Page 32 of Embracing Trust

I practically melt into him. I feel warm as his fingertips lightly graze my arm and send a shiver down my back. My throat tightens as I ache for what died between us. For what used to be six years ago. He never would’ve done what Luke did to me tonight. Ryan always made me feel special and I always knew I was protected with him at my side.

I sniff as I hold back my tears. “Can you just take me home?” I wipe my nose with a tissue. “Please?”

He holds me more securely. “Sure. Come on.” He kisses the side of my forehead.

As we start walking, my feet hurt so much from these damn shoes, and I let out a groan. Ryan tucks his arm around my waist.

We make it to the street and Ryan points to a pickup. “I’m here.” He walks me to the driver’s side door, opens it, and lifts me onto the seat facing him.

“I’m driving?” I smirk.

He rolls his eyes. “No, smarty. Sit tight.” He opens the back passenger’s door and reappears with a first aid kit and sets it on my lap. “Scootch back.”

I slide back on the front seat of Ryan’s pickup, and he examines my feet.

“What are you doing?”

He looks at me with a grin. “You’re limping and carrying what looks like brand new shoes you’d never wear.” He opens the lid to the first aid kit.

“Theyarenew,” I confirm.

“Called it.” He chuckles. “Does it hurt on the back of your heel?” The touch of his big hands on my feet sends a shockwave all through me as he carefully examines my feet.

“Yeah. Where the back was rubbing.”

He digs through the first aid kit until he comes up with a bandage. He removes the packaging and carefully places the bandage on my right heel. He examines my left foot.

“I think it’s just the right one.”

He nods as he continues his inspection. He rubs both feet including my toes. There is nothing better than a foot rub—especially after wearing a pair of heels that find pleasure in trying to kill me. I hold in a moan.

Ryan stops and looks at me. “Better?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

My foot’s better, but I won’t tell him his touch has me burning up inside.

“Now, what the hell happened, Jules?”

Chapter Fifteen

Ryan

I’m surprised to get a call from Julia and even more surprised when she asks me to pick her up from Carter Cove.

I lift her onto the driver’s seat of my pickup and retrieve my first aid kit. After I apply a bandage to her heel and give her a foot rub, a feeling I wasn’t expecting comes over me. It’s the familiarity—her sweet scent, the feel of her gentle skin. Saying I didn’t want to let my fingers continue going northward on her sexy body would be a lie. She smells so good. Like vanilla. And her dress. Smoking. Hot. And I’m sure she has no idea that between the black dress she’s wearing and these ‘fuck me heels,’ she has my complete attention.

I motion for Julia to scoot over to the passenger’s seat, and I climb behind the wheel. I don’t know what to say. She looks so tiny as she sits in my passenger’s seat.

“What the hell happened?”

Julia holds her head down to her purse and shoes that sit on her lap. She’s silent. I start the truck and head onto the main highway.

Whoever she was with better not have put a finger on her or I’ll hunt him down and he’ll be sorry he ever laid eyes on me.

“I was on a date,” she says quietly as she looks out the window into the night.

“Okay. And?”

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