by KB Winters
“Do you still miss home?” I asked after a few more paces.
She nodded, her eyes trained on the feet in front of her. “I miss home, but I don’t miss being home. If that makes any sense. I miss the place, but not the people I guess. I never really had many friends, other than the girls in my dance classes. So when I left to come out here, I didn’t have some big sendoff party or something. I have a handful of friends back in Kentucky but they’re all married now, some of them have families of their own. It’s hard for them to relate to my life out here. I think that’s why Tori and I work so well together. She gets that I’m out here to dance and build a career. She’s on the same track, although she’s much further along than I am. Career wise.”
“I was wondering how the two of you got together in the first place,” I said, smiling over at her. “You seem so opposite. But, I guess that ambition and drive bonds you.”
“I think so. We still drive each other crazy all the time, but I love her. She’s my best friend. Like you and Bennett, I guess. You don’t seem to be all that similar. At least, not to me.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Yeah. I guess that’s true. We’ve known each other since we were young, so we went through all those growing pains together. But over the past few years, things changed. We want different things.”
Everlie looked up at me, but didn’t ask me to elaborate. Which, I was thankful for, since I really didn’t know what I wanted.
Not anymore.
Not since Everlie.
As we walked, we passed by a few shops, and window shopped, pointing out different things to each other as we continued on, until Everlie came to an abrupt stop in front of a set of windows. I followed her gaze to a small, silver, heart shaped pendent nestled in a red velvet box. “My grandmother had one just like it,” she explained, as I came to a stop beside her. I wrapped my arm around her and she continued, “She wore it every day. She said it was lucky.”
“What happened to it?” I asked.
Her face shifted, a frown tugging the edges of her lips down. “I don’t know. I’m sure my mother has it hoarded away somewhere.”
Her statement was loaded with another meaning, but I didn’t think I should ask what it was. We’d spent the night in a careful dance, giving new information, but each of us cautious to not ask too many questions or try to get too close. Something about the way she said it let me know it wasn’t something she’d enjoy talking about.
“You’re beautiful,” I told her, unable to take my eyes off her for more than a second to look at the necklace she was fixated on. At my statement, her eyes slid to mine. I took a step closer and rested a hand on her waist, my thumb skimming past the edge of her top, and brushing her silk skin. Everlie gasped at my touch and her blue eyes locked with mine. My other hand went to her other side, and I gently backed her against the wall of the shop, to the left of the window. The sidewalks were fairly empty, but even if there’d been a hundred people walking by, I wouldn’t have been able to keep myself from her. I pressed my body against hers, melting into her as I brought my mouth to hers, hungry for the taste of her sweet, candy lips.
She was hesitant at first, but when my tongue slid between her lips, she moaned in the back of her throat and clung to me tighter as the kiss deepened. My hands searched her skin, feeling up her ribs, under the line of her bra, and back around to the small of her back. I ached for more, every cell on fire with lust. Her body was perfect, and I wanted to get inside her, to feel her wrapped around me. The taste I’d had wasn’t even close to being enough, and although I knew I couldn’t push her too far, too soon, it was hard to hit the brakes and let her go again.
When I tore myself away from her, she stayed reclined against the wall for a moment, her eyes dark and clouded with desire. I swore under my breath. “You can’t look at me like that Ev, or I’m not going to be able to pull myself away.”
She reached for me, and my heart exploded as I crashed against her. We tore at each other until we were breathless, our chests heaving together, the sound of our pants and moans flitting away from us into the night sky.
My hands were up her shirt, teasing her nipples through her bra, my mouth on her neck, when a car drove by. The scan of headlights made her jump and I pushed away from her. She looked like she’d been snapped from a trance, her eyes surprised and panicked.
I took her hand and wordlessly led her down the sidewalk back to where I’d parked my rental.
“Would you mind dropping me off at home?” She asked when we finally got back to my car.
