ROMANCING MO RYAN Read online

  It felt so good tasting her that he groaned.

  “You will enjoy this moment,” he said to her as he continued to kiss her. “I promise you that.”

  Nikki felt the heat of his kiss, felt the warmth of his embrace, and she knew immediately that she was in good hands. She did not regret this decision.

  “Open your mouth, baby,” he coaxed as he kissed her. And she did as she was told.

  He groaned when their tongues intertwined and Nikki loved the fact that she could turn him on too. Because he was completely turned on. She could hear it in his guttural sounds. She could feel it in his thick penis as it pressed harder and harder, getting bigger and bigger, against her. This was a well experienced man, and the fact that a man like this was turned on by her, heightened her own sensuality.

  They kissed for what seemed to Nikki to be a wonderfully long time. All that could be heard in the quiet hotel room was the sound of their smacking, and of his grunts and groans. His big arms had her small body completely encircled as he kissed her. He held her in such a protective embrace that all she could think about was how great it felt to be in his arms. She turned this down, from so many other men who had wanted to do exactly what Mo Ryan was doing to her right now. But this man, this strong, gorgeous, virile man who was nearly fifteen years her senior, was the only man she had ever allowed the privilege.

  He was also the only one who told her the truth about their day after, even though that truth was becoming painful for Nikki. She closed her eyes as he trailed from her mouth to her ear, and then as his tongue began licking her neck. And then, as he moved her body up higher on his, he moved down lower, capturing her ripe, taut nipples with his mouth.

  She kept her eyes closed as he sucked her, not only to enjoy the moment, but to dismiss the harsh reality that there would be no additional moments to come.

  “You taste so sweet,” he said in a heavy voice as he sucked and kissed and licked and squeezed the life out of her breasts. He was becoming almost frenetic with his licks. “Oh, baby,” he said as he sucked one breast and squeezed the other one. “I can’t get enough. You taste so. . . Oh, Nikki!”

  And he kept sucking her breasts. And then he moved her off of him and laid her on her back. It was so wonderfully decisive that Nikki felt the same sensual jolt he was feeling.

  And he continued to kiss and suck her breasts, but this time he was on top. From one to the other he kissed, then sucked. His tongue licked around the edges of her mounds and then bit her nipples. She moaned as he kept licking and sucking and biting her.

  “You like that, baby?” he asked her.

  “Yes,” she replied.

  “I love it,” he said. “I can’t get enough of you. Oh, Nick, I never dreamed . . .” And his voice trailed off, because his mouth was on the move again, kissing his way down her body. From her flat stomach, to her thighs, and then he opened her legs. She could barely breathe when she felt his tongue lick inside of her womanhood.

  And when that same tongue began to rapidly lick her clit, she lifted up on her elbows, her head bent back, as he made love to her there. She’d never experienced anything like it. She’d read about it, she’d even heard females go on and on about it, but to experience it for herself was beyond anything her wildest imagination could have concocted.

  Her body felt ablaze with passion as he ate her, as he would not relent, as he kept tasting her as if he was tasting a delicacy, his favorite meal, and he wasn’t about to rush it through.

  Mo could barely contain himself when he first began kissing her plump, gorgeous breasts. But when he made his way down the length of her and was able to enjoy the wonderful womanly scent, the taste, the very texture of her sweet vagina, he thought he was going to explode. He placed his hands underneath her ass and lifted her, squeezing her two tight cheeks, as he sucked her, as her womanhood turned red and flaming, as her body kept lifting up higher to allow him the fullest possible enjoyment. But the more he enjoyed her, the more his penis screamed out for entry.

  “You taste so delicious, babe,” he said as he continued to flick her clit. “I could suck on this pussy until you come in my mouth!”

  “Oh, Mo!” Nikki yelled out when he said those words.

  “But my dick have needs too,” he added. “And I don’t know if I can hold on any longer, babe. I don’t know if. . .”

  But he still couldn’t tear himself away from the smell, the taste of her vagina. But he had to. Nature was calling.

