“Yeah well, you’re both pretty special. To me anyway.”
He grips onto my fingers, lacing his through mine and pulling me into him. His fingers like live wires of electrical cord, wrapping around mine ready to zap me any minute.
“Likewise, my little White Tiger,” he growls into my hair with humor in his tone.
I laugh and shove him. “Stop!” I thought hearing him call me that again would be like a punch in the gut, but it wasn’t.
Not good. Not good, at all.
He stops in his tracks, eyes narrowed.
Oh, fuck.
“Oh? Did you just…did you just…push me?” he asks with an arched eyebrow and a mischievous smirk.
“Um…” I start glancing behind me, trying to seek out shelter with my eyes, or someone to save me as I begin walking backward slowly still watching him carefully. My heart begins to race, blood starts to thicken and goosebumps break out across my skin leaving tingles all over the surface of my skin. I watch as he slowly begins walking to me, keeping that same smirk on his face. When he raises one perfectly arched eyebrow, I know all too well what that stare means, so when he breaks out in a sprint, I scream like a banshee as my heart pulses through my ears and energy I never thought I had speeds through my body, zapping straight to my legs. Turning around, I run for dear life, moving toward Ryker because I know he’ll save me. Running the hardest that I can and just when I almost reach Ryker, I’m suddenly picked up and thrown over shoulders staring down at the sand.
“Oh my God! Ryder! Put me down,” I protest. He doesn’t listen. Instead, he turns toward the water.
I slap his ass and yell out to Ryker, “Ryker! Save me!” Ryker chuckles as they all stop to watch the show, flipping him off when I notice he’s not going to save me.
“Ryder! There’s a helicopter in the air, probably snapping this!”
He laughs. “Don’t care, baby.” Landing a loud slap on my ass causing me to squeal out. He begins running toward the water and I cover my face to prepare myself for what’s about to happen. Descending us both into the water with a splash, the salt water heading straight up my nose, I push my feet off the sand and resurface to a smirking Ryder. Splashing him with water, I push my hair out of my face in the most unladylike ways.
“You’re a dick.” I laugh.
He wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me into him, and brushing away the few strands that are still sticking across my face. Holding my breath, I keep my stare locked into his, my tummy back flips and my thighs clench. Nice, I have zero control over my body when he’s around, just great. When he smiles and rubs his thumb across my bottom lip, my blood runs hot, and my cheeks flush a bright cherry red.
“Fucking kiss her you pussy, or I will,” Ryker screams out from where they’re standing. Ryder flips him off with his other hand and I laugh. He brings his hand back to my face, grasping around my chin, and I instinctively inch my face closer to his, rubbing myself against him slightly. Pulling me into his body more, he gently dips his face down to mine, running his lips across my jaw line, his hot breath sliding across my skin until his mouth stops around the rim of my bottom lip. Tease. Pulling his teeth between my bottom lip, sucking on it lightly before letting go, he pulls back, searching my eyes with his.
I have no words. I can barely think let alone speak.
“Fuck it,” he whispers, pulling my lips back to his and kissing me like it’s the last thing he needs to do. His lips are still soft and his tongue still slick full of command. Opening my mouth up wider for him, I give him more access and he pulls me into him again, with the bulge between us rubbing against my stomach. I smile against his lips and he laughs, pulling back. Taking my hand in his, he laces our fingers back together again. “Come on.”
I follow him with a stupid grin on my face. When did I become that girl? That girl who gets swept away with all the butterfly feelings, and I’m aware that Blake will find out about what just happened. The helicopter was circling us for long enough to snap one hundred pictures and there are probably a few sneaky paparazzi in the bushes somewhere. Isn’t that stalking? How is it okay for paparazzi to stalk and take photos of famous people to sell their magazine? There’s something not right about that. Just because they’re famous, they don’t get to have rights to privacy?
Ryker’s smirking at us along with Leo and Tommy.
“Fuck off,” Ryder warns all of them before letting go of my hand.
