Reforming The Heartbreaker: Prequel (Hollywood Heartbreaker #0.5) Read online

“Maybe your background can help spin the press even more in your favor,” she said, then crossed the room to stand in front of him. Her hormones did a happy dance. Bad move. She stepped back. “I might even be able to tie it into another charity event.”

  He’d been training non-stop since they’d returned from Saddle Creek, Montana, but Ryder had followed her PR directives. After she picked him up from the training course, he’d visited the numerous hospitals and community awareness events without complaint.

  The man was a machine. Oh, what a machine indeed. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop thinking about the day in the meadow.

  Ryder lifted one end of his perfectly sculpted lips into a half smile. He knew damn well his effect on her. “Ryder,” Addison said. “This is important.”

  He shrugged, then shot her a whatever kind of look. “Okay, here’s the deal. My mom was a drunk,” Ryder said. “She had no idea where I or my sister were from the time we were toddlers. I’m surprised Mom stayed sober during her pregnancies. If she did, that is.”

  “I see,” Addison said. But really, she didn’t. Nothing in her life experience compared to Ryder’s shitty childhood. “What about your father? Why didn’t he do something about it?” For all the problems she had with her own dad, she knew Alexander Carrington would never allow anyone to hurt her. He’d even shielded her from the pain of her mother’s illness and death to the best of his abilities.

  “My old man is why I spent two years at Saddle Creek Ranch,” Ryder said, then tunneled his fingers through his hair.

  The air bottled in her lungs while she absorbed Ryder’s revelation. She waited several beats until she spoke. “You said you didn’t have a juvenile record. Did he turn you in—like a tough love kind of thing?”

  “Hardly. Love didn’t play a role in what he did.” He pushed out of the chair and moved to stand face-to-face with Addison. “He stayed in the cell next to me after our arrest.”

  He was so close she could see specks of indigo in his eyes, and more. The complete sense of I-dare-you-to-judge-me pulsed between them. “Were you guilty?” she asked.

  “Of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yes. I drove his beat up Cadillac out of the parking lot after he held up a convenience store.” Ryder didn’t break eye contact. “My high school detentions didn’t help my case, but my counselor testified on my behalf.”

  His voice was devoid of emotion. Oh, how she hated hearing him this way. And, reading the lines bracketing his mouth along with the grooves marring his handsome forehead, she realized the memory was as fresh today as it had been fourteen years ago. Deep down, where it mattered, Ryder was still a kid who had been betrayed by the person supposed to protect him. No wonder he went beyond the call of duty to show the people in his life they could count on him.

  “Why did your high school counselor go the extra mile for you?” She linked her hand with his, wanting to draw him out and yes, damn it, her heart yearned to comfort him.

  A muscle jumped in his jaw. “He saw something in me. Plus, he knew I got into fights to make sure assholes stopped picking on my sister.”

  “You have spent your entire life looking out for everyone,” Addison said, the dots in her brain connecting faster and faster. She’d make sure Ryder didn’t pay the consequences for the accident that sent his career spiraling into the danger zone. “You ever wonder what it would be like to have someone look out for you?”

  “I had someone.” His grip tightened and he took her other hand. “My high school counselor and John were friends—when John still worked as a cop in Los Angeles in our school district. Dude pulled some strings, and I got sent to Saddle Creek Ranch.”

  She squeezed his broad palms. “That’s where you learned how to be a champion.”

  “That’s where I learned how to be a man of honor.” Ryder pulled her closer to his chest. “But I’ve made my mistakes.”

  “No one’s perfect. Not even you,” she said, then rested her head against his shoulder. Oh, how she loved the integrity which had driven Ryder to risk his career and his reputation for his friend and his family. But the tabloid storm wasn’t going anywhere and she needed to quadruple her efforts to stop it now.

  He released one of her hands and stroked her hair until he caressed her nape. “You deserved better from me. I should have protected you from those assholes.”

