Page 35 of Ashes to Ink

Because there was no way she’d let it end like this.

It was going to end on her terms or his. Their terms.

Not Michael’s.

She was about to ring the doorbell again when Ryan openedthe door, his eyes wide, a closed beer bottle in his hand, and his shirtunbuttoned.

It was very hard to concentrate on being angry with him and theentire situation when all she could do was stare at his chest.

His very sexy chest.

A chest with the perfect amount of hair that made her wantto growl, and ink everywhere there wasn’t hair.

She really, really wanted to touch that chest.

But first, she needed to let her anger out.

“Can I come in?” she asked as she pushed her way into thehouse.

She wasn’t usually this forward. In fact, she was usuallyonly this way with her business. Except for when she had been in bed with Ryan.Then, she had been just as forward as he was. And it had been fun. Good.Neither of them fighting for control but pushing each other to go further. Tofly over the edge as they came.

That had been fun.

But her standing up for herself like this? She wasn’t reallygood at it.

But she’d be damned if she let what had happened earlierchange and ruin everything.

Ryan closed the door behind her and then turned around onhis heel. “I guess you can just come in.”

“Thanks. We need to talk.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a breath. “Idon’t want to hurt you, Abby, but you need to go.”

She ignored the little clutch in her belly at his words. Shewould let him off the hook this time and not get too angry. She wouldn’t lashout at him for pushing her away. She understood the desire, the need. She haddone enough of that when she lost Max. But she wasn’t about to walk away justthen.

“No.”

“What?”

“Hell no, actually. I’m not leaving. We’re going to talk.Because that’s not how we do things. We don’t just run away when things get hard.You helped me when I needed you, and I’m trying to help you now. So let me doit.”

“This isn’t the same as helping you out of a snowbank. Thisisn’t the same as a car accident on an icy road. Everything about this is farworse than just icy roads.”

“Then tell me what this is.”

“You saw what it is. You saw what my brother did. I don’twant you in the middle of that. I don’t want that to touch you. You deserve somuch more than that.”

“I’m going to stop you right there, Ryan. Because no onegets to tell me what I deserve other than me.”

He looked a little sheepish and set the closed beer bottledown on the hutch near the entryway. “I don’t want to hurt you, Abby.”

“You keep saying that, but that doesn’t make it completelytrue.”

“But it is true.”

“No, it isn’t. Because you pushing me away like this isgoing to hurt me. It’s not hurting right now because I think I’m still in a bitof shock over everything that just happened and I’m not feeling much pain. ButI’m going to feel pain if you just push me away and ignore me like this. I wantto help you, Ryan. I want to know exactly what happened and why. I don’t blameyou. I can’t blame you. But you have to tell me. Because that person? Yourbrother? He wasn’t you. Everything he said today meant nothing. All he did wasshow me what kind of ass he is. He didn’t do anything to show what kind of manyou are. Because I know what kind of man you are. And that man is nothing likeyour brother.”

Ryan took a step forward, brushing his finger along herjawline. “It’s not as simple as that.”