I take off my sundress, which is now dripping with water, and squeeze out the excess water. It’s a good thing we’re on a beach so walking around in my bikini is acceptable.
Ryker’s eyes drag down my body, with a wolf whistle escaping his lips. “I’ll never get tired of getting a glimpse of that boot-ay.”
Ryder slaps him upside the head, stepping behind me.
I narrow my eyes at him, ready to give him a piece of my mind. “Shut—”
Holy fucking shit.
Ryder puts his head between my thighs and lifts me onto his shoulders. I grip onto his hair and he laughs. “That’s it, baby, you haven’t forgotten how I like it.”
If I could, I would slap him.
Ripping the hair tie out of my hair, I let it down before it becomes knotted from the salt water and we all proceed with walking again.
Tommy points to a huge mansion. “That’s it, there.”
I gasp. “Holy shit, Tommy. Who’s mama’s sugar have you been eating?”
They all start to laugh, Ryder’s shoulders jolting underneath my thighs causing myself to rub up against the back of his neck.
Yep, let’s not do that again.
He rolls his eyes and smiles. “It’s not like that. She’s legit and young, she’s not old. She’s in business. Come on,” Tommy assures us.
We follow behind him and I bend my head down to Ryder, covering his face with mine so he can’t see ahead of him. “Wanna put me down now, caveman? I think it will look a bit weird us walking in here with me on your shoulders?”
He laughs, shaking his head. “I don’t give a fuck. You’re staying.”
I sit back up. My feelings are all over the place.
What does this mean?
Will he just leave me again when this is all over?
I don’t think I can trust him after what he put me through the last time. I still don’t know what it means, and this time I’m not prepared to just ‘go with the flow.’ Going with the flow last time left me with a semi-broken heart and a hangover for days.
We walk into the little open gate that leads to her backyard, where there’s a huge infinity pool and large pillars rounding the house with a barbecue and bar area. There’s not enough lawn for me, but I guess because this is Australia, no lawn means fewer snakes. I don’t know much about geography, but I remember watching Australia’s Deadliest Animals on Animal Planet one night with Blake. They have something like eighty-seven of the world’s most deadly animals.
A young brunette woman comes out in a bikini and heels clutching wine glasses and a wine bottle. “Hey guys, you found it okay?” she asks.
“Yeah, we did. Thanks, Lara,” Tommy replies, pulling her in for a hug.
“No problem,” she answers, looking around at us all.
Tommy begins the introductions. He points to me first. “This is Phoebe, she’s basically one of us.” He looks to Ryder nervously, watching his reaction.
Ryder drops me off his shoulders and reaches his hand out to her. “Ryder.” He pulls me under his arm. “This is my girl, Phoebe.” My body stills and I squeeze his hand in mine. Smiling at her, I attempt to calm myself from flipping the fuck out about who he introduced me as.
His girl? Holy shit.
“Hi,” I say, putting my hand out to her.
She takes it with a warm smile. “Nice to meet you. Come, we can sit at the bar,” she says to us all.
I look up to Ryder with a smirk. “Your girl, hmm?”
He smiles a boyish smile. “You’ve always been my girl, Phoebe.”
&nbs
p; Swallowing past my ball of nerves and fear, I give him a small smile. Tilting his head, he narrows his eyes. Just when he’s about to say something to me, I’m lifted into the air by Ryker.
“Ryker! No!” He leaps us both into the pool with a huge splash that slaps my ass. I’ll no doubt have a huge red mark there when I get out.
Once I’ve resurfaced, I give him a scowl and he laughs.
“Oh, don’t scowl, Phoebs. It doesn’t suit you.” I shake my head, pulling myself out of the water, and squeezing my hair to wring it out. Lara comes to me, handing me a glass of wine. I take it with a smile, landing my eyes on Ryder, who’s sitting on a seat by the bar with the rest of them, drinking their drinks.
Lara sits next to me, kicking off her heels and putting her feet into the pristine blue water.
“You have such a beautiful house,” I say to her, taking a sip of the crisp champagne. It tastes as expensive as I would have guessed it is.
