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)
I opened my mouth to tell him about catering Caleb’s party, only Paisley beat me to it.
Except what came out of her mouth was not what I expected.
“Oh, I’m just helping Dakota get set up on a dating app.” She turned to look at me. Mischief pranced all over her lips. She cocked her head to the side, her fingers poised at the keys. “Do you consider yourself more of a dominant or a submissive?”
Me? Not so much a troublemaker. But Paisley? She loved standing at the pot and stirring it.
I was going to strangle her for it.
Only I didn’t get the chance to before the growled words sawed through the air.
“Excuse me?”
All the softness Ryder had been wearing evaporated.
Poof.
Gone in an instant.
In its place was a vibrating hostility that made my stomach quake.
He came our way, head cocked to the side as he approached.
“I’m setting up Dakota’s dating profile on this new app,” Paisley acted like she was clarifying. “It’s really detailed. It turns out our friend here is into some crazy kink.”
Embarrassment flooded me.
I was going to kill her.
“Paisley,” I snapped low. “Don’t you dare—”
Ryder slamming down the lid to her laptop trapped the words on my tongue.
“Absolutely not,” he snarled.
Paisley blinked up at him. Completely innocent when she was as guilty as could be. “And why not?”
That fierce gaze slanted to me. “Because I said no.”
I didn’t know if I was irritated or turned on.
Both, which pissed me off, too.
“Sorry to break it to you, Ryder, but I’m pretty sure you don’t have a say in the matter.” Paisley shook her head at him where he was still leaning over the table with his hand holding her laptop shut. “Our Dakota here is ready to get out and have a little fun. She’s on the hunt for the good D. You wouldn’t want to get in the way of a woman in need, would you?”
Something like fury brewed across his face.
The man was grinding his teeth so hard it looked like his jaw was going to crumble when he turned his attention to me. “Do you really think I’m going to let you out of this house to go meet some random guy? I don’t think so, Dakota. It’s not safe.”
“Ryder—”
“Oh, I see,” Paisley cut in, “because she should probably at least know anyone she might want to date first?” Paisley pressed. “Like, because of this whole break-in biz?”
That was it. My best friend was forever dead to me.
Aggression rolled through Ryder, and he eased back to standing and tossed his head to the side, making his neck crack.
“If that’s what Dakota wants, then yeah.” Something in his tone sounded of regret.
“Oh, right, good to know,” she drew out.
Ryder looked at me in what appeared to be disappointment.
Or maybe it was pain.
Then he turned and walked out.
FIFTEEN
RYDER
I was going to lose my goddamn mind.
Being in that house with her.
Knowing she was in the next room.
Sleeping in that bed.
Or in the shower with water streaming over her bare skin.
Or downstairs, padding around on those cute feet.
Or just fucking everywhere.
She’d infiltrated every crevice and had seeped into every crack.
Her warm spirit and that giving heart and that sweet body I was dying to get lost in when I knew it was the last thing I could do.
After a couple days passing with her being there, it was becoming clear that having her stay at my place was probably a terrible idea. It was something I wasn’t sure I was going to make it through, but I couldn’t stomach the alternative, either. Couldn’t stomach her alone and vulnerable.
But what had nearly sent me over the edge was walking in to find Paisley setting Dakota up on that dating app. The idea of it knocked through me like a hammer to the head.
The truth that one day, she was going to find someone else.
As she should.
That didn’t mean it didn’t nearly spin me into violence.
And kink?
“Fuck,” I grumbled under my breath and rubbed a hand over my face to keep the visions from assaulting my mind. I was at the shop, leaned over the drawing table and trying to focus on transferring the design for the security door for Dakota’s house into a more detailed sketch.
Working through the dimensions to ensure everything would line up right.
All while trying to get the painful visions out of my mind.
Before Dakota and Paisley could continue on about that bullshit, I’d left. I’d had to get the hell out of that house before I did or said something that I couldn’t take back.
So, I’d found myself here.
In my shop.
Where I could let my mind go and pour the tension into the art. Where I could believe I could build something better. Be something better. I wondered if that could ever be the truth.
If what I’d done could ever be eradicated or erased.