Page 8 of Laying it Bare Biker Style: Ryder

“Angel and Misti assured methey wouldn’t let them eat me alive. Although I’m not sure I’ll behanging out there anyway.”

“Maybe not, but I don’twant you alone, so if I’m heading there for club business and haveto leave your side, I’ll make sure Angel or Misti is there to haveyour back.” He pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket. “What doyou like on your pizza?”

“Whatever you get is fine.I appreciate you feeding me.”

Placing his fingers on my chin, hebrought my gaze to his. “Let me take care of you. I’d like to knowwhat you like on your pizza so I get something that works for bothof us.”

I chewed on my bottom lip. “I likejust cheese. I know that’s boring so get whatever you like and I’llpick off the toppings. It’s no big deal.”

Rubbing his thumb along my cheek, heopened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. “How about Iget half cheese, half loaded then?”

His unsaid words piqued my curiosityand I stared at him for a beat, having trouble finding my words. Hedidn’t seem like the type to curb anything that came out of hismouth. “You don’t have to do that. I won’t eat half of a pizza. Andyou probably eat an entire one yourself.”

“First of all, I don’t doanything I don’t want to. And second, are you saying I’m big?” Hethrew me a teasing grin.

“Um, yeah, you’re huge.”Realizing that could be taken two different ways, I slapped a handover my mouth as my eyes widened and my cheeks warmed for thehundredth time today.

“You ain’t wrong on thatdetail.” His dark eyes grew heated as a predatory smile curled hislips. “But we’ll talk about something else.” Then he shifted hisattention to his phone and ordered us dinner. After returning hisphone to his pocket, he grabbed the remote and clicked it to asitcom before settling back into the cushions. “Dinner will be herein thirty minutes. We’ll check out job prospects tomorrow after youget back from your girls’ day. And hopefully you find something youwould like to do at one of our businesses because I know you’ll besafe there. We have guys that patrol our sites several times duringbusiness hours. Until we figure out what exactly happened to you, Idon’t want to take any chances. I don’t want to cause youunnecessary worry so I’ll stop talking about it.”

“You mentioning it reallyisn’t bothering me. I know it’s something we can’t ignore and it’snot like we’re harping on it. You’re being cautious and Iappreciate that.”

“I told you I’d protectyou.” He paused for a moment, his forehead scrunched in thought.“Do you want to take a quick ride on my bike after dinner? I forgotto have Grayson ask the girls to bring you over some toiletries.We’ll need to get you a few things before tomorrow.”

“They must have justthought about it without being asked because they brought me oversome things. Girly shampoo and conditioner, not that I mindsmelling like you because I did have to use your deodorant but Ididn’t think you’d mind because it ensured I didn’t start smellingan hour after my shower. And I didn’t go snooping. Thank goodness,you had left the bottle on your sink. But I didn’t use yourtoothbrush. I would never invade your stuff like that. I just usedmy finger and some toothpaste, but I now have my own toothbrush andtoothpaste.” Pressing my fingers lightly to my mouth, I gave him ameek look. “I’m sorry. I do that when I get nervous. Or I justdon’t talk at all which is what I did at the club mostly, butaround you I can’t seem to help myself.” Hoping to stop the everflowing deluge of words, I clamped my entire hand over my offendingbody part.

Lifting his hand to mine, he gentlypulled it away from my face and grinned. “I’m not sure what it is,but I find your rambling adorable. I don’t know why, becausenormally I don’t like it when girls make idle chit chat. Maybe Ijust hadn’t found one who had interesting things to say. Or maybewhat you say makes me chuckle. And don’t worry, I’m sure I’ve donenastier things than use someone else’s toothbrush. But I appreciateyour thoughtfulness in not using mine. Although I can’t say itwould have bothered me.” Giving me a wink, he shifted his attentionback to the sitcom.

Leaning my head against his shoulder,I closed my eyes but it wasn’t long before a knock at the doorinterrupted my drowse. I blinked sleepy eyes up at him.“Dinner?”

“Probably. You stay righthere.” Rising from the couch, he snatched his gun off of the endtable beside us before heading to the door.

It said a lot about me that I wasn’teven fazed about him answering the door with a gun, even though wewere expecting a delivery. I had spent the last five years livingat a club and before that my home life was anything but safe. To mybrain, it was logical thinking.

“Do you want to eat at thebar or on the couch?” Holding a pizza box, Ryder stood at edge ofthe living room.

Popping up from my seat, I walked overto him. “Let’s eat at the bar.”

After circling the impressive marbletopped piece and walking farther into their kitchen, he motionedfor me to sit down. “Park it there on one of the stools. Do youwant iced tea or Coke to drink? We have water as well. Since youlike boring pizza maybe you like boring drinks as well.” He shot mea teasing smile.

“Actually water soundsgood. I’m dying a thirst. I have no idea how long I wasunconscious. I could drain a well, I think.”

He rubbed a hand down his face. “I’msorry we’re not better hosts. We don’t really entertain guests. Ishould’ve offered you a drink when you first woke up.” Placing thepizza down, he turned to grab two bottles of water and a beer fromthe refrigerator. Then he set them on the bar along with paperplates. “If you need more to drink or something, please tell me.”He walked around the bar and sat down beside me. “Digin.”

“It’s okay. I did get a bigdrink when I was in the bathroom after I showered.” I awkwardlypulled a piece of plain pizza free and dropped it onto myplate.

“I don’t have any cups inthe bathroom. We aren’t that sophisticated here.” He grinned aroundhis mouthful.

I hadn’t even noticed he had grabbed aslice. “I cupped my hands together.” I shrugged.

“Resourceful. I’mimpressed.”

I had barely eaten two bites of onepiece when he grabbed a plain slice and another one that wasloaded. He pulled some of the toppings off of the loaded piece andset them on the plain one. “You don’t mind sharing your half doyou?”

“It’s technically allyours.” I couldn’t help laughing at his antics.

“No. I bought half for you.That makes it yours.” He put the bottle of beer up to his lips andmy eyes traced his long swallow. Everything he did was soincredibly sexy.

“Well then yes I’ll share.I had already told you I couldn’t possibly eat half of a pizza.” Itook my own lengthy drink to quench my thirst, which had increasedtenfold since sitting on the couch with him after myshower.

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