Page 113 of The Last Promise You Made

I’d bring Laredo and the Lovatos down.

And then after… After, I’d let myself wander in the shimmering bubble Ryder offered, allow myself to forget who I’d been, and see where the wind blew me.

Chapter Thirty-six

Ryder

PERFECT STORM

Performed by Brad Paisley

As I started to come awake from a deeper sleep than I’d had in days, I registered the warm body curled up next to me in bed with a strange sort of peace. It belonged there. It felt like I’d always slept this way with Gia tucked up next to me and her scent surrounding me. Honeyed goodness I wanted to drown myself in. My eyes flickered open as my brain caught up to the reality.

We weren’t in my bed. We were at Phil’s house, and we weren’t going to get a lazy Saturday morning that we eased ourselves into by making love. Instead, we needed to move Addy to a safe house, I needed to pick up my tux, and then we had to head up to the Grand Laredo, where everything I loved would be at risk.

Gia shifted, rolling in my arms to face me with eyes that were wide awake.

“Did you sleep at all?” I asked her.

“A few hours.”

Her voice sounded a little better, but it wasn’t back to normal yet. I leaned in, capturing her lips. I’d meant it as nothing more than a sweet good morning, a declaration of the love I felt, but the moment our mouths joined, it was like an inferno erupted. Need slaking through me. Hunger.

Before I’d even registered it, I’d rolled her under me, pushed my tongue into the heaven of her mouth, and slid my hands under her shirt. She met every stroke with her own, palms skimming my back, hips slamming into me.

I broke away from those siren lips, trailing kisses down over the bruises on her throat, tugging the buttons on her flannel open, baring her sweet tips, and devouring them.

“Ryder, I can’t do this right—” A breathy little moan took over her words as I pulled her underwear aside, my tongue and fingers finding home.

Her nails dug into my scalp, and I wanted to bury myself in her. I wanted to be lost in the heaven she provided and cursed myself for not having more than one condom in my wallet. Instead, I found satisfaction by taking her up and over the edge, watching with delight as her lids grew heavy, and her body shivered and shook.

The smile that lit my face at watching her come apart felt like a stranger’s, larger than I’d given anyone in years.

I found my way back to her lips, kissing her. She cupped my jaw, stroking softly as she whispered a husky, “Good morning.”

I smiled against her lips. “Darlin’, that was more than just a good morning. That was, ‘Welcome to the gates of heaven.’”

She huffed out a little laugh, glanced toward the door, and then pushed me off her with a smile. When she disappeared into the bathroom, I followed, sliding up against her back, hands snaking into the opening of her shirt, pulling her into me, and kissing the side of her head.

“I wish this was all we had to do today. Lie in bed, naked, making love.”

She pulled away again, searching the cupboards and coming up with a brand-new toothbrush and toothpaste that might have been a decade old.

“I’ve never done that,” she said almost too casually.

“What?” I asked, trying not to react to the distance she was pushing between us. A distance that hadn’t been there since we’d made love, tapping at doubts I thought I’d put aside.

“I’ve never spent an entire day in bed, lost in someone.”

“Why not?”

She shrugged, looking like Addy when she was unsure. “I always had a million excuses. Even with my college boyfriend, I’d leave, saying I had a thousand things to do the next day. And ever since I joined the agency, I haven’t had the time for a serious relationship.” She was thoughtful, her hooded eyes taking in my reaction to her. “I don’t come to a full stop easily.”

She didn’t stay. That was what she was telling me, and it hurt my heart. Dug into the wounds I was trying hard to heal. Shook the edges of the trust I was trying to give.

As if reading where my mind had gone, she rose and kissed my cheek softly. “But I find myself wanting those overnights and lazy days for the first time ever. Wanting that and so much more. Wanting you and Addy and a life that means staying put in one spot for longer than a few days.”

“Yeah?” My heart slammed harder inside my chest.

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