So close, but just out of reach.
He popped off the lid and let go of a small moan when he saw what was inside.
“It’s a twist on a classic. Lemon bars though it’s whipped in cream. They’re sweeter. Less tart.”
He reached out and ran his thumb at the tiny dimple at the edge of her mouth. “Sweet like you.”
Shivers rocked her through, and she couldn’t stop the whimper that whispered from between her lips with him touching her like that.
He didn’t look away, he just kept watching her.
His stare penetrating and complex.
“I have something for you, too, Dakota.”
Her brow furrowed, and her heart beat in a fit of anticipation.
“What’s that?”
“I talked to Todd at the bank.”
The frown between her eyes deepened.
“You’re going to get that loan.”
“What do you mean?”
He looked out over the stream, the water stained a shimmery black as it babbled over the rocks. “I came into some money.”
It was so rough when he said it. Like it pained him to admit it.
She waited for him to explain.
Patient while she felt like she was going to rattle apart.
Because she felt his agony all while there was a thrill that bubbled in her blood.
“A life insurance policy of my mother’s that I didn’t know about. One that came to maturity when I turned twenty-six.”
He shuddered, and she couldn’t do anything but reach out and grip onto his upper arm. Unable to sit still beneath the torment that raged through him. “I’m so sorry, Ryder. I…you can’t give me that money. It’s yours. You need to—”
“I’m getting mine and my mom’s old house back with it, too. It’s a wreck, but the owners are letting it go cheap. The rest? It belongs to you.”
“I can’t accept it.”
Surprise jutted through her when he suddenly hopped off the branch, and he set the tin aside. Her head spun when he reached up and grabbed her by the waist and placed her on her feet.
An inch from him.
And the sparks in the air started to shoot.
So bright they blinded her eyes and sent her heart battering at her ribs.
He framed her face in his hands, and a fire burned from his palms. “You can accept it, Dakota. Because I want to give you everything you deserve in this world. I want to watch you soar. Fly. Take hold of every dream you’ve ever wished. And I want to be worthy of watching you do it.”
Her lips parted on a shaky gasp. “Ryder.”
“I mean it, Dakota. Run after this dream. Because it’s good and right, and you’ll be offering this town something that is beautiful. Something that is so uniquely you it would be a fucking sin not to bring it to life.” In emphasis, he tightened his hold on her face. “Love is on the house.”
A war went down in his dark eyes, then she nearly dropped to her knees when he pressed the softest kiss to her closed lips. It was the barest brush.
Innocent.
But in it, she felt a promise.
He drew back, gazing at her for the longest time, before he murmured, “I have to go.”
Turning, he disappeared into the shadows, and Dakota touched her lips with her fingertips.
Never so sure of anything in her life than she was right then.
Ryder - Twenty-Six Years Old
Ryder took the twenty-four-hour drive straight through with Amelia in the passenger seat.
“I’m honestly shocked you agreed to this,” she said, angled to the side so she could study him.
He tried to ditch the cloud of disgust and shame that wept in a hazy fog from his conscience. The feeling that it was all wrong. Something afoot and amiss. “It’s my ticket out. It’s the only thing I can do.”
She laughed, only partially at his expense, like she truly couldn’t make sense of him. “Why do you want out?”
“Because this isn’t the kind of life I want to lead.”
“I never knew a hard man could be so soft.”
“I’m not soft.” He spat it like it could protect from her getting into his thoughts. Into the sacred places that he had to keep guarded.
“Yes, you are, Ryder. And not the kind you should be ashamed of. You’re the only person in this world who’s ever treated me like I’m more than a tool. A weapon that Dare uses on both his friends and his enemies.”
It was the first time he’d ever heard the regret in her voice. A haunted misery that she’d covered and suppressed.
“Maybe it’s time you got out, too.”