But as she left, she choked out, “Ryker?”
My blood gelled.
I couldn’t see him since I was sitting in the chair behind the door, but my father could, and fire blazed in his green eyes.
“Not dating him? If you keep lying, Haven, I’ll add more rules to your list.” Father’s tone oozed with scorn. “Why is he here?”
I flew off the chair to find Vicki trying to tug the big, bad quarterback down the hall.
Inwardly, I laughed. Ryker wasn’t budging. But he was glaring at my father. That silent laugh died.
Ryker sauntered into the room. His biceps were bulging, his features were hard, and he had a scowl that would frighten a puppy.
Vicki mouthed, “Sorry.” Then she left. I couldn’t blame her. I wouldn’t hang around either, but if I didn’t want Ryker and my father to kill each other, then I had to stay.
I flattened my hand on Ryker’s chest, trying to guide him out the door. “I’ll call you later.”
Ryker sidestepped around me and went over to shake my father’s hand. “Senator Hale. Nice to see you again.” His tone was saturated with sugar.
The air crackled with the calm before the storm, and there was nothing but lightning sparking in Ryker’s gray eyes as he waited for my father to shake his hand.
But Father ignored him and pushed to his feet, almost meeting Ryker in height. “I can’t say the same.” He gathered his phone, buttoned his suit jacket, then regarded me. “Our conversation isn’t finished. I expect you to have your things packed. I’ll send a car to pick you up this weekend.”
I felt as though he’d slapped me in the face. “Dad, if you insist on making a big deal out of the university paper or Ryker and me, then I will have to take matters into my own hands.” I had my own gauntlet to throw down. He wasn’t getting away with his powerful threats, although I knew when push came to shove, he would win. He had the financial purse to pluck me from the university like I was a pawn in his game.
“Why are you such a dick?” Ryker asked, his voice as hard as the floor beneath his feet.
Father got nose to nose with Ryker. “I don’t appreciate you speaking to me that way, son.”
“I’m not your son.”
Tension as thick as an iceberg floated into the room.
“You’re right. You’re not. But let’s not forget that I support the sports program. I could have you removed from football.”
Crap!
Ryker balled his hands into fists, and evil etched into a grin that frightened me. “I bring in money for this university. Let’s not forget either that the team has won the last three games since my return. Also, let’s not forget that you fucked over my father and his company.”
Father and I fighting and threatening one another was one thing, but now that he was threatening Ryker’s livelihood, we were playing a whole new game. As much as I wanted to stick it to my father, I couldn’t let him ruin Ryker’s life. The big guy needed football, especially if he wanted to get drafted into the NFL.
I slid my petite frame in between the two large men, or I tried to and failed. So I grasped my father’s arm. “Daddy.” My tone sounded like I was ten again. “I’ll come home. No need to send a car either. I have mine.” I didn’t sound convincing. But I didn’t want Ryker to do something stupid to get benched or kicked off the team.
The red in my father’s cheeks started to fade. “Smart girl.” Then he kissed me on the forehead. “I’ll expect you no later than Sunday.”
So much for college life.
“Senator.” Ryker’s jaw hardened like steel. “Why not just come clean that you had a hand in slowing down the approval process for James Enterprises to get a certificate from the water board to operate again.”
“Would it matter? Would it change how I feel about you or you about me? What’s done is done. Now play football and stay away from my daughter.”
“I’m not staying away from Haven.” Ryker spat venom. “We’re friends. Get used to it.”
I gritted my teeth, bit my tongue, silently screamed with joy, and held my breath. The top was ready to blow off my father’s thick head of hair, but I was elated that Ryker wasn’t backing down.
Father’s jaw was stone. “As I said, stay away from my daughter.”
“Why do you hate me so much?” Ryker asked.
Father guffawed. “You’re not good for my daughter.”
“Why don’t you let her decide?” Ryker volleyed back.
