25. Ryker
Ryker
One Year Ago
“I need you to go to Paris tomorrow, sign the contract for the Hatcher deal.” My dad looked up at me with a frown on his face. “And see if you can get them to include the patents from their glamour manufacturers.”
“I can’t go tomorrow.”
“You have to fly out tomorrow so that you can sign the contract the following day.”
“I can’t go tomorrow.” I shook my head, not wanting to tell him why.
“Ryker, this isn’t a discussion. You’re going tomorrow.” My dad was looking at me with narrowed eyes.
“I have something to do on Friday,” I said. “You’ll have to go.”
I watched as my dad pursed his lips. He didn’t like being disobeyed.
“Why can’t you go?”
“Mila’s graduating,” I said, noticing the dismissive look on his face.
“From high school?” He sneered.
“College,” I said, my voice tinged with anger. “She asked me to come watch her walk.”
“Is that really important?” His eyes were cold.
“It’s important to Mila.”
“Her family is going, yes?” He sighed. “Why do they need you to go? You can still give her a graduation present if you don’t go.”
“She asked me to go,” I said, starting to get angry. “I’m not flying to Paris.”
“Ryker Walker, a graduation is not more important than a fifty-million-dollar deal.”
“It is to me,” I said, trying to explain to him and myself why it was so important to me that I attend. “She’s my best friend’s sister. She’s been in my life for years. This is important to her. It’s important to me. I’m going.”
“So you’re going because you feel like it’s your sister who’s graduating?” My dad scoffed. “Are you telling me that you wish I’d given you siblings?”
“I’m not saying anything like that,” I said, my fists clenching.
He didn’t understand that I had deep feelings for the whole Brookstone family.
He didn’t understand that I considered them to be closer family than he was.
He didn’t understand that Mila was special, and when she’d called me months ago to tell me she was graduating and asked if I’d come to the ceremony, something in me lit up.
I wasn’t going to miss it if I could help it.
“Fine.” My dad pursed his lips. “I’m not happy, and this shows me that I don’t think you’re anywhere near being able to take over the company. I’m going to have to do some serious thinking.”
“May I go now?” I asked, not interested in my dad’s emotional and mental blackmail. If he wanted to pass on his company to someone else, he could do so.
“Yes,” he said, and as I walked out of his office, I could feel his eyes boring into my back.
I opened the door, closed it, and continued out of the building.
I was done for the day. My heart was racing, and I wasn’t quite sure why I’d refused my dad on such an important deal for a college graduation.
I was pretty sure that Mila wouldn’t care that much if I’d missed it.
But I wanted to be there. I wanted to be a part of her special occasion.
I wanted to hug her and congratulate her on finally becoming a full-grown adult.
I wanted to welcome her to the world. A world she didn’t know yet.
I wanted to be there for her, in more ways than one.
Current Day
“Soooo . . .” Mila shifted from foot to foot awkwardly, her three large suitcases set in front of her, waiting to be carried to my bedroom.
I had to admit that I was surprised at how much stuff she’d brought with her.
I’d been expecting a duffel bag of clothes or something, not what appeared to be her entire wardrobe.
I wondered what the taxi driver must have thought when he’d dropped her off.
If he was anything like me, he probably thought that she was thinking that she was moving in forever.
I tried not to panic at the thought, though a part of me liked the idea that she’d be here with me forever.
“So?” I said with a smile. I wasn’t going to make this easy for her.
“Where should I put my suitcases?”
“Where do you want them to go?”
“In my room.” She shrugged, her face turning red. I thought it was cute that she could still be embarrassed in front of me, after everything we’d done together.
“You mean our room?” I walked toward her. “The room with the whips and chains?”
“I-I guess so,” she stuttered nervously, her eyes widening at my words. I knew she was wondering whether I was joking. Actually, I take that back. I knew that she knew that I wasn’t joking.
“Do you want to see my secret dungeon?” I brushed my hand along her shoulder and gazed into her warm brown eyes, a secret thrill running through me as I saw the curiosity in her eyes.
“Would it be a secret if I saw it?” she replied smartly, and I laughed.
She was still my snappy Mila, no matter what we’d done together.
