Backstage Demands by Kristina King Page B

suddenly that my head was spinning. Joel’s kisses had been demanding but Ryker’s kisses, for all their roughness, were almost nervous. When he released me I touched his weathered cheek and smiled. I kissed him tenderly, letting each kiss linger. Somehow I ended up sitting in his lap, his arms tight around my waist and my arms around his neck.
    I ran my hands down over his shoulders and started fumbling with the buttons of his shirt. He pushed my shirt up and laid his worn, calloused hands on my sides. I wanted more so I left off the impossible buttons and grabbed his wrists, guiding his hands up under my shirt until they were over my breasts. He caressed them, his calloused palms made my nipples harden.
    I went back to the buttons and managed to undo enough of them that I could get my hands against his muscled chest. He was warm, but then I could feel my whole body heating up as well. Somehow I managed to twist around so I was straddling him, a feat made more impressive by the fact that we didn’t stop kissing, or touching, and neither of us toppled over.
    He was hard and straining against his jeans. I pushed down against him and he groaned into my mouth. His hands slid down to my hips and he ground me against him. The seam of my jeans rubbed against my increasingly wet womanhood, which was still tender from the night before and I whimpered.
    “I want you,” I whispered between kisses. I reached for the button on his jeans.
    “Your boyfriend,” he said, trying to pull back but I kept kissing him and I kept fumbling with the button. It was not my night for buttons.
    He stopped kissing back, even when I wrapped myself around his neck again. “Ryker, don’t stop, please.”
    “I don’t want to, god it’s been too long. But this isn’t right, Emily. You have a boyfriend.”
    I fought to calm down but my body didn’t want to. I tried touching his chest but he caught my wrist.
    “Don’t, please, I need to calm down.”
    I nodded and slid from his lap. “I’ll behave,” I said. “No more kisses, no more touching. Can we at least keep each other warm?”
    He studied me, wary.
    “I got carried away, I’m sorry. I … I’ve never met anyone like you before either. Let’s get some sleep, okay?”
    I stretched out on the ground with the thin blanket over my shoulders. For a long moment I waited, refusing to look at him, pretending to settle down to sleep. Finally, he stretched out behind me, his back to me, and said, “Good night Emily.”
    “Good night Ryker.”

 
    CHAPTER SIX
     
    I woke up the next morning with my face buried against his chest and his arm draped over me. I knew as soon as he woke he’d move so I stayed still and enjoyed the feel of him so close. I didn’t get to enjoy it for long. He woke, sat up with a start, and scrambled to his feet. I stretched slowly, pretending I was only just stirring, and said, “Is it morning already?”
    “Yes. Come on, we can eat while we walk.”
    After finishing the ration bar and some water I said, “You’re not pushing as hard today.”
    “I’m betting we’re pretty close to your campsite,” he said. “If we don’t find it by tonight we’ll push hard tomorrow and get you to the highway.”
    A few hours later we came to a low spot and I said, “You know, we were camping at a low spot like this, but on the other side of the river,” I said.
    “I know the place,” Ryker said. “We’ll be there today.”
    “I didn’t think I’d drifted so far down river.”
    “It’s harder to hike than to be swept away,” he said, smiling at me. There was something sad in his smile. “Let’s get you back to your friends.”
    We broke through the trees and came to the river bank about a hundred yards upstream of the campsite. The SUV was gone but the camper was still there and there was smoke drifting up from the campfire pit.
    “That’s it!” I said. “We found it!”
    “There are some rocks just upriver,” Ryker said. “You can wade across