Unfriending the Dr by Piper Sullivan

Persy

Titus had chosen to talk to Ryan over me and I was okay with it. Totally freakin’ okay. I swear. Instead of pouting about it, which I was tempted to do, I took a long hot bath to soak my tired bones and let the stress of the past few weeks melt away.

Between a burgeoning relationship with Ryan and the sudden reappearance of Ferguson, my shoulders were so stiff and my jaw so tense they could crack at any moment, if such things were possible. A hot lavender scented bath was exactly what I needed, if only I could soak my brain in the bubbles.

Then maybe I could stop thinking about Ryan and his cold shoulder over the past few days. I earned some of it, I knew that. He was right, I shouldn’t have kept Ferguson a secret from him, but he was crazy as hell if he thought I would let him off so easily.

Ferguson was a non-issue in my life and my heart, but he had done one thing for me, helped me solidify my feelings for my best friend. Spending a day or two without Ryan wasn’t what I wanted for my life. A day without tasting his lush lips, feeling the hard ridges of his muscles, was a day I wanted no part of.

And I would tell him that, as soon as I saw him again. In the meantime, I took my time smoothing lavender lotion all over my skin and sliding into a pair of comfortable cotton pants and soft t-shirt. I poured a glass of wine and turned on some music to help me think.

That thinking lasted all of twenty minutes before the front door opened and Ryan stood there, tall and handsome with his broad shoulders taking up the width of the doorway. His jeans hung low on his hips and I just knew if he didn’t have Titus in his arms, I’d see a strip of skin that might have a hint of the hair that dipped below his waistband, possibly even that sexy vee that made my mouth water.

“Ryan.”

“Persephone,” he growled and licked his lips. “Precious cargo, special delivery.”

My lips pulled into a reluctant smile. Why did he have to be so damn charming? “Upstairs and to the left?”

Ryan nodded and headed up the stairs to Titus’ room, and as soon as he was out of view, I finished off the glass of wine with shaky hands. His heavy footfalls told me he was on his way back down and I stood between him and the front door.

“Are you going to leave without talking to me?”

Ryan stopped a few feet away and frowned. “No. How was dinner with Ferguson?”

My shoulders relaxed at the ease of his tone. “It was a disaster, Ryan. Titus didn’t want to engage with Ferguson at all, which kind of hurt his feelings. It was strange, he’s never behaved that way before.”

Ryan let out a deep chuckle and shook his head. “Titus told me,” he said, confirming that my son had gone over there for guy talk. “So what happens next?”

“Nothing, I guess. Ferguson wants to keep the lines of communication open for the future, but in an unobtrusive way. He leaves for Canada in the morning.”

“That’s good. Right?”

“It is,” I told him on a sigh. “The more important question is, what does all of this mean for us?” I held my breath and stared into his blue eyes, willing him to say the words I needed to hear. “Ryan?”

Ryan sucked in a deep breath and raked his fingers through his thick hair as he let it out. “I love you Persephone. I have loved you, in one way or another, for a very long time.” His voice was raspy, his tone intense and sincere.

The dark look in his eyes heated me down to my belly. “Then why are you making things between us so difficult?” I held up a hand to stop the words I knew were coming. “I know I messed up by not telling you about Ferguson, but you have to know it has nothing to do with you or how I feel about you.”

“That’s just it, Persephone. I don’t know how you feel about me.” He sighed again and took a step forward, bridging the gap between us. “You’re too good for me and I know that. Hell, I’m perfectly okay with that. My grandpa always said that a smart man married up and spent his life making himself good enough for his woman and their family. I’m willing to do that, for you. For Titus. For any other children that come our way.”

His words made my legs tremble. “First of all, you’re not too good for me, Ryan. You are…perfect.” My smile was as shaky as my legs and I fought the urge to go to him and wrap my body around his. “But if you feel that way, why are you way over there and I’m way over here?”

