Love Me Knot (5 page)

One night
.

To burn off the snack, they took a three a.m. stroll down the beach and talked for at least an hour under the crescent moon.

But Ryan avoided the topic of family—diligent in his denial of who she really was.

And when they finally ended up back in bed, shortly before dawn, they made love again.

The sun had just started to sneak its rays through the gap in his curta
ins when his eyes grew heavy. B
ut even still he fought falling asleep. 

Ciara had
passed out in his arms over an
hour ago and he’d enjoyed holding her. Tried to ignore the prick of familiarity and rightness of it all.

One night.

How the hell had he let himself get so close to a woman in one night?

Ryan let his eyes drift shut and tried not to think that with the dawn came the reminder that tomorrow he would let her go.

Chapter Six

“Was this lunch really necessary?”

Ciara tried not to flinch
at her brother’s question
and glanced away as he took another sip of wine.

Actually, there were probably a hundred other places she’d rather be. The top of the list being back at Ryan’s house.

Her heart fluttered as she remembered their goodbye kiss this morning. He hadn’t seemed to want to let her go. She’d felt the self-restraint in him, as if he were trying to stop himself from dragging her off to the bedroom again.

Heck, she almost wished he had. But then she would’ve skipped the lunch with
Lance
, and she couldn’t do it. She needed to at least try one more time to reach out to her half-brother.

So she’d kissed
Ryan
goodbye and left her number, making it clear lunch was the only thing on her agenda for the next few days.

His response had been another hard kiss, before he’d walked her out the door and saw her off. Her pulse fluttered again.

Oh yeah. She got the feeling
Ryan
was a guy she’d be seeing quite a bit the rest of her time in Oregon. And maybe even after...

But for now she needed to focus.

“I just think we should try to get to know each other a little better. Maybe I could meet your kids,” she finally said quietly. “With our dad gone, and now my mother’s passed away, you’re the only family I have left.”

Lance
laughed and lifted his hands in the air. “Whoa. Easy with the F word. This is like the third time we’ve seen each other since you were in diapers.” 

A flush filled her face and suddenly she felt like a complete idiot. Maybe he was right. Why was she trying so hard? She should’ve taken the hint after the first lunch they’d had.

Actually, she probably shouldn’t have bothered coming to Oregon at all. She didn’t even remember the years when her mother had been married to her and
Lance
’s dad. And the couple of times she’d seen
Lance
or her father after the divorce, it had always felt a little awkward. Forced.

But when her mom had passed away from cancer last year she’d just felt so damn lonely. Foolishly she’d thought maybe reconnecting with
Lance
could help fill the void. But it was becoming pretty damn clear
Lance
wasn’t going to be welcoming her
in
to his life.

Boy had her instincts been off.

Ciara swallowed the lump in her throat and glanced out the window of the restaurant.

“Don’t get me wrong, Ciara, you seem like a nice girl. But my family and I got a lot going on, and we keep things private.”

“I can understand that.” Or not really, but at this moment she just wanted to get the hell out of here. “You know, maybe you’re right. Let’s not draw out this lunch anymore than I already have.”

She pushed back her chair and stood, some
what
convinced he’d stop her. But he just looked relieved as he nodded.

“No problem, kid. I’ll pick up the tab. Good luck in life.”

What a freaking jerk.

“Yeah. You too.” She couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

Tonight this would all be a bad memory, she told herself as she strode out to her car.

Five minutes with
Ryan
and she’d be closer to forgetting this painful little luncheon. Forget she had a brother who mocked her entire existence.

Now she just needed to head back to the rental house and wait for
Ryan
to call.

“Thanks for meeting us for drinks.” Trevor Wyatt tapped his beer bottle against
Ryan
’s and grinned. “Don’t get to see you much, cuz. And Megan and I are heading back to Washington tonight.”

“Oh, hell, there’s no place I’d rather be.” Except with Ciara—who’d probably written him off as a first rate asshole by now.

Tyson Wyatt laughed and shook his head. “I find that hard to believe. No chick you’d rather be spending your evening with?”

Ah, shit. He should’ve seen this coming. His cousins were always up in his business if they felt they needed to be. And vice versa. And something told him Todd had given his brothers a message to check up on his ass.

“I’m not seeing anyone,” he murmured ambiguously.

“Not even that Ciara chick?”

His hands tightened around his beer. “Especially not her.”

Though God knew he wanted to. It’d been ridiculously hard not to call the number on the slip of paper she’d left him. But he’d managed for the past two days. Just barely.

“You didn’t sleep with her, did you?”

Shit. Trust Trevor, the soldier, to go straight to the punch.

“I don’t really see how that’s any concern of yours.”

Silence greeted his dry response, and he glanced over at his cousins to see any humor gone from their expressions.

“You plan on calling her?” Tyson asked, his gaze unreadable now.

The hell they tried to run his life. “Yeah, Ty. I’ve called her every night. Sent her flowers and chocolates. Hell, thought I’d propose next week if that’s all right with you guys.”

No laugh, not even a twitching mouth.

He shook his head. “Look, maybe you all are happily shackled now, but I’ve got no interest in doing the same. And in case you forgot who her brother is—”

“We didn’t forget,” Trevor said flatly. “And the minute you realized who she was, you should’ve sent her home.”

