Sadie
I AWOKE THE next morning sprawled across Ryder’s body. Smiling, I kissed his chest and gave him a gentle squeeze.
“Mornin’, baby.” His voice was smoky and low and I pressed my lips into a thin line, wishing he was naked... once again fighting the strong desire to lick him.
Yes, it was a really good thing I wasn’t a nun anymore.
“Hi.” I shifted so I could meet his eyes. “You stayed.”
He gave me a sleepy smile. “Yeah, baby, I couldn’t leave.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever slept so well.”
“Same.” He rolled me over so he could bury his face in my neck and kiss me in the sensitive spot behind my ear.
“Mmmm,” I murmured. “I like that.”
He chuckled. “I know.”
“How about I get up and make breakfast?” I snuggled closer. “You wake the girls.”
“Deal.”
He moved to leave the bed, but I held him tighter. “In a minute.”
“Okay, baby.” His hand snaked around me again and pulled me closer.
Ryder’s phone rang, ending our cuddlefest, so we used the interruption to get up and face the day. I headed to the bathroom and then started breakfast.
“Hi, Sadie.”
I looked up from the griddle and smiled at Molly. “Hey, sweetie. How’d you sleep?”
“Good.” Her eyes widened. “Are you making pancakes?”
“I am. Do you like pancakes?”
She clapped as her head bobbed up and down. “I love pancakes.”
“So do I,” I confessed.
Scottie arrived a few minutes later and parked herself on a stool at the island while I slid plates with eggs, bacon, and pancakes toward them. “Where’s your brother?”
“I think he’s on the phone,” Scottie said, and grabbed her fork.
I turned off the griddle and went in search of him. I found him sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands.
“Ryder? Are you okay?”
He raised his head, his expression tortured.
“Honey? What’s wrong?”
“A girl was found raped and strangled behind the Frog.”
I gasped and knelt in front of him, taking his hands. “When?”
“About two hours ago.”
“Wow,” I whispered. “Who called you?”
“Cameron. He’s there.”
“Do you have to go?”
“No. I wouldn’t leave you here alone in any case, but I’ve been ordered to stay put. Reese is on his way. Once he gets more information, he’ll swing by.”
I squeezed his hands. “I’m so sorry, honey.”
“She was twenty-one, Sadie. Just turned,” he rasped. “Her birthday was yesterday, so they think she was celebrating at the club. Cameron’s tracking down her family now.”
“Does anyone know her?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know anything other than her age. They’re keeping everything confidential until they can find her family.”
“Baby, I’m so sorry.” I scooted forward so I could wrap my arms around him.
Ryder leaned into me, pulling me closer. “I couldn’t deal with any of this without you, Sadie.”
“I’m here, honey.” I leaned back so I could give him a gentle smile. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He slid his hands to my neck and stroked me under my jaw. “Thanks, baby.”
“Are you hungry?”
“Yeah.”
After he kissed me again, we headed back to the kitchen. Ryder pulled his sister close and hugged her.
“Hey, Ride.”
“Hey, sissy. How’d you sleep?”
“Good.” She tried to pull away but I watched him hold her tighter. “Ride? You okay?”
“Yeah, baby girl.”
“Can I have my head back, then?”
Ryder loosened his grip but kissed her on the head and asked, “You know I love you, right?”
“Yes,” she said, her expression growing concerned. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothin’,” he said. “Just want to make sure I say it more often.”
Scottie gave me a “what’s going on?” look and I nodded toward Molly. I was glad Scottie was a smart girl. She got that we’d tell her what we could later when Molly was gone.
“Do you want pancakes, honey?”
“That’d be great,” Ryder said. After greeting Molly, he joined me in the kitchen to make coffee.
I turned the griddle back on and went about making him breakfast.
* * *
Six hours later, Reese arrived, and we sat down and chatted idly for the benefit of Molly, who Ryder had decided would be staying until it was safe. Since it was a holiday weekend, we’d told the girls they could watch a movie and sleep downstairs. Molly was beside herself with excitement and I could have kissed Scottie as she played along so that Ryder, Reese, and I could talk alone.
