Back to the Heart (12 page)

Good God.

Ryan breathed deeply as he tried to control his body from falling over the edge. Looking down at her, seeing the way she was loving him so intently, feeling the warm wetness of her mouth, the sensations her small pink tongue caused, he knew it wouldn’t be long.

Ana wrapped her hands around Ryan’s hips, pressing her nails into his flesh as she took him deeper into her mouth, closing her eyes and moaning. The sound and vibration shook Ryan to his core. She was too beautiful, it was too much, and he was so lost.

He slipped his hand into her hair only a moment before his breath hitched. The world spun on its axis as his body gave way to the bliss of Ana’s touch. Ryan closed his eyes and whispered her name, tasting it on his tongue, savoring it.

Seconds later, she was in his arms again, claiming his lips. They were so caught up in each other that they almost didn’t hear the footsteps coming upstairs. Ana’s eyes widened into panic as she pulled away from Ryan to readjust her breasts and smooth down her shirt.

“Mother,” she mouthed.

Ryan pushed himself back into his pants and zipped up before Molly stepped into the doorway with a not-so-pleased look on her face.

“Are you two going to lollygag around in here all day?” She placed her hands on her hips.

Ana’s skin flushed, but she held her head high. “I was just asking Ryan what his measurements were so that I could knit him a sweater.”

It was the lamest excuse Ryan had ever heard, and he couldn’t help but grin. Apparently, Molly wasn’t buying it either. Her hard demeanor cracked. “Sure you were. Downstairs, you two. Now.” She nodded toward the stairs, a smile plastered across her face.

Since it was obvious that Molly wasn’t going to leave, Ryan took the lead, padding down the stairs with Ana behind him. It made him sad he couldn’t spend more time with her, but as her mother had said, there was work to be done. He couldn’t shirk his duties just because he had fallen in love with the ranch owner’s daughter.

When they got to the bottom of the stairs, he took one final lingering look at Ana before they said their good-byes. Molly stood on the last stair, watching them like a hawk. It would have made Ryan nervous if he wasn’t so comfortable with the woman already. This was more about making sure they got to their chores than keeping them apart.

“You ladies have a wonderful rest of your day. I’ll see you at lunch.”

“See you at lunch, Sunshine.” Molly scrunched up her face at him, another sign that he had outstayed his welcome.

“See you this afternoon.” Ana surprised them all by standing up on her tiptoes to give him a quick kiss on the lips before brushing past him to go outside. Ryan and Molly were both left staring at each other with their mouths agape, though Ryan recovered, waving shyly at Molly before turning to leave. Whether she was pleased with what she saw, he couldn’t tell. One thing he did know, however, was that Ana had now made her interest in him official, and that meant more to him than anything in the world.

“So you finally got to her?”

Ryan had been so busy clearing out a hole for one of the new fence posts that he hadn’t even heard Molly walk up behind him.

Ryan turned to Molly and wiped the sweat from his brow. She was staring at him with a half smirk, one hand on her hip and a glass of water in the other, which she offered to him. He took the glass and downed the entire thing in a few long gulps.

“It’s hot as blazes out here, ain’t it?” She squinted up at the sun for a moment.

“That’s no joke.”

“Listen, there’s going to be a county fair this weekend. I think that if you’re sincere about Ana, you should ask her to go.” Molly took the empty glass from Ryan and shielded her eyes from the sun.

“You don’t think I’m sincere about Ana?” At first, Molly had seemed elated at the prospect of the two of them together, but now that Ana was falling into the idea as well, Molly didn’t act so sure.

“I do.”

“Then why do you sound so unsure?”

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “It’s not so much that. There’s just a lot going on. When Ana came back from New York, I thought she would settle in to a quiet life at home. Now she’s talking about possibly going to court, and she’s met you.” Molly sighed. “Not that I’m not grateful for that. I want Ana to be happy. It’s just a lot. Not to mention Celia getting married and moving out. Life hasn’t moved this quickly around here in a while. Or rather, I haven’t had to deal with so much excitement. And the funny part is, most of it’s not even related to me, but I still worry about all of it. Isn’t that a mother’s duty, to worry about her children?”

Ryan smiled warmly, placing a hand on her shoulder. “You’re doing a wonderful job as a mother. Don’t feel bad. All of this does directly affect you. Celia moving out. Ana moving in. Me putting ideas in her head. The defamation case is the right thing to do, though, and everything will turn out fine. I wouldn’t have even suggested it if I didn’t think it would benefit Ana. I promise you, Molly, I have her best interests at heart, and yours as well. I would never do anything to hurt either one of you.”

The worried expression on her face softened a little, but it didn’t go away.

“You’re a good kid, Sunshine. I know you’ll do right by my daughter.”

“I will. And I’ll look forward to taking her to the county fair this weekend.” He gave her a final pat on the shoulder before taking the shovel in both hands and preparing to get back to work.

Deciding to fight Rick Fasken on the defamation case was one of the hardest things Ana had ever had to do. Even as she dialed Elias’s phone number, she felt sick to her stomach. What if Rick refused her demands and she had to go to court? Even worse, what if he decided he wanted his child after all? That could get her in even more trouble with a custody battle that she might not be able to win.

Ryan had done everything he could to put her mind at ease, and in the end, Ana decided to trust him, hoping that if everything didn’t go as planned, he would stay by her side. If he abandoned her, she wasn’t sure what she would do.

