even just around a single digit.

I could finish right now just from the sensation of her like this.

Cherry’s back arches as I curl my finger inside of her, finding where she needs me, and I start increasing my pace with each thrust.

‘How many fingers do you like?’ I ask.

‘T-two.’ Cherry gasps and I immediately slide another in, stretching her further. Even just from my fingers I can feel the way her body has to accommodate for me, and the way she’s already fluttering around me. I can’t help but groan again.

‘Do you like being full, baby?’ I ask, my gaze flicking between her pussy and her rolling eyes. ‘Do you like the way my fingers are stretching you right now?’

‘Yes, yes, yes,’ she chants out in time with each pump, coming completely undone.

It’s a side to her I’ve never seen before – the way she almost drops into a trance, when usually she has so much on her mind.

Even when she was grinding against my thigh earlier, I could see the thread starting to unravel, the chase of her pleasure taking over like she was starving.

‘What else do you like? Tell me, Baby Hensley.’

Using that nickname in this setting feels unbelievably wicked . A heady rush coming from the thrill of knowing how wrong it is, but also how goddamn right it feels.

‘I like to … imagine things. It stops me from getting distracted from other thoughts when I’m trying to make myself come.’

What I would give to spend a night inside her imagination, watching whatever delicious scenarios she conjures up. ‘Oh yeah? Tell me what you think of when you play with yourself, baby.’

I’ve barely even finished my question when she says, ‘You.’