Chapter 9 Inevitable
NINE
INEVITABLE
RYAN
Stunned, I had to replay what just happened in my head to understand it, and still couldn’t. I almost went after her, then in the mirror I caught sight of my dripping wet—and extremely hard—situation, recalling we were actually in the middle of a minor water emergency.
“Shit.” I rushed to the basement and shut off the main water there. I’d fix everything tomorrow. Right now, I needed to fix us. Somewhere along the way, we had a timeline that went crazy askew, and it was now or never to make things right.
Back in the hallway, dripping everywhere, I reached for a bundle of towels out of the linen closet.
Then I pounded on her door. “You need a towel?”
“What the hell are you even doing here, Ryan?”
“Megan said you had some junk that needed hauled away.”
The door flew open. She grabbed the armful, but threw one towel back at my face. “How dare you mess with me when you’re engaged to Trudy, asshole.”
Her attempt at slamming the door again failed as my foot got in the way. I stepped inside the room and she quickly wrapped a towel around her body.
“I’m not engaged, dammit. You ran off the other night at the bar before I could finish. Fuck woman, you’re frustrating.” I toweled off as best I could without removing my wet clothes.
“And I’m supposed to believe you? You men are all alike.”
“Hey, don’t lump me in—wait, why are you getting so worked up?”
Her telltale signs were there, I recalled from about a million games played with her when we were younger. If she was hiding something, keeping something away from me, she averted her eyes down and off to the left, exactly like she was right now.
“Is this about James?” It was a stab in the dark that paid off.
She startled and turned to her dresser. From her drawers, she pulled panties, bra, t-shirt, and jeans out and started dressing.
When she adjusted her beautiful tits in black lace, I swallowed hard and turned my back to her quickly, not needing even more fuel for my twitching cock.
I heard the smirk in her voice. “You’ve already seen it all now, Ryan.”
“Yeah, well, I can be a gentleman too, no matter how rough I want to take you up against the wall right now.”
Her breath hitched. My ears couldn’t miss that. The left corner of my mouth turned up. Yeah, she could deny this all day, but I was certain she wanted me. I drew in a huge, calming breath.
“Look. I’m not marrying Trudy. I’d have settled for her, but only for Rose’s sake, because I was lying to myself thinking that would make me happy.”
“Yeah. Whatever.”
I squeezed my eyes closed. What would it take to get through to her?
“I had a discussion with Trudy a few months ago, telling her I needed a break to think about things. But I didn’t need to think about things. I was just a coward, not wanting to hurt her by breaking things off for good.”
“You can turn back around now.” Sitting on her bed, she pulled her knees to her chest. At least she wasn’t kicking me out.
“Two days ago, I finally had that talk, officially breaking it off.” I approached with caution. “It wasn’t pretty, and she didn’t take it well. But I don’t fucking care. Because the only woman I want in this whole goddamned world is you.”
For a moment, I figured this would be a repeat of the night I professed my love to her after prom. My jaw clenched, preparing my heart for pain again.
Her legs shifted, hanging off the side of the bed, and her head hung with them. I stood a foot away from her, hoping she’d remain where she was and not skitter away like a scared kitten.
“Now. Your turn. Who the hell is James and what’s going on?”
“You think you know me so well?”
“Yeah, I do. You might be an adult now, but I look in your eyes and see the same Cynthia. You said little about James to your sisters, so I know you’re holding something back. Come on. Tell me.”
She sighed, still not talking.
“Or do I have to tickle it out of you?”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me.” I lifted my hands into the air in preparation. “I’ve had a few years’ practice getting giggles out of my little rosebud, so I’m pretty sure we can classify these fingers as lethal weapons.”
At least that produced a snort and chuckle out of her. Then she appeared wistful.
“You used to call me rosebud.”
I dropped my hands. “Uh, yeah. I did.” The fact I nicknamed my baby girl after the woman who left me behind years ago was probably my only regret. Every time I said rosebud, it only kept the memory of my feelings for Cindy alive. “Don’t worry, I’ll come up with something new to call you.”
She chewed her cheek, another telltale sign of hers that she was ready to talk. “Fine. After I earned my degree, James Hunter recruited me to join his architectural firm. He was married. I knew it, and he didn’t hide it. The way he nurtured my abilities and mentored me, we grew close.”
Shit. I was sorry now that I asked. I steadied my pulse by flattening my palms against my wet jeans, already pissed at where this was headed.
“We were on a trip, scouting a location in Chicago for a client, and um, I don’t know. I didn’t intend to have an affair with a married man. Things just happened. He promised he’d leave her over and over.”
She shot up from the bed with crossed arms, pacing the floor. “God, I sound like one of those pathetic women in the movies who get involved with a married man thinking they’ll leave their wife and kids for her . . . but they never do.”
Cindy was way too matter-of-fact about this, while I wanted to find this douchebag and kick his nuts up into his skull.
“I broke things off a year ago, and supposedly he’d entered therapy with his wife to keep his family together.
I was in the middle of a huge project with our biggest client, so I tried to stay professional since we still had to work together.
But he made my life miserable, criticizing my work.
Finding fault with every little thing I did.
I should have left, and that was my mistake.
His treatment wore me down, until one day I really made a big mistake for a client, and he fired me. ”
“Christ, Cin. He’s a fucking asshole.”
“Yes. I know. But I should have known better than to get involved with him. What’s worse, he’s been calling and texting me everyday begging me to come back and work on another project for the same client.”
I stopped her pacing with my hands on her arms. “You’re better off without that guy, you know that, right? Both professionally and personally.”
She nodded, but didn’t respond, until her eyes lifted to mine. The torment there blew me away. “Ryan… Help me forget him.” Her hands ran up my chest and around my neck, pulling my lips to hers.
I groaned. She deepened the kiss, whimpering into my mouth. Her with me like this was better than anything my teenaged Ryan’s brain could have conjured up. It took everything in me to pull away.
“Cynthia, I’d do anything for you, but I won’t be just your rebound fuck.”
“I’m not looking for a rebound guy. I’m looking for a reason not to go back,” she whispered.
Fuck yes, I had one big reason in my pants. “Baby, I can think of a million reasons, but there’s only one that matters. It’s time you stop running from us—you and me—because we’re inevitable.”
Sealed with a kiss, soft and sweet, my cock begged to be let out, and I wanted more. But not here.
“Come with me. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought of us getting together a million times.”
“Where to?”
“I think you know where.”