Page 68 of Say it Ain’t So

“Chey!” I glanced around the parking lot to see if anyone was there. As if they could hear my friend through the phone. “Don’t call him that.”

She hummed. I knew that hum. I braced myself for what was coming next. “So, what’s this about? Last I knew, you and Unicorn Dick were at each other’s throats.”

“Oh. You know…” Rather than continuing, I started my car and turned the heat on full blast. Even though my body warmed at the thought of Rylan, I could still feel the frigid January cold.

“Nope. No, I don’t know. The last time we talked, he wouldn’t stop staring daggers at you because you walked out on him after you got married.”

“Chey!”

“What happened? He finally decide the sex was too good?”

“Chey! Oh my God!” Laughter bubbled through me. “He… We…” I sighed. “We made up.”

“You made up.” She didn’t phrase it like a question. It was more like a demand for more information.

I glanced around again, then ducked down in my seat. “We made up. He asked me on a date, and we ended up getting drenched by a storm. He brought me home and walked me upstairs and⁠—”

“And it happened again?”

“What?”

“You ended up in bed together and you rode his magical dick?”

Heat that had nothing to do with the tepid air blasting from my vents rose to my cheeks. “He is magical, Chey. Every last bit of him.”

There was a beat of silence that left my skin itching. Then Cheyenne asked, “Are you together now? Like, husband and wife?” When I didn’t respond, she pressed harder. “Are you dating at least?”

“I think so.”

“You think so? Sweetie, is he stepping out on you?”

“No!” I shook my head even though I knew she couldn’t see. “We’re together, we just… We don’t really talk about it. We work together, Chey, and nobody knows there’s anything between us. But I’m not seeing anyone else, and he definitely isn’t either.”

“How do you know?” There was nothing but genuine care to her voice, no malice or hostility in sight.

How could I explain Rylan to someone who didn’t know him like I did? I saw his schedule. I knew his friends. If he wasn’t working or out with them, he was by my side, begging me to do those wild and crazy things he loved so much.

He’d taken me rock climbing. Boating out on Lake Michigan. We’d walked every trail and park in the city, went to every thrilling adventure within the city limits that he could find for us to do.

And most nights—the ones I knew he wasn’t working—he was in my bed, or I was in his.

This secret relationship had budded into something I didn’t have words to describe, and thinking about him always left my heart racing and my mind going fuzzy with glee.

“New question.” Cheyenne’s sharp tone had me snapping back from where my mind had wandered. “Are you just a booty call? Is he just using you for sex?”

“No.” I shook my head again. “I promise, it’s not like that.” To ease her worries, I told her about the man who’d stolen my heart. The things we did over the months we’d been together. The way he wanted to know every little thing about me. The way he danced with me now, the same way we had at the wedding reception we’d attended last year.

Lee had hired Jen Lucas, Kelly’s old friend and the girlfriend of his business partner, Vinny Leonetti, as his accountant. After Vinny and Jen got married down in the Caribbean, they had a beautiful reception back here in Chicago. Almost the whole team at Bridgewater had attended, and I’d danced with all of them, even Jen.

But none of them left me quivering the way Rylan had.

Since that night, Rylan made a habit of pulling me to him and dancing, even when there was no music playing. At first, I thought it was a product of his jealousy over Van, but he did it so consistently, I pushed that theory from my head.

Now, it was just one more thing that had me aching for the man.

“You’re in love with him,” Cheyenne said when I finally fell quiet. “Have you told him?”

My throat clenched as my eyes prickled with heat. I adjusted the vents so the hot air wasn’t blowing right in my face.