Heartbreakers and Heroes

by Box Set

  Crunching the cough drop and swallowing, she turned her chair around to look at the rows of books lining the cherry shelves. Her childhood favorites—The Secret Garden, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to name a few— and a dozen teenage series books with their well-worn spines had been interspersed with her business texts and financial reports. Here and there one of her go-to romances peeked out, luring her with the same siren call she’d heard on many a lonely night in her college dorm.

  Though she hadn’t lived like a nun after her hard won beauty makeover, Addison hadn’t found anyone who made her chest ache with longing quite like Ryder. She’d gotten over her crush and moved on. What she never expected had been reuniting with the man and discovering he had a heart after all.

  ***

  Two hours after he’d held Addison in his arms, Ryder walked to the stainless steel fridge and opened it. Diet this’s and low calorie that’s filled the interior. Instant protein shakes lined the inside of the door, and an assortment of pre-cut raw veggies in plastic containers stood in rows. He shut it and shook his head. Not a carb in sight and he needed plenty of them to train for his next race. He’d have to add pasta, bagels, and bread to the list he’d pulled together for her.

  Ryder leaned against the granite counter that separated her modern kitchen from the open living area. A bowl of apples and low sugar meal replacement bars rested on it. He’d kill for a burger and fries. Instead, he grabbed an apple and bit into it.

  No wonder Addison had such a perfect, sexy shape. She’d transformed her entire body, and her personality. Her body felt right in his arms, especially when she’d softened and relaxed long enough for him to feel the heat pulsing between them. She wanted him—and for a moment he’d thought about doing more than kissing her forehead. He’d ached to lower his mouth onto hers and kiss her long, hard, and deep.

  Then he’d wanted to take that kiss a whole lot further. Unleash the passion flaring underneath her skin, sparking in her eyes when they’d tangled verbally. He wanted to give her a hell of a lot more than a comforting kiss on the forehead.

  Great. Now he’d replaced the hole in his stomach with a major rush of blood to his groin, making his jeans tight. And he had no way to release his pent up energy. Normally, he’d take his frustration out on the bike. Riding hard had been how he’d learned to control all of his problems, sexual or otherwise, especially the pain of his upbringing.

  He chewed on another bite of apple when his iPhone vibrated in his back pocket. He pulled it out, quickly scanning the text on the screen. His chest hollowed and a sick feeling moved through him as he read the message from one of the few people he’d maintained contact with after he’d left Saddle Creek, Montana.

  It’s Rayne, John had a stroke. He’s in a coma. It’s bad.

  The apple he’d been gnawing on dropped to the pristine granite counter. Rayne had been a regular tagalong at the ranch when he’d been under his mentor John’s watch. But a friend, too. They shared the same shit reality of having an alcoholic parent.

  John had been the only example Rayne had experienced of how a real man treated others. Ryder shared that bond with her, too. Rarely did she contact him, but then Rayne had been busy getting her veterinarian’s license while he’d been chasing thrills.

  None of that mattered now. His heart thumped hard against his sternum. What hospital? He punched in the question with shaking hands. He couldn’t imagine John as anything but larger than life.

  Saddle Creek Mercy General.

  I’ll be out there by the end of the week.

  You sure you’re allowed to travel?

  Crap. His life had been splattered all over the fucking tabloids and Internet. The accident and Addison’s agreement with the lawyers meant he had to get permission to go. Well, he’d be damned if he took no for an answer. He walked toward Addison’s office, determined to make her understand he had to go.

  The rules of how to be a real man John had hammered into his head raced through his brain. Ryder had become more than a man during the time he’d been placed with John. He’d learned to choose the honorable way to behave, which had gotten him into this current mess.

  I’ll figure something out.

  Okay. The nurse is calling me. TTYL

  Addison might put on a terrific act as an Ice Queen, but deep down his empathetic friend still existed. He counted on her to hear him out and relent.

  He burst into her sanctuary, and Addison looked up, her eyes wide. “You make a habit of invading people’s privacy?”