Elias put her through the wringer with his never-ending questions. She knew it was important for him to get enough information to build the case, but talking about some of her experiences with Rick made Ana uncomfortable. Did Elias really need to know every detail about how their relationship had started—every detail about how she had naively fallen for Rick’s lies? By the time Ana got off the phone, she was wondering if Elias thought that she was as stupid as she felt.

In hindsight, the whole situation should have never happened. Ana should have wised up a long time ago and realized Rick wasn’t going to promote her. If she had moved on to a different job, one that gave her the position she had actually sought, that she had gone to school for, this never would have happened. At least, she hoped it wouldn’t have. She had fallen for her wealthy, attractive boss. That could have happened anywhere—falling for the wrong man.

And that brought Ana back to thinking about Ryan. He was charming and handsome and apparently not as broke as he had first made himself seem. It was obvious he had money and business connections. The more Ana thought about it, though, the more she realized she didn’t have any idea who he was. They were playing the romance game on her terms, on her playing field. Bandera wasn’t where Ryan was from, or even Texas, for that matter. He belonged in Pittsburgh and had a whole other life there that Ana knew nothing about.

As much as she was falling for him, she couldn’t help but wonder what life was like for him on the other side. Was he even the same Ryan Black she knew? Or was he secretly another Rick Fasken, with smooth words and an easy smile?

She didn’t want to think of that. More than anything, Ana wanted to believe that he was the man she had almost got caught giving a blow job to in her bedroom. The thought made her grin. Her mother wasn’t dense enough to think they weren’t fooling around up there, but Ana doubted her mother had any idea Ana had been on her knees in front of Ryan only moments before. It was so crude and wrong, but Ana had loved the excitement of almost getting caught.

She had been so fueled by Ryan’s confession of love that she hadn’t cared. The need for him was too intense. Everything in her had wanted to make him as happy as he had made her. Yes, that was the man Ana was falling in love with. The man who never tried to hide his feelings or his interest. But giving her heart to him was difficult when they were from two different worlds. He might be able to stay for a while, but eventually he would have to return to Pittsburgh. Then what?

The air inside Ana’s room felt suffocating. She’d locked herself away to call Elias in the early afternoon after finishing her chores, but now the weight of everything was bearing down on her. She needed to get away for a while, to clear her mind, so she headed downstairs and out the door to walk around the ranch as she used to when she was a teenager.

She started at a brisk pace, as if trying to outrun her own frustration. Things weren’t that easy, though. Ana was certain nothing would be resolved until after Ryan came back from his business trip, if he returned.

She was so consumed with her thoughts that she didn’t even notice Ryan jogging behind her to catch up.

“Hey, Ana.” He grabbed her by the arm.

“Ryan.” She stopped, turning to look at him, startled.

“Where are you going?” He peered out along the fence line.

“Just for a walk.” She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, avoiding his gaze. Ryan turned all of her fears into desire. Just being near him changed her attitude, like he sucked all of the bad out of her and replaced it with serenity.

“Mind if I join you?”

“Be my guest.” Ana tried not to sigh as Ryan flanked her side, and they continued on at a more leisurely pace.

“You look like you were thinking.”

“Is it that obvious?” She grinned.

“Kinda.” He let out a short laugh.

“I called the lawyer.” Ana looked ahead into the distance.

“Oh?”

“He said the same thing you did, that he doesn’t think it will go to court.”

“The man knows his business. I wouldn’t doubt him.” Ryan shoved his hands in his pockets. He was covered in dirt from the day’s labor. It made him look rugged and handsome.

“Did you finish the fence today?”

“I did.”

“I imagine it has been a while since any of the fence posts have been replaced, seeing that Father hasn’t been around to do it.” Every time Ana thought about her father, she got sad, wishing she’d spent more time with him before he died.

“Well, it won’t need to be done again for a while now.” He smiled at her.

“It’s good to have a man around here to do things. My mother and I certainly couldn’t have done that, and it costs quite a bit of money to hire the work out. We’ll be sad to see you go.”

“I’m only going to be gone for a few days, Ana.” But they both knew that wasn’t what she had meant.

“Tell me about this business trip.” She tried to bite back the negative feelings eating at her, the ones that told her that all men in her life faded away like the setting sun.

“There’s not much to tell. I have to fly in to make sure a business deal goes smoothly, and while I’m gone, I’ll miss you horribly.” He slid his hand into hers, and she looked down at their entwined fingers, allowing herself to smile.

“I’ll miss you too. It’s odd. I’ve only known you for a short amount of time, and I’m already going to feel lost without you.” She sighed.

He stopped to look at her. “I won’t be gone forever. I promise.”

Not this time. But someday, you will be, and I’ll have to pick myself up off the floor all over again.

Ryan gave her hand a squeeze. “Let’s go get ice cream.”

“Ice cream,” she parroted back. “We don’t have an ice cream shop around here. Just a Dairy Queen.”

Ryan scrunched up his nose in disappointment. “It will do. You just look like you need to get out of here for a while.”

Maybe I do. This walk certainly isn’t helping.
“You’re not going like that.” She tugged on the front of his T-shirt playfully.

“Aww. Why not? Not a fan of the dirty look?”

“I don’t mind it. Everyone else on the other hand . . .”

“I guess we should go back so I can change then.”

“I guess so.” Ana bit her bottom lip, following Ryan toward the barn and looking forward to seeing him shirtless again.