Page 60 of Ryder

“Then I’ll drive you there and wait outside.” He turns, heading for the table with his coffee in one hand and a cherry Danish in the other. He sits in the same spot where he sat our first morning together—nine days ago.

I follow him and sit in the chair I sat in that first morning, but my gaze is on his fingers, the ones I sucked that day. I’m supposed to be arguing. Instead, I’m mesmerized by the idea of sucking my fiancé’s fingers.

Ryder sets the Danish on a napkin and leans toward me, his usual smirk in place. He holds his pointer out toward my lips. When he strokes them with the sticky cherry jelly, I open for him and suck. I’m a sucker for this man.

When he removes his finger, I shake myself out of my lusty stupor and narrow my gaze at him. “You have to go pick up your tux. I have to check on the flowers. You have to meet with Thomas about the ceremony. I have to meet with the photographer. We need to divide and conquer today.”

“Have you thought about music?” he asks as if I haven’t been speaking.

“Ryder, you can’t follow me everywhere I go for the rest of my life. It’s not reasonable. We haven’t seen Smith a single time since he waited for me outside that night. It’s been over a week. That’s a good thing. Maybe he’s given up. I think we should move on.”

Ryder swallows another bite and sips his coffee. “Claire, he assaulted you. We don’t know what the hell he’s planning. Do you have any idea how fucking nervous I would be letting you run around town doing all those errands by yourself? If something happened to you, I would never forgive myself.”

I rub my temples, trying to come up with a plan that he might agree to. An idea comes to mind. “How about if Tiago comes with me? That way, we can get everything done and meet back here.”

He inhales slowly, thinking. Finally, he nods. “I’ll agree to that.”

Footsteps entering the kitchen make me turn around to see Tiago joining us. “Agree to what?” he asks.

I push my chair out, slightly giddy from winning my first spar with Ryder. I follow Tiago toward the coffee pot. “Ryder thinks I can’t go anywhere without a bodyguard.”

Tiago grunts as he pours his coffee. “I have to agree with Ryder on this one, honey. You’re not going to get me to go against him. If you were my girl, I wouldn’t let you leave this estate without me.”

I blow out an exasperated breath. “Fine. Will you go with me? We have a lot to do today. Ryder and I need to divide it up. If you go with me, he and I can split the list and knock it all out.”

Tiago leans against the counter, blowing on his coffee. “Sure.”

If he weren’t holding a steaming cup, I would throw myself at him and hug him tightly. Instead, I beam. “Thank you. When can you be ready? I’ll go brush my teeth.”

Tiago chuckles. “Give me five to finish my coffee.”

Ryder reaches out and snags me on my way by. He scoots his chair back and pulls me between his legs before cupping my face and bringing my mouth down to his. He kisses me.

When I try to pull away to head upstairs, he grabs my hips and holds me steady. “I want your phone in your pocket at all times, understood?”

I roll my eyes.

He lifts his brows. When his mouth opens, I slam my hand over it. I know exactly what he’s going to say, and I don’t want him to talk about spanking me in front of his brother. “Ryder,” I whisper harshly.

He chuckles as he grabs my wrist and lowers my hand. “No exceptions. Don’t take it out and set it down. I put a locator on it. I’m going to check often to reassure myself you’re in one of the places you just rattled off.”

“Okay. Okay.”

“You will follow Tiago’s instructions at all times.”

“Ryder, I’m not a child,” I groan. Unfortunately, I also squeeze my legs together. Doubly unfortunate is the fact that Ryder looks down at my thighs because he knows this.

It’s mindboggling how his bossy side makes me horny. I’ve never considered myself to be a pushover. I’m fierce and independent. And then Ryder comes along, and I become submissive and meek. Okay, not meek. I’m still fierce, but damn, I like it when he’s bossy.

When it comes to my safety, I love it. I wouldn’t be as amenable if he interfered with my job or tried to tell me some crazy shit like women belong in the kitchen. I’d stomp my foot on top of his hard enough to break a bone, but he seems to get high on being bossy about safety issues.

We can’t live like this forever, though. Eventually, I’ll need to go places without him. We’re in a honeymoon stage, so neither of us has accomplished much since we met. He works a little. I work a little. Mostly, we’ve spent our time together, either exploring more of this odd mansion or making out.

We can’t sustain this existence. The town is counting on Ryder to make huge changes. I know he’s working on plans and has met with Thomas a few times while I was at the bakery, but he hasn’t had enough time to devote to those plans.

His voice drops when he speaks again. “If Tiago tells you to do something, you do it. Don’t question him,” he repeats.

“Okay,” I murmur.

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