Sunset Thunder (13 page)

“I’m sure sorry isn’t exactly what you think of his death.”

Ryder looked at her. “I didn’t have any issues with your father.”

“You are one in a million. He wasn’t a well-liked man.”

“He was still your dad, so you have my condolences.”

“Thank you.”

“So...” He leaned back again. “Where shall we go on our date? The best place in town is owned by the hottest gal I know...”

He glanced at her and winked, referring to the resort...referring to her...and waiting for her thought about his pick-up line.

“Better,” she said, but as much as the tingling pleasure from having Ryder telling her she was the hottest gal he knew, her carefulness regarding inviting other people into her life, reminded her, that might not be accurate. He knew a lot of women and maybe her first intuition of him was right. Violet didn’t want to believe Ryder was the player she’d once not questioned, but Violet was vigilant.

Give me signs that you are the man my heart wants you to be, not the man my brain keeps giving me warnings that you are.

RYDER WATCHED VIOLET leave him again. Not physically, but mentally. All day she’d been readable, relaxed and her laughter had awaken his own. It had been wonderful. But tonight, sitting under the stars, just the two of them, finally alone, she was distant and he had no idea why.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “You’ve disappeared into your own world again.”

Violet smiled at him, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m tired.”

“That’s alright. We can head back, if you want.” He didn’t want to, preferring to remain here with her and wishing it wasn’t growing tense between them. “But first you have to agree to a date with me.”

She didn’t answer right away, and he could tell she was thinking again. What was she thinking about?
Them?
Or what was happening between them? Or was she trying to get out of going on a date with him? Had she said yes to today just for her children?

“I don’t normally...I have never...” Violet sighed. “I am not the woman who has random sex with random men,” she finally said. “Like I did with you. That’s not who I am.”

“I’m not exactly random,” Ryder pointed out, trying to alleviate the guilt he thought she was feeling. “We’ve known each other long before you knew Joel. My parents have been attending the Caliendo galas since before I was born.”

“I knew your parents. You were never present until Joel started coming around.” Violet paused, disappearing into her private world.

When she looked at him, her eyes shot fire of accusation in his direction.

“And you’re right, you aren’t random. You are Joel’s friend, his best friend. His best man.”

Again, Ryder wouldn’t go so far as to consider Joel his best friend.

Violet was a strong woman, an even hard woman, but today he’d seen more. He’d watched the shield of protection around her open up and let him in, just like right now he watched her build it back up. The suspicion and caution rushed into her eyes, but she quickly masked it. A shield to hide her emotions from him. She was good at that.

“Take us back to shore,” she said in a way that told him nothing was conspiring between them.

What happened?

“Violet...”

“No Ryder.” A shocked laugh escaped her chest and it sounded painful. “You’re Joel’s friend. What are we even doing? Is this some distasteful elaborate hoax you and Joel concocted? To what? Make fun of me? Make me look like a fool? It’s a little coincidental he didn’t show up today after forcing me here and all you’ve been trying to do is touch me, kiss me...go on a date with me. Why?”

Because Ryder wanted to touch her, kiss her and he sure as hell wouldn’t have asked to take her out if he didn’t want to. He had been quite content to avoid all dates since Courtney.

Finally working up the courage to ask Violet on a date, just to have her throw it in his face and accusing him of ulterior motives, made him wonder why he’d broken his rule in the first place. It also made him angry.

Violet stood to leave and Ryder rose with her.

“Violet, you came to me in that bathroom and initiated things between us. You locked us in. You walked over to me and
you
kissed
me
.”

Damned if she was going to turn this around on him. He would have been none the wiser if she hadn’t instigated their rendezvous.

“Yes, I did. But you’re Ryder Carlex. You do this all the time.”

He did this all the time? Did what? Did she not hear a damn word he’d said to her?

Ryder folded his arms across his chest, growing angrier with her assumptions of him, but listening as she continued. He wasn’t about to interrupt a verbal thunderstorm by this woman.