“I wanted her.”

Tyson shook his head. “Maybe you wanted revenge.”

“You have no idea what the hell I was thinking.” Sweat broke out on the back of his neck, because his cousin was pretty damn close to the truth.

“Ciara is a nice girl,” Tyson said tersely. “Look we all wanted to kick Daschmoore’s ass when he fucked with Anna. But Ciara is not her brother. She had nothing to do with what he did.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Then why the fuck did he feel like such a bastard right now? “Look, we had one night together. It wouldn’t have mattered if it were Ciara or any other girl. You know I’m not looking for long term.”

Trevor harrumphed. “Yeah, you and Todd used to love using that phrase. Look at him now.”

“Oh you guys don’t quit.”
Ryan
gave a sharp laugh and shook his head. “You know, I’m too tired for this. I’m going to head out seeing as I’ve got to work early in the morning.”

His cousins both stood.

“No problem.” Trevor gave
him a hard slap on the back. “Be c
areful,
Ryan
. I hear there’s a helluva summer storm rolling in tomorrow.”

Ryan
shoved his phone back into his pocket. “I’m always careful.”

“We don’t mean to come down so hard on you, cuz,” Tyson hesitated, “but you’re better than this. You know you are. You may be a bit of a notorious flirt, but you don’t set out to break a girl’s heart. Don’t see a reason to start now.”

Not even about to reply to that,
Ryan
nodded. “We’ll reschedule the beer.”

Ciara turned off the television and crossed the room to where her cell phone was charging.

Even though she knew it was pointless, she checked again to see if she’d missed any calls.

Nothing.

Three days, and not even so much as a half-assed text message from
Ryan
.

She’d already been smarting from
Lance
’s blatant rejection of her. That lunch had left a lump the size of Texas in her throat, and more than anything she’d wanted to return to
Ryan
and seek the comfort she knew she’d find in his arms.

Only he hadn’t called, and Ciara couldn’t exactly call him since
he
hadn’t given her
his
number. Why that hadn’t registered at the time God only knew—it should’ve been a big warning sign.

Stupid. She’d been so freaking stupid to expect anything else but getting blown off. Going to bed with a guy she barely knew after a few hours?

She’d come to Wyattville and become Easyville.

Her heart pinched and she bit her lip.
Ryan
had officially become her very first one-night stand. It wasn’t exactly a bucket list item, but oh well.

The nurses back at the hospital loved to tease her about how naïve she was at times. She’d sure earned that badge on this trip.

Ciara set her phone back down and paced the living room of the rental house she’d been in since last week.

This was supposed to be a vacation. Granted
,
a vacation where she’d sought to reconnect with her half-brother, but she’d hoped to combine the two.

It was Wednesday and she’d booked the rental another four days. It was charming, just a few blocks from the beach. There really was no reason she couldn’t just try to enjoy herself and relax.

But as lovely as Wyattville was, the idea of sticking around a town that
Ryan
might show up in again left her stomach churning.

She paused in front of the window and glanced out at the view. Through the cluster of trees off in the distance she could see the Pacific Ocean whipping itself up into a frenzy. It’d gotten crazy windy in the last hour, and looked like a storm was rolling in.

Not exactly good weather to drive home to Idaho in.

So she’d leave tomorrow. She’d spend one last night here, wallowing in her own self-pity, and then leave first thing in the morning if the weather cleared.

Because Wyattville wasn’t quite as charming now that she knew the founder’s descendant was a womanizing asshole.

Chapter Seven

Ryan
glanced out the window of the Coast Guard station and stared out at the ocean. The storm outside was full on raging. It was dangerous. Unpredictable. Kind of like his own mood.

It wouldn’t be long before a call came in. They inevitably did on days like this. He was mid-conversation with the Chief when the alarm sounded, followed by the familiar crackle of the station’s PA system.

“Now put the ready Helo
on the line
. P
ut the ready Helo on the line
. There is a 2
8-foot
pleasure craft
taking on water
eight miles southeast from Lincoln inlet.
 
Three crew, one is a minor.
Now put the ready Helo on the line
. P
ut the ready Helo on the line.
”
             
A short time later he sat in
the chopper, staring out at the disappearing shoreline as they flew low over the Pacific—just out of reach from the
turbulent
ocean swells.

His focus was mostly with
the vessel holding a small family
that was taking on water. But every once in awhile, under the hypnotic
whoop whoop
of helicopter blades, Tyson’s words from last night slipped through his mind.

You don’t set out to break their hearts.

The guilt over Ciara was almost a distraction to the tightness in his gut over the upcoming rescue. Almost.

They were
almost out to location
. Fuck, it was always so much harder when children were involved. But you couldn’t think that way. You couldn’t let it debilitate you or compromise your ability to do your job.

“Sinking vessel up ahead.”

Ryan blinked at the
pilot’s words and
prepared himself
.

All eyes were focused and searching the ocean. Ryan spotted the child first. Wearing a life jacket, waving anxiously and bobbing in the swells.  He slid his gaze around to search for the other victims, and spotted one who seemed to be attempting to climb back into the sinking vessel.