If I Dream Read online

  Slowly, his hand slid down over my ass until he pushed under my dress and touched the top of my thigh. “Janelle has nothing to do with you and me, Serena.”

  At the top of the stairs, my father yelled down, “Serena, are you down there?”

  “Yes, Daddy.”

  I stared up in terror at Ryder, but he didn’t flinch, daring to keep his hand under my dress. If my father came down those steps and saw us standing there like that, he’d lose his mind, so I tried to push him away, but Ryder held me firm to him.

  Terrified, I whispered, “Please let me go. If he finds us like this, he’ll freak.”

  His response was to run his tongue over his bottom lip and shrug the shoulder that didn’t hurt.

  “Is Ryder down there with you?” my father asked.

  “No, Daddy,” I said as Ryder slid his finger up under my panties to touch the bare skin of my ass.

  Leaning down, he whispered in my ear, “Are you down there with that stray, Serena? Is he making it difficult to answer these questions, Serena?”

  “Okay, hurry up and get back up here,” my father ordered from the top of the stairs before closing the cellar door behind him and leaving us alone again.

  I didn’t want to return to the party, though. I wanted to stay right there with Ryder and let him do whatever he wanted to.

  But now that we were alone again, he seemed less interested in doing just that and slid his hand out from under my dress before gently moving me away from him. I looked up into his eyes and saw the intensity gone now.

  “I better go back up there. I don’t want you to get in trouble if he finds out I was down here.”

  I didn’t get a chance to say anything before he hurried up the stairs, leaving me standing alone surrounded by wine bottles and wanting him so much it hurt.

  Chapter Six

  Ryder

  I knew what I did down in the wine cellar was shitty, even more because I wanted Serena more than I’d wanted anything ever before in my life. If it had been anyone else, I would have taken them right there in that basement, fucking them right against those walls of bottles, my cock slamming into them over and over until there was nothing left inside either of us to go on any longer.

  But Serena wasn’t just anyone. Every night she came to my room, and even though I wasn’t sure why or if she wanted me as badly as I wanted her, I let her in every time, knowing if her father found out he’d probably kill me.

  For five nights after what I did in that wine cellar, she didn’t come, though. I waited every night to hear her gentle knocking on my door, but it never came.

  She had every right to be angry with me. I shouldn’t have teased her like that. I didn’t know why I did, to be honest. Maybe it was her sister’s stroking my cock as we danced and how I wished it had been Serena’s hand on me. Maybe it was seeing that old guy grope her, each time lifting her dress higher and higher until I saw the bottom of her perfect ass right there as she danced.

  Maybe I was just a dick who didn’t deserve to have her anywhere near me and never seeing her again was my just desserts. I didn’t know. All I knew was night after night I felt worse about what I’d done until she was all I could think about.

  I knew she was avoiding me because I didn’t see her during the day either. By the sixth night, I needed to talk to her, to say something to show her I wasn’t the world’s biggest dick. After an hour of waiting for her knock on my door, I couldn’t wait any longer.

  Flinging my door open, I stepped out into the hallway and saw her standing there barefoot in her usual shorts and t-shirt staring at me like she’d been waiting forever to see me come out of my room.

  “Serena…” I didn’t know what to say next. “I was just coming to see if you were around.”

  “I’m around,” she said as that hurt I’d seen the first night I met her filled her dark eyes. “I live here, Ryder.”

  “I know. I mean, yeah. I just wondered where you’ve been.”

  She opened her mouth to say something and then pressed her lips tightly together before saying, “I better go. Bye, Ryder.”

  “No, don’t go,” I said as I reached out to grab hold of her wrist. “I was hoping we could talk like we used to every night.”

  She slowly moved her head to look down at where my hand held her arm and then looked up at me, that sadness still in her eyes making my chest hurt like someone had it in a vice. “I don’t think so. My father wouldn’t like that. Whatever you’re here for, it’s not to be nice to me.”

  “Don’t say that. Come in and we can just hang out for a little while.”

  Serena didn’t answer, so I said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that the other night.”

  She winced at my mention of what happened. “Just tell me why you did it. That’s all. Tell me why.”

  My hand slid from her wrist, and I shook my head. “I don’t know. I’m a dick.”

  A look like what I said caused her pain crossed her face, and she frowned. “Don’t say that. We’re friends, and even when a friend does something awful, you forgive them.”

  I didn’t want to be just friends, but I’d take it if it meant seeing her every night again. “So will you come in?”

  She smiled and it went all the way up to her dark eyes. “Okay.”

  We sat down on the bed facing one another, but I didn’t know what to say. I’d fucked up, and now I didn’t know where we stood.

  Serena hugged her knees tightly and looked at me. After a few minutes of silence, she said, “Remember when I told you about when I was seven?”

  I nodded as my gut tightened into a knot just thinking of what she must have gone through for those three days. “Yeah.”

  “When I went back to school, I had problems because all I wanted to talk about was what happened. The teacher told my father I was scaring the other kids, so he brought me home and had me tutored until high school. Sometimes I think that might be why I’m a little awkward with people.”

