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"Boring?" I snorted I never once re "Uh, so Hayden, huh?"
She srin and I wondered if it was a special talent of Kenna’s to look like she was in love with every one of her boyfriends "Met each other, you know?"
"Sure, I know," I nodded slowly I didn’t really know, but I could pretend "Well, u to convey ratitude But after our weird conversation about her ex and current boyfriend the confrontation with Cassandra felt alotten
Almost
"No probleirls’ bathrooms while you’re at school from now on," her eyebrows furrowed in concern and I wondered if she had a point
"You hed and then left her in the bathroom
Weird That was so weird
Chapter Thirty-Four
"Are you sure you don’t want some company?" Exie called from the driver’s seat "I could use so me to turn her down
"No thanks," I s deal, like I wasn’t blowing off ate Ryder until he turned blue "I need to get to the bottoet to the bottom of this too," she winked at er door
I watched Exie drive away, thankful she illing to give er had the carpool thing going on I pivoted around anddown the counter with a white rag when the bells over the doorway signaled a customer He looked up from his task and when his eyes ain He smiled at me, friendly and casual and I about snapped
The café was empty now The workday hadn’t wound down yet for the surrounding businesses and school had been out for a half an hour so either it was too early for kids around here, or they had already been through on their way home
"Hey, Red," he called fro with him and wondered if his boss trusted him alone with the store "Caranore the shiver that slid down my spine because he knew my drink Not that he hadn’t ordered it for htful… so- No This was exactly e needed to have this little chat
"We need to talk," I barked and planted my hands on the counter
His forehead wrinkled and his eyebrows dren in concern "Ok, let’s go," he walked over and held the gate open that separated behind the counter froh and a little confused I did He closed the gate behindto the door that opened to the kitchen and office
When the swinging door stopped entle hands on my biceps We were surrounded by stainless steel kitchen appliances and counters, everything was shiny and cold to the touch Everything except Ryder’s warh the material of my shirt
"Why didn’t you tell me you and Kenna broke up?" I demanded out of breath
His forehead smoothed out for a second and then wrinkled in the opposite hen his eyebrows shot up towards his hairline And then a shed rued a careless shoulder "I didn’t think it ued stubbornly
Ryder took a step closer, closing soed, from casual to intense in just acoffee and spearray eyes heated to pools of liquid silver and his tongue made a small sweep across his bottom lip
"Why?" he whispered, his voice coarse and raspy It coated the sound as it hit my ears and pushed me a step forward, a step into his ar
"Yeah?" he asked, his voice that sarowl
My body heated to a liquid fire I felt burning hot and tingly and so lost at the moment I didn’t knohat to do My heart haertips buzzed with anticipation andbeyond Ryder’s face felt fuzzy and far away
All of a sudden the space between us was filled, bri over with emotion and tension There had been some of that before; the space between us had never been empty But noas completely full, atoms and particles and ed around in a wild frenzy, charged with the growing so us
"So it le," he dropped his head to just a breath away fro motion that propelled htme and in the next moment hisup to cradle ently, so impossibly careful that I barely felt the soft fullness of them
I was frozen, hypnotized, I couldn’t have h that’s all I wanted And while he seeled to step out of ument at myself I could think of, every truth and lie I had been convincing myself of ever since we met But the most sincere truth, the most base, primal, real truth I could admit to myself was that I wanted to kiss hi More than freedom
And in the same instant I admitted that to myself, Ryder seemed to coainst ry
He devoured ht against hiive ue in, let it sweep alongthat I felt an creeping its way up my face, but there was no time to be embarrassed because the sound seemed to flip a switch in hione and he pushed erator and consumed every piece of ainstinto me as if I would evaporate if he didn’t hold on to , sweet then rough, gentle then bruising I made more sounds, desperate sounds of need that he roans of satisfaction
The hand on ed at the hem of my shirt and then slipped under so that the heat of his palm scorched the sensitive skin of htened around his neck
This wasn’t a kiss This was an epiphany My moment of clarity
My salvation
Ryder’s hand left h With one swift round with that one hand, his bicep straining tightly under ht s around hi step forward We tilted off balance, dizzy and upended with desire He adjustedto his biceps to keep ahold of hie of the s stayed around his waist and he pushed intono distance between us
His lips left mine to explore my jawline, my neck, my collarbone I dropped my head back to allow him more room and I closed my eyes so that they wouldn’t roll in the back ofkisses