  “That’s over. This is now. I know what kind of pressure you were under back then.” She glanced at him through her lashes. “For what it’s worth, what happened forced me to face myself and quit drowning my feelings with boat loads of chips, chocolate, and ice cream.” Though the former fat girl in her still lived deep inside, Addison had come a long way from that person.

  Just as Ryder had come a long way from the teenager that trouble had a habit of finding.

  “Your willpower is pretty damn amazing,” he said hoarsely.

  Oh, with food, yeah. She could say no to a tub full of ice cream. Easy. But Ryder? His body sent all kinds of electrical charges through her and her body hummed with need. And her heart yearned to connect with his… in the one way to satisfy her craving.

  “True,” she said. “However, I’ve realized I can’t get enough of one thing.”

  “What?” he asked.

  “You.” After all, who would discover she’d fallen off her do-not-touch-Ryder-wagon in the sanctity of her home? Nice, safe, and away from the limelight.

  * * *

  Ryder exhaled a breath, then angled Addison’s head upward and brushed his lips over hers. “Me, either.” He held her gaze and read more than need in the fathomless depths. Amber and emerald prismed a rainbow of longing and desire in her beautiful hazel eyes. “I can’t stop thinking about you. Whenever I’m in the same room with you, I remember how amazing you were when I was inside you. Living with you, sleeping down the hallway from you instead of sharing your bed, is driving me crazy.”

  Her lips parted ever so slightly. “Crazy is an understatement where I’m concerned.”

  “I don’t break promises.” However, in this case, he seriously reconsidered his I’ll-do-anything-to have-you vow on a continual basis all week.

  “I’m the Queen of the PR spin.” She traced her fingers down his jawline, and rained small kisses across his cheeks and mouth. “How about we place a moratorium on the promise while we’re alone? Only stick to it while we’re out in public?”

  His cock hardened. And those tiny kisses made his blood run hot. Wanting her hadn’t surprised him. The desire to connect at a deeper level, and his intoxicating need for her had caught him off guard. He couldn’t even erase the intense craving during his training sessions.

  A first.

  “No PDAs works for me.” He pressed his rock hard shaft against her. “But I want to touch all of you, make you come for me and with me, whenever we’re alone.”

  “Ryder.”

  Everything he wanted deep down resonated in her voice—an unspoken plea for so much more than sex. His need mirrored in her gaze.

  “I can’t get enough of you.” Ryder twisted her long, beautiful and silky blonde hair in his hands, and turned her face up toward his. Her lips parted, and the pulse in the hollow of her throat fluttered wildly. “I don’t know if I ever will.”

  He’d never had such a deep connection with a woman. And the world seemed to shift under his feet after he’d confessed the truth to Addison. He didn’t want to hear her response—not if it wasn’t what he thought he’d read in her eyes. So he locked his lips onto hers, and lost himself in the way her body answered him.

  Addison skimmed her palms along his back and circled his neck, clinging to him while he slicked his tongue with hers. She melded perfectly into his. Addison made him long for something he’d fought against wanting his entire life. She had cracked past his guard years ago with her sweet, giving nature. Then she’d shown him days ago her generous, loving heart still existed.

  That heart held the promise of snuggling together while watching the ocean crash onto the shore. That hea
rt held the key to allowing him to be at his most vulnerable and trusting her to accept him 100 percent. That heart held the secret to having a future filled with family, friends, a lifetime together.

  He was terrified of breaking that heart again. But he couldn’t stop himself from reaching for it one more time.

  “Addison,” he said, wrenching his mouth from hers. “I want to have you—all of you. Here. Now.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  The last of his self-control evaporated, and he kissed her with all he had inside him. More. He had to have more of her. He wanted to touch every last inch of her skin with his hands, his mouth, his entire body.

  He skimmed the length of her back, unzipped her pencil skirt, and jerked it down her hips until it puddled around her shoes. She moved to toe them off. “Leave them on,” he said hoarsely while tugging her cream-colored silk shirt over her head.

  His breath caught in his throat when he took in her see-through bra and lacy thong. “You’re beautiful.” He cupped her breasts, felt the hard points of her nipples against his skin. “So responsive.” And she’d been made so perfectly for him that his chest hurt.

