Undeniable Love (Journey of Love 2)

I hadn’t heard Tristan walk back into the bathroom. When he appeared in front of me and placed both hands on the sides of my face, I began to cry harder. I wanted this. I wanted Tristan to place his hands on my face and look at me like I was his entire world . . . not Dodge. I knew it in my heart, so why was my head fighting so hard with my heart?

“Ryn, baby what’s wrong? Did you hurt yourself?”

His thumbs moved across my face to wipe the tears away. Closing my eyes, I took in the heat that was left in the path he made.

I couldn’t stop crying. I felt like a fool sitting here getting upset over a man who pushed me away from him when things got to be too serious. Opening my eyes, I couldn’t help but notice the pain in Tristan’s eyes.

Slowly nodding my head, I whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Tristan’s hand moved down to my neck as he pushed his hand through my hair and pulled me a bit closer to him. “Baby, don’t be sorry that you’re in pain. I wish like hell I could take it away.”

I wanted more than anything to tell him to kiss me and tell me that he loved me. That would be the only way he could take this pain away.

“You can’t,” I barely said as our eyes locked. Tristan leaned in as my heartbeat picked up to a ridiculous rate. He stopped just short of my lips.

Inhaling a breath, I waited.

“But know if I could, I would.”

Pulling back abruptly, he stood. “Let’s get you dressed and back into bed.”

Holding out a pair of boxer shorts and a T-shirt for me, I smiled and took them. Tristan helped me with the boxer shorts. Pulling his T-shirt over my head, I was overcome with his scent. Slowly standing, I reached for the crutch, but before I could grab it, Tristan reached down and picked me up. I snuggled my face into his chest. I wanted to tell him he didn’t have to carry me, but I also wanted to be wrapped up in his arms.

Walking back into the living room, he set me on the sofa. Smiling, he gave me a wink and said, “First you have to eat. You can’t be taking those pills on an empty stomach, Ryn.”

Tristan and I ate our tacos in silence. The meds were for sure kicking in and I felt like I was fighting to keep my eyes open. I decided to shut them for just a few seconds.

I felt the motion of moving. Opening my eyes, I saw I was in Tristan’s arms again. “Tristan, I’m so tired.”

Tristan laid me down on the giant king-size bed. Pulling the covers over me, he leaned down and kissed my forehead. “Sleep, baby.”

“Mmm . . . night, Tristan.”

Hearing him chuckle he whispered, “It’s only ten in the morning.” Smiling, I lifted my hand to touch his face, but sleep took over my body.

I dreamed of a cabin in the woods and Tristan making love to me as he whispered how much he loved me.

RYN HAD BEEN STAYING AT my place ever since she sprained her ankle. I was trying like hell to keep my hands to myself, but each day was getting harder and harder. There were a few times I thought for sure she wanted me to kiss her, but I wasn’t going to take advantage of her being hurt to make a move on her. I wanted to show her I could take care of her and be with her without it being about sex.

Knowing Ryn was probably going stir crazy inside, I had arranged for us to eat dinner on the beach tonight.

Walking into the living room, I smiled. “You ready to head down to the beach?”

Smiling, Ryn nodded her head. “Are you sure you don’t mind me staying here? I feel bad for taking up all of your vacation.”

Shaking my head, I laughed. “Nonsense. It’s been nice having you here.”

Ryn’s eyes lit up and I felt a sense of hope. I just needed to be patient. She hadn’t talked to Dodge in over three days. At least, not that I knew of anyway. Reaching down, I picked her up.

“Tristan, you do realize I can walk.”

Chuckling, I held her tighter. “Maybe I like having you in my arms.”

Ryn looked at me with a weak smile before looking away. For a brief moment, I saw something flash across her eyes. The time we were spending together was slowly bringing us closer.

We walked up to the blanket I had put out a few minutes earlier. Setting Ryn down on the blanket, she looked at me with a surprised look on her face. “What is this?”

Giving her a look like she had just wounded me, I said, “Dinner, what does it look like?”

