“Absolutely.” Ryder offered Nolan a smile that he hoped wasn’t feral. “If you need anything in the kitchen, it’s yours. There’s milk, beer, soda, tea, coffee, and cocoa.”
Nolan’s belly rumbled, despite all the food they’d shared.
Oh, someone liked that.
Ryder grinned. “I tell you what, I’ll make us both some cocoa, and I’ll leave yours outside your room. There’s a little table outside the guest room door. I’ll leave it there and knock so that you know that it’s ready.”
Look at him not being pushy.
He was so proud because honestly he just wanted to grab the little bear up, take him upstairs to the master bedroom, and snuggle with him under ten thousand blankets.
Maybe snuggle with intent.
“Um, can I leave the door unlocked. Maybe open? That way I can know I can get out.”
Rage burned in his belly for a moment. Rye fought it down and tried not to let it show on his face or in his voice. “Of course you can, sweet. And I’ll make sure no one comes into your room. The only people who might show up here are my brothers.” And he would text them and explain they needed to stay away for Nolan’s peace of mind.
“Okay, cool.” Nolan seemed to relax some. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Let’s get you settled.” He wouldn’t touch Nolan. Not tonight, at any rate.
But it was going to be so damn hard to leave the guy unsnuggled.
Chapter
Four
Nolan hadn’t thought he’d be able to sleep. He’d thought he’d be awake staring at the ceiling all night, but he’d drank that hot cocoa, and he’d conked out.
Then when he woke up, the sun was pouring in, and he would have sworn he had been drugged except he didn’t have a headache, and he knew exactly where he was.
He’d just been exhausted.
And he was alone. No one had snuck into his room in the middle of the night and tried to take advantage of him, or hurt him, or get to him, or let someone else get to him. He was safe here.
While he wanted to see Race and talk about everything, he really felt as though his brother had done him a good turn sending him to that bar. One way or the other, he needed to stay right here for a hot minute until Race came back and breathe, he thought.
There was no way he could stay with Ryder long-term. That wasn’t nice to just move into somebody’s house and camp out.
Ryder made him feel things. He didn’t know if he had a place for those feelings in his heart and in his life right now, so he had to be careful.
The room was lovely, all honey-toned wood with a big four-poster bed and a single, heavy bureau. It was all decorated in purple—not like girly purple, but royal purple, deep purple.
It felt cozy and masculine while still beingpurple.
Ryder didn’t seem like the interior decorating type. Of course, he didn’t know the bear very well, but it was that biker grizzly-meets-purple-guest-bedroom-with-nice-curtains seemed like an odd thing.
Still, Nolan was a mechanic who looked like a kindergarten teacher. So he supposed not judging by appearances worked for grizzlies as well as little black bears.
One way or the other, Ryder had been more than kind to him, and he owed the guy.
So maybe he would see if Ryder was awake. If he wasn’t, or even if he was, he could maybe make breakfast. He had no idea what time it was. He wasn’t sure he wanted to turn on his phone, because then it was traceable, and Race knew where he was, so no one needed to get a hold of him. Race could call Ryder, right?
So he glanced at the bedside table for an alarm clock or something. There was a little docking station for a phone charger, which had the time on it. It was seven-thirty in the morning. That was breakfast-y time, right?
He got up and went to the bathroom in his room to wash up and get dressed before he encountered Ryder or anyone else, like the brothers Ryder had mentioned.
Oh, now he did like the idea of that big old tub that waited for him in the huge, light-filled bathroom, and before he left, he intended to take a bath and wallow.
