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Chapter Four

Ryder

I had to walk away from her. I needed to put some space between us, because while she was standing only a couple of steps from me, wearing my T-shirt, it was playing havoc on my thoughts. I mean, damn. It was such a good look on the woman. The way the hem of my shirt skirted her knees, I could only imagine her wearing that, and only that, after rolling around in the hay with me for a good couple of hours. It filled me with a warped sense of male pride that this incredibly beautiful woman was wrapped in something that belonged to me.

She wasn’t mine. But right now, she looked like she was. Fuck, if that didn’t make me hard. If I didn’t leave, well, I was going to tell her just that.

Luckily, Dolly came down at just the right moment. As soon as I saw her, I knew this was my out. She could take this woman to Wyatt’s old room. It also gave me the excuse I so sorely needed to walk away, without looking like a dick and hitting on her after everything she had been through this afternoon.

Once in the kitchen, I headed straight for the fridge and grabbed a beer. After uncapping it, I lifted the glass bottle to my lips and took a large swallow. After two more pulls, I headed to the cabinet situated between the living room and the dining room, and opened the middle drawer. I pulled my cell out, scrolled through the contacts list to find Logan’s details, and hit the call button.

I kept sipping at my beer as the phone rang.

“What’s up, brother?” My best friend’s voice was welcome as it came through the phone. I needed something to distract my thoughts from the woman upstairs, who was probably getting undressed. Fuck.

“You are never going to guess. Not even if I gave you a hundred of them.”

“This ought to be good then.” His voice had a lighthearted tone to it. “What happened?”

I shook my head. I didn’t even know how to truly explain this afternoon’s events, but even if I could, I didn’t want to do it over the phone. I wanted to see Logan’s expression when I ran through it all with him. “Head on over, dinner is almost ready. Bring your tow truck instead of your normal ride.”

“My tow truck? Is everyone okay?” His lighthearted tone vanished with the question. Logan was a guy who loved to laugh all the time and tended to not take life too seriously. But at the thought of one of us being injured, all that disappeared. The man who practically grew up on our family ranch switched gears. “It wasn’t one of the girls, was it?”

“Yeah, man, everyone is fine.” I heard him let loose a breath, and could imagine his shoulders relaxing at the news. “The truck isn’t for any of us. I need you to bring the truck for the thing you’re never going to guess.”

“Well, Ry, whatever it is, it sure seems to have you in a tizz. Just spit it out already, I’m listening.”

Tipping my bottle up all the way, I swallowed the remaining liquid before placing it down on the cabinet. Turning around toward the kitchen, I padded out of the dining room and peeked out into the hall to make sure the girls were nowhere close by. “A woman crashed into our fence this afternoon.”

“I have so many questions about this woman.” I rolled my eyes, knowing what kind of questions he was going to ask. “First, is she okay?”

“Yeah. She seems to be. No obvious injuries, anyway. No broken bones and she wasn’t bleeding when I found her,” I told him. But in all honesty, I didn’t think I even asked her if she was injured. I was too busy staring at her and enjoying the easy banter we shared. Shit, I was a real dick. I would have to ask her as soon as she came back downstairs.

“Who was it?” he asked. In a town the size of Belle Springs everyone knew everyone, if not by name, then at least by sight or a description. It made complete sense for him to presume that this woman would be one of them. We didn’t tend to get all that many people driving through.

“She ain’t from around here.” I ran my hand back and forth through my hair. “Nobody in this town is anything like her, brother. She’s beautiful, and she’s sassy as fuck too.” I caught myself before I started mooning over her.

The line was quiet for a minute, and I wondered if maybe the connection had been lost, but then I heard the exhaled breath. “Shit.”

“What?”

“You like her.” The open-ended question caught me off guard.

“No,” I immediately replied. It just wasn’t possible for me to like her, not in a serious way at least. Not after everything I’d been through.

“Look, she’s here at the house and I can’t really talk. Are you coming or not?”

His response came as quick as the crack of a whip. “You brought a woman you don’t even know back to your place. My man, way to get back on the horse!” he exclaimed.

Scrubbing at my jaw, I felt the evidence of stubble prickling my hand. “It’s not like that at all. Now, are you coming or not?”

“You know I am. I need to see this woman who ain’t like anyone we ever met.” He chuckled. “Savannah cooked dinner?”

“What kind of question is that? Of course she has.”

“Then I’m leaving now. You know I can’t get enough of that woman’s fine-ass cooking.”

“I know what you mean. I’ve been out mending fences all day, I’m famished,” I confessed, letting the comment about my twin’s ass slide, for now.