Page 75 of Hungry Hearts

She rolls her eyes. “Please. I’m anything but sexy.”

“Well, you’re an idiot then.”

When she gasps, I cup my hand around the back of her neck. “You need to see yourself as I do. No woman has made me want to think with my brain and not just my dick.”

Her brows flick up. “Is that a compliment?”

I chuckle. “Fuck yeah, it is. Does my dick want you twenty-four-seven? There’s no question about it. But you’re always on my mind too. I think about you.You.Not just your body. I think about your smile when I make you laugh. I think about bringing you coffee in the morning to start your day, while my dick thinks about waking up next to you to start your day in a different way. I stare at my phone all the time, debating if I should send you a flirty or dirty text. Obviously, I usually combine the two. I think about where you are and what you’re doing while you read them. What you’ll text back. I wonder if you think of me during the day, and so I text more than I probably should to force you to think of me. I think about you and Ruby doing your mother-daughter stuff. Coloring at the kitchen counter, which now has a whole new meaning. I think about how easily I make you blush.”

“That’s a lot of thinking,” she says, her voice husky with emotion.

I stroke the front of her neck with my thumb and make myself more vulnerable to her. “I think about how I can never measure up to what you had with your husband. From what you’ve said and what I can see from those pictures, I’m nothing like him. I don’t have a squeaky-clean past like he had. I’m the complete opposite of him, of what you wanted for your future, for your daughter. I’m not that guy. I don’t belong here.”

She places her palms on my chest, and I’m pretty sure she can feel the rapid beating of my heart. “How long have we known each other?”

“Not long enough.”

“Exactly. So what makes you think you know me better than I know myself? What makes you think you’re better at making decisions for me than I am?”

We’re getting too heavy into emotions and feelings for my liking. She’s right. We haven’t known each other for long in her book. In mine, this is record-breaking.

“Told you I’m an over-thinker.” I drop my hand from her neck and circle her waist with my fingers. “Should I go back to just thinking with my dick?”

She bites back her smile and glares at me. “As long as your dick only thinks about me.” I love how she grows shy immediately after she says something so brazen. Lowering her chin, she whispers, “I’m not trying to...tie you down or anything, but if you’re going to be with other women, can you...um...well, I don’t sleep around and...we didn’t use a condom...”

“Angel.” I tip her chin with my fingers and look deep into her eyes. “Anytime you want to tie me up, I’m game. And I have no plans or desires to be with anyone but you.”

“But if you do...”

I’m not ready to say those words. To commit myself to a relationship, but I can promise her this. “In the highly unlikely event that I have even the slightest desire to be with another woman, I’ll let you know first.”

“Thank you.”

“And I expect the same from you.”

She huffs out an unladylike snort. “As if. Sex with you is an out-of-body experience.”

My ego—and my dick—appreciates her comment. I lower my mouth to hers and linger over her lips for a heartbeat. “Go back inside and get some rest. You’re going to need it if you want me to fuck you like that again.”

I give her a quick kiss and swat her ass, pushing her toward the house.

CHAPTER TWENTY

IT’S BEEN A LONG TIMEsince I’ve been this happy. For the past two weeks since Ruby’s party, I’ve seen Ryder more than I haven’t. Now that I’m not hiding my relationship with him, he meets me every morning at Roast & Toast and we talk over coffee and pastries. He walks me to the salon and kisses me longer than is appropriate in public but keeps his hands on my waist or in my hair.

He even surprised me by scheduling a haircut. Dan and Kaitlin kept making eyes at him and me through the mirror, but Ryder only had eyes for me. He kept his voice soft but told me how hard it made him when I washed his hair. And cut his hair. And breathed.

For the next week, Dan and Kaitlin wouldn’t stop gushing over how sexy Ryder was. They asked questions, lots and lots of questions, and I responded as vaguely as possible while still giving them something to flutter about.

Ryder has come over for dinner twice, which made Ruby’s day. Unfortunately, when it’s the three of us, I’m often moved to the back burner. I don’t mind though. Watching Ryder play with Ruby and seeing her excitement when she learns he’s coming over is more of a turn-on than when he talks dirty.

Well, it’s a different kind of turn-on. He turns my insides to a mushy mess of feelings. He reads her bedtime stories, and after the first night of riling her up before bedtime, which resulted in her staying up too late, and resulted in no make out sessions for us on the couch, he’s now learned how to settle her down before bed.

He has no inhibitions about using a princess voice when playing with dolls, but he tones it down a few notches when he reads her bedtime stories to help lull her to sleep. All it took was one warning to Ruby that he wouldn’t be allowed to come over on a school night if she didn’t stay in her room when we put her to bed to make bedtime routine a breeze.

It’s a challenge being quiet when Ryder has his head between my legs, and I especially love when he has to muffle his face into the couch cushions to quiet his moans.

But I don’t miss his subtle glances at the pictures of Adam I have around the house. He’ll always be a part of my and Ruby’s life, and it’s important for Ryder to accept that. He has, I believe. If I were in his shoes, I’m sure I’d feel jealous as well, so I do all I can to reassure him that he’s the right man for me. At least for right now.

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