Ryder (Sons of Sangue Book 6)

by Patricia A. Rasey

  “I hear you. It wasn’t that long ago I was of the same mind.” Kane shook Gunner’s hand, then reached for Adrian’s as the other man rose. “Sorry about Red.”

  Gunner’s gaze softened. “A damn shame is what it is. Red knew his way around a motorcycle, man. Hard to believe he was taken out by a fucking tire.”

  “He was a good man.” Kane couldn’t help but agree. Surely, Red kept an eye on the condition of his treads. But sometimes, freak accidents happened. “See you boys tomorrow.”

  Chapter 11

  Gabby had just broken her uncle’s rules by giving Ryder directions to his house. Well, technically, it was her home, too, and she was allowed guests … just those Raúl pre-approved. Gabby figured she’d sneak Ryder into her suite without her uncle being the wiser. If they were found out, she would say she thought Ryder worked for Raúl. His soldiers were already authorized to be on the property.

  Her cell pinged, alerting her to a text message. Gabby jogged to the accent table between the chairs facing the ocean and picked up the phone, reading the text: I’m at the gate.

  She nearly skipped to the panel on the wall and punched a few buttons on the number keypad, allowing him access to the grounds. Her stomach fluttered, and her pulse pounded in her ears. No matter what she had witnessed, or the very real possibility he now worked for her uncle, her body’s betrayal spoke of her infatuation. It didn’t help her mouth practically salivated at the sight of his well-toned body. Damn her traitorous hide.

  Besides the few texts they had sent each other, they had yet to discuss what had gone down in her restaurant. She had watched him shoot a man in cold blood and toss him into his trunk, for crying out loud. A shiver passed down her spine. Gabby needed an explanation for why he had gone to Sergio’s defense. Adriana’s reasoning came back to the forefront of her mind.

  “You might have been watching Ryder’s murder as well.”

  Gabby sucked in a deep breath, hoping to calm her nerves. Even knowing Adriana was correct didn’t make it a pill easier to swallow. Her reason for not dating anyone who worked for her uncle was solid. The men were ruthless killers. And rightly so. Her uncle wasn’t in the business to make friends. She despised what he did for a living. Sure, she benefited from his riches, wanted for nothing, but that didn’t mean she had to like where it came from.

  Living on my own?

  Wasn’t going to happen. If her uncle didn’t have so many enemies, who would jump at the chance to get to him through her, she would’ve moved out long ago. Gabby was in a no-win situation, which made finding a love connection damn near impossible.

  After walking to the French double-doors facing the pool, she watched Ryder pull his motorcycle to one of the twin stairs leading to her balcony, and parked it to the right of the railing, concealing it from a direct line of view. She hoped her uncle was taking his normal midday siesta, keeping him from hearing the soft rumble of the motor, the exact reason she had picked this particular time of day.

  Not wanting to appear too anxious, she waited for Ryder to ascend the semi-circular, red-tiled stairs before she opened the double doors and met him on the veranda. The cool breeze thankfully kissed her heated skin.

  Ryder’s gaze raked over her, not helping the blush she had hoped to ward off. “Gorgeous as always.”

  “Charming as ever.” Gabby raised one brow before offering him one of the patio chairs, leaving the doors to her suite open. She wasn’t ready to invite him inside. “Can I get you something to drink? Water? A beer? Tequila?”

  He shook his head, continuing to stand and cocking one hip against the cement railing. “I’m good. But please, help yourself if you’re thirsty. It’s quite warm out here.”

  Gabby pivoted on her heel and entered the cooler exterior of her sitting room, opened her beverage refrigerator, and withdrew a bottle of water. She returned to the patio and sat in one of the chairs. After unscrewing the cap to the bottle, she took a cool swig to hopefully help her frayed nerves, then set the bottle on the glass-topped table next to her.

  “Thanks for letting the goons at the gate know I was coming. They didn’t look too inviting.”

  She smiled, looking up at him. His eyes were the color of whiskey and just as warm. Gabby swore she could almost see his soul. Regardless of what she had witnessed, she knew Ryder was a good man, could see as much in his eyes.

