Total pages in book: 28
Estimated words: 26140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26140 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 131(@200wpm)___ 105(@250wpm)___ 87(@300wpm)
He buried himself deep with a guttural groan, his body going rigid against mine before shuddering with the force of his release.
For several seconds, neither of us moved.
Ryder’s face remained buried against the side of my neck, his breath hot and uneven against my skin while my heart slowly stopped trying to pound its way out of my chest. The belt still held my wrists above my head, but the moment he lifted himself enough to look at me, his attention went straight to them.
“You okay?”
I nodded, still trying to catch my breath. “More than okay.”
Something almost like relief moved across his face. He reached up and carefully loosened the leather, taking his time as he freed one wrist and then the other. The second my arms came down, he rubbed his thumbs over the faint marks left behind, checking my skin before bringing one wrist to his mouth and pressing a kiss against it.
The tenderness of the gesture hit me harder than I expected. This was the same man who had just held me down and demanded I tell him I was his, yet now, he was touching me like he needed to make certain he hadn’t hurt me.
Ryder pulled me against him, and I went willingly, settling against his chest as his arms closed around me. His hand moved slowly down my back in soothing passes while the other wrapped around my waist, holding me securely against him.
Neither of us spoke for a while, and I listened to the steady beat of his heart beneath my cheek as our breathing gradually returned to normal. There should have been awkwardness after everything that had just happened. Questions. Maybe even regret.
But there was none. It all felt so right and… natural.
Ryder pressed his lips to the top of my head and left them there for a long moment. “Been wanting you my whole damn life,” he murmured.
My throat tightened, and I closed my eyes, curling closer to him, soaking up his warmth with my body.
For the first time in years, I didn’t feel alone.
12
Ispent the entire day alone on the ranch. Not working like I should have but lost in my mind as I walked the property. I did a loop from the house to the barn, out along the eastern fence line, then back again. The land felt different now that I knew what Ryder had done for the property… for me.
The quiet felt heavier than it should have. Every time I stopped, my mind circled the same questions I hadn’t asked yet.
By late afternoon I found myself in my father’s office again, staring at the empty desk. The drawers had already been cleaned out, the walls now bare, and still, the room smelled like him. I hated the scent of stale tobacco and the ghost of his anger that still lingered in the air.
I sat in the chair he used to claim and tried to remember the last time I had felt safe in this house. I couldn’t because small things kept turning over in my head.
The way Ryder’s face went carefully blank whenever my father’s name came up had started making me question things. So did the way people in town spoke about him.
I’d gone into Rootstown Creek twice that week for estate paperwork and supplies. Both times, I’d heard and seen it. At the grocery store, a woman lowered her voice when she thought I was out of earshot.
“Shame about Dwayne, but maybe now the girl can finally breathe.”
At the hardware store, the clerk glanced at me then looked away, like he was relieved he didn’t have to pretend anymore. No one asked how the crash happened. No one wondered out loud. They just accepted it. Quiet relief. No questions. He'd been an alcoholic, had gotten into countless bar fights, had plenty of DUIs, and hadn’t been liked by most in town.
Ryder had been working the west pasture all day. He’d texted twice—once mid-morning to say he’d be late checking the fence line, and another time around three just to ask if I needed anything from town. Both messages were short, practical, and exactly like him. Still, by the time the sun started dropping in the sky, I couldn’t sit with the questions any longer. And honestly… I wanted to see him.
I got in the car and drove next door.
Ryder was in the barn under the bare bulb, wrapping a clean bandage around a mare’s front leg. The horse stood still for him, head low. He finished the wrap, checked the tension, then gave her a quiet pat on the shoulder before unclipping the ties. Only then did he look up.
His gaze moved over me slowly, starting at my boots, up my jeans, along the black shirt I’d thrown on, and finally settling on my mouth. Something dark and hungry shifted in his expression, but he didn’t speak. He just watched me walk closer, that quiet intensity settling over him the way it always did when I was near.