by Zoe York
“We’ll try to stay out of your hair as much as possible. The Minellis invited us to stay with them, if you’d rather.”
If it was Gloria, Ryan would have protested, worrying the question was a trap, but Mike was always straight with him. “Stay here tonight. But you might find it a little less noisy over at Anne and Alessandro’s after that.”
And if Ryan wanted his own privacy…well, there was that, too.
“I might just take a walk down to the house, do you think they’ll mind?”
“Um…” There was no good reason for his father-in-law not to visit the lake house. His house. “Probably not.”
Mike stood and clapped Ryan on the shoulder. “I’ll take the kids.”
Oh fuck. “They’re probably having fun with Gloria…”
It was too late. Mike strolled to the bottom of the stairs. “Who wants to take a walk down to Grandma and Grandpa’s house?”
A chorus of “Me!”s came blasting down the stairs, followed quickly by a herd of excited children.
Ryan barely had time to send a warning text to Holly before he was following his family down the secret path between the houses, a terrible sense of impending doom twisting his guts into knots.
The boys were walking on either side of their grandfather, and Maya was hanging onto Gloria’s hand, skipping along in excitement.
Of course she’s excited, she’s going to see Holly, who is made of light and magic because she’s a fairy. He couldn’t disagree with his daughter’s assessment, either, but the thought of his in-laws scrutinizing how close his kids were to the woman he was secretly sleeping with made him want to blow something up as a distraction.
If only his demolitions certification hadn’t lapsed.
And all the nearest C4 explosive was at the base in Meaford, a solid hour away.
Toss in the live grenade of being a criminal act, and it wasn’t his best coping strategy.
So he grit his teeth and hung back as their little parade came out into the clearing…and stumbled onto a tea party.
Jesus Christ.
Holly gave him a wide-eyed look as she glanced up from her phone, obviously just getting his text message right now. She was sitting on a blanket spread out on the grass with two other women, Parvati on her left, and he assumed the smaller, dark-haired woman with big lips and an even bigger voice on her right was her friend Liana.
“Hi folks,” Mike said in that booming voice of his, honed from decades spent running his own construction company. “Mike Fenich, nice to meet you. No, don’t get up, sorry to interrupt. We’re just going for a walk with our grandkids. We’re the property owners, actually, but we’re happy to stay out of your hair while you make your movie. The wife and I were just down south for a while, and our son-in-law there says all has been quiet here, which is great. We just missed the place a bit, thought we’d walk around.”
Holly got up anyway, because she was awesome that way, and she could probably tell that Maya was four seconds away from joining them. “Would you like to join us? We could move onto the deck. I’m Hope Creswell, by the way, and this is Parvati Spencer, and—”
“Liana Hansen on a blanket in my backyard, oh my word,” Gloria breathed, fluttering her hands. “I have to tell you, Ms. Hansen, I am just such a fan, and your newest album is a work of art.”
Ryan breathed a sigh of relief as his mother-in-law and the country music singer started talking. Good. Maybe the veil of celebrity would mask the inappropriate level of heat that simmered between him and Holly.
“Hope’s secret name is Holly,” Jack said not so quietly to his grandfather, and Holly laughed.
“That’s true. You can call me whatever you want. Would anyone like tea, or can I get you beer or wine?”
Maya tugged Gloria over to the blanket. “We want tea, right Grandma?”
“Well, yes, I think I’d love a cup of tea.”
Like he’d been watching all along, Holly’s assistant Emmett appeared with a tray. More mugs for tea, and two bottles of beer. He handed one to Mike, and the other to Ryan—with a look that said he knew this must be awkward. Great. So that made Olivia and Emmett and probably their respective spouses who knew their secret. Add in Ryan’s kids, who probably hadn’t guessed the kissing part but definitely knew Holly was a special friend, and their secret didn’t feel so safe anymore.