  “I had to. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have gotten past the gate I opened.”

  Ryder crossed his arms over his chest, his lips tipping down. “We can pleasant-talk all day and avoid the elephant in the room, but I’d much rather get it out in the open.”

  Gabby took another drink from her water bottle. While she didn’t approve of his actions, she wasn’t quite ready for him to walk away from her either.

  “It is warm out here.” She fanned herself with her hand. “How was your ride over?”

  “The ride was fine.” He chuckled, obviously aware of her dancing around the real topic. “Would you prefer to go inside?”

  She shook her head. Taking him inside might have the guards alerting her uncle. “It’s better if we talk here.”

  Ryder gazed around the grounds before returning to her. “I’m sure there are at least a half-dozen men with me in their sights. If it makes you feel more comfortable, then we can say what needs to be said out here. Is he here?”

  “Who? Uncle Raúl?”

  “Yes.” Ryder raised a brow. “I’d like to know what I’m walking into, Gabby. You invited me, remember? I don’t like being blindsided.”

  “He’s here, but as I recall, you wanted to talk. You texted me.”

  “I did.” He sighed, shifting his stance. “Yet here we stand pussyfooting around the exact topic that needs to be discussed.”

  “We’re talking.”

  Lord, the man made her more nervous than a pig in a bacon factory. Part of her wanted to run for her sanctuary and shut him out. The other part wanted to drag him in and jump his bones. That part … had some really good arguments.

  Ryder leaned forward, obviously detecting her indecision, his lips scant inches from hers. Gabby couldn’t help but hold his heated stare. She licked her lips. Well, just in case he decided to close the gap.

  “We’re skirting the issue, sweetheart. I think you should know that I detest small talk. I shot a man. You saw me do it.”

  Heat sizzled through her, causing her to cross her legs. Gabby couldn’t help it, his nearness had her libido going off the charts. “Why did you do it?”

  “Gunner was a fool.” Ryder stood up straight, much to her disappointment and started pacing the red-tiled decking. “The dumb-fuck was going to get us both killed. You of all people should have seen that coming when he opened his big mouth. Had I not killed the man, I would’ve been right next to him in that grave. You think I’m fucking happy about that?”

  “So, you took the coward’s way?” That wasn’t fair of her and she knew it, but he responded before she could rescind.

  Ryder stopped pacing and glared at her. Gone was the warmth. Shit. Not how she had wanted this to go.

  “Whatever you want to call it, sweetheart, I prefer to think of it as self-preservation.”

  “I’m sorry.” Gabby grimaced. “That was mean-spirited.”

  “Look, I get it.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong, Ryder.” Anger itched up her spine. No one could pretend to understand what it was like to grow up in the kingpin’s household. “I grew up here. I saw bad men daily. I have an uncle I love, and yet hate at the same time. He took me in, gave me a home after my own father was killed. Do you have any idea how his death scarred me as a child? Regardless of what my father did, I loved him. He was my world. He shielded me from the violence … that is, until he was murdered. Then my whole world changed.”

  Ryder’s gaze softened, but he said nothing. He stood but a foot from her.

  “My best friend moved on as soon as she could get out from under this life. I hated Brea Gotti for a while for cutt
ing ties and leaving me behind. But what really upset me was the fact she was able to move on and leave behind the bloodshed and crime. I didn’t have that luxury. I’m stuck here, Ryder. Like it or not.”

  “No one is stuck, sweetheart. Least of all you. The amount of money you have could take you anywhere in the world. Most people here in Mexico? They can barely afford food on their table, let alone fly to other countries of their choosing. You can’t play the sympathy card. Not with me.”

  Gabby stood and shoved Ryder back a few feet. He stumbled, his backside hitting the railing.

  “Go to hell, asshole.” Gabby’s neck and face heated. “You were the one who wanted to talk. I was the one who wanted to forget the day I laid eyes on you. Go back to Salazar’s, kiss Luis’s and Sergio’s feet. Do my uncle’s dirty work. Just know, that also means you don’t ever get to touch me. Now, please leave before I have you removed from the grounds. That won’t look very good for you if you did take a job with my uncle’s men.”