  He got out of bed. He now stood before her as a naked specimen of a man, jerking on his huge, expanded penis, watching her react to his changing size. And she turned him on even more when her beautiful brown body lurched upward, anticipating his entry.

  And he wanted to enter that sweet thang of hers raw. He stared at her, jerking his penis like a tease, and he wanted to take her raw so badly that he was smacking his lips just thinking about how she was going to make him feel.

  But he knew he couldn’t do that to her. He was clean, he knew that, and he was willing to bet the farm that she was, too. But risking it would be a fool’s game. And they weren’t fools. He put on a condom.

  When he entered her, he entered easy, relaxing to the newness of her, the tightness of her, knowing that this was already shaping up to be an experience he was never going to forget. His hands were on either side of her, with his upper body leaned up, and he knew instinctively that he was in the presence of something so precious, so wonderful, that he could hardly believe his good fortune.

  He looked closely at her as he eased into her. He stared deep into her bright brown eyes and was taken by the way she seemed so trusting of him, but yet so suspicious. He also saw a kind of fiery passion lurking underneath that suspiciousness. And that powerful feeling came over him again, as if he wasn’t just fucking her, but was loving her. That he, in fact, loved her.

  Loved her, he thought. Where in the world did that come from? He had already told her that this would be a one-time thing for them. They both already knew there was no future here. How in the world could he even think about love?

  But as he looked at her, as his thickening cock slid in and out of her in a sweet, easy gyration, still going in no further than the front tip of her entry, determined to drag out this enchantment as long as he could, he couldn’t deny what he felt. It was lust, it was probably ninety percent lust. But that other feeling, the deeper one that had him dreaming about her every night since the first day they met, was there too.

  But just as he was about to ease in further, her body gave a small jerk and she squeezed her eyes tightly shut. He knew she was ready for him, his foreplay had been considerable. Why would she wince that way? Was he too big for her? Was he hurting her?

  “Baby, what’s the matter?” he asked, stopping his entry while his penis was still at the very front of her vagina.

  She opened her eyes. She even tried to smile. “Nothing’s wrong.”

  But as quickly as she opened those bewildered eyes of hers, he realized exactly what it was. His heart hammered against his chest.

  “It can’t. . . Is it . . .” He frowned. “Is this your first time, Nikki?” he asked her.

  She stared into his eyes, wondering what would he think of her. But it was what it was. She was a virgin on purpose.

  She nodded her head, fought back the tears that were trying to come. “Yes,” she said.

  And it stopped Mo cold. Despite her maturity he’d already seen an innocence there, and an undeniable vulnerability. But he never dreamed she’d be this innocent, and this vulnerable. His penis remained just inside of her, not moving in any deeper or out any further, and he placed his hand on the side of her hair.

  It would be robbery if he continued. This was supposed to be a one-night stand for them, a chance for both of them to get some much needed, wonderful sex before they moved on to their separate lives in their separate states. The idea of being the first man to break her in, and then to leave her, was unconscionable to him.

  It was p
hysically painful, even tortuous, but he pulled out. Although her already big eyes stretched wider, as if she was disappointed that he had decided to pull out, he also saw relief in those eyes.

  He laid down beside her and pulled her into his arms. She lay her head on his shoulder and bathe in the warmth of those arms. She knew he was different. She could count on one finger the men that would come to this point, find out she was a virgin, and just stop. But Mo not only cared, but he made the decision for both of them.

  “You didn’t ask how I felt about it,” she said as he held her.

  “I know,” he said, kissing her on the top of her head.

  “I was ready.”

  “That’s what you believe, yes.”

  She looked at him. “You don’t believe it?”

  He looked down at her. Honesty was what she wanted, honesty was what she would get. “No, Nikki, I don’t,” he said.

  “But how can you say that? I was ready. I said you could have your way with me. I was more than ready.”

  He smoothed down her hair. “You were ready for me to make love to you,” he said bluntly, “but you’re nowhere near ready for what would follow.”

