Page 12 of Belong With Me

“This conversation ain’t over. I want to know everything that happened. You hear me?”

“Yeah, I hear you.” I did; I also knew he would be pumping me for every piece of information he could the moment we were alone.

“I’m not going to ask you everything when I first arrive, brother. I can wait until we get her car.”

I shook my head again. I knew exactly what he was going to want to know. I wasn’t sure I was even ready to acknowledge what I felt when I looked at her. Something I hadn’t felt in almost four years. Not since I found out Anna-Beth was cheating on me with Ethan, and I shut everything down. “Agreed,” I replied, knowing he was waiting for me to say something.

“I’ll leave now,” he told me, then the phone line went dead as he hung up.

Rubbing both hands over my face, I remembered how she looked when she caught me staring at her bra. The pale pink against the creamy skin of her full breasts was such a damn turn on. The way she blushed when she caught me and how it spread over her chest, well, if that wasn’t the prettiest thing I had ever seen, I don’t know what was.

I’d told myself I wasn’t going to look, and really, I hadn’t planned to. After all, Momma raised me to be a gentleman. But when her ridiculous high heel snapped and she went down for the second time, I couldn’t let her think I wasn’t a nice guy. I accepted the glare she threw me when I approached her, and the sass had turned me on even more. My jeans had already started to get a little uncomfortable in the crotch area. Hell, she hadn’t even been trying to be sexy and still elicited a reaction from me.

But even the sight of her standing there, looking all defiant, had absolutely nothing on the way her body felt against mine when I decided to throw her over my shoulder. Or the firmness of her ass when I slapped it, unable to stop myself from touching it. I mean, Christ, it was right there.

Fuck. I wanted to do it again.

It had looked so grabbable when she was there on her hands and knees in the dirt. It was even more so the moment my palm connected with it. I had visions of getting her on her hands and knees again, but this time it was on my bed. I would slap it while I was balls deep inside her, making her scream my name in ecstasy. I was a guy after all.

Maybe Logan was right. If that was the case, I was in so much fucking shit. To make things even harder on me, I had to go and invite her home. Being the nice guy that I was, I had offered her a room in my house. So now she was under the same roof. One door down from me. With just a wall separating us. Smart move, Ryder, real smart.

The sound of someone rustling around in the kitchen had me looking back. Savannah had indeed changed her top, and by the looks of it she… surely, I was seeing things. “Did you put makeup on?” I asked, not able to keep the laughter from my tone.

Her head snapped up the moment the question left my lips. “What?” she exclaimed, followed quickly with, “Didn’t you notice the girl you brought home had some on? I just wanted to show her that even though we live in a small country town, we take pride in our appearance too.”

“So this has nothing to do with Logan coming over?” I probed. Walking closer to rest my hands on the edge of the kitchen island countertop, I eyed her warily, looking for the emotions she tried to keep hidden away, even though she wasn’t completely successful.

“What? No. Why on earth would you think that?” Her defensiveness gave her away.

Logan was the same way whenever I asked him about Van. I had known my twin sister and best friend were in love with each other for years now. The trouble was, neither of them realized that the other felt that way, because they wouldn’t tell each other.

It wasn’t just me, either. Everyone could see it. Everyone knew how they felt. We all wondered how they hadn’t worked it out. The one thing I knew above all else was that I wouldn’t be the one to point it out. Not when I didn’t exactly have a stellar relationship history. My only serious relationship had ended when I finally realized my woman was sleeping with another man behind my back. I felt like a sucker for taking so long to work it out.

It certainly didn’t fill me with confidence that she’d looked elsewhere to get what she needed. It wrecked me. For almost six months, I did the bare basics to keep going. Since then, I hadn’t had a relationship. Guess you could say I was once bitten, twice shy I was bitten and was now shy.

But in the end, I got out of my slump. I concluded that it had nothing to do with me, and everything to do with her. She had chosen to sleep with him for what he could offer her that I couldn’t.

Money.

Lots of it. After all, he owned the most expensive ranch in town. The land was reasonably flat, perfect for cattle and he was even blessed with good soil for growing crops. If that wasn’t enough, he also had money to boot. Unlike us. Most of our money was tied up in the property and whatever profit we made each season was split between the five of us.

“No reason.” I absently swiped at something on the kitchen counter. “Anyway, Logan’s on his way with the tow. Is Sienna coming back down? Or is she going to lay low for a little while?”

“She was changing into some of my clothes. Kenzie’s keeping her company.” Checking something in the oven, she then wriggled the tray back in before closing the door. “She’s pretty, isn’t she?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I was more concerned with making sure she was okay when I rescued her.”

“Yeah. I don’t believe that for a second, Ry. You had enough time to give her the shirt off your own back, after all.”

Looking down at myself, I realized that I still hadn’t put another one on. “Hers was all ripped. It was the least I could do.” I shrugged again. “I suppose I should go get the cooler.” Quickly, I left the room, avoiding any further probing from her. It turned out that it wasn’t so fun when the shoe was on the other foot and you’re the one under the microscope.

A few minutes later, I was back in the kitchen. After putting my lunch container in the dishwasher and the trash in the bin, I offered to help Van take plates to the table.

“How many are we feeding tonight?” I asked, grabbing a handful of cutlery to take into the dining room.

“Wyatt’s taken Aria to see Maddie’s parents tonight. I think Colton left a few minutes ago in his truck. So, it looks like it’s just us, Dolly, Sienna, and Logan.”

Her response wasn’t what I had been hoping for. Instead of all the family around to keep the conversation flowing, it was going to be the complete opposite.

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