My father didn’t care what I wanted. And no matter what I said at that moment, he wasn’t going to hear me.
So to ease the tension, I kissed Father on the cheek. “I’ll be home this weekend.”
He nodded then left without another word.
As soon as the door closed, a sigh rushed out of my lungs.
27
Ryker
I growled my annoyance at the backside of the senator as he carried himself out of the room as though he’d won the war. Fuck that. He’d only won the battle with his daughter, which was eating at my gut like a damn piranha.
She’d given in to his demand. She was moving home.
I tamped down my ire only because their feud was none of my business, but hell, I wanted it to be. I wanted to help her and protect her from her bullying old man.
She blinked, and her head twitched at the same time as though she had Tourette Syndrome. I would too if I were related to him.
I roughed my hands through my sweaty hair. I’d been working off my campus community service and had been in the vicinity. So I’d thought I would take a chance and see if Haven wanted to grab a bite for dinner. But I was far from hungry now.
Fucking senator.
“Why do you make deals with him? Why not just tell him to fuck off?”
“He pays for my college.” Her voice was small. “It’s not like I can afford to live on my own yet.”
Okay, I got that. I even understood that it would take a chisel and muscle to get through to her old man. What I didn’t get was how he was hanging me over her head like I was the devil’s spawn and had come to take her to hell. Maybe she was right. Maybe the senator had his dick so far into Ms. Sims that he would rather please her than his daughter.
At that thought, I fisted my hands. Haven deserved better.
“Live with me.” A maniacal laugh screamed in my head. Like I was the better choice. I was a dick too, and a woman in my life, as in a steady woman, wasn’t me.
But you’ve never met a woman like her before.
Haven was the whole package—gutsy, beautiful body, knew how to take me to paradise in the bedroom, and had some magical potion that made me want to get up in the morning.
My pulse was racing like a horse at the Kentucky Derby.
Her eyebrows climbed to her hairline. “Ryker James wants a girl living with him? That would be some headline.”
Yeah, dollface. I’m as shocked as you. Lucas would laugh his ass off when he found out that I’d asked Haven to move in with us. But something felt right about her and me living together.
Voices tittered in the hall outside the door, snapping me out of my haze.
I inhaled deeply. “Lucas and I have an extra bedroom.”
Haven, who had been frozen in her spot by the coffee table—with her mouth agape, shoulders hunched, and mind working overtime—awarded me with a dazzling smile. “Can I room with you?”
My heart thrashed, thudded, and thumped. And my dick came alive. “We’re friends.”
“With benefits,” she was quick to add with an avid expression.
My gaze licked up and down her delicious and gorgeous body, remembering how we fit so well together.
Silence beat for one second then two.
She busted out laughing. “If you could see the pain on your face. Don’t worry. My answer is no.”
Little did she know that I wasn’t in pain because she would be living with me or sleeping in my room or even sharing my bed. I was suddenly trying to figure out why I was feeling a swarm of butterf
lies in my stomach. fluttering like someone had disrupted their habitat.
Her laughed died as she wiggled her hips up to me. “I appreciate the offer.” She pressed her hands to my abs. “I have to settle my differences with my father before I make any decisions on where I live or what I do.”
Man, for some fucked-up reason, it felt like she was breaking up with me or breaking off our friendship. And that made me want to punch the walls.
I cupped her cheek. “I’m serious, Haven. If you need a place to crash, Lucas and I would be stoked to have you. Or if that didn’t appeal to you, I can offer my parents’ house. My aunt isn’t returning until Christmas.”
She lifted up on tiptoes and gave me a chaste kiss on the lips.
Oh, hell no.
Before she got away, my hand snaked around to her neck, and I tugged her to me, searching her eyes, which held fear and warmth. I doubted the fear was directed toward me, but I could have been mistaken.
Slowly, I lowered my lips to hers then kissed her as though I were never going to see her again. But with her, I was learning a lot about myself.
