Forbidden Lover (The Diamond Club Book 7)

by Elizabeth Lennox

Carly rinsed off and grabbed one of the soft towels stacked on either side of the showers, drying off quickly.

  “Carly, we need to talk,” Ryker rinsed off himself, then grabbed a towel and followed her back to the main locker room area.

  She pulled on her clothes, unable to meet his gaze. Because if she did, she might actually burst into tears and admit something that she couldn’t allow herself to admit.

  “I have to go,” she announced, slipping into her shoes. Carly didn’t bother to pull on her socks, just wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible.

  “Carly, wait a minute.”

  But she didn’t listen. She grabbed her keys and raced out of the locker room, her face flaming as she remembered that this was the men’s locker room and anyone coming down the hallway would wonder why she was in there. If they found Ryker in the locker room, all of their questions would be answered.

  Once in her car, she drove home, her hands shaking and her mind spinning with what she’d almost revealed. This was bad, she thought. Really bad.

  Ten minutes later, she slammed the door behind her, startling Lucifer who was in a patch of afternoon sunshine, taking his twentieth nap for the day. “Sorry,” she mumbled. But Lucifer wasn’t pacified, his tail twitching with irritation.

  “Tonight,” she gasped, one hand coming up to slap her forehead. “I need to organize everything for dinner tonight!”

  Grabbing her phone, she called Julie from Tony’s place. “Hey Julie. I have an emergency. I was hoping that Tony might be able to whip up some food for tonight. We had a lot more people show up to help build the obstacle course and it’s all done but now we’re going to celebrate and we have no food other than pizza and I wanted to thank everyone for…”

  Julie laughed. “Not a problem. How many people?”

  Carly closed her eyes, thanking God for the wonderful woman. “Um…fourteen adults and one child.”

  “Got it. What time?”

  “How about early? So it won’t get in the way of your usual dinner schedule? Say five?”

  “I’ll have it ready. Tony will whip something up although it might not be pretty.”

  Carly laughed. “Tony never does anything that isn’t magnificent,” she replied. “Thank you! I owe you!”

  “Not a problem!” she laughed. Hanging up, she texted Ryker, letting him know to pick up the food at “Desire”. With that taken care of, she didn’t know what to do with herself.

  For the next hour, Carly paced back and forth in her tiny house, arguing with herself about going to tonight’s dinner versus just blowing it off.

  In the end, she knew that she couldn’t face Ryker. She was too vulnerable after her almost admission. And that wasn’t a feeling that she enjoyed. So instead, she texted Ryker, letting him know that she wouldn’t be there. She started to tell him that she wasn’t feeling well, which normally would be a valid excuse to avoid a party. But if she said that, then Ryker would drop everything and come over to find out what was wrong. Plus, Jayce and Oz would be on her doorstep. Danielle would probably bring over soup or something else equally delicious. Charlotte and Jessa would want to know what was wrong and might even show up, or they might leave it to their hubbies to discover her ailment.

  No, just leaving it vague and firm was her best bet.

  And yet, as she settled onto her couch for a “Gilmore Girls” marathon with a bowl of buttery popcorn on her lap, she felt a sense of…loss. As if she were missing out on something very important.

  Around midnight, the doorbell rang and she glanced over at the foyer. It was Ryker, she thought. He was here to check on her. Or it was one of her brothers. Too late to shut off the television and pretend that she was already asleep.

  So instead, she pushed the blanket off of her legs, wiped her buttery hands one more time on the napkin and padded barefoot to the door. Because she was the sister of two hyper-security-aware brothers, she stopped at the hall closet and pressed a button, looking at the monitor that displayed the person on the other side of the door.

  Ryker!

  He stared right back at her and she could see the chocolate of his eyes even in the dim light from her front porch light.

  “Let me in, Carly,” he said. Well, he mouthed the words. Maybe he said them out loud. Carly didn’t know because he didn’t press the button that would allow voices to come through to her intercom.