  I knew what she was saying, and I couldn’t let her continue to think what I’d done was because of her. “You’re not awkward. You didn’t do anything wrong either. Not then and not the other night.”

  Hanging her head, she said quietly, “A doctor once told my father that what happened made me want to please people too much. People don’t like that.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with being nice, Serena.”

  “I guess.”

  She looked up at me and in her eyes I saw how hurt she still was from what I’d done. God, I was a dick. She’d never been anything but sweet to me, and I teased her like some arrogant asshole. And even worse, she blamed herself.

  “I’m sorry for what I did. I like you just the way you are. Fuck that doctor and whoever else doesn’t think you’re fine.”

  She smiled and her eyes lit up. Letting go of her legs, she said, “Maybe we could watch a movie tonight? You know, instead of talking?”

  I didn’t care what she wanted to do. All I cared about was that she was back there with me.

  * * *

  Every night for the next six weeks, Serena knocked on my door after her father and sister left the house. She always wore shorts that made me want to touch her gorgeous legs and never wore shoes. And every night, we sat next to one another on my bed and talked about whatever was on her mind.

  Her mother. How much she wanted to get away and live her own life. Why I was at her house.

  We talked about her mother leaving and my folks dying in that car wreck. I told her about having to go live with my uncle, even though I didn’t tell her the truth about my time with him because there was no way I could explain him selling me to Floyd without getting into what I did for her father.

  I never told her the truth about my role in her father’s world, and after that fight with the behemoth I didn’t have to since the next three fights were basically cakewalks. I beat each of my opponents easily, getting barely a mark on me from each, so she never asked again about the beating I’d taken weeks
before.

  When she found out I’d lost my cell and didn’t have one, she bought me a new phone so we began texting when she wasn’t in my room late at night for our talks. While Janelle simply sneered at me when she passed me in the hallway and Robert treated me like one of his employees and nothing else, Serena became the most important thing in that house to me.

  All the while I knew we were on borrowed time. Once her father found out, he’d likely send me away to do something far worse than fight for him. I knew the risk, yet every time I could I texted her and every night when she knocked on my door, I let her in.

  I wanted her so much it hurt. Sometimes my hand would brush against her body and I’d wait to see if she noticed, wishing I hadn’t been such a dick in the wine cellar that night so I could touch her and she wouldn’t question it. I imagined the feel of her beneath me as I slid into her and those dark eyes looking up at me as I fucked her until her thighs quivered against me.

  “I have a surprise for you,” she said with a smile as she sat down on my bed next to me one night.

  A quick glance at her showed the surprise couldn’t be anything too big. She wouldn’t be able to hide much in her black shorts and pink t-shirt.

  “Oh yeah? What’s that?” I asked, charmed by how cute she was being.

  From her back pocket, she pulled out two red foil wrapped pieces of candy and held them up in front of her. “Christmas chocolate.”

  Confused, I reached out for one. “It’s the middle of August. Where did you get Christmas chocolate?”

  She yanked the candy from my grasp and proudly explained, “I made it. I make it every year around this time. I saved us a piece each.”

  “Did you eat the rest?” I joked and waited for the look of irritation.

  “No. Does this body look like I eat pounds of chocolate, Ryder?”

  Serena busied herself with unwrapping the first piece of candy as my gaze slid over her body. Lean and toned, she definitely didn’t look like she ate much chocolate at all. Her long legs that seemed to go on forever turned into ever so slightly rounded hips and an ass that I had fantasized about more than once. Nope, that body didn’t look like she ate pounds of chocolate.

  I watched her take a tiny bite off the corner of the candy square and smile like it was the best thing she’d ever tasted. After all the time we’d spent together, I knew she wasn’t that innocent thing I thought she was that first night we met in her father’s office, but at times, she had a sweetness about her that was nothing short of adorable.

  “Mmmm, this is so good.”

  Reaching for a piece again, she yanked it away, so I asked, “Are you going to give me a taste or is this just about teasing me with it?”

  She smiled and ran her tongue over her bottom lip to catch a stray piece of chocolate that had been left there. “You have to close your eyes. It’s better the very first time if you close your eyes for the first bite. I’ll put a little piece on your tongue and you’ll see.”

  Normally, someone telling me to close my eyes so they could put something in my mouth sent red flags up all over the place, but I trusted her so I did as she wanted and waited to taste this incredible chocolate she’d made.

  She did as she said she would and placed a piece on the tip of my tongue, and instantly my mouth watered. It was good, but even better was the feel of her fingertip grazing my lips. My cock sprang to life at her touch and threatened to tent in my grey gym shorts.

  I licked my lip where her finger had just been and smiled. “I want more.”

  “Keep your eyes closed and I’ll give you another piece,” she said sweetly.

  As much as I wanted to see her expression, I kept them closed and she slipped another bite of candy onto my tongue. This time I closed my mouth around her fingers and sucked lightly as she pulled them over my lips.

  I heard her make a tiny gasp, but she said nothing about what I’d done, instead asking, “Was the second piece as good as the first?”

  Moaning, I nodded as the sweet taste of chocolate filled my mouth and my cock grew even harder. “Even better.”

