Authors: Anne Rainey
He rolled his eyes and left the car. By the time Victoria opened her front door, he’d sent up a silent prayer that she’d at least let him explain before she clobbered him.
“I don’t want to talk to you,” she muttered, her arms crossed and fire shooting from her eyes. “And I sure as crap don’t want to talk to
her
.” She glared at Cassie, clearly willing her to disappear.
Ah hell, even her voice sounded raw. “Five minutes, that’s all I ask.”
“Fine, five minutes.” She sighed and pushed open the screen door, stepping back a few paces to allow him and Cassie to enter. Her cheeks were blotchy and her eyes were red. She looked as bad as he felt.
“I promise it’s not as bad as you’re imagining,” he said, hoping to get through to her.
“We can explain,” Cassie said, wringing her hands.
Rider turned to Cassie. “Can you wait here and give us a minute?”
She forced a smile. “Of course.”
On the other hand, Victoria didn’t say a word, just stared at him, her expression cold and distant and nothing like the loving woman he’d gotten to know.
When she moved to sit on the couch, her body cocooned in a heavy brown blanket, Rider took a chance and sat next to her. Christ, he wished like hell he could wrap his arms around her and pull her against him, but she didn’t want anything to do with him. She was pulling away, physically
and
emotionally.
“Won’t you at least look at me?” When she sat still and silent, he went on. “Shutting me out won’t make this go away.”
“Why are you even here, Rider?” She threw her arms in the air. “What’s the point?”
Every muscle in his body went rigid at the icy bitterness in her voice. “What’s the point?” he repeated, anger getting the better of him.
“We both had fun. The end. There is no need to explain anything.”
“The hell there isn’t,” he bit out. “I care about you, and I’m not going to let you go without a fight.”
“Look at me.” She gestured to the large blanket covering her, and her streaked makeup. “This is the real me. No sexy clothes, no high heels. Just sweats and oversize T-shirts. Still think you care about me?”
He saw red. “I care about
you
, Vic, not all the trappings. I told you that before.”
“Whatever,” she groused. “I won’t debate this with you. I’ve got a full day tomorrow, and I need some sleep, so start talking.”
He’d never heard Victoria sound so remote. It was as if she was a completely different person. He was a desperate man, though, drowning in his own mess.
Rider took hold of her chin and forced her to look at him. “You aren’t going to bed, and you sure as hell aren’t shutting me out anymore. You’re going to let me explain.”
To his shock and delight, an angry gleam lit Victoria’s eyes. He saw it as a good sign, because she was at least feeling
something
. “So talk,” she urged.
“I—”
Victoria slapped a hand over her mouth and stood abruptly, then raced from the room. He heard a door slam and wondered if he should go after her. “Fuck,” he muttered.
“God, Rider,” Cassie said as she strode toward the chair adjacent to him. “I’m so sorry about all this.”
The sound of Cassie’s voice startled him. He’d all but forgotten about her. “I know, but I’m going to fix it.” He had to, because the alternative wasn’t an option.
Victoria tucked her hair behind her ears and turned the bathroom faucet on. She needed to clear her mind. Losing it wasn’t going to help a damn thing. She cupped her hands and splashed icy-cold water over her face until the need to throw up subsided. She didn’t want to think anymore, didn’t want to hurt. Didn’t want to admit that Rider was in love with another woman. She didn’t want to think that he’d used her. Her brain pulled at her agony a little more and pushed another thought to the front of her mind. Had they laughed at her? No, she refused to believe it. Rider wasn’t that cruel. She knew that.
Victoria turned the water off and grabbed a towel to dry her face. She looked at herself in the mirror and wondered what Rider saw in her, what made him so anxious to repair their budding relationship. She wasn’t anything truly remarkable, and she was too ordinarily built to hold a man’s attention for more than a few passing minutes, and yet Rider seemed enthralled with her.
Somewhere deep in her heart, Victoria knew he would never bring her pain. His words came straight from his heart, and he had said he cared for her. And God help her, but she wanted to believe that. If nothing else, she did trust him, and what did that say about her state of mind exactly? She trusted a man who had a fiancée hidden away? Yeah, right, she really had lost it. She’d gotten too involved with Rider. And if he had a fiancée, what did that say for Reena? She’d fixed them up, after all. Was she in the dark about Cassie too?
Victoria dried her face on the soft fluffy black towel hanging on the hook next to the tub, giving in to the luxurious feel of it against her skin. She sighed and replaced it.
When she went back out to the living room, Rider stood. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”
Her eyes shot darts of anger toward him, her voice hoarse from crying nonstop. “It will never be all right again, Rider. Not ever again.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I know that doesn’t take away your pain, but I never meant this for you.”
Somewhere in Victoria’s haze of pain, she saw the honest torment in his sad eyes. Yet, as repentant as he was, it would never turn back the clock, never undo the wrong he’d done to her. But the truth had smacked her in the face when she had felt the first stress-filled rumble in her stomach. She was and would always be in love with Rider. How could she ever look at another man? When her stomach churned again, Victoria was thrown back in time to another stomach-clenching episode. She’d been six, and her mother had said she’d had some bad chicken at a restaurant they’d gone to for dinner that day. That was what had caused the awful pain in her stomach.
She could still hear her mother’s voice, feel her mother’s soft touch as she stroked Victoria’s sweat-soaked brow, telling her all would be fine again in the morning. At the time, she was sure she was going to die from the pain of it, but then the night wore on, and the next thing she remembered was waking up on the couch with her head resting on her mother’s warm lap. Her first thought was that her mother had been right. All was fine again.
