Page 29 of Ryder’s Storm

“Go on.”

“Last night when I went back to stay at the house, it came to an… an incident. We had an argument, and then suddenly we were kissing, and before I knew it, she was trying to undress me. And I stopped her.” He looked straight into his father’s eyes. “I was afraid of how she would react when she saw my two cocks.”

“Hold it,” Gabriel interrupted. “She slept with you when you still had the mass above your cock, and you were worried she would be shocked to see two cocks instead?”

Ryder sighed. “She never saw the deformity.”

“But you had sex with her. How did she not—” Gabriel stopped himself. “Oh, I get it. You, uhm… okay. Continue.”

“So you see, I was worried that she would reject me, so last night I told her I couldn’t have sex with her. She was furious.”

Gabriel laughed out loud. “Oh, denying a woman sex when she really wants it. Big mistake!”

“It’s not funny, Dad! And then she accused me of playing some sick game with her, and now she’s giving me the cold shoulder. And I just had to sit through two hours of her shamelessly flirting with a guy she’s just met, and you should have seen what she was wearing! It leaves practically nothing to the imagination!” Conjuring up the image made his rage rise to the surface once more.

“Way I see it, there’s the good news and the bad news.”

“What’s the good news?”

“She wants you.”

“Did you not just hear what I said? She told me she’s sick of me, and that guy was practically pawing her over dinner.”

“Trust me on that. Women do crazy things when they feel wronged. Time to apologize.”

“I’m assuming that’s the bad news.”

“No, the bad news is that you’re gonna have to man up and explain to her why you didn’t want to sleep with her. Admit to her that you’re scared to be rejected because of your two cocks. That’s a risk you have to take.”

“And what about telling her that I’m also a vampire?”

He shrugged. “Cross that bridge when you get to it.”

Ryder forced a smile. He knew his father was right, but that didn’t make it any easier. “Wish me luck.”

“You’ve got this, son.”

Ryder wished he had his father’s confidence.

16

Scarlet had to realize that flirting with a guy in whom she wasn’t even remotely interested turned tedious very quickly. Particularly when the reason why she was flirting with him in the first place was gone. All the fun of it was over when the audience she’d performed for was gone.

The moment Scarlet returned home, she wanted to go to her room and call it a night. Claudia was coming down the stairs, dressed in casual pants and a sweater, her handbag slung over her arm, her car keys in her hand.

“Are you going somewhere?” Scarlet asked.

“I’m sorry,” Claudia said with a regretful look, “but I just spoke to your dad, and the document he needs for his meeting first thing tomorrow morning is in his home office in Palo Alto. I have to drive down there and scan it in for him so I can email it to him, or he can’t finish the deal he’s working on.” She cast a look at Derek. “Sorry, Derek, I know we haven’t had any time to catch up yet, but I’ll be back first thing tomorrow morning. I promise.”

“I totally understand,” Derek said with a smile. “I’m sure Scarlet and I can keep each other company, right Scarlet?”

Scarlet forced a smile. Crap! She would be alone with Derek overnight? She hoped he didn’t expect her to stay up half the night entertaining him. Listening to his mundane stories about life in Paris while feigning interest had been exhausting enough. She was beat and needed to get a good night’s sleep.

“Yeah, sure,” Scarlet replied. “Though I’ve gotta work on my thesis all day tomorrow. My professor had some issues with it, so I need to fix them.”

“You’re working too much,” Claudia said. “Take a couple of days off while Derek is here.” She walked to the entrance door, and smiled back at Scarlet and Derek. “I’ll see you both tomorrow.”

A moment later, the heavy door fell shut behind her.