“I have seen the so-called
dates
you haven’t gone on at every gala in the last two years. The women you claim not to hit on with your corny remarks. I’m not another one of those women. It just makes me wonder why you’re so keen on me.”

Wonder or accuse?
Because it certainly sounded like accusing to him.

“Take us back please.”

Ryder was furious. He might have labeled her as a perfectionist and she may have called him out on it, but damned if Violet hadn’t labeled Ryder too. And he wasn’t about to call her out on it.

He stole the shield she’d let fall during her explosion and held it in front of himself.

“Shouldn’t be longer than fifteen minutes back,” he said, walking past her, prepared to turn this damn boat around and back to shore ASAP.

***

RIDING BACK TO the dock was the longest fifteen minutes of Violet’s life.

Ryder cranked up the speed across the lake that rushed alongside Violet’s mixed feelings. Her body told her one thing, that Ryder wanted more than a fling with her, while her mind told her the opposite, that he was using her.

How could she defy her mind’s warning, putting her back in the vulnerable state she’d been with Joel?

Yes, she had initiated the first run-in with Ryder in a heated moment of...stupidity. The ball was in her court, but now there wouldn’t be another run-in with Ryder Carlex. Ever. Period. 

As Ryder steered the boat into Crystal River, he geared it down. It was a slow, wavy ride back to his dock, where he immediately climbed out to dock and tied the boat down.

Through the darkness she watched his edgy body move. He was mad at her. Or he was acting mad at her because she was spot on about his intentions. Her gut told her she was wrong. The evidence told her she was right.

Violet lifted a sleeping Parker into her arms. He was the younger of the two, and she didn’t want to wake him. He was also the crankier one and, right now, battling her desire to apologize to Ryder, left her with little energy to deal with Parker. She wanted to get them in the car, home and tucked into bed so she could soak in a hot bath and sip on a large glass of chardonnay, on the road to forgetting Ryder.

As Violet touched Sophia, Ryder’s hand found hers. “Don’t wake her. I got her.”

The contact of their hands sent flames through her body that her filter, the common sense that had been vacationing all day, blew out. He was Ryder Carlex.
Ryder Carlex!

Violet looked at his eyes anyway, against her better judgement, against her strict
no
. He was doing what she was trying to do, read what she was really thinking while she tried to read what he was actually thinking.

Why? Did it make a difference? What are you looking for? An answer to why her heart raced so fast when he’s around. Why all day she didn’t feel like she had to wear a cover in front of him. And why his touch ignited a fire in her belly that she knew only his touch could handle.

Violet didn’t get her answers and with the solemn look she gave him, she knew he wouldn’t be getting his either. Because all this was a mistake. 

Violet slid her hand out from under his, feeling lonely the moment she did, and stepped back. 

It has to be this way. He’s Joel’s best friend. 

Ryder picked Sophia up so gently, like a loving father would and Violet’s heart sank. Joel wasn’t that loving father, mainly because the kids hadn’t been part of his plan. Now, Violet stood here with the man who had taught Joel his ways and she was battling emotions, feelings and desires for him.

What was wrong with her? 

After the kids were buckled in the back seat, Ryder opened the driver’s side for her. A gentleman, even after the way she’d treated him.

Why?
Because she was right and he was using her. However her feelings were toward this man or his were toward her, he had gone out of his way to create a day filled with laughter, jokes and smiles for her children. For that, Violet was thankful. 

“Thank you for today. Sophia and Parker had a wonderful time.” The words came out in a quick slew past her lips as she tried to slide into the driver’s seat.

Ryder caught her upper arm and stepped close enough that their bodies touched, an all too familiar way that felt so right.

Violet swallowed past the lump in her throat.
What did he want? Why did his touch ignite her body into a flaming fireball unlike a touch from any other man. Ever.

“I’m not the only one who boarded this boat with judgement,” Ryder said. “At least I can admit that I was wrong.” He let her arm go and stepped back toward the house. 

