Page 16 of Something to Someone

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and considered the possibility of him leaving without this going further.

“You should go.”

“Why?”

I turned and motioned to the toilet behind me. “I need to go to the bathroom. Because we are in a bathroom, if you couldn’t tell.”

Ryder was shaking his head, a few dark strands spilling forward before I’d finished speaking. He wasn’t believing any part of my lie.

“No, you don’t. You went to the bathroom less than a half hour ago, and you haven’t had anything to drink since. So, unless you’ve developed a very tiny bladder in the past hour, I think you’re lying.”

My jaw went slack, and I narrowed my eyes at him. “That is so weird. You’ve been watching me?”

I didn’t expect his chuckle, but I felt it low my stomach all the same. He was so unashamed by the fact that he’d been keeping track of me. It made me feel things I hadn’t expected.

“Don’t pretend like you haven’t noticed. You’ve been watching me, too.”

Uneasy with the entire interaction and how out of control I felt, I mimicked his nonchalance as best I could. My ass hit the sink behind me, and I crossed my arms over my chest. Tilting my head to the side, I appraised him. His little smirk grew wider.

“I can’t help if my eyes happened to land on you. And if they did, I promise you it was wholly unintentional.”

He licked his lips and pursed them like he was considering my words, and his response, carefully. “I see. You’re saying it’s just a reflex then, to find me when I’m in the room?”

I groaned and tilted my head back to stare at the white ceiling. The sun shining through the window above the sink reflected rays of sharp light across it.

“Oh my gosh, I hate you.”

I looked back at him just in time to witness his wide smile and watch his throat bob with a hearty laugh. “Good, it turns me on.”

My entire body tensed, and I could see in the way his smile dipped and his eyes remained steadfast on my face, that he was being completely truthful.

We were in uncharted territory. Standing on the precipice of something neither of us fully comprehended.

“You should leave,” I said quietly.

“Not yet.” He straightened, and I pushed back against the sink. I couldn’t get farther away unless I ran into my closet which seemed childish, but I kept the option tucked away just in case. “Tell me what you think I want.”

Sighing, I braced my hands against the sink behind me for extra support. I knew this would come up again. Ryder didn’t quit, and he didn’t give up. “I don’tthink.Iknowwhat you want.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble, but you don’t know everything about me, Caroline. But just so we’re on the same page, why don’t you tell me what youknow?”

“A relationship, Ryder. And I don’t do?—”

“Who said I wanted a relationship?”

I ground my teeth and tossed my hands out to my sides in exasperation. I was starting to do that a lot around him. “You wouldeventually. And starting…somethingknowing that will eventually be an issue is idiotic, pointless, and a waste of time.”

For once, he appeared frustrated. Unfolding his arms, he leveled me a very serious look behind his startling blue eyes. “I never said I wanted a relationship,” he said, each word slow and deliberate. “I don’t think I’ve ever told you exactly what I want.”

I stayed silent for a moment, knowing that the next words out of my mouth were only going to make matters worse. Even so, I said, “Fine then, by all means, enlighten me.”

Without missing a beat, he said, “To start, I want to know what you taste like, and I’m not just talking about your mouth.”

There weren’t many moments in my life where I could remember being shocked beyond words. I didn’t often trip over them or struggle to find the right thing to say. By all accounts, I talked too much. But around Ryder, especially when he said things like that, I couldn’t seem to speak.

He took the invitation of my silence to take a step forward, then another. With a few feet between us, I could smell the woodsy spice of his cologne mixed with the sunshine clinging to his skin.

His stubble-covered jaw tensed, and images of those cheeks pressed against my inner thighs, scraping against my skin as he did what he wanted, made it hard to swallow.

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