Page 72 of Runaway Bride’s Husband

“Maggie,” he whispered, taking my face in his hands and holding it like I was precious to him. “I need to tell you something.”

“Right now?” I opened my eyes, finding his already intently fixed on me. “Are you sure? Because I don’t know how much more I can take today.”

He swiped his tongue across his lips and inhaled so deeply that his chest expanded against mine, but he nodded. “Yeah, it has to be right now. I can’t…” He dragged in another deep breath. “I can’t keep kissing you unless you know this.”

“Yeah?” I whispered, my heart fluttering with fear, but he was still holding me, so at least he wasn’t about to say that I disgusted him or something. “Okay. I’m ready. Lay it on me.”

“I have feelings for you, Maggie. Deep, real feelings.” His thumbs brushed my cheeks. “I did once before too. When we were kids. Before my dad destroyed everything, I was going to ask if I could be your escort to your debutante ball.”

My mouth dropped open. “You were?”

A crooked, almost embarrassed smile ghosted across his lips. “Yeah, I even had an actual plan about how I was going to ask and⁠—”

I didn’t even let him finish, just grabbing him with both hands and kissing him again. While his revelation didn’t change where we found ourselves, it somehow felt like it had changed everything.

Ryan had wanted to be my escort to the debutante ball. God, how different our lives might’ve been if that happened. For the very first time, I realized that he and I might’ve been set on an entirely different path if Court fucking Thayer had just kept his dick in his pants and his hands off other people’s money. Our parents had loved each other.

If Court hadn’t been arrested and Ryan had asked to take me to the ball, my parents would’ve been thrilled. They would never have set me up with Whatshisface, and even though I could never be sure, I was suddenly one hundred and thirty percent convinced that Court and my father would’ve started their marriage negotiations that very night.

It would’ve been a match made in heaven, too. A Thayer the way they were before the scandal with a Pembroke?

My God, I would’ve had it all. Love. A marriage arranged in keeping with our family traditions to a man I wanted with a fiery passion.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” I whispered between fervent kisses. “I would’ve said yes, Ryan. Of course, I would’ve said yes.”

That part was true too. Even with the scandal, I still would’ve said yes. Ryan had been the subject of my very first fantasies back in the day. He’d been the boy I secretly stared at and the one I’d constantly found ways to spend time alone with.

I’d always been cooking up these elaborate plans to pull him away from the others, just so I could have him to myself as much as I could, and I’d been either too young or perhaps just too innocent to understand what it meant, but I did now.

Ryan groaned against my mouth. “You would’ve said yes?”

“Of course, you idiot.” I laughed against his lips and pulled him down on the couch with me, tears still streaming down my face, but they were a different kind now.

Deep down, I’d always known who Ryan was. Despite the gossip, and the criminal father, and the chip on his shoulder, and the hectic fall from grace, he’d always been the guy I could depend on. My voice of reason when I needed it most and the only person I could fight with while still knowing he’d have my back if things changed at the drop of a hat.

The only guy I’ve ever come close to actually falling in love with.

And now, he was here, the delicious weight of him pressing me into the couch and his tongue swirling through my mouth like it was trying to bewitch me. And it was working. Maybe it was just the heat of the moment, but there was suddenly another plan taking shape in my head.

A plan that I would happily follow through with and never, ever even consider running from.

CHAPTER 31

RYAN

It was official. My teenage hormones had come back to kill me.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d wanted a woman this badly. It was like I didn’t even just want her. I needed her.

My heart was slamming against my ribs like a sledgehammer and I felt oddly frantic, heat flooding my cheeks and my hands shaking when I gripped the hem of her t-shirt. Maggie writhed underneath me, tearing at my clothes in turn like she’d get to keep me forever if she just got me naked fast enough.

Not that I was complaining.

This was insane. I’d expected her to slam on the brakes once I’d told her how I felt. That was why I’d done it. I hadn’t been able to go into another night of fooling around while she might be thinking it meant nothing, and since we hadn’t gotten around to talking about it today, I’d figured I should warn her.

Instead of taking it as a warning, however, she was acting like the starting pistol had been fired on the rest of our lives together. While logically, I knew nothing could be further from the truth, it didn’t feel that way right now.

I yanked the t-shirt over her head with all the grace of a stampeding buffalo, and in turn, she ripped at my buttons so hard that some of them lost thread. Neither of us had any respect for our clothes right now, though. We just kept right on going until there was nothing left between us. I knew how dangerous that was. Especially in the state I was in, but even halfway out of my mind, I kissed a path down the length of her body, keeping my cock well clear of anywhere that might produce a baby later.