  Her warm breath skimmed my cheek, and then I felt her straddle my hips. Opening my eyes, I saw her smiling down at me.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, knowing I should push her away as my hands instinctively settled on her hips to keep her right where she was.

  “Don’t tell me you don’t want me sitting here. I can feel how much you want me, Ryder.”

  There was no point in denying how much I wanted her in every way possible. My rock hard cock pressing against my belly told her that. But just because I wanted her more than my next breath at that moment didn’t mean I should continue what we were doing. I hadn’t forgotten Robert’s rules, as much as I wished I could.

  Avoiding her stare, I looked away and willed my mouth to say what no other part of me wanted to. “Serena, we shouldn’t…”

  “Why? Just because my father wants to play big daddy with you doesn’t mean we’re really related, so why not?”

  I turned to face her and saw a look in her eyes I’d never seen in all the hours we’d spent together. It was a mixture of seduction and need that made her look sexier than ever before.

  “Because it’s not a good—”

  Before I could get the words out, she pressed her lips to mine in a kiss that made my head swim. Her tongue teased mine, and all I could think of was how that tongue would feel when her mouth was sucking me off. One kiss and every reason I’d had for not touching her all those weeks evaporated into thin air.

  My hands cupped her ass and squeezed as she slowly rolled her hips so her pussy slid over my cock. The thin fabric of her shorts did little to hide how wet she was. She moaned into my mouth as my finger touched the delicate skin between her legs, and it took every ounce of restraint I possessed to not dip it inside her.

  Against my lips, she whispered breathlessly, “See? I knew you wouldn’t say no.”

  Of all the things rambling around in my brain at that moment, the word no wasn’t among them. How much I wanted to bury my cock inside her and fuck her like she’d never been fucked before quickly became my singular thought. I wanted that like I’d never wanted anything else in my life and none of my excuses overpowered my need for her.

  Her hands roamed over my chest and she stared down at wherever they touched, her eyes wide like the feel of me thrilled her. I buried my hand in her hair and pulled her to me to kiss her hard, needing to taste her mouth and the sweetness on her tongue again.

  Pulling away, she trailed her fingertips down over my stomach to where a faint line of black hair disappeared beneath my shorts. My body ached with need as I prayed for her to follow that trail.

  She stopped and looked at me almost as if she wasn’t sure she wanted to go any further. But I did.

  I pressed my fingers hard into her hips and pushed her down against my cock. “Tell me you don’t want to feel me inside you. Tell me and I’ll stop, but if you don’t, I’m going to fuck you so good you’ll beg for my cock after tonight.”

  Serena bit her lower lip and leaned forward while she rolled her hips slowly, grinding her cunt against the front of my shorts. In my ear, she moaned softly and said, “Don’t make me beg, Ryder. Fuck me.”

  Dying to feel my cock inside her, I rolled her over onto her back and slid a single finger into her pussy. Damn, she was tight. Fucking her would be like having a virgin.

  She arched her back and moaned with each thrust into her, but I wanted the real thing. She tugged at my shorts to release my cock while my fingers fucked her, and I fumbled with my free hand to unbutton her shorts.

  “Hurry,” she said in a faraway voice as I tore at the fabric to get it down her legs.

  When those damn shorts were finally out of the way, I slipped my finger out of her and sat back on my heels to remove the last barrier to being inside her. As I tugged her cotton panties down over her hips, she wriggled her ass to help so cute that if it wasn’t for the fact that every cell in my
body was screaming to ram my cock into her, I might have laughed.

  She pulled me down to kiss me hard on the mouth, thrusting her tongue in to meet my mine as she wrapped her legs around my waist and urged me into her. But before I could plunge into that tight pussy, Serena screamed something and pushed me away. I turned to see her father standing in my bedroom doorway with a look of rage in his eyes.

  “Daddy, this isn’t what you think!” she pleaded as the two of us quickly rushed to put our clothes back on.

  “In my office, now, Serena! You too, Ryder!” he bellowed and then stormed away down the hallway.

  Everything became a blur for the next few minutes. Serena straightened her shirt and shorts and ran out of my room without saying a word. I hurried to get a t-shirt on and followed her a few seconds later to where Robert waited for us in his office just down the hall from my room. Janelle stood next to him with her arms folded across her chest like she had some judgment on the events of the night.

  Serena again told him it wasn’t what he thought, even though he’d have to be blind to not understand what we were doing on my bed, but Robert waved her off.

  “I’ll deal with that in a minute. Now I want you to tell me the meaning of this.”

  He leaned over his desk to grab an oversized white envelope and held it up for her to see. I couldn’t imagine what it could contain that would be more damning than seeing us half-naked and my cock out ready to fuck his daughter, but a glance over at Serena told me she knew.

  “I was going to tell you. I was. I just never found the right time,” she pleaded to no avail. Nothing in his stony expression said her lame excuses were helping.

  “You know how I feel about this and still you went behind my back! You don’t leave me any choice.”

  Robert dialed a number on his cell phone as Serena began to sob. “No, Daddy! Please don’t do this! Janelle, tell him not to do this!”

  Her sister let her usual sneer fall away and smiled. “No way. If I couldn’t go, you can’t either.”