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I blink away the remaining blindness and tug Charity to the truck, her taste still clouding my senses. With one kiss, everything has changed.
CHARITY
I’m struck dumb as Ryder pulls me away from the woman with the camera and thrusts me into his truck.My body throbs and tingles. I want to rub myself all over him and beg him to make the ache go away.
I was only expecting a light kiss. I genuinely didn’t think he would go any further. But when his lips met mine, something happened. His tongue swept over my lip, allowing it to slide between his teeth, and he nipped it lightly, sending little sparks flying around my body like a pinball machine.
And then it was over. Cut short by some woman with a camera.
“I’ll take you home,” Ryder says, breaking me from my thoughts.
I’m still gathering my wits and unable to reply.
The drive home is quiet. When he pulls up outside my place, he leaps from the truck, pausing only to gather my bags from the truck bed and deposit them at my door.I make my way slowly up the short path to my small home and unlock the door.
“Would you like to come in?” My question is hesitant, but it seems only polite to offer after his help today.
My nerves are frayed. One kiss from Ryder, and all my defenses are toppling like a deck of cards. Now he’s kissed me, all the urges and desires that have lain dormant are wide awake and throwing a full-blown mariachi parade in my panties.
“I need to get back,” he says gruffly.
“Okay.” I open the front door and take my bags from him.
“Will you need a lift tomorrow?”
“Yes, please.”
He nods abruptly. “I’ll get your car towed first thing too.”
“Thank you,” I say to his retreating back.
Oh, God. He kissed me, and he hated it.
The knowledge is excruciating.
Once I’m in and changed into my fluffiest pajamas, I climb into bed. Today was a whole new experience. My brain tries to shut down, but whenever I close my eyes, I relive that scorching kiss. It’s seared into my memory. Is this all I’m destined for? Reliving the memory of the best kiss of my life? Okay, theonlykiss unless you count Anthony Lewis in seventh grade, who left a trail of snot on my upper lip.
Sadness blankets me, and the harsh reality that Ryder will never kiss me like that again settles like a rock in my chest.
Seven
RYDER
Itry to calm my pounding heart as I knock on Charity’s door the following morning. I can’t let my loss of control change things between us. I need to be the guy I’m supposed to be in her life. Her brother’s friend. Her secret protector.Not the man who kisses her senseless outside a cocoa truck.
Butfuck, that kiss has messed me up.
I couldn’t sleep last night. Couldn’t think straight. Nothing makes any sense anymore. My feelings for Charity are fucking with my head, pitting my desire for her against my loyalty to Luke. I’m angry at myself for betraying Luke’s memory and my promise to him. And I’m angry at Luke for dying, for giving up his life for mine. His family needed him.
An image burns through my head of Charity meeting and marrying some guy, settling down behind a white picket fence, and having a brood of children that don’t belong to me.
The thought almost brings me to my knees. I don’t want her with another guy. What if he doesn’t treat her right? What if he doesn’t know she’s allergic to dog fur but loves cats? That she likes two sugars in her coffee, but only one if she has creamer? What if—
“Hey,” Charity says, opening the door.
Her eyes glance off mine shyly as if she’s also remembering our hot kiss. Dear God, she looks edible in blue jeans that hug her curvy thighs and a yellow T-shirt with a rainbow on the front.That’s precisely what she is—all the colors of the rainbow.
“Come in. I just brewed a fresh pot of coffee.” She turns and walks down the hall into what is presumably the kitchen, leaving me to follow.