Ryan downed half his beer right away, then took a slow turn around the yard, keeping an eye—and an ear—on his kids. His initial assessment of Holly’s friend was that she was lovely and gracious and more than a little overwhelming. Plus obviously high-maintenance, which didn’t matter to him, but it was quite the contrast to Holly’s natural appeal. As the impromptu party continued and everyone moved onto the deck for munchies, he had the misfortune of being trapped in conversation by the woman.
It didn’t take long for him to realize that she knew their secret as well. And she was very excited about it.
Holly rescued him, somehow conjuring Joshua Pearce from thin air, and Liana moved on to bat her false eyelashes at the actor. After making the introduction, Holly drifted back in Ryan’s direction. He watched as she did it, with subtle misdirection, talking to Gavin about Minecraft as she backed up against the railing right next to Ryan.
This woman can do anything she puts her mind to, he thought. He was a lucky asshole that she put her mind to him.
“Having fun?”
“Kill me now.”
She just smiled, looking out over the gathering of people. She watched her best friend like he watched the kids. “You don’t like her.”
“I don’t know her.” He wanted to choose his answer carefully. “She loves you, and so I like that about her. But she’s…intense.”
Holly laughed quietly, her shoulder shaking against his biceps.
He resisted the urge to turn and just watch her be happy. “You’re very different.”
“I had a lot of different influences in my life. I’ve learned to look below the surface of people. Under all of that, Liana has a heart of gold. And when I met her, I realized…this is what it is to have family. To be loved, unconditionally.”
With a start, Ryan realized that for all the poor me sobbing he’d done to Holly about his kids not having their mother, she’d never once pointed out that she’d done just fine without a father, and really, without a caring mother, too. Shit. “I think you should get a lot of credit for finding her and making yourself a family. You probably should get credit for raising yourself,” he said gruffly. “You’re pretty amazing.”
She didn’t say anything, just smiled again, but her shoulder pressed against his arm again, and this time she didn’t move away.
— —
After dinner, Gloria asked if she could help the kids with their bath and bed routine. Ryan waved her on upstairs, fully expecting at least Maya to want him there at the end, but for now, they all looked happy with Grandma being in charge.
“You got any scotch, my boy?” Mike asked once they were alone. Ryan nodded and went to the cupboard.
“You got me my first bottle of this stuff,” he said as he slid the finger-and-a-generous-half across the table.
Mike just nodded, then tipped his head to the porch. “Let’s go outside. I want to smoke a cigar with this.”
Shit. That meant he wanted to talk. But Ryan couldn’t very well dodge a conversation his father-in-law deserved to ask him for. “Sounds good.”
It didn’t take long. “So Hope Creswell’s quite pretty.”
“She’s kind and thoughtful, too.” If he was going to be taken to task, it wasn’t for being a randy teenager.
“I can see that.” His father-in-law lit up, dragging a few deep breaths through the cigar before continuing. “The kids seem like they’ve spent a lot of time with her.”
“Some. They’ll be sad when she leaves.”
“Few more weeks, eh?”
Ryan nodded, ignoring the stabbing pain in his chest. That was the price he had to pay.
“You going to keep in touch with her?”
“I don’t know.” He honestly didn’t know if he could—or if he could not. “Probably not.”
It was the more likely outcome. At first they might exchange emails, but over time…And when she started dating someone else, he wouldn’t be able to handle it. He knew that without a doubt.
“I gotta say, it was a surprise to see you cozy up to her on the deck like that.”
Ryan clamped his jaw shut, biting back the none-of-your-fucking-business response that almost spilled out. They’d been completely appropriate today. As they always had. “Do you have a problem with something I did today, Mike?”
His father-in-law shook his head slowly. “Don’t put words in my mouth. We’re more concerned about what you have to say about it than anything else.”
“To you? Or to her?” Ryan clenched his fists at his sides, then relaxed his fingers, wiggling out the tension. “First of all, to my family her name is Holly. She knows about Lynn. She knows how much I loved your daughter, about the life we built here. How private I am about how Lynn died, and how I’d never do anything to expose my children—”
“Okay.” But the harsh tone didn’t match the agreeable response. “It’s just hard to see.”
