Page 123 of Point of Contention

“Perfect.” I turned and deposited everything into a small box outside the door to her bedroom, then slipped my hand into hers. “Come on. We have plans.”

I hung back as Rylan and Marnie took in the view of the city glowing below, standing far too close to the edge for my liking, but laughing and giggling and enjoying every moment too much for me to command Rylan return to my side.

So I could drag her down to the safety of street level.

She glanced back at me over her shoulder continuously, a curious look in her eyes. I’d be grilled later about my fear of heights, but I could handle her questioning.

It was simple really; if humans were meant to exist thousands of feet in the air, we’d have wings.

But she’d wanted to show her mother the view from the Empire State Building at night, so here we were. More and more, I was quickly learning that I’d give this woman anything she asked for.

The evening had been full of learning little things about Rylan that made her mother roar with laughter and made Rylan red with embarrassment. It was fucking adorable and I fell for her harder with each anecdote her mother divulged.

Getting to know her this way felt surreal, so unlike any relationship I’d had before, but it also felt right. Because Rylan felt right.

Her mother offered a glimpse inside of Rylan, a window to her childhood and the things that made her the woman I love. She was strong and sassy because she had to be, forced to live in a home with a reckless, tumultuous father and a meek, often terrified mom. From what I could gather, Rylan’s father had never laid a hand on either Blake woman, but he’d been a tyrant, leading the household with rage, instilling fear in the women he was meant to care for.

Instead of protecting them, he terrorized them.

The more I learned, the more I understood why she swore she would never marry me.

But also… this knowledge inspired in me a need to prove to her that not all men were like the one who raised her. More importantly,Iwas not like the man who raised her.

She would never fear me, never question my love for her.

She would be protected, cherished.

These were foreign feelings to me, but I embraced them. I’d never cared for anything as much as I cared for this woman. The only thing that came close was my publishing house and the woman who’d created it.

I wanted to hold onto Rylan as much as I wanted to hold onto Reed Publishing. I protected what was mine, and having my business threatened sparked a fierce need to protect.

My father had tried to force my hand where Rylan was concerned, and nearly cost me the greatest love I’d ever known. He was up to no good behind the scenes, maneuvering chess pieces and threatening my livelihood with the Rombauers in his ear.

If nothing else, I would protect her from their games at all costs.

Rylan wrapped her arms around my waist, smiling as she looked up at me. “We can go back down, if you need to.” Her eyes narrowed as she waited for my reply.

“Yes,” I huffed, slipping my hand into hers. “I’m afraid of heights. Happy?”

She squeezed my hand as we stepped away from the viewing platform and made our way to the elevator, her mother on our heels. “I didn’t think you had any fears.”

Oh, if she only knew.

I feared failure. I feared losing the business. I feared disappointing my mother.

Most of all, I feared losing Rylan.

Chapter Forty-One

Rylan

My billionaire publishing mogul with the fancy-pants penthouse and too-expensive Bugatti loved cheap sidewalk hot dogs.

With relish and mayonnaise only, the weirdo. No ketchup. No mustard.

He didn’t even go for the bacon-wrapped option.

It was borderline sacrilegious, but watching him chow down on a street vendor’s hot dog, a dot of mayo gathered at the corner of his mouth, was the sexiest, sweetest thing I’d ever seen.

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