Ryan
“Things seem quieter, sir. No one has seen or heard from Bill since you left the city.”
I let out a sigh of relief, glad for some good news for once. I was sitting in my study, talking on the phone with my head of security, Marcus, back in New York.
“Thank God. Maybe that means I was right in thinking he’d back off if I was gone. If he’s got no target to go after, he has no motivation to continue his harassment.”
“It appears that way, sir,” Marcus replied. “We’ll, of course, keep an eye out, and if we receive any hint that he’s active again, I’ll contact you immediately.”
“Thank you, Marcus. Yeah, keep me posted.”
Hanging up the call, I sank back into my chair and turned my gaze up to the ceiling.
If Bill was no longer a problem, that was one less thing for me to have to think about and stress over.
Reaching up, I pinched the bridge of my nose, fighting back a headache that threatened to overtake me.
Suddenly, the house’s doorbell rang, shattering the quiet that had settled around me. Startled, I frowned and checked my watch for the time. It was the middle of the afternoon. I didn’t know who could possibly want to see me, unless it was Jason coming back to finish our fight.
Reluctantly, I pushed to my feet and made my way out of the study and to the front of the house. When I opened the door, I froze.
Sam stood at the threshold, glaring up at me with her arms crossed.
“Hey,” I murmured. “What…?”
Before I could finish speaking, though, she barged into my house, pushing past me without so much as a hello.
“We need to talk,” she snapped, spinning around to face me again.
I should’ve expected this reaction after my confrontation with Jason. Of course he’d go and confront Sam about it all. I had no idea what she might have told him, but I was hoping her being in my house meant I might finally get some answers from her.
“I agree,” I told her. “Let’s go sit in the living room and…”
She shook her head. “No, I’m not staying long.”
“Okay,” I slowly said, confused.
She released a short, frustrated breath before continuing, “I’m neither confirming or denying that Henry is yours, all right? That’s just not a conversation I want to have with you right now. However, I don’t want you to say anything to Henry about any of this until after the wedding. I don’t want you confusing him, and I don’t want you causing any drama for Jason and Mandy.”
Frustration welled up within me. She was acting like I was somehow the bad guy because I wanted to know more about the kid who I was certain was my son.
I get that I hurt her when I left seven years ago, but it felt like too extreme of a punishment.
Still, I didn’t get to where I was in the business world by acting irrationally.
I needed to be reasonable and subtle.
Lull her into a sense of security, so she eventually gave me what I wanted.
“All right,” I said through gritted teeth. “Fine. I promise not to bring any of this up to Henry, but in exchange, you have to promise that we will have an actual conversation about this after Jason’s wedding. Deal?”
I watched her clench her jaw, and I could tell that she definitely didn’t want to agree to my condition.
I held her gaze, however, and wasn’t going to give her an inch.
If she couldn’t give me this one small assurance, I wasn’t going to bend over backward to accommodate her.
I didn’t want to do anything to potentially ruin Jason’s wedding, but I’d already lost so much time with Henry. I was not willing to lose anymore.
“This is nonnegotiable,” I warned her. “I’m serious, Sam. I’m not messing around.”
She glared at me before letting out a frustrated snarl.
“Fine,” she snapped. “We can talk about all this after the wedding. In the meantime, you keep your mouth shut.”
I nodded. “All right.”. We both fell into a heavy silence, and I didn’t know what I should say next. Now that the worst of my frustration was voiced, the guilt that I’d been suppressing came bubbling back up. Sucking in a breath, I murmured, “So, I owe you an explanation for…for that night…”
“No,” she said with a sharp shake of her head. “No, I don’t want to hear it. Not now. Maybe not ever.”
I took a step closer to her. “Sam, please…”
“No, Ryan,” she repeated in a firmer tone. “You just want to tell me so you feel better. I don’t care how you feel, all right?”
Harsh, but I supposed I could see her point. Still, I didn’t know how much more of this treatment I could take.
“That’s obvious,” I scoffed. “I don’t remember you being so cruel when you were younger.”
“I was stupid and naïve then,” she replied bluntly. “I suppose I should thank you for that. You taught me an important lesson about the world and how ruthless it can be.”
“Jesus Christ, Sam, I’m sorry!”
She held up her hand, her expression cold. “I don’t care. You know, it’s likely for the best that we just stay away from each other as much as possible over the next few days. There’s less of a chance that we’ll cause any drama that impacts the wedding that way.”
I gnashed my teeth, my patience running thin. “You’re really not the same girl you were, are you? You’re so bitter now. Callous. It’s sad to see.”
She released a humorless laugh. “And who do I have to thank for that? It doesn’t matter, though. I won’t make a mistake like that ever again, and once the wedding is over, you can go back to your new life and stay away from here for another seven years.”
I took another step toward her. She didn’t move to get away from me, and we were almost toe-to-toe.
“It seems like I was right to stay away from you,” I growled.
Her eyes flashed with rage. Her whole being seemed to buzz with it.
I was furious as well, but there was something else boiling within me as I stared down into her beautiful, burning gaze.
My eyes darted to her lips, so plump and pink, and the urge to kiss her suddenly struck me.
I wanted to grab her by the shoulders, yank her into my arms, and ravage her mouth, her body.
I still remembered what it was like to have her body pressed against mine. How soft and luscious she had been.
My blood heated, and my length stirred in my pants. Damn it. I couldn’t be having these thoughts about her. Did I have some sort of death wish?
As we continued to stare at each other in heated silence, something crossed her features that surprised me. If I hadn’t known any better, I’d have thought it was desire. Was she having similar thoughts to mine?
That only intensified the temptation to claim her lips with my own.
I flexed my fingers open and closed at my sides, but before I could make any sort of move toward her, she suddenly seemed to snap from a daze. Her eyes widened, and she gasped before taking a hurried step away from me.
“I need to go,” she said, hurrying around me to make her way to the door.
“Sam…”
She yanked open the door and paused to look back at me over her shoulder.
“Goodbye, Ryan,” she murmured, meeting my gaze.
Rattled and confused by my contradictory feelings, I didn’t say anything, just watched as she slipped out the door and let it click shut behind her.