“Why?” Her gaze was unwavering, which was just another thing I admired about her. This girl stood her ground, didn’t back down, and took what she wanted. We had that in common. Now all I had to do was determine whether I was still what she wanted. I hope to all things that have ever been holy that I am.
I moved another inch closer to her, our chests brushing whenever we inhaled. “Do you really have to ask that? I’m here to protect you, Ry. I couldn’t let it be anyone else.”
“Is that the only reason? If it was, why did you lie to me?” Her voice was steady and quiet but fierce nonetheless.
“I’m not a liar. I know that doesn’t seem like the truth right now, but it is. Keeping this from you nearly gave me a fucking ulcer, and I honestly don’t know why I did, but I can’t change what I did. I thought it was for the best.”
When she didn’t say anything, my heart contracted. “Are you going to get over the fact that I didn’t mention it, or are we going to keep living like fucking zombies?”
“Are you really here to protect me?”
“Yes, but if you want more from me, I’m into that too. To whatever extent you want to take it.” I’d never been more sure of anything in my life, but Rylee still didn’t believe me.
In the heat of the moment with everything I felt for her setting fire to my bloodstream and extinguishing my thoughts, I brought my hands to her face and slowly lowered my head. “Unless you tell me otherwise, I’m going to kiss you now.”
Her eyes fell to my lips, and her tongue darted out to swipe across hers. She even tilted her head back some, flashing me a cheeky smile. “Not if I kiss you first.”
She surged up on her toes as I went to close the distance between us, our mouths meeting somewhere in the middle for a hard kiss that would’ve led to a hell of a lot more if my parents weren’t right upstairs.
Our lips mashed together, our tongues battling for dominance before we broke apart when we heard them laughing on the stairs. We were both breathing heavily and looking extremely guilty when they joined us in the kitchen.
My parents took us both in, but neither of them said anything. They’d walked in on much worse than this before.
“Well.” Dad clapped his hands together once. “Are we still going to go cut down that live tree? It doesn’t seem like you two got around to getting the drinks, so we won’t be wasting anything. We should get going if we want to cut the tree down and get it decorated before tonight.”
“Yeah. Let’s go.” Rylee put herself together much faster than I had, but she also didn’t have a very obvious raging hard-on to contend with.
Staying behind the counter from them, I grabbed an empty glass and filled it with water. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
I didn’t even know who the glass had belonged to, but it had to have been either mine or Rylee’s. Since I didn’t mind swapping spit with her, it didn’t really matter who had left the glass there. It was the distraction I needed to get my body to calm down before I dragged her upstairs to see if an angry fuck would get her over it.
Dad gave me a knowing smile before he and Mom followed Rylee out of the kitchen. I rolled my eyes, and his laughter rang out behind him while he muttered something about “finally.”
Once I could safely leave the kitchen, they were ready to leave with jackets hanging over their arms and purses over Rylee and Mom’s shoulders. Dad still looked like the cat who had gotten the cream, and Mom was looking at Rylee like she wanted to hug her again.
Way to play it cool, guys. I couldn’t help but smile, though. Sometimes, it was nice to know that some things would never change. My parents, for instance.
They exchanged a glance when we walked into the parking lot. My dad motioned toward a tiny car in one of Rylee’s visitor spots. “We’ll take the rental. It drives like a dream. Don’t worry if you lose us in the traffic. Just let Mom know where we’re going and we’ll use that app Tucker installed for us to find you.”
“It’s a GPS, Dad,” I said, but since I appreciated that they were giving us time alone on the drive, I didn’t point out that it would be much easier if they came in the truck with us. “We’ll send the location. See you in a few.”
“Your parents are just as nice as I remember them being,” Rylee said once we got on the road. “Do you mind if I give my family a call while we’re on our way? Seeing yours has made me miss them something terrible.”
“You do know that my parents are taking the rental so we can talk, right?”
The corners of her lips moved, but they didn’t form a full smile. She’d also gone back to avoiding my eyes. “Yep. They’re pretty obvious, but I think it’s cute. That whole situation back in the kitchen could’ve become a lot more awkward very fast if they’d started asking questions.”
“I think they’ve learned over the years when to ask questions and when not to.” I grinned despite the tension in the cab. “They walked in on Parker the first time he jerked off, on Jeremy one night in the garage when he was kissing an older girl who hadn’t even known he still lived with his parents, and on Tucker while he was trying to propose.”
For just a minute, things between us felt normal again. Rylee laughed so hard she had to wipe her eyes, shaking her head when she finally looked at me again. “Wow. I never thought I’d hear all those names in the same sentence again. I’ve love to hear those stories sometime. I can’t believe it’s been so long since the last time I saw them.”
“Yeah, they’re definitely going to be surprised to hear your name too. I’m sure Mom will fill you in on all of it if you ask her to. She’s a well of embarrassing stories and she loves telling them.”
Silence fell between us again when the tension that had been there all week came washing back over us, and Rylee pulled her phone out of her purse. “I’ll definitely ask her about it, but I still want to have that chat with my family.”
“Of course.” I kept quiet while she put in her call, white-knuckling the steering wheel as frustration coursed through me.
