Faith’s Temptation (Dueling Dragons MC Book 1) (13 page)

I texted Layla earlier and informed her that I was going out for a few. She said that she would come down after the night manager got to the diner, which would be around seven. So I would be at the bar for a little while by myself. No biggie.

Just getting started on my hair, I hear my phone chime that I have a new message. I pick it up and see that it is from Ryder. I can't stop the huge grin that spreads across my face.

I read the message and my grin disappears.
Is he kidding me?
Did he just break off whatever this is with a text?

Should I have thought it would end any other way? No, and you know what? I am fine with it. I am just going to ignore him and forget about him. Tonight is definitely going to involve some alcohol, and lots of it. I don’t have to work tomorrow, so why not?

Faith

“HEY, ZIGGY! HAVE YOU
heard from Ryder?” It’s been two months since he’s shown up around here or anything. Two months!
I don’t know why I’m so bothered by it. He’s shown me that he’s not worth it.

About a month ago, Ziggy and Flem showed up out of the blue one night. They’ve both been sticking to the story that they’ve got no idea where Ryder is. I call bullshit, but what can I say to them?

When they showed back up they had on the same leather vest that Ryder did when he left.
Dueling Dragons MC Yuma
is proudly displayed on the back with two dragons fighting each other in the middle.

“Nope, I haven’t seen him, sweet lips.” Ziggy gulps the rest of his food.

“He hasn’t called you guys at all?”

He turns to Flem. “Hey, you heard from Ryder? He ain’t called his ol’ lady lately.”

“I’m not his old lady,” I protest. “I’m just a friend who’s concerned.” I turn to walk away.

“The way your name rolls off his tongue when he talks about you is something else. You may not be his ol’ lady yet, but girl....” Ziggy smiles up at me. “You will be. Mark my words.”

Not wanting to deal with cocky men anymore, I turn my attention to the truckers in the diner. I pass by Layla’s office. She’s in there with her glasses low on her nose and her hair pulled up in a crazy bun on the top of her head.

“Hey, baby cakes, how ya doing? Have you heard from my stupid brother yet?” Layla asks as she punches numbers in the calculator.

I snicker and walk in to the roomy office. “Nope, I haven’t heard shit from him since he told me that he wanted to ‘slow things down.’” I shake my head and lower my gaze to the grungy floor that really could use a good bleaching.

“Eventually he’ll show up. He always does. It seems like when something really bad is getting ready to happen or has happened, he takes off for a few. I really thought he’d changed this time, though. He really seemed like he wanted to change his life,” Layla sighs as she keeps punching numbers.

“Well, I hope it’s not because of me. I’m not worth someone changing their whole life for.” I choke on my words. Honestly, it feels kind of good to think that someone like Ryder would be willing to change for me, but I’d never come right out and ask him to.

“Baby, you aren’t falling in love are you? Y’all haven’t known each other that long, so tell me how could you love him?” she asks me with the concern of a mother.

I can finally tell the difference in her eyes when she looks at me, and the way her forehead creases.

“I don’t think that I’m in love with him, really. I’m just concerned. We started to become so close.” I’ve told my first lie to Layla.

She shakes her head and starts to say something, but I cut her off. “I’ve been in love before, and it didn’t feel anything like this. I could see myself with Beau, but with Ryder....” I stop and think about whether I could actually see a future with Ryder.

“It’s almost like a black hole around something very beautiful and pure,” I continue. “But I just see us fighting tooth and nail for each other all the time.” I can’t hold it back any longer. I cry again. My head drops down into my hands and I quietly sob.

“Honey, that’s love. It’s a different form of love. I’m a firm believer in everyone gets two great loves in their life.” She gets up and comes over to kneel in front of me, pushing a chunk of hair out of my face.

“You get your soul mate, and you get your first love. They can both be the same person. But your soul mate is the one that you’ll constantly fight for. Did you not promise Ryder that you’d be here for him no matter what?” She takes ahold of my hand and squeezes it in a comforting way.

I nod my head and start to cry more.
How does this woman bring this out in me?

“What do I do?” I ask her. All she does is join me on the ratty couch and hold me while I bawl.