“I can appreciate that.” That hurt to say. He hadn’t asked to lose his wife. Hadn’t asked to be alone. Hadn’t asked to meet someone else, someone famous, someone incompatible with life in his sleepy little town. “You’re not going to see anything else.”
“You sure about that?”
“With all due respect, Mike, I’m not sure what you’re asking me.” That was a lie, and they both knew it.
“You look like you’re falling head over heels in lust with the woman, Ryan.” As Mike talked, his words pulled tighter and tighter, revealing just how angry he was. “It’s embarrassing. And if it’s obvious to me, then it’s obvious to the kids.”
“No!” Ryan snapped. “You see something because you’ve come back after being gone for three months, and when you left I was a sad sack of shit and now I’m happy again. Barely happy, I might point out. How about you ask me a different question? Ask me if I still miss Lynn. Because I do, every minute of every day. Even when I’m with Holly, talking at a party. You didn’t see anything inappropriate today. And the kids have seen me pull out of my shell because of a friend. They’ve done the same. Our fleeting acquaintance with her will end. It has to, because we exist in different worlds. But we’ll forever be better for knowing her, and I’m not going to apologize to you or anyone else for being happy about that.” He’d probably gone too far, said too much, but it didn’t matter. It was done. Without looking at his father-in-law, he nodded at the dark. “I’m going to go in and check on the kids.”
— NINETEEN —
HOLLY was reaching for her phone, to text Ryan that the coast was clear for a late night visit if he could get away, when he knocked quietly at the sliding door.
She hopped up and let him in, giving him a quick hug. “I was just going to invite you over. Is everything okay?”
“I had a fight with my father-in-law,” he said with a groan as she led him to the couch where she curled up next to him. “Before the kids went to bed, although they were inside and we were outside…Then we made nice for a bit, but once my mother-in-law went to bed, I told him I was going for a walk. Pretty sure he knew I meant I was coming here since walking into town would be stupid.”
She wrapped her arms around her knees. She wanted to wrap them around him, hold him tight and tell him it was okay, but she wasn’t sure it was. “Did you tell him…”
Ryan shook his head. “Yes and no. He guessed.” His gaze was pinned to the floor. “I told him it was none of his business.”
“It’s not.” She gently bumped the back of her hand into his arm. “What we’re doing is just between us. If he saw it, he had to have been looking pretty hard.”
“I’m sorry that I’m keeping this a secret.”
“It’s okay.” It really was. She didn’t have any right to ask for more, knowing it would hurt him. “Do you want to come up to bed for a bit?”
“No.” But he pulled her in close, his lips playing against hers, lightly at first, then harder, more insistent. When his tongue hit hers, and she could taste his need, she pulled back and grabbed his hand.
“Come on.”
“Holly, I don’t want—” She stopped and looked at him, and he flushed. “I don’t want to use you for sex.”
She was speechless. Ryan using her for sex would be awesome. Lips parted, she just gaped at him for a moment, then laughed. “Come on, my lumberjack.”
“Where’s your friend?”
“Liana’s gone over to Joshua’s cabin for drinks. I’m sure she’s going to violate him in ways I don’t want to think about.” She laughed as she led him up the stairs. Emmett’s light was already out, but the master bedroom was at the end of the hall, around a bend. It was pretty private.
As they entered the room, she realized he knew this house better than she did, although the furniture was all rented—a rider demand her agent insisted on when they rented accommodations for her. It had always felt silly in the past, but she was insanely grateful at the moment that this was, for all intents and purposes, her room she was welcoming him into. On the walls were generic rented art, and a picture of her and Liana she took everywhere with her. Nothing to remind Ryan of his wife or his in-laws or anything other than losing himself for an hour or two.
