“Because I have what a lot of others wish they had.”

Ryan shifted slightly, silently acknowledging my words.

Thomas scoffed at me. “You’d risk your life for him?”

“Absolutely. There are always risks when you love someone.”

Ryan’s chin tipped up a bit more, standing taller and more forbidding. He had my heart and I had his and there was no confusion there. I also had his back, knowing I would go after Thomas myself before I allowed him to get one step closer to Ryan.

“Huh. Well, when you get tired of all the people snapping your picture and shit, give me a call. Unless you’ve turned into a spoiled gold-digger, too . . .”

I was so livid, I shoved myself in front of Mike.

I felt Ryan’s arm cinch around my waist, moving me to his side and out of the way in one easy sweep.

“Get out!” I ordered around Ryan’s lunging body as Pete and Mike blocked him from making contact.

Ryan was spewing threats dotted with profanity while Pete body-blocked Thomas. As soon as Thomas turned toward the door, Ryan hauled me toward the kitchen and right up the stairs.

I wanted to rant, scream, throw stuff, maybe even throw up, but instead I watched Ryan to see what he was going to do.

“Where are your car keys?” he asked in a furious rush.

I pointed a shaky hand toward the key hook. He shoved them in his jeans pocket and then grasped me by my upper arms.

“Babe, focus. Help me pack an overnight bag for you. We’re getting out of here.”

“Where?” I asked in a daze, feeling as if I’d been peeled apart and slammed back together. I could barely stand, my legs felt so numb. My real birth certificate . . . lies . . . Thomas . . . Ryan riled. It was all too much. Too much.

He tossed his bag near the door and took me by the hand. “I don’t know, but we’ll know when we get there. We just need to go. Change of scenery.”

He tapped on his phone while fetching my small overnight bag from the shelf in the closet. “Andrea, hey, Ryan Christensen. I need a private, restful hotel off the radar within two hours of my home base in Rhode Island.”

Chapter 14

Weekend

“Whoever you called to book this needs a raise.”

Ryan opened the French doors to the private deck to let some fresh air in, stretching as he stepped toward the railing. We could see a few boats out on the water. their lights illuminating the darkness.

We ended up in Newport at a breathtaking inn on the coast. I could feel the stress lift as we were guided to an adorable private cottage decorated in soft hues with a wide, wooden plank floor. A wall of windows with billowy white curtains overlooked the ocean.

“Definite raise,” I muttered, taking in the huge soaking tub made for two.

Ryan came back inside and slipped his hand across my shoulder as he leaned to turn the water faucet on. It was when he started to undress me that I felt uneasy. The day had been too mentally taxing for a rousing bout of sex.

“Ryan, I’m not . . .”

He kissed my shoulder and shushed me. “I know, baby. That’s not the point of this.”

He stripped off his clothes and climbed into the tub first, holding out a hand as I stepped in. The hot water felt magnificent and instantly leeched some of the tension from my body. I rested my head on his chest, wishing that moments like these could be norm between us and for the most part, they were.

“You okay?” he murmured as I got comfortable on him.

I nodded. His soapy hands slid up and down my back, over my arms, up through the tenseness of my neck.

“Good. Just relax.”

“You’re so quiet,” I murmured after a while, needing to break the silence.

“I was thinking about something you said to me on the first day we met.” He sluiced more hot water over my arm, warming my exposed skin.

“Oh?”

He dipped us deeper into the water, seeming concerned that my shoulders were cold. They were. “I was sitting at your bar and you were doing your best to ignore me.”

I remembered doing that, but didn’t want to admit it. I chased a few soap bubbles around on his chest with my finger. “I was not.”

Ryan squeezed me. “Yes, you were. Don’t lie.”

“Damn. Okay. Maybe just a little. I was freaked-out that you were even there.”

With his lips on my temple, he said, “I wanted to get you to talk to me and I asked you if you were always this quiet and you said something like ‘I’m sure the silence and peace is refreshing.’” Our gazes met. “I just want you to relax and not worry about things.”

And just like that, he was making my world peaceful. “When I close my eyes, I can almost ignore it all,” I said.

“Then close your eyes.”

“If only it were that easy.”

I felt his chest rise and fall, making the water ripple.

“I’m sorry about the Thomas thing. I—”

Ryan raised my chin with his fingertip, making eye contact. “Do I need to be concerned about it?”

I shook my head and quickly said, “No.”

He let my chin go. “Then I’m not worried about it. I sort of expected it, actually.”

I looked back up at him. “You did?”

His elbow came up out of the water and rested on the edge of the tub. “Tar, you and I are all over the news. Shit always gets dredged up. It was only a matter of time before one of your ex-boyfriends tried to stake a claim. He doesn’t have any dirt on you, does he?”

I winced from the thought. “I don’t think so.”

Ryan was silent for so long, I thought maybe he’d dozed off, but his tempered breathing told me otherwise.

“So what else is stirring in your thoughts?” His fingers skimmed along my jaw. “I can’t read your mind but I know it’s going a million miles an hour, so you have to tell me where your head’s at.”

“My head is still stunned, fighting with the feeling that everything has changed and yet nothing has changed.”

His hand slid down to my rear, curling my leg over his thigh. “Dwelling on your ex?”

I heard the minute tinge of worry in his question. “No. Not dwelling. Not at all. But I am processing.

He told me he slept with that girl because he was mad that I left him in bed to go help Pete.”

Ryan made a derisive snort. “Are you serious?”

“Serious.”

“What an asshole. His loss.” Then he nudged me with his chin. “You upset about it?”

I rested my hand on his broad shoulder, feeling his heartbeat on my cheek. “No. I never knew why he cheated on me. I’ve spent way too much time thinking that I wasn’t good enough.”

His hand cupped my head and he kissed my hair tenderly. “Don’t ever think that.”

“It’s hard not to. Whatever. At least now I know why he did it.”

His cheek brushed my forehead. “Then I’m glad you got closure. There are too many past hurts standing in our way. Yours and mine.”

I had to remind myself that we’d both been betrayed by lovers. “His infidelity broke me.”

He tipped my chin up again and kissed me. “Nothing that I can’t fix.” He smiled gently, warming my battered spirit. I loved this man so deeply I could hardly contain it, knowing that he would weather any storm in our path. I needed to kiss him more than I needed anything else in the world.

Ryan’s teeth grazed my bottom lip but then he pulled back, not letting himself get carried away, though I could see that he had to fight his body for control. Knowing that he was restraining his urges to care for me this way was more than any gift he could ever give me. I rested on his chest, content in knowing that he’d get me through whatever life had in store for me.

Regardless of my feelings for Thomas, seeing him cry at Melanie’s funeral emotionally ravaged me and those thoughts of her passing were still swirling in my mind. “I can’t believe Melanie is gone. It’s hard to process that.”

“It sucks. I had a good friend in high school die in a car wreck. For weeks after it happened, I could have sworn I heard his voice in the halls.” He took a deep breath. “I was supposed to hang out with him the night he died. When I think about how close I came to . . . well, I think about it sometimes.”