  But keeping Ryker on the other side of the door seemed petty and childish. Cowardly. So she unlocked the four locks that her brothers had installed only hours after she’d signed the ownership papers on this house.

  He stepped inside and, instead of being angry for not showing up tonight, he took her into his arms and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. “I’m sorry, love,” he told her softly.

  She wasn’t sure why he was sorry, but goodness, his arms felt wonderful!

  “Come on, honey. Let’s go to bed.”

  With that, he led her up the stairs to her bedroom, shutting off the lights as he went. In her room, he pulled back the covers to her bed, waiting until she was under the covers before stripping off his clothes and getting in beside her. With a sigh, he put an arm around her waist and pulled her close before turning off the lights.

  Carly thought about brushing her teeth and washing her face. But Ryker felt too good. So instead, she snuggled into the warmth of his body, feeling cherished and…dare she say it? Loved.

  A bad word in her mind. But it was there.

  Chapter 13

  Carly beamed as she walked down Main Street, a box filled with pastries from Jane’s bakery under one arm and her sunglasses shielding her eyes from the almost painfully bright sunshine overhead. She’d been with Ryker for a month. A whole month! Not by a single blink of his eye did he betray their relationship to Jayce or Oz. They were oblivious and she’d finally started to relax. Staff meetings were so much easier now that she wasn’t fighting this attraction to Ryker. She breezed through the details, details that all three of them ignored, and listened to the missions that they were working on, taking notes on items she might need to order. Business was booming, she was working with Charlotte and Sheriff Jensing to develop a self-defense class with different levels for the kids in the community and there was a lot of interest in the confidence course.

  Things were coming together.

  The only fly in the perfection of her life were the small moments of panic when she thought about her feelings for Ryker. Every night, as he held her in his arms, she told herself that she wasn’t falling in love with him. That this was just a fling and it would burn itself out eventually.

  But the “burning out” thing didn’t seem to be happening. In fact, just the opposite. It felt good, right, and wonderful when she was with him. Some nights, they didn’t make love and, for some reason, that only scared her more! Although she loved those nights, even savored them, she stayed awake into the wee hours of the morning, long after she knew that he was asleep, wondering what it meant when she felt that tug when she looked at him.

  Carly continued to tell herself that she wasn’t in love with him. But she looked forward to the end of the day, for the time when they could be together and not hide their relationship from Jayce and Oz.

  But…there was something missing. Something Carly couldn’t put her finger on.

  Before she could think about it too much, she glanced towards the park and saw a girl that looked vaguely familiar. A forlorn young woman swung idly back and forth on the swing set in the park. Since it was early in the morning on a weekday, Carly wasn’t sure if the girl should be in school or if classes hadn’t yet started.

  But as soon as the girl turned, lifting her face up to the sunshine, Cary remembered where she’d seen her. Charlotte’s office.

  Carly glanced at her car, parked less than a hundred feet away, thought about the work issues she needed to resolve, then shook her head and walked over to the girl.

  “Emily?” Carly asked tentatively.

  The girl started and p
ulled her sweater closer to her body. The baggy jeans and thick sweater were a bit heavy for such a beautiful day, but then the comments from the father and mother slammed back into Carly’s mind.

  “Yes. Who are you?”

  Carly smiled reassuringly. “I’m Carly Cole. I’m the managing director of The Solutions Group. Mind if I sit down?”

  Emily glanced at the swing next to her and shrugged, that surly teenage expression of disdain coming over her pretty features. “Free world.”

  “Thanks,” Carly said and perched on the swing. “Want a pastry?”

  “No,” Emily replied with disgust.

  “You’ve lost weight.”

  No comment.

  “I don’t know what you went through, Emily. My friend Charlotte won’t discuss anything that her patients tell her. Nor will Bart.” That got a quirk from her lips, but she quickly pushed the amusement aside, reverting back to angry teen.

