Page 160 of The Right Move

“Ryan?” I call out.

“Yeah?”

“When did you start learning sign?”

He peeks out of the bathroom, half the door frame covering his tall body. “Your mom texted me to check in on you a couple of days after I met your parents. I asked for her advice on the best way to start learning since she was an adult when she learned too. We’ve been video chatting once a week ever since, and they’ve both been teaching me.”

Tears prick the back of my eyes before pooling at the base of my lashes because this man turns me into an emotional wreck in the best way possible.

“Your mom also helped me enroll in an online class which I’m passing with flying colors, thank you very much.” Ryan’s lips tug into a beautifully soft smile as he watches me from across the room. “Don’t cry, Blue.”

“I can’t help it.” I suck in a sharp intake of air. “I adore you.”

He chuckles, leisurely making his way to me, thumbing underneath my eyes.

“That’s why you sounded so casual with my mom when you walked in on us talking the other day,” I surmise.

“She’s funny. I like her a lot.”

“But not as funny as me, right?”

He laughs again. “Of course not.”

The pads of his fingertips graze against my cheeks before running down the column of my neck.

“Why?”

“Why what, baby?”

“Why are you learning sign?”

I’m fairly certain I know the reason, but I want to hear him say it.

“Because they’re your family and you’re mine, and the fact you even have to ask is mind-blowing to me. Learning to communicate with your family is the bare minimum, Ind.”

I guess it is, but I didn’t know the bar was on the floor until Ryan Shay walked into my life and quietly raised it to the fucking moon.

“And because I love you and when I tell your dad that, I’ll be the one to say it.”

The pads of his fingers skate along my collarbone, dusting the skin at the top of my breasts. Ryan’s eyes roam every inch of me, his pupils dilating and going dark. His hands are so commanding and controlling in his career, but he touches me with a soft delicacy as if he’s savoring every inch of my skin.

His middle finger traces my sternum, dipping into the “V” of my strapless sweetheart neckline.

“Two hours is a long drive.”

His deep voice alone has heat pooling between my legs.

“Too long,” I agree, stepping into him, my palm flattening over the zipper of his pants where an impressive bulge is waiting. “This would be awfully uncomfortable to drive with.”

“You going to take care of it, Blue?”

I unfasten his belt. “As long as you take care of me.”

His warm lips meet the soft flesh under my ear. “I’ll always take care of you.”

And though we’re speaking in sexual terms here, it’s not lost on me that Ryan will always take care of and protect me, the same way I will him.

By nature, I’m a nurturer, and now that I can look back with clarity, that part of my personality has been exploited in the past, but not once has Ryan taken advantage of me. He’s been alone for too long, and it’s a privilege to take care of him.

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