Page 18 of Rip Ryder's Second Chance

Maybe his words were hitting home because as far as money and opportunities went her well was dry. She and Ollie hovered two inches away from being homeless. She had nothing left to sell to make ends meet.

His laugh burrowed to the center of her bones. “We aren’t any longer.” He tossed his clothes onto the bed and crossed his arms.

“Why are you so angry? You should be happy. If I don’t come to Second Chance, you’ll have Bluebird all to yourself.”

“Yeah, can you see me jumping for joy?” He bent over to grab socks off the floor and she refused to admire how the sheet spread over his tight buns.

“Then I’ll sell it.”

“You can’t for six months. Didn’t Tuck mention that detail in the letter?”

“No, he didn’t.”

Rip sighed. “Sounds like you need to have a discussion with Derry. And do you hear yourself? It’s like you’re cutting off your nose to spite your face.”

His words made the hair on her neck lift. “Really? I was just thinking the same thing about you. In one breath you’re trying to convince me to go and then the next you turn around and say something completely the opposite.”

He chuckled. “I’m not trying to convince you of anything. I should never have come. Talking to you is like talking to a brick wall, but I will say that brick even has more give.”

“That just proves you don’t know me,” she snapped.

He took the three steps between them until they were toe to toe and he stared down at her. “I never really knew you. Right, Noelle?”

His words seethed with anger.

“Maybe you never did,” she said in a mere whisper.

“I thought I knew you as well as I knew myself. Your love for horses. Chocolate ice cream

with fudge swirled on top. Dancing in the rain. Your dislike of being tickled, unless it is with a tongue.”

His words sent warm honey rippling through her veins.

Once upon a time she gave Rip her heart. Thought they would live happily ever after until she learned that fairytales didn’t have a place in her life. Truth was, he hadn’t done anything to hurt her. But she’d saved him from the truth. A truth that he couldn’t have handled. Now she realized how foolish she’d been by thinking she could walk away and bury her feelings.

“I’m not that girl anymore,” she said.

“Yeah, I gathered that. That girl would have had the gumption to face whatever demons are keeping her away from a town that she once loved.”

“You have no idea…”

“Then explain it to me.” His fiery gaze locked with hers.

She rubbed her palms down her face. “I don’t need this.” She pivoted on her heels and stomped across the thin, stained carpet. She jerked open the door only to have Rip come behind her and push it closed. “Don’t, Rip.”

“Don’t what?” he whispered close to her ear. “Don’t remind you of what we once shared? How I made you mine with my touch. I was all yours. Branded with your scent.”

She heard him inhale and strands of her hair attached to his whiskers. “I’ve moved on,” she said in a shaky voice.

“So have I,” he sounded more confident.

“Then let me go.” Her voice sounded like cracking glass even to her own ears.

He dropped his hand. “Then go, but how long do you plan to keep running? When you’re exhausted? When Ollie starts school? How many places have you lived in the last fifteen years?”

Absorbing the meaning in his words, she turned and looked up at him. “Have you been checking up on me?”

His face was within inches of hers. “I needed to find your address. It just so happened there were a handful that came up. What the hell, Noelle? What kind of life is that? Especially for a kid.”

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