The Unexpected Series (Unexpected #1-3) (69 page)

My hat is pulled over my ears but I can hear his whispered growl loud and clear. “Haaadley,” he says, elongating my name, taunting me.

I should push him back...but I don’t.

“Leave me, Ryder,” I tell him, hoping I don’t sound weak but knowing that I do. “I told you a while ago not to touch me.”

He laughs, the vibrations shaking me. “I’m not touching you, Hadley. No part of my flesh is touching your flesh. It’s all material that’s making you tremble, Spark.”

Anger surges through me. I shove off the car, whipping around to face him. “How dare you call me that! You are not allowed to call me that ever again.”

He steps forward, his hand reaching out to me. “Looks like your feistiness hasn’t changed.”

I look past him, seeing the blonde making her way over. My body temperature rises with what, I don’t know.

I cross my arms over my chest after pointing towards her. “Go back to your girlfriend.”

Glancing back he shakes his head and then steps dangerously close to me again.

He tilts his head to the side, showcasing his crystal blue eyes. “You’re not jealous are you?”

I let out a loud “ugh” as I shove off him. He backs off and I jump into my car turning the ignition.

Nothing.

Shit. I try again.

Nothing again.

Dammit!

I throw my hands down on the steering wheel just as someone taps on the window. I don’t have to look up to know it’s Ryder.

His Cheshire cat smile irks me.

I roll down my window, the cold air infiltrating my car. The pretty blonde is now standing just behind him. “What?” I ask.

“Need a ride?”

“No,” I say blindly reaching into the passenger side of the car, looking for my cell, and coming up empty handed. Thinking hard I remember leaving it on my bed.

Double. Fucking. Shit.

~~

“T
hat girl didn’t care that you are giving me a ride home?” I ask him as I place my hands over the heater in his car.

His large hands reach over to turn the heat up and he chuckles. “That girl’s name is Wendy and no, she doesn’t care.”

We finish the rest of the drive in silence and when he pulls in front of my apartment I ask, “Is she your girlfriend?” I can’t
help
but ask. I guess because I am looking for more fuel for him to tell him to stay away from me.

Pausing for a moment to think he leans over, brushing his finger over my resting hands on top of my lap. My instinct is to pull away but I can’t. I can’t do a lot of things while he is around.

He pulls into my parking lot in front of my apartment. “Would it matter?”

I shake my head and finally pull my hand away. “No. It wouldn’t. Thanks for the ride.”

I slam the door as I step out, keys in hand ready to go inside and call Braden when I hear Ryder’s door slam shut. I throw my head back, glancing up to the clouds in the sky.

“Get back in your car, Ryder,” I request keeping my eyes trained above me.

“Just tell me where you went?” His voice sounds defeated.

It’s a broad question but I know what he is asking. He wants to know where I ran off to.

My shoulders slump as I turn towards him. “It’s not your business.”

His head shakes from side to side. “I drove you home so I should at least get one of my million questions for you answered, and when you left you were my business.”

I blow out a foggy breath, giving in. “CHS.”

His face morphs into excitement and then drops. Stepping towards me he seems as though he wants to pull me into his arms but then thinks better of it. “Is that why you left? To go to the art school? We could have made things work, Hadley. You didn’t have to leave me.”

“You got one question, Ryder. I answered. We’re done,” I say pointing my gloved finger towards him. I carefully walk on the iced over sidewalk to my stairway and hear him mutter “for now” before his car door slams.

After taking off all of my wet clothes and throwing them on my kitchen floor until I could take them to the communal dryer, I hear the ring of my cell phone from the bed. I run to pick up seeing Janie’s name pop up on the screen.

“Janie!” I answer excitedly. She works with Braden and runs the annual Christmas party.

“Hadley! I need your help! I have no time to plan the holiday party this year. Do you think we could hire your company to do it?”

After a few more minutes on the phone and a quick text to Noe about the new event, I dial up Braden to tell him all the good news from today. I also let him know I need a jump for my car and even if he doesn’t plan to attend the party I will be.

I
t’s seven a.m. on Monday morning and I’m sitting in my car, head against the headrest staring at the stairs leading up to Hadley’s apartment. I can see the ice that has formed on each step overnight. I can see a light glowing from what I assume is her living room but I don’t see her car in the parking lot. I’m guessing she never went back out to get it.

I’m not a stalker. I didn’t know she lived in the complex that I’ve driven passed every morning before work and every afternoon on my way home. I had the means at the station to find out where she lived but never used them. For four months, I have unknowingly gone past her apartment twice a day and now that I know I couldn’t help but stop, especially since I see that her car isn’t in here.

Checking to make sure she doesn’t still need help would be the gentlemanly thing to do. What’s holding me back is the possibility of her boyfriend being there too. I don’t want to knock on the door only to have him answer. I’d hate for a fight to start that I would have to finish.

As I sit and debate whether or not to grow some balls and head up the icy steps I think about what she said just fourteen hours earlier.

She ran off to Chicago High School of Arts and didn’t tell me. We had talked about it extensively the summer before our senior year on how we would make it work. We had it all figured out. We could talk every night, and I would drive down to see her every weekend. I know she was hesitant to switch schools at the end of her high school career but we both knew she really wanted to go, and I was doing all I could to support her and push her to go. She ended up not getting accepted or at least that is what she told me. She must have lied and for her just to drop everything and leave for Chicago without a word guts me. I was always her biggest supporter. Maybe she just wanted a clean break and to not have to worry about our relationship while she went and lived her dream. I could understand that. Then I think about the job she has now and shake my head.

