It was the noise downstairs that woke Bree from the micro nap she'd indulged in that had somehow managed to turn into full blown sleep.
Being a light sleeper has always been a bitch even though it did have it's pris, especially right now when she really needed the damn sleep.
She groaned as she got off the bed, knowing her unruly hair would be all over the place already.
She had the strands trying to get into her face for confirmation.
There was that sound again, jerking her to a stop, it was like someone was trying to force something open, maybe a door.
Her heart missed a beat as she stood rooted to her spot, listening and hoping she'd heard wrong.
That definitely didn't sound like Ryder coming in, he does have a key to the front door and won't need breaking the front door to come in.
Didn't sound good to her.
She went out of
The fucking closet.That was the best she could come up with?Fuck!!Ryder wanted to pull the woman lying in his bed into his arms and shake her senses back.She wouldn't be out like a night light if she'd called the cops first before texting him or after, at that, and if she'd stayed out of the damned closet.He should have no business worrying about her, because this was the point right, to hurt her father by hurting her?But his heart had missed a beat when he'd found her in her closet, eyes shut and struggling to breath instead and there was that fisting somewhere in his thorax as he watched her sleep it off.He wasn't sure which it had been, a panic attack, claustrophobia or a panic attack initiated by claustrophobia.She hasn't said anything to him since he found her, except murmuring his name at intervals like
"They didn't."The voice droning in his ears was the last thing he wanted to hear but Ryder sat still listening to the recording."What the fuck do you mean by that?"It's been years since he's heard that answering voice but he recognized it in a split second, knew exactly who it belonged to.He'd know it anywhere, cause he'd had all their voices tattooed to memory.Fucking Nathan Stone.Of course he'd remember the pig, he'd been the tallest of the group and the most abusive.Billonaire owner of Stone enterprises, ruthless and a fucking swine at heart."Fucking Paul and his doors, you know, a fact we should have considered before sending the two fools we did. They couldn't get in before he returned, with the whole damn police department.""Cops?" Nathan asked, in that monotone voice he uses when puppetting others or commanding answers.There was a brief pause filled by nerve wrecking silence, but he sat still inst
There was some kind of subtle shift in their relationship in the moment, and Bree was enjoying every second of it.It was obviously taking Ryder effort to keep up with his new found tenderness for her that probably won't last, but the effort mattered.She was still caught wondering what had happened while she'd been asleep that had caused the shift, but it didn't really matter, did it?Maybe it had everything to do with what had happened earlier, maybe not."So claustrophobia?" He asked as if he could see into her head at the moment.He had his eyes on her, eyes that were dark, beautiful and questioning."Uhmm...."The question he'd asked was an open one, she could either wave it off with a lie or trust him enough to share that piece of herself with him."Not really, it was......more of the darkness than the space that freaked me out. I'm nyctophobic."He raised a brow at her answer, drawing her eyes to his face, a
"Come over here and try kissing the answers out of me."Fuck, those sinfully tempting words had been the start of a beautiful weekend for Bree.No, she hadn't taken the cue Ryder had thrown, she'd been too scared of trying and breaking the spell binding them in that moment.But he had instead and oh God.He'd jerked her to him and had covered her mouth with his in the most sinfully erotic mouth fuckery she's ever experienced.She could still feel the ache he'd left unattended burn in her core.He'd called it quits before they could get to the best part, his eyes promising her more.But for the rest of the weekend Ryder had dedicated himself to teasing her to the point of madness and leaving her needing.And needing, she had been.It'd been so bad that in the dead of the night, she'd be up, bringing herself to climax with dark fantasies of him in her head and his name on her lips.But when he wasn't punishing
"What did he want?" Nemy asked immediately Bree came out of Bernett's office, startling her a bit.True to her words, she'd waited right there, same spot, for her."Office Nems." Bree whispered.She didn't trust anything anymore, the news Bernett had given her, albeit being a good one, made her uneasy.It made her believe something was going on and she had to find out what before she find herself in a noose she can't wiggle free of.The stone account isn't something Bernett would want to juggle around like he was doing under normal circumstances and the part where he'd mentioned Nathan Stone calling and asking specifically for her?That was a total trap if she's ever seen one.She didn't believe even for a second that this was just the golden opportunity that comes by once in a very long while."So what was it, huh? Why did snapping Bernett want to see my girl? Spill already Bree." Nemy asked immediately they stepped into her o
Coming home wasn't what Bree had imagined it'd be and the Ryder she came home to wasn't the same one that had kissed her good bye earlier, this morning, with a glint in his eyes.After the day she had, she wasn't prepared to deal with a totally withdrawn and cold Ryder, again!Nemy had kept her words and had dragged Bree off to Glitz after work and they'd sat there over glasses of drinks, celebrating the job she still felt uneasy about.She didn't feel really drunk, but she felt different with the alcohol in her system, somewhere between to daring and naughty.Imagine what a damper it was to come home to this Ryder she was facing now, the grumpy taciturn version.There wasn't even any semblance of a smile on his face.She knew to take the cue when he responded to her awfully bright and inviting greeting with just a nod, ignoring her presence in the room afterwards.Fuck him.She wasn't letting him drag her mood down with his.
Ryder wasn't intentionally being a dick, he was just drowning in guilt for what he'd done.And that in itself was absurd because that has been the plan from the very beginning, it was why she was in the picture in the first place.Except now, it just felt to him like he was using her and somehow, was betraying her too.It made him feel worse knowing that she'd had nothing to with what had happened to the younger him and nothing with her father too.It was clear he'd assumed wrong, the kind of relationship they shared.Jeffery obviously can't help being a monster to everyone, including his kid.He was swinging in deep confliction between Bree and his revenge, and none was coming out at the top.How the fuck did he get here?It wasn't supposed to go like this.But she wasn't supposed to be a sweet little thing, broken yet ha
Last night didn't happen.Yeah, the part where Ryder had walked in on Bree pleasuring herself to a fantasy of him in her room and on her own fucking bed, had.And the part where he'd kissed her so fiercely, like he couldn't wait to rip what was remaining of her clothes off her body, had too.But she'd opened her mouth and had asked questions, questions he hadn't been ready to answer.And that had been it.She'd watched him go cold in seconds and the man she'd seen burn hot to have her was gone in an instant.He'd kissed her good night instead and had left her room and it had been worse than not getting a taste of him at all.It hurt more to have had a taste of his hunger and the pleasure he could deliver.It pissed her all night, that again he'd managed to come out on top.She'd tossed and turned all night, brewing in her anger and frustration and now she was enduring the consequences of that.First off, she'd wok