Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 181(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36118 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 181(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
“And it’s all about you and what you want, right?” Her words slashed into him with force.
Like everyone else in her life were the words she didn’t voice. She’d not had to.
“I love you.”
Okay, not exactly how he had planned to do this. But no way to put that back in the box once it was out.
She shook her head. “You don’t get to say that.”
Brain scrambling like a car trying to gain traction on an icy surface, he swallowed as he desperately struggled to find the right words.
“What am I allowed to say, baby?”
“Nothing. You knew who I was and used me like everyone else to get something.” A ragged sob tore from her throat, ripping open his heart. “You know what, I was so taken by you and my love for your brother that if you’d simply asked for my help, I would have done what I could.”
Bile lingered in the back of his throat. Tears burned his eyes but he blinked them away, not looking away from the pain etched in every line of her face.
I did this to her. I broke her. Shattered her. And now it’s my job to put her back together.
One he would spend the rest of his life doing if that’s what it took.
He released the frame and hit his knees in her doorway. Despite the gravity of the situation, he couldn’t help but smile briefly over her fuzzy reindeer slipper socks. Her plaid flannel pants hung over the top of one and had been tucked in the other.
Taking a chance, he reached out, wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her close enough to burrow into her.
“What are you doing, Ryker? This is insane. You can’t be on your knees here. Get up.” She pulled halfheartedly on the collar of his coat.
He swallowed back the comment of how she loved him on his knees. “Forgive me first.”
“No reason to.”
He tipped his head up, struggling to keep his hold comforting and not grip her ass like he wanted. “There’s every fucking reason to, baby. I hurt you and that’s not okay with me.”
A timer dinged behind her and he released her with extreme reluctance. Every synapse in his body yelled for him to follow her but he didn’t move. Remained kneeling in her doorway. Waiting for her permission and forgiveness.
“You’re letting out the heat, Ryker.”
He opened his eyes again to find her placing a dish on the counter. “I’m not leaving.”
She rolled her eyes. “Get in here and shut the damn door.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Rushing to do just that, before she could change her mind, he removed his boots by the door, lining them up beside her hiking boots and tennis shoes. Something settled in him as he hung his dark brown coat beside her gray and pink one.
Cohabitation.
Family.
Mine.
Hands in his jeans he strolled to the kitchen where she had buried her head in the fridge. Before she turned back around, he adjusted his heavy cock, willing it to behave.
She held a container of cranberry juice and shut the door with a hip pop.
“You’re forgiven but that doesn’t mean there is anything between us, Ryker.” She put the juice down.
He clenched his jaw at her statement but this wasn’t the time, he needed her to get used to him being in her space. “Is there enough for one more?”
She shot him a castrating look. “No. I was going to eat all of this myself.”
“Sheath the claws, baby. I wasn’t sure if you were having people over or taking this to join for a meal.”
Rayla blinked. “Oh. It’s fine, you can eat some.”
Not exactly a rousing invitation but he wasn’t turning it down.
She got the plates down and he dished them both up food. The meal was done mostly in silence. Her one word answers about things making his anger rise but he controlled it. When he at the last bite of the homemade cinnamon buns, he sucked the frosting off his thumb, totally picking up on the way she shifted in her seat and tried to pretend she’d not seen a damn thing.
Silence continued between them as he helped her wash and put away the food. Snow continued to fall and he took a moment to take in the precious scene. Snow outside. Holiday music and food inside. A tree in the corner and the woman he loved more than anything three steps away.
He couldn’t take it anymore and closed the distance between them, plucking the snowflake towel from her hand and draping it over the oven door handle.
Her different colored eyes snapped to him and he shook his head when she opened her mouth. A mutinous line but she closed it.
“Good girl.”
There it was, the flare of heat and lust that came from praising her.
“I fucked up and I own that. Doesn’t mean I stopped loving you, Rayla Hunter. I won’t.”