Page 71 of Resist

I don’t know.

But whatever it is, before I can respond, Ryker rises to his feet and dusts the grass and dirt off his hands. He squats down in front of Lucy and holds his hand out. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Ms. Lucy. In fact, I think you just made my day.”

“I did?” she asks, beaming and shaking his hand.

“You did.”

“I do that a lot. I’m special.”

“Not just special,” he says. “You’re incredible.”

Her smile widens and cheeks flush, and I swear I’m watching her get her first crush.

I’m right there with her.

“Do you want to stay and have lunch with us? Auntie usually takes me to the store on the corner with the green sea-witch lady out front, and we have a treat.”

“A green sea witch?”

“Starbucks,” I interject, always enamored with her imagination.

“Ah, the store that makes America go ’round,” he says before turning back to Lucy. “You know what? I’d love to be your guest for lunch, but I don’t think your auntie had planned to have me along.” Lucy’s face falls, and as much as I feel like an ass, I appreciate that Ryker isn’t making me out to be the bad guy. “So maybe we can do it another time. Besides, as you noticed, I don’t have a shirt, and you kind of need a shirt to go into a store . . . and to be a prince.”

Lucy giggles and then takes both of us off guard when she steps forward and wraps her arms around Ryker. He hesitates for the briefest of seconds, almost as if he’s wondering if it’s okay to hug her back, and then he does. He holds her against him and kisses the top of her helmet as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.

If I didn’t think my heart went thud before, it sure as hell just did now.

Ryker steps back, words warring in his eyes. He starts to say something to me and then stops himself and offers a tight smile instead.

“Vaughn.” He nods.

“Ryker.”

And with his name still on my lips, Ryker takes a step backward and begins to jog down the path.

I stop myself from calling out his name, confused as to why I want him to stay when in all reality he really needs to go. The thought runs a loop in my mind as Lucy slips her hand in mine, and we both watch him run into the distance.

This was momentous.

This was something I didn’t expect, but now . . . now the one thing I would have thought could never happen—my two worlds melding—just did, and the earth didn’t stop spinning. It didn’t even stutter unless you count the way my heart did watching the ruthless lawyer become a gentle giant with the one person I love more than anyone or anything.

This was momentous.

That’s all I keep thinking even when I’m staring at the place where he no longer is.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Vaughn

I rush to the phone when it rings, not wanting the sound to wake Lucy up, only to slow when I see Ryker’s name on the screen of my cell.

We crossed over so many boundaries today I’m not sure I want to answer because I fear the next step will to be to go further.

And yet I answer anyway.

“Hello?”

“Hi.” That voice. Oh, that voice.