“You okay?”

She turned on the seat to face him. She nodded. “I’m just kind of overwhelmed with wanting to screw your brains out as a thank-you for sticking up for me with my family.”

He gave her a slow smile. “Overwhelmed?”

“I’ve never felt that before.”

He frowned. “You’ve never had someone stick up for you before?”

She shook her head. “I’ve never wanted someone…” But she trailed off and frowned too. “I’m not sure I have, actually.”

“Ry—”

“My family isn’t abusive or anything,” she said quickly. “I don’t think I could make a case at all for having a rough childhood. My mom’s just…” She shrugged. “Critical. She has high standards. We butt heads. But I know she loves me and I love her and…I’m fine. It’s just that I’ve never had anyone say that my flaws are something they like about me.”

Derek stretched his arm across the back of the seat. He tugged on the end of the strand of hair that lay against her shoulder. “They’re not flaws.”

She shrugged her other shoulder because she didn’t want to dislodge his touch. “My bluntness and my seeming inability to do anything traditionally definitely drive people crazy.”

“They drive your mom crazy,” he agreed. “But they’re not flaws.”

She took a breath, feeling more than just her panties getting warmer now. The sweet side of Derek was as addictive as the hot and cocky side. “Thanks.”

“That doesn’t mean you don’t have flaws. Those just aren’t them.”

Ah, and there was the guy she knew. But she grinned. “Oh?”

“Yeah.” He rotated his finger and wrapped the end of her hair around it. “For one, you don’t listen very well.”

“I don’t?”

“The minute your mom starts talking, you start thinking of all the things she’s saying that are wrong and critical. You don’t hear the other stuff.”

Riley arched her brows. Oh, okay, so this was kind of serious. “Is that right?”

He nodded. “It is. She’s on your ass a lot, I’ll agree, but you don’t hear her saying things like ‘I worry about you’, ‘I want you to be happy’, ‘I want you to make good choices and not just pick the option I’ll hate the most’.”

Riley frowned now. “She doesn’t say that stuff.”

“She does. It’s between the lines, and yeah, it’s mixed up with ‘do you really think you should dye your hair?’ and ‘you could do more with your life,’ but it’s there.”

“Well, that other stuff is way louder and more in focus,” Riley said, feeling her chest tighten.

Derek nodded again. “I know. But you’ve done some dumb stuff, Ry. And she’s your mom. Of course she’s going to worry.”

“Hey.”

He shrugged, unapologetic. “One of the things we have going for us is that we can both be brutally honest, right?”

“You mean, you want permission to keep teasing me about shit like you’ve always done.”

He thought about that for a second. Then nodded, a small smile curling his lips. “Yeah. I guess so. I know it’s pretty easy to fall under my spell when I’m doling out multiple orgasms, but I don’t want you to get soft. I want to be able to tell you when you’re being a brat.”

How had talking about sex gotten so easy so fast with this guy?

But things had always been pretty easy with Derek. Because she’d never cared what he thought.

In the next second, Riley realized that wasn’t true at all. She’d cared. She just hadn’t worried. There was something about Derek, about him always being there, about him being such a solid fixture in her life, that she’d never worried about him getting offended or sick of her. She could be herself, tell him what she thought, do her own thing even knowing he’d tease her, because she knew he’d always be there. Even when she didn’t think she wanted him to be.

She needed a guy like that.

That realization hit hard and direct. She wanted to be able to do her own thing, do things differently, try new stuff, take a few risks, and she needed someone who would be honest with her—not critical like her mom, but just honest—and who would encourage her to try those things, and be there even when she made the wrong choice or did something stupid. She needed the freedom to be herself that came from knowing there was someone—or multiple someones—who’d be there anyway.

And Derek was one of those people.

He was maybe the main person. Based on tonight, when he was the one to point out that those things could also be kind of great.

“You can keep telling me when I’m being a brat,” she told him. Then she started to lean in, because she really did want to screw his brains out.

“Hang on.” He put a hand up—right on her forehead, keeping her from moving closer.

She frowned and sat back. “What?”

