by Dora Hiers
Ryker forced his expression into somewhat of a natural shape and turned around, handing Dane her coffee.
“Thanks,” she mouthed, a smile touching her lips. Now that’s what he liked to see.
The officer cleared his throat. “Yes. He introduced himself as a good friend of yours and your brother’s.”
Ryker worked hard to keep from smiling at the officer’s emphasis on ‘brother.’ “Officer Burton came to make sure everything was okay since you’ve had disturbances here recently. I’m assuming because he saw my truck parked outside.” Ryker raised an eyebrow in Burton’s direction and took a sip of coffee.
“That’s right.”
“Aww, that was awfully nice of you, Chris. Thank you for checking on me.” Dane offered the officer a megawatt smile. She angled her head slightly, and thick, luscious lips framed gleaming white teeth. Kindness twinkled from coffee brown eyes.
Ryker’s gut churned. He pressed a hand against his side. Had she always smiled like that? Or did she just flip the switch for the youngster? Ryker couldn’t remember. That smile sucked all the oxygen from the air, making it tough for him to breathe.
“So your brother’s big day. Wasn’t that last night?” Officer Burton stepped closer to Dane, smiling.
Actually, Ryker thought the man’s smile looked more like a leer. The officer’s eyes devoured Dane’s curves when she wasn’t looking.
“Yes, and it was beautiful.” Dane’s voice took on a dreamy quality, and her eyes went to some faraway place, her hip leaning against the kitchen counter a few inches from Ryker.
He stared at Dane. Was this the same girl who never wanted to go to weddings because she’d have to wear a dress? Hadn’t she always complained about listening to a string of mushy vows uttered by two people who knew they would never honor them and keep them sacred? Of course it was. She’d just grown up. Didn’t all grown up females like weddings?
“Ryker—” Dane prodded him.
He gave his head a good shake. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“Chris asked how long you would be in town.”
Now why would the officer ask that? An ulterior motive, maybe? “Actually, I’ll be making Serenity Ridge my home now. I’m here to stay.” The words slipped out of their own accord.
The original idea was for Serenity Ridge to be a temporary stopover, a place to heal from the surgery. To decide if he wanted to put the house on the market. To contemplate his career options. Come up with a plan for the future.
Dane bolted upright, away from the counter, a gurgling sound sputtering from her throat.
“Like…for good?” Dane asked, mouth gaping, eyes wide.
Why not? Wasn’t he tired of big city living? The constant hustle of men and women, racing against their twelve-hour workdays, determined to beat unrealistic deadlines. The steady pounding of hammers and the buzzing of drills in never ending construction. The obnoxious car horns and snarling traffic bombarding his downtown apartment?
Wasn’t that the reason he’d decided to recuperate in Serenity Ridge? To soak in the peaceful tranquility of this small, quiet town. To consider his career options in the wide-open spaces. To look out the window and see raccoons skittering in the back yard. To get a good night’s rest like last night, his first in weeks, even camped out on Dane’s couch, keeping an ear half-open.
Besides, most of his good friends lived here now. Stephen, Trent, Gunner.
Ryker raked a hand through his hair in the fraction of a second it took for him to decide. He grinned and reached over to chuck Dane’s chin so that her mouth closed. “Yeah, Dane. For good.”
“But what about…” Bewilderment flashed across her face, then that mega-watt smile exploded.
His stomach felt like it did a back flip and landed the wrong way. Whoa! Back up there, McLane!
“Ryker, that’s fantastic. It’ll be great having you around all the time and decorating your house will be so much easier knowing that you plan on staying, not just staging your house to sell.”
“You’re decorating his house for him?” Officer Burton scowled from the kitchen entryway. The guy’s hand still itched to grip the weapon at his belt.
Dane didn’t hesitate. “Sure. Ryker asked me to help him. That’s what friends are for, right?”
Ryker didn’t wait for the police officer’s response. Tired of the small talk, he turned to Dane, pushing himself away from the counter. “We’d better get a move on, don’t you think? We’ve got a lot to do today.”
