Page 38 of Wicked Obsession

Why did it all fall on her shoulders?

Ryder wanted her to communicate, but had he ever done the same? He’d left her guessing about everything, and despite dating for a more than a year, she had no idea what he felt for her.

Yes, part of the problem was hers, she could admit that, but she’d only accept half the responsibility.

The other half belonged to Ryder.

Ryder couldn’t settle long enoughto sit. He’d really fucked up this time. Langley had forgiven him so easily that he’d figured he could have her back on his terms. He should have read the danger signs when she’d asked point blank what he’d meant aboutback the way things were before. He should have said he meant dating when he’d spoken, but that he wanted more than what they’d had previously. He should have said practically anything except what had come out of his mouth.

And then he’d made things worse.

Yeah, what he’d said was true and she did need to stop shutting him out, but there were better ways to bring it up. Instead of thinking first, he’d lashed out. He’d attacked. If he’d waited until he was calmer, until he could raise the topic in a way that wouldn’t immediately make her close up, they might have been able to talk it over. Instead, Langley sat rigidly in a chair facing the lake, ignoring him completely.

Shit, he could be a dumb fuck.

The windows made him uneasy. At least she’d listened to him when he’d told her to sit as far away from them as she could get, but she’d gone hyper-polite. Definitely not a good sign. Ryder wished like hell that she’d yell at him, throw things, something. Anything.

His family shouted when they got mad. Theywere close-knit, always had each other’s backs, but that didn’t mean disagreements didn’t arise. Thanks to his mom, he could curse creatively in Italian—those were the only words she knew in that language. His father didn’t speak any Polish, but he could holler in English just fine. And his two brothers, fuck, when the three of them were growing up, there’d been at least one wrestling match every week because someone had pissed another brother off. As the youngest, he’d usually gotten the worst of it.

Yet Langley never raised her voice.

He tried to picture her having Thanksgiving with his family and winced. Everything was loud, it didn’t matter if anyone was angry or not, and there was shouting between the grown up table and the kids’ table throughout the meal. Then there was the extended family, the way everyone talked louder and louder to be the center of the conversation. Ryder stopped, stared out the windows at the lake. She’d run the other direction and wonder what the fuck he’d gotten her into. The princess and the peasant.

Langley was champagne, he was beer. Langley had graduated from Berkeley with honors, he’d dropped out of college after his first year. Langley owned a penthouse condo on Bayshore Boulevard, he lived on the air force base. Ryder couldlist a thousand other differences, proof that she was out of his league.

And yeah, the money was his hang-up, he could admit that. Langley honest-to-God seemed content to go out for pizza and a movie. He was the one who felt like he should be able to put her on a private jet and whisk her to New York for dinner.

Maybe he’d be worthy of her if he hadn’t dropped out of college. How many times growing up had he heard:You gotta get a degree. You don’t got nothing without that paper.His brothers had listened and now one was a vice president of engineering, quality, and some other bullshit at a Fortune 500 company and his oldest brother was bucking for partner in the law firm he worked at.

Ryder could go back to school. Except he didn’t want to do that and he wasn’t sure it would make a difference to Langley anyway. She’d never said a word about his education. His issue. Fuck. It would be easier to deal with if she was the one who had the problem.

It didn’t matter. He was going to fight for her and if it took him outside his comfort zone, so be it. She might not forgive him again. She might not want to let him in. It could be that this breakup was the end. Ryder shook his head. His family might not have prepared him to deal with Langleyand how she handled conflict, but they had taught him something valuable. Don’t give up on love.

A pair of kayaks neared the dock and Ryder stiffened, hand going to his weapon. The mansion was set back from the lake, but not far enough for his peace of mind and he hated that boaters regularly neared the beach. It had to be driving his buddies crazy even with the sensors along the shoreline and on the dock.

The kayakers continued past and Ryder lowered his arm. Resuming his route around the great room, he glanced over at her. She continued to read that book she’d pulled from one of the two bookcases and she seemed engrossed in it. Or she was feigning interest to avoid having to interact with him. Knowing her, it could go either way.

As he passed the grand piano, he lightly ran a hand along the side. In other circumstances, he would have sat down and played. When else would he ever have the opportunity to try out a brand that started at half a mil for a basic, built-by-hand model and went higher for custom-made instruments like this one? It might be worth close to a million dollars. But things weren’t different and Ryder couldn’t indulge himself.

He pulled out his phone instead, standing where he was until he ran through each of the security cameras. Everything remained quiet inside and out.

There was no reason for the hair on his nape to prickle. None whatsoever.

But Ryder couldn’t shake the tingling feeling. His sixth sense was usually dead-on and right now, it was whispering warnings. He ran through the cameras again, going slower this time, studying each view, but the house and grounds continued to check out okay. He closed the app.

His instincts must be wrong. There was no way they could have been followed here. They’d split up for the drive and Mako and Griff had watched their rear. The cars couldn’t have been tagged with any kind of tracking device since they’d bought them after the shot and hadn’t left them unguarded for so much as a minute. Langley’s phone wasn’t the culprit either. It was in Florida by now, and the team’s phones were secure. He was jumping at shadows.

Only his gut wasn’t buying it. And it wasn’t completely impossible that they’d been tracked. Nothing was ever impossible.

Returning to the window, he scanned as far as he could see. Nothing. Instead of feeling relieved, Ryder tensed further. Fuck logic. His instincts had saved his ass too many times to name and he wasn’t discounting them with his woman’s life on the line. “Langley, we’re moving. Now.”

She didn’t argue or question, merely put thebook aside and stood. Sometimes her calmness worked to his advantage.

“We’re going up to the guest room so you can get your stuff together. We’re leaving here.”

“What about your team?” she asked.

Ryder gestured toward the stairs, not speaking until she started walking toward them. “I’ll contact them when you’re packed. I know they can deploy in a hurry. I’m not sure how long you’re going to take.”

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