“So,” she said, spinning in his arms as he tried to kiss her neck. “You want to use me for sex, huh?”
“That’s not what I said,” he murmured, brushing her jaw with his lips. “Get back here.”
“Nope.” She planted her hands in his chest and shoved him away with a smile. “Go sit on the bed.”
He laughed and stepped right back into her personal space with a single stride. “Not a chance. I want my hands on you. I want to make you scream.”
Her breath caught in her throat. She wanted that, too. But they needed to be quiet. “Someone might hear me.”
“Maybe I don’t care.”
“You do.” Sighing as he wrapped his arms around her, she melted into him. He held her in place as he loved her neck, then took her mouth again. This time she gave in to the passion between them, sliding her fingers through his hair as they clung to each other, hungrily kissing while moving in the general direction of the bed.
He tugged her t-shirt up, and her sports bra down, kneading her breast, each roll of his palm over her nipple making her insides tug in a filthy way. She reached for him, too, getting his belt open and his fly down, his jeans slipping low on his hips as she fished his erection out of his boxers. His hand splayed wide in the small of her back, his fingers tucked into the waistband of her yoga shorts, he pulled her against him, her fist caught between their bodies.
With each slow pump of her hand, he squeezed them tighter, until she couldn’t move at all, but she still pulsed her grip around his swollen length.
“I can think of a way to keep me nice and quiet,” she whispered, teasing the tip of her tongue along his lips. “Stuff my mouth with something. Maybe something big and hard.”
Laughing, Ryan released her. “Be my guest.”
She stripped off her t-shirt first, then dropped to her knees on the plush rug beside her bed. Ryan’s erection bobbed in the air in front of her, and she immediately ran her nose down the shaft, pressing a kiss to the taut skin of his lower abdomen, right above his dark curls. Licking her way back up to the wide crown, she kissed him again there, a tiny peck that made him flex.
“Lick it again,” he groaned.
She did. Over and over again, until he was throbbing in her hand, pre-come leaking from the tip, and his hand had snaked into her hair.
When he growled for her to suck on him, she did that, too, but not before issuing an invitation for him to finish in her mouth.
He did.
She pressed her face to
his thigh, waiting for him to catch his breath. He smoothed his hand over her hair and she leaned into him, and as soon as his thighs stopped shaking, he hauled her up and tossed her onto the bed.
Crawling over her, he kissed away her laughter, consuming her mouth until they were both breathing hard all over again. Then he traced the outline of her bra, his finger dragging along her skin, raising a line of goosebumps in his wake. “I’m going to forever get a hard-on when I see a running magazine now, you realize that, don’t you?”
She arched into his touch as he peeled down her shorts. “You know…I was on the cover of Runner’s World last year.”
“I’m going to need a copy of that.” He sucked on the soft spot just inside her hip bone.
“Pretty sure the pictures are online.”
He shook his head, his breath now nearly where she wanted him the most. “I can’t…”
“What?” She reached down and touched his cheek, stilling his progress. “You can’t what?”
He glanced up, and the look on his face—sweet, slightly embarrassed, totally honest—blew her away. “I can’t Google you. I don’t want that part of you. Not when I’ve had this.”
“But a magazine would be okay?” She grinned. “I’m not complaining, that’s the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“Yeah.” He nodded slowly, biting his lower lip in thought. “It’s different somehow. At least if I have a copy of the magazine, I’ve got you in my hands. And that’s you, on your own terms, I guess. I don’t know what people put on the Internet. I might see something you don’t want.”
“You’ve already seen all of me,” she whispered. “You might be the only person who ever has.”
He smoothed his hands down the back of her thighs, lifting her knees and spreading her wide as he glanced back to her face one more time, his gaze dark and intense. “Good.”
That heavy, possessive stare stayed with her long after he lowered his head, after he parted her sex and used the tip of his tongue to stroke around her clit. As she closed her own eyes and threw her head back, that feeling of being Ryan’s made every lick and suck that much more intense.