“Thank you,” she answers, smiling up at her mansion. “It took long enough to build.”
I scoff, taking another sip of my drink. “I bet. My brother owns a construction company back home. I can imagine how long this would’ve taken to build.” She nods her head in agreement. “So,” I say, placing my glass back to the ground and glancing at the boys at the table. “How do you know Tommy?” I smirk at her, floating my feet around in the water.
She chuckles. “Well, I’ve known him for a couple months now. He’s a great guy.”
“Really?” I say to her sarcastically. “I heard he was a bit of a douche,” I shout then correct myself over her laughing. “Oh no, wait, that would be Ryker.” She laughs harder, taking another gulp of her wine. “Are you two…” I ask and she shakes her head, throwing her hand up to her mouth in shock.
“Oh, God no. I’m not ready for all of that.” I look at her questionably and her eyes drop before she gathers herself again. “What I meant was I’m not ready for all the fame and cameras. I hate it all.”
“Ahhh. Yes. I would have to agree with you on that one. What do you do for work? If you don’t mind me asking, but this place is pretty impressive for someone of your age. Our age. I should say.”
She shakes her head, waving my comment away. “I don’t mind. I’m the CEO of Miller Enterprise Holdings. It was my father’s business, and with me being his only child, I took over once he passed.”
“Sorry for your loss,” I say to her sadly. I know all too well how it feels to have your father stolen from you, proving that God himself breaks one of his own commandments. “Thou shalt not steal.”
“Thank you,” she answers weakly before continuing, “he was my world. I wanted to be just like him. He passed away unexpectedly a little over two years ago, and all this…” she gestures to her beautiful home, “…is the payment I get for having an empty life. Money doesn’t mean anything, memories do.”
I smile at her, nodding my head. “I agree completely.” I like her. For someone who runs an empire and rolls in money, she sure is down to earth and easy going. Tommy better make his move, because a girl like Lara is hard to come by.
I glance up to the table and see Ryder watching me closely. His lips curve up in a half smirk, bringing the neck of his bottle to his pouty lips. Our eyes stay locked on one another, my heart pounding deep in my chest, I barely hear Lara talking beside me. “Sorry,” I say, bringing my attention back to her. “What were you saying?”
She laughs and glances to Ryder and me before continuing, “I said, how long have you and Ryder been seeing each other?”
Dropping my shoulders, I think of the best way to answer her question. “Um…we met two years ago. We had a wild time then parted our separate ways. Three weeks ago, I was assigned to be the fashion assistant for Alyx Munroe…without knowing Twisted Transistor was going to be there.”
She scoffs, bringing her glass up to her lips to hide her smile. “Sorry, it’s just that would have been a real shock.”
Laughing, I nod my head. “It was.” Looking back to Ryder, he’s jiggling his leg in frustration, staring at me intensely. A slow, sexy smirk pulls across his face. Drawing out his tongue, he runs it across his lower lip, causing his ring to jolt at the disturbance. My body lights up inside like a Christmas tree, and when he nudges his head for me to come to him, my stupid heart flutters like the flickering wings of God’s holiest angel herself had sprinkled it with angel dust. He looks down to his lap then looks back to me, signaling for me to get on his lap, and to get on it now. I smile, shaking my head. Smooth, Ryder.
It’s a silent conversation going on between us like we’re attuned to one another. When we’re together, it feels right. And at the moment, it feels like we were never parted for those two years.
Tommy comes to Lara and takes her hand, making her stand.
Standing, I nod to her. “It was nice to meet you, Lara. I hope to see you again.” I smile a mischievous grin at Tommy and he narrows his eyes at me in a knowing glare.
I have way too much fun working these men up.
“Likewise, Phoebe.” She gives me a wide pearly tooth smile.
God, she’s stunning. If Tommy doesn’t hit that, I might. I’m kidding. There’s only one team I play for and that’s the D team.