She whimpered when our tongues touched.
Warmth spread out in my chest, surrounding my heart. I’d never felt lightheaded and dizzy when kissing a girl.
She crawled up my body and wrapped her legs around my waist. I carried her into her room and eased her onto the bed.
A tear rolled down her cheek as she looked away.
With my hand, I guided her chin until we locked eyes. “Hey, baby doll.”
She started crying as if I’d yelled at her.
I squatted between her legs and spread my hands on her thighs. “Talk to me.”
“I just…” She sniffled. “I feel like I’m suffocating. He’s never let up on me since my mom died.”
So many emotions shot through me, but I knocked them down, or else I would seriously pay a visit to her father.
“Then you,” she whispered.
Well, fuck. I didn’t want to be a burden or the one squeezing the air from her lungs.
She flicked a tear off her face. “You can be such an ass but so sweet at the same time. Why do you care? Why would you ruin your playboy reputation and have a girl move in with you?”
I scrubbed a hand over my stubbled jaw. “We’re friends.”
“Is that the only reason?”
I straightened to my full height, my fingers flying to my hair, willing that fluttery feeling in the pit of my stomach to quiet down. Hell, crazy shit was trampling through my brain like a herd of elephants on safari.
I liked Haven. Maybe I more than liked her. I wanted her in my life. I wanted to get to know her better.
Fuck all that. I needed this woman like I needed to wake up tomorrow and breathe.
Maybe the university paper was right. Maybe I was off the market.
She held her bottom lip hostage. “You’re thinking really hard.”
“I need a drink. Got any beer?” I darted out of her room before she could answer and invaded her small fridge to find only water.
As long as it was cold, I didn’t care. I couldn’t get the cap off fast enough or the cold liquid down my throat.
Tell the truth. Tell her what you’re feeling.
Her footsteps gave her away. “Ryker?” Her angelic tone sent a wave of goose bumps along my arms.
Pivoting on my heel, I poured water down my throat, only to spit it out when my gaze rounded on her.
Her ball-squeezing green eyes were riveted on me as if I were some type of lunatic.
I seriously was one nut shy of going to a mental health facility. Maybe then I could get help for my drinking, my mourning, and whatever it was that I was feeling for Haven, which I was afraid to say aloud.
Her chest rose and fell as she stood before me.
“I need to go.” I had to get the fuck out of the dorm. I felt like I was standing in one of those tiny houses on that HGTV program. How could anyone live in such a minuscule space was beyond me.
Mom had teased that she wouldn’t mind living in one when she and Dad retired. Dad’s response had been “not in my lifetime.” He’d been a big dude like me, so I could relate.
Haven batted her long lashes, and another tear cascaded down her face. “We need to talk.”
No, my lady, we need to fuck. That was the only exercise that was going to dust away the motes in my brain.
She erased the distance between us, and her soft fingers went around my wrists, or tried to anyway. “Come here.”
I went with her over to the couch.
“Have a seat,” she purred.
I loved that light and airy sound out of her.
She eased her gorgeous butt onto the coffee table and, with her hands, opened my legs, much like I’d done to her when she’d been at my house.
Slide your hands up my thighs. Please. Please. Maybe then I would be able to get my tongue moving.
My wish wasn’t granted. But she did place her palms on my knees.
Screw that. I gripped her hips and lifted her until she was straddling me.
She giggled. “You seem to have that move down pat, big guy.”
“I like when you call me big guy.” I waggled my eyebrows, staring into the glimmering emeralds that I wanted to gaze into for the rest of my life.
Motherfucker.
She touched my cheek then forehead. “You’re sweating.”
I grabbed her ass. “You’re doing things to me that are kind of freaking me the fuck out.”
“Like?”
Being in my head. Being in my heart. Being in my fucking soul.
“I came here tonight to ask you to dinner,” I said.
“A date?”
I shrugged. “A friend taking another friend out. Besides, we both need to eat.”
