Phoenix:
He said one thing. Just one.
"Don’t run."
That was it. No soft request. No begging. Just a demand—low, rough, and right against my ear, like a threat or a promise.
And suddenly, all that bravado I’d been clinging to like armor melted off me in an instant. My hands gripped the edge of the counter behind me, like I could hold on to the last scrap of distance between us. But there wasn’t any. He had me. Back pressed to the counter, chest rising and falling like a damn fire burned inside me, and all Ryder did was look at me like I was everything.
Every. f*****g. Thing.
No one ever looked at me like that and meant it.
No one but him.
My breath caught. My jaw clenched like I was trying to fight something already lost. But I wasn’t running. Not this time. He didn’t give me room t