  Without bothering to see him gone, Gabby pivoted and marched into the cooler interior of her suite, pulling the doors shut behind her. When they swung back open, the thought crossed her mind that maybe she should have locked them, too.

  * * *

  Forget the day she laid eyes on me?

  If it were only so fucking easy. He should’ve walked away, should have crawled onto the back of his bike and hightailed it out of there. Christ, at the least, he should’ve called Grigore and let him know Raúl was somewhere in the fortress.

  Technically, his job was done. Locate Raúl and get out. Instead, he opened the doors she had used to shut him out and entered her space … uninvited. Ryder didn’t make a habit of going where he wasn’t wanted. And surely not when it came to women. He didn’t need to, not when there were enough willing to share his bed or let him sink his fangs into a carotid.

  I need my fucking head examined.

  This woman infuriated him, and at the same time, consumed his every thought. He wanted her beneath him to the point of madness, the erection in his pants evidence of that desire. His vampire DNA slowly simmered like electricity sizzling through his veins.

  Ryder had fed a couple of nights prior, but it might’ve helped his cause had he fed before making the trek out here. Not only was his dick demanding appeasement, the scent of her blood called to his very nature.

  Yep, I’m fucked.

  His eyes heated, knowing full well they were about to become black, fathomless pools. Hypnosis was his only option. There was no stopping the emerging vampire. The sharp points of his fangs scraped the inside of his lips as they filled his mouth. When the twins informed him he was not just a vampire, but a primordial one, they forgot to mention he felt things all the more acutely as such … which included his sexual cravings. This shit needed a fucking manual like Vampires for Dummies.

  Ryder’s nostrils flared, scenting Gabriela’s mutual desire. She could spout a hundred different reasons for hating him, but he affected her in a more primal way. If he gathered the skirt she wore and slipped his fingers beneath her panties he’d bet she was already wet.

  Her stern lips drooped, her mouth now gaping. No way to hide the fucking changes to his face. Gabby’s eye rounded and she gasped. Quickly grabbing her by the biceps, he backed her against the wall before she had time to scream and covered her mouth with his free hand. Her eyes filled with fear as they held his. He’d need to hypnotize her fast, before she alerted the entire staff, not to mention Raúl.

  Ryder had been damn lucky upon arrival. Whatever they’d used to build the house, he couldn’t detect the scent of Raúl on the grounds, which meant the man couldn’t discern him either.

  “Hear me now.” He framed her face between his palms, giving her little choice but to hold his marble-like gaze. “You will not remember everything you see. You’ll feel me, know me, but my face will remain a mystery. You won’t comprehend the changes you see in me. Nod if you understand what I’m saying.”

  Gabby slowly nodded, her pink tongue wetting her plush lower lip. His gaze held fixed on hers. As much as he wanted to, kissing her was a really bad idea, considering her current state of fury.

  Her anger returned in full force once her confusion diminished and the hypnosis took root. She shoved at his chest. Had Ryder not allowed it, she wouldn’t have been able to budge him. He stepped back. She continued to strike him with her hands. Gabby had a lot of anger and passion needing to be burned. He had been the one to invade her space, so he supposed he deserved her animosity.

  “Get out of my room … and get the hell out of my life. You aren’t wanted.”

  “Are you sure about that?” Ryder grinned. His nostrils flared again. “I have a feeling if I reach beneath your skirt, I’ll find you wet and a liar.”

  Gabby slapped him hard across the cheek. Ryder didn’t so much as flinch. The vampire in him wanted to toss her on the bed and prove to her the truth in his statement. The man in him knew he deserved her fury. He had been out of line.

  “You don’t get to talk to me that way.”

  Ryder took two steps in her direction. She took one back. “And you don’t get to be a tease.”

  Her perfectly plucked brows drew inward. “What? When did I ever tease you? I’ve only been upfront with you since we met.”

  “Sweetheart, I can scent your desire and it has me hard enough to drive through these concrete walls.”

  Ryder almost laughed as she turned up her nose, trying to detect what the hell he was talking about. He took another step forward, backing her against the wall again. He gripped her hand and placed it over the erection straining the front of his jeans.