  “The emotional side you mean?”

  She was quick as a whip, he thought. He was going to miss her so completely. “Yes,” he said. “Intellectually you think it’s going to be as simple as making love and then going your separate way. But emotionally it would have been damn-near impossible for you, Nikki. There was no way you were going to be able to forget the man who took your virginity. Not after keeping it in that lock-box you kept it in for all this time.”

  All what time, Nikki wanted to ask. She was only twenty-three. But then she caught herself. For an experienced man like Mo Ryan, who probably rarely fooled around with a virgin, she was long behind the pace.

  Nikki stared at him. “Do I have to forget you?” she asked him.

  He closed his eyes. He wanted to say no, she didn’t have to forget him at all, just as he would never forget her. But he couldn’t do that to her. He was no more emotionally ready to take on another torrid love affair than she was ready to handle one. And Nikki wasn’t about to be his piece on the side. She wouldn’t allow it, and neither would he.

  “Yes,” he said, an ache in his heart as soon as he said it. But it was the truth. “You have to forget me, Nikki.”

  Nikki studied him a moment longer. And somehow she knew he wasn’t sparing her anything. Because their departure, his complete separation from her life, was going to be painful for her no matter which way the wind blew. She laid her head back on his chest.

  She was still staring, at what should have been her hopeful future ahead, but was really her own tears.

  TWO

  Two Years Later

  She respected him, too. Or at least she did before this interview. He was a hero in the community, a civil rights icon turned successful businessman. Her editor wanted her to interview him for inclusion in their newspaper’s ongoing Local Heroes series. Since she had just gotten the job in Jacksonville, Florida, and had heard of the former NFL star even when she worked in Cleveland, she gladly accepted the assignment. He was, she thought, a good choice. Until, in the middle of their interview, he leaned back in the executive chair in his spacious office that overlooked a sweeping view of the Saint John’s River, and tried to hit on her.

  “I’ve never met a reporter quite like you,” he said, and she was thinking it was a compliment given the probing questions she had just asked him. But then he added with a lilt in his voice: “You fine, girl, you know that?”

  At first she just stared at him. She wore reading glasses but her large brown eyes could be clearly seen. The brother was top-rate professional throughout their time together, reaffirming in her mind why he deserved his hero status. His sudden lapse into a petty flirt surprised her. Especially since she knew he was a married man.

  She decided to ignore his lapse. “If I can ask you a few more questions,” she requested, flipping through her notebook in search of the right question.

  “I know my style is a little in-your-face,” he went on, ignoring her request. “But I don’t believe in beating around any bushes. I like you. I think you’re fine. I love your dark skin and your alluring lips and your brains too, I won’t overlook your smarts.” He said this with a grin. “I figure we can go out, spend some time together. Spend the night together. Get to know each other.” Then he had the nerve to smile. “Interested?” he asked.

  She looked at him. She looked hard at him through the prism of her clear-coated glasses. “I’d rather eat nails,” she said without batting an eye.

  He, of course, laughed. “You are such a card, Nikki Tarver! That’s why I like you. But seriously, girl, let’s do this. You won’t be disappointed. Goodness knows I won’t,” he added, looking her up and down. “You’ve got it going on, you hear her? You’re the finest looking sister I’ve ever seen.”

  Nikki had a look of searing disappointment on her face. This was only her third assignment since arriving in town. And it was another big, fat zero. She began stuffing her notebook back into her hobo bag. As far as she was concerned, the interview was over. Which was a shame. She thought he had it together, when all he wanted to do was play games. But she couldn’t play the game even if it was the only game in town.

  Her decision to pack up and leave, however, surprised him. “What?” he asked her, genuinely shocked. “What’s wrong? All I did was give you a compliment. You can’t take a compliment? You’re fine, that’s a fact. You’re the finest looking female I’ve ever seen. Another fact.”

  “And you expect me to believe those facts?” she asked as she lifted the strap of her bag onto her narrow shoulder.

