“Ummm... I have to help Avery go to bed.”
“Go ahead.”
I felt Ryker watch us as we walked to Avery’s room. She talked about her evening through the entire routine. While I combed her hair with the Tangle Teezer, Avery looked at me in the mirror, clutching the teddy bear she slept with in her arms.
“Mommy, is Ryker going to come here again?”
I wanted to scream Yes, yes, yes at the top of my lungs. Instead, I hid my smile behind Avery’s head.
“Do you want him to?”
“He’s nice.” Avery nodded excitedly. I couldn’t help myself. I hugged my daughter, glancing at her in the mirror.
“I think so too. Come on, let’s go to bed.”
I was so full of this happy energy. Just knowing that Ryker was in the next room made me giddy. This man had entered into my life one month ago, and he was already such a huge part of it that I didn’t know what to make of it.
After kissing Avery goodnight, I let myself out of her room, taking a quick trip to the bathroom, checking my appearance. Should I shower? No, that would take too long. Reapply makeup? That seemed silly. I just got rid of my tights. It was too hot for them inside the house.
Ryker is in the living room, waiting for me.
I had no idea how the rest of the evening would go. I’d signed up for a movie tonight and had ended up on the most swoon-worthy dinner date. What else did Ryker have in store for me?
Well... I had to join him to find out. Ryker was sitting on the couch when I returned to the living room, moving his finger in a come here motion. I practically flew to him. He patted the spot next to him.
“Finally going to reveal your tricks?” I teased.
“Neck massage.”
I sat on the couch with my back to him. He lowered the zipper of my dress.
“That’s necessary for a neck massage?” I asked.
“Definitely. Most points of tension are actually on the upper back.”
Wow, his hands were pure magic. I wasn’t sure why this all got to me. Maybe because Ryker was doing all this without any expectation. He pressed his fingers on the pressure points on my shoulder blades, then the muscles along my spine. Every time he touched my bare skin, I shuddered. I couldn’t help myself. It was an involuntary reaction. Oh God, if he kept doing that, I was going to ask him to stay the night, and I really couldn’t go there. It would take this to a whole new level, and I wasn’t even sure what this was.
But when Ryker dropped his hands, placing his mouth on my bare back, he wiped all thoughts from my mind except how much I wanted him here with me.
He touched his lips to my skin first, and then the tip of his tongue. My entire body already felt on fire. How was this possible? And how was I supposed to stop this when I wanted nothing more than to turn around and wrap myself around him?
He pushed the dress off one shoulder, moving his mouth over the exposed skin before slowly turning me around, pulling me into his lap. Ryker crushed his mouth to mine, and I responded to the kiss with no restraint. I’d never felt anything like this, and I
didn’t have to pause and think why: it was just Ryker. I couldn’t be with him and not be completely consumed by him. I moved my mouth down his jaw and neck, sucking a little on his Adam’s apple. He fisted my hair, keeping me close.
“Babe, wait,” he murmured. I straightened up, noticing Ryker had clenched the blanket on the couch with his free hand. His knuckles brushed my thigh. He’d been seconds away from sliding his hand under my dress.
“If you continue that way, I’m going to try to seduce you, and we can’t have that, because I wouldn’t leave until the morning.”
I’d completely lost track of... everything, and he was the one who remembered where we were? Sensed that I wasn’t ready for him to spend the night here?
I might just have to do everything in my power to make him fall in love with me. I mean, what other option did I have to make sure I didn’t lose him?
I chose my next words carefully. Hopefully he couldn’t guess where my mind had just been.
“You’re going to try and seduce me?” I teased. “What do you call what you’ve been doing until now?”
“Looking after you. If I wanted to seduce you, I’d do this.”