Game On (26 page)

“She said you two fought. What was that about?”

Ryan could tell by the tone of his voice
that Josh’s resolve was softening. “She’s havin’ a hard time trustin’ me
because of my track record with women.”

Josh sat down and folded one leg over the
other. “Tell me something. Why Bri? You’ve been with dozens of women. What
makes my daughter so special?”

“Like you have to ask?” Ryan asked, rolling
his eyes. He knew that in Josh’s mind, his little princess could do no wrong.

“I always told myself that the man lucky
enough to marry my daughter would have to see all of the incredible qualities I
see in her. I need to know if you’re that man or not.”

Ryan intended to ask Josh for his
daughter’s hand in marriage eventually, but he didn’t expect today to be that
day, given the nature of his visit. But if Josh was giving him an opportunity
to earn his blessing, he intended to take a chance and pray he could convince
him. “I can tell her anything and she understands. She doesn’t judge me or
lecture me. She just gets me.”

Josh lowered his head and smiled. “Go on.”

“She makes me smile.” He smiled now, just
thinking about her. “When I’m not with her, I’m counting down the hours until I
see her again.”

“Really?”

Ryan nodded. “It’s been that way for a long
time, but I was so afraid to tell her how I felt ‘cause I didn’t wanna lose the
best friend I’d ever had.”

“What made you change your mind?”

“I realized if I didn’t step up, I was
gonna lose her. She was gonna give her heart to some other guy, become
his
wife, have
his
babies, be
his
best friend. You don’t know what that
would do to me,” he whispered, blinking back the hot burn stinging his eyes.
“It would kill me.”

Josh tapped on the face of his watch as a
slow smile spread across his face. “I don’t know why the hell you’re wastin’
time with me. Hell, you had me convinced ten minutes ago.”

Ryan stood toe to toe with Josh and he knew
he’d conveyed his message loud and clear, but he still felt the need to say, “I
promise I’ll take good care of her. I’ll be the man she needs, the man she
deserves.”

Josh reached out to pull him in to a fierce
hug as he slapped him on the back. “I know you will, son. Now get your ass up
to my cabin and convince my daughter of that.”

***

Brianna pulled the down filled throw around
her shoulders as she clutched a glass of white wine in her free hand and sat by
the fireplace. She stared into the flames as she tried to obliterate the image
that kept popping in to her mind: Ryan tangled up in the sheets with that
gorgeous woman sprawled on top of him.

She swore she’d shed enough tears when her head
started pounding in protest, but just when she thought she’d earned a reprieve,
a fresh wave of memories assailed her. These were the best kind of memories:
Ryan’s head thrown back in laughter as he tickled her mercilessly, or the tight
grip of his hand around hers as he convinced her to plunge from an airplane.
The sweet smile as he watched her open a birthday present he’d spent hours
scouring antique shops to find for her. The uncertainty etched on his face when
he showed up at her door with a basket containing a wiggly bundle of fur. The
night he’d held her in his arms as she cried over the man who’d broken her
heart.

Looking back on it now, she realized the
shock of finding her roommate in bed with her boyfriend paled in comparison to
what she felt when she found Ryan with that woman. The wound was so deep, the
ache so intense, it stole her breath when she allowed herself to surrender to
it. It was as though the life she’d known was ripped apart, like an earthquake
tearing through bricks and mortar, and she was left behind to pick up the
pieces. Only she didn’t have the skills or tools to repair the damage by
herself.

“Why the hell did I let myself fall in love
with him?” she whispered. “Why couldn’t I have been satisfied with the way
things were? At least then he’d still be in my life.”  She was ashamed to admit
she still wanted him in her life after the spectacle she’d witnessed last
night, but a lifetime couldn’t fade away to nothingness because of one drunken
mistake, no matter how much she might have wished it would.

She couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment
she’d fallen in love with Ryan, nor could she recall the moment she decided she
wanted him to be her husband, but as she sat alone in the darkness of her
parents’ cabin, a place filled with a lifetime of wonderful memories, she
acknowledged that she would never find with another man what she had with Ryan.
They had history. They knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses, hopes,
dreams, fears… everything. She’d always believed intimacy was about sex, but
now she knew it was so much more than that. Real intimacy, the kind she had
with Ryan, was the result of years of love and laughter, tears, and shared
heartache.

A sharp rap on the door startled her,
causing the wine to spill over the edge of the glass. The cabin was remote, and
no one, aside from her father, knew she was here. She knew he wouldn’t tell
anyone other than her mother.

She set her glass down and reached for the
poker from the fireplace before she tiptoed toward the door. Flattening her back
against the wall, she peered through one of the long glass panels flanking the
oak door.
Ryan.
Damn him!

Throwing the door open with enough force to
cause it to bounce off the iron doorstop, she glared at him. “What the hell do
you want?”  She gripped the poker in her hand, hopefully sending him a clear
message about her intent if he took another step.

“We need to talk,” he said, his eyes
falling to her weapon of choice. “Please.”

Perhaps if more time had passed, she’d have
been able to build an impenetrable wall, but she could count the hours since
she’d felt his lips on hers, his hands gliding over her body, and in spite of
her rage, her body still responded to his quiet plea. “I have nothing to say to
you.”

“Then just listen.” He took a step closer,
as though he was testing her.

She took a step back, allowing him entry.
“If you expect me to believe anything you-” His hands were in her hair, his
mouth hungrily devouring hers before she could find the words to protest. The
poker fell against the slate tiles with a loud clatter, but nothing could break
the sensual web he was weaving around them.