I’d been worried that she’d be a little overwhelmed and scared of me.
I did have a voracious sexual appetite, and I knew that some women didn’t enjoy the risks and adventures I liked to take.
It made me appreciate the woman she’d grown into even more.
“Well, you’ll see it eventually.” I winked. “But I suppose that will be when you’re naked and begging me to?—”
“Ha.” She rolled her eyes, interrupting me. “I won’t be begging you to do anything.”
“Oh, how foolish and young you are.” I laughed, my fingers running along her trembling lips. “How many times do you have to be reminded otherwise?”
“Reminded of what?”
“Reminded of how good it feels to beg me. And how good it feels when I give in to your pleas.”
“I don’t beg and plead, and you don’t give in. It’s not giving in if you want it as well, Ryker.”
“Shall I tell you what I want right now?” I said, leaning down and kissing her lips.
She kissed me back, her tongue licking my lips before she sucked on my lower lip, and bit down.
I felt a stirring in my loins as my hands moved down to her waist, pulling her closer to me, so that she could feel what she was doing to me.
She took a sharp intake of breath as my hardness pressed against her stomach, and I deepened our kiss, my hands falling to her ass.
“Ryker,” she moaned, her hands pushing me back.
“Yes,” I groaned, not wanting to stop.
“My room?” she asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes up at me. “I’ve got some unpacking to do.”
“I don’t know why you brought all these clothes with you,” I said as I picked up two of her suitcases. I grunted at how heavy they were. What exactly had she packed? “It’s not like you’re going to be wearing clothes much.”
“Oh?” She tossed her long blond hair to the side and gave me a cute little smile, her nose crinkling as she gazed at me. “Is that what you think?”
“That’s what I know,” I growled as she poked me in the chest with her index finger. I noticed that she’d recently painted her nails a hot-pink color, and I wondered if she had painted her toenails the same color as well.
“Keep fooling yourself, Mila.” I laughed as I walked toward my bedroom, and she followed. It felt strangely exciting to welcome Mila to my home. I’d never lived with a woman before, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew what I was hoping to expect, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up.
“I brought some sheets with me, if you don’t mind,” she mumbled as we walked into the bedroom.
“I thought they would soften up the room.” She gave me an impish smile as I put her cases down and turned to her.
“Seeing as I live here now as well.” She walked over to the bed, pulled the duvet off, and handed it to me.
“I might as well change the sheets now, seeing as I have you here with me.”
I stood there in silence as she proceeded to pull the dark gray sheets off of my bed.
To say I felt stunned was an understatement.
This was, all of a sudden, seeming real.
Realer than I’d expected. And my worry grew.
What if Mila’s expectations were different from mine?
What if we weren’t on the same page that I thought we were on?
My heart skipped a beat as I stared at the back of her body while she hummed to herself happily.
I was lying to myself and to her. I knew that her expectations were different.
I knew that I was playing with fire. I knew that one or both of us were going to get burned, but I didn’t care.
I didn’t care because at that moment all I could think about were my needs.
And her needs. And to hell with the rest. To hell with the secrets and lies.
To hell with feelings. To hell with all of it.
I was going to show Mila that all the things she thought I’d been joking about were real.
I was going to show her my secret dungeon.
The dungeon she didn’t believe was real.
And I was going to have her begging me. Begging me to give her more pleasure than she’d ever known in her life.
And then I was going to make her wait. And while the wait would almost kill both of us, it would only make things so much better.
And then, she would know that her dreams and fantasies about who I was and who we were together were just that—figments of her imagination.
And when she realized that, I knew that life as I knew it would be over.
“Ryker, don’t freak out.” She turned away from changing the sheets and looked at me, her expression one I didn’t truly understand. “I’m not looking to change who you are, just your sheets,” she said, eyes gazing into mine knowingly. Though I wasn’t sure exactly what she thought she knew.
“I’m not freaking out,” I said, though that was only partially true.
“Seven, ten, twenty,” she said, and I froze as I gazed at her in shock. “That’s the combination to your secret room.”
“How did you know that?” I swallowed, and I took a step toward her, the shock evident in my voice and on my face. “How did you know?” I asked again as I stepped in front of her.