Claimed by Love (Love in Bloom: The Ryders, Book 2): Duke Ryder Read online

  Gabriella felt herself falling for him even more. Where the heck was her army?

  Natalia took one look at her son’s beaming expression and Gabriella saw a world of gratitude in her cousin’s eyes. “Well, I’m not sure if you can keep up with my little man, Duke. But if you want to give it a try, I won’t stand in your way.”

  Duke squeezed David’s shoulder. “Tomorrow around two? Does that work for you?”

  “Yes, sir.” David nodded.

  They made plans to meet on the field by the schoolhouse the next afternoon. When Natalia took the kids to get dessert, Duke returned his attention to Gabriella.

  “Would you like to dance?” he asked.

  Dancing would bring their bodies close together, and then her mind would scramble and she’d be useless. She really did need reinforcements. She turned, but the other women she’d been standing with had gone their separate ways. There was no army, not even a single soldier.

  Before she could answer, his hand was around her waist and he was leading her to the dance floor.

  “Don’t overthink this,” he whispered against her cheek.

  Well, okay then. He was a mind reader, too.

  She was in his arms, their bodies moving together in a seductive dance, like two lovers with years of practice. Her arms wound around his neck. Somehow, in the space of a few hours apart, she must have forgotten how tall he was. They’d kissed so much during the afternoon that she imagined his mouth closer to the same height as hers.

  “This is a nice celebration,” he said.

  “Mm-hm.” She didn’t want to overthink tonight, despite the pep talk she’d given herself. Maybe Addy was right. What’s the worst that could happen? She could have a few great days before returning to the stress of tearing apart people’s lives.

  “Thank you for what you’re doing with David. Natalia is so busy with her kids, and—”

  “Gabriella, I did what my heart told me to do. Once I understood what was wrong, how could I turn away? But I don’t want to talk about David.”

  His gaze turned feral, possessive, and she couldn’t have responded if her life had depended on it.

  “I came here tonight with the intent of keeping my distance from you, despite our talk. I thought it might make things easier.”

  He searched her eyes, and she stifled the words Me too. How could she say them when she wouldn’t mean them? When every time they were together she wanted more of him, not less.

  “Okay,” she finally said, but she didn’t understand his comment, because she was right there in his arms and she could feel the effect she was having on him.

  “I don’t want to keep my distance. You know that. You can see it, feel it. Hell, baby, you can probably hear it in my voice.”

  He smiled, and she did, too, not just because his honesty was again beyond refreshing, but because he’d called her baby so naturally. Despite how often she told herself not to, she already felt like she was his.

  “Maybe a little,” she teased. “I came here with the same determination to keep things professional between us and focus on the future of the island.”

  “How’s that going for you?” he asked, tightening his grip on her hips.

  Every time he did that, visions of how his hands would feel on her naked body raced through her mind. He was so big. She could only imagine what it would feel like to have all that power holding her close as he sank into her.

  “Not so well,” she said with a shaky breath.

  He leaned down and pressed his cheek to hers. “I want to kiss you so badly I ache, but I won’t. Not here, in front of all these matchmakers. They’ll have us married off in no time.”

  Her eyes widened. Her family. Holy crap. What was she doing, dancing like they were all alone, rocking her hips against him? She couldn’t form a single word as she shifted her hips back to put a little space between them. Instantly missing the connection, she moved close again.

  He lifted her chin and gazed into her eyes. “I don’t want to hide what I feel for you. I’m trying to give you the space to decide what you want others to see.”

  “Thank you.” She loved that he thought of her and her family ahead of his own desires, but she also longed for him to just take control and kiss her already. Having the power to make the decision made it even more difficult to decide.

  “If we’re going to kiss again, we need ground rules. And unless you tell me you don’t want this, then we’re going to do a hell of a lot more than kiss.”

  With her heart in her throat, she glanced around them, making sure no one else could hear that sexy promise. “Ground rules?”

  “Yes, Gabriella. I want to invest in this island, and your family needs the right person to invest. You said that yourself. There are probably going to be—no. There will definitely be opposing opinions between us. If we move forward…”

  His hand slid to her lower back and pressed, holding her against his arousal.

  She. Couldn’t. Breathe.

  “Whatever this is between us has to have no effect on the deal. And the deal can have no effect on us.”

  “How are we supposed to do that?” She could say she’d try, but really, how could she separate the two most meaningful parts of her life?

  “Trust.”

  “Trust?”

  “Trust. It’s the belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something. Surely you’ve heard of it?” His sense of humor, when their bodies were nearly combusting, only made her want him more.

  “I need to trust that you’ll think about and work toward what’s best for your family and the other residents on the island, and you need to trust that my goal is to do the same.”

  Chapter Eleven

  GABRIELLA NEVER THOUGHT she had trust issues. How could she, when she worked with people who didn’t tell the truth? But as she listened to Duke talk about their relationship, the island, and trust like they were all sewn together, goose bumps raced up her arms. The music moved seamlessly from one song to the next, and couples crowded in around them. She’d never felt claustrophobic on the island before, but she needed air and space to deal with the emotions Duke was unearthing in her. And the concerned look in his eyes made her want to share her discovery with him.

