Page 40 of Broken Player

Hopefully, by the end of this day, she’d be wound up and needy for me. At least that was the plan. I hoped I had enough self-control to hold myself back from taking things too far if it came to that. The making Ryan want me part of my plan wasn’t in question. I had no doubt I could do it and quickly, too. The part that I was going to struggle with was when she looked at me with hooded eyes, practically begging me to claim her body as mine.

That was going to be a fucking struggle.

She blew out a breath, bringing my thoughts back to my offer. “So? Mind if I stick around and help today?” I offered.

Nodding, she pushed her chair back and stood up. “That would be great, thanks.” I watched as she collected her breakfast dishes, the smooth skin of her arms on display under the clingy tank top she wore, her curves just the right proportion. When she bent over to grab the final plate, I had a view down the front of her top to the swell of her breasts spilling over the top of her lacy bra. I bit back a groan as I tried to discreetly adjust my hardening cock under the table.

She stood up, taking away my unobstructed view of the most perfect set of tits I’d ever seen. I couldn’t wait to get my hands and mouth on them, and I knew it was only a matter of time before it happened. Ryan and I had always been like fire and gasoline. Put us together, and the chemistry was explosive. We’d never explored it, but I felt it in every brush of her skin against mine, every longing look we exchanged.

Ripping myself away when we kissed the other night had been the hardest thing I ever had to do, and that included confronting my dad after everything he did to me. When she finally became mine, I knew I’d never want to leave her body. The magic we would make together would be like nothing I’d ever experienced before. I could already tell.

She walked back into the room, her hips swaying slightly with each step, and my eyes were locked in. I couldn’t help it. The best part about Ryan was she didn’t know how fucking sexy she was. She didn’t try to put more sway in her hips or wear layers of makeup or spend hours getting ready. She was just naturally beautiful, enticing, and fucking perfect. She didn’t need all that shit, and it was refreshing, especially compared to the girls I normally came across in LA. They felt like cheap imitations now in comparison.

Following her out to the barn, we walked side by side, our arms brushing every now and then. “I wanted to apologize,” I began.

“For what?” she asked.

“The other night. I shouldn’t have brought my fucking mess to your doorstep. When I left, it was to keep that side of my life from you.” I stopped and looked down into her eyes, brushing the hair the wind tossed around her face behind her ear.

Her eyes were so open and concerned, emotion swelled up inside me. No one had ever cared about me like Ryan did. “Don’t you ever apologize for that, Maddox. I’ll always be here for you, no matter what happens. Always have been, always will be,” she promised.

I lowered my head to rest my forehead against hers. “I don’t know what I ever did to deserve someone like you in my life,” I murmured, forgetting I was supposed to be keeping some fucking distance between us. But I could already feel my emotions getting tangled up. If she didn’t end up picking mewhen this was all over, I wasn’t sure I’d survive it. But I couldn’t think like that now.

She raised her hand and cupped my cheek, closing her eyes for just a second before letting me go, stepping back but still holding eye contact. “You deserve everything,” she breathed, and I didn’t know what to say.

Instead, I turned and closed the last bit of distance between us and the barn, looking at the horses in their stables. “Which one do I get today?” I asked, grateful for the change in subject.

Ryan followed me inside, walking up to the gray stallion and petting his nose. “You’ll be on Quinn’s mare, Daisy,” she said, pointing to the white mare in the stall a couple down. Once we had the horses saddled up, we both climbed up, and I followed her lead out of the barn and into the pasture.

“So, besides being engaged to some mystery guy, what have you been up to for the past twelve years?” I gripped the reins a little tighter as we trotted further into the field.

She laughed, the throaty sound making me smile. Ryan always had the most infectious laugh, the kind that when you heard it, you smiled and wanted to laugh, too, even if you didn’t know why. “Do you remember what I wanted to be when we were kids?” She answered my question with one of her own.

“Sure, a cop, right?”

She nodded. “Do you know why?”

“No, I guess I never knew. I always figured you were power-hungry and wanted to lord your authority over the peasants in this town,” I teased.

She laughed again. “Not quite. I wanted to be a cop because of the times I watched them come to your house and how they were the only ones who could make your dad stop. They made things better, even if it was only for a little while. I wanted to protect you for once,” she admitted, and warmth crashed over me as I fought to keep myself composed at her confession.

Clearing my throat, I hoped my voice sounded steady because I was feeling anything but. Ryan had always knocked me off balance. “So, what happened? Why didn’t you do it?”

She sighed and glanced out at the wide-open pasture in front of us. “Short answer? My dad’s accident.”

My eyebrows furrowed. “What accident?” Why hadn’t I heard about her dad up until now?

“You didn’t know? His horse threw him about four years ago. He had a spinal injury, and he’s been in a wheelchair ever since. That's why I’m here.”

“Fuck. I’m sorry, Ry.” I wasn’t sure what else to say.

She shrugged. “Nothing we can do about it. That’s why I came back after college. Did you know I chased you to LA? I didn’t know exactly where you were, but I knew from the tabloids that’s where you went after you left, so I ended up applying to only California schools when I decided where to go to college.”

Her confession floored me. She went to California after high school? For me? That meant she’d still been thinking about me four years after I left. “Where did you end up going?”

“UC Irvine. I got my degree in law enforcement and planned to stay out there. There’s nothing quite like palm trees and sand between your toes, you know?” She sighed wistfully, and I chuckled.

“You’re goddamn right. That’s why I live right on the beach,” I agreed.

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