“Hey, I’m an innocent bystander,” she called out good naturedly.
“Nicole, sorry we didn’t know you were out here,” the oldest boy, Jacob said, as he came running up to her, looking very guilty. He had several friends trailing behind him, all with the same expressions of guilt on their faces. “I heard a noise over here and thought it was one of the guys,” he said, as a slight blush stole over his cheeks.
“I’m fine Jacob, it looks like you guys are having a great time,” she reassured him.
“We are, do you want to join us?” he offered. The other boys nodded their heads encouragingly.
“No, I have to get back but maybe some other time,” she told them. She turned around to walk back towards the house and the boys all ran off in the other direction, shouting and firing at the same time. She smiled to herself. Jacob was Ryan’s nephew, well technically his cousin but the three men were more brothers than cousins and the kids called both the men uncle. She was impressed with the very tightly knit family.
She finally reached the house and realized the paint ball hit her harder than she originally thought. She had a slight limp and a huge knot on her leg. She stepped into the kitchen so she could clean up when a shadow nearly scared her to death.
“What happened to your leg?” Ryan said to her. She was speechless for a moment, as she looked up and saw him standing before her. She hadn’t expected him back for a few more weeks and she was worried by how much she wanted to throw her arms around the man who haunted her dreams each night.
“I got shot with a paintball but it looks far worse than it is. This is only paint,” she said and bent to run her finger over the paint.
Ryan sucked in the breath he’d been holding. He’d missed her so much and when he’d arrived home and not been able to find her, he’d gone a bit crazy. He’d thought she may have left him but her clothes were there and Patsy’s room was filled with her possessions. He smiled to think how well Patsy had settled in. At least one of them had no problem with him spoiling them. Nicole acted like he was committing a sin when he tried to give her anything. It was downright insulting.
He had more money than he could possibly ever spend but she didn’t want to allow him to buy her a simple pair of jeans. He wouldn’t allow people to think he mistreated her in any form. He would purchase her things, even if he had to literally take her into the dressing rooms and dress her himself. He got hard just thinking about that scenario.
He stared at her, from her toes, to the top of her head. She was make-up free with her hair thrown back in a sloppy ponytail and she was wearing loose work-out clothes. She’d never looked sexier to him. Damn, he was in a really bad state.
“How did you get shot?”
“Oh, your nephews were having a paintball war and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could’ve been worse, they might’ve been going for the kill shot,” she said on a laugh. His lips rose slightly at the corners.
“I missed you,” he said before he could stop himself. He hadn’t meant for it to slip out but from the gleam in her eyes, it had been the right thing to say. He had a feeling she’d missed him too, although he didn’t think he could get her to admit it.
“Um, I um, need to, um go get this off of me,” she stuttered, acting more like a middle school child, than a full grown adult. She needed to get a grip. She quickly fled the room and never saw the smile split across Ryan’s face. It was the first genuine smile he felt cross his features since the night he dragged her from that restaurant.
He began whistling as he followed her up the stairs. He would wait for her to get out of the shower and then give them what they both so desperately wanted. His aroused body was making it difficult to climb the stairs but the pain was worth it. Soon she’d be relieving that for him.
Chapter Eight
“Where the hell have you been?” Ryan asked furiously, as Nicole walked in the door. He’d come home early from work and she’d been gone. He didn’t like the feeling of not knowing where she was.
“Not that it’s any of your business but I was at work,” she snapped back at him. He’d been back for a week and though they made love nightly, their days were not so pleasant. He was still highly demanding and she was still inserting her own independence.
She had zero doubt she was in love with the man but she also knew she was simply a play thing for him and he would eventually grow bored with her. Then she would be devastated all over again. To top all that off she had a really bad feeling she was pregnant. She’d been ignoring it for months but her stomach was starting to thicken and she’d been so exhausted.
She could pass off the thickening stomach to the amount of food she consumed but the unusual desire for foods she’d never liked before, the complete exhaustion and the mood swings were a dead giveaway. She’d refused to take a test. Then she’d know for sure and she’d have to break the news to Ryan. She wasn’t ready for that.
“Everything you do is my business. How quickly you forget what we agreed upon,” he snapped. He was beyond mad she’d taken one of her worthless jobs again when he was willing to provide everything she and Patsy needed. She allowed him to spoil Patsy but she refused to wear the jewelry he bought her and wore the same old clothes she’d come to his home with, over and over again. It was really making him angry.
Every other woman he’d ever dated had tried to get every last thing they could out of him and he finally had a woman he wanted to buy things for and she tossed them back in his face. He’d already had a frustrating day at the office, which was why he’d come home early in the first place and she was now aggravating his mood even further. He’d hoped being with her would’ve calmed him down. It wasn’t happening.