In Bed with Mr. Wrong (10 page)

Childhood instinct demanded she lash out before he saw just how badly those earlier
words had hurt her, but Bri forced it down for the first time in her life. She couldn’t
keep striking out at him blindly just to keep him from getting too close. Like it
or not, he was already there.

But that didn’t mean he felt the same way. She licked her lips. “You seemed pretty
convinced it was the truth that first night.”

“I lied.”

While she was still trying to process
that
bombshell, he reached out and traced her bottom lip with his thumb. She went still,
waiting for the inevitable follow-through. He would kiss her and it would be all over.

Ryan surprised her, though. He took a large step back. “How do you feel about Scrabble?”

Chapter Thirteen

Not taking advantage of that silently offered kiss might have been a mistake, but
Ryan wasn’t about to give in to how badly he wanted her. Not when she hadn’t figured
out her issues and he couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t toss him aside immediately afterward
so she could retreat behind her emotional walls. He guided her back to the spot on
the couch she’d just occupied, picked up the fallen tea mug and plate of sandwiches,
and retreated to the kitchen.

While he went to work throwing together another sandwich for her, she looked over
her shoulder at him. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Sure I do. You dumped half your tea on the other one. Can’t have you passing out
halfway through our game.”

Her eyebrows rose. “Scrabble.”

“Scrabble. Monopoly. Cards. We don’t have a lot in the way of options, but I figured
you’d want a change in pace from the reading.” Ryan gave her a grin that had gotten
him out of loads of trouble as a kid. “Though I could definitely get on board with
some more Dmitri and Savannah.”

“No, thank you.”

“So a game it is, then.” When she still hesitated, he pushed his advantage. “It’s
got to be better than locking yourself in the room alone, right?”

She smiled a little, as if that was exactly what she’d been planning on doing before
he headed her off at the pass. “It’s a tempting offer.”

“I’ll throw in dinner tonight, too.” He lifted the plate with her new sandwich. “I
promise not to bite.”
No matter how much you want me to.

A blush spread across her cheeks, signaling that her mind had gone the same place
his did. He didn’t call her on it, though. Instead he grabbed the board game and sat
down, pausing long enough to pass over her plate.

He started setting up the game, but the majority of his attention stayed on her as
she took her first bite. “I promise to go easy on you. You know, in favor of us continuing
to get along without fighting.”

“You’ll go easy on me?” Her faint smile turning into the real thing. “Promise?”

He decided he liked this little hint of arrogance she’d showed. He mixed up the letter
tiles. “Want to make this interesting?”

“Don’t you dare say we’ll turn this into strip Scrabble.”

Well, now that she mentioned it, that wasn’t a terrible idea.
No, Flannery. You’re supposed to be behaving yourself, remember? That means clothing
stays in place
. “I was thinking something more along the lines of a wager.”

“A bet?” If anything, her smile spread wider. “Winner takes all?”

She really wasn’t helping his self-control saying things like that with a sparkle
in her eyes, because now all he could think about was taking
her
. He cleared his throat. “I was thinking of something a little less dramatic. If I
win, you tell me about your childhood.”

Bri flinched, her teasing disappearing as if it’d never been. “I don’t see the point.”

In their earlier conversation, he’d seen a sliver of what she’d been hiding. It was
clear she wasn’t giving up more than that tiny bit of information without a fight.
“That’s what I want if I win. Your turn.”

“This is juvenile.”

“Maybe. Stop stalling and pick something.”

“I don’t even know.” Her face flamed again, showing her lie more clearly than anything
else could have.

Ryan leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. He waited as she shifted, becoming
more twitchy as the seconds ticked past. When she looked over her shoulder toward
the hallway, he said, “Anything you want.”

She closed her eyes for a brief moment and then opened them, her shoulders going back
as if she were stepping onto a battlefield. Maybe she thought she was. “I want a kiss.”

Because of the effort it had obviously taken her to say the words out loud, he didn’t
laugh. He held out a hand and shook hers firmly. “Deal. If you win, I think I can
make that happen.”

