Page 37 of Return to Me Always

"Our clothes are in the dryer. Shouldn't be long now. I hope anyway," he said, looking down at his borrowed shorts that were rather small and displaying a lot of Tyler's muscular legs.

I laughed, hoping to hide my drool. "Nice legs there, Tyler."

"I could say the same."

What? I tried to cover myself more with my robe but gave up and stood to return to the bathroom. "I need to comb my hair. Or try to anyway."

I thought Tyler would go back downstairs, but he followed me and stood in the doorway, filling it up, as I grabbed the comb. "Ben is making us food. Just wanted to let you know it'll be ready soon."

"That sounds fantastic." I could already smell the aroma, and my mouth watered at the idea. In a hurry to get downstairs, I rushed to get out the tangles but only made it worse.

Without a word, Tyler came in and took the comb from my hand. Standing right behind me, he gently started to unravel the knots, working from the ends of the strands all the way to the top of my head. My heart melted with his patience, with the sweetness of his touch.

In the cramped room, his body was so close to mine, I could feel the heat coming off of him, making my insides all warm. Through the small mirror, I watched him as he focused on my hair.

I couldn't believe how strongly I was already feeling about him, not because he was so incredibly good-looking but because he was proving to be an amazing human being as well.

When he was done with my hair, his eyes met mine in the mirror, and the burning gaze between us scorched me. I turned around to thank him and looked up into his eyes, my breath catching at the intensity I saw there.

Without warning, his lips crashed down on mine.

My mind whirled. My heart raced. His arms came around me, crushing me to him, our bodies melting together. Desire blasted down my core, making me shudder, making me crave... more. My fingers dug into his back as Tyler deepened our kiss, now caressing his tongue with mine.

Damn, he tasted like heaven.

The world around us fell away, and there was nothing except his lips on mine, nothing except the feel of his hard body against me as our mouths moved together with such passion and hunger.

"Hey, you two! Food's ready!" Ben shouted up the stairs.

Instantly, Tyler pulled back, creating a cool barrier where before it had been all molten lava. I stared up at him, hoping he'd say something. After all,hehad been the one to kissme.

"We'd better get downstairs," he finally said.

"Excuse me? That's all you have to say?" I couldn't help it. The words just came out without even thinking about them.

"What do you want me to say?"

An exasperated sigh escaped me. "Maybe wow. Or something nice about, you know, the kiss we just shared?"

He half-smiled at me, taking me back to when we had first met. "It was a nice kiss, Ryder." He winked and left the room, taking my heart with him.

Nice kiss?Are you kidding me?

I turned around to look in the mirror at the flush-faced girl in front of me. That kiss had beeneverything! Absolute fireworks. And for him to just call it nice? There were no words for that knife wound to the heart.

Taking several deep breaths, I looked myself in the eye. I had to get it together. This was not about romance. This was not about my so-called "dream man." This was about clearing our names and getting my life back. The only thing was now I was completely relying on Tyler. For everything. Even food and water.

My God, what had I done? Why had I ever listened to him? I should have gone right to the police.

"Ryder, you coming or what?"

Jerk. So I had made a major mistake—like the biggest mistake ever—but the real question was, what could I do now? I had no clue, but one thing I did know? I needed to eat.

Pulling the robe tight, I headed downstairs. Eating dinner with two dudes while wearing so little was weird, and I definitely wasn't thrilled about being near Tyler so soon. But once I saw the feast Ben had prepared, I didn't care about anything except getting as much food as possible into my stomach.

Looking a bit worried, Ben glanced at me. "Sorry. It's not much. And it's totally bachelor food."

"Are you kidding me?" I said. "This looksamazing."

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