She nodded.
Officer Burton’s eyes narrowed to slits, mouth compressed into a thin line. “Danae, can I have a word with you privately?”
Of course, he’d want a word with her privately.
“Sure. I’ll walk with you to your car.”
Victory smirked on the officer’s face. Ryker didn’t understand. Why the smirk? Not like he was competing with him for Dane’s favor.
Ah. A two-by-four of wisdom smacked Ryker in the head. Officer Burton considered Ryker competition.
“No need to go outside in the cold. I’ll just head into the other room and get ready.” Something stirred in Ryker’s brain, words the officer had said earlier. “I’m thinking I might have misunderstood something Officer Burton said earlier about ‘prior disturbances’? Was there more than one?”
Dane scrunched her eyes, thinking, obviously surprised at this question. “The police department hasn’t been called to my house more than once, have they Chris?”
Officer Burton cleared his throat and scratched his head with that trigger finger. “Not that I know of, Danae. Just the one time. Sorry if he misunderstood me.”
“Not a problem, buddy. My fault.” Ryker nodded once at the officer as he headed for the bathroom. They’d gotten off on the wrong foot, but if he was genuinely a friend of Dane’s, Ryker intended to rectify that.
“Danae, how well do you know this guy?” Officer Burton’s loud whisper reached him before he could shut the door.
“I’ve known him practically all my life, Chris.” Dane’s voice carried a smidgen of a smile but more than a hint of impatience.
“How do you know he’s not the guy who attacked you?”
Dane scoffed, then her tone rose an octave.
Ryker didn’t need to hear what she said. He closed the bathroom door with a click, grinning. Dane would set the officer straight. You didn’t live in an orphanage without learning to defend the kids you shared your life with. They were family.
Officer Burton might have just crossed a line.
****
Ryker was sticking around for good? How would she ever hide her feelings from him? From Jennifer? Danae groaned inwardly as she led Chris to the door.
“Chris, I’m sorry. I need to get ready. Ryker and I are going to the orphanage to round up helpers to do some yard work at his house today. But thanks for coming by to check on me. Your thoughtfulness means a lot.”
“Enough to—”
“I’m sorry, Chris.” Danae hated to upset him because he’d been so kind to her, but she couldn’t have him thinking that there was more to their relationship than friendship. Nor would there be. Ever. Especially not with Ryker back in town. What was she going to do? She whispered a silent prayer for peace about Ryker and a little compassion for Chris.
Danae opened the front door and pressed her forehead against the cold metal. “Thank you for worrying about me.”
Chris stepped onto the porch and turned to face her. “You know I worry about you, Danae. I’d worry about you full-time if you’d let me.”
What more could she say? She smiled, gently curving her lips, trying not to add insult to injury. “Thanks, Chris. But I have someone Who takes care of me. Remember?”
Chris’s sneer only reinforced her determination that nothing more than friendship could exist between them. That and Ryker’s reappearance. He said, “Oh. Right. God. How could I forget?”
“I don’t know. I can’t. He’s with me every step of the way.” Danae smiled. Think compas
sion! “How about we meet for coffee sometime this week?”
Chris turned abruptly, bounding down the four steps in two, and glanced over a shoulder. “I’ll have to call you. I’m scheduled to work every day.”
Danae watched his cruiser flip up a good bit of grass and dirt from her lawn, then closed the door. That didn’t go particularly well. She hadn’t meant to hurt him. She’d give him a few days, then call. That’s what friends did, right?
She turned around as Ryker walked into the family room. Her pulse did a zig and a zag and refused to settle down.
“Everything all right?”
She gulped, breathed in a long, steady breath, exhaled. Did he know how she felt already? Oh, Lord, how am I ever going to pull this off?
She nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I didn’t know if my presence here caused any problems with your boyfriend? Especially overnight.”
What? Her boyfriend?
Oh. Ryker thought he’d created a rift between her and Chris? So, he wasn’t as perceptive as she gave him credit for. She practically giggled with relief. Thank you, Lord. That was a mighty quick answer to prayer. You’re awesome!