It didn’t matter what either of them thought about each other. It didn’t matter if she was right or wrong because he was Joel’s friend. Nothing could ever form between them.

***

WATCHING THE LIGHTS on Violet’s Lexus until they disappeared left Ryder disliking the heaviness of his heart. 

Heaviness of his heart? Heaviness of his heart!

That was absurd. He should be thanking Joel for unknowingly sticking a wedge in the center of whatever feelings were brewing between him and the beauty that was Violet, instead of wishing he’d clarified that Joel had nothing to do with any of Ryder’s feelings and actions toward her.

Maybe Courtney had been right about him. After you stripped away Ryder’s money and his good looks, what was left to offer a woman?

The property was lit by sporadic solar lights and Ryder walked the stone path to his father’s little cottage. He doubted his father would be awake, but still, Ryder wasn’t ready to go into the big, empty and lonely house by himself.

Light filtered through the windows of the living room and Ryder knocked gently on the front door. Susan let him in, without question, without judgement.

“He’s sleeping,” she said. “Are you thirsty? Do you want a coffee or something?”

Ryder shook his head.

Heading down the hallway, he stopped in front of his dad’s closed door and wished behind it was a man who would challenge him. A man that Ryder could confide in.

Donald had always listened to Ryder, but he’d also never answered the questions he’d been searching for. Donald was the devil’s advocate, challenging him until the answer was clear to Ryder. Ryder missed that about his dad. Ryder missed everything about him. He found it more difficult each passing day to see his dad then it had been to lose his mother. Wanting to talk to him, laugh and share his life and listen to his dad’s life and have him there, but not there, was killing Ryder’s soul.

Until today. Until Violet.

She was the first person to get through his sadness. Ryder wasn’t a hermit. Sure, he hid behind his office door, but there was always someone popping in and the fundraisers he’d been attending the last two years surrounded Ryder with people, but no one had touched his soul like Violet had. No one else had lit that place deep inside that he’d thought would remain dark forever.

Ryder planned on pushing the door open, but what was the point. There was only a confused, sleeping man waiting on the other side of that door.

Back in the living room, Ryder found Susan curled up on one of the reclining armchairs, reading a book with the music sound surround humming a light tune, so quiet it was almost unrecognizable.

“Inch Away,” Ryder said, referring to the band.

Susan looked up from her book and smiled at him. The sharp lines on her face, and clearness of her skin, gave away her youth. She was at least ten years younger than Ryder.

“Yes. Not only is the band local, I went to school with Avery, Sean, Ems and Drew but they’re wonderful too. Their music is soothing. Come sit down. I made you a coffee.” She pointed at the mug sitting beside the other recliner. Ryder should have suspected she would.

“Thanks.” He stretched in the recliner, not bothering with the coffee. “How was Dad today?”

“He was good.”

Ryder was glad to hear that. The days when Donald gave the workers a hard time, dug guilt into Ryder.

Susan detailed her day with his dad, sitting at the garden, what they ate and when he fell asleep. When she finished, she asked, “How was your day?”

Day was great. Night sucked.
“Good.”

“Did Joel get a new car?”

Violet’s Lexus.
“No. That was Violet Caliendo’s car.”

“Oh...” It came out confused then the next,
oh
came out hiked in tone like she was assuming he’d invited Violet.

“It’s not like that.” He wished differently. As far as Violet was concerned, he would have come to the cottage to sleep with Susan...which he did not.

“That’s too bad.”

Ryder glanced at her. “Why?”

She shrugged her petite shoulders. “It would be good for you to meet someone, go on dates, you know that sort of thing. Ryder, you might be old, but you’re not
old
. You should totally go out and meet some ladies.”

“What makes you think I don’t?”

“Do you?”

Ryder didn’t answer. He turned away. It was none of her business anyway. Ryder closed his eyes and fully intended on falling asleep here for the night. It wouldn’t be the first time and not the last and Susan was aware.