  “But I suspect that something horrible happened to you.” Carly paused, but Emily didn’t reply in any way. “It isn’t any of my business, but with the help of several experienced people, I’ve put together a program where girls and boys can…” Carly tried to figure out a good way to explain, then decided to just blurt it out. “Where girls can learn to fight back.”

  That got Emily’s attention and she looked at Carly. “What do you mean?”

  “The guys I work with know things.” She paused. “They know how to defend themselves and have survived in circumstances under which others would be…” she smiled, “pulverized.” And that wasn’t even an exaggeration.

  Emily’s eyes brightened with interest. “How?”

  Carly smiled. “Various ways, depending on the type of situation. They know how to fight back. To protect themselves.”

  Emily swayed on the swing slightly and Carly could see that she was considering the idea. “How do they do it?” She asked tentatively. “And…” a tear fell from her dark lashes. “Could they…do they know how to stop…people…who are bigger and stronger?”

  Carly’s heart ached for her. She might be sixteen or seventeen, but she was still a child in so many ways.

  “Yes. They know how.”

  Emily impatiently wiped a tear from her eye. “Do you think…they’d teach me?”

  Carly nodded. “Yes. I’m sure they would. Would you like to learn?”

  Emily didn’t bother to stop the tears from falling now. There were just too many of them. “Yeah. I think that would be…good.”

  Carly dug into her purse and pulled out a business card. “You’ll be our first student. Let me know what day works best for you and we’ll set something up, okay?”

  Emily stared at the card, then looked up at Carly. “Are you…” she hesitated, biting her lip for a moment. “Do they really know how to…”

  Carly knew where Emily’s question was heading and nodded. “Yeah. They really do,” she told her softly. “I know that trust isn’t something you have a huge supply of right now. But maybe you could trust me and I’ll show you some moves. They don’t take long to learn either. We also have an obstacle course that you might like.”

  Emily nodded and tucked the business card into her back pocket. “Thank you,” she whispered. Then stood up and headed in the direction of the school.

  Carly watched her go. She’d been through so much. Was her rapist in that school? Did she have to sit in a class with him? So many girls did. They worked up the courage to tell school administrators that they’d been assaulted, only to have the administrators ignore their stories. Or there wasn’t enough evidence. Or…some other horrible reason.

  Smiling, Carly headed to her car, her heart a little bit lighter.

  Chapter 14

  “You need to tell your brothers.”

  Carly looked up from her computer to see Ryker standing in her office doorway. Just this morning, he’d sweetly kissed her goodbye before heading back to his house to shower and change. He’d been bringing over clothes to change into each morning, but for some reason, he hadn’t last night, hence the hurry earlier this morning.

  Now he looked…hot in a blue cashmere sweater and jeans. He looked incredibly hot!

  “Um…tell my brothers?”

  “About us, Carly,” he stated firmly. “I’m tired of sneaking around.”

  “We’re...” she stammered slightly, then stood up quickly and walked over to her office door, closing it firmly so that no one would overhear this conversation. “Ryker, we’re not hiding anything.”

  “Then why did you close the door, Carly? Why don’t you ever look at me during the staff meetings? Why do you move out of reach if we’re standing in the hallway?”

  He was right, but that didn’t mean she liked having it pointed out. “Ryker, this isn’t a good time.”

  He sighed, glaring at her with his hands fisted on his hips. “When is a good time, Carly? I’ve been waiting for you to come to terms with the fact that you’re in love with me ever since that day over a month ago in the locker room. I’ve tried to be patient, honey. But I love you and I know that you feel the same way.” He waited for her to deny it, but when Carly opened her mouth, the words just didn’t come. “You feel it, but you can’t say it, can you?” he asked gently, his hands cupping her hips, pulling her in.

  She didn’t resist, but she glanced at the doorway, just to make sure it was still closed. “Ryker, this is silly. What we have together is just fine. It’s wonderful.”

  He backed away impatiently, letting his hands drop from her waist. “It isn’t enough. I want it all Carly. I want to marry you. But you’re afraid. I don’t think it’s simply a fear of telling your brothers, although I can’t really figure it out. Only you can tell me and every time I bring up our relationship, you change the subject.”

