Page 81 of Redemption

Victoria folded her arms in front of her and rested her chin on her forearm. He did the same, dropping his head into the corner of his elbow without pulling his other arm from her. A stray sprig of grass tickled his cheek, but he didn’t move with the exception of the fingers he slowly danced along her shirt, playing with the ridge and dip of her spine.

“Why did you come see me?” Her eyes locked on him as a breeze picked up and lifted her hair, waving the tall grass behind them.

He drew in a deep breath, breathing in the warmth of summer, the scents of nature, and as he let it out, he turned over how they’d already been through the basics of that with the surprise hellos. He wasn’t stupid, and that wasn’t what she was getting at. “I missed you.”

Sweet happiness moved across her face in a way that was hard to describe except her eyes closed as though that was all she needed to hear and could relax. Hell, saying that he missed her was unexpectedly as satisfying as firing a shot.

The anticipation.

The explosion.

The gratification.

“I missed you, too… more than I expected, and maybe more than I realized.”

God, she was a sweet one, and he didn’t even know he liked sweet. But there she was, eyes closed, lying in a field under the sun as the rays lit her cheeks and shone in her brown hair, talking about how she missed him. “It’s been a long time since someone’s missed me.”

Her eyes drifted open. “How long?”

“A while.”

“You didn’t have family,” she said, more reaffirming what he’d told her a few weeks back at Winters’s lake, under the moon, so much like this under the sun.

He shook his head. “If anyone would have been family, she would have been.”

“A girlfriend?”

Ryder nodded, wondering how he should feel about Zoe, why he was talking about her to Victoria, if he even should. He hadn’t said a word about her since she’d been dragged from his life, and when he’d finally tracked her down, he had discovered that he was too late. He drew in a breath and dropped his head back. “A long time ago.”

“I’ve never been in love,” Victoria said quietly.

Lazily, despite what he felt inside, he rolled his head to take her in. Pity the men who’d missed out on her. And maybe, possessively, he liked that she’d never given her heart away, that she’d never been hurt the way he’d grieved.

“Have you?” she finally asked.

“When I was a teenager, I met a girl who was the only person I trusted. She was a real friend when those didn’t exist for me.” He shifted closer to Victoria. “Beautiful girl who made me laugh.”

“Sounds like love.”

“Yeah, I loved her.”

“What happened?” Victoria asked the only logical question.

Ryder didn’t want to answer—and he wouldn’t, couldn’t give her the entire answer because even if he said this much, some things he couldn’t say at all. “She died.”

A quiet gasp. “Sorry. I didn’t know.”

“How would you?” He brought his face close to hers, and his traveling hand stopped at the top of her back, running once down her shoulder. They didn’t kiss, but they could have. They were so close their breaths tangled. His lungs felt full, and his lips tingled. Ryder licked his lip, watching her closely as her eyelashes fluttered. “I hope you never go through that kind of hurt.”

Her empathetic agreement came without a word.

“But,” he said, wanting to kiss Victoria more than he needed to change the subject, “I’m here because I missed you.”

“Good.”

He closed the distance, letting his lips touch her soft ones. Some kisses were like fire, others like coming home. This one, her lips melding to his, was like a calming breath that devoured his soul. The complex possession scorched and still comforted him as the sun warmed his shoulders. Ryder listened to her quiet mewl of anticipation as he slipped his fingers on the other side of her shirt, savoring the touch of her soft skin.

Sweet and innocent when she wasn’t tough. Never in love—it wasn’t always a two-way street.“Has anyone loved you?”

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