Page 21 of Midnight Surrounds Us

I shook my head, and Rye frowned.

“Get out of your head,” he said, touching the rough pad of his finger lightly between my eyebrows. “You spend entirely too much time up there.”

He wasn’t wrong. Some days it felt like I lived my whole life in my mind. I had so many plans and ideas—and dreams—running like a river up there, but in my head was where they stayed.

Certain things were expected of a woman my age. Screwing someone more than a decade younger was not one of those things. What would my boys say? Ryder was only twelve or thirteen years older than Benji and Micah.

Oh God. I had to work out the math in my head. Was I old enough to be Rye’s mother?Ugh. Wait, okay, so forty-seven minus thirty-four…The relief I felt when I came to the conclusion that no, in fact, I couldn’t be his mom, unless I’d had a baby at thirteen, was so strong that I felt kind of dizzy.

“Wait here for just a minute,” he said.

He got out of the truck, grabbed the picnic basket from his back seat, and disappeared. I didn’t want to turn blatantly to see what he was doing. His ego was already bloated. He didn’t need me gawking at him to make it bigger, but I couldn’t really see him in my side mirror, so I sat there chewing on the inside of my bottom lip and silently arguing with myself about whether I should make a mad dash down the highway.

The whole thing made me nervous. It seemed like this man might do anything to impress me, and I’d go along with his plan if it saved Your Local Bookie and got the IRS off my back, but would he take it too far? We’d passed Cade Ranch on our way up. If I showed up there out of breath, I was betting they’d take me in. I was seventy percent sure. Aislinn lived there, and if Billie happened to be there, I’d be golden!

But I didn’t run. I waited, and when he finished his mysterious preparations, he caught my eye through my open window and smiled. “Come eat.”

He opened my door for me and took my hand to guide me around to the bed of his truck, which had been lined and lit up with twinkle lights.

Soft-looking flannel blankets had been strewn haphazardly over the bed, and oversized, fluffy pillows lined the bulkhead. He’d set the picnic basket off to one side by the wheel well, and next to it was a small cooler, on top of which sat a wooden tray with empty wine glasses, two cold cans of beer dripping with condensation, and two bottles of water.

I planted my feet in the dirt to stop him from pulling me further towards this disaster in the making. “What is this?”

“What’s it look like?”

“Awaytoo romantic picnic.”

“Naw, Goldilocks,” he drawled, “it’s just the right amount of romantic.”

“Rye, look?—”

“Please, Aubrey? I finally got you here. Would you just hear me out? I’ll beg again if you want.”

He smirked, and I had to work hard not to blush while I imagined him down on his knees for me again.

“Ryder Graves, we do not need fairy lights and pillows in order for me to hear you. I amnothavin’ sex with you tonight. Understand?”

His face fell, and he backed up a step and kicked at the rocks in the dirt. “That ain’t what I… I just wanted to do somethin’ nice for you. That’s all. I figure you deserve it. Things’ve been hard for you lately, and?—”

Oh man. And now I was officially the biggest bitch on the planet.

I took a deep breath, released it, and apologized. “I’m sorry. Thank you for doin’ a nice thing for me. It’s sweet, really. But I guess I’m just afraid this all means somethin’ different to you. I don’t wanna hurt you, Rye. I just want to save my store.”

“I know. I get it,” he said, sliding his hands in his front pockets and looking at his boots.

“Aw, hell, Rye. You look like I just kicked your puppy.”

He raised his eyes to mine at that. There was a newfound resolve in them that had me backing up too.

“Maybe I haven’t made it clear, Aubrey, and maybe you don’t wanna hear it. I’m fully aware that it’s not why we’re here, but just ’cause the reasons you agreed to my plan are serious, it don’t mean we can’t have some fun. Back in the day, I knew I had no shot. I knew where your heart lay. I was too young for you, and there was Tommy.”

The mention of my husband made something pinch inside my chest. Rye had no idea, no one did, really, that my marriage was a regret I’d held onto for far too long.

“It seemed like you didn’t wanna let him go after he passed. Or maybe it wasyouyou couldn’t let go—the you you’d beenwith him—but for so many years, it was like you were wearin’ one of those dark widows’ things. You know, the see-through hat things?”

“A black veil?”

“Yeah, that’s it. It was like when I looked at you, your face was hidden behind a veil, but then I came back to Wisper last year and, I dunno, you looked different to my eyes. And I would know ’cause I’ve been lookin’ at you since I met you.”

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