Page 95 of The Way We Are

38

Ryan

“You did it again!”

Savannah pops her head off my chest before scooting to the furthest side of my bench seat. I groan at the loss of her contact. If I wasn’t spent from the spectacular job she just did sucking my dick, my protest would be more than a pathetic groan, but I’m grasping at straws.

“Every time the focus is on you, you shift it to me,” Savannah accuses, folding her arms under her fantastic tits.

I glare at her like she has two heads. “My dick was in your mouth. I’m fairly certainallthe focus was on me.”

Savannah tries to hide her smile, but there’s an impish flare in her eyes. “You’re not being fair, Ryan. I want to be there for you as much as you’re there for me.”

“You are. If it wasn’t for you and Regina, I wouldn’t be enrolled in the Police Academy,” I reply, half-smirking.

Savannah tightens her arms under her chest, her facial expression anything but impressed.

“Alright. If it wasn’t for youand your fantastic lips, I wouldn’t be enrolled.” I growl my compliment.

Savannah has no chance of hiding her smile, so she just sets it free with the addition of an eye roll.

“Ryan...”

“Savannah...” I reply, mimicking her concerned tone.

I return my attention to the road when the brightness of lights filter into the cabin of my truck. It isn’t an oncoming motorist stealing my attention; it is the massive flood lights illuminating every inch of Justine’s family estate. Just like the last time I arrived at Justine’s house for a party, I’m stunned by the number of people in attendance.

“I thought it was just a handful of Landon’s friends?” I mumble under my breath when I spot a minimum of two dozen people milling in the front garden.

“This is a handful of Landon’s friends,” Savannah replies with a giggle.

She waits for me to park my truck in an empty spot half a block away before twisting her body to face me. The smug grin I’ve been wearing the past twenty minutes turns into a genuine smile when she leans across my torso to push down the lock on my door.

“We’re not leaving this truck until you spill the beans, Ry. What was with the extra crinkle in your brow when you came to pick me up?”

I’m not going to lie; Savannah’s bossy boots persona is as attractive to me as her sex pot one.

When she sighs, annoyed by my delay in replying, I shrug, acting like it’s no big deal. “It’s nothing major.”

“Ryan ...” She doesn’t need to say more. The arch of her brow is questioning enough.

“My mom’s coming back tomorrow,” I disclose, my voice as uneasy as my facial expression.

“Oh.”

Savannah’s lips twitch as she struggles to find something more appropriate to say. “We knew this would inevitably happen, didn’t we?”

“Yeah. I guess I was still hopeful Aunt Kaci would convince her to stay in Kentucky.”

I don’t know how she does it, but Savannah somehow ends up squished between me and my steering wheel before my brain even registers she's moving. After cradling my ticking jaw in her hands, she rests her forehead against mine.

“Your aunt isn’t a miracle worker. You’ve tried to reason with your mom for years, Ryan. If she can’t hear the words of her own flesh and blood, she won’t hear anyone’s.”

“I don’t want to go back to the life I had before she left,” I admit, expressing my true feelings for the first time in weeks. “I like how things are now. I don’t want anything to change.”

Savannah awards me a reassuring smile. “Who said her return means anything is changing?”

“I have to protect her. It’s my job,” I barely whisper.

---