I brace myself.
“My life isn’t entirely my own,” Ryder says, his focus dropping to our joined hands. “I have Rhys to care for. And he has to factor into my decisions.”
“How?” I ask gently.
He meets my gaze head-on. “I went to therapy for a solo session. To ask Rhys’s psychologist how I should approach a new relationship in my life.”
My eyebrows lift. He did that? For me? “Oh?”
“Yeah.” He smiles, a little self-deprecating. “Dr. Agard said it doesn’t matter how enamored I am with a woman. I need to take things slowly for Rhys’s sake.”
The word “enamored” catches behind my ribs, loops back, refuses to let go. Everything else loses meaning. And after weeks of wanting to, I give myself permission to brush aside that rebellious lock of hair that always falls into his eyes. It’s soft under my fingers as I smooth it in place.
Ryder stills. He looks like a big cat ready to head-bump my hand.
“Are you enamored with me, Ryder Evans?” I ask, lowering my arm. He catches my wrist, guiding it upward until his lips graze my knuckles. The contact unleashes tiny sparks that skitter over my skin, rippling through me.
“I thought that was clear,” he murmurs.
I shake my head. “No. You’ve been sending me mixed signals the entire time.”
He laughs, the sound low and a little rueful. “There’s nothing mixed about how I feel.” His grip on my hand tightens. “From the day we met, you’ve lived in my head, Faye. I haven’t thought straight since.”
Guess I’m no longer Miss Rose. Nor I’ll ever be again.
“I’ve been wanting to kiss your pouty mouth from the first dressing down you gave me,” he continues, his eyes locked on mine. “And I’ve imagined doing to you everything that Ashren does to Sarina. And more.”
Every inch of me goes warm at once. I take my hand back to bury my face in them while I die of embarrassment.
“Oh my gosh,” I groan. “You’ve read my fairy smut?”
“I’m on book three of the series.” Even if I’m not looking at him, I hear the grin in his voice. “I find the material very instructive.”
I peek through my fingers. Ryder is watching me with that devastating smile, eyes crinkling with amusement and a darker heat.
Then his expression shifts. The teasing fades, turning into a more serious vulnerability.
“How do you feel about me?” he asks.
Ah, we’re no longer playing games. This is the boss level.
I drop my hands from my face.
“Your mating dance worked,” I admit. He’s already read my fairy smut; the bar for dignity is underground. I might as well confess everything. “I’ve been pretty obsessed with you since you apologized at the Moonshine.”
His smile returns, slow and satisfied.
“But you were the parent of a student,” I continue. “And I couldn’t go there.”
Ryder leans in, eyes searching mine. “And now?”
The question carries the weight of everything we’ve been circling for weeks.
I thought I was ready to answer. But the words catch in my throat.
This is the moment when I choose. When I decide if I’m brave enough to take this leap with a man who has a son and a farm and a life that’s complicated and messy and nothing like the safe, solitary existence I wanted to build for myself.
But staying alone forever would only be another victory for my ex. Shane stole enough from me. He robbed me of everything that mattered before. I won’t let him take my future, too.