“Okay, Moll, what are we watching first?” Scottie asked.
“Um, Inside Out?” Molly asked hopefully.
“Sure, I’d love to watch that one.” Scottie rolled her eyes at me and Ryder. “Again.”
“I’ll help you down, baby girl,” Ryder said, and picked Scottie up, heading downstairs.
I was left alone with Reese and we were still on tentative ground. “Can I get you a beer?”
“Beer’d be great, Sadie, thanks.” I headed to the kitchen; Reese followed and sat at the island. “We good?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, all innocent-like.
He smiled, taking the beer from me and twisting off the top. “Babe.”
“What?”
“Sadie, I know you were pissed at me. You don’t seem pissed anymore, so I’m checkin’ to make sure we’re good.” He took a swig of his beer.
I sighed. “I’m sorry, Reese.”
“Don’t gotta apologize, Sadie. Just tell me it’s good now and we’ll move on.”
I smiled. “It’s good now.”
He tipped his beer toward me in a toasting gesture. “Good.”
“But I’m still sorry.”
“For what?”
“Not talking to you directly,” I said. “I kind of forgot my own rule.”
“Babe, I’m not a big talker, so I appreciate you took your issue to Ryder.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Are we becoming friends?” I asked.
“Don’t have friends.”
I giggled. “Well, that’s a lie.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” I retorted. “You’ve got me.”
He grinned as he took another sip of his beer. “Works for me.”
Ryder returned, glanced my way, and raised an eyebrow. I smiled and fetched another beer for him, raising my head for a kiss when he wrapped an arm around me.
“Thanks, baby,” Ryder said.
“You’re welcome.”
Reese slid his iPad toward Ryder. “We’ve got a problem.”
“Bigger than a dead girl dumped behind the bar?” Ryder challenged, and unlocked the screen. “Shit.”
“Yep.” Reese sipped his beer again. “Way bigger problem.”
“What?” I asked.
“The dead girl is Taylor Watkins.”
I gasped. “Scottie’s best friend, Taylor Watkins?”
“One and the same. The also not twenty-one Taylor Watkins,” he said.
I leaned forward and looked at the driver’s license. “She had a fake ID?”
“Yep,” Reese said.
“Who was workin’ the door?” Ryder asked.
“Who do you think?”
“Bennie.”
Reese nodded. “Yep.”
“Would he have known?” I asked. “That she wasn’t twenty-one? I mean, I wouldn’t be able to spot a fake... not one as good as that one.” I pointed to the screen.
“In our business, we know what to look for, but even if he didn’t, he knew her.”
“Wow,” I whispered. “So he might have had something to do with it?”
Ryder pulled me against him and kissed my temple. “Yeah, honey. It’s looking more and more like it.”
“That poor girl.” I forced back tears. “Her parents must be devastated.”
“I’m gonna wait to tell Scottie,” he said.
“You don’t think she’ll see it on the news?” I challenged.
“She’s got a lotta shit on her plate, Sadie. I don’t want to add to it.”
“I get it, but wouldn’t it be better coming from you?” I squeezed his arm. “Us?”
“Sadie’s got a point, Ride,” Reese said.
“I’m not talking to her with Molly here,” Ryder said. “And I want to talk to Cameron first so I can get more information.”
I frowned, but didn’t comment. Scottie was his sister and, although I might feel like he was making a bad call, it wasn’t my call to make.
“What if Cam doesn’t call today?” Reese asked.
“Then I’ll deal.”
Reese shrugged. “Your funeral.”
“Are you staying for dinner, Reese?” I asked in an attempt to diffuse the tension.
“What are you cooking?”
I slid out from Ryder’s hold and headed to the refrigerator. “Beef stroganoff.”
“Yeah?”
I smiled. “Yeah.”
“Then, yeah, I’m stayin’.”
Ryder chuckled. “Careful, baby, you feed a stray dog, they keep comin’ back.”
“Good thing you picked up enough to feed him, then.” I pulled strip steak and the rest of the ingredients from the fridge.
“Ryder!” Scottie screamed up the stairs, and then the smack of her casted foot clunked on the carpeted stairs.
Ryder rushed for the stairs. “You okay?”