  “You can’t play with fire if you don’t want to get fucking burnt, Gabriela.”

  “I never … that is, I … oh, hell,” she whispered, slowly withdrawing her hand and holding it to her chest as if it had been singed.

  Some of the anger left her eyes. Her breathing became shallow. Her pulse hammered at the base of her throat, drawing his gaze and calling to his fangs. It would be so easy to dip his head and take his fill. He nearly salivated at the idea of tasting her on his tongue.

  “You do want me, Gabby.” It wasn’t a question. He already knew the answer.

  She shook her head. “No.”

  Ryder smiled. Sinister, but a smile nonetheless. “Yes.”

  She placed her hands on his chest, searing his flesh as if she touched his skin rather than the shirt he wore. She drew her lower lip between her teeth and shook her head with a little less force.

  Ryder leaned in, his nose nearly touching hers. “Yes,” he whispered.

  He should walk away before it was too fucking late. He was losing control. What started out as a way to prove a point was turning the tides against him. He wanted to pull up her skirt, rip off her panties, and bury himself to the hilt. She wouldn’t fight him, of that he was sure. Ryder needed to be the one to walk away, to put distance between them before she hated him forever. For once she discovered he had used her to find Raúl, she’d never forgive him and he wouldn’t blame her.

  When he meant to step back and increase the distance between them, Gabby stood on her tiptoes and kissed him, stopping him in his tracks and numbing his thoughts. Good Lord! All admirable intentions flew right out those double doors he had left open for his speedy retreat. The warm breeze caressed his back, not doing a damn thing to cool his ardor. Even a primordial vampire had only so much constraint. He needed to get the hell out of there before things spiraled out of control.

  Sure, they were grown-ass adults and could do as they pleased, including respecting each other in the aftermath. Something told him, though, Gabby would quickly regret her brass actions. He had to be the bigger person. Rather than deepen the kiss, he released her, wiping a hand across his lips. Shit, she tasted like a slice of Heaven.

  “Gabby, I—”

  “Look, I don’t know what just came over me. I’m sorry…” She placed her hands on her hips and glanced at the floor. She to
ok a deep breath, then looked back up. “You know what? I’m not sorry I kissed you. What I am sorry about is you joining up with my uncle’s men and being a disappointment to me.”

  He could still detect her desire, and as long as he continued to note it, the vampire in him would war within. He wanted to do the right thing, walk away and call Grigore. Not take advantage of the situation. That guy was quickly losing out because his befuddled brain could think only about the hard-on straining the front of his jeans and wanting to take her against the fucking wall.

  “I’m sorry I’m a disappointment to you.” And he was. In the end, he’d be an even bigger disappointment to himself. “Maybe, I should go. You’ll never understand—”

  “I’m angry with you. Hell, I’m pissed at myself for still wanting you. But understand?” She advanced a few steps, closing the gap between them. “More than you know. I live this life every damn day. I can’t walk away, even if I want to. I guess I had hoped … needed you to be different.”

  Ryder couldn’t help it. The dirty part of his mind had focused on one thing. “You want me?”

  Gabby nodded, her tongue wetting her lips.

  Ryder snaked his hands around her back lightning quick, holding her flush, and crushed his mouth to hers.

  Chapter 12

  Insanity. That’s exactly what kept his arms wrapped around Gabby and his mouth fused to hers. It didn’t take much to deepen the kiss. Once she moaned, he took the invitation. His fangs grazed her flesh, nicking the soft pad of her tongue. He tasted the smallest amount of her blood … mind-blowing. Ryder didn’t think he had ever savored anything so exquisite, like the finest ambrosia. It was nothing short of sheer willpower that kept him from moving to her neck and sinking his fangs gum-deep.

  Christ, if he thought Gabby was pissed at him before, she’d not only be livid with him but furious at herself for allowing things to go this far once passion no longer factored in. Ryder needed to be the bigger person. Hell, he was the bigger person, by weight and the strength of many men. And yet, this little slip of a woman made him weaker than any woman had in his past. One taste of her blood and he no longer had the power to step away. The vampire in him growled, roared to life, and damn if it didn’t want to be gratified.