I’m not 100 percent sure why I’m crying, but I think it’s a combination of the realization that I’m finally over Beau and the heart-stopping understanding that I’m in love with Ryder.

***

The past couple of days have gone on just like the past couple of months—slow and pointless. To keep myself entertained, I have been picking up extra shifts here and there when I can. I am covering for Lucy, who’s getting married this afternoon. Layla wanted to be there for it, so it’s just Gloria and I to cover everything this morning.

I walk in the back room at 7:00 a.m., tie an apron around my waist, and walk into the dining room to say good morning to all the customers. Grabbing the carafe, I step around the corner and stop dead in my tracks. The coffee pot slips from my hand and shatters on the floor. On the right side of the room, Ryder is sitting at the end of the counter with Ziggy and Flem.

Son of a bitch! Where has he been?
I pivot and march in the opposite direction. What the hell? He just comes out of nowhere?

“You okay, Faith?” one of the truckers asks.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I go about cleaning up the broken glass. Once I finish the cleanup, I shake off the shock, ignore Ryder, and start taking orders at the far end of the counter. I hope it’ll take me long enough to get to them that they just leave. But, of course, my luck is shit lately, because they’re still there.

I approach the counter in front of them, stare down at my pad, and say, “So, what’ll it be, guys?” They stop talking instantly and Ryder turns to look at me.

He spins around on the stool and gives me a sly grin. “Hey...Babe...I didn’t know you still worked here. I haven’t seen you the past few days.”

“Oh, hi, Ryder! Didn’t notice ya there,” I say with a little too much effort. I reply, “So, what’ll you have?”

“Well, I’ll take the all-meat omelet and sourdough toast. And I’d also like a chance to talk to you and explain.”

I long to jump the counter and throw myself at him, but I don’t. Self-control is what I’m teaching myself again.

“Coming right up.” I scribble his order on my pad and turn toward the kitchen. So frazzled that I completely forget to get Ziggy and Flem’s orders. I push through the swinging doors before anyone stops me and hand the cook the ticket. “Here you go, Tony.”

I lean against the steel counter and take a couple of breaths to try and collect myself.
Why is he back?

Walking into Layla’s office, I reach for the door and lock it when I feel pressure against the door. “What the fuck?” is all I can get out before Ryder has me off the floor and in his arms.

“Oh, Faith, you’ve got no idea how much I’ve wanted to hold you. Ever since I got outta your bed that morning, all I’ve wanted to do was get back in it with you.” He leans forward, bringing his lips to mine. His tongue sweeps across my lips begging for them to open. Lowering me to the floor, he brings his hand up to the back of my neck, grabbing ahold of my hair, forcing the kiss to deepen. I feel the familiar dampening of my panties just as he pulls away, breaking the kiss. He rests his forehead on mine. “I’ve told you before I’m drawn to you. I can’t explain it, but you pull me to you.”

Wait? What?
“Ryder, what do you mean?” I wiggle in his arms. “You’ve been gone for months, you come back and think you can just pick things up where you left them. It’s not gonna happen.” I wiggle some more, trying to break free.

“Come on, Faith, just give us a try.” He loosens his hold, but I still can’t get him to let me go.

“I don’t think I can put myself through all of this again.” I drop my face, look down at our chests smashed together, feeling his heartbeat against my own. It’s like our bodies are thumping to a singular rhythm together.

 “You’re mine and you’ll always be mine.” He leans down and I close my eyes and brace for his mouth on mine.

Slow and steadily our kissing match starts, but things instantly heat up when I moan. Picking me up by my thighs, my legs wrapping around his waist. I tighten my hold on his body and deepen our kiss. Another small moan escapes from deep in my throat. My back crashes into the door and Ryder presses against me, harder, more insistent.

Whoa! Wait a second. What the hell are you doing, Faith?

Struggling, I push as hard as I can, frantically shaking my head trying to break the kiss, but he moves his mouth to my neck.

“Hey, we need to talk about us. I understand that you’re a trucker and that means you’ll leave for days at a time, but you can’t just up and abandon me like that.” I swallow hard, trying to catch my breath. “I thought I’d done something wrong and that’s why you left.”