I hated how things were with us now. It’d been so easy, so fucking natural, and now this.
Rylee yanked me out of the broody hole I seemed to live in now when she took the phone away from her ear and punched the button to put it on speaker. “Guess who’s here with me, Billy? It’s Carter.”
“Carter?” My friend sounded confused, but I couldn’t blame him. “Like, my Carter?”
“Yep,” she said in a sing-song voice I didn’t understand. “I’m not sure he was ever yours, though. Remember what we talked about at Thanksgiving?”
Billy coughed into the phone. “Ignore her, dude. You don’t want to know what we talked about. How are you? Why are you with my sister?”
Fuck. This is awkward. Billy and I had texted back and forth a few times since running into each other in Conroe, but I hadn’t said anything to him about Rylee.
“Yeah. I’m good. You? My firm got hired to do her security. What did you guys talk about?”
“Nothing.” Rylee chuckled, ignoring the questioning look I sent her way. “Carter’s my bodyguard now. Can you believe it?”
“Not really.” He made a groaning noise. “Did you track him down, Ryles? I’m so sorry my sister is a creeper.”
“I’m not a creeper,” she protested while trying to hold back laughter. “I swear I didn’t look him up. I didn’t even recognize him at first.”
Listening to the two of them banter with my parents in the car behind us and hers clamoring for the phone in the background, I suddenly had a flash of how it could really be between us. Up until now, I hadn’t let myself think too much about our families, our shared background, and what a future together might be like.
I was thinking about it now, though. It was everything I never even realized I wanted.
Chapter 22
RYLEE
Having Carter’s parents here was going to make me forgive him much faster than I wanted to. I’d been slowly but surely trying to get over it all week but now it seeme
d like I’d hopped on the express train.
The man was all I wanted in my life and I really didn’t want to let this one thing take it all away from both of us. His parents just cemented it for me. They treated me like I was already part of the family, and a secret part of me wished that I really was.
Carter’s Dad, Adam, was too cute for his own good, and his mother kept snapping pictures to send to mine. She took one of Adam posing to cut down a massive tree with the tiniest saw known to man before coming to stand next to me.
“I bought the DVD of your first show,” she said, bending her head conspiratorially while linking her arm with mine. “We were so proud of you when we saw you on the cover. I always knew you were going to make it big.”
She wasn’t even just saying it. Mrs. Demming, Denise, had been very involved in the theater program at high school, and she’d always doted over my voice and dancing.
“Thank you.” I squeezed her arm. “I wouldn’t say I’ve made it big, but I’ve done okay for myself.”
“I’d say.” I appreciated that she didn’t pry about whether I was going back to performing or why I’d stopped. “Should we go take a look at that tree? I think they might be considering it seriously and I’m not sure it’s the right one.”
Eyeing the monstrosity Carter and his dad were standing next to, I had to agree. “I thought we were just cutting down the tree. I didn’t realize we were planning on cutting a hole in the building to get it in there later as well.”
Adam tapped his lips with his index finger. “She might have a point there, son. We sure as hell won’t fit this thing in an elevator.”
“We could make it fit if we’re patient,” Carter said, and I very nearly made a “that’s what he said” joke out of the comment.
His eyes snapped to mine like he’d heard it even though I hadn’t said it, silent laughter rolling through him before he winked at me. Warmth filled all the parts of me that had felt so cold and empty all week. How he knew me so well that he’d known what the first thought to jump into my head had been, I didn’t know, but I also didn’t doubt that he did.
When I finally managed to tear my eyes away from his, breaking off the moment passing between us, I found his mother staring straight at me. She patted my arm. “We’ve always loved you, darling. I’m really glad you two stumbled onto each other.”
She asked me a little about why I needed a guard, and I answered her honestly but without giving too much detail. The irony didn’t escape my notice that I was doing to her exactly what I was trying to forgive him for doing to me, yet I still didn’t go into detail.
I didn’t want to worry her, and I felt like I needed to protect her from the scary reality that there might be someone out there who wanted to hurt me and Carter was my last line of defense. “It’s nothing too serious. My parents and my team felt I’d be safer if I had someone with me. People can get pretty intense about their favorite actors and shows, you know?”
She smiled and pretended to fan her face. “I know. There are a few of those actors that even this old lady would throw herself at on the street.”
“I heard that,” Adam yelled, laughing and shaking his head before going back to the conversation he was having with Carter. I didn’t know what it was about, but it seemed pretty earnest and impassioned.
“How about this one?” She pointed at the tree right next to us. “I think it’s perfect and it’s freezing out. Let’s go home and have those warm drinks we skipped out on earlier.”
Carter’s fingers brushed against mine when he passed me, and even just that innocent touch made me long for more. But that was part of the problem.
I hadn’t only been thinking about the lie this week. I’d also wondered if it was even worth trying to work it all out. Regardless of how sure he’d seemed about not caring if he ended up having to take care of me, I wouldn’t wish a fate like that on my worst enemy, and he certainly wasn’t that.
His parents were so youthful and alive, and Billy had told me at some point that all his brothers were married with children. Carter had four brothers, and if they were all married with at least one child, that meant that with him and his parents included, there were a minimum of fifteen people at family gatherings.
