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Not for the first time, I cursed Ryan Gardner for ruining me for all other men. It had unquestionably been worth it, but I’d almost certainly screwed myself over with this plan to seduce him.
The anger and annoyance helped snap me out of my funk, and I decided to stop wallowing and focus on what I could control. I needed to get dressed and start packing. I might as well get it done and over with.
“Hey, where are you going?” A strong, masculine arm snaked around my waist before I could slip out from under the covers.
I reluctantly rolled over and saw Ryan propped up on his side, watching me sleepily. He looked unbelievably adorable, the jerk. He smiled as he brushed my hair back over my shoulder, and caressed my neck absently. I had to steel myself to keep from melting into him.
“It’s about that time, unfortunately,” I said, forcing out the words. “I was going to check the roads, and then start getting packed up. We still need to clean everything up, toss the tree outside, all that stuff. It’ll take some time.”
“Woah, we have plenty of time, so there’s no hurry. Besides, are you absolutely sure that no one is coming to the cabin now that the storm has passed? Should we wait, or try to get ahold of them before we leave?”
Since we lost contact with everyone, it had been hard to decide what to do. But, as Christmas day came and went, we figured that it was a lost cause. We all had jobs and lives to get back to, not to mention rapidly dwindling supplies. It was time to admit defeat and get out while we still could. The last thing we needed was for another storm to roll through and trap us once more.
“Well, my phone is dead so I can’t be sure, but if you want me to try to charge it, I can see if we have any service yet. I’m still planning on leaving by early afternoon though. I thought that was we had talked about,” I said in a light tone.
“It is. I just wanted to make sure nothing had changed,” Ryan said, thoughtfully.
He scooted closer, laying a sweet kiss on my lips, and sliding a hand down to cup my ass. It was all done so casually, as if it was second nature to him. Or habit. Just a normal morning for us.
Except it wasn’t, not for us. I was getting the feeling that I wasn’t the only one left confused by last night.
“No, I don’t think so,” I said, not entirely sure what he meant. He knew full well that we hadn’t heard anything from my family. As for any other type of change that might delay us, well, it was inconceivable.
Ryan shrugged, but didn’t say anything else. Instead, he pulled me closer, and pressed feather-light kisses along my throat. I had fully intended to get up and start preparing for our departure, but as always, Ryan’s proximity washed away any good intentions.
Ok, one last hurrah before we leave,I told myself, eagerly kissing him back when his lips sealed over mine in a hot, deep, mindless kiss.
Minutes later we were tangled together, naked, and sweaty, and lost in each other.
#
“As goodbyes go, that was my favorite,” I told Ryan, trying my best to inject a teasing tone to my voice.
I had finally managed to extricate myself from him and started dressing in the chilly room. He was still in bed, sitting against the headboard, looking sexy and mussed. I could feel his eyes on me the entire time, and I loved the feeling. A sharp pang of regret shot through my stomach at the thought that this really would be the last time we’d be alone together like this.
“Yeah, about that,” Ryan responded, uncharacteristically serious.
I’d been in the middle of pulling on my pants, but his voice made me pause. Something in his tone had my pulse racing.
“About what?” I whispered. I turned and faced him full on, not caring that I was standing in half-buttoned jeans and a bra.
“About this being goodbye. Maybe it doesn’t have to be.”
I cocked my head at him, trying to figure out what the hell he meant. It couldn’t possibly be what I thought. “Sure. We’re still going to see each other. At other holidays and stuff.”
“That’s not what I meant,” he said, shaking his head. “This little experiment has been very successful, wouldn’t you say? There’s no reason we can’t have a few more repeat performances if we want. I haven’t had enough, have you?”
Ryan crawled forward to the end of the bed, until he was only a foot away. If it weren’t for his sincere expression, I would have assumed that he was joking. Messing with me. I’d had to pull out all the embarrassing stops to get him to agree to this fling in the first place, and now he thought it was a great idea.
“The agreement was just for this week, remember?” I reminded him, my head spinning. “Here in the cabin.”
“I know, but we obviously have a good time together, so I just figured, why end it here?” he shrugged. “We live in the same city, it’s not like we can’t see each other when the mood strikes.”
“It’s not the geography that’s the problem, Ryan. It’s…everything,” I said, waving a hand in the air between us. “My brother and my parents. And, well,us. We have a complicated history, and the only way it was ever going to work was to make it simple. Sex, nothing more, remember? A few days, mutual satisfaction, and then we go about our real lives and leave it all behind, never to be mentioned again.”
“The only difference would be that we’d be back in the city, in our homes,” he countered. “Our nice, modern homes with heating and electricity. With Netflix. Oh, and I happen to have a hot tub. Otherwise, everything can be the same. We don’t need to tell Jeremy about any of it.”
Ryan met my eyes, and I saw a hint of desperation there. He wasn’t just suggesting it for the hell of it—he truly wanted to keep seeing me. And it absolutely terrified me. I could handle abrasive and perpetual horny Ryan, but I was not remotely prepared for this vulnerable and emotional doppelganger.