  “Can we take a walk?” she suggested.

  He settled a hand on her back as they walked away from the crowd. “I’d like nothing more, but I hope I didn’t upset you in some way.”

  He was so attentive to her, so in tune with everything she did and said, that he made it easy to forget they were on opposite sides of a negotiation table.

  “You didn’t upset me. It’s been a long time since I really thought about what it means to trust someone. I mean, beyond attorney-client trust, of course.”

  He held her close as they walked arm in arm. As they neared the lighthouse, the light and the din of the celebration faded, replaced with the sounds of waves crashing along the shore. The glow of the lighthouse cast a beam of light over the ocean.

  “There was a time when trust came easily. As a kid, if my parents told me something, I never doubted it. If a friend or relative made a promise, it was always fulfilled.”

  “That’s how it should be.”

  “Yes, I know. If what I say sounds strange, it’s because I’ve never told anyone about it before, so it might come out convoluted.”

  Duke stopped walking and gazed deeply into her eyes. “You don’t have to share anything you don’t want to. I’m not going anywhere, and even though I think it’s good that we talk about all these things now, you shouldn’t feel pressured to.”

  “Thank you, but I want to share this with you.”

  He glanced back at the big house, and she knew he was checking to see if they could be seen.

  “They can’t see us,” she assured him. “But thank you for worrying.”

  “I don’t want to hide any part of what I feel for you. But that’s your call.” He pressed his lips to hers in a tender kiss. “Thank you for trustin
g me enough to share whatever it is with me.”

  She hadn’t realized she was trusting him, but that’s exactly what she was doing. Wanting to share her innermost thoughts in and of itself meant that she trusted him. Funny how easily that happened.

  “I spent my youth in this blissful wonderland, where everything was as it seemed,” she explained as they began walking again. “Maybe it’s like that for all kids. I don’t know. But when my grandfather’s thoughts on my future began changing, that trust diminished. Not because my grandfather had ever made promises to me that he didn’t keep, but because I had read far too much into the words ‘You can be whatever you want to be.’”

  He kissed the top of her head but remained silent. She sensed that he was giving her the space she needed to work out what she wanted to say, and she appreciated that.

  “I think he meant what he said, but he didn’t believe that what I really wanted to be—the only thing I wanted to be—was an island girl. I wanted to live with the ocean breeze at my back, helping my family with the resort, the welcome center, the taverna.” It felt so good to get this off her chest. She hadn’t even admitted these things to Addy, but it felt right to share them with Duke.

  “I wanted to raise babies alongside my cousins, with my family and all the other people I love so much there to love them up. I wanted my children to experience this.” She inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with the cool sea air.

  The ground was rockier near the shore. Duke kept her steady as they walked around the enormous gray lighthouse and sat on the grass overlooking the shore. Waves broke against the rocks, spraying them with droplets of water, making them both laugh.

  “This, Duke. This is all I ever wanted. For my kids to grow up attending the two-room schoolhouse, then taking that long boat ride to the mainland, only to come back and experience the same sense of relief, the same sense of home, that I did.”

  “And instead you moved away and became a hell of a lawyer,” Duke said. “But you come back often, which is probably more than most people.”

  She lay back on the grass and looked up at the starry sky. “Yes, I do. Every summer, every holiday.”

  Duke leaned on his elbow and came down over her, brushing a wayward lock of hair off her cheek. He pressed another soft kiss to her lips, then another to her cheek, and finally, her forehead, and she felt every kiss all the way to her toes.

  “So when I asked you to trust me,” he said, “you worried that I wouldn’t fully understand, or maybe that I wouldn’t really believe how desperately you want things to remain unchanged on the island?” He ran his finger along her side, bringing all her nerve endings to life. “You’re worried that trusting me will leave you with an island that’s full of everything you don’t want, and you’ll wake up one morning in a bewildered state of ‘How the hell did we end up here?’”

  “Something like that,” she admitted. “I know you can’t make promises, and I don’t expect you to.”

  “Gabriella, doing what’s best for the future of everyone here on the island won’t be easy for anyone. Not for you, not for me or my staff, and certainly not for the residents who, like you, probably adore the simplicity of life here. Things have to change, and I know you understand that. I can’t promise you exactly how it will all turn out, but what I can promise you is that I hear you.”

  He stroked his fingers over her cheek, and his tone turned even more serious. “I’m listening to everything you tell me. About your family’s history, the reason there are no paved roads, no vehicles. I hear it all, and it means something to me because it means something to you. I will do my best to make this island a place where you would not only be proud to live, but that you will feel just as passionate about as you do now.”

  “You can’t promise me that,” she said breathlessly, hoping on all things good and holy that he could.

  “I just did.”

  Chapter Twelve

  DUKE GAZED INTO Gabriella’s beautiful, hopeful eyes and knew in that moment that he meant every word he said. Even if it meant going head-to-head with Pierce, this was one battle he was willing to fight. The urge to seal his promise with a kiss was so strong, so urgent, that he almost forgot to make sure she was as all in as he was. He needed that reassurance, needed it as badly as he needed the gorgeous woman gazing up at him.

