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Chapter Twenty

Sienna

After showering and spending close to twenty minutes blow drying my hair, I quickly dressed.

On checking my cell, I noticed there was a missed call from Daddy. Presumably he wanted an update on how things were going with getting the signatures. I decided to ignore it for now, though, since I wasn’t in the mood for his abrupt ways this morning. Not after everything that happened last night between Ryder and me. Those kisses and touches still echoed on my skin this morning.

Throwing the cell into the handbag that was on the dresser, I headed towards the selection of shoes laid out. I wanted to head into the town today and have a bit of a look around, and comfort was paramount. There were three options I had narrowed it down to earlier: white Ralph Lauren sneakers, Jimmy Choo ballet flats, and my boots.

In the end, the boots won, like they always did. Gosh, I loved them. Taking them in hand, I looked at them, smiling. They really were nice looking. The feel of them too. Nothing could beat good quality leather.

My admiration of my boots was interrupted by a deep voice. “If you’re planning on going anywhere other than the other side of this room, you’re going to need better footwear.”

“I have boots,” I shot back defensively seeing him in the doorway.

“Those little things?” He laughed. “Nah, they ain’t boots.”

Offended, I huffed at him. “No? What would you call them then?” My hands landed on my hips as I stared the much taller cowboy down.

“My niece, Aria, has boots bigger than those, and she’s only seven.”

“Bet she paid a quarter of the price of these too,” I told him while looking lovingly at my designer boots.

My gaze followed him as he chuckled and came to a stop beside my bed. “Why don’t you come on over here?” He sat on my bed and an unexpected buzzing resounded through the room. A flush of mortification blazed through me; I hadn’t been expecting company.

Bob happily made his presence known, on his highest setting by the sound of it. With an eyebrow raised, Ryder smirked at me. “You didn’t tell me you brought company.” His hand smoothed over the bed to find the vibrations.

“Hey.” I dove onto the bed. “You leave Bob out of this. I’m a strong independent woman who—”

“Who clearly is in need of some attention.”

He ran his hand up my arm to where Bob still vibrated at full strength under it. “Why’d you call it Bob? Name of an ex?”

“No!” I exclaimed, offended he would even suggest that.

“Then why?” he asked again.

I placed my palms over my reddening cheeks. “Battery operated boyfriend.”

His answering laughter bounced off the walls, enveloping us in its warmth.

After God knew how many minutes passed, he finally got his laughter under control. My cheeks felt as hot as the flame from the campfire the other night and I was absolutely mortified that he found Bob. I guess it could have been worse, he could have found—

“What’s this?” His tone was laced with curiosity as his hand skimmed the quilt to the piece of fabric peeking out from under the pillow I had taken to using.

Damn it. He found it. Could this day get any more embarrassing? Without any thought, I threw myself toward where he leaned on the bed, knocking him backwards. “Nothing.”

That chuckle of his returned and as I looked down at his position beneath me, I noticed his dimple was in its full-blown glory. “Doesn’t seem that way to me, darlin’, since you’re literally throwing yourself at me to prevent me from seeing it.”

Feeling completely and utterly incredulous, I replied, “I am not.”

His laugh continued and I wanted nothing more than to get his thoughts away from what he almost discovered. Leaning down, I planted my lips on his, running my hands up his sides and threading them in his thick strands of hair.

The feel of his hands on my hips told me he was more than happy to follow me wherever I would lead. And with the feel of his tongue against mine, I’d be happy to go absolutely anywhere with him.

His hands slid around a little more and grabbed my ass, and his lips pulled away from mine. A second later, I was on my back on the bed with his larger body looming over me. The toned muscles of his biceps were visible under the fitted cotton T-shirt he was wearing as he propped himself up and stared down at me. A cocky grin spread across his lips. “You’re a constant temptation, you know that?”

“Is that a bad thing?”