“When you come over here, you need to have lost the pants,” he said, pointing at her jeans.

Oh, that was easy. She started to unbutton.

“And,” he added, “I have one more thing to say first.”

She sighed and paused with her zipper halfway down. “What?”

“I stuck up for you tonight because you needed it, and everything I said was true and I wanted your family to hear me say it.”

She waited, hearing a “but” coming.

“But,” he went on, “I will also say to you that your brother is a great guy. One of the best. He might be a little uptight about schedules and things, but he never stops. He never stops caring and working and wondering what else he could do. And I don’t like the idea that your sole purpose in life is to be the opposite of him.”

She stared at Derek. Okay, she knew the annoying tease, the cocky flirt, the sweet friend sides of him. But she wasn’t sure she’d seen the staunch defender before. First for her, and now to her.

“I know Kyle is a great guy.”

“I know you do.”

“But you want me to be nicer to him? More respectful? What?”

“Yes. I mean, basically all of that. You don’t need to be the opposite of him in every way,” Derek said.

Riley took a breath. Fair enough. “You think I’m insulting him somehow?”

“I think you used to,” Derek said. “But no, that’s not what I mean. I think you’re missing out on some of the ways for you to be happy and even more amazing just because you’re so determined to not follow in his footsteps.”

Riley just looked at him. Wow. Derek really did know her. And he got her family dynamic. And he was willing and able to be fully honest with her. And he wanted her to be… She frowned.

“Why does this all matter to you?”

He frowned back. “Really?”

“I’m just wondering. You seem to want to fix some things for me. Why does it matter to you?”

“Jesus, Riley,” he said, clearly annoyed. “You don’t know?”

“Just tell me.”

“Because I care about you. I want you to be happy. And I think you’ll be happy if you can really throw yourself into the advocacy stuff and the computer work for the task force, and if you can come to a place where you and your mom can talk about all of it without you getting defensive.”

Her breath caught in her throat. She licked her lips. Then she asked a question that she already knew the answer to but wanted to hear out loud. “Because you want me to change? You want me to give up some of the rebellion and be more like everyone else in Sapphire Falls.”

“Fuck no,” he said, scowling. “You’ll never be like everyone else in Sapphire Falls anyway. But, no. I want you to be happy. If I thought you really were, that the rebellious thing and living far away and working for big companies really did that for you, then it would be great. But you’ve been looking for something—for a long time. Like maybe since you were in high school. And I think you’ve been looking for a way to contribute and be a part of something that matters and be close to your family, without losing out on being your own person. I want that for you.”

Yep, that was what she’d wanted to hear out loud. Because she was quickly realizing that having Derek Wright know her and get her, and want her anyway, was a really, really huge turn-on.

“You want me to be more like you.”

He frowned, and blinked, and frowned again. “What?”

“You have all of that. You contribute and are a part of something and are close to your family—and everyone else here. But you’re your own person.”

He must have realized how close she’d gotten, because his gaze dropped to her lips. “Am I?” he asked.

She hadn’t expected that. She paused. “Are you what?”

“My own person. Or am I just like everyone else who never got out of this town? Am I fooling myself into thinking that opening a pizza business will somehow save me from looking back someday and wondering what else I could have done? I mean, I’m thinking about seriously dating someone now just because my friends are settling down. How is that being my own person?”

Riley had never, in all the years she’d known him, seen Derek Wright vulnerable. And it was doing something to her insides that she couldn’t explain. She knew somehow that he’d never said this stuff to Kyle or Scott. But he was saying it to her.

And one of the things he liked—no, loved; he’d said loved—about her was that she was honest with him.

“Are you happy?” she asked him.

He met her gaze directly. “Yeah. Overall.”

“And can you imagine doing anything else? Teaching? Being a lawyer or a dentist or flying airplanes or farming?” she asked.

He shook his head. “No.”

“Because you don’t think you’d be good at any of that? Or smart enough? Or dedicated enough?”

“Because I don’t want to do anything else.”

She smiled, feeling strangely triumphant and happy. For him. “So you’re happy doing exactly what you want to be doing.”

He took a breath. “Yeah.”

“Derek, the only reason that feels weird sometimes when you look around, is because very few people get to that point this early in life. Some never do. You did. And frankly—” She thought only for a millisecond about not admitting this to him. “I’m jealous of that.” Then she said something she’d never imagined saying to Derek. “And you’re right. About me. I’ve been restless for a long time because I’ve been telling myself to be one way, while my heart’s been telling me that’s not right.”

He ran a hand down her arm. “Don’t tell me you think these tattoos are wrong. Because these are hotter than hell.”

She smiled, looking down at the intricate swirls that covered her arm. “No. Not those things. The tattoos and the hair and the piercings and the computer stuff…that’s all me.” It might have started as a rebel-against-her-mother thing, but she’d quickly realized that expressing herself that way was very satisfying. “But,” she met his eyes again, “I don’t want to work for corporations or banks. I think computer and tech work for law enforcement is right up my alley.”

He grinned. “You just started that.”

But she knew he wasn’t disagreeing with her. She nodded. “Yeah, well, when something feels right, I think it’s very possible to know right away.”

Their gazes held, and they seemed to be agreeing silently. And not just about her computer work.

“You’re going to make amazing pizza, you know that?”

“Yeah, well, it’s just pizza.”

“Nothing you do is just anything, Derek,” she said, sincerely. “You put your heart into the things you do for this town. This will be the same.”

He nodded. “Which means if it fails, it will hurt more.”

Riley was thrilled with how he was opening up to her. “So don’t fail.”

He gave her a grin. “It’s that easy?”

She shook her head. “No. But I’ll be telling you you’re screwing something up long before it becomes a true failure. You’ll have a chance to fix it and make it right. And I know you’ll keep working until it’s perfect. Don’t worry.”

He snorted at that. But when he said, “Thanks,” in a husky, almost emotional voice, she felt her own smile fade.

And a sudden intense desire take its place.

“Hey, Ry?” he asked after a moment.

“Yeah?”

“Why don’t you take your pants off and come over here now?”

Gladly. She unzipped and pushed everything off and to the floor of the truck. He was watching her with hot eyes as she crawled over the seat to him. She paused to unzip him as well, and he didn’t move to stop her. He just gave a heartfelt groan as she freed his cock and gave it a long stroke.

“Shirt too. The moon is nice and bright tonight,” he told her.

It sure was. She could see his hard length clearly with the light shining through the windshield. She didn’t think, just stripped her shirt off and unhooked her bra. But before he could touch her, she took him in hand again and leaned over.

The first touch of her mouth to the head of his cock had him tangling his hands in her hair and his breath hissing out.

She took him deep, then dragged her lips back up his length. “How are you this hard already?” she asked, looking up at him.

He was watching her with a hot intensity that made her tingle from head to toe.

“Guess I like pizza a lot.”

She laughed, and she felt his fingers tighten in her hair. “I will definitely keep that in mind when we do the taste testing.”

“Yeah, I’m thinking of some other things I’d like to taste right now.” His voice had that delicious, low gruffness to it.

“Too bad the front seat of a pickup is a lot more conducive to blowjobs than to…that.” She gave his head a little lick.

“That sounds like a dare,” he told her, doing nothing to discourage her from taking his length in nice and slow, and then coming back up with her tongue sliding along the underside.

“Oh, I have no doubt that you could get it done.” In fact, she had no doubt he’d gotten it done, very well, in the past. With other girls. “But I’m pretty happy right here.”

“You don’t want me to make you come on my tongue?”

Her whole body clenched. She gave him a long, hard suck, just to remind him that she was busy. “You really want me to stop?”

“Hell no.”

“Well then…”

Somehow—and she would spend time later that night replaying it and trying to figure out how he’d done it so quickly and smoothly—Derek grabbed her, turned them both, and settled her right over his mouth. He gave her a long, deep lick and a suck, and she completely forgot to care about how he got her there, only that he’d keep her there for a while.

“Derek,” she moaned.

His body got even tighter and hotter as he heard his name on her lips. “Damn, I love hearing my name like that,” he said from between her legs.

He might have had other girls in his pickup with their pants off, but he’d never brought anyone to the river, just the two of them. He’d gone to parties with other women. He’d gone home from parties with other women. But he’d never had sex here. He supposed because he didn’t have to. He had a bed. They all had beds. Why would he bring them to the river? He didn’t need to romance them. He didn’t need to be sure that no one could find them. Sure, he was disappointed if someone got a phone call and had to leave before he got her bra off. But he’d never died from it.

With Riley, he swore that if he didn’t make love to her out here tonight, he would die. His heart would actually stop beating.

And was that completely dramatic and out of character for him? Yes, it was.

That didn’t make it feel less true.

He licked up over her clit and relished the way she tightened her knees against his ears and the sharp intake of air.

“Holy—” She ended the thought with a gasp as he swirled his tongue over her clit. “Yes.”

He loved hearing his effect on her. He loved feeling it and tasting it too. He could happily spend the next two hours right here, doing this. But he needed her mouth on his cock.

“You know, the beauty of this position is we can both do it at the same time,” he said. He gave her butt a little swat.

“Right. Sorry.”

He started to say something sarcastic, but she immediately took his cock in hand and slid her mouth down over his length.

His groan felt like it came from his bones. Nothing had ever felt like this. Yes, fucking her against the wall had been amazing. He wanted to do that a few hundred more times. But this…something about having her spread out over his mouth while she took him deep in hers felt different. It was dirty and intimate and so unlike anything he’d ever imagined with this girl that he couldn’t quite get over it.

He hung on for a few minutes, feasting on her, letting the feel of her hot, sassy mouth taking him in over and over wash through him. But he couldn’t take it for long. He gripped her hips and rotated her as he sat up, swinging her around until she was straddling his thighs. Thank God his seat went way back.

“That,” he kissed her deep and hard, “is what happens when you dare me.”

“I’ll definitely keep that in mind,” she said breathlessly.

“But this…” He lifted her slightly, brought her forward and then down. She sank down onto his cock, and the happy sigh she gave made his balls tighten. “Is what happens when you’re amazing and sweet and brutally honest and bratty and gorgeous.”

“I can keep a couple of those up for sure.”

He laughed. She could keep all of those going—and he was never going to get over her.

The thought seemed to come out of nowhere, but before he could give it more attention, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pressed her lips to his, and said, “Okay, Sex God, let’s do this thing.”

And they did. His hands gripped her hips as he moved her up and down, and while she helped lift and lower her body on his, he set the pace, he controlled how deep he thrust, and he was the one to finally say, “Come for me, Ry. Please come for me.”

She called out his name as her body clenched around him, and he felt like the god she teased him about being. He really fucking did. Because Riley Ames didn’t do anything anyone told her to do.

He thrust up into her sweet, hot body. Her tightness gripped him and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close as he hammered his hips upward. He felt the orgasm bearing down and he let go with a shout. Her name. He couldn’t help but shout her name.

She slumped against him, and he just held her. They breathed together for several long minutes, and Derek realized that he didn’t have one iota of anxiety about getting back to the bar, about any other project, about his pizzas. Holding this woman was exactly where he wanted to be.

So when her phone rang in the pocket of her jeans on the floor of his truck, he swore.

She pulled back and smiled at him. “I’m flattered.”

“Don’t answer it.”

“I have to.”

“Someone wants something.”

“Probably.”

He squeezed her ass. “Well, there’s no one who wants more from you than I do.”

He felt her tense up, saw her eyes go wide, and realized what he’d said. He thought about it quickly. Should he joke about it? Tease her about assuming too much?

But she wasn’t assuming too much. He wasn’t joking. He wanted her. All of her. He wanted her to stay in Sapphire Falls. He wanted her to work with Scott. He wanted her to be at the Come Again with him every night he worked. And he wanted to work fewer nights. He wanted to take time off. He wanted to stay home.

“Riley—”

“I have to answer it.” She slid off his lap and reached for her pants. She looked at the number, then swiped the screen to answer it. “Hi.”

She listened for a moment, then her eyes got big—even bigger than when Derek had basically admitted he was falling for her—and she said, “Yes, of course. Oh my God.”

She disconnected and started pulling her clothes on.

“What’s wrong?”

She jerked her T-shirt over her head. “Nothing. Exactly. Scott needs me to help him with something.”

“That was Scott?” He was going to strangle his friend.

“Yeah. He’s working on something. Three girls have disappeared from Lincoln, but they think they have a way to track them. They need me.”

Derek felt his chest tighten. Fuck. Three girls had disappeared? That…yeah, if Riley could do anything about it, she had to go.

He yanked his pants up and zipped and buttoned. Then he started the truck. But he paused with his hand on the gearshift.

“Ry, I—” What was he going to say? I had a great time? I never want to stop fucking you? Come over after you’re done with work? I want to make you breakfast in the morning?

All things women had said to him after sex. All things that had felt clingy and unnecessary. All things he really wanted to say right now.

“Are you going to Lincoln?” he asked. God, be careful. Call me when you get there. Maybe I should come along.

He ran a hand over his face. He needed to snap out of this.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Scott asked if I could meet him at the station.”

Maybe she would just be working from here. That was one thing about all this cyber stuff. She could do it remotely at least. But instead of telling her that he really wanted to see her after she was done, whenever that was, he just put the truck into drive and started back down the dirt road.

They didn’t talk on the way to town, and by the time he pulled up in front of the station, he’d realized that he couldn’t say any of the things that were rolling through his head. The best thing about him and Riley was that they were him and Riley, with sex added in. He didn’t want any of that to change.

“So, try not to get arrested, okay?” he said as she opened the door.

She shot him a grin. “You good for bail money if I do?”

Thank God they were grinning and teasing. “Yeah. But the interest rates on my loan would be really high,” he told her.

“Oh, yeah? What percent are we talking here?”

“Let’s just say there will be handcuffs involved on that end of the situation as well.”

She laughed. “Now I almost hope I do need bail money.”

She slid out of the truck and had just started to close the door when, stupidly, Derek said, “Ry.”

She stopped and looked in at him. “Yeah?”

“Call me. Later. Whenever.”

She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, and he was certain that she was thinking of a good way to say no, that was a bad idea. But instead, she nodded, “I will.”

“Okay.”

She slammed the door, and he watched her walk up to the front of the police station and go inside. He blew out a breath. Fuck.

He pulled out his phone and texted Scott. You better take care of her. This shit better not be dangerous.

He waited nearly three minutes with no response. He was tempted to stick around and wait to see if Riley and Scott came back out and left. Of course, then he probably would have followed them, and that would have been pathetic.

Right.

He drove home, absolutely unable to come up with a thing to do. Or at least not anything he wanted to do. He could go back to the Come Again and let Bryan go home. But he didn’t really want to wait on people tonight. He could swing by his grandma’s house. She’d probably bake him brownies while he took a look at the wiring in the dishwasher. But he didn’t want to work on a dishwasher tonight. Or eat brownies.

And that was absolutely pathetic.

His phone finally pinged with a message. She’ll be fine was Scott’s answer.

It wasn’t good enough.

Dammit. What do you have her doing? Where is she going?

Scott’s answer a moment later was, Who is this and why do you have Derek’s phone?

Ha, ha. Fucking hilarious. Don’t make me come down there. He looked at the words that he didn’t think he’d ever actually say to anyone about anything, but he pushed send anyway. He wasn’t the possessive type. He just never got that worked up. None of the stuff he had couldn’t be replaced. None of the women in his life were ever supposed to stay.

Until now.

So come down here. She’s working right here in the station. I’m sure she’d love to have you breathing down her neck.

Derek wished Scott was actually here, because he’d love to tell him to fuck off in person.

What the hell is going on with you? Scott asked.

Well, that was a really good question. Nothing.

Bullshit.

Seriously. Just want to be sure this new thing is safe for Riley.

Because?

Because I want her to be okay.

I’m here. And she’s doing what she’s best at.

Yeah. But… He quickly deleted the words. Scott was right. Riley was fine. And it was none of his business.

Never mind, he finally typed.

Scott was right on that reply too. Yeah, sure, I’ll just never mind that you’re in love with Riley.

Derek read the words over again. And tried to figure out why they didn’t shock him. But he’d been the one to help both Scott and Kyle see how they really felt about Peyton and Hannah.

He thought about typing don’t tell her, but he knew Scott wouldn’t. He also knew that as of right this minute, Scott was going to give him shit the next time he saw him. So he did go ahead and type, Just take care of her.

At least he left off the for me he was tempted to include.

Then he stomped in the house, popped a beer, and turned on the television. And brooded until it was time to go to bed. He hadn’t gotten a text from Riley, but he also hadn’t sent Riley any texts checking up on her. That was something.

But now it was midnight, and he hadn’t heard from her and…fuck it.

He texted I want you. He hit send. Then shut his light off.

Fifteen minutes later, he didn’t have a text back. But he heard his front door open, the creak of someone walking over the floorboards in the hall. Riley slipped into his room, kicked her shoes off, and shed her clothes down to her panties. Derek lifted the blanket, and she slid underneath and right up against him.

Feeling an incredible sense of happiness, he wrapped his arm around her and put his nose in her hair.

“You okay?” he asked against the back of her neck.

“They found the girls,” she said quietly. “But they were really shaken up.”

He felt a tremor go through her. “You too, Ry?”

“Yeah.”

He tightened his hold on her, tucking her more firmly under his chin. She took a big, deep breath, then let it out. Her body stopped shaking and she finally turned to face him. She wrapped her arms around him and snuggled close.

Her naked breasts pressed into his chest, but all he could think about was that she was here. She’d come to him when she was feeling shaken. That seemed right. And amazing.

“How can I help?” he asked.

“Can I stay over? I don’t want to sleep alone in the basement.”

He opened his mouth, but before he could reply, she said, “And can you tease me a little bit or something? Like call me a wuss for needing to be held or something. I just don’t want anything else serious tonight.”

Yeah, it didn’t get a lot more serious than sex trafficking. He wanted to tell her that he was proud of her. He wanted to point out that she’d helped save lives tonight. He wanted to ask about what all had gone down, honestly. But that wasn’t what she needed from him.

So he ran his hand across her lower back and said, “Damn, I really am amazing. I’m going to sleep all night with a half-naked woman who I want more than anything, and all I’m going to do is hold her.”

Okay that wasn’t the best teasing he’d ever done, but hopefully it would work.

She wiggled a little. “Do you want me to put a shirt on?”

“I most definitely do not want you to put a shirt on.”

She turned again, so her butt was against his cock. “So you’ll be okay?”

In spite of the position, and how much his cock liked it, Derek could hear the smile in her voice, and he felt a knot of tension ease in his shoulders. “Yeah. But I’ll probably deserve a reward in the morning.”

“Do you like chocolate chips?” she asked.

“I think I could come up with a few ways to incorporate chocolate chips, yes.” He nuzzled her hair.

“Well, it’s not hard,” she said. “You just mix them into the pancake batter.”

“Ah, chocolate chip pancakes,” he said. “That’s my reward?”

“Yes.”

He was pretty sure he could change her mind about that.

“After we have sex in your shower.”

That was more like it. “Fair warning, I have a loofah and I’m not afraid to use it.”

She wiggled again, and he heard a soft giggle. He wasn’t sure he’d ever felt better.

“’Night, Ry,” he said, kissing the top of her head.

She gave another of those soft, happy sighs. “’Night, Derek.”

He waited a few seconds, then he said softly, “And if you wake me up before eight a.m. tomorrow, I will spank your ass.”

His hand was resting on her stomach, and he felt the little hitch in her breathing.

“Not sure that’s the deterrent that you think it is,” she replied.

He grinned. “Okay, how about this…I’ll spank you for letting me sleep past nine.”

She covered his hand with hers. “Deal.”