I could only imagine how loud and chaotic those must be. It sounded like my family Christmas dreams come true, but I’d hate to have to put a damper on it for all of them if my MS took a turn for the worse.
Then there was the fact that Carter himself might start saying no to attending because it would just be too difficult with me there, or even to get me there. The mere thought of it tore me to pieces inside just as much as the thought that if I wasn’t willing to risk it, I’d have to say goodbye to him.
Maybe a visit to the doctors will help. Just to see what’s happening with me. I truly didn’t want to start a deep relationship with someone if I was getting sicker. It just wouldn’t be fair, but especially not to someone with such a lively, vibrant family.
A snowball hit me in the arm. I started before spotting Carter standing a few feet away with that trademark smirk of his on his face. I also didn’t miss the worry in his eyes, though.
“What’s on your mind, Naples? Nothing could be more important than this tree. Come check it out.” He waved me over, putting a protective hand on my lower back when I went to stand next to him. “You okay?”
He’d asked it quietly enough that she couldn’t have heard, but his mother still smiled at us from the other side of the tree. “I’m fine. I just keep getting tripped up by something in my head.”
“We’ll talk about it later?” His fingers flexed on my back, and he waited until I nodded before grinning at his father. “I think we’ve found the winner. Let’s get it home.”
Carter and his dad were put in charge of the tree while we cheered from the sidelines, drawing a few glances which made Carter tense, but it was nothing more than curious onlookers. I gave his forearm a comforting squeeze.
“Stop worrying, boyfriend. Everything is fine.” It was the first time I’d called him that since he’d told me who he was, and there was a flicker of relief in his eyes before he hauled the tree over his shoulder.
“Let’s just get you home, girlfriend. I’ll stop worrying once I know you’re safe.” He moved fast, strapping the tree in his truck bed before paying, never letting me out of his sight for more than a few seconds.
Denise turned out to be a commanding Christmas coordinator when we got back home. She pointed at the box of decorations I’d hauled out earlier. “Right. Let’s see what we’ve got to work with.”
They oohed and ahhed over all the trinkets I’d collected. She picked up a bauble with my family printed on it. “Why don’t we have ones like this made?”
“Because we’d need an extra tree to have everyone on it,” Carter said. “Or a giant bauble. Take your pick.”
She smacked his shoulder lightly. “Big families are a blessing. Besides, you’re the youngest. If we had any fewer children, you wouldn’t be here.”
“None of you ever let me forget it,” Carter grumbled, but I saw the grin he was fighting. “How’s Parker’s skiing trip going? Did they ever have the green jackets made?”
“They did.” Adam fished his phone out of his pocket, navigated to something, and turned it toward Carter. “I’m thinking we should have matching ones made for the whole family for next year.”
He groaned, covering his eyes with his fingers and peeking between them. “That’s just terrible enough that I actually think you might do it.”
“They wouldn’t have to be green,” I said. “You could always have the photo of the family you use for the baubles printed on the back.”
“That’s the best idea I’ve heard in ages.” Denise grinned from ear to ear. “On the front, it could have our individual pictures and the family on the back. Guess what everyone’s getting for Christmas next year.”
“Now you’ve gone and done it.” Carter dropped his head back and moaned at the ceiling
. “Why? Why would she do this to me?”
“Because she’s smart,” I said, clapping him on the shoulder. He caught my hand, giving it the briefest, lightest of squeezes before letting me walk past him toward the pile of decorations. “I’m sure there are plenty more ideas to be found in here.”
“You know I’m getting her to make you one of those jackets too, right? If I have to wear it, it’s only fair that you have to as well.”
“It’s your family,” I reminded him before nudging him in the ribs with my elbow when he came to sit on his knees next to me. “How about if I have one made with my family on it, and you can rest assured in the knowledge that Conroe will look like it’s trying to keep a print shop running when we’re all there next Christmas?”
“You should come see us when you’re home again,” Adam said to me, his dark eyes crinkling at the corners. “Drag your brother with you. We haven’t seen that boy in far too long. He used to drop in every so often when he was in town, but I hear he’s too busy now to stay for very long.”
I nodded. “Nashville seems to be keeping him in its grip most of the time. We’re both going home at the beginning of February for my parents’ anniversary party, though. We’ll definitely come say hi.”
“It would be lovely to see him. I have such fond memories of him with Carter.” Denise smiled softly before a mischievous twinkle came into her eye and she looked at me. “Why don’t you and I go make some more hot chocolate? The guys can finish decorating the tree, and when they’re done, let me tell you some stories about what those boys used to get up to.”
“I’d love that,” I said, immediately getting to my feet. “I have some cookies for us, too. We can snack while you tell me all about it.”
Carter groaned again, grabbing my hand before I walked away. “Will you please at least consider locking her in the pantry before she can let you in on all my most embarrassing moments?”
I smiled down at him sweetly before shaking my head. “No way. I might even be able to add a few of my own memories about the two of you. We should get Billy on speaker for this, then I can exact revenge on both of you at the same time.”
Dropping The Ball: A New Year’s Billionaire Romance Page 15