I make my way to the table, feeling the loose pebble stones under my toes. It’s still only 7:00 p.m. so we have a little more daylight left. Pulling out a chair next to Ryder, I lower my ass into the seat, until he grips onto my hand, pulling me across so I land in his lap.
“Subtle,” I mumble with a smile.
“Not even close.” He lifts his drink up and I take one of the bottles of wine that are in the middle of the long rectangular table, pouring it into my glass. Wrapping one of his arms around my waist, he carries on a conversation with Leo. I hear what they’re talking about every two seconds, but I’m looking at the scenery, it’s beautiful here. I see Ryker sitting down at the beach with a bottle of vodka.
Smiling, I get up off Ryder’s lap, but his grip doesn’t move, I look down to him. “I’m going to sit with Ryker.”
Nudging me back down to him, he runs his thumb across my bottom lip. I bite down on it and his eyes narrow. “You’ll pay for that,” he grumbles authoritatively.
I have no doubt that he will make me pay. However, the thought excites me more than it scares me.
He slaps my ass. “Go make sure he’s all right. I’ll be down in a sec.” Nodding my head, I walk off, feeling Ryder’s eyes burn into the back of my ass. “Phoebe!” he yells out from his table. Turning around, I clutch my glass in my hand, with my eyebrows raised.
“Yeah?”
He throws me his leather jacket, which was hanging on the back of his chair. “Put it on.” He points before bringing his attention back to a smirking Leo as they continue their conversation.
I clutch the leather in my hands. It smells of sweet musk mixed with pure male. It smells of Ryder. I have to fight the urge to inhale it dramatically.
I shake my head. “It’s still hot enough to wear just my bikini, Ryder.”
He pauses his conversation, slowly dragging his eyes to me, his stance changing and his eyes burning dark. “Put. It. On,” he repeats with more authority in his tone.
Rolling my eyes, I shove my arms into the sleeves of the jacket. “Fucking, stupid, fucking,” I mumble profanities angrily.
“What’s that?” he asks, challenging me from his table with a smile on his face.
“Fuck you, that’s what!” I flip him off as I turn my back on them. Both, him and Leo burst out laughing as I carry on walking down to Ryker with the jacket clutched around me. It falls to my thighs, but I love it. I think I’ll keep it.
My toes hit the sand, and I inhale the salt water in the air. “Hey, what are you doing down here?” I sit beside him, wrapping the leather jacket around me.
He smiles without looking at me, taking a swig of his vodka. “Deep in thought.”
“Oh? Sounds interesting. What are you thinking about?”
> He leans down on one elbow, bringing his eyes back to mine. It’s scary how much he and Ryder look the same. They’re completely identical apart from the obvious, all of Ryker’s ink. From a distance, aside from the tattoos, they look identical. But up close, you can see that Ryker’s eyes are a little more…darker, mischievous, dirty.
“I’m thinking that it’s pretty fucking amazing you and Ryder have found a place where you can meet halfway.”
I scoff. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I barely trust him.”
He tilts his head, disbelief showing in his eyes. “What do you mean? He would never cheat Phoebe. That’s crazy talk.”
Shaking my head, I snatch the vodka out of his hands.
He laughs. “That deep, huh?”
I nod my head around the neck of the bottle, taking a long sip of it until the vodka coats my throat like a burning blanket. I welcome the burn.
“I don’t trust that he’s not going to leave me again,” I whisper out hoarsely.
His face drops, dragging his eyes out to the ocean. “I’m sorry about that, Phoebe. It wasn’t an easy decision to leave you if that’s any consolation.”
“It’s okay. It’s done and in the past. Now, though, now…I have to learn to trust him. I barely know what this is.”
“This…” he gestures between Ryder and me, “…is just the beginning. I know my brother, and once he wants something, there’s no taking it away from him. He has a lockjaw with people and things he’s passionate about, and there’s been no one before you. Aside from the girls at school, but even then, he wasn’t at slut status.”
“He didn’t have an issue walking away before,” I mutter out honestly before I can stop my mouth from blabbering it out.