  “Only when it’s important,” he said.

  “I don’t see a list in your hand,” she said.

  “The list can wait.” Ryder closed the distance between them, noting the difference between this space and the rest of Addison’s impersonal mansion. This room reflected everything he remembered about her sweet nature, and the warmth of her heart.

  He’d bank on her compassionate side to emerge to he’d make good on his promise to see his mentor one more time. And while he was at it, he’d make good on a rule—a real man never breaks a woman’s heart. He’d broken that one long ago when he’d told the guys he’d never be with a chick like Fattie Addie.

  ***

  “I don’t have time to waste, so you better have a damn good reason for not cooperating with me.” Addison stayed put and used the desk between them as a barrier. “Especially when I’ve rearranged my work schedule to suit your training needs.”

  He scrubbed his fingers through his hair. “I appreciate it. Really. But something’s come up that has to take precedence.”

  “There’s nothing more important than saving your career, which has already been made more difficult by your request to protect the Langston family from the truth.”

  “There’s someone I have to see first,” Ryder said, his voice breaking. “Before it’s too late.”

  In all the years she’d known Ryder, and after pouring through his files at the agency, she had learned precious little about his background other than he’d grown up on the rough side of Los Angeles. He refused to talk about his parents, and only mentioned his sister on a few occasions. “Is something wrong with Samantha?” Addison asked.

  “She’s okay. It’s… Christ… John Stone. He ran a ranch for troubled youths in Montana. I got sent there when I was sixteen.”

  Addison lightly stroked her throat. Of all the things she expected to hear, this wasn’t it. “You have a juvenile record?” she asked. Another problem to solve, but she could fix it.

  “No. Thanks to John, but now he’s in a fucking coma.” Ryder clasped the edge of her desk. “He made the difference between me having a shit life and the one I have now. I have to see him before he, if he... Christ.”

  She’d never seen Ryder like this, not even after the accident taking Tiffany’s life. “I’ve scheduled a full PR photo op and media blitz. You’ve got to train.”

  “All I’m asking for is one weekend.” His Adam's apple bobbed up and down, and a sheen glimmered in his eyes. “Please Addison. Let me go to him. You know what it’s like to lose a parent. And to fear for your father’s life. What would you have done if you couldn’t say goodbye to your mother, or hold your father’s hand while he fought to recover in a hospital room?”

  Her throat scraped raw. The memory of her strong willed father’s heart attack, the sudden panic that she might lose him no matter how hard she begged for his life, struck her at her core. “I understand,” she said quietly. “Where is he?”

  “Saddle Creek’s hospital.” He relaxed his hold, and stepped back. “Less than two hours from Billings. I promise I’ll follow every order you give me after this detour.”

  “We’ll take the company’s private jet. I’ll have my personal assistant book a rental for us.”

  She stood, grabbed her smart phone and texted the instructions immediately while circling around the desk. “We’ll leave Friday. That’ll give time for photo ops beforehand.”

  “Thank you.”

  Addison held his gaz
e, read the honest relief in his eyes. God. He’d floored her with the love he clearly held for John. Once again putting himself last when he had so much at stake.

  Guarding her heart from the man who had broken it was one thing, but that remaining detached and emotionally distance from Ryder proved extremely difficult when his sudden vulnerability exposed a man with the capacity to care… and to care deeply.

  Chapter 4

  “You sure you don’t want to be alone?” Addison asked Ryder as they stepped into John’s private hospital room at Mercy General. She’d never been a fan of hospitals. Though she remembered little about her mother before she’d passed away from complications due to multiple sclerosis, the sights, smells, and sounds of illness always brought a sick feeling to her stomach.

  He took her hand. “No. Please stay.”

  Outside, the sounds of staff being paged over the hospital’s intercom while inside the room the ongoing pump of soft drips of intravenous fluids going into John’s arm along with his heart monitor’s steady beeping permeated the silence.

