Good God, his body still does things to me. All the muscles. All the ink.
That knowing grin.
“Don’t you dare touch me.” I point a finger at him and skirt my way to the door. “If you get started, we won’t leave this room.”
“Would that be a terrible thing? I saw the way you were checking me out. You can have all of me, sweetheart.”
I snort and start down the stairs. “Easy, big guy. Inflate your ego much more, and you won’t fit through the door.”
We’re both laughing when he takes my hand and kisses my knuckles, and then we walk the quarter of a mile to the nearby lake.
“Why didn’t Ray build the house on the lake?” I ask Ryker as we follow the path. “It’s a nice size, and the views are just as good there.”
“I asked him once, and he said it was because Debbie was worried there would be snakes and a bunch of extra bugs from the water, so he built it a little ways away for her.”
I rub a hand over my chest. “God, he loved her.”
“I’d never seen anything like it,” Ryker says, shaking his head. “I think my biological mom cared about me. But I’d never witnessed someone truly loving the hell out of someone the way those two did each other. And then the three of us too. I had one hell of a shitty attitude when we were brought here, and I had every intention of being good enough to stay, but I wasn’t going to win any awards for being a good kid.”
“You and Gideon were both so angry. You’d beat the hell out of each other before you got here.”
“That was only the latest time out of dozens before that.” He chuckles. “I liked that Ray was up front and honest, right from the get-go. The one rule was ‘We don’t hurt the girls.’ I’d never respected anything more in my life.”
I squeeze his hand. “You wouldn’t have hurt us anyway.”
“Who could ever even think about being ugly to Debbie? Christ, she was a tiny thing, but she was pure sunshine. She just spewed happiness and love onto everyone.”
“She was irresistible,” I agree as we walk over a small hill and see the lake come into view. “Now, I have a serious question for you.”
He looks down at me and quirks up the side of his mouth. “Okay. Shoot.”
“Are you going to get my hair wet?”
His eyes flick to my topknot, and then he smirks. “Fuck yeah, I’m gonna getall of youwet, Trouble.”
“Damn it.” I wiggle out of my cover-up, toss it aside, and then run toward the water. There’s a beachy area that Ray built when we wereteens so it would be easier to swim, and I dive right in, hair and all, and swim just under the surface.
It’s so hot today, and the water is nice and cool, and suddenly, Ryker’s with me and holding on to me.
I wrap my arms and legs around him and fuse my lips to his as he keeps us afloat in the water.
“You’re so fucking sexy,” he says against my lips.
“Is that a fish in the water, or are you happy to see me?”
He chuckles and grinds against me. “That’s all me, baby.”
“We’re not having sex in this lake, Ryker.”
“Says who?”
“Says me. Anyone could come out here at any time.”
His brows lower over his eyes. “No way. All the guys are working. There’s no one around.”
Suddenly, we hear horse hooves, and Ryker’s eyes widen.
“You’ve got to be shitting me.”