“
If
I win.” This time her laugh was significantly more carefree. “Ryan, you’re playing
Scrabble with a librarian who thinks a fun Friday night is curling up with some tea
and a new book. You don’t stand a chance.”

He definitely liked this cocky side of her. And since they weren’t yelling at each
other, this was a step in the right direction. “I guess we’ll see. Ladies first.”

…

“…and with the triple word score, that brings me up to forty-six points.”

Bri stared at the columns of numbers on her score sheets and couldn’t believe it.
She was down to her last four tiles and Ryan was beating her by a truly embarrassing
amount. It was her own hubris at fault. She assumed that her history of reading would
give her an edge—she hadn’t stopped to consider
his
reading history. Maybe it was time to acknowledge that she’d been an ass for letting
her issues color her perception of him. This man was more than just the wild boy who’d
burned down the high school and set her blood on fire. Realizing that wouldn’t change
their past interactions much, but it
did
affect their future ones.

Particularly the one where she lost this game and was forced to open up all sorts
of old scars she didn’t want to deal with.

They said time healed all wounds. They lied. The only way she’d gotten past her abandonment
issues was to create a life for herself where she was as safe as possible, full of
people who weren’t going anywhere. The fact that Avery and Drew were the only people
on that list was kind of sad, but she was okay with it. Once those two made her their
own, she couldn’t have gotten away if she wanted to. And in that realization, there
was a level of security and safety she hadn’t expected to find.

There was neither of those things with Ryan. He loved to travel and hated Wellingford—for
what she was increasingly forced to admit were legitimate reasons—so he’d never be
content to put down the roots she so desperately craved. He might not be the wild
child she’d originally pegged him for, but that didn’t change that he was guaranteed
to leave. Just like every other person in her life had left.

“Bri.”

She blinked and looked up. “Yes?”

Though he grinned, his blue eyes were kind. “Are you going to go, or just stare at
the board?”

“Just considering my best move.” And admitting there was no way to come back from
this. She put an
O
next to an available
G
. “Go. Three points.”

“Nice.” He was blatantly making an effort not to laugh, but there was no meanness
there.

“Shut up.” She shook her head. “Your turn.”

His smile turned apologetic as he put down the last two tiles on his board. “Pin.
Five points. And whatever you have on your board since I’m out.”

She cursed aloud as she added the
Z
and
X
to his points—and again when she totaled them up. “You won by a landslide.”

“You put up a good fight.” He shrugged. “This was the only game we had in the house
when I was a kid. I’m pretty sure Drew has the Scrabble dictionary memorized, because
I couldn’t beat him until I was sixteen.”

It would have been nice to know that
before
she’d agreed to this game, but he’d won fair and square. Bri sighed. “Best two out
of three?”

“Oh, we can play again. Right after you fulfill your end of the bargain.”

Crap. She’d hoped he’d just let it go. From the way he sat back and propped his heels
on the coffee table, he had no intention of allowing her to weasel her way out of
this. Which was only fair, no matter how much she didn’t like it. She
had
agreed to the terms, after all.

She smoothed her hair back. “I grew up in foster care.”

The rest of the story stuck in her throat. God, this was so much harder than she’d
expected. She wanted to yell at him and storm off, or throw his own past and reputation
in his face again, or do anything in order to avoid sharing these painful memories.
When she looked at Ryan, he merely watched her, no expression on his face. The lack
of pity was what gave her the strength to go on. “When I was six, my parents died
in a car crash. Couples want to adopt babies, not little girls who wake up on a nightly
basis screaming from nightmares and crying for their dead parents.”

When it looked like he was going to say something, she held up a hand. “It was a very
long time ago. I grew up and got past it.” Mostly. “I bounced through three homes
in as many years, and I learned the hard way to keep my head down and my mouth closed.”

“The hard way?” Something dangerous glinted in his eyes.

Oh dear. “I wasn’t abused, if that’s what you’re asking.” She wanted to leave it at
that, but Bri found herself elaborating. Ryan had shared part of his past with her,
so maybe he would understand the struggles she’d lived through more than Avery did.
“It was more…neglect. I was in the last home for nine months and the woman who ran
it was more concerned with collecting her checks than with things such as making sure
we had a healthy diet and appropriate clothes.” A fact made worse by the bigger kids
who took her share of both.

