“I have no doubt.” I reach up and touch my hand to his stubble. “What I’m afraid of is the fact I won’t get any sleep.”
“You got me there.” He plants a kiss over the back of my hand. “Sleep is nowhere on the agenda, but if you insist, I swear I’ll be content just holding you.” His dark brows swoop in as if to confirm his quasi-vow of celibacy. The truth is, I miss sleeping in Ryder’s arms. I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in a year, and that’s because he wasn’t there to hold me.
“You may be content with simply catching some shut eye, but I won’t.” I bite down over a naughty smile. We get out, and he comes around to my side. His arms find themselves a home around my waist as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “I want all of you, Ryder.” The crisp air cuts through my dress like knives as I shiver into him. “I want you in every possible way, all night long. I want to feel you deep inside me. I never want to be apart from you again.”
His stomach flinches beneath me. Ryder cradles my face in his hands and presses out a sad smile.
“Laney. We’re back.” He sweeps his gaze over each of my features as if memorizing the moment. “And I promise you, we’re never going to be apart again.”
He brings his lips to mine, and we share a kiss right here at Whitney Briggs in front of the roaming eyes of the student population. It’s freeing, blissfully familiar— desperately hungry—it’s as if Ryder had been off at war, and now I have him back again. But the war was of our own making. The battle lines were drawn by his mother, and I wonder how long we can stand again before she topples us over for good. I know for a fact I’m the last person she wants to see her son with, and that alone makes me wonder if this is all a big mistake. Can our love really survive anything?
Good God, I hope so.
Ryder takes off to look for Bryson. He asked if he could share our big news, so, of course, I said yes. I spin in a quiet circle as I head over to Prescott in my oversized, ratty Madame Thenardier ball gown. I still have an hour before I need to be at dress rehearsal. I’d like to hit my dorm room and process everything that’s happened. A part of me still can’t believe I spent the night with Ryder just like that, out of the blue.
“Laney!” A girl’s voice shrills from my right, and I spot Baya and Roxy huddled under a space heater outside the café.
I give a little squeal and head on over.
“Look who decided to roll out of bed?” Baya pulls up a seat for me as I join them. It’s freezing out, after all it is December and the threat of a serious storm is hovering above us.
Baya slides over my bag. I pluck my phone out and clutch it like a missing child. There’s a text from Mom.
Christmas Eve, my house. Don’t bring the twerp.
I slip the phone back into my purse, lest Roxy see that my mother has resumed the name-calling.
My mother never was one to mince words. I have a feeling even if Ryder and I never split, she still wouldn’t approve of him. She’s made a hobby of nitpicking at my life decisions ever since I quit working for her dance studio years ago. Izzy is still there. But, then, if she praised me like she does Izzy, I’d probably still be there too.
“So?” Roxy stirs her coffee before plucking out the svelte red straw. “Did you roll out of bedalone?”
“Of course, she didn’t.” Baya plucks at my pillowy sleeve. “It’s obvious we’re witness to the walk of shame.”
“Is this true?” Roxy wants to hear it straight from my lips.
Of course, Baya is much quicker to believe me. She doesn’t know all the gory details of what happened last year, and Roxy, unfortunately, does.
“It’s true. But we didn’t quite go all the way.” I throw in that last part in a weak attempt to save face. After all, I did threaten to slit my own throat should I ever find myself horizontal with Roxy’s brother again.
I shoot a quick glance out at campus as a heat wave from last night’s lovemaking rolls through me. I can still feel his tongue lashing me in places I’ve only dreamed of for the entire solid year.
“Told you.” Roxy jabs her straw at Baya. “They’re not like the rest of us. They’ve got some serious underlying issues they can’t get past.” She shakes her head as if she’s glad she’s not me, and she should be.
“We tried to go all the way, but we were lacking in the protection arena. You know what they say,especially in December, wrap your member. We’d like to hold off on the breeding until sometime after graduation.”
“You’re back together?” Roxy’s mouth falls open, and she’s quick to slap her hand over it.
“No.” I squeeze my eyes shut. “I mean, yes. We still have some kinks to work out, but I think maybe this time we can get there.”
“That’s great!” Baya pulls me into a spontaneous hug. “I’m so happy for you. I can’t wait to meet him. He seems like a really nice guy from what I can tell.”
“Ryder is the best.” Roxy presses her lips together like she might cry. “So, these kinks…do they involve my mother?” Roxy knows full well they do.
“I’m sorry.” I glide my hand over her arm. “But things have to change, or I just can’t be a part of Ryder’s life.”
She glances down at the table, mournful as to what it might mean.
“Look”—my heart starts racing, and it feels like I’m right back at that party last Christmas Eve—“she doesn’t have to like me. She doesn’t even have to acknowledge my presence when we’re in the same room. But if I’m going to be with your brother, I need her to respect that and not throw other girls at him. And, if I had my way, she wouldn’t badmouth me either.”
