AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He did not ask.
So Deuce went to his bed and found some sleep.
*************************
Jenna
“Holyshit.This place is yours?” I asked as I crawled off Ryder’s bike. I looked around, knowing my eyes were bugging out of my head. The house was like Tara fromGone with the Windand Oak Alley in Louisiana had a baby, it survived the Civil War, barely, and Ryder had bought it.
“Not finished yet,” he said, following me up the walkway to the front porch, a single hanging bulb lighting our way.
“It’s amazing,” I said, noting the piles of lumber off to the side of the house in the yard.
“Who’s doing your renovation?” I asked.
Ryder unlocked the front door.
The front porch was empty of furniture and littered with paint cans, rollers, brushes, all of it covered with a faint layer of dust.
I followed him into a dark entryway with ceilings so high the space seemed cavernous.
“Me,” Ryder answered, turning off the porch light. “Come on,” he said.
“All this?” I asked, sticking close as we walked through his house in the dark.
Ryder shrugged out of his cut and threw it over the back of a chair. He didn’t stop walking until he reached French doors in the back of the house.
He opened these doors, and I followed him through onto a back porch with sweeping views of oak trees and the Savannah River.
“It’s like a movie set,” I whispered.
Ryder leaned against one of the porch banisters. “I work construction. Always have. Grew up on crews with my dad. So when I had the chance to buy this place, I did. It was falling apart, but I could see potential.”
I glanced his way, “I’m surprised the boys haven’t tried to turn it into their frat house.”
Ryder shrugged, “They’ve never seen it.”
“Are you serious? Why not?”
He looked back toward the river. “Just something I keep to myself. They know what I do. Around the compound, if Talon can design it, I can build it. But this place has always been just for me. Been working on it for a couple years now.”
“Talon designs?” I asked, surprised.
Ryder kept his eyes to the landscape. “Used to be an engineer. White collar job in Atlanta. Had a woman there from what I understand. Not sure how he ended up down here, but he hooked up with the Dragons and worked his way to VP.”
“Wow,” I said. “Wouldn’t have guessed that.”
“He’s smart,” Ryder said.
I leaned a shoulder against the banister opposite Ryder and followed his gaze to the river. “I’m not sure why we’re talking about him,” I said.
“Figure we might as well get it over with,” he answered.
“Okay….” I trailed off, uncertain where he was going with the conversation.
Ryder was some serious eye candy. Big and dark, hair that begged for fingers to run through it and use it to hold him close. And he was quiet. Soft spoken. I hadn’t known him long, but he struck me as a man who’d keep his woman close and treat her well.
Would he use Talon as an excuse to keep some distance between us?