“Chris isn’t my boyfriend, Ryker. And no, you being here last night wasn’t a problem.” Not for Chris, anyway. It was for Danae. But she’d let Ryker know that in good time.
“Okay, then. How much time do you need before we leave?”
“I’m ready. I just need to grab a sweater.” She grabbed a cardigan from the hook by the front door and slipped her arms into it. Ryker carried their to-go coffees and the bag of pancakes. “Oh, it’s a good thing you remembered the pancakes. I’d completely forgotten about them.”
Ryker grinned, handing Danae her cup and the pancakes so he could open the door. “I need something to bribe those kids with.”
Danae rolled her eyes and smiled, slipping past him through the door. “Not like the offer of a little extra spending money isn’t bribery enough. You’ll have them eating out of your hands.”
Ryker locked the door and followed Danae down the steps to his truck. “Are you good without your car or shall we get that first?”
Why would she want her car when she could ride around with Ryker all day? That was a no-brainer. “I’ll be fine without the car today.”
“Good. We’ll go by the attorney’s office first and get the key.”
Ryker opened the truck door for her. She hopped in, angling her head so Ryker couldn’t see the curving of her lips or the twinkle she knew had to be shimmering from her eyes.
Spending the day with Ryker? The man she’d loved since…how old was she when he came to the orphanage? She shook her head. It didn’t matter. Forever only mattered to people who believed in happily-ever-afters.
6
“Thanks, guys.” Ryker pumped fists with the three teenage boys who’d volunteered to help. “I don’t think the yard’s in too bad of shape. I’d like you to mow, pull weeds, and trim a few bushes. If we get going now, we should be finished by early afternoon.”
“Not a problem, dude.” Jason, the biggest, hulkiest kid in the group, squeezed into the cab of Ryker’s truck.
Ryker quirked his lips. Would they all fit? Kyle and Matt squeezed in after Jason. Apparently, they’d had practice doing this sort of thing.
Dane lifted her eyebrows, smiling. “See? I told you that you wouldn’t have to bribe them with food. A twenty goes a long way with teenagers.”
“I don’t know about that, Dane. They devoured those pancakes fast enough. Kinda reminded me of you.”
She gave his arm a playful punch, her light and gentle touch doing strange things to his insides. “Nice? Friendly? Always ready to lend a hand? Is that what you mean?”
He grinned at her. Dane always gave as good as she got, sometimes better. “That’s exactly what I meant. Ready to roll?”
“Born ready. Let’s go.”
Ryker navigated the turns automatically, driving the short distance to his parents’ house. Correction: his house. Wow. It would take a little while to get used to thinking of it as his house. The boys’ conversation and Dane’s sweet voice joining in kept the dread from building in his chest, the tiny seed of pain from expanding. What was he thinking going back to the house he’d lived in with his family? Before it ripped apart at the seams?
His granny had kept the house rented, but that hadn’t stopped her from driving by occasionally, stopping in front of the house to stare, insisting that she wanted him to make the choice on whether to keep the family home or to sell it.
She wouldn’t. Or couldn’t.
Over the years his attorney had sent him pictures of the house with warnings that the house would need a little work, some updating. But Ryker decided he’d settle in first. Then see what changes he wanted to make. And if he wanted to make them. He’d always been inclined to sell the house.
Until now. Why was that?
“Ryker?”
Dane’s soft voice stirred more than his thoughts. He shook his head, trying to rattle the few brain cells he had into working properly. “Yeah?”
“Are you okay?” Her face angled his way, her brown eyes soft with concern.
With her and the boys in the truck, he felt better than okay. His stomach quivered in anticipation, and his palms were damp. Almost excited if you wanted to put a name to it. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever felt quite like this. Was it from eagerness to see the house? Or did it have something to do with Dane and the boys in the back? The envy he sometimes experienced from watching other families together. Longing to be an important piece of a whole. Part of an energetic, dynamic set of people that cared about each other. A family to come home to. A wife to plan with, dream with, to grow old with.
