Page 2 of Wicked Obsession

A huge weight settled on her chest. “There’s a gala to raise money for the Paladin League, I’d love to have you as my escort.”

“Can’t make it.”

“You don’t know when it is.” Langley froze and locked down her emotions. She wouldn’t create a scene. Even if it was becoming abundantly clear that while she was good enough to sleep with, he didn’t want anything deeper than that.

“I don’t think so, Langley.”

There was a note in his voice that suggested Ryder didn’t want to hear one more invitation. Well, she had her answer, right? He didn’t want to spend time with her family or friends, and he’d already demonstrated that he didn’t want her to spend time with his friends either. Who kept someone they loved cut off from his life? But someone who was nothing except a female body? Yes, that woman might be kept isolated.

Don’t make waves, don’t make waves.Butsometimes there was no other choice. She loved Ryder, but she couldn’t let him keep using her. The sign for the airport had never been more welcome.

“I think,” Langley said slowly, struggling to keep her voice level and unconcerned, “that we should stop seeing each other.”

“What?” The word was sharp as a knife and his head jerked her direction, his gaze boring into her until someone honked at them and he looked back at the road, returning the car to its lane.

“We both knew our relationship wasn’t forever.” At least Langley knew it now. “It’s been fun, but it’s time to move on.” She gestured to her right. “Delta’s over there.”

With no regard for traffic, Ryder cut over to the curb and braked hard. “You’re dumping me?”

She opened her car door. “Please pop the trunk so I can get my bags.” Her voice was tighter than she wanted, but Langley was fighting to hide her devastation.

Without waiting, she walked to the rear of the car. She retrieved her carry-on, but they both reached for the handle of her suitcase. The warmth of his callused hand over hers nearly dropped her to her knees.You’re an ambassador’s daughter, she reminded herself.You don’t make scenes.She pasted a smile on her face. “I have it, thank you,” she said as politely as she’d greet the prime minister of Australia.

Ignoring her, he lifted it out and put it on the ground, pulling up the telescopic handle for her. “We can talk about this when you get home.”

Langley shook her head. She had to get away from him before she fell apart—she wouldn’t let him see her cry. “There's nothing left to say. Stay safe, Ryder, and have a good life.” Without another word, she turned and walked into the airport.

Chapter 1

Ryder let loose with a series of jabs against the heavy bag. His boxing gloves made a satisfyingthwackas leather met leather, but the bag didn’t move, not with his buddy, Finn “Stone Man” Rowland holding it in place. Ignoring the sweat running down his face, Ryder took a few more jabs, hoping that something, anything would make him forget Langley.

He didn’t have to close his eyes to see her—the glossy brown hair that fell past her shoulders, the full lips that tipped up at the corners, and those eyes. They were brown—sometimes light, sometimes dark depending on what she wore—but it was the spark he saw when he stared deeply into them that made his chest ache. He tightened hisjaw and jabbed at the bag harder, trying to drive the memories away. Running hadn’t done it. Weightlifting hadn’t either. He didn’t know what the fuck to try next if some boxing didn’t do the trick.

Three days. Three days since she’d ended things, and it felt like an eternity already.

The breakup had been a shock. He’d always known he wouldn’t be able to keep her, that one day Langley would walk away from him. Ryder thought he’d been prepared, that he’d hear her words and calmly say goodbye, but Tuesday had shown him how wrong he was. He’d been about as far from cool as he could get, but damn it, somehow, when he wasn’t looking, she’d woven herself into every millimeter of his life.

Changing to uppercuts, he went at the bag harder, grunting at the impact his hands took despite the padded gloves. Langley. All those conversations they’d had late at night, lying side by side in bed. Sometimes they were silly, sometimes they were serious, and sometimes they’d been mundane. No matter what the topic, he’d always enjoyed those moments with her.

Ryder’s lips curved as he thought about her accent. Not American, not British, not French, not anything he could pin down. She maintained it was mostly Kiwi from her time living in New Zealand, but she didn’t sound like any of the NZSASguys he’d met. Whatever the accent was, it had always been uniquely hers.

Something else he’d miss.

Scowling as he realized he’d been doing nothing except think of Langley, Ryder tried to wipe the sweat from his brow with his forearm. It didn’t do much. August in Tampa was too fucking humid for the gym’s air conditioner to keep up with.

He needed a mission. Too bad the dumb fucks up the chain of command had put the one his team had been training for on hold. Indefinitely. Ryder gave the bag another flurry of jabs. Damn them. Jorge Torres might be headquartered out of Puerto Jardin in South America, but he was an international arms dealer, and he could have been involved in the sale of US military weapons to terrorists. The weapons that had been used to kill four men from the Third Special Forces Group in Niger.

That news about his mission being postponed had come down yesterday, and then today—to make his life more fun—Captain Nguyen had told the team he didn’t want to see any of them near this place for the weekend and dismissed them at 1500. Technically, this workout in the team’s gym violated his order, which was why he and Rowland were the only ones here.

The weekend. Two days with nothing to doexcept think about Langley. Her smile, her laugh, the way she kissed him, the little sound she made when she took him into her body—

“Ski?”

He could see her brown eyes go unfocused as he moved—

“Ski?”

The way her breath would catch when—

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