“You sure you should let your stalker know where you live?” I countered, shooting her a sidelong glance, as I got into the driver’s seat. She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Seems a little risky for such a smart girl.”
She rocked her head back on the leather headrest and looked at me. “I trust you.”
Her words took me by surprise, and I replayed them over and over, as she gave me directions through the city back to the apartment she shared with Tori on the outer edges of town. I got out of the car and went around to open her door. She swung her long, lean legs out and I ached for them to be wrapped around my waist. Everlie’s words came back to mind. She trusted me. As much as I wanted to get inside her and fully experience her, I knew I could wait. I had to.
She stood up and I shut the door. Before she could sidestep around me, I kissed her again, slow and lingering, licking and nibbling at her full lips, my fingers tangled in her long blonde hair, until we were pressed against the side of the car and she was moaning softly in the back of her throat.
When we broke apart, she looked up at me, her eyes dark with desire and every fiber inside me twisted, urging me to take her upstairs, but I shoved it aside, long enough to say, “Tomorrow?”
A slow smile spread across her face and she repeated, “Tomorrow.”
Chapter Seven
Everlie
Tomorrow.
The word—promise—resounded in my ears all the way upstairs and inside my apartment, my face frozen in an ear to ear grin.
At least, until Tori launched herself at me. “What. The. Fuck!”
I reared back as she railed, pressed back against the front door. “Tori! What on earth…”
She shoved her curls away from her face and started pacing. “Do you even know what time it is?” She stopped and pivoted towards me. “Two…it’s two o’clock in the morning, Everlie. I’ve been calling and texting, and got nothing! I thought Ryker turned out to be a serial killer stalker after all and it was all my fault that tomorrow morning I was going to see your face splashed all over the internet as the latest victim in some kind of spree!”
She was completely unglued and it was unnerving. Tori never worried. She was the epitome of live and let live, not stressing about the affairs of others. “Tor, whoa, whoa, slow down. I’m here, it’s fine…better than fine, actually.” I smiled off into space for a moment. Tomorrow.
Tori snapped her fingers in my face. “Why didn’t you answer your fucking phone?”
I dug it out of my small purse and showed her the screen. “It’s dead, Tori. I swear, I didn’t get your calls or texts. I didn’t have a chance to charge it before we left, and then…time just got away from me. I’m sorry. But really, you of all people should understand! How many times have the tables been turned? I’m always the one home alone, waiting and worried about you! At least you knew who I was with!”
“Yeah!” She threw her arms in a dramatic flair above her head. “Big relief! Some guy you barely know, who spent the last two or three weeks stalking you, oh, not to mention he was coming off a man high after kicking three other dudes asses in a club!”
I stared at her for a moment, in disbelief of what she was saying. “Tori, what is this really about?”
“You’re being stupid, Ev. That guy is playing you.”
Her sharp words were a slap to my face, and my eyes stung with tears as soon as they left her lips.
“There’s no way he’s in
this for the right reasons, Ev. Sooner or later you’re going to see that.”
I batted away the tears in my eyes and squared my shoulders against her. “That’s your opinion Tori, but you don’t know him like I do, and so I don’t think you can really say something like that.”
Tori let out a hollow laugh. “So, what? You’re the man expert now? Listen, Ev, I’m only trying to save you some heartache. Guys like Ryker are trouble.”
“Then why did you leave me alone with him tonight? If you’re so worried about his intentions?”
She stared at me, but didn’t answer. “Just be careful.”
“I am careful.” I walked past her, and was halfway down the hall, when I mumbled under my breath, “Unlike some people.”
Tori grabbed my arm and spun me around. “What did you say?”
