Chapter 21 #2
Good thing then that I could hear Grandma talking to Hank in the kitchen and my brother stumbling around upstairs. I couldn’t say something stupid, not with a possible audience. Whew.
Ryder’s hands gently ran up and down my arms before catching and entwining our fingers. “One thing at a time,” he repeated softly and brushed a kiss over my lips?—
Just as my alarm went off.
With a groan, he pulled me in like he didn’t want to let me go. And maybe I also took a beat to burrow in like I didn’t want him to. Pika-boo made a bunch of kissy sounds and we broke apart with a laugh. I headed up the stairs to shower, and when I came down twenty minutes later, Ryder was gone.
And so were the appliances and countertops.
Wyatt stood in the center of the kitchen, filthy from head to toe, and… grinning from ear to ear.
I could have burst with love at the sight.
“This stuff’s fun,” he said with pride, practically bouncing with joyous energy, which I hadn’t seen in far too long. “He said he’d show me how to do all of the trades if I wanted. Said he’d pay me by the hour if that was okay with you.”
“That’s great, Wy.” I ruffled his hair, realizing I had to reach up farther than usual. Every day we fed and watered him, and he woke up taller, like a weed.
“You’re okay with it?” he asked.
“Of course.” Even if I suspected that Ryder would pay Wyatt out of his own pocket, “forgetting” to mention the expense to me.
I took one last look around before heading out for work.
The kitchen was now officially an empty shell.
And only a few months ago, I’d have said the same thing about myself.
But somehow, when I hadn’t been looking, this place, this town, these people… they were bringing me back to life.
Including one steadfast, calm, enigmatic Ryder Colburn.
A few days later, I entered Colburn Restorations at a dead run like my tail was on fire.
Somehow my alarm had gotten turned off, then the kitchens at Hungry Bee had been all aflutter because Kiera had done a surprise spot check that morning, meaning she walked around sampling all the food we were cooking, making changes on the fly.
When she got to my station, I held my breath as she began tasting things at random.
“Nice,” she said.
I blinked. “Thank you.”
“Don’t change anything.” She eyed her watch. “Except for your propensity to be right on time. Right on time is the new late. Change that.”
“Got it,” I said.
So of course traffic had been a bitch. By the time I parked and pushed my cart—with the now perfect wheels—into Colburn Restorations, it was five minutes after six.
I came to an abrupt halt in the kitchen doorway, finding Ry leaned against the island, working on his phone.
He lifted his head and took me in from head to toe, not missing anything.
“You’re tired.”
“Aw, thanks. You look great too.”
He came close, ducking his face to see into mine. “You’re beautiful?—”
“Stop—”
“—inside and out, always . But you’re still tired.”
I shrugged. “ It’s a way of life.”
“You work too hard.”
I busied myself with the food until two warm hands turned me. Two equally warm hazel eyes met mine. Slowly, he cupped my face, his thumbs lightly tracing what I knew were purple exhaustion smudges beneath my eyes.
“I’m okay, I promise. Were you waiting here for me?”
“Yes.” He cocked his head. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“Yes.”
He smiled at my honesty. The kind of smile the big bad wolf probably had given Little Red Riding Hood.
“How is that funny?” I asked, because he should’ve been insulted. I’d needed some time to hopefully move on from this ridiculous crushing need to see him constantly. See him, think of him, ride him like Zorro …
It’d been days and not an ounce of that need and hunger and desire had dissipated, not in the least.
In fact, just standing there, my attention wandered to his mouth, wanting to hear his gravelly rough morning voice again. Wanting also to feel that stubble on my skin as he kissed his way down my body, making himself comfy between my thighs and?—
“You have no idea how much money I’d pay to know what you’re thinking about right now,” he murmured.
I could feel the blush crawl across my face. Damn, he was potent. “I’m not thinking about anything. Nothing at all. Like, not a single thought going on up here.” I tapped my temple. “Completely empty, and…” Why was my mouth still moving?
He smiled. “Liar.”
His face was close to mine and he let the very tip of his nose ghost over my jaw, making me shiver. “You really want to know what I was thinking?” I asked.
“More than my next breath,” he said fervently, so close I could almost feel the several-day-old stubble on my skin as he inhaled deeply, like he adored my scent and couldn’t get enough.
“I was thinking about everything I’d do to you if we had five minutes alone.”
A groan rumbled from his chest to mine. Shifting a little closer, he slid his arms around me. “Evil, woman. Now that’s all I’ll be thinking about in my meeting.”
“Good.”
He stared into my eyes, his heated. “You have no idea how badly I want to drag you to my office and forget the world.”
“Maybe we put that on the schedule.”
He smiled. “Now you’re just teasing me.”
“Am I?”
“I gotta go. Being early is the new on time. Have a good day,” I said sweetly. “Oh, but maybe stay off ladders. Leave the crazy stunts to the youngsters.”
He raised a brow. “So I’m an old man now?”
Why did I so love yanking his chain? “I mean, aren’t you?”
His hands settled on the edge of the wall behind me, on either side of my hips, caging me in. “Just how old do you think I am?”
“Not a day less than sixty,” I quipped.
“Wow.”
“Okay, fifty, tops.” I sounded annoyingly breathless, damn his sexy, smug ass.
He shifted a little closer. “I’m thirty-two. In my prime, I can assure you.”
My heart kicked, but I just playfully slid my gaze over him, up, down, then back again, slowing in all the good spots. I knew I was playing cat and mouse, just as I knew I was the mouse, but I couldn’t seem to help myself.
“I’m pretty sure a man’s way past his prime at thirty-one. Don’t you all peak at nineteen?”
That grin went a little wicked. “Give me five more minutes, and I’ll be happy to prove you very wrong. Again.”
“I wouldn’t want you to tax yourself when you have work,” I said demurely.
He laughed and stepped back. “You know how to get a hold of me, Wonder Woman.”
The way he let me be in control and determine the pace meant…everything. Yes, I needed to think, and no, I couldn’t do that with my lips attached to his, but I couldn’t resist fisting my hands in his shirt, yanking him closer, and giving him a helluva goodbye kiss.