  He lowered his head to suck in a nipple through the fabric. Her gasps filled the air and she twined her fingers in his hair. “Oh. My. God.”

  “That’s it, sweetheart.” Ryder moved to her other breast and teased the rosy bud with his teeth, then slicked his tongue across her bra. “Let yourself go with me.” And only him. For now, and forever. But he didn’t articulate the thought. No way would he jinx this moment when he was so close to being right where he belonged all over again.

  He lowered his head, sliding his tongue from her sensitive breasts lower, and lower still until he reached the apex of her thighs. Her sweet scent of honey and spice enveloped him. She smelled so damn good—he knew she’d taste even better when she came all over his mouth.

  Kissing her sexy panties, he slid his finger under the thin strap of fabric between her sex’s slick folds and pushed it into her wet heat.

  She trembled and her hips hitched. “I don’t… I mean I’ve never…”

  “You’ve been missing out,” he said, easing another finger into her and pushing it deep while edging her around until the backs of her legs nudged her oversized chair. “Let me love you with my tongue, Addison.” With his tongue and his entire being.

  She sank into the seat. “Only you.”

  “Yes.” He lifted her long legs over his shoulders and kissed her sweet spot. “Only me.” Knowing no other man had done this to Addison sent a surge of possession through him. He loved that he was her first lover this way.

  Ryder shifted the pretty panty aside, and pressed his lips onto her throbbing bundle of nerves. Her clitoris jumped and her velvety warmth convulsed around his fingers. Soon. After he made her come, he’d slide his cock into her and give them both what they needed, wanted, craved.

  He slicked his tongue over her sex, licking and tasting her essence while driving his fingers deep. She writhed on the chair, and the heels of her sexy shoes dug into his back. Christ. She tasted so good. Tangy, tart, yet oh, so fucking sweet.

  Her hips bucked, but he pinned her with his free arm. “Don’t fight it, sweetheart,” Ryder said, taking his mouth away long enough to look at her flushed skin and the passion glazing her eyes. “Let yourself go. I’ve got you.”

  “Ryder. Please.” She held him close to her sex. “I want you.”

  “I know.” Ryder slid his tongue along the seam of her moist folds and across her clit. “I can’t wait to drive my cock into you after you come for me. I want to feel how much you want me.”

  A shudder traveled through her body. “Ryder,” she cried.

  The first waves of her orgasm pulsated against his tongue and flowed over his fingers. He held her and drank her in, savoring the intoxicating flavor of her release. And finally receiving what no other man had ever been given.

  Her trust.

  Chapter 9

  Addison scanned the mountain trail descending at an angle, which had her wondering how Ryder ever completed a race in one piece. This fifteen-mile mountain bike loop didn’t even come close to matching the challenging courses he’d aced time and time again, but it didn’t stop her from worrying. Her recent phone call to Eric Langston doubled her anxiety—but the tabloid monster verging to pounce loomed. She had no other choice.

  To distract herself, she private messaged her camera crew to move closer to the finish line. Putting her energy on what she could control kept the edge off her concerns.

  The first trio of racers appeared on the mountain ridge, and the crowd around her began whistling, and blowing horns. The announcer’s voice called out the names of the top three cyclists. Ryder’s lead at the top of the list.

  Adrenaline rushed through her, making her fingertips zing and her heart pump wildly. “Make sure you get him as he crosses the finish line,” she called to her crew while moving through the crowd of people laughing and ringing cowbells.

  Excitement filled the air. Rock music played in tandem with the athletes who shimmied their bikes between tall pine trees and around manmade giant slalom markers. So fast. So dangerous. He cruised down, down, down until she couldn’t even feel herself breathe. Ryder controlled his bike with the same finesse and skill he used as a lover.

  Determined.

  Strong.

  Focused on the end result.

  The sun rays reflected off Ryder’s helmet as he approached the goal posts at a speed that defied explanation. She couldn’t see his eyes behind the wraparound dark glasses covering them, but she didn’t have to when she already had first hand knowledge of the intensity in his gaze.

