His hands came up, grabbing hold of her hips, holding her steady against him.

And his eyes blazed up into hers.

He was so handsome, her friend.

She had always felt a sense of pride about that.

That her protector was such a beautiful piece of art.

A man carved from stone. That perfect, square jaw and blade of a nose. His intense eyes and large hands. Broad shoulders.

He was wonderful. Wonderful in every way.

But she had never appreciated him physically in quite this way before.

And again she had to wonder at the inevitability of it.

She imagined most people would have thought that they’d done it a long time ago.

But it really hadn’t been about this. Because then it couldn’t have been.

And now it felt like it had to be.

So who was she to deny either of them?

She leaned down, ready to kiss his mouth, when he shifted his hands, bringing them behind her to cup her butt, squeezing her hard. She gasped. Then those big, rough hands started roaming over her bare body, her back between her shoulder blades and back down again. She gritted her teeth, trying to keep herself still. But her hips were rocking involuntarily, and it was difficult for her to keep herself steady.

“Let me,” she whispered.

He growled, and suddenly she found herself flat on her back with him over her, his eyes looking into hers.

“No,” he said. “Let’s get one thing straight. I held myself back for a lot of years. And you bringing it here like this... Baby, I am not going to sit back and let you take control. You chose this. You’re here. That was your power move.”

“I knew you wanted me,” she whispered, not quite sure what possessed her to say it out loud. Except that she wanted to find her own a little bit, and with him so hard and dark and powerful above her it was difficult to do that. It was difficult to breathe, much less feel power.

“Hell, yes,” he said. “I want you. And I did my damnedest not to. Because you used to climb in my bed like this when you were sixteen years old.”

“And you think I didn’t know what happened between men and women back then? I wasn’t a virgin.”

What would she have thought if Ryder would have looked at her this way then? If he would have touched her then?

“I know that,” he said. “But that wasn’t the point. You came to me for protection. You trusted me. I would never have done anything to violate that. But now you’re here.” He planted his palm firmly between her breasts, let one finger drift over and touch her nipple. “You’re here and you’re like this. So you’re the one that made it...”

“I want you, too,” she said.

“You better the hell,” he said. “Because I don’t want you here just because you’re trying to manipulate me, or say sorry to me, or whatever else this might be.”