Page 27 of Redemption

He leaned against the breakfast bar. “Me either. Grab your beer. Do you want another one?”

“What for?”

“We’re going outside.” He pointed his new bottle toward the back door.

“Oh. Uh, no. I think I’m good.”

“Come on. Let’s see if Winters’s alarm system is going to go off if I do this…” He pushed off the bar and went to a wall panel, pressed a few buttons, and turned back to her, looking rather impressed with himself. “Guess I remembered—hang on.”

A minute later, he returned with a blanket and grabbed his beer bottle. “Now we’re ready.”

She didn’t know what to protest, but she wasn’t tired. They were just going to go for a walk with a blanket in the middle of the night? This was unconventional at best, but Victoria followed Ryder’s lead. They stepped out onto a back porch, and he shut the door. Her eyes adjusted to the country night. It reminded her of her parents’ house growing up in Iowa and not her house off Main Street.

He grabbed a flashlight from a table in the middle of the deck, and they made their way with the beers and a blanket. Night bugs chirped, and the sky, full of diamonds, sparkled overhead.

“Your feet okay?” He tugged off his socks and tossed them aside.

“I think so. Where are we going?” she whispered so as not to disturb the eerie quiet that always descended at night.

“We’ll know it when we find it.”

Grass crunched under her feet after she stepped off the deck’s final stair, and she wriggled her toes into the ground. “You haven’t been there?”

“Not at night.”

Nerves swirled in her stomach as her eyes darted. “What about snakes or something?”

“If there’s a snake, it’ll hear us moving and get out of the way.”

Really?But she trusted him. What was the worst thing that could happen? Since when was she scared of walking in grass without shoes on? Was this a repercussion of the rape? That she would second-guess something as simple as walking in the grass when she couldn’t see what was in front of her? Her heart rate increased but not that much. Was that because she hadn’t moved in days? Maybe because Ryder made her heart race for any number of reasons, none of which she wanted to think about. Or was she scared of grass now?Damn it.

They walked side by side for a few minutes, the flashlight illuminating their path through the grass and down a slight slope until she could see what looked like a small lake and maybe a deck ahead. He held her hand as they stepped onto the boardwalk. The smooth wood planks under foot felt well worn and cared for. Still, she was extra careful not to stub her toe. The flashlight beam caught a few kids’ toys, and it made sense that Ryder didn’t seem worried about walking through the grass and boardwalk.

Ryder slowed. “You okay?”

“Sure.” But was she? The walk to the lake could’ve been relaxing, but instead, she was trying to figure out if she now had a fear of walking in the grass.

“Relax. That’s the point of this.”

“Couldn’t be more relaxed.” Even the way she forced the lie past her lips made her muscles hurt from the tension building in her limbs.

Ryder laughed out loud, and the way he did it was so honest, so brutal in calling her out, that she had to admit he knew her truth.Some of it.“Trying to relax.”

“Better.” He tossed the blanket out on the edge of the boardwalk, killed the flashlight, and dropped to dangle his legs over the side. “Want to have a seat?”

Carefully, she sat down and scooted next to him then dropped her bare feet over the edge, letting them swing back and forth. Somewhere in the water, something jumped, and a bullfrog croaked. A warm, summer night breeze picked up long enough to let the leaves rustle but not to give her a chill.

“What’s home like?” His voice floated on the night’s gentle breeze.

“You jump right to the deep stuff?”

He gave a quiet chuckle. “You want to talk football instead?”

Soccer or pigskin? “I guess I’m probably thinking of the wrong kind of football?”

“Actually, I don’t bloody care what you talk about because it’s not what I want to hear.”

“Yeah.” He didn’t hold back much, even if he was polite and sweet or laid on his Aussie accent.

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