Page 40 of The Moment He Saw Her

“You’d think so” was Deputy Dan’s reply.

“Dan told me he was worried Sawyer wouldn’t be fit enough yet look at him. The youngest and the slowest,” Ryder said.

“What? You little shit.” Sawyer lunged at Dan, who dodged him and then laughed in his face.

“How’s your houseguest?” Zoe asked. “I called in for a coffee yesterday when you were out, and she wouldn’t tell me anything about herself.”

Ryder didn’t speak.

“I asked Libby whereabouts in Oklahoma she’s from, and she said Piedmont,” Dan added.

Every day when Libby came back to his house looking dejected with nowhere to stay, he’d said it was all good and she’d find something soon.

The truth was, he liked having her there. She was quiet and smelled good. Plus, if he cooked, she cleaned. Then she went to her room, and he didn’t see her until the morning, which suited Ryder because she may not be his type, but she was hot. He wasn’t sure she felt it, but there was something simmering between them, and he didn’t need that complication with her.

“When we reach that tree”—Bart pointed up the drive—“we sprint until Ally calls stop.”

“Someone save me,” Sawyer whispered.

“You got that stopwatch ready, Ally?” Bart called.

She held it up.

“Twenty seconds to start!” Bart added.

“I don’t want to,” Ryder said, jabbing his fingers into the pain in his side.

“Go!”

He ran because his siblings did, and if Dukes were nothing else in this world, they were competitive.

Brody had once bet him he couldn’t sit upright in a tree all night. He’d done it and fallen out the next morning and broken his wrist.

“Stop!” Ally yelled.

“The pr-problem, as I see it,” Zoe wheezed, “is that Bart’s old, so he gets our respect, and she’s young, so we can’t swear at her.”

“We’re fucked, and they know it,” Ryder said.

By the time they reached Sawyer’s house at the end of the road, Ryder’s clothes were clinging to him, and his hair was dripping water down the back of his neck. Steam was rising off all the Duke siblings who were bent at the waist, sucking in chilly air. Bart, however, wasn’t even breathing hard. Ally had jumped off the back of the pickup and was now conversing with him.

“We run bases,” Brody said, “but this, I’m close to puking.”

“Nice work, team.” These words came from Birdie, who had climbed out of the pickup and was now standing before her man. “You did great… really.”

“Liar,” Sawyer said, grabbing her. He then ran his sweaty cheek over hers, which had her shrieking.

Ryder felt a deep tug of longing inside him as he watched. A need to belong to someone like these two did to each other. Family was different; this was another level of connection he’d never had. Three of his siblings had it, and he both loved and resented them for it.

“What is that scowl for?” Dan asked.

“What we just did isn’t making you scowl?” Ryder demanded.

“True that.”

“Right. Drink, and then we’re going along the road and dropping you off at intervals. We’ll do the same tomorrow, and then you can have a break,” Bart said.

Ally held drink bottles in her skinny little arms.

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