Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 16556 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 83(@200wpm)___ 66(@250wpm)___ 55(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 16556 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 83(@200wpm)___ 66(@250wpm)___ 55(@300wpm)
I absorb his words. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have a family for my whole life then suddenly have them gone. The most I ever got at the good homes were a few weeks, just enough to get a taste of what a real family would be like. “Do you ever reach out?”
“So much time has passed. So many words were said.” He swallows. “I became an alcoholic after I got home. The shit I saw in the war, the things I did. It ate at me, and I dumped all that hate and pain on them.”
“I bet they’d forgive you if you called them,” I offer. I hope that’s the right thing to say. I don’t have the first clue how families work. It’s another mark against me, another reason that I’m not good enough to be with Ryan.
“They have a place about an hour from here,” he says. “Every time I’m on the interstate, I tell myself that I’ll take that exit to their home. But I never do.”
“Maybe one day you’ll find your way back to them.” Without realizing it, I’ve started rubbing his back in a slow circle. I’m not sure who I’m trying to comfort. I just know that it makes me sad to think that Ryan is as alone in the world as I am.
“Maybe.” There’s a note of uncertainty and pain in his voice as he speaks the single word. He shakes his head as if he’s clearing it and says, “Let’s go have dinner.”
Inside the ballroom where tables have been set up for a meal, I frown when I realize my name isn’t on a place card anywhere.
I try not to let it bother me that I didn’t get my own seat. I just started working for Alpha Defense and I bet the guest list was assembled weeks ago.
“You’re with me,” Ryan says as he tugs me toward his table. His words and the gesture warm me more than they should.
The dinner is a seven-course meal, and each dish is more decadent than the last. I’ve never had food like this, and I keep taking cues from Ryan about which forks to use and how to place my napkin.
Todd, the man across from me, is friendly and keeps up a steady conversation as I eat, which helps to ease my nerves. He’s a lot more talkative than Ryan who has been sitting in stone cold silence since Todd started conversing with me.
Ryan takes a sip of his water. Suddenly, it makes sense that there’s never any beer at Eric’s place and that Ryan wouldn’t accept the champagne I offered him tonight.
Todd asks if I’m single, interrupting my thoughts on Ryan’s sobriety.
Ryan answers for me. “She’s not.”
I frown at him, unsure of what to do in the situation. I won’t make a liar out of Ryan in front of all his work colleagues. He doesn’t mean that…does he?
He gives me a reassuring smile and underneath the tablecloth, he puts a hand on my thigh in a firm grip. The possessive gesture sends tingles through my body.
The man across from us instantly turns his attention to the next woman at the table and now I remember that I’ve seen Todd before. He’s known around the office as a notorious womanizer.
“Thanks for saving me, Captain,” I whisper into Ryan’s ear.
“Follow me,” he says, tugging on my hand.
He makes an excuse about getting me on the dance floor to his colleagues before he pulls me into the women’s bathroom.
“What are you doing?” I ask as he checks the stalls to make sure they’re empty. When he’s satisfied that we’re alone in the posh space, he shoves the red settee in the lounge area behind the door.
Then he crosses the bathroom to where I’m standing. He crowds my personal space, giving me a naughty grin. “I’m having a quickie with my woman.”
5
LACEY
I take a step back and bump into the sink. My heart is pounding so hard that I’m sure he must hear it. “Here? Now?”
“Here. Now,” he repeats the words before lowering his head to kiss me. The moments his lips touch mine, the same tingly sensation from earlier spreads through my body.
I melt against him, grabbing onto his lapels to steady myself.
Ryan puts an arm around my waist and drags me closer. We’re touching from thigh to toe. He’s hard and I work my hips in a small circle.
His answering groan is all the encouragement I need. I do it again and again while he continues to kiss me.
He moves from my lips to my cheeks, to my jaw, down my neck, and to the valley of my chest. The stubble from his beard keeps scraping me, creating a delicious friction that’s only making me wetter.
“How do I get this off?” He demands of the dress.