“You heard me, Tori, and you know exactly what I mean. You’re out almost every night, throwing yourself at some new guy, going to strange hotels, homes, cars, whatever. You were up there on that stage tonight, shaking your behind in a dress that left very little to the imagination. That was why all those guys were crowded around you! You think I don’t know anything just because I’m not as experienced as you are, but I watch and learn, and I’d never get myself into half the situations you do. Why do you think I sit awake at night and worry about you? Or blow up your phone like you did to me tonight?” I paused, taking a breath and waiting to see what she would say. Tori stuck out her lip with defiance, and I knew she had nothing left to say. “I worry because I know who you hang out with and what you do. So, before you go judging me and calling me naive and simple, maybe you should take a look at your own choices first.”
Tori released my arm and I stalked down the hall, forcing the door shut with a loud boom, as I locked myself inside.
Only then, did I let the true stream of tears fall. Fighting with Tori was the last thing in the world I wanted to do, and I’d never spoken to her like that before, but it had all bubbled out. All the silent worries, eye rolls and stress had poured out of me before I could stuff it back down inside me again.
I heard Tori’s footsteps echo down the hall from behind my side of the door. Her door closed seconds later, and I knew the fight was over. At least for the night.
Ryker and I made plans for our date over a series of sporadic text messages throughout the next day. In between classes, I’d race to my phone to exchange a couple back and forth messages with him and race back an hour later to see what he replied. We’d decided it would be easiest for him to pick me up at the studio. I didn’t want to risk him and Tori getting into it if he came to the apartment. I told him all I had to change into was jeans and a t-shirt, and he replied instantly that it was perfect for what he had in mind.
A shiver of excitement ran through me as my mind wandered over the various scenarios for our date. So far, he’d been very mysterious about the details. But I was relieved it would be something casual and low-key. The night before had been perfect—well the part after the club fight—desserts, a long walk, and a toe-curling make out session.
My lips—and other parts of me—were still tingling anytime my mind lingered on that part of the memory for longer than two seconds. All of it combined to bring me to a fever pitch in the hour before Ryker would arrive. I ushered my last class of the day out the door and ran to the bathroom to change into my jeans, and faded red t-shirt. I blotted my skin with a paper towel to reduce the shine and put on a fresh layer of shiny pink lip gloss.
“It’s as good as it’s gonna get,” I said to my reflection, after fluffing my hair.
I was working on some paperwork, which amounted to staring at the same page of data for nearly twenty minutes, unable to comprehend the figures and charts, when a pair of headlights flashed by. A giant, black truck had pulled into the lot, looking very out of place in a city filled with luxury cars, taxis and cheesy limos. I went to the window and sucked in a sharp breath when Ryker jumped down from the cab. He was wearing form-fitting jeans that accentuated his muscular thighs and powerful stride, and a red flannel shirt with the sleeves cuffed to his elbows. The top two buttons were undone, revealing a white t-shirt underneath. His jaw was coated in scruff and my knees threatened to give out as he came near and flashed his wicked, half-cocked smile at me through the window.
He pushed inside the studio and the air between us was thin—like I couldn’t get enough in my lungs—leaving me breathless and shaky. Each step he took to fill the space between us was slow, purposeful, and his grin grew wider as he watched my reaction. “Evening, Everlie,” he drawled, in a thick twang I hadn’t heard him use before.
“The truck, the outfit, and a drawl?” I smiled at him. “What other secrets are you hiding, Ryker Newman?”
He just smiled even more, and got closer, wrapping his hands around my hips. “I guess you’ll have to stick with me and find out.”
He kissed me, silencing any further questions, and my mind went blank, the sensations of my body washing away all coherent thought as his tongue flicked over my lips. He pulled away all too soon, and my eyes were still closed, when he said, “I have been waiting for that all day.”
My eyes fluttered open to find him staring down at me, his dark brown eyes clouded with desire. “Me too.”
Ryker wrapped an arm around my waist and led me towards the front door. “Let’s get going, I have the whole night planned out.”
I locked up and he took me to his truck. “Is this your new rental?” I asked, hopping up into the cab.