“Taylor’s on the news.”
“Media didn’t waste any time,” Reese muttered.
I noticed he continued to sip his beer rather than react. I intercepted Molly as she followed Scarlett up the stairs. “Why don’t you take Scottie into your office, honey? Molly can help me with dinner.”
“I can?” Molly asked.
“Do you mind?”
“No!” she said, excitedly. “I’ve never done that before.”
I smiled. “Well, get ready to learn how to make my famous beef stroganoff.”
Molly grinned and followed me while Scottie went with Ryder. Reese stayed where he was, so I slid a chopping board and knife toward him. “Wash your hands and chop some mushrooms, would you?”
“I have to work for my supper, huh?”
“Darn tootin’,” I said.
Molly giggled. “You talk funny, Sadie.”
“You think so?” I asked as we washed our hands.
“I don’t mind,” she said. “You’re always so nice. So is Mother.”
“I’m glad to hear it, sweetie. Life’s too short not to be nice,” I declared.
She smiled. “That’s what Mother says.”
“You want to know a secret?” I asked.
Her head bobbed up and down.
“That’s who I learned it from.”
“I like her a lot.”
I stroked her hair. “I do too, sweetie.”
As we prepared dinner, Reese said virtually nothing, but he did a remarkable job on the mushrooms. I had just dumped the noodles in the colander to strain when Ryder walked back into the great room. “Everything okay?” I asked.
“Yeah. Scottie’s taking a few.” He kissed my cheek as he passed and opened the fridge for a beer. “What can I do?”
“If you and Reese could set the table, that would be great,” I said.
I bit back a giggle as Reese grumbled about having to “drag his ass off a comfy stool to do domestic shit,” while Molly and I put the finishing touches on dinner.
“I’ll get Scottie,” I offered after I set the stroganoff on the table.
“Okay, baby,” Ryder said.
I made my way to Scottie’s room and knocked on the door. “Come in.”
“Hey, sweetie.” I pushed the door open. She was lying on her back staring at the ceiling, her unbroken leg bended at the knee. “Dinner’s ready.”
She rolled her head to look at me and sighed. “I’m not really hungry.”
“I know, honey, but you need to take some meds and you’ll get sick if you don’t eat.”
Scottie sat up and nodded.
“Are you okay?” I asked. “About Taylor. I mean, I know you can’t be okay okay, but are you okay?”
“I don’t know what I am,” she admitted with a grimace. “Ride said Tay had a fake ID. She didn’t when she was with Dewy, so that was new to me.”
“I can’t even imagine where you’d get one.”
“You’d be surprised how easy it is.”
“Really?”
Scottie nodded as she grabbed her crutches.
“Did you tell Ryder?” I asked.
She smiled. “He knows, Sadie. Believe me. But, yes, I told him what I knew.”
“It sounds like she got herself into a bad situation and couldn’t get out.”
“That’s one way of putting it,” Scottie agreed. “I know I did some pretty stupid things, but Tay was reckless.”
“How so?”
“She was promiscuous. And I totally don’t say that to slut-shame her, but she wanted to hurt her parents, so she slept with a lot of different guys.”
“What about church?” I asked.
“Where do you think she met the guys?”
I frowned and shook my head. “Well, that’s disappointing.”
“Yep.”
We arrived at the table and Ryder took Scottie’s crutches and set them aside so she could sit down. I was preoccupied while we ate, but everyone left me alone with my thoughts, which I wasn’t sure was a good thing.
A few hours later, we were snuggled up on the sofa in the great room watching some football game Ryder had recorded earlier. I’d just gotten off the phone with my aunt and all was well at the abbey. Reese had left over an hour before, and Scottie and Molly were in bed.
“You’re quiet, baby. You okay?” Ryder asked.
“I’m a little overwhelmed,” I admitted.
“How come?”
“I’m just surprised that Taylor would go to church and then do something like get a fake ID.”
“People live all kinds of lives while going to church, Sadie,” he said, giving me a gentle squeeze.
“I get that. I’m not quite that naive, but having sex and getting a fake ID? That just seems so... I don’t know, silly. I get that everyone is hypocritical on some level, but why go to church if it’s not what you believe?”