“Christ.”

Bri toyed with the string of her sweats, wishing they were thicker, wishing for something
more to cover herself with, as if by covering her body she’d cover up the emotional
vulnerability she felt. “I survived. I grew up. I got scholarships. I went to college
and made something of myself. And here I am now.”

“I’d say I’m sorry but, like you said, you survived and flourished.” Before she could
entirely process his words, he moved on. “What did you do for fun?”

This, at least, was an easy answer. “The library. It was my everything—my fun, my
escape, my refuge. I know that sounds silly—or maybe a little pathetic—but it was
the truth. What better way to escape the realities of your life than to read about
someone else’s? And the local library had what felt like a million books at the time.
Countless worlds to be explored and people to meet.” Belatedly, she realized he’d
found much the same escape growing up, if his story earlier was anything to go by.

“All in the safety of your own place.”

She shifted, not sure if she liked how close to the mark he’d hit. In her books, she
was assured some kind of happy ending. If she didn’t like the way things were going,
she could simply put the book down and walk away. End of story.

Life didn’t work the same way.

“Something like that.”

He started to ask another question, but must have caught the way she tensed up, because
he changed tactics. “What’s your favorite part of your job?”

This, at least, she could talk about without worrying about emotional pitfalls. “All
of it.”

He laughed. “How about you narrow it down a little?”

She wasn’t sure she could. But as soon as that thought hit, Bri knew the answer. “The
kids. I’ve set up several programs for young readers, and I can’t begin to express
how happy it makes me. I love recommending books to kids and seeing that click when
they fall in love. It’s priceless—something I never get tired of.”

“What kind of book would you have chosen for me?”

He really had a gift for putting her on the spot. “I don’t know. It’s hard to say,
not knowing what kind of kid you were.” But she knew. She’d known the second they
slipped from constantly arguing into something much more vulnerable.

“Come on, Bri. Just play the what-if game. What if I’d come in there and asked for
a recommendation?”

“Pirates,” she blurted out.

Ryan started clearing the tiles from the board and dumping them back into the box.
“Pirates?”

She took a few seconds to really think about it, but her answer remained the same.
“Yes. The adventure and exploration and treasure seem like something that’d appeal
to you. Not to mention taking it one step further and mapping out the sunken ships.
It’d be a grand adventure.”

His slow smile made her heart skip a beat. “When we get back into town, I’d like to
see those books.”

“Why?”

His grin widened. “I happen to have a thing for pirates.”

Just like that, she could picture him in mismatched clothing, with a bandana over
his head and a captain’s hat. He’d look roguish and more than a few women would throw
themselves at his feet. Goodness,
she
wanted to do so right now. Bri bit her lip and looked out the window.
Change the subject. Change it right now before you go off the deep end and tell him
that you’re losing the battle with yourself over everything that is Ryan.

He saved her from making an ass of herself. “Want to play again?”

Again? She wasn’t sure if she could handle another heartfelt confession like she’d
just given. Bri rubbed her arms, trying to work away a chill she was pretty sure existed
only in her mind. Her options lay before her, as clear as the bright blue sky outside.
She could play again and, if the last game was any indication, actually enjoy herself.
Or she could run back to the room and deal with the consequences of ripping open that
particular emotional wound.

“Sure. Let’s go again.”

…

Bri’s words played in Ryan’s head through two more games of Scrabble. Drew had mentioned
she hadn’t grown up easy, but he hadn’t gone into details. It was no wonder she didn’t
let anyone in—the two people who were supposed to be there to care for her and see
her grow up had died when she was just a little kid. He hadn’t had the best childhood
ever, but he’d always had a safe place with Drew. Looking back, his older brother
had borne the brunt of their father’s failures. Drew was the one who stepped up and
made sure they were taken care of, even if he had to go without to make it happen.
Bri hadn’t even had that.

“Quint.” She lay down her tiles with a grin. “With a double letter and triple word
score, that’s seventy-two.”