  The boys of Saddle Creek Ranch stood by their mentor all these years later. That spoke a lot about the man currently lying under a white sheet on a bed with both side rails raised. He’d been hooked up to a lot of equipment with wires leading to other machines measuring his brain waves, a finger clip to check his temperature, and an automatic blood pressure cuff.

  A middle aged nurse stood next to John’s bed marking in his stats. She glanced at Addison and Ryder with compassion, then returned the chart to the foot of the hospital bed. “John’s a tough one.” She ushered them with a hand wave. “Talk to him and tell him you’re here. If you need anything, press the call button.” The metallic slide of the room’s privacy curtain followed her quick exit.

  Ryder rubbed his jaw, the small row of stitches already removed, and moved his hand to the back of his neck. “What do I say to him?” he asked, staring through the window’s aluminum blinds.

  A small chair had been placed next to the bed, and Addison noted a pair of well-worn cowboy boots tucked under it. How similar to the pair of practical flat shoes placed in her mother’s bedroom before death crept in and ended her suffering. Addison’s chest ached and she pressed her free palm over it. “Tell him you love him,” she said, knowing that begging a dying person to live wouldn’t guarantee a damn thing. Nor would whispered deals and prayers in the middle of the night. “Tell him about what’s happening in your life now.”

  “Right,” Ryder’s voice cracked. “I’m a tabloid pariah, in trouble with my coach, and most likely to lose my entire career. I’m sure he’ll want to hear that.”

  The heart monitor kicked up a notch, and Addison shot a look at the readout. “I believe you’ve got his attention,” Addison said, then took his hand. “Now let’s tell him how we’re going to make sure you’re a media darling with another Olympic gold medal to hang in your trophy room in August.”

  “While we’re at it, I’ll make sure the only reason any of it will happen is ‘cause I’ve got the smartest public relations person saving my ass,” Ryder said.

  The heart monitor readout skipped a few beats, and Ryder grinned. “I think he likes you.”

  Tears pricked hot behind her eyes. The once lost boy inside the man seemed to glow through Ryder. Here stood an Olympic champion with a heart of gold so big he’d risk his reputation to protect his friend’s family. He’d even temporarily thrown a PR campaign to the curb to visit the man who had been responsible for giving Ryder a reason to choose honor over vice. “Then you had better introduce us properly.”

  Ryder’s grip tightened on hers, and they moved in tandem to stand next to John. One hand still in hers, he covered John’s with the other. “I haven’t forgotten the rules of a being a real man,” he said. “I will make you proud. And this woman standing next to me? She’ll make sure I live up to every single thing you taught me.”

  A slight movement lifted the right corner of John’s thin lips, and his gray brow quirked. Her heart caught in her throat. The stroke had stolen John’s speech, but Addison sensed his approval and, by the sheen she’d caught glimmering in Ryder’s electric blue eyes, Ryder had seen that same tacit approval.

  The man standing beside her for the sake of his mentor chipped away at Addison’s closely guarded emotions. He was far more dangerous to her heart than the charming champion mountain biker she’d been ruthlessly trying to keep at bay.

  ***

  Addison clickety-clicked on her heels while walking beside Ryder. To the west the Beartooth Mountains rose, their jagged rock faces and granite spires a stark contrast in the expansive sky the color of a robin’s egg. Man, he’d climbed and ridden the course John had carved out for him more times than he could count.

  Beside him, Addison shivered. “It’s colder than I expected for June.”

  The sun’s rays didn’t counteract the hint of winter cold whistling in the wind, which matched the plank of ice whacking his chest every time Ryder thought about John’s prognosis. “This isn’t Los Angeles.” He whipped off his vintage bomber jacket and put it over her shoulders before she could protest. “Here. You pack anything other than your power suits and ridiculously high heels?”

  “I don’t have snow bunny gear in my closet. Too busy busting my tail for Carrington Agency to travel other than for work. Most of my clients don’t live in small towns stuck in the middle of the mountain.” She tripped over a crack in the sidewalk lining Main Street’s corridor. “So no, I didn’t.”