“Don’t Catholics just go to confession and have it all forgiven?”
“I suppose some do,” I conceded. “But I’d hope that faith would be worth more than that.”
“I don’t really know why people do what they do, but the more I find out about Taylor, the more I see how screwed up her home life was.”
“That’s so sad.” I sighed and cuddled closer. “Especially because they were so unkind to Scottie.”
“No shit.”
“It kind of makes me mad.”
He tapped my bottom. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
He chuckled. “Me too, baby.”
“But then I think about her family and I’m still sad for them.” I frowned. “We got Scottie back, you know?”
“I know.”
“But they made Scottie out to be something she’s not and she still tried to protect Taylor.”
Ryder nodded, saying nothing.
“Her depth of character’s pretty incredible, honey.”
“She’s a good girl,” Ryder agreed.
“I think she got that from you.”
“What?”
“Her character.” I slid my hand to his neck. “You taught her that.”
He leaned into my touch. “That’s all her, baby.”
I shook my head. “No. It’s not. I love you, Ryder Carsen.”
“Love you too, Sadie Ross.”
He kissed me and pulled me onto his lap. I couldn’t get close enough and found myself whimpering in frustration.
“Baby, don’t do that.”
I leaned back and frowned. “What?”
“Make those noises,” he said. “I’m hangin’ by a thread here...”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered and buried my face in his neck. “This is really hard.”
“Literally,” he breathed out, holding me closer.
I giggled. “I’m impressed by your restraint, honey.”
“That’s what you’re callin’ it?”
“What do you call it?” I asked.
“Baseball stats.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I run baseball stats through my head... it helps.”
I leaned back. “While you’re kissing me?”
He shook his head. “After.”
“Oh, okay then.”
He chuckled. “That works for you?”
“Well, it’s better than not doing this.”
“This is true.” Ryder grinned. “But I’m warnin’ you, we’re not havin’ a long engagement.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re funny.”
“You don’t think I’m serious?”
“Ryder, we haven’t known each other very long.”
“Doesn’t mean I’m not gonna marry you.” He slid his hand through my hair. “I’m gonna make the proposal romantic, baby, don’t worry about it.”
“I’m not worried.”
“It’s good to know you’ll say yes.”
“Is that what you heard?” I challenged.
“I speak Sadie.”
“That’s a neat trick. I don’t even speak Sadie.”
Ryder laughed. “Stick with me, kid. I’ll translate the world for you.”
“Just figure me out and I’ll be happy.”
“You got it, baby.” He pulled me closer and kissed me again. “You gonna sleep with me tonight?”
“In your bed, you mean?”
“Yeah.” He patted my bottom. “’Course, you wanna do anything else, I’m open.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
I giggled. “You don’t like competition for your bossiness, huh?”
“Smartass.”
“At your service,” I retorted, then promptly yawned. “Sorry.”
He chuckled and pulled me off the sofa. “Come on, baby, let’s turn in.”
“I don’t think I should sleep with you.”
“No?”
“I really want to be a good example for Scottie and Molly...” I shook my head. “Plus I think I’m way too attracted to you for me to be able to keep my hands off you.”
“You think you are?” he challenged with a sexy grin.
“Stop it.”
“Stop what, baby?” he asked innocently, sliding his hand to my waist.
“Looking at me like that.” I shivered as his thumb stroked the skin at the top of my yoga pants. “And doing that thing with your thumb.” I pressed my index finger into his chest. “You know it drives me nuts.”
“Baby, what I can do with my thumb—”
“Stop.” I laid my fingers over his lips as a shiver shot through me. He grinned and nibbled at my fingertips. “Don’t.”
Ryder chuckled. “Okay, baby, no more torture. We’ll revisit that on our wedding night.”
I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him. “You’re kind of a butt.”
“Yeah, baby, I know.” He pulled me closer. “I love you.”
“Love you too, honey.”
“Go to bed.” He patted my bottom. “I’ll go take a cold shower.”
“You naked two doors down doesn’t really help,” I grumbled, and headed for my room. I heard his quiet laugh as I walked away.