He walked forward, forcing her to walk
backwards until he had her pinned against the wall. “You…” he whispered, his
mouth trailing the column of her neck. “You’re the only woman I want.”

She whimpered as she gripped his shoulders,
trying to push him away. “You’re a liar.”

He took her mouth again, whether to prove
to her that she was the liar if she intended to deny their attraction or
because he wanted to silence her protests, she didn’t know. The little voice in
her head warned her against being taken in by him again, but the feel of his
hands sliding under her shirt rendered her speechless, helpless, completely at
his mercy.

“I want you to go.”

“No, you don’t.” He boosted her higher as
he pinned her with his arousal. “You want me as much as I want you.”

“What’s wrong with me?” she cried, her head
falling forward, resting on his shoulder. “How can I want a man who would cheat
on me?”

He gripped her face in his large hands and
the look that stole over his face was frightening in its intensity. “Listen to
me, I would never, ever cheat on you. You’re the only woman I want in my bed
from now on.”

The tears spilled down her cheeks, but she
couldn’t hide them from him because he refused to allow her to turn her head.
“I know what I saw.”

“You saw what Johnny wanted you to see.”

She frowned, trying to make sense of what
he was telling her. It wasn’t easy to focus with so many emotions coursing
through her, demanding dominance: anger, sadness, fear, arousal, and beneath it
all, a tiny glimmer of hope. “What does Johnny have to do with this?”

He sighed as he boosted her up, folding her
legs around his waist as he carried her effortlessly into the living room. He
glanced at the half-empty bottle of wine on the table and raised an eyebrow at
her.

She wasn’t a drinker, but she needed
something to take the edge off tonight.

“You mind if I pour myself a glass?”

She shrugged. “Suit yourself, but don’t get
too comfortable. You won’t be staying long.”

He scowled, but didn’t argue the point as
he moved to the kitchen.

The open concept space allowed her to watch
him move freely about the kitchen, without having to ask where to find the
items he was looking for. It reminded her, yet again, how intertwined their
lives were. He’d spent almost as much time here with her father and brothers as
she had over the years.

He came back in carrying a glass, another
bottle of wine, and a corkscrew. Smiling at the expression on her face, he
said, “I do intend to get comfortable, and trust me, I’m not drivin’ home
tonight.”

She hated his arrogant assumption, but she
couldn’t deny that she had always admired his boldness. He said what he
thought, acted without considering what anyone else might think of him, and
rarely apologized if his actions rubbed someone the wrong way. “Then I hope you
don’t mind sleeping on the couch.” There was no way he was sharing her bed
tonight, not after he’d woken up just that morning in another woman’s arms.

He sat down beside her and re-filled her
half empty glass before topping up his own. “You have every right to be angry.”

She stared past him, into the fire, unable
to look him in the eye. “You have no idea how I feel.” And she wouldn’t give
him the satisfaction of knowing his actions had destroyed her. She still had
her pride.

“I was an idiot to get so drunk I couldn’t
drive home, but I wasn’t so drunk that I’d make love to another woman, baby.
You gotta believe that.”

She closed her eyes and bit her lip as he
slid a hand into her hair, holding the back of her neck. “I know what I saw,”
she whispered, trying to push the image out of her head. “There was no question
about what had gone down between you two.”

“Why? Because we were in bed together?” He
set his glass down and raked a hand through his hair when she glared at him.
“Okay, I know it looked bad, but-”

“Let me ask you something,” she said,
determined to give him a taste of the bitter medicine he’d forced her to swallow.
“What if you’d walked in and found me in bed with another man?”

His handsome face morphed into a
frightening mask of outrage as he leaned in. His face was mere inches from
hers, his voice a low rumble as he issued a warning… “Don’t.”

Knowing that she was a fool to push him,
but desperate to hurt him the way he’d hurt her, she asked, “What if I told you
I hooked up with Jared after I left Whiskey’s last night? How would that make
you feel?”

His hands curled into fists on either side
of her, gripping the fabric of the couch as the veins in his neck became more pronounced.
“If you’re tellin’ me he laid one hand on you…”

Brianna had seen Ryan angry before, but
never like this. She inched back on the couch, almost afraid to continue
baiting him. She knew he would never hurt her, but he was unpredictable. He’d
been known to put his fist through a sheet of drywall in a fit of rage, and
since these walls were made of wood, the wall would likely win that battle.

“Did… he… touch… you?” he demanded,
enunciating each word.

She licked her lips, trying to decide how
long she could carry on the farce. “I don’t owe you an explanation after what
you did.” She crossed her arms over her chest and moved as far away from him as
the small sofa would allow.

“I’m not playin’ games here, Bri. Did you
sleep with that bastard just to get even with me?”

“I think you’d better go,” she said,
swallowing her discomfort as he inched closer.

“Like hell.” He thrust his hands into her
hair as he slowly eased her back on the couch beneath him. “
You’re mine.
No
one gets to touch you but me.”

She cursed the tremor that moved through
her at his show of possession. It irritated her that her body and her brain
were so disconnected. This was the same man who’d betrayed her just last night,
so how could her body still want to surrender to him? “I get it. It’s okay for
you to share your body with someone else, but not me, is that it?”

His light blue eyes pinned her. “Do you
really think I could do that to you?” He pressed her open hand against his
chest until she could feel his heart. “She propositioned me because Johnny told
her to, but do you wanna know what I told her?”

She did, but she was afraid to give in to
hope again. “I don’t think-”

“I told her I couldn’t because I was in
love with you.”

She would have given anything to believe
him, but with the image of that woman in his arms still fresh in her mind, she
knew she couldn’t. “You were in bed with her. You were-”