Things had turned out okay then; things would turn out okay this time as well. She only needed patience. Victoria raised her head high and crossed the room. After taking the seat she’d so hastily vacated moments ago, Victoria glanced over to see Rider and Cassie worriedly looking on. Neither said a word, but he didn’t have to speak for her to know that he was internally beating himself up. “Okay, I’m listening.”
Rider took her hand in his and said, “Cassie and I aren’t in love. There is no relationship. We’re just friends. That’s all we’ve ever been.”
“Fiancée, Rider. I heard her plain as day.”
His hands slid from her shoulders to her upper arms. A shiver of need ran through her at the delicate touch. He pulled her closer and whispered, “There’s an explanation, I swear.”
She whispered right back, “What if I don’t want to hear your explanation?”
“I can guarantee it’ll be worth your time to hear what I have to say.”
It was that chocolate-laced tongue of his that did her in, sending shivers down her spine, heat pooling between her thighs. “Fine, whatever floats your boat.”
“First, I’m not a lowlife cheat,” he replied in a firm voice.
Her chin jutted. “I heard her with my own ears, Rider. Fiancée, that’s the word she used to describe your relationship.”
“Cassie is—”
“I’m a lesbian,” Cassie interrupted.
Lesbian? Victoria couldn’t have heard the woman right. Victoria’s gaze narrowed on her. “Say what?”
“I’m a lesbian,” Cassie said again. “But I’m not out of the closet. Rider’s been helping me keep up the appearance that I’m hetero.” Her gaze landed on him, and she smiled. “He’s been really great about it, and I don’t deserve him as a friend.”
Rider chimed in. “Cassie and I met a couple of years ago at a party. We started talking and ended up pretty good friends. When she told me about her secret alternative lifestyle and that her parents were constantly setting her up with prospective husbands, we sort of hatched a plan that would get them off her back. I would pretend to be her fiancé, and Cassie would finally get to live in peace.” He sighed. “Cassie’s parents are very rigid, and extremely wealthy. If they knew the truth, they’d disown her. Recently, they started pushing her to set a date for our fake wedding. She panicked and flew out here to me. She was hoping we could figure something out together.”
“But what about Reena? Does she know about all this?”
Please tell me she didn’t. That would hurt too much.
“No. I didn’t tell my family. It wasn’t a real engagement, so I figured the less they knew, the better.” He glared at Cassie. “Her springing this visit on me threw a wrench in that scenario for damn sure.”
“I think we can all agree that I’m an idiot,” Cassie muttered, sounding miserable. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am. For everything.”
Victoria’s anger began to disappear as she watched Cassie attempt to hold back tears. “You aren’t an idiot,” Victoria said, her voice softening, “but you do have horrible timing.”
Cassie’s lower lip quivered. “Rider was right, you really are amazing.” She sank against the back of the chair. “T-thank you.”
“Sweetheart,” Rider murmured to Victoria, “you are the only woman taking up residence in my heart. I swear it. He took her hand and brought it to his mouth. He kissed her palm, wishing he could erase the sadness from her eyes. “Please forgive me for not explaining all this sooner.”
He felt a shudder run through Victoria as his lips smoothed over her delicate knuckles. She gazed up at him with an intimate tenderness meant for him alone. “I do forgive you. What I feel for you is so much more than anything I’ve known, and it scared me to think it meant nothing to you.”
“Thank God, because I’ve set things in motion with the business. I’m going to get an apartment and set up permanent digs here.”
Her eyes shot wide. “Are you serious?”
He nodded. “Yes. It’ll mean a lot of trips back and forth, especially at first, but eventually things will settle down. It’s something I’ve thought about for a while now. I’ve missed home.”
She narrowed her eyes. “So, you aren’t just doing this for me? You really want to move back to Summit Green?”
“Damn straight.” He felt the weight of the world lifting now that Victoria was back in his arms. “You might’ve given me the final push I needed, but this decision was a long time coming.” He winked. “New York is great and all, but I’m partial to small-town life…and small-town girls.”
Victoria wrapped her arms around his neck. “I can’t believe this is real. I swear if I’m dreaming, I don’t want to wake up.”
“It’s real, Vic. Just like this is real…” He grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her. She opened up to him in every way. Soon they’d forgotten they had an audience.
“Uh, does this mean I’m no longer needed?”
Rider let his lips drift away from Victoria’s and glanced over at Cassie. “No offense, but go away, will ya?” He realized she had no car and offered, “You can take my car.” He handed over the keys and turned his attention back to Victoria. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Cassie stood and headed toward the door with a weepy smile. “I just love happy endings.”
Within seconds, they were alone and naked. When Rider swung her into his arms and carried her to her bedroom, Victoria said, “I think I’m falling in love with you.”
He stopped dead in his tracks and stared down at her. “You think?”
She kissed his chest. “I’m eighty percent sure.” As a thought occurred, her brows scrunched up. “You have a plan to get me to one hundred percent?”
He began walking again. “Damn straight I do,” he whispered. “I’m an all-or-nothing kind of guy.”
Her insides quivered. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
“Good. Now, enough talk, I’ve got a woman to convince.”
And without a second thought, Victoria surrendered.
About the Author
Anne grew up in a small town in central Ohio the only girl with three rowdy, older brothers. When she wasn't playing tackle football with them she could be found tucked away in her mother's book room getting lost in mysterious worlds created by authors such as Martha Grimes and Andrew M. Greeley. She's had a variety of odd jobs including Chiropractic Assistant, Frame Stylist, Restaurant Hostess, and Nail Technician.
Anne now lives with her fabulous husband, two gorgeous teenage daughters, two ornery dogs, three snooty cats, a tree frog named Gus, and a snake named Salizar. When Anne's not dressing, feeding, cleaning or spending time with them, she can be found at the computer writing stories hot enough to make your toes curl!
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