Page 36 (1/2)

Her breath caught “Why would you want that?” she whispered in a ragged voice as exhilaration over his adot the best of her

“I was hoping Dixon would back off Like every other guy did”

He’d surprised her with that tidbit

Continuing, he said, “My plan backfired, obviously At least, when it ca Dixon to rescind his prom invitation”

Ginger suddenly recalled how boys would abruptly end conversations with her and move down the hallhenever Ryan approached her She said, “You wanted to be with h school it was impossible Because of your family?”

“Yes, but not in the way you’re thinking,” he was quick to say as a frown crossed her lips “It had nothing to do hether or not they’d approve of you At that point, I had no doubt they would My aunt and uncle had been good friends with your parents when they were alive It was Jack Wade and his eccentric father—who’d run the article in the newspaper about his wife’s affair with one of my uncle Jonathan’s brothers—that they were all focused on at the time”

“I’d co after that, Lydia joined the church and ossip, since she’d been a bit of a rebel in high school So else that had slipped my mind, ith her pious behavior this past decade”

“Yes, well, since beco a reformed sinner, they’ve both done their best to control what’s said about thee conscious than them”

“It’s actually sort of creepy how they obsess over what people think of them and try to make sure everyone believes they’re holier than the second co of Christ”

Ryan chuckled “I agree Anyway, I moved into their house when they’d only been married for a few years Lydia enty-three It wasn’t the most comfortable situation I wanted out of Wilder because I needed a break from them—and what the family name represented, truth be told The only way I could do it was to get a football scholarship I had to have the grades to go with the talent, and thator walking you to class Doesn’telse on my mind”

He winked at her and Ginger’s stoain as she asked, “Why’d you chose to coe poli

ce department in Arizona Why come back to Texas?”

With a slight shake of his head, he said, “I don’t know I kept an eye on the sheriff office’s website, hoping to see an opening A voice in the back in , because this was the place I should be I didn’t give up and I almost feel like…it was Fate”

He kissed her, slowly and sensuously, and Ginger was inclined to agree with hiht embrace, her breasts pressed to his chest She loved the feeling of his hot skin against hers and the way his id and er had ever dreamed she’d find in a man

When he dragged his hed happily “Dixon Hunter never kissed me like that”