  Today he zeroed his attention on the win. Last night, he’d zeroed the same impressive attention on her.

  “Go. Go. Go,” she shouted with the rest of the fans as Ryder zoomed through the goal posts and finished first with a kick out jump that pushed the back all-terrain tire to the side.

  Her photographers shot the film, and dozens of people raised their phones to capture the winning moments. Her heart stuttered in her chest as he unclipped his shoes from the bike and disembarked. He was, in a word, gorgeous. Ryder handled the fans pressing in around him with his easygoing, natural charm—pausing to kneel and give the younger fans his autograph, letting sexy young women with barely there shorts and skintight T-shirts scoot in next to him to take selfies, and high fives from his competitors. Suddenly, a chill traveled down her spine despite the warm California afternoon sunshine baking the south side of the mountain.

  This was Ryder’s world. One filled with babes called Bettys and powerful athletes who lived hard, played hard, and rode hard.

  Addison tugged her conservatively cut shorts and glanced down at her preppy boat shoes. She didn’t belong in this world. She didn’t fit. She doubted she’d ever feel comfortable with the aura surrounding Ryder.

  Eventually, he’d grow tired of being with her and move on to reclaim the life he had before the accident which forced him into hers. Her world meant making sure her father’s top client stayed on top. With that in mind, she jerked her iPhone out of her cross-body leather satchel to text her father with the good news, and to offset his last message demanding answers about the ongoing negative press swirling around Ryder.

  She’d pull out her last recourse if necessary.

  But before she could punch in the message, he lifted her into the air and without preamble Ryder’s mouth locked onto hers and gave her a full-on toe curling kiss that knocked the wind out of her lungs. Over and over, his tongue tangled with hers while he twirled her round.

  Her muscles went slack and the phone slipped from her hand. Instinctively, she answered the demands of his lips. She tasted salt and mint and man. Oh, how she loved the feel of his arms holding her high, and the power of his possession. Everything in her called to him.

  Dimly, she heard people yelling Ryder’s got a new Betty and the electricity charging into her erogenous zones scat
tered. No. No. No. She wasn’t anybody’s Betty.

  She wrenched her mouth from his. “Stop.” Addison’s pulse still beat fast for Ryder, but she couldn’t let this kiss continue. “This isn’t what I want in the tabloids or splashed all over the Internet.” Especially not until she had a chance to figure out how to convince Eric to step out of the shadows and into the limelight for Ryder.

  A muscle jumped in his handsome, stubbled jaw. “It was a victory kiss,” Ryder lowered her to the ground. “Got caught up in the moment.”

  She stepped out of his embrace and scraped her fingers through her hair. They’d both gotten caught up in the rush of adrenaline that followed Ryder’s win. “You promised no PDAs,” she said quietly. “No telling what kind of fall out will happen because we couldn’t control ourselves in public.”

  “You worry too much.”

  “It’s my job to worry where you’re concerned.” She knelt and picked up her iPhone, then read the screen. Crap. Four texts. One from her contact in the LAPD confirming Ryder’s story and a promise to follow up with the witness list. Three from her father. Two with information about another one of Ryder’s ex girlfriends going for her fifteen seconds of fame with tell-all exclusives about his past—stories which would reveal his record and the crapshats he had for parents.

  The last one a virtual scream written in all-caps and a string of exclamation marks. Her father had put Ryder in her supervision because he’d been sure his daughter would never be the kind of woman his star client screwed around with ever.

  Addison pursed her lips, then pointed at the reason for all four texts. She wanted him to be seen with the charity fundraiser’s organizers, not her. The appearance would offset whatever his ex had to say. Bad boy gone good. Except with her. She sighed. “Go hang out with your fans, Ryder. I’ve got to troubleshoot this situation.” And pull out the last big gun she had to put all the rumors and innuendos to rest.

  “Whatever you say.” Ryder tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “But I have a feeling you’re not worried about saving my reputation. You’re freaked out about me screwing up yours.”