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“I put a note on the nightstand,” he explained.
“Do you think my first inclination when I realized it was late was to look at the fucking nightstand, Ryker? All I cared about was getting to my kids and making sure you hadn’t hurt them.” My voice cracked, and I swallowed to clear away the emotion that clogged my throat so thoroughly.
“I would never hurt them, Tesoro,” he murmured, but his voice hardened. Gradually, irritation and frustration consumed his face.
“Ri
ght. I can totally trust the man who won’t let me go home,” I scoffed, turning away from him and his intense stare to go to my kids. Axel had taken to drawing Ines away from the glass, entertaining her by teaching her to kick the ball into the net. Both of them pointedly ignored our argument.
I took a step toward the door, stopping with a flinch when Ryker growled behind me. His hand grabbed the back of my neck, using all the strength of his forearm to turn me back to him. I whimpered, staring up at him when my body pressed flush against his and his lips crashed down on mine.
Protesting, I shoved at his chest, but that hand stayed planted on the back of my neck and held me right where he wanted me. But he didn’t push the kiss, just took a simple, chaste press of his lips on mine before he pulled away enough to stare at me while I seethed. The possessive display, and the tight hold on my neck, shouldn’t have made heat pool in my center. But it did, and I hated him even more for it. “Don’t you dare walk away from me, Sunshine,” he whispered. “I have had far too many years of watching you walk away. That time is done. You understand me?”
I glared up at him, my breath caught in my lungs in the face of all his ferocity. “Let go of me,” I said. “You’ll scare the kids.”
“They don’t look scared to me,” he chuckled, glancing over my shoulder.
With the way he controlled my neck, I could barely turn to see them for myself. I settled for glaring at him, resisting the urge to knee him in the balls. “I just want to keep them safe and happy. Can’t you give me that?” I asked, glancing back for the small view I could manage.
I felt Ryker’s head turn as he followed my gaze. His nostrils flared as he drew in a deep breath to steady himself. “Tell me they don’t look safe or happy right now. I’ll tolerate many things from you, but what I won’t take is dishonesty. We will always be honest with each other, Sunshine.”
I swallowed, nodding my assent. I couldn’t bring myself to lie anyway, not faced with the sight of my kids playing soccer and loving every second despite the man who sought to control me.
“I will never hurt those kids. You need to understand that.” I started to speak, stopping when he touched a finger to my lips. “But I’m sorry that I scared you. It wasn’t my intention.” The words died inside me, the look of genuine regret in his eyes taking my breath away.
“What?” I whispered, remembering how much I’d had to work to get an apology from Chad for anything, even if he had been completely in the wrong. I’d thought all men were incapable of owning their mistakes.
“I’m sorry. I won’t scare you like that again. I’ll wake you up and tell you next time. You just looked so peaceful, and I knew you needed the sleep.”
“He should be in school,” I said instead of answering the apology. I wanted to say thank you, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to find the words just yet.
“Missing one day won’t kill him, Sunshine. I called the school, and the Principal understood that with the move he needed a day to adjust. It’s all taken care of, so you go say good morning to the kids, and I’ll make you some breakfast.” He leaned in, touching my lips with his once more, and I vaguely remembered him kissing me when I’d been half asleep in bed earlier. He could have easily taken advantage of me in the night.
But he hadn’t, and I supposed there had to be something said for that.
I groaned inside my head. I sounded like I had Stockholm Syndrome. Grateful to my captor because he hadn’t raped me yet. “I’m not hungry,” I whispered when he pulled away.
He ignored me as he plowed on. “On second thought,” he muttered with a glance at the clock hanging on the wall. “I’ll make lunch.”
“Ryker! I’m not hungry,” I said.
“You need to eat. You’ll need your strength,” he said as he stalked off and left me floundering in the pool room. I didn’t want to think about what I might need my strength for.
As I shoved open the door and gave the kids a bright smile, I tried not to think about what they’d seen and what they might think of me kissing a man who was not their father.
“Mommy, is ‘yker my daddy?” Ines asked as I stepped outside. I blanched, and even Axel laughed at what must have been the horrified look on my face. I wouldn’t have expected him to be so casual about the Dad word ever, let alone so soon, but Ryker had done more to show Axel he mattered than Chad had done in the last year of his life.
I rolled my eyes to the sky. Heaven help me.
???
Ryker whipped together a quick lunch of stove top macaroni and cheese. It might not have been gourmet, but it didn’t come from a box and was meatless, and took more effort than Chad had ever gone to help feed the kids. I didn’t like that I seemed to compare the two men so effortlessly, and that it didn’t reflect positively for my husband.
Aside from the kidnapping, anyway.
After lunch, Ines quickly got cranky for her nap, so I brought her up to put her down. It only took a few minutes before she fell asleep halfway through her story, comfortably nestled into her princess castle bed like she didn’t have a care in the world.
I closed the door quietly behind me, peeking into Axel’s room where he’d settled in to do the reading he knew he would need to catch up on so he wouldn’t be behind at school tomorrow. My responsible boy who acted far too old to be just six years old. “You good, Cookie Monster?” I asked him.