  “Do you trust me, Gabriella?”

  Her lips parted, and when she said, “Yes, Duke. I trust you. I trust you and you know you can trust me,” he heard the invitation in her voice, and only then did he slant his mouth over hers.

  She tasted sweet and hot, willing and wanting. The kiss started slow and sensual, but every slick of their tongues, every press of her fingers on his back, made lust spike through his body. He deepened the kiss, devouring her mouth as she clawed at his back, and his control shattered. His hands moved over the curve of her hip, to her warm, bare thigh.

  “So sweet. So sexy.” She felt so good as she arched against his touch and kissed with the same desperation he felt coursing through him.

  “Only you,” he whispered against her mouth, “could make a kiss feel like so much more.”

  He moved over her, shielding her from the water spraying their legs as waves crashed along the shore. He slid a hand beneath her head, cradling her against him and angling her face just enough to allow him to consume even more of her. Their hips rocked to the silent beat of their hearts. Every sweet, sexy sound she made, every touch of his fingers on her heated flesh, brought more need. He gave her hair a gentle tug, and the sigh of surrender escaping her lips was the most erotic sound he’d ever heard. He needed to feel her flesh against his.

  Raining kisses down her neck, he whispered, “I need to touch you.” He sucked on her neck, and she fisted her hands in his hair.

  “Yes,” she said breathlessly. “Duke, touch me.”

  She tugged his shirt free from his pants, and he went up on his knees to unbutton his shirt, but the sight of Gabriella lying beneath him slowed him down. His eyes shot across the darkness. He knew no one could see them, but he didn’t know if anyone would come over, and he didn’t want to embarrass her.

  “Duke.” She fumbled with his buttons.

  “Your family?” His heart beat a mile a minute, but between her nimble fingers and his urgent need, his shirt fell open. Her eyes widened as her hands roved over his muscles, stoking the inferno inside him.

  “They won’t”—she leaned up and licked his nipple, pulling a greedy groan from his lungs—“leave the party.”

  “Thank Christ.”

  He shrugged off his shirt, lifted hers over her head in one quick move, and laid her down as gently as he could, which wasn’t gentle at all. He was too greedy, too lost in the sight of Gabriella in nothing more than a skirt bunched up around her waist and a black lace bra.

  “You’re beautiful,” he said as he kissed the sweet swell of her breast. “So beautiful.”

  He licked and kissed and loved her mouth, her neck, the creamy path down the center of her chest. His fingers played over her nipple, which strained against the lace. He claimed her mouth in another demanding kiss, consuming, tasting everything he could. She sucked in a sharp breath as he unhooked her bra and lifted it off her chest, just long enough to drag one strap down her shoulder, following its path with his mouth. She arched her back as he dragged his tongue along her collarbone, laving it over the dip in the center, fighting the urge to strip her bare and bury himself deep.

  “Duke, please.”

  “I want this to last. My first taste of you, the first time you trusted me, the first time your hands played over my flesh.” He pulled her other strap down her shoulder with his teeth, placing kisses along her arm. He slid her bra free and tossed it aside, taking a moment to drink her in.

  “Holy Christ, Gabriella. Feel what you do to me.”

  He guided her hand between his legs and groaned when she palmed his hard length. He brushed his thumb over her nipple as she stroked him through his slacks. Lust rushed thro
ugh his veins, simmering beneath every inch of his skin until it became too much to control. He moved her hand away.

  “Need more,” he gritted out as he captured her mouth again, trying to quell the ache as he rocked his eager erection against her core.

  He pressed hard kisses down her neck, over her breastbone, and dragged his tongue over one taut nipple, earning another seductive moan.

  “Mm, baby, you like that.”

  “Yes—”

  She fisted her hand in his hair, holding his mouth to her breast as he sucked it in, teasing, taunting, taking his fill, while his other hand traveled up her thigh. Her hips bucked and he clutched her tightly, holding her to the ground.

  “Jesus, every move you make…You’re killing me,” he said more desperately than he meant to. He sealed his lips over hers again as the spray of a wave rained down over them.

  She kissed him hungrily, her whole body moving with him, groping, clawing, and driving him out of his blessed mind. He moved quickly, taking her other breast into his mouth, giving it the same attention as the first. Her skin was hot and sweet as he moved down her ribs to the swell of her hips. This was torture. He was barely holding it together as she pushed at his shoulders. Finesse went out to sea as he ripped her skirt and panties from her body and finally got his hands on her beautiful ass. He’d never been an ass man before, but damn, from the moment he’d seen her, her ass had turned him on. She arched back against his hands and moaned as he caressed her silky skin.

  Holy hell, she was beyond gorgeous. Beyond stunning, with rounded hips, a slim waist, and full breasts. But it wasn’t her pin-up girl body that had his heart thundering. It was the trusting look in her eyes that had him vowing never, ever to give her a reason not to trust him. He lowered his mouth to the damp curls between her legs, placing soft kisses there. She rocked her hips, pushed on his shoulders, and arched up to greet his greedy mouth as he slicked his tongue along her wetness.