As I take his hand, and he curls his fingers around mine, warmth spreads up my arm and through my chest. Maybe I don’t have to be alone anymore.
“Come here.” He hooks his fingers under the chair and drags it across the floor towards him. I slide my legs in between his thighs, taking care not to bump the prosthetic.
My heartbeat thunders in my chest. It’s been too long since I was this close to anyone, and his scent is making me dizzy.
His gaze rakes over my face as if he’s seeing me for the first time. His finger brushes my cheek, and he curls a strand of hair around it.
“You let your hair grow.”
It seems like forever since I had a time to even think about my hair. “My priorities changed. I have bigger things to think about than a cute pixie cut.”
His fingertips trail down my neck and rest on my throat.
“You still look cute.”
His touch makes my skin sizzle, and my voice comes out breathless as I say, “You do too.”
His face hasn’t changed much, and he’s got more stubble. But he has the same curious eyes, and as his fingertips trail over my skin, it’s the same soft and persistent touch that sparks a fire in me. I’m drawn to him, as much now as I was then.
His lips crash into mine, and every nerve ending in my body responds. I kiss him back, hard and hungry, consumed by the need I have for him. His hand slides up my back, drawing me closer to his body. Shuffling forward, I feel him tense as I knock against his prosthetic.
I pull back. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
We’re both panting, and I glance down the hall to make sure Noah hasn’t come out of his room. When I turn back to Ryan, I see his gaze has followed mine.
He turns back to me with resignation in his expression. “I’d better make up the couch.”
“No.” My hand grabs his arm, and I sound desperate and needy, but I need this. I need him. My heart races as I peer up at him. “Do you want to sleep in my bed?” He goes still. “With me.”
I slide my hand around his waist so there’s no misinterpreting my meaning. Ryan is the only man I’ve ever wanted to be intimate with, and that hasn’t changed in three years.
His lips turn up at the corners. “Are you picking me up? Again?”
I chuckle, and his arm slides around my waist, encircling me against his body. He’s warm and hard and safe.
“I guess I am.” There’s hesitation in his look, and I pull away. “What’s wrong?” I’ve been too bold. Too presumptuous.
“I’m not the man I was, Paige. I don’t know how this will work or what I’m capable of.”
A memory of him throwing me across the bed makes my skin heat, and I trail my fingers up his arm.
“If all we end up doing is sleeping, then I’m fine with that. I just want to be next to you.”
I press my lips together, my heart racing at the admission.
Ryan tilts my chin up so I’m looking in his eyes. They search mine with a new intensity. “You have no idea how often I dreamed about sleeping with you in my arms. Sometimes it felt so real I’d wake in the morning and feel the loss all over again.”
A sigh escapes my lips. Knowing he was out there thinking of me as much as I was dreaming of him is a relief that makes my heart feel whole.
His thumb strokes my cheek. “If all we do is sleep, I’m fine with that too. But I have rules.” His lips quirk up, and I raise my eyebrows. He holds up his hand, counting the rules off on his fingers. “One. We use our real names.”
I nod in agreement. If we’d used our real names that weekend, everything might have been different. We wouldn’t have wasted three years apart, and Ryan would know his son.
“Two. We’re honest with each other.”
His eyes lock with mine, and his intensity makes me shiver. Honesty feels like a partnership, the first building block of what could be our future.
“Always.”