Shaking her head, she said, “Something I can’t picture Tristan Williams doing.”

Placing my hand over my heart, I dropped to my knees. “You wound me, Kathryn.”

Her smile instantly faded. I wasn’t sure if it was from me calling her by her full name or if something else bothered her. Pushing it away, I opened the basket that contained our dinner.

Ryn leaned over to peek into the basket. The moment I pulled out the Subway sandwich, she started laughing. “Subway, huh? Wow you put some serious effort into this dinner.”

Flashing a smile in her direction, I gave her wink. “Hey, it’s a BMT and if my memory serves me right, that is your favorite sandwich from Subway.”

Ryn’s smile dropped as she nodded her head. “Yeah, it is.”

After we ate, we talked for a bit about Ryn’s company.

“How is your business doing?” I asked.

Grinning from ear to ear she said, “It’s doing amazing. I’ve hired on two sourcing managers so I have a lot more time to take on other things, like gain more business.”

Lifting my mouth into a smile, I looked into her eyes. “I’m proud of you, Ryn. I hope you’re proud of yourself.”

“I am. I’ve worked really hard to make this company successful.”

Looking away, she shrugged. “Guess I wanted to prove to my parents I could do it.”

Ryn hardly talked about her parents. Really she never talked about her past. The most I knew was that she went to college in Florida and moved to Austin the day after she graduated. She hardly ever talked to her parents, which seemed weird to me. Both Lark and I were close to our mother and father. I couldn’t image my life without them in it.

Once the sun went down, we laid back and stared up at the endless stars. I wanted desperately to tell her how sorry I was for what happened last Christmas, but something kept holding me back. I hated that I let my fear of giving myself to Ryn one hundred percent get in the way.

I wasn’t sure if my lifestyle would be what Ryn wanted. My dream was to take over my father’s ranch someday. Then, of course, there were my sexual hobbies. I never took Ryn to my condo in Austin. A part of me was scared to death that the moment I opened the door to my playroom, Ryn would turn and never look back. Liberty on the other hand, I knew she wouldn’t get into my playroom. A part of me knew by bringing her there, I was hoping it would push her away. Unfortunately, it hadn’t worked. If anything, Liberty tried harder to show me how amazing

vanilla sex was.

No thanks.

I closed my eyes and thought back to the first time I ever saw a playroom filled with sex toys. It was a BDSM fan’s dream come true.

Standing at the bar of a new club in downtown Austin, I looked around at everyone. One of my college buddies, Nick, had said we had to check the place out. I couldn’t help but notice the brunette that couldn’t stop eye fucking me. Smiling, I nodded my head. She quickly made her way over to me and sat down next to me.

Reaching her hand out, she said, “Michelle. You are?”

Taking her hand, I kissed the back of it. “Anyone you want me to be.”

Laughing, she gave me a wink. Her shoulder length hair fell in her eyes before she pushed it back behind her ears. “I knew my gut instinct about you was spot on.” Looking out on the dance floor at Nick she gestured to him. “He single?”

Ahh hell. If this girl wanted a threesome, she was going to have to move along.

“Yeah. Why?”

Looking over her shoulder she motioned for another girl. They both looked to be around twenty-eight or twenty-nine. Turning back to me, she leaned in closer. “My friend Ash is interested in him. Tell me your name sweetheart.”

Grinning, I said, “Tristan.”

The other girl, Ash, walked up and ran her hand up my thigh and smiled. “Your friend’s name?”

Moving my eyes over her body, I said, “Nick.”

Ash and Michelle exchanged looks before Michelle moved closer to me and moved Ash’s hand out of the way and placed her hand closer up toward my dick. Biting her lip, she grazed over my hardening dick. “Do you and Nick want to have some fun, Tristan?”

The way she said my name caused me to moan. I’d fucked plenty of girls while in high school and college, but something about these two had me thinking we were going to have more than just fun. This would be an experience I was more than ready to try.

“I’m game and I’m pretty damn positive Nick is down as well.”