“Because I love you. I am head over heels in love with you, Persephone. You are the only woman I want, the only woman I need in my life. But I have no clue how you feel about me.”

“But-,”

“No, you asked and I’m going to tell you.” He took another step closer and cupped my face, running his rough thumbs along my jaw before he took a step back. “You like sleeping with me. We’re compatible in the bedroom and a lifelong friendship means that you enjoy spending time with me with our clothes on too. But that’s an easy slide into a friends with benefits relationship and I don’t want that.” He closed that gap again. “It’s not enough for me, Persephone. I want you. All of you.”

Before I could say anything, Ryan’s big hands cradled my face and his lips were on mine, slowly and commanding, as his tongue slid along the seam of my lips back and forth. Ryan took his time, he didn’t dive right in despite the fierce way he held me close. Fingers speared through my hair, he tilted my head and slipped between my lips.

I gasped at the fierceness of the kiss, the passion and the feeling. His words echoed in my brain with every pass of his tongue. I love you Persephone. Had anyone ever been head over heels in love with me before? Not that I could recall, and certainly not that I could feel.

With this kiss, I could feel how much Ryan loved me. It was a love that went beyond friendship, beyond mind blowing sex and earth shattering orgasms. It went beyond the bounds of anything I thought I knew about love.

His grip loosened but the intensity of the kiss didn’t fade, didn’t falter.

“Ryan,” I gasped, chest heaving because he had literally kissed the air from my lungs.

“I love you, Persephone. Do you hear me? I love you.”

I nodded, brain fuzzy from his kisses. My mind was numb from the raw heat in his words. “I hear you, Ryan.”

“Good,” he growled and took three big steps forward, tilting me backwards until I was stretched out on the sofa, his big, hard body on top of mine. “Because I need you to hear me, to feel the words that I’m saying to you.” His hand slid inside the waistband of my pants and he swore. “No panties.”

My hips bucked up and I gasped as his fingertips brushed my swollen clit. “Good thing.”

He smiled and dropped a kiss to one side of my neck. “Very good.” One finger slid back and forth along the seam of my swollen lips. “Listen carefully. I love you and I won’t stop, I won’t quit until you tell me that you can’t or won’t love me back.”

The urge to close my eyes was strong, but I found myself unable to look away from the heat and the passion in his blue depths. His words sliced open my heart and butterflies took flight while two fingers slid deep. Over and over. “I…Ryan.”

“No, don’t say anything right now. Just listen.” His thumb found my clit and rubbed furious circles while is fingers pumped in and out, in and out. My eyes fluttered but they never closed. Ryan was too compelling a figure to look away from and I kept my eyes on his handsome face. “I can give you a good hard fuck, if that’s what you want. But it’s not what I want, not all that I want anyway.”

My hand slid down and wrapped around his wrist, holding him right where I needed him. “Me either,” I managed on a cry of pleasure.

His arm flexed as his fingers brought me closer and closer to orgasm. “I want to love you every fucking day, Persephone.”

“Yes,” I moaned.

“I want to see you smile with that after orgasm glow every morning. Every night. Sometimes at lunch.”

“Yes,” I moaned again, my body trembling as beads of sweat popped out on my forehead.

“I want it all and I want it with you. Only you.” He leaned forward and put his lips to mine, his tongue flicking in and out the way his thumb did on my clit. He bit my lip and a rainbow of fireworks went off behind my eyes.

“Oh, yes! Ryan, yes!” My body froze for several long moments while Ryan’s mouth and hands continued to drive me out of my mind. Then the cord snapped and my body shook and trembled.

“So gorgeous. I never stood a chance.” He kissed me and slowly pulled his fingers from my core, my pants. “When you’re ready to love me the way I love you, Persephone, you let me know.”

I panted as my best friend, my lover, strode out the front door like the sexiest son of a gun I had ever seen. It was a power play, but it was hot as hell and I stayed up half the night trying to find a way to top what he’d just done.