Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128801 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 644(@200wpm)___ 515(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
An inch from him.
And the sparks in the air started to shoot.
So bright they blinded her eyes and sent her heart battering at her ribs.
He framed her face in his hands, and a fire burned from his palms. “You can accept it, Dakota. Because I want to give you everything you deserve in this world. I want to watch you soar. Fly. Take hold of every dream you’ve ever wished. And I want to be worthy of watching you do it.”
Her lips parted on a shaky gasp. “Ryder.”
“I mean it, Dakota. Run after this dream. Because it’s good and right, and you’ll be offering this town something that is beautiful. Something that is so uniquely you it would be a fucking sin not to bring it to life.” In emphasis, he tightened his hold on her face. “Love is on the house.”
A war went down in his dark eyes, then she nearly dropped to her knees when he pressed the softest kiss to her closed lips. It was the barest brush.
Innocent.
But in it, she felt a promise.
He drew back, gazing at her for the longest time, before he murmured, “I have to go.”
Turning, he disappeared into the shadows, and Dakota touched her lips with her fingertips.
Never so sure of anything in her life than she was right then.
Ryder - Twenty-Six Years Old
Ryder took the twenty-four-hour drive straight through with Amelia in the passenger seat.
“I’m honestly shocked you agreed to this,” she said, angled to the side so she could study him.
He tried to ditch the cloud of disgust and shame that wept in a hazy fog from his conscience. The feeling that it was all wrong. Something afoot and amiss. “It’s my ticket out. It’s the only thing I can do.”
She laughed, only partially at his expense, like she truly couldn’t make sense of him. “Why do you want out?”
“Because this isn’t the kind of life I want to lead.”
“I never knew a hard man could be so soft.”
“I’m not soft.” He spat it like it could protect from her getting into his thoughts. Into the sacred places that he had to keep guarded.
“Yes, you are, Ryder. And not the kind you should be ashamed of. You’re the only person in this world who’s ever treated me like I’m more than a tool. A weapon that Dare uses on both his friends and his enemies.”
It was the first time he’d ever heard the regret in her voice. A haunted misery that she’d covered and suppressed.
“Maybe it’s time you got out, too.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s too late for some of us.”
There was something in her voice. Something that left him itching more than he had been.
“It’s never too late to become something better.”
He’d never been so sure of it as they made the trade with twelve men surrounding them with automatic rifles. As he’d looked down at death and knew he wanted to live.
These men got to decide his fate right then, and a true sense of terror covered him as he and Amelia gathered the four duffels stuffed with money.
But they let them walk, and Ryder promised himself he would never be in that position again. He silently chanted it as they picked up the rental car that had already been arranged for them and took turns driving back to Colorado.
He couldn’t sleep on his break, though.
He was riddled with too many thoughts.
Too many emotions.
Grief and hope.
Fear and love.
Guilt and the belief that he could be better.
And he held onto that belief when they pulled into the alley behind the dank dry cleaner’s office at just before dawn. Knew it as they went inside and tossed the bags to Dare’s feet.
As he grated, “It’s done, and so am I.”
A smile split across Dare’s face. The menacing kind. The kind that froze the blood in Ryder’s veins.
“Oh, Ryder, you’re just beginning.”
Pete stepped forward and brought the butt of his gun down at the back of Ryder’s neck. It dropped him to his knees. Dare came forward and leaned over him so he was holding onto his shoulder and muttering near his ear, “I own you, Ryder. Who is going to have to die for you to remember it?”
That was right before another blow landed at the side of his head. A blow that completely knocked him out.
He woke with pain splitting his head in two. Agonizing as he blinked open his eyes to the glaring light and tried to get his bearings.
The house he rented. He was in the bed in his house.
Dread seeped deeper when his arm brushed against something, and he shifted to find Amelia in bed beside him.
And the dread blasted cold when he realized she was too still. That it was too quiet. He flew onto his knees, taking her by the face and shaking her. “Amelia. Wake up. Please, wake up.”