  He held Addison steady, but still she wobbled while they made their way through the row of storefronts and planters filled with colorful flowers. Glancing down, he realized one of her heels had snapped off. “You can’t keep walking in those shoes,” he said.

  “I’m perfectly fine.”

  “No. You’re cold, hobbled, and not prepared for this kind of weather.” Stifling a grin, he steered her toward the same shop he’d frequented whenever John had taken the boys into town to restock supplies. “You’ll find what you need here.”

  “Everything But the Mountain?” she asked, wrinkling her nose. “I don’t think so. No. We’ll check into the Saddle Creek Inn. I’ll change there.”

  “Come on. Loosen up,” Ryder said. “You’re in Montana, not your office. You’d be surprised what Lou carries here.” If Louise still ran the joint—he hoped so.

  “Ryder Wayne Bennett,” Louise called while she bustled to the storefront. “I hoped you’d get out here to see John.” She enveloped him in her wiry arms.

  He inhaled the familiar scent of her homemade brownies and squeezed her right back, holding onto the closest thing he had to a mother figure. “You finish making my favorite?”

  “Sure thing.” Louise released him, but still held his shoulders to gaze up at him, her braided gray hair sprouting rebellious curls against her lined cheeks. “Bringing them to Herbs Diner later today. You see John?”

  “First place I went.” He tilted his head toward Addison. “My PR rep could use some new clothes while she’s staying here. And some decent shoes to handle the terrain.”

  Louise tucked one hand into her jean pocket and gave Ryder an ear cuff with the other. “John taught you how to properly introduce me to your friends. Surely, you haven’t forgotten the basic rules of a real man since you high tailed it out of here and became a famous bike champion.”

  “Rules? What rules?” Addison asked, her gaze ping ponging between Ryder and Louise.

  “Rules of a Real Man.” Ryder rubbed his ear, thought about all the other lessons he’d learned from his mentor. And the one epic failure. “I haven’t forgotten. Louise. This is Addison Carrington. She’s handling my PR makeover and in charge of making sure I don’t mess up before the next Olympic trials.”

  “Pleasure to meet you.” Louise held out her hand and gripped Addison’s, her eyes measuring Addison from the top of her perfectly styled blonde hair to the bottom of her ill-fated shoes. “You’re in luck. I don’t sell many size four jeans
here, but I’ve got a pair that will fit you. We got a new shipment of sneakers yesterday. Those should do just fine.”

  A size freaking four? What did she live on? Yeah—her fridge had revealed her crap diet plan with its rabbit food and low calorie protein shakes. “She’ll need bike gear, too.”

  Addison’s mouth dropped, then she snapped it shut. “I—no—no I don’t ride.”

  “You will while you’re here.” Ryder craned his neck toward the back of the store. “You still rent bikes?”

  “Nothing that’ll compete with your fancy handcrafted pro circuit racer, but if you’re willing to slum it, I can hook you up.”

  “They were good enough for me when I first started training,” he said, then kissed her cheek. “We’re bunking at the Saddle Creek Inn for the weekend. I’ll grab them before we head out to the course John built.”

  Louise placed her palm over his hand. “He’d be pleased about you using the course, Ryder.”

  His throat tightened, and he swallowed hard. “Thanks, Lou. Now let’s hook my girl up before she breaks another one of her expensive shoes.” And get her away from him before he completely lost it in front of Addison.

  Chapter 5

  After Ryder and Addison left the shop, they checked into Saddle Creek Inn. Once there, they dumped her shopping bag along with their luggage in their adjoining rooms. Then they drove to the outskirts of town to bring him to Herbs Diner where he met with some of the former alumni of Saddle Creek Ranch.

  Wearing her new jeans, and feeling about ten feet shorter, Addison hesitated by the diner’s glass door. “These are your friends. You don’t need me tagging along for this reunion,” she said, clutching her purse.

  She was out of her element, remembering her last encounter with Ryder and his teammates. That hadn’t gone well at all. However, it had been the catalyst fueling her complete physical makeover.