“How so?” he asked as he let go of my other hand and wrapped it around my waist, too.
“You stopped smiling, asshole. I had to find a way to fix it.”
He grinned. “That right? I thought you found my sunny nature annoying.”
“I’m not disagreeing,” I snapped, and the loud laughter that escaped Ryker was the best thing I’d ever heard. “I’m sorry,” I said, looking him dead in the eye.
He frowned. “What for?”
“For being a coward. For not being brave enough to say what I felt, even when you took the first step. I was afraid. Why would you…how could you be interested in someone like me? I’m ordinary, prickly, hard to get along with. And I had braces, too. Why would you want to be with someone who reminded you of…? Mmm.”
The man could kiss, and his tongue curled my toes. Drawing back, he said,
