Page 55 of Forbidden Pawn

A line appears between his brows before he nods.

“You guys go ahead,” he tells the Reid brothers. “We’ll catch up.”

“Alright,” Jack agrees, and the Reid brothers and most of their men walk away, giving us a few moments to ourselves.

When I glance up at Ryker, his smile is warm and easy, a sight that sends a pleasant thrill through me.

“Do you forgive me?” I ask softly, barely above a whisper. “For lying, I mean. About who I am. And for…”

“Wanting to kill me?” he finishes my sentence.

I shake my head. “No, I never wanted to kill you. I just wanted to bring you down, you and your operation.”

“Which is why you went snooping into my office as soon as you got the chance,” he says, and my heart aches at the pain in his voice. “But I get why you did it now. June, I’m so sorry about what happened to your father. I had no idea.”

I know that he’s telling the truth, not just because I can see the sincerity in his dark gaze. He looks pained, as if he was suffering with me.

“But please believe me when I tell you I didn’t even know him. I had nothing to do with what happened to him. You know that, right?” he adds, almost pleading.

“Yes, I know that now,” I admit. “I just…”

My voice breaks and I lift my healthy hand to reach for his, squeezing it as if I was holding on for support. And maybe I am.

“Ryker, I need you to know that… this between us, that’s not… I wasn’t trying to…”

I’m stuttering, because I know I’m not speaking the full truth. I wanted to get closer to him to use his trust to my advantage, but was that really all there was? I know it wasn’t. I was attracted to him the moment we met. I just refused to allow myself to feel this way about him. I was lying to myself just as much as I was lying to him.

He looks at me, an agonizing uncertainty in his expression.

“You weren’t trying to…what?” he asks, hope kindling in his dark brown eyes.

“This is real,” I finally say, pointing back and forth between him and myself. “This is real, Ryker. At least for me. I wasn’t pretending.”

There’s a moment of silence and when I look up to meet his dark gaze, I’m not sure what I’m seeing at first. Doubt? Rejection? Affection?

“I thought you were,” he finally says. “I suspected you were trying to seduce me so I would let my guard down and…”

“And what?” I ask.

“Well, to do exactly what you were trying to do—”

“But I wasn’t!” I cut him off as a wave of fear washes over me. Fear of losing him. “I wasn’t Ryker, I swear! I’ll admit, yes, there was a part of me that saw this advantage, and honestly, I kept telling myself that’s why I was doing it, but just because I was so conflicted. I was supposed to hate you and instead I…”

My voice trails off again. I love him. I realize that now. I’ve fallen in love with the man I was so keen on destroying. But I can’t find it within myself to say it out loud. Not in this moment.

He pulls me into his arms, and I heave a sigh of relief when his lips curve into a smile.

“It’s okay, June, I get it,” he says, taking me by surprise. “I would have done the same if I’d been in your position. I would have hated me, too.”

“I don’t hate you,” I insist. “Well, I tried to hate you. I really did. But I just couldn’t.”

“Sounds like I might be just as irresistible as you are,” he says, before he silences my chuckle with a kiss.

We’ve kissed before, but we never shared a kiss like this one. It’s not desperate and fiery, not fueled by the worry that drew us together when I ran into him as I was fleeing out of the Cortesi’s hold. There was no time to express our longing for each otherthen, but now our lips meet in a soft and slow way, our tongues finding each other with deliberate restraint. I breathe in his scent, lost in the moment—until I can hear a dirty chuckle in the background.

We drift apart, both glaring at the disgusting Cortesi men who’ve been watching us the entire time. Matteo shakes his head in disgust, mumbling something I can’t understand.

Ryker clears his throat before he reaches into his jacket pocket to retrieve something from it. I can’t see what it is, because he hides it in his curled up hand, but when he opens his palm before my eyes, I let out a gasp.

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