Rydin' the Storm Out (4 page)

Ryder leaned forward and kissed Molly’s forehead. “Good night, babe.”

Molly opened her eyes and looked around. She didn’t recognize anything in the room. She didn’t remember this place at all. Her heart started hammering and her head, God, her head was throbbing like crazy. Her mouth felt awful. Yuck. She closed her eyes and tried to remember what had happened last night. Oh geez, that man on the dance floor. He’d grabbed her and was pulling her off the floor. Her heart was pounding now. She sat straight up in a panic. What she saw was Ryder, looking at her.

“Morning. How do you feel?”

Molly sat perfectly still. She was stunned. She was with Ryder? She looked down at her clothes, she was fully dressed. He was still wearing the clothes he had on last night. He was sitting in a chair at the foot of the bed, his feet propped on the bed.

“Did you sleep there last night?”

Ryder smiled at her. “Yeah. I wanted to be close in case you needed something. But I didn’t want to freak you out or scare you by lying in bed next to you, so I slept here.”

“Where’s here?” Molly was starting to remember. Ryder punched that guy on the dance floor and walked her out. No wait, she ran out and threw up. Fuck that’s right. She puked in the parking lot in front of Ryder. Just. Fucking. Great.

“I brought you to my house. You fell asleep before I could ask you where you live.”

He was watching her very closely. He still thought she was gorgeous, even after waking up from a night of partying with her hair messed up from sleeping. He could imagine that’s how her hair might look after he fucked her. Her blue eyes were staring warily at him. She licked her lips and rubbed under her eyes.

“Oh.”

“You didn’t answer my question. How do you feel?”

Molly wrinkled her face. “My head hurts. My pride hurts. I’m embarrassed.” She took a deep breath. “Mostly, I’m embarrassed.”

Ryder laughed. “I’ve been there. Actually just last week after my mom and dad’s wedding.”

He got up, walked to his dresser and laid a notebook on the top. He turned and walked to the side of the bed. He pointed to the bottle of water and an aspirin.

“I brought you these in case you needed them. Can I get you anything else?”

Molly looked at the table and saw the water and aspirin. Aww, now that was sweet of him. She looked back up at him and smiled.

“No. Thank you for thinking of me. Thank you for taking care of me.” Her voice was soft. Even softer yet, she said, “I’m sorry if I ruined your date.” Molly looked down at her hands as they clutched the sheets.

Ryder sat next to her on the bed. He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck, it was a little stiff from sleeping in the chair. When she felt the bed dip and saw him sitting there she looked at him in surprise.

“You didn’t ruin anything. She wasn’t my date. I wasn’t with her. She walked up to me just before you walked into The Barn.”

He was watching her. Molly reached over and grabbed the bottle of water. Her hands were shaking and she had a hard time breaking open the seal. Ryder gently took the bottle of water from her. Their fingers brushed and they stared at each other for a brief moment. Ryder cracked open the seal while she grabbed the aspirin off the table. He handed her the water and she swallowed the aspirin down, taking a long pull of water. After she had swallowed, she closed her eyes as the water hit her empty stomach.

“You should come in the kitchen and eat something quick before that aspirin hits your empty stomach. It might make you sick. Gunnar’s cooking this morning. I think it’s pancake day.” He smiled at her.

Molly’s eyes got huge. “Gunnar? You live with Gunnar?”

Ryder laughed. “And JT. I heard them both up a while ago. Actually, it’s pretty early for both of them to be up on a Sunday, but neither of them had dates, so they were both home pretty early last night. Right after we got home.”

Molly covered her face with both hands. Oh. My. God. They were all going to think she and Ryder…well. Anyway. Now she was mortified. They would tell Joci and she would think Molly was a slut. Crap. How the hell was she going to get out of this?

Taking a deep breath, Molly asked, “What time is it?”

Ryder looked at his phone and back up at Molly. “Nine fifteen.”

Molly closed her eyes again. Shit.

“Hey, come on.” Ryder got up and walked to the dresser. He grabbed a t-shirt and some sweat pants and tossed them on the bed next to Molly. “Throw these on and come on out and eat some breakfast. I’ll take you home afterwards.”

“I’m really embarrassed now!”

“What are you embarrassed about? They saw you last night. You were dancing and having a great time. They saw that bastard grab you and they were right behind me in case it got nasty. Lucky for that son-of-a-bitch, he walked away after they pulled him back and had words with him.”

“But, I spent the night here. They’ll think…”

Ryder grinned at her. “They’ll think I got lucky?”

Molly nodded.

“And the bastards will be jealous.” Ryder laughed at the look on her face. “Don’t worry, they like you Molly. It’ll be fine. Come on now, before your stomach gets upset.”

Ryder stepped out into the hall and closed the door. Molly got up and pulled her dress off quickly and threw on the t-shirt and sweat pants. They had a tie string, so she could tighten them up. She breathed a sigh of relief. She certainly wouldn’t win any fashion awards, but at least she was covered up and she was warm. She left her shoes on the floor and walked out to the hallway. Ryder was standing just outside the door. He grabbed her hand and she looked up at him. He smiled and pointed to the door across the hall.

“Do you need to use the bathroom?”

Molly nodded and walked to the door Ryder had pointed at. She closed the door behind her and closed her eyes. She was so mortified. Now she was going to have to walk into the kitchen and face JT and Gunnar, too. She used the toilet and moved to the sink to wash up. She looked into the mirror and groaned. She looked around and saw wash cloths folded in a basket on a shelf. A basket? In a home shared by three men? Sheesh. Molly grabbed one and wet it in the sink. She wiped under her eyes at the dark makeup, trying to make herself look as presentable as she could. She rinsed her mouth and finger brushed her teeth. It wasn’t perfect, but it was all she had. Molly finished and opened the door. Ryder was standing just a few feet away from the door in the hallway. She looked surprised to see him. He smiled at her.