  She wrapped her arms around her waist, unaware of the defensive gesture. “Yes, because things are good,” she asserted again, wishing that he didn’t sound so…disappointed in her.

  “They are good, honey. But they’re not good enough. I want it all, Carly.”

  She shook her head. “You…you…I can’t…”

  “You can, honey.” He stepped closer, taking her hands. “Just talk to your brothers.”

  “They’ll kill you!” she gasped, shaking her head.

  Ryker chuckled, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. “They’re not going to kill me honey. They’ll demand that I marry you. Which is exactly what I want.”

  She swallowed, shaking her head. “But Ryker, why can’t we just…”

  “Leave things as they are? Because I love you, Carly. I love you and I want you with me, every moment. I want you to move in with me, with a ring on your finger, and I want everyone to know that we belong to each other.” He lowered his head and kissed her gently. “Think about it. Talk to Oz first. He’ll be the hardest.”

  With that, he walked out of her office, leaving her trembling and scared. Not about her brothers’ reactions to her relationship. Although, she wasn’t exactly sure why she was so terrified. It was because…maybe she could…or if…!

  Carly sank down into her chair, wondering why she felt as if she was about to throw up.

  Chapter 15

  “What in the world are you doing?” Charlotte asked, staring at the piles of files surrounding Carly.

  “It’s not what you think,” Carly said, nervously shifting her feet so she didn’t knock over anything.

  Charlotte looked at her friend and cringed. “Honey, it looks like you are alphabetizing and color coding your recipes, cleaning schedule, and…” she reached down to pick up another file, her eyes widening, “…Betty’s feeding schedule?”

  Carly grabbed the file from Charlotte and carefully placed it back on the stack. “Yes. Well, I like to be organized.”

  Charlotte looked around at the counters in Carly’s house. “Why are you color coding your canned goods? And…why do you have so many canned goods? You don’t like to cook!”

  “I bake,” she argued.
/>   Charlotte smiled slightly, hearing the defensive tone. “True. You’re an outstanding baker. But you have twelve cans of black beans. What are you going to do with twelve cans of black beans?”

  Carly rubbed her forehead, then glanced down at her watch. Four hours, thirty-three minutes. Just over four and a half hours!

  Charlotte bent down so she could see into Carly’s eyes. “Is this because Ryker is out of town?”

  Carly grabbed a new package of colored stickers. “No! Absolutely not!” she scoffed. “Ryker and my brothers go out of town all the time.” She slapped a red sticker on a package of pasta with a bit more force than was necessary. “That’s their job. It’s what they do. And nothing I say will stop them from leaving m…,” she looked up at Charlotte, startled by what she’d almost said. Charlotte was watching Carly carefully. “From leaving,” she said with firmer emphasis.

  Charlotte nodded carefully. And because she was a brilliant therapist, she knew exactly what Carly hadn’t said. “And…when they are out of town, do you always reorganize your cabinets?”

  Another eye roll. “Not every time. I’m not crazy.”

  Charlotte put her purse over on the chair, then came back and sat down beside the outer edge of the stacks of files. “I don’t think you’re crazy, Carly,” she said softly. “But maybe, you are so worried about your guys coming back from their mysterious missions, that you need to distract yourself by organizing things.”

  Carly stared at her friend for a long moment. “The color coding has nothing to do with my brothers,” she asserted firmly. “I just…I like things organized. There are so many details and I’m the only one that is willing to take care of them.” She reached for the stack of files with the sticky note indicating that the files were storage unit inventories.

  Charlotte reached out, covering Carly’s hand gently. “Honey, Ryker will be back soon. I don’t know where he went, but Oz says that it isn’t a dangerous trip this time.”

  Carly stilled for a long moment, and rubbed her forehead. “I know he isn’t in a danger zone,” she whispered, a couple of her words coming out sounding a bit strangled. “But…”