“We can’t date.” She said those three words so seriously, and they were a punch to the heart.
I frowned. “Am I not good enough for you?” I was halfway teasing. Maybe she just wanted to be my friend or was only using me for my body. I laughed.
She looked adorable when she puckered her lips and angled her head. “You’re a weird guy sometimes. But seriously. We can’t date because it would ruin the fundraiser. Women wouldn’t bid on you, or guys wouldn’t bid on me.”
A heavy sigh broke free, but my relief was short-lived. My chest burned at the idea of another guy touching her or even taking her out. I had never been the jealous type. I’d never had a reason to be since I didn’t do steady, but with her, I would rip a guy in two if he touched her.
I laughed harder. “You’re worried about that?”
She licked her lips. “Maybe.”
“Bull.”
She was afraid of her old man for all the reasons she’d mentioned before.
The wiggle of the doorknob announced Vicki, who waltzed in. “Oh. I should just go. I saw your father leave, so I thought the coast was clear.”
Haven climbed off me. “No. Ryker was just leaving.”
I was? It was probably best. I wasn’t ready to talk about my feelings or tell her why I cared. The minute I expressed any of my feelings would be the minute my heart would get broken.
And Haven was right about one thing. She had to settle her differences with her old man, because if she didn’t, I would for her.
28
Haven
I packed a small suitcase with some of my clothes. I wasn’t moving home permanently, and if my father thought I was, he was in for a rude awakening. I just hoped he hadn’t gone to the admin office to tell them I wouldn’t be living in the dorm anymore.
Vicki yawned out in the common room.
It was only seven in the morning on a Saturday. I couldn’t believe she was up already. She’d gone out last night and had waltzed in around three a.m.
I only knew that because I’d been awake. I hadn’t been able to sleep since my father had paid me a visit on Thursday. But that wasn’t the only reason. Ryker had asked me to move in with him. That was all I’d though
t about. He cared. He didn’t want to admit it, but he did.
I had my own feelings on the tip of my tongue, but I guessed we both weren’t ready to talk about how we felt. It didn’t matter anyway. No matter how strong my feelings were for him, my father would stand in the way.
Don’t let him. I wasn’t willing to fight just yet. I had to settle my differences with my father first.
“Knock, knock,” Vicki said in a sleepy voice.
I was hunched over my bed with my back to the door as I folded two shirts and set them in the suitcase.
Her bare feet slapped on the tiled floor. “What are you doing?” She clutched my arm until I was facing her.
My heart fell to the floor. I hadn’t had the guts to tell her I was moving home. She’d turned down joining a sorority so we could room together.
Her face pinched as she surveyed the clothes on my bed and in my suitcase. “I should rephrase. Where are you going? Does this have something to do with why you’ve been a hermit and why you haven’t talked much?”
Hermit was the right word. I’d barely eaten. I’d hardly spoken, and when I did, it was nothing more than to say I had class, or I would be home late, or I was going to the library.
She’d done her best the other day to get me to talk after my dad and Ryker had left, but I’d only told her that I hadn’t been ready to spill the details, especially the part where I’d agreed to move home.
“My father won,” I said in a small voice.
She mashed her lips into a thin line. “If politics turns me into a man like him, then I should change my major.”
That got a soft laugh out of me. “Not all politicians are like him. Look, it’s only until after the election.”
“You haven’t broken any rules. He’s gotten no negative press because of you.”
I opened a web browser on my phone and showed her the screen. The university paper was one thing, but the major news outlets were quite another.
She took my phone and paced as she read the headline from one of the big media outlets. “Senator Hale’s daughter knows how to work a room.”
I resumed folding. “Apparently, the major news outlets got ahold of the picture that was in the university paper of Ryker and me locked in that heated kiss. I believe someone sold that photo to the press.” My father had texted that web link to me at four in the morning then ended his text with Arlene and I will be waiting for you.
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