Page 41 of The Grinch who Loved Me
Ryland said, “Don’t you dare go over there to check. I will be right there. Call the cops.”
He hung up and she called the security guards that patrolled their small section of shops, and went outside to see if she could help Trixie in any way, when she saw a man that she had seen a few times walking toward Trixie’s store.
He smiled and waved at her, but his smile died on his face when he must have noticed the worry on hers.
She recognized him as the man that Trixie had started to date, Brandon something.
“Hey Aria, what’s wrong?”
“Oh, Brandon, thank goodness. I was just on my way to get security. A woman is yelling in Trixie’s shop. I’ve never seen her before,” was all she could say when Brandon left her standing on the sidewalk while he ran inside the store.
Aria bit her lip and then went back to her own store and Ryland burst in the back door, breathing hard.
“You went outside?”
She nodded, “I had to check. She is my friend and her shop has already been ripped to shreds. She doesn’t deserve to have it happen again.”
Ryland shook his head, “You could have been in danger. They could have hurt you.”
She smiled, “I was fine. Trixie’s man came up and talked to me. I wasn’t in danger Ry.”
He put his hands on her hips and kissed her, “You could have been. And I won’t allow it. You are the love of my life. I want you to be safe.”
She kissed him back, “I promise, I was. And I will be.”
He put his forehead to hers, “You promise you won’t take years off my life again?”
She laughed and he kissed her smiling face, “I had to taste you. You are so fucking perfect.”
She smiled wider and the door opened in the front and someone gasped and Aria looked over and saw Raegan standing in the doorway.
Raegan’s eyes were wide and she looked between Aria and Ryland over and over and then coughed, “I missed something.”
Aria smiled, “Hi.”
Raegan shook her head, “Who is this?”
Aria looked up at Ryland and smiled, “This is Ryland Downs. He is my, um. My boyfriend?”
Raegan’s wide eyes got even wider and then Ryland smiled down at her, “I’m not just her boyfriend. I’m her man. She is my everything. You must be Raegan.”
Raegan nodded and Ryland grinned, and held his hand out to her, and Raegan took it.
Ryland shook her hand once and then picked up Aria’s again.
“Do you still need me?”
Aria shook her head, “Thank you for coming over here. For being ready to jump in if anything happened to me.”
He kissed her, “Always. Anytime you need anything, call me.”
Aria nodded, “I will.”
Ryland walked out the back and waved to them and blew Aria a kiss and then he was gone.
Raegan cleared her throat, “Um. You didn’t tell me about him. Or that you were dating when I left.”
Aria smiled, “Well, um. That’s because I wasn’t. I just met Ryland the night you left.”
