Page 90 of Save Me

“Then it’s a good thing I’m in love with you and want to spend…”

Ryker never let her finish. His arms banded tightly around her as he kissed her as if his life depended on it. Going up on her toes, Ryleigh mimicked his pose and got as close to him as she possibly could. It was all tongues and teeth and a little awkward and she wished they were back at her place or his rather than on her parents’ back deck.

She abruptly ended the kiss and breathlessly looked up at him. “Do you think anyone would care if we left?”

He nuzzled her neck. “As much as I love the way you think, we’re here for your dad and I’m pretty sure it would be rude for us to just leave.”

Groaning, she nipped at his jaw. “But…this…”

Now it was his turn to pull back and stare down at her. “Anticipation, baby girl. Think of how amazing it will be when we get home later.”

And there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that it would be.

* * *

The drive back to his house later was relatively quiet.

Quieter than he thought it would be.

And he was okay with it because it gave him a little time to go over everything that had happened.

The rest of the day with the Donovans was actually a lot of fun. Ryker already knew that he liked them—well, most of them—but getting the time to hang out with them away from the pub was very enlightening.

He already felt like he knew Will and Arianna fairly well. After having dinner with them a few weeks ago, Ryker already knew he liked them. Arianna was bubbly and outgoing, whereas Will was a little more reserved and happy to let her do the bulk of the talking. They were getting ready to move into Liam’s old house. Apparently, it was right next door to Tessa’s and he was moving in with her and sold the house to his sister and her fiancé. There was a lot of talk about renovations and logistics, and most of the time, Ryker simply smiled and nodded.

Liam and Tessa were interesting and while he found them to be a bit of an odd pairing at first, the more he observed them, the more he saw just how good they were together. Liam was very serious and seemed to just quietly observe everything—until he had an opinion on it. But Tessa was always smiling and had nothing but encouraging words for everyone on every subject. Right now, they were considering whether they were going to stay in her house or move or build a house. Everyone chimed in to tell them to stay put at least until the fishing resort was open and they both seemed to agree.

Then there was Jamie.

As much as Ryker still wanted to be pissed at him, the guy was just charmingly clueless and it was hard not to like him. He was stepping up and handling the pub for his parents and, other than making Ryleigh cry, he seemed like he genuinely cared about his family. The general consensus was that he was a serial dater who didn’t take relationships seriously and he was enjoying living his life on his terms with no entanglements.

More power to you, bro…

Patrick was a little more of a mystery. Even though Ryker dealt with him before with real estate, he didn’t really show too much of himself. He was loud and opinionated like the rest of the Donovans, but he couldn’t gauge anything beyond that. Basically, he was a nice enough guy, but…just a little cool and distant and definitely different from the rest of the family.

Reaching over, he took one of Ryleigh’s hands in his.

Yeah, the rest of the family was great, but he got the best one.

“What are you thinking about over there?” he asked, hoping it was something sexy like they discussed earlier out on the deck.

She didn’t answer right away.

“Um…Ryleigh? Everything okay?”

“I have something I need to ask you and…I swore I was going to wait, but I can’t.”

That didn’t sound good or sexy…

They were almost at his house and with a nod, he said, “Okay. What’s up?”

She must have noticed where they were too because she just said, “We’ll talk when we get to your place. It can wait.”

And it was sounding less and less sexy by the minute.

Silently, he pulled into the driveway and didn’t say a word until they were both in the house. Tossing his keys on the entryway table, he walked toward the kitchen. “Do you want something to drink? A glass of wine, maybe?”

Behind him, she laughed softly. “Maybe. We all know how I can get very chatty and truthful after a few drinks.”

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