Page 56 of Save Me

“I was curious about you, Ryker. Even more so after we started this whole fake relationship thing.”

Now was definitely not the time for him to open that can of worms…

“But…it’s like I said earlier, I can only deal with so much. I’m not looking for a serious relationship,” she admitted. “I like my life the way it is. When the time is right, I’ll know it. Being ambushed into dating men I have no interest in or having to fake a relationship is all just…I don’t know…I just want to live my life my way!”

Sadly, he understood exactly where she was coming from and it was almost comical how much they had in common without her realizing it. But if he aired his life story right now, she’d think he was doing it to make her change her mind about him.

Them.

Shit.

Walking over to her, he gently tugged her into his arms and kissed her. Her small gasp of surprise lasted merely a second before she wrapped herself around him. He loved when she did that. Over and over he kissed her and Ryleigh gave as good as she was getting.

“Any chance you have time for an extended break?” he asked between kisses.

“For more of this, I can take off the rest of the day,” she panted, nipping at his jaw as her hands palmed the front of his jeans.

In a flash, Ryker scooped her up in his arms and carried her out of the office and down the hall to her bedroom. He’d never been in there before and maybe later he’d give a damn about what it looked like, but all he wanted right now was to get Ryleigh naked on the sheets.

She was clearly on the same page because as soon as he set her down, she whipped her shirt up and over her head before reaching out and unbuttoning his jeans.

Ryker cupped her face and forced her to look at him. “I love it when you’re impatient,” he said with a growl.

“And I love it when your hands are on me.” Her voice was breathless and sexy as hell.

“Then brace yourself, because you’re about to be wildly in love,” he promised as he reached out and quickly rid her of the rest of her clothes.

If only she knew how much of a double entendre that promise was.

ChapterNine

“Ugh…I’m so bored,” Ryleigh whined to her sister Saturday morning. “Let’s do something today.”

“Aww…is Ryker not around to entertain you?” Arianna teased.

“No.” And dammit, she wasn’t going to say she missed him or that she was disappointed because it wasn’t like she expected him to spend all his free time with her. Plus…none of this was real and she never had a problem finding something to do on the weekends before he became her fake boyfriend. “And this isn’t about Ryker. This is about me just being bored. All my laundry is done, I finished a bunch of work projects and emailed a proposal to a potential client, and I just thought maybe you’d want to hang out.”

“Normally I’d say yes, but…”

“But…?”

“But I’m meeting Tessa for lunch at the pub,” she blurted out. “And before you ask about us going somewhere else to eat, Tessa requested it because she wants to talk to Mom about some school fundraiser. I’m sorry, Ry!”

The sigh was a given, but she hated that she was missing out on things because of this stupid argument.

Just…not enough that she was willing to take the first step.

Not yet.

“It’s okay. Really. I should have reached out earlier in the week when I knew Ryker was going to be out of town.”

“Oh? Where is he?”

“Some tattoo convention up in Virginia Beach.”

“That makes sense,” Ari said.

Something in her sister’s tone sounded like she knew something Ryleigh didn’t. “What do you mean by that?”

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