  He hesitated. His sexual propositions were normally met with a resounding yes, name the place and time, rather than this serious, almost hauntingly sincere look Nikki Tarver had in her big-ass eyes. And it annoyed him. “Yes, I expect you to believe them. I’m speaking the truth!”

  “And you’re truthfully telling me that you’ve never laid eyes on a woman finer than me?”

  He smiled. “That’s what I’m telling you.”

  “I’m the finest one?”

  “The undisputed finest. In my humble opinion.”

  “Either you’re lying or you don’t get out much,” she said, heading for the door. “Goodbye, Mr. Crump.”

  Nathan Crump was angry. Nobody talked to him like that. Nikki glanced back and saw that anger. But tough. She wasn’t wasting her time on his or anybody else’s bullshit. The way Nikki saw it, these guys knew what they were doing. Lay a few lines on her. Loosen her up. Get her in bed. That was their game and she wasn’t playing it. Pure and simple.

  She used to watch her mother in action. After her father died when she was twelve years old, her mother played the game. Thought she was good at it too. Thought she wasn’t being played because she wanted it just as badly as the guy. Until the guy left. Then she’d cry all night long on Nikki’s little shoulders. She’d cry and curse life and get angry with Nikki because little Nikki didn’t have the answers either. Then that same mother would spend all day nursing her broken heart, vowing to never again let love make a fool out of her. Until the next love of her life showed up. Then the game was on again.

  Nikki saw the game played on her sisters too, year after year after agonizing year. Those outspoken, opinionated sisters of hers would fall into deep depressions with suicidal ideations because some man wouldn’t act right. Please. Who needed all of that drama? Nikki figured she could do bad all by herself. And, given her sputtering life and career, she was doing just that.

  She arrived at the Jacksonville Gazette Newspaper building, early the next morning, barely on time. She parked her aging Mustang in the half empty lot on the side of the rustic building, and hurried out. Before relocating to Florida a month ago, she had been a star reporter with the Cleveland Dealer-Dispatch, and her career was on the fast track. Until she referred to a city commissioner as one o
f the most blatantly corrupt politicians in history. She was only quoting what his opponent had said, and had put those quotes in her story, but the commissioner took great offense. He knew somebody, who knew somebody who knew the managing editor. And when it was time for negotiations, that same editor refused to renew Nikki’s contract to work at the Dealer-Dispatch. Although technically she wasn’t fired, because she was under contract, but it amounted to the same thing: she didn’t have a job.

  If it hadn’t been for her best friend, Lance McKay, who lived here in Jacksonville and who begged his friend, an editor with the Gazette, to hire her, she didn’t know what she would have done. But she thanked God when Phil Lopez, the editor, offered her the job. She decided that a change of city and state would do her good, and arrived in Jacksonville ready to set this place on fire.

  But she couldn’t even get to work on time. Ever since her arrival, in fact, she’d been on the verge of lateness seemingly every morning. She had a chance to be on time this time, however, if she hustled. And she did, hurrying up the steps in her high-heeled shoes as if she had no time to waste, her hobo bag slinging on her shoulder as if it didn’t wear the ton it wore. She was dressed professional but stylish, in a pretty, low-cut pink cardigan, and a short, white skirt that draped down well above her shapely knees.

  As soon as she arrived at her desk, however, Helen Jones got in what was becoming her usual jab.

  “Good morning, Nikki,” she said.

  “Good morning, Helen,” Nikki replied.

  Nikki was, by more than twenty years, the youngest reporter the Gazette had on staff. And many of her colleagues, particularly the females, found her dress style and her appearance in general a little too loud, too youthful, and a little too sexy for their taste.

  Helen looked down, at the low cut of her cardigan, at her short skirt, at her long, silky hair in waves of curls and bounciness, and then back up into her eyes. “You look,” Helen started, and then took a moment to think about it. “Let me put it this way. There’s a saying I tell my own daughters all the time. Why would the man buy the cow, I tell them, when he can get the milk for free?”