Putting his head on my shoulder, he sighs against my neck. “Soon. Real soon, I’ll tell you about why I was gone.” He raises his head and gazes deep into my eyes. “But can I take you out to dinner and a movie before we have this talk? I want to spend some time with you before you make any rash and harsh decisions about me and us.”

What is he talking about? Rash and harsh decisions....
“Why would I have to make rash decisions about you?” I eye him inquisitively.

“I don’t know, call it instinct.” He gazes down, looking defeated.

“Ryder, you have to know that I think about you all the time. There isn’t one day that goes by that I’m not. But....” I hesitate for a second. “I can’t do this. I can’t do us if you aren’t more open about things. You don’t have to tell me everything, but you have to tell me why you were gone so long. You have a cell phone. You could have texted or called.” Despite myself, I slowly run my fingers through his hair and down his neck. He leans in and kisses my neck.

“I’ll tell you everything soon. I promise.” He gives me a mind-blowing kiss, releases me, then opens the office door and walks out like nothing happened.

***

Ryder

“Hey, Zig. You ready to go, man?” I call over my shoulder as I head for the front door.

“Uh, yeah.” He shoves a piece of toast in his mouth. “Where we going?”

I continue out the door and over to my sister’s car. “Faith wants to know more about me. I don’t know what to fuckin’ tell her.” I turn around and throw my arms up in the air. “I’ve never had to explain my life to someone so....” I run my hand over my beard as I try to think of the word.

“So normal?” Ziggy offers.

“Yeah, exactly.” I give him a half-smile. “What the fuck am I gonna do, man?”

Ziggy is my best friend. He’s been with me through every small bump in my life to the biggest ones. He usually has the best advice when it comes to shit like this.

“Well, honestly, if you’re lookin’ to just fuck her, then do it and get it over with. But if you’re lookin’ for more outta this girl, then you need to figure out how to explain your life.” He fires up a joint.

Taking a big drag, he inhales sharply and hands it to me. “You better come up with something quick, man. She isn’t a dummy.”

I pinch the joint between my thumb and finger, pull in a couple of deep drags, and shake my head.

Here we are, back to square one. Explain Yourself 101.

Faith

IT’S BEEN TWO DAYS
since Ryder’s been back, and it honestly seems like he never left. We’ve been spending time together again, and it’s almost as if he never left. I feel like we could have a future....

Yet something just isn’t fitting. It’s hard to explain, but I sense he’s still hiding something big from me.

We have a date tonight, and I plan on getting to the bottom of things.

“So, babe, you ready to go?”

I stop filling the napkin holders and glance up. Ryder is standing in front of me and looks incredible. He has on a black shirt and a pair of faded jeans hung low on his hips, as well as that leather vest with the patches on the back.

“Yeah, give me a second to go put my stuff away and clock out.” I turn and am already making my way to the kitchen. Tonight is the night that I am going to make him tell me everything.

Walking outside with Ryder next to me is incredible. We’ve become closer in the time we’ve recently spent together. I feel like I can really trust him and that he’d never hurt me again.

“So, are you excited about tonight?” He looks over at me, smiling.

I laugh. “I am glad to be going out, yes. Excited to be going out with you, maybe.” I wink at him and start up the stairs.

Opening my front door, I flip on the light switch and set my purse on the side table. “So, I am gonna go shower and get ready. Make yourself at home.” I cross the living room to my bedroom.

“All right, don’t take too long, though. I’m hungry.” He laughs and sits down on the couch.

***

After a quick shower, I put on some jeans and a comfy hoodie. I wander into the living room to find Ryder talking on his phone.

“Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll be ready in three weeks. Yep, last one, so remember that.” He hurries to hang up. “Ready?” he says to me as he stands up and reaches for my hand.

“Not that it’s my business, but who were you talking to?” I ask as we stand outside the front door, but Ryder stops as soon as I shut it.

He wraps his arms around me. “Like I said before, I really want to give us a try. Tonight I’m going to tell you everything.” He holds my face and leans in to kiss me. “I have wanted to do that all day.”