The past four months have seemed like an eternity. It felt longer than the seven years that I hadn’t seen Hadley. I tried hard to keep myself from going to her work, to avoid texting her. Asking Jace to find out from Noelle how she was doing was out of the question since he lost her to that other guy. So, I kept to myself, remodeled the house a bit, went to the gym more, and hung out with Wendy. Then all of the sudden she slams into me, literally, and I couldn’t help but gravitate towards her. Ditch everyone I was with and take her home, even though I probably could have helped her get the car started. I know I could have but I wanted alone time with her.

At some point I must have gotten out of my car and made my way up the stairs because before I realize what I am doing my hand raises and gives three loud knocks on the door. I wait a minute before deciding this was a really bad idea.

I should just go to the gym.

I turn around, grabbing the railing, and her door swings open.

“Braden, why the hell...” she starts but her words cut off when I turn and she finds it’s not him.

It’s me.

She pushes the door halfway closed so that only part of her body is hanging out. Her beautiful toned leg shows through the bottom of her way to fucking short pink cotton shorts. Her arm is raised, holding the edge of the wood tightly.

Her eyes meet mine as I’m still grasping the railing. “What are you doing here?”

I look away from her and down the stairs towards the parking lot looking for the answer. Then I remember. “I didn’t see your car. I wanted to make sure it had been taken care of.”

When I turn back her head is down, looking at her bare feet. Her toes, painted a bright red, dig into the threshold. “It’s not. I...ah...” she stutters through. “I couldn’t get a hold of Braden.”

We just stand there for a minute. Her looking down and me looking at her.

“I can take you...” I start to say at the same time she asks, “Do you want to come in?”

I nod and she opens the door the rest of the way, letting go so I can enter. When I walk in I’m surprised to see how small it is but it’s one hundred percent Hadley. Above her kitchen table is a beautiful painting of a waterfall that is so lifelike it looks to be a photograph but I know her work.

“I painted that,” she confirms, her soft voice coming from behind me.

I glance back taking a closer look at her. Her hair wild from sleep and her nipples taut from the cold outside breeze I brought in and pushing at the fabric of her sheer tank top.

“Do you always sleep like that?” I ask extending a finger towards every man’s damn fantasy.

Screw lingerie. Hadley looks edible in exactly what she has on.

Her face scrunches, the lines between her eyebrows forming as she brings her hands to her hips. “Did you need something?”

I chuckle, which makes her even angrier. I love an angry Hadley. “Did you?” I ask turning the question on her.

A growl comes from between her lips. “Ryder.”

I take a step closer. “I love the way my name falls from your lips.”

Her eyes drift to the side. I follow them finding a wall clock. “What can I do for you at seven in the morning?” she asks seemingly annoyed but her rapid breathing gives her away.

Walking over to her couch I sit down, sliding my ankle over my opposite knee. “The question is ‘what can I do for
you
at seven in the morning?’ I saw your car wasn’t here and I can only assume since you cannot get a hold of your so-called boyfriend that you might need some help getting your car started or a ride to work.” I drag my finger across my mouth, watching as her eyes take in the action. “Do you need a jump...or a ride, Hadley?”

She doesn’t move. She just stares taking in the double meaning of my words. Boyfriend or not, I don’t know if I could turn her down if she asked to ride me right now. It would be so easy if she just straddled me, and I could push aside the flimsy material she calls pajamas and slip right in. I could grab her face and claim her mouth, her chest, her stomach, her thighs.

“RYDER!” she screams, and I jump right out of my daydream.

I adjust myself where I sit hoping she doesn’t kick me out for the raging hard on I just caused myself. “Yes?”

“Did you hear a damn word I said?” She shakes her head walking over to the window and looks out. The light from outside shines through her shorts and I can see the curve of her ass. “I think I just need a new battery. I talked to my cousin and he thinks that is the problem but he can’t get over here until this afternoon. I was just going to call out of work but since you’re here you can help me.” She doesn’t turn my way as she continues, “I have a new contract and I want to get started so I kinda need to go in.”

I lean forward, covering my mouth with my hands, trying to hide the smile that I can’t prevent. When I get myself controlled I ask, “What about your boyfriend?”

She finally turns, shooting daggers with her eyes. “What about him?”

“Won’t he get pissed if some other guy is jumping you?”

I know how that sounds. I said it that way on purpose.

Her eyes roll into the back of her head, and her hips sway on their way to what I assume is her bedroom. Her voice is muffled but I can hear her loud and clear. “You’re not jumping me, Ryder. You’re giving me a ride to the parts store and helping me put in a new battery. After that you can go jump some other girl for all I care.”

Ouch.

The ride to the auto parts store is short and quiet. When she emerged from her room, she had on tight jeans and a flowing white shirt that covered up her amazing ass. When she put on her black boots my dick went into overdrive. Nothing is sexier than boots that come up to a woman’s knee...and they zipper. A vision of unzipping them with my teeth came to mind, and I had to shake my head several times to get my mind out of the gutter. It didn’t work.

So, now she’s riding passenger, again, and I am surprised at how comfortable this feels. We used to drive around for hours in my car. My hand would navigate its way to her thigh and sometimes I would raise it higher and higher up her shorts until her delicate fingers stopped me. I was always pushing it with her but respectful. Always respectful.

We get a new battery, drive the few miles to where her car is located and switch the old with the new. After a few minutes, it starts right up, and we let it warm up while she waits in my car.

“I owe you,” she says quietly and when I look over her green eyes look vulnerable. She seems torn. About what, I don’t know.

“Okay, well, I’d like my fee paid now if you don’t mind,” I tell her pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear.