Sienna unlocked the door to her house in silence. She felt Ryan standing close behind her as they stepped into the darkened living room. The sun would be coming up soon, but Sienna didn’t think sleep would come. She placed the keys on the side table and dropped her purse to the floor.
“Where’s Hooch?” she asked quietly and turned to where Ryan was watching her.
“With your parents. I’ll pick him up tomorrow,” Ryan told her. He reached out for her. His warm hands closed around her upper arms, and he pulled her forward.
“Are you leaving tomorrow? For your new job?” Sienna asked against the tight muscles of his chest.
“I have to go to D.C. first,” Ryan answered quietly.
“So, tonight is our last night before you take over the FBI office? You’ll be a wonderful boss, Ryan.” Sienna fought the tears in her eyes and hated the way her throat felt as if it were swelling shut with emotion.
Ryan didn’t answer. Instead he bent his head and captured her lips in his. His hands came to cup her face, and Sienna rested her head in his hands. She’d place her whole heart in his hands if he’d let her. If tonight was the last night, then it was going to be one to remember.
She ran her hands down his T-shirt and pulled it from his pants. She bunched it up in her hands and at the last second pulled it from his body, breaking their kiss. Sienna moved her lips to trace the line of Ryan’s jaw and pushed him back against the door. She ran her hands over the ridges of his abdomen and let her lips follow before falling to her knees in front of him.
“Sienna,” Ryan groaned as she pushed down his pants and bent forward. Her named sounded pained, revered, mourned, and loved all at the same time.
Ryan closed his eyes and let the pleasure heal him as his fingers tangled with Sienna’s hair. He needed her love. And tonight he was going to show her that. He didn’t have fancy words to tell her, sonnets to recite, or feelings to share. He wasn’t that kind of guy, but he knew how to show her he loved her. He was going to show her she had his whole heart and always would.
With all the strength he had, he pulled away from Sienna and swept her into his arms. The bedroom had never seemed so far away as he carried her in his arms. Setting her onto her feet he kissed her eyelids, the tip of her nose, and down her neck, while slowly unzipping her dress. He kissed her shoulder, her collarbone, and then slowly went down to his knees in front of her, kissing her along the way. It was his time to worship her. He guided her to sit on the edge of the bed before lifting her leg and kissing the back of her knee. In slow, savoring kisses, he worked his way up her leg to her center. After tonight, Sienna should never doubt what she meant to him.
Sienna grasped the sheets as the world exploded around her. And when Ryan moved up her body, she wrapped her legs tightly around his waist and gasped as he filled her. She was complete. But it was only for tonight. Tonight she would be his and he would be hers. Then it would be gone. As he moved inside her, she forgot to mourn what might have been. Instead, she lost herself in the now—in Ryan and in their love.
* * *
The sun was high in the sky by the time Ryan quietly shut the door to Sienna’s house. She was still sleeping, and he knew he was taking the coward’s way out by leaving without saying goodbye. He just didn’t have the answers to the questions she would ask. The problem was, it wasn’t just one night he had to think about. It was a lifetime of bad timing, friendship, and wanting.
“You ready for this?” Nash asked from the other side of the fence where he sat atop a large chestnut horse.
Ryan climbed the four boards of the black fence and dropped onto Dani and Mo’s property. Nash handed him the reins to the big black horse with a white diamond on its nose.
“As ready as I’ll ever be. It’s not everyday we get debriefed by the FBI director,” Ryan said as he mounted his horse. “Thanks for meeting me here.”
“I thought you all would be tired this morning. I didn’t want the ATV to wake up Sienna,” Nash explained. “And I wanted to give you this.”
Nash held out a flash drive and Ryan took it. “What is it?”
Nash just smiled. “You forgot about the camera in the living room.”
Ryan shot a murderous glance to Nash. “Did you watch this?”
Nash shook his head. “Nah! I saw you two enter the house and kiss. That's when I turned off my tablet. This is the only copy of the surveillance from Sienna’s house. I thought you might want it.”
“Thank you,” Ryan said as he pocketed the flash drive and pushed his horse into a gallop. “What’s going on at the main house?”
“Ahmed had to fly Kale in overnight,” Nash said of Ahmed’s son who was away at MIT.
“Cade couldn’t hack Bahir’s system?” Ryan asked, astounded.
“It’s a young person’s game now. The best hackers all over the world are teenagers. Bahir had a system on his computer that Cade had never seen before. Kale broke it in twenty-four minutes. Annie laughed, Cade shook his head, and Ahmed beamed with pride. It let him forget about the car . . . for a moment.”
“What did they find out?”
“They forwarded it all to the director. We’ll talk about it in D.C. I also had them print it out so we could look it over on the plane. But the short version is, we found the target and the area is being swept for explosives as we speak. The information on the computer, along with the information we got from Bahir and his cohorts, has led to the FBI rounding up twenty-seven people so far. That includes eight FBI agents all across the country who were on Bahir’s payroll. We also found the money. All of it. It should be able to be returned to the investors eventually. We’re thinking Bahir should announce his retirement in an email to investors and have someone undercover from the government step in as the new head of the company and funnel it back. We’ll then have him close the doors to the company. That way, no one will connect Bahir’s investments to terrorism and it ties in the story of Bahir retiring to the lap of luxury.”
“Good plan,” Ryan told Nash. They slowed the horses to a walk. Two farm workers ran forward to take the horses from them, and they met the rest of the group.
Bridget stood next to Ahmed and their son. Kale already towered over his parents and was still growing. Annie and Cade stood next to them with the computer and multiple large files in their hands. Behind them stood Ryan's father, Cole. Bridget elbowed Ahmed, who looked pained.
“I’m really sorry about the car, Ahmed,” Ryan said for the hundredth time.
Ahmed’s lips pursed, but then he took a deep breath. “I’ll let you live this time. Bridget said I could get the new 650.” He smiled then and Ryan felt the first tinge of relief. Now he just had to have a little chat with the FBI director.
“The plane is ready for you. First stop D.C. After your debriefing, Kale will snag a flight back to MIT while you all come home . . . or some of you will. The director said you could take their plane back to L.A.,” Ahmed explained to Ryan.
“Let’s not keep the director waiting,” Ryan said with a sense of foreboding. The sooner he could close the book on this chapter of his life, the better.
* * *
Sienna waved at Sydney and walked into the Blossom Café that evening. Her best friend had been out of town during this mess. As soon as she had landed in Lexington, she had called Sienna to set up dinner. It had been her phone call that had woken Sienna to find Ryan gone. A note on his pillow that read Don’t forget that I love you was all he left behind.
He hadn’t even picked up Hooch for her like he’d promised. Sienna hadn’t wanted to face her parents yet, so she told them that she’d pick the slobbery beast up tomorrow. As if by tomorrow she would forget what she had lost.
“I go out of town for a few days and miss the most exciting thing to ever have happened in Keeneston!” Sydney gasped as she wrapped Sienna up in a tight hug. “What is it? What’s the matter?”
Sienna sat in the booth and looked at the ceiling for a moment to gain her composure. “He’s gone.”
“I know. Mom and Dad told me all about it. Someone gave my mom a gun? What is that about?” Sydney joked.
Sienna shook her head. “No, not Bahir. Ryan. He left this morning for L.A. The FBI director personally asked him to become the Special Agent in Charge of the L.A. office. It’s a huge promotion; it’s one of the biggest offices in the United States and a clear chance to become the FBI director later.”
Sydney sat stunned as Sienna took a big gulp. She was not going to cry.
“Hey, girls. What I can get you tonight?” Zinnia asked, stopping next to the booth with her pad in hand.
“Better make it a Rose Sisters Special Iced Tea,” Sydney told her. “And chocolate. Whatever you have that’s mostly chocolate.”
“You got it. I heard about Ryan leaving this morning. John told us all about the job offer in L.A. and how he’s meeting with the director today. I’m sorry. I really thought you two were the perfect couple. I even placed $20 on it with Poppy.” Zinnia gave her a sad smile and hurried off to make their order and, Sienna was sure, to spread the word that she was broken-hearted.
“Now, tell me everything. And I mean everything. Like why you were still asleep when I called you this afternoon.” Sydney winked and Sienna laughed. She was strong. She didn’t need a man to fulfill her life, but it would have been nice to have Ryan to share it with her.
* * *
Ryan sat back on the plane and closed his eyes. The president and the director had grilled him and Nash for hours. Every bit of evidence was combed over and scrutinized. Kale presented his findings. For a moment, Ryan thought he’d end up in jail for laughing at the FBI director’s initial lack of faith in Kale’s ability, but Kale was now on his way back to college with a job offer in hand.
There was one thing Ryan needed to do before he could move on and start over. And it would be something that made facing the president seem easy. But he could do it, he told himself. He had taken down a major player in the international terrorism scene. He shouldn’t be nervous about the future.
Ryan let out a deep breath. He just needed to accept it. It had to be done.
“We’re preparing to land,” the captain said over the intercom as the plane descended.
In short order, Ryan was off the plane and in a borrowed vehicle. It had been a long day and an even longer night. The moon was high and cast a yellow glow on the road as he drove. He practiced the speech he was going to have to make.
By the time he arrived, the sun was just starting to crack over the horizon. He felt the new warmth on his face as he jumped out of his car and looked at the place that would be the first step to the rest of his life. Ryan took a deep breath. Here went nothing.
Ryan knocked on the door and waited. He looked into the security camera mounted overhead and gave it a nod. He heard movement inside and then the door opened.
“What are you doing here so early?”
“I’ve come to ask permission to marry your daughter, Mr. Ashton.”