The Ice Alpha’s Mate (Aria and Ryder) novel Chapter 74

Chapter 74

ARIA

It’s not long before the kiss morphs into something hungrier and more desperate.

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I throw my leg over his hip and my hand moves under his shirt. He has one hand in my hair and the other is fisting the waistband of my shorts. His hand is right there, nearly touching my ass. Excitement, raw and hungry, courses through me. I start moving against him, guided by instinct.

Pleasure courses through me, exploding all through me at the befest of contacts. I suck in a breath when I feel how hard he is. He’s straining against his pants. Every time I brush against him, it takes my breath away.

I do it again and Ryder grunts in my mouth. The sound makes my head spin. But he puts a stop to the kiss and draws back.

“Aria. We can’t.”

It’s hard not to feel disappointed. “Why?”

Ryder shakes his head. “This isn’t the place. Or the time.”

While he’s saying this, his hand moves from my shorts to my thigh. The feel of his hand against my skin makes me shudder. I feel cold. Really cold. But there’s a part of me that’s still warm.

Still aching for him.

Still in need of a release I can’t give myself.

“We can’t,” he says again, and this time, it sounds like he’s saying this to himself, not to me. His hand continues massaging my thigh, and before I know it, it’s resting against my inner thigh, so close to my center.

So painfully close.

He squeezes my inner thigh and I shiver all over again. He then tells me, “You’re my Luna. Even if I don’t end up as an Alpha, you’re still my mate, and I want things to be perfect. I don’t…I don’t want to use you, Aria. I don’t want you to ever think I’m using you.”

“I won’t think that way.”

I don’t even want to think about how strange it is that he cares more about this than I do. No, maybe strange isn’t the right word. It’s more shameful on my part than anything else.

To distract myself, I ask him, “What did you mean by that?”

“What?”

“Even if you don’t end up Alpha.”

Ryder sighs. His hand remains where it is, and I find myself wishing he’d touch me where I want him to just a little. “I don’t know. I’m prepared for anything. I don’t want to talk about that.

I shift a little and his eyes snap up to mine. I freeze in place, not sure why. “Why do you make it so hard?”

I don’t have an answer for him, so I say nothing.

“I’m fighting here too, Aria. You don’t know what it takes to control myself when all I want to do is take you all night. Over and over again.”

Even my chest flushes this time. His lips are on mine again, and run my fingers through his hair while he positions himself

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09:57 Mon, Mar 2

Chapter 74

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partially on top. His chest is above mine, but his legs are still on the bed. My leg is still over his hip, and his hand is still on my inner thigh.

But it starts inching toward my heat, and before I know it, the tips of his fingers are brushing against my throbbing clit. Ryder sucks in a breath, taking mine with him. He’s feeling the wetness all along my shorts. I can’t stop myself from feeling this way. From wanting him.

I don’t want to stop, either.

He touches me tentatively again; just through my shorts. I’m desperate for more fiction, so I raise my hips off the bed slightly. His tongue tangles with mine as he uses the heel of his hand to push me back on the bed, and then he starts applying more pressure.

I want to cry out, but I can’t be heard.

It would be too embarrassing.

He moves the heel of his hand up and down my slit, my shorts and panties a barrier between us. I part my legs even wider, feeling weak and helpless in the best way possible. It feels so good. I don’t feel embarrassed or self-conscious. I just want him to keep rubbing until I climax.

He stops suddenly and for a wild moment, I think he won’t continue, but then his hand moves under my shorts and my panties, and settles over my slippery flesh without any barriers between us.

I cry out and he sinks his teeth into my bottom lip before shushing me.

“Aria,” he whispers urgently. “I like my head right where it is, alright? Both of them, actually.”

I nod wildly. He hasn’t even started moving his hand yet, and I’m already losing my mind. A guttural sound leaves his lips as he moves his fingers lower, right to the source of all my arousal.

“Fuck,” he groans. “You’re so wet.”

A wet sound fills my ears as he runs his fingers up and down my lit, spreading my moisture all over me. I sink my teeth into my bottom lip so I don’t make another sound, but that becomes almost impossible when Ryder starts teasing my clit. He pinches it between two fingers, then draws lazy circles around it with the same fingers.

I keep my lips closed, but I’m still making sounds in my throat. His eyes are on my face, drinking in everything while his hand moves between my legs. The wet sounds. The feel of his rough fingers stroking my sex. The tension. The pressure of not being able to make a sound. It all makes me explode.

My body tenses as a wave of pure, hot pleasure washes over me. My hips rise off the bed and he keeps stroking me, moving his fingers faster this time. He stops for a moment, then continues. My fingers dig into his arms.

I’m close again. I press my lips tightly together and a shorter but more intense wave makes me arch off the bed.

I’m all out of breath.

“You’re so beautiful,” Ryder whispers before pressing his lips to the corner of my mouth. His hand is still now, but still in my panties. “So, so beautiful. I want to taste you. But I want to hear you scream when I do.”

Just then, he pulls his hand out of my panties and brings it to his mouth. My mouth parts as I watch him suck his fingers clean.

“Delicious,” he murmurs.

I want to reach for him and maybe give him the same pleasure he’s just given me, but Ryder positions himself behind me and puts an arm around my waist. I feel his erection on my lower back, and again, I have the urge to touch him and make him feel as good as he made me feel, but my eyelids get so heavy all of a sudden, and before I know it, I drift off to sleep.

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09:57 Mon, Mar 2