AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When I’d first met her, I’d tried to fight those feelings but finally gave up the fight when Reece put me straight about her and her situation. Until then, I’d thought she was Reece’s booty call. I’d felt sick when I realized just how much I’d misjudged her, which was the catalyst that made me realize my feelings for her were anything but plutonic.
If only my life wasn’t a mess, I’d have made a move on her back then. Instead, I tried to keep her at arm’s length until I couldn’t take it anymore. Then, before I could explain everything to her, she had to find out the way she did.
I have a lot to make up for, which I intend to do as soon as I get the chance. All I have to do now is find her and beg her to hear me out and hopefully not leave Kix . . . and me.
Although my apartment is above Kix, it’s totally separate from the bar and with Dahlia’s help, we’ve made it look like a home. She’s only been with me for a week, but in that little time, she has become a permanent fixture in my apartment. Hell, she’s become a permanent fixture in my life. The thought of her not being there to share it with me sends pain shooting to my gut. One of my biggest fears is that she’ll leave me. I don’t have the right to beg her to stay, but I’m sure willing to try.
Slowing the truck, I pull up in town and turning the engine off, I drop my forehead to the steering wheel. Breathing heavily, I try to rein in my anger.
Fighting back the burn behind my eyes, I raise my head and see the path that’s been caught up in the beam from my headlights.
Fuck! Her thinking spot.
She couldn’t still be out there . . . could she?
Only one way to find out.
Grabbing the flashlight from under the passenger seat—switch it on to make sure it works—I slam the door and make my way into the forest.
Why she’d come in here to think is anyone’s guess because it’s freaky as hell, at least it is at night. Not that warm, either. Although I’m desperate to find her, I hope to hell she isn’t freezing her ass off in here.
The deeper into the trees I trek, the more I’m starting to realize she isn’t stupid enough to still be here if this is the place she came earlier.
Without breaking my stride, I carry on toward the lake. I’m nearly there so I might as well check it out because I’m at a loss as to where to look next. Even if she isn’t ready to listen to me, I just want her to be home, warm and safe.
Rounding the corner, which is close to where Dahlia escapes to, I freeze, and listen. I’m sure I caught the sound of someone crying. But as I try to catch the sound again, the forest is silent. With my heart pounding, I take another step and use the flashlight to see through the trees. My heart practically stops in my chest when I spot Dahlia, sitting on a fallen log looking so damn lost and forlorn.
She starts and turns toward the light and I see tears streaming down her face. That’s all I need to kick start my legs and I shove through the branches of the tree, which were helping to keep her hidden. I drop to my knees at her feet. Dropping the flashlight, I take her face into my hands and pull her against me—she feels like ice and I want to curse. Moving one arm, I wrap it around her waist to keep her close as I keep my other hand buried in Dahlia’s hair.
She doesn’t fight me, although I wouldn’t blame her if she did. Instead, Dahlia wraps her arms around my neck and slides
her fingers through my hair and against my scalp. My whole body shudders in pleasure at having her hands on me. If only this would last.
Inhaling, I pull back and kiss her cheek. “You scared the shit outta me,” I whisper against her ear.
“I’m sorry,” she apologizes so quietly I barely catch her words. She sniffles and refuses to meet my gaze. “I jumped from the tree and must have landed on a stone. I think I’ve twisted my ankle.”
I stare at her face until she finally looks at me. The heartbreak on her face is my own doing, but the fact that she’s injured because of me hurts. It hurts deeply.
“Oh God, babe.” I drop my head so she doesn’t see the tears in my eyes. Blinking them away, I look up, and using my fingers, brush the hair back from her face. “You’ve been stuck in here.”
She nods. “I couldn’t get cell reception.”
“Let’s get you out of here then.” Standing, I pass her the flashlight. “You hold that and I’ll carry you.”
She takes the handle of the flashlight, and as I hold her in my arms, she wraps her own around me before resting her head against my chest. She might be upset and pissed, but she still trusts me, which fills my heart with hope.
Dahlia
Having Ryder hold me in his arms is all I’ve wanted since we first met. I smile remembering the first time I laid eyes on him. It had been at the back of Kix. He’d been unloading his truck, and I’d stood in the shadows and watched as his biceps flexed under the weight of what he’d been holding. His tee shirt had ridden up his torso, showing his tanned skin and the smoothed muscles of his stomach. His low riding jeans had dipped rather low, giving me a drool worthy look at the V leading down to his goods. The jeans had cupped him just right. My mouth had watered, and those images had made me act like a stupid schoolgirl around the school jock. After that, I’d tried to avoid him because his face had matched the rest of him and all I wanted to do was lick every inch of him.
Despite the lightning quick reaction I’d had, Ryder hadn’t liked me at first. Every time I saw him he’d look through me, but sometimes I’d catch him watching me with anger in his eyes. All that had suddenly changed, and Ryder and I started to become friends. Which is why I’m so upset. It isn’t just that he’s married, I mean, we haven’t really done anything, but it’s also because he never once mentioned anything.
I know on a few occasions he’s said his life is screwed up, but if we were friends, why wouldn’t he tell me? I don’t believe for a minute that he didn’t tell me because he wanted in my panties. I know he wants in them; I want him in them. But he’s had plenty of time to sweet talk himself inside, and he hasn’t. That speaks volumes, right? Oh God, I’m so damn naive where men are concerned.
With my screwed up parents, it’s no wonder I don’t have any experience. I was hoping to get that with Ryder, and I hoped that once he’d taught me about being a woman he’d want to keep me. Sometimes, I could imagine being with him forever simply from the way he looks at me. It isn’t like a flash fire . . . although there are times I feel like I’m going to burst into flames from the heat in his eyes, but it’s like the way Reece looks at Callie. It’s sweet, and tender and it makes me wish that he could be that someone for me . . . could be more than that someone. All I want is someone to treat me the way my friends treat their wives and girlfriends. Now I’m not sure I’m going to be able to stay with him. I saw what being the other woman did to my mom. Although at the time, I had no idea about the other woman status she held. All the pieces of the puzzle, of how she was, just clicked into place when I found out. She admitted that the only reason she stayed with Dad was because it meant she would be close to the man she actually loved—Reece’s dad.
I don’t want a life like the one she had. The man I want to spend the rest of my life with will be the man I love and the man who I know loves me. Until I met Ryder, I never wanted any of that, but the more time I spend with him, the more I’ve started wanting what everyone else in my life has—someone to love and cherish them.
