Page 11 of Say it Ain’t So

Rylan’s smile did things to me I wasn’t ready to dissect, but his touch, as he spread his fingers before smoothing his hands down my thighs, turned my entire body to jelly. Heat flashed through me as he dipped his face and inhaled deeply before pressing a kiss to the line of skin showing between my shirt and shorts.

Was it wrong that I wanted his lips pressed to every inch of my body?

It had to be. I barely knew the man.

But oh, how I wanted to. Rylan was nothing like anyone I’d ever met, and everything inside of me reacted to his mere presence—the sight of him felt like home.

“Hold tight, gorgeous,” Rylan whispered, that mischievous smile sparking something in my belly. I held onto his head as he helped me into both the shoes, and I didn’t want to let go. Not when he put my foot down on the floor. Not as he cupped the backs of my thighs with his palms and pulled me into him, burying his face in my gut. Not as he slid his fingers between mine and rose to his full height, smiling down at me like I was the most precious thing in the world.

While I was lost in him, Rylan directed the boutique staff to deliver my things to his room. Then, handing me my purse, he dragged me down the street, asking about my favorite ice cream flavors as we went.

“It’s either strawberry or cookies and cream,” I told him as he stopped in the line to the gelato booth. “How about you?”

He grinned at me like a child before he hooked one of his arms around my shoulder and pulled me closer. “I’ve only had it once, but it was the best thing I’ve ever had. Left my heart racing and my mouth watering, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.”

I nudged him with my shoulder, laughter shaking my shoulders. “Are you going to tell me what it was?”

He took his arm away and held his hands in front of him like he was trying to make me see the memory on a billboard on the horizon. “Coffee and chocolate flavored ice cream with thick chunks of chocolate covered espresso beans. It left me absolutely buzzing.”

“You’re crazy.”

“I’ve been called worse.” All the levity on his face left him as we got to the front of the line, and for a moment, it had me bracing for a hit. Rylan took my shoulders in his hands and stared down at me without a hint of a smile. “We need to talk.”

My mouth went dry. “About what?”

“What flavors are we going to order?” A breath heaved out of me, and my shoulders sagged but Rylan continued on as if he didn’t notice. “There’re probably twenty flavors up there, and I love every one of them. If we don’t figure out what we’re ordering now, I’ll be here all day tasting every one of them.”

“How about,” I said, lifting my hand to his face and tracing a finger across his jaw, “I get strawberry, and you get chocolate. It’s like⁠—”

“Chocolate covered strawberries.” His words came out all breathy and quiet. His blue eyes sparkled and my own were drawn to his parted lips as his tongue slipped out to wet them. He grabbed my hand from his face and held it to his chest. “That’s perfect. Let’s do it.”

* * *

A drip of chocolate gelato fell from Rylan’s offered spoon to my lap as I leaned forward to take a bite. It just missed the edge of my brand-new shorts, but I was too distracted by the flavor bursting in my mouth to care. That was, until Rylan reached his big hand out and swiped the cold droplet away with his thumb.

His touch on my already warm skin was almost unbearable, sending shivers and shards of lightning racing over every inch of me. He was too kind. Too sweet.

Too damn attentive for his own good.

“That’s a nasty bruise you got there.”

I struggled to swallow my mouthful of gelato, then tried to cover my hesitation with a long sip of my water to wash it down. When I locked eyes with him, it was all I could do to force a smile.

“Yeah.” I tucked my hair behind my ear. There was a lie perched on the tip of my tongue, the same lie I’d been telling everyone—and myself—for the past few years.

The problem was, I wasn’t clumsy.

I didn’t need to watch where I was going.

My iron levels were fine, and no number of supplements were going to make any difference to the number of nasty bruises on my body.

Swallowing down my lie, I set my gelato cup aside and turned my full attention to the man sitting next to me on the patio. For reasons I couldn’t understand, I felt compelled to tell this perfect stranger the truth that I’d been hiding from everyone.

“Peter…my ex.” I was distracted as Rylan swiped his thumb over my leg again. I squeezed my eyes closed. “He hits me. He has for years. Everything that goes wrong is my fault, even when it’s not. And I…”

“What is it?” His voice was gentle when he spoke, wrapping around me as if it were his arms giving me a much-needed hug.

My throat tightened, causing my voice to rasp. “I don’t want to go back home to that.”