“I thought you would be uncomfortable walking into the kitchen by yourself. I hope you don’t mind. Besides…I just got lucky, so we should be walking in together.” Ryder winked at her again, grabbed her hand, and started pulling her towards the kitchen.

Molly whispered, “If you really had gotten lucky with me last night, we’d still be in bed.” Ryder’s steps faltered and he looked at her like he was debating whether or not to pull her right back into the bedroom and actually get lucky.

His cock jumped into hyper-alert at the innuendo. His eyes bored into hers and his nostrils flared. Shit, she already had his body going crazy for her. He liked the way he felt when she was around. When she smiled, his groin would sometimes tighten up to the point of pain. This woman was different.

They continued walking and rounded a corner that brought them into the kitchen. JT was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and the newspaper. When he saw them, he smiled.

“Morning.”

“Morning. Hope you’re both hungry.” Gunnar turned to look at them and then back at the bacon cooking on the stove.

“Morning,” they said in unison.

“Do you want coffee, Molly?” She nodded at Ryder and he pointed her to a seat at the table, then walked to get them each a cup of coffee. He filled their cups and brought them to the table, returning to the counter to grab the sugar and creamer and set them on the table as well. Once again, grabbing the coffee pot, he brought it over to refill his brothers’ cups. He returned to the table and sat next to Molly.

***

Molly watched with fascination as these guys took care of each other. Gunnar started bringing food to the table and JT got up to help. As they were filling their plates, Molly could no longer contain herself.

“So, how does this work? You take turns cooking?”

Ryder smirked. “Yeah. We take turns doing everything. This week it’s Gunnar’s turn to cook. It’s my turn to do yard work. It’s JT’s turn to clean the house. We switch each week. That way, no one gets stuck doing all of something. We each do our own laundry. It works for us.”

“Except, I’m better at cooking,” Gunnar said with a big smile on his face.

“Bullshit, Gunnar.” JT looked at Molly with a devilish smile on his face.

“I make a mean omelet and I am a master on the grill.” He worked his eyebrows up and down and put a huge forkful of pancake in his mouth.

Ryder smirked. He took a drink of his coffee and looked back toward Molly as he set his cup down on the table.

“They’re both full of shit. I’m the one who knows his way around the kitchen. I spent a ton of time with my grandma growing up, and she taught me all sorts of cooking tips. I can cook the pants off these guys.”

“So which one of you guys put the washcloths in the basket in the bathroom?”

They all started laughing helping Molly relax.

“That was Mom. She just couldn’t help coming over and decorating and making things homey.” JT smirked.

No one was making a comment about her being there. No one said anything about her being drunk last night. She ate a few pancakes and her tummy did feel better. Her head was feeling better too. They made small talk during breakfast and Molly found she was relaxed and comfortable with them. Ryder seemed very open and relaxed as well. He brought her into the conversation often, never leaving her out of any of it.

Gunnar said, “We’re going to ride today. You guys coming?”

Ryder said, “You going to call Mom and Dad?”

JT shook his head. “We talked about it last night. They haven’t ridden in a while. Actually, since Mom’s accident, so they want to ride a little while. If it gets cold, they’ll leave early. Dad’s a little overprotective yet.”

They all laughed. “That’s an understatement,” Gunnar said. “Do you ride Molly?” Gunnar smiled at her.

“No, I never have. It looks fun though. I was envious of the riders at the Veteran’s Ride.”

***

Ryder smiled at the memory of the Veteran’s Ride. “Yeah. It’s a great feeling to ride. The wind hits your face and you’re floating along the road alone with your thoughts.”

“If you have any.” JT was smirking.

“Fuck you, JT.” Ryder smirked. Gunnar laughed.

“You said your mom and dad are going? Isn’t she afraid after her accident?”

Gunnar said, “Nah. Mom’s not scared. But, she probably won’t ever be able to drive her own bike again. Her shoulder’s pretty banged up. There are pins in it and the doctors told her she would probably have trouble being able to hold her arm out fully in front of her. If she holds it out in front for any length of time, it’s painful. She’s not happy about having to give it up, but Dad loves her riding on the back with him, so she’ll still be able to ride a lot.”

Ryder looked at his brothers. “What happened to Mom wasn’t her fault. But, if you ride, chances are one day, you may have an accident. No different than driving a car. There are so many elements out there: weather, other drivers, road conditions, animals running into the road, all of it. But, the days that are good are great.”

“Wow. She’s fortunate she wasn’t hurt worse. I saw the pictures of her bike after the accident. It was awful.”

The boys all nodded. They felt the same way.

“What’s going to happen to LuAnn?”

Gunnar took a deep breath; LuAnn was not a good subject. “Probably be a trial. We’re just hoping when they offer her a plea deal that she’ll take it so Mom doesn’t have to go through a trial. But, LuAnn is pretty selfish, and thinking of someone else isn’t likely to happen. She’s asked twice if Dad would come and talk to her, but he’s refused. He’ll go if she agrees to take the deal. He doesn’t want Mom to go through a trial after all she’s been through. We’ll see what happens. Should know in a month or so.”

Molly nodded. She had been hearing a lot of people at the wedding speaking of it and that was the general consensus, but she didn’t want to ask questions and seem nosy.