Page 173

“Well there is that,” he agreed as he laid her down on the bed. He stood up and took off his shirt and toed off his dress shoes. Amy gave a sigh of satisfaction.

“I have another fantasy, Miss Linden.”

“What’s that?” she asked as she held out her arms for him.

“I dream of not taking advantage of a woman who was just crying in my arms, but instead holding her close to my heart throughout the night.”

He watched her carefully. He knew damn good and well that by offering him sex without a relationship, it was just another way for her to put up another barrier. He wasn’t having it. Now the ball was in her court.

“Well?” he asked.

“One of my most secret dreams is of you holding me while I sleep,” she admitted.

He got down on the bed beside her and opened his arms, and when she snuggled against him and he pulled her in close, it felt like he had everything he could have ever hoped for, right there, in his hold.

Amy continued to lie in Ryker’s arms as she watched the sun come up. She’d been lying there for over an hour, listening to his even breathing. Before they had settled down to actual sleep, they had stripped down to their underwear, and Ryker’s leg muscles were almost as impressive as his shoulder and ab muscles. Besides giving her something extra to ogle, there was also the necessity of getting out of her dress so that it wasn’t a wrinkled mess for when she wore it home the next morning.

So here she was, early Monday morning on a non-workday, indulging in thousand thread-count sheets, a body any male model would kill for, and having her friend Ryker back in her life. Even if she was still a virgin, life was pretty damn good!

Amy heard the moment the cadence of Ryker’s breathing changed, so she was expecting the sneak attack, and countered it with one of her own. When Ryker expected to have her on top of him, Amy arranged to be flat on her back beneath him, with her legs wrapped around his waist.

“Good morning, Sailor,” she winked up at him.

“Good morning to you too, Miss Lindon. What are you doing up so early this morning?” he asked.

She wiggled her pelvis against his. “I was going to ask you the same thing, because you definitely feel up and ready to play.”

Amy watched Ryker blush. It was a delightful sight.

“I am ready for breakfast. We might have had a wonderful mini-bar feast last night, but I am definitely hungry again,” Ryker smiled. “What about you?”

“If you hadn’t woken up when you did, I was going to go get my Snickers bar and finish it off,” Amy admitted. “But a real breakfast sounds much better.”

“Room service or the hotel restaurant?” he asked.

She thought about her clothing options. “Room service,” she answered. “That way we won’t be far from the bedroom when we’re refueled.”

“Yeah, we’re going to need to discuss that over breakfast.”

Amy frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Can you order me a Western omelet, pancakes, a pot of coffee, and two large orange juices? I’m going to go shave.”

“Sure, but what big discussion are we having at breakfast?” she asked again.

Ryker hopped out of bed and headed for the bathroom, and Amy went over to the phone to place their order.

By the time they were both done with the bathroom, the meal still hadn’t arrived. “So what is it you’re planning on talking about?” Amy pressed again.

“It’s not a big deal, I promise,” Ryker said as he threw up his hands.

Amy gave him the side-eye. “Then start talking.”

Somebody knocked on the room door.

“You lucked out, McQueen,” Amy muttered.

Soon they had their breakfast spread out before them on the dining room table. Amy watched Ryker tuck into his omelet right after he cut up his stack of pancakes into little pieces and then smothered the doughy mess in syrup.