Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
RYDER
I couldn’t remember when I’d last allowed someone else to choose what I’d be doing for an entire evening. Nor could I remember the last time I’d been truly surprised by…anything.
But this woman, whom I’d done my damnedest not to yearn and burn for, surprised me at just about every turn.
I had no idea where the night was going from here, and for once it was like the good old days, before I’d needed to consult a schedule, an admin, and at least one brother before doing anything that hadn’t been planned out ahead of time. It felt like such a luxury.
Tonight, I was going old-school by allowing Penny, one of the most fascinating, achingly special women I’d ever met, to take me wherever she wanted, to do whatever she wanted.
After our impromptu slow dance, we made our way back to the table and ate…everything. We went for dessert next, and I watched her inhale an empanada while moaning in pleasure, and by the time she sucked a finger into her mouth to get the last little bite, I wa s a goner.
She paused, then slowly pulled her finger free with a little pop , her eyes locked on mine. “It was good,” she whispered.
I leaned in. “I wanna taste.”
She had another one on her plate. She could’ve handed it to me or held it up to my mouth. Instead, she slid her hands up my neck, fisted her fingers in my hair and kissed me, tasting like the empanada and hopefully my future.
She pulled back and smiled, probably at the dumbstruck look on my face. “Good, right?” she asked softly.
I lifted my gaze from her mouth to meet her eyes, which tended to tell me things her mouth didn’t. “Best I’ve ever tasted.”
She snorted, not taking me seriously, which I secretly loved. “I bet you say that to all the women you go out with. Do you redo everyone’s kitchen as well?”
“No,” I said on a laugh. “I do not.”
Cocking her head, she studied me. “You’re a good man, Ryder Colburn.”
“Don’t tell anyone.”
She smiled. “Your secret’s safe with me.
But you’re not giving us enough to help you with on the kitchen.
Don’t take on all the work yourself.” She lifted her hands, wriggling her fingers.
“I’m willing and able. I get most of the stuff is technical and I don’t have the skills, but there’s got to be something more I can do to help. ”
“I’m nearly done with the first coat of the cabinet doors. I just have to sand them down and then do another coat.”
“I can sand!” She grinned at me. “Let’s do that after this!”
“Anything you want.” A risky sentence, but I meant it.
“I’m so glad you said that.” She stood up, dragging me with her. The band was going strong now, and she pulled me right into the middle of the dancing. The crowd was rowdy, everyone on the floor singing along to the music.
Thunder clouds had rolled in, blocking out the stars and darkening the night, but under those fairy lights, it was like we were out of time and place.
We danced through a bunch of songs, with Penny belting out the lyrics, singing to her heart’s content, making me sing along with her, each song heating me up because though this woman could absolutely not hold a tune—which I loved—she could dance.
“I like the way you move.”
She grinned, and kept going, a little out of breath, laughing, leaning into me, trusting me to keep her upright while she let go.
All I wanted was to watch her, take her in, absorb even a fraction of her ability to give one hundred percent to absolutely everything she did, whether that was work, her family, or this, tonight, with me.
A slow, cool mist hung in the air now, a warning that it would soon rain, blurring the woods around us.
Penny looked upward, eyes shining, smile warm and sweet, the fluidity of her beautiful body as she moved making my heart roll over and expose its underbelly.
When I hadn’t been looking, she’d somehow obliterated the brick wall around my heart—the one that kept my emotions safe, the one that hid that scared little kid I’d once been, existing only to keep my siblings safe, leaving me feeling exposed and vulnerable, but also… happy.
The source of that happy smiled up at me. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that I’ve been hiding myself for a long time.” I slid my hands to her hips. “I’m thinking I’ve just been going through the motions. I’m thinking I’m glad you walked into my life, because with you I don’t do any of that. I think I’m falling for you, Penelope Rose.”
Her eyes flickered with surprise, like she couldn’t imagine that I might want her in my life, much less tell her so. “You are?”
My heart cracked even as I chuckled. “I am.”
She stared up at me, letting out a shuddery breath. “I’m falling for you too, Ryder Tate Colburn.”
I raised a brow at being middle named. My brothers were dead. “Caleb or Tucker?”
“Caleb,” she admitted.
I groaned, even as the thrill of her saying she was falling for me rushed through my veins. “Remind me to kill him later.”
“How dare you. I’m going to marry that man someday.”
I growled and she was laughing when I caught her against my chest, my heart kicking hard as she cuddled into me like she belonged there.
Because she did . My eyes drifted closed of their own volition.
How was it that having her in my arms made all my problems seem so, so, so very far away?
Maybe because she was like sunlight, warm and life-affirming, giving.
She could wrap me up in her without so much as a touch. Her warmth, the vibrancy of her…
A slow song came on, and in the next beat, we were plastered against each other again, so close I could feel her heart thumping in rhythm with mine.
Her mouth curved and I thought of what else she might do with that mouth.
Unable to help myself, I leaned down and took a little nibble of her lower lip.
With a moan, she tried to climb me like a tree.
I had one hand at her nape, my fingers curled into her hair, the other at the small of her back, balancing her as she rocked against me.
My world shrunk to this, with her. Unable to resist, I blazed a trail of kisses to the hollow of her throat, pulling another breathy moan from her that burned deep in my core and fed my soul.
When my tongue flicked out to taste her skin, her fingers tightened in my hair.
“More,” she demanded.
And though I was inclined to give her whatever she wanted, especially if that was me, I slowed down, lifting my head to meet her gaze.
“You’re teasing me,” she murmured.
I dragged my mouth to her ear, biting the lobe, tugging gently. “Am I?”
Her eyes flashed, and she turned, swaying to the music as she pressed her back and sweet ass into my front, smiling at me upside down.
My fingers tightened on those dancing hips, and I was cross-eyed with lust as I put my mouth to her ear. “If I’m teasing, what are you doing?”
“Giving as good as I get.”
Definitely going to be the death of me.
It was fully dark outside now, and undeterred by the mist turning into a light, drizzly rain, more people kept showing up. When it was too crowded to hear each other, she took my hand and led me off the dance area.
We walked in comfortable silence back to the parking lot. With no city lights out this far, the wet night was lit only by the retreating ambient glow of the food square.
At my truck, I gently pressed her against the passenger door. “Thank you for bringing me here tonight,” I said. The rain was still so light it barely touched us but felt good on my heated skin. Felt even better when Penny fisted her hands in my shirt and yanked me down for a kiss.