Page 53 of Unbreak Me
“Sorry. I owe you a pair,” he laughs, holding up the torn lace before stuffing them in his pocket.
“This should be a fun meeting. I’ll try not to pull aBasic Instinct,” I mumble. I grab some tissues off the desk and clean myself up before standing to pull my skirt down.
“I’m putting you behind the desk the rest of the day. I’m not taking any chances with that short skirt.” He eyes the black skirt I’m wearing like he’s trying to make sure that you can’t tell I’m not wearing any underwear. I love how protective he is over me. He’s always made me feel safe and loved.
“I’ll gladly hide out here. I’m not ready to face the guys anytime soon. I know for a fact they know exactly what went on when the blinds shut.”
“I’m pretty sure the bite mark on my neck will give it away if the blinds don’t.” He laughs when my cheeks get red thinking about it. He gives me another kiss before walking to the door. “I’m going to go check on things out there. I’ll be back when our client arrives.” He turns with his hand on the knob. “I love you.” His blinding smile melts away any thoughts running through my head.
I break out into a huge grin. “I love you too.” He pulls open the door and leaves. I run my hand over my messy ponytail before grabbing my purse and walking into the private bathroom attached to this office. I need to clean up at least and make myself presentable…panties or no panties. The…I just had sex hairis not going to cut it.
I wringmy hands together again for the millionth time as I pace the small living room. Jake should be back from the airport any minute now with his parents and sister. We thought it would be best to have some alone time with them here before they meet Ryland, and we join the others for the cookout the guys have planned.
“Hey,” Ryder says, coming up from behind and wrapping his arms around me. “There’s nothing to be nervous about. We’ve talked to them a million times this past two weeks, and they understand why you left.”
I turn and bury my face in his chest, needing his calming presence to settle my nerves. “I know. I just still feel like I let them down…let you all down,” I say into his t-shirt.
“Eve, look at me.” He cups my face, and I lift my eyes to his. “When I look at you, what do you see?” I search his greys and immediately get flooded with warmth. Tears blur my vision at the sheer intensity of what I feel when he looks at me.
“Love,” I whisper. “I feel loved.” His beautiful smile appears, causing every little worry to simply disappear.
“And that’s all you are going to see when my parents and sister look at you. No one blames you or feels like you let us down. You’ve always been a part of our family, and that hasn’t changed. Neither has the love we all have for you.”
“He’s right, you know,” Ryder’s mom, Meaghan, says softly. We both turn and see his parents standing in the doorway. We were so focused on each other that we didn’t hear them come in. She looks exactly like I remember her. Her dark hair flows down her back, and her slender frame is in white flowy pants and a black fitted tank top. She looks so much like Ryder with her grey eyes that you would never know she didn’t give birth to him. She opens her arms, and I immediately run into them.
I breathe in her familiar scent of lavender as we both let the tears fall. She rubs soothing circles over my back and keepstelling me everything is okay now. I’m home, and I’m safe. When we finally break apart, Ryder’s dad, Trevor, smiles at me with his blue eyes shining with love. His dark hair has a little more grey sprinkled in it, but he still looks exactly the same to me.
“Where’s my hug?” I laugh before his strong arms come around me. “Everything is going to be okay, baby girl. You’re home now.” I cry even harder when I hear the nickname he gave me. He always included me with Savi when he talked about his girls.
I finally break away and wipe my eyes. I turn back to Ryder, who has his arm around his mom. “Where’s Savi?”
“I’m right here.” I whip my head to the sound of her voice and see her standing in the doorway. The last time I saw her, she was just sixteen, and now a beautiful young woman stands before me. Her dark hair is loose, and her big blue eyes hold mine. We still have the matching dusting of freckles across our noses, and we both have the same five-foot-six slender frame. If it wasn’t for the color of our hair, we could be twins.
“Well, are you going to hug your best friend and sister, or do I just keep standing awkwardly in the doorway?”
I laugh and throw myself at her. “God, I missed you so much.”
She laughs and hugs me tight. “I don’t know whether to hug you or slap you for thinking I couldn’t take down that ass of your dad.”
“You probably could have,” I laugh into her hair. “There was no way though I was going to take the chance of him getting near the ones I love.”
“I know. I wouldn’t expect anything less from your selfless heart. Thank you,” she whispers, “for wanting to protect us and for fighting like hell to bring the both of you back home to us.”
“I would do it all over again if I had to.” Ryder loudly clears his throat, and I look back at him. His eyebrow raises as he stares me down.
“Well, not exactly the same way. I won’t ever leave Ryder again if my past finds a way to catch me. We’ll deal with it together this time.” His greys hold mine as the promises we made to each other linger in the air.
“Damn right we will,” Savi says. “Prison will seem like a day at the park if either of them tries anything again.
“Okay, Rocky, put the gloves down for now. How about we go find Ryland? It’s about time you meet your niece in person.” Ryder puts his arm around Savi, and we follow them out the door.
“You mean Ryland Savannah. Don’t forget the Savannah part.”
“How could I forget? You haven’t shut up about it since we told you,” Ryder laughs.
Meaghan takes my hand as we walk back to the main house.
“I can’t wait to meet my granddaughter. You don’t know how bad I’ve been wanting a little girl to spoil. I keep waiting for Travis and Sophia to give me one,” she laughs.
