Page 33 of Redemption

Ryder moved close and cupped both of her cheeks. The startling move was so careful—but serious—she forgot to breathe as pale moonlight cast a dreamy haze over his face. “Victoria.I’m here because when I held onto you in that basement of goddamn horrors, I didn’t want to let go. I don’t want to forget why you were upset, and I don’t want to play down how you felt or how many women I’ve pulled out of hell over the years. It’s what I do. Stopping trafficking is Delta’s specialty.” His fingers tensed on her cheeks for a breath of a second. “But I didn’t want to walk away from you because, yeah, love, you are a prize.”

He stole his hands away, and she followed them like a moth to light on the country landscape. They didn’t share another word as Victoria sank into his embrace. This time, she didn’t sit next to him. She sat with him, thigh touching thigh. It wasn’t romantic as much as it was intrinsic. They needed to touch in the dark, to feel the cadence of the other’s breathing as insects skipped over the lake, and a warm breeze circled round them with the sweet smell of cut grass and summer nights. She needed him, and for whatever reason, right then, he needed her too.

CHAPTER NINE

The scent of coffee and bacon pulled Ryder down the stairs, and he rounded the corner to face a pint-size inquisition. Clara and Ace sat cross-legged on the edge of the kitchen, eyeing him expectantly as he rolled up. Behind the tiny-human gate, Victoria sat at the kitchen table with Mia and Winters.

“It’s late, sleepyhead.” Clara lectured him as if he were one of her dolls, and that was something Mia had once said to her.

“It’s late,” Ace repeated in his copycat toddler-speak. “Sweepyhead. Sweepyhead. Sweepyhead. You’re a sweepyhead.”

Ryder reached down and ruffled Ace’s unruly blond hair. “I had a late night, old man. And while you were sawing logs, I was out doing things.”

Ace scooted over and wrapped his pajama-clad legs around Ryder’s bare foot, snaking himself around it like a little monkey. “I’m not a lwog.”

“Eating and playing in the backyard isn’t a good reason to get out of bed,” little Clara lectured.

He bit his tongue not to laugh, though Winters did. Clara’s serious face surrounded by the blond ringlets was almost too much to take. “Was I the conversation of breakfast?”

She nodded. “You left your socks outside.”

He laughed. “Sorry, Mia.”

“Wasn’t me who found them.” Mia crossed her legs on the chair as one of their golden retrievers trotted through the kitchen and ran out the other side.

“Not like I picked ‘em up.” Winters made a face.

“Good morning.” Ryder trained his gaze on Victoria. “Glad to see you up.”

“Are you hungry?” Mia asked him, barely pulling his attention from the quiet woman.

“Of course he’s hungry.” Winters gave his wife a look and stood up, causing both of their dogs run into the kitchen. “I wasn’t talking to you. Who wouldn’t be hungry in this house? But you two have been fed.”

Mia muttered at the dogs. “Think he feeds them off the table much?”

“Never.” He walked toward the counter, grabbed a plate then held it to Ryder. “Pick your poison. We have blueberry pancakes, sausage, and grits.”

With Ace still attached to Ryder’s leg, he made giant steps, each one lifting the little boy into the air as though he weighed a ton, complete with random noises. “I’m starved. But how… can… I… make… it… there with this monster on my leg?”

“I’m not a mwonster!” Ace roared.

Ryder took the plate from Winters and offered Ace a sausage link before making a plate. “Really? Only monsters eat links like that.”

“No!”

Clara jumped on his back.

“Oh, no!” Ryder faked like he was going down, easing the plate next to the pancakes before he dropped to the floor. “I’m getting it from all sides.”

One of the dogs swooped in and stole Ace’s sausage, making the little boy squeak with louder laughter. Clara and Ace both moved to Ryder’s back, bouncing on top of him as they tickled.

“I haven’t eaten!” He laughed. “Don’t… have the strength… to go on!”

“You did!” Clara cried. “You had a picnic!”

The memory of Victoria on the boardwalk in the middle of the night made him smile, even as Winters’s kids climbed all over him. “Okay, you’re right. You win! I picnicked!” This made him laugh more. Who ever thought he’d go on a picnic. Ryder rolled to the side, tucking both of them under his arms, and lumbered up. “What’d you eat for breakfast? Rocks?”

“No!” they both screamed.

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