He squashed that feeling back. Whatever it was. He didn’t need it or want it. He wasn’t the marrying kind. Hadn’t Jennifer pointed that out to him? The fact that he hadn’t really loved her.
Oh yeah. He’d given her a ring and a commitment. But not his heart. How could he? The people he’d loved in his lifetime always ended up dead. Or, left him, like Jennifer. The result was the same. He was on his own. Alone. Best if he didn’t let his mind wander and wish for otherwise.
Determined, he turned his attention back to the road. “Yeah.”
His voice came out gravelly. Great. The softness on Dane’s face blossomed into full-fledged sympathy. The last thing he wanted.
Drawing near the house, he slowed the truck, the drone of the boys’ voices lulling in the background, and braked to a stop in the driveway. He shut off the engine. Sat and stared, the house key dangling from his hand.
This couldn’t be his house.
Where were the holly trees his dad had planted on either side of the house? The crepe myrtles that lined the driveway? The ones his dad complained about trimming back every year? And why would someone paint the front door red?
He felt Dane place a hand on his arm. “Nothing ever stays the same, Ryker.”
“Don’t I know it.” Look at Dane. The inside was the same, but the outside? He didn’t even want to think about that. Man, his twisted gut had done a number on his head. “Let’s go check out my house.”
He opened the truck door, and the boys goofed off by dropping out of the cab, one by one. Grinning, Ryker walked around to Dane’s side, but she’d already hopped down. “Ryker, this house looks great. It’s so big. You’re going to get lost inside.”
Lost inside? Nothing new about that.
She grabbed his hand and tugged him toward the front door. “Come on, guys. We’ve got a few minutes to check it out before the moving truck gets here.”
If he’d wanted to pull his hand away, he couldn’t. He needed Dane’s strength. Her courage. Her pluck. Because suddenly his macho supply was depleted. So he followed her up the three stairs to the front door. His fingers shook as he unlocked the door.
She motioned for the boys to stand back, bowed, and with a great flourish, waved a hand to the interior of t
he house. “After you, oh king of this gigantic castle.”
“Dane, you crazy nut. Just go inside, would you? Put us all out of our misery.” He laughed. His hand found the small of her back and gently propelled her forward, the scent of the butterscotch candy she’d just popped in her mouth lingering, enticing him to follow. But he waved the boys in first. Then he took the first step into the foyer of his house.
Wow. Seventeen years slipped away like yesterday.
The open dining area and great room looked exactly as he remembered, just painted a different color, kind of a muted mustard. Nothing bright or obnoxious like the red front door. His gaze locked onto the stone fireplace in the middle of the family room, stretching the entire twenty-four feet to the ceiling. Thankfully, the renters hadn’t touched that. He loved that fireplace, the different colored stones that blended so well, the way the fireplace loomed high over the room, enveloping it in warmth on a frigid winter’s night.
“What is that smell?” Jason, fingers pinching his nose, asked in a high-pitched squeak.
“Cigarette smoke. The family that lived here apparently smoked.” Ryker glanced at Dane’s wrinkled face. “Like a smokestack. The house will need a paint job and probably new carpet in the bedrooms.”
“Mind if we go look around?” Kyle asked, the only one not gripping his nose, the bravest of the three.
“Knock yourselves out.”
They scattered, leaving him alone with Dane, who was staring at him with rounded eyes, her mouth forming an “oh” shape.
He reached over and gently lifted her chin until her lips clamped together. “What’s the matter?”
“I’m just worried about you.”
The same words Jennifer had used when she’d handed his ring back and broken up with him. All wrapped up in the excuse of “worrying about him and his job.” But Ryker knew better.
Their breakup had more to do with his phone calls saying he couldn’t make dinner. Or rushing to get her back to her apartment after a date because he’d gotten a phone call from his boss with another assignment. And add in his distraction over his cases while he was with her. What had she called it? His “save the world” mentality.
