Page 80 of Belong With Me

My phone started vibrating across the counter and my eyes flashed to the screen that was lit up with the caller ID. He pulled away from my grasp, and I almost tumbled to the ground at the sudden movement. Gripping the kitchen counter at the last second, I managed to save myself from another embarrassing moment. “You have got to be kidding me.” His tone was almost venomous in nature.

Before I could reply, he headed out of the kitchen and stood with his back to me. He faced the large windows in the living room that looked out to the expansive scenery of Larsen Ranch. The phone continued to vibrate, and I snatched it up. “Sienna-Grace Anderson.” My voice sounded robotic, I wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone but Ryder right now.

“Well, hello to you too, gorgeous.” My stomach twisted. I couldn’t tell if it was because of the voice, the rift between Ryder and me, or my bad choices last night.

“What is it that you need, Mr. Sanderson?” I tried to calm myself, ensuring that I remained as professional as possible. I may not like the man, but his property was something Daddy desperately wanted.

“I have been looking over this contract of yours and I’m considering agreeing to the terms, but there is one extra stipulation I want included.”

“And what is that?” I asked. My back was ramrod straight as I waited for his answer.

Ryder turned from his vigil and looked at me. Just as Ethan’s answer came through loud and clear. One word only: “You.”

“I won’t sleep with you, no matter what.” Ryder came charging toward me, his face as cold as the arctic icebergs. “So, if that is your condition then I am afraid that I am rescinding the contract. Goodbye, Mr. Sanderson.”

I tossed the phone onto the bench after ending the call just as his hands wrapped around the tops of my arms. “What’s going on between you two? Between you and Ethan? Have you got him wrapped around your little finger, like me? Am I just some sort of game to you? Did you two discuss this thing between us and laugh?”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

“He took Anna-Beth from me. Three fucking weeks before we were meant to be married. He was sleeping with her. Did he tell you that?”

“I’m so sorry that happened to you. But there is absolutely nothing going on between us. At least not in a personal sense of the word.”

“Then what is there between you two? Why is he approaching you in bars and calling you on your cell? If you don’t even like him, how did he get your number? Has he been between your creamy thighs and experienced heaven like I have?” His tongue flicked out and wet his bottom lip. “After all, you said it yourself last night you were supposed to sleep with us, weren’t you?”

That’s when it hit me. Last night when I drank too much, I let slip what I was here for. I didn’t know why I was surprised. Anything good in my life was ripped away from me before I had a chance to make it permanent.

Ryder was definitely the best thing to ever happen to me, at any point of my life. But I wasn’t going to lose him without a fight. I certainly wasn’t going to lose him like this, with him thinking the worst of me, of us and what we’d shared. I couldn’t have him thinking that everything we had shared in these past few weeks was nothing more than a lie.

I had to tell him everything. I had to lay everything on the line and see what happened. Even if it meant I lost him for good.

“Okay, clearly I told you something last night that has been taken the wrong way, so let me clear this up for you. Yes, I was sent here for one reason. To get several properties to agree to sell some land to my father’s oil company. Yes, I have spoken to Ethan Sanderson about it and yes, I have met with him before to discuss terms for his contract, and Anna-Beth was with us the entire time.” Licking my lips, I began to pace. “Your property is another one I was supposed to secure. Yet, as you know, not once have I tried.” I turned to face him. “Not once have I brought up the real reason why I was here, because you happened. You were everything that I never knew I wanted. You made me, no, you make me feel things that I have never felt before and it gave me hope of something I have never considered. But it’s clear that’s gone before I even get the chance to grasp it.”

“Sienna.” My name fell from his lips, barely a whisper.

Turning on the balls of my feet so I now faced away from him, I sighed, then headed out of the kitchen. “I’ll just gather my things and get going. It’s probably for the best that I get out of here. I’ll get someone to drop me off in town and get Daddy to pick me up, or something.” Honestly, I hadn’t thought this far ahead; I hadn’t wanted to.

“Don’t you walk away from me.” His voice was like a clap of thunder. I halted my steps. “We haven’t finished discussing this.”

“What’s there to discuss? It’s obvious that you’re done with me.”

“Done with you? What on earth makes you think that?” Closing the space between us, he spun me so I was facing him again, and took my face between his hands in a firm hold. “I don’t think it’s possible that I’ll ever be done with you. Christ, Sienna. Don’t you see that I’m yours? Completely and utterly yours?”

His words threatened to break my resolve, and I couldn’t let that happen. “Don’t,” I muttered.

“Don’t what? Tell you how I feel? Why? Does it make it too real for you? Make it easier for you to leave me?”

“You don’t understand.” I could feel my eyes beginning to burn.

“Then tell me, Sienna. Tell me so I can understand because what I see is you running away. Running away without giving this a chance.”

Tears finally started falling from my eyes and I knew in my heart I couldn’t do it. As much as I wanted to stay. As much as I knew that I loved him. I couldn’t tell him that. I couldn’t do that to him. Not after what he experienced with Anna-Beth. To tell him I loved him and then walk away would be just too cruel. But I wouldn’t say the words aloud either; I couldn’t bear to hear them and know I’d been the one who walked away from any chance we might have had.

“I’m sorry. I can’t stay.” With pain in my heart, I extracted myself from his arms, and fled up the stairs into the bedroom that had been mine for the better part of three weeks. Haphazardly, I threw my few things back into my bags and zipped them up. Bags in hand, I was down the steps in less than a couple of minutes and walking out the front door without looking back.

The plan came to me on a whim, so I headed directly for Savannah’s car, since I had the car keys in my handbag. I would drive it to Logan’s shop and leave it there, as I knew he would return it for me. From there, I could get a cab to the airport.

As I slipped into the driver’s seat and engaged the engine, I looked into the rearview mirror, giving myself one more look at the place that had started to feel like home. What I saw almost made me pause—Ryder was standing there on the porch, watching as I determinedly put my foot on the accelerator and drove away.

Once the house was out of sight, I pulled over at the end of the drive under the large sign that indicated the beginning of Larsen Ranch. Tears streamed down my face so freely as I made my escape, making it impossible to drive. There, so close to where my time in Belle Springs started, with that damn song that I had heard so many times since I had been here playing on the radio, I mourned the loss of it. And the loss of what could have been the love I had been searching for my entire life.

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