“Just for the night,” Ryker answered as he swung himself up and into the driver’s side. The engine roared to life and the whole truck rumbled with the power of the horses under the hood. Ryker smiled over at me. “God, that’s pretty.”
“Totally hot,” I replied, playfully rolling my eyes. Growing up in Kentucky, I knew the connection between a man and his truck. Most guys treated their truck like they had some kind of sacred connection. “I didn’t take you as a truck man.”
“Back home it’s all I drive,” he answered.
I nodded, logging away the morsel of information, my vision of Ryker changing one more time. I still only had a handful of pieces of information about him, and each one altered my original perception of him. He was a very complicated—very sexy—puzzle that I couldn’t wait to figure out. “Back in Oklahoma?” I ventured.
He nodded and pulled out onto the main street. I watched as we whizzed by the dance studio, and then turned my attention back to Ryker and the pursuit of unraveling his secrets. “My grandfather left me his ranch when he passed, so although I have yet to actually live there, it’s technically my home.”
“Oh, wow.” His voice wasn’t particularly sad, but there was a pulse at his temple that caught my eye. “Were you very close?”
“Yeah, actually. I spent every summer with him. My parents always went away, touring Europe and on their way to the airport, they’d drop me off at Grandpa Lou’s. My Grandma Patty was around until the summer I turned thirteen. She had cancer.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I don’t have any of my grandparents either. I never knew my father’s parents—never met my father actually—and my mom’s parents are both gone now, too.” I swallowed hard, fighting back the emotions that flared whenever I spent too much time thinking about my family.
Ryker was watching me when I met his eyes again. He held my gaze for a moment before turning back to the road and in that quiet moment, a mutual understanding was reached. We’d both suffered loss and had complicated family situations. I didn’t want to talk about my family anymore—not even with Ryker—and I got the sense he didn’t want to either.
“Anyways,” he cleared his throat. “I have the ranch. It needs some repairs, but it’s a beautiful slice of country with room to roam.”
“It sounds nice. I always imagined myself somewhere like that, eventually, you know. I’m kind of an odd duck. I love the country and wide open spaces, but my career and passion involves life in big, loud, over th
e top cities like this one, or maybe New York someday.” I looked out the window again, my thoughts carrying away in the wind that rolled off the truck. “Who knows where I’ll end up…?”
Ryker’s hand slid to my leg and squeezed my knee. “Right where you belong, Everlie. That’s where you’ll always end up. You’re young—you have lots of time to figure out what you really want. Life won’t always seem like such a dichotomy.”
I was surprised by his sage advice and searched his face, wondering what experiences he’d gone through to learn such a deep life lesson. “Like a moment of clarity?”
“Maybe,” he said with a shrug. “Being in the Navy, I’ve met so many different kinds of people. Everyone has their own path, and sometimes it just takes time to figure out where you’re going, but it seems everyone does eventually. So, I wouldn’t worry too much about all that now.”
“Speaking of…where are we going right now?” I asked, noting we were on a stretch of road where the streetlights were sparse, and there weren’t many buildings or neighborhood entrances off to the sides of the street.
“The desert,” was Ryker’s only reply. He grinned at my puzzled reaction. “Trust me, remember.”
I nodded and relaxed back against the seat. Against all odds—and Tori’s warning—I did trust Ryker. I was still figuring him out, but he made me feel safe and secure, even in the midst of the mystery.
Chapter Eight
Ryker
The way Everlie’s eyes looked under the starlight told me I’d made the right decision in bringing her to the middle of absolutely nowhere. She swirled in the sand, her boots kicking up the dust, her arms flung wide as she smiled up at the moon.
All I could do was stare at her.
God, she was beautiful. An angel.
She brought her eyes to mine, bright and sparkling. “This is amazing.”
“You’re easily impressed,” I joked. She shot me a dirty look and I hugged her close, stroking her hair. “I’m glad you like it. I was thinking about how you said something about needing to get out of the city sometimes, and I figured this was about as far away as we could get.”
