Love In Ink And Gold

Chapter 4

Yara wanted to stop him; her mind was screaming at her to tell to stop. She felt his breath hit her face, cool and minty and her heart did a little flutter. The loud voice in her head screaming at her to tell him to stop, or at least push him away and kick his balls, was silenced the moment his lips met her and she was lost.

This would not end well for either of them and they both knew it. For Yara, she felt it was too soon to be wanting another man after her heartbreak and for Ryder, he felt it would be a horrible idea to mix business and pleasure. The contract he had his lawyers draw up even before she could agree to this, very clearly stipulated that this was purely business and would not go beyond that. Feeling the way she melted in his arms, he knew he would need to change a few things in said contract.

“I have to get back to work Ryder,” she said, not recognizing her own voice. Her body, for the first time in her twenty-six years, was betraying her and she needed to keep her distance. Marry him? That would not happen in a million years, not with how vulnerable he got her after a mere kiss.

He was glad she had broken the kiss because he was not certain he had the strength to stop it himself. With how painfully hard he was for her right now, he was ready to take her against the very wall he had her backed into. Those hazel brown eyes, with a few specks of gold were total trouble. He would take this woman, have her body, mind and soul until his body had gotten rid of the need it had for them.

Later the next day Ryder still couldn’t quite understand why Yara resisted the idea of being tied to him and it bugged him to no end. He had spent the whole day on the phone with his secretary, digging up more information about her and her everyone close to, hoping to confirm that his attraction to her was not clouding his judgement. He knew she needed help, but for some reason she would not take it from him.

Yara was undeniably passionate, but life had forced her to grow up too soon. At the young age of sixteen, her father had deemed her old enough to be responsible for Lily’s needs, believing she was old enough to manage their household when he skipped town with a girl not much older than his daughter. Any of her childhood dreams had been shattered under the weight of her new role. She took on the responsibility with the same confidence and strength that defined her, making sure no one ever saw her daily struggles.

The chime of the café door snapped Ryder out of his thoughts. Before he even raised his head to see if it was Yara, the silence that enveloped the café let him know everything him he needed to know. He felt her presence before he saw her. Ms. Rivers always the picture of perfection.

Yara walked up to him, wearing what she considered one of her relaxed outfits: a dark crop top under an oversized red bomber jacket, high-waist blue jeans slightly rolled at the cuffs for a relaxed feel and another pair of her trusty platform boots. She had always been a sucker for big fashion statements, so obviously she had to accessorize with a pair of round sunglasses, black hoop earrings and layered necklaces. Why people always stared at her though, she would never understand.

“May I take seat Mr. Ashton?” she asked, her voice laced with obvious exhaustion. She had spent her second night tossing and turning, being unbelievably in need of Ryder Ashton’s attention, his kisses and so much more.

She had gotten to a point where she did not have the energy to fight this rich asshole of a man. So what if she would be chained to his name for the rest of her life? At least Lily would be taken care of and her writing career would get the boost it needed with his name attached to her. The only thing that killed her was the fact that marriage was supposed to be for two people who loved each other, and she was most certainly not in love with him.

Ryder hated how she was making all this seem like a death sentence. But if this was how she wanted to act then he would treat this as a business transaction, because that was exactly what it was.

“Please do Ms. Rivers,” he said, his tone still as cool and professional as it always was, as he gestured to the seat across from him.

Ryder straightened up in his seat as he laid down a few papers. He made a point not to look Yara in the eye as he walked her through his plan, explaining what was in the contract. She, in turn, felt like punching his face in for even suggesting this dumb idea in the first place. The confidence she exuded as she sat up as straight as him, looking at him through the dark tint of her sunglasses, was far from what she was feeling, which was utter shame and embarrassment.

“Basically what I need is a partner,” Ryder explained coolly. “Someone who can make my business associates feel a bit more at ease around me, they don’t see me as…completely ruthless. You’d make me more approachable.”

Yara nearly laughed in his face. How could someone so smart also be so clueless? How could she make him more approachable when she could not even chat up a few people at a simple party to save her own career? Why did he not just find some polished socialite who would play the perfect spouse? “Why me Ryder? I am antisocial and could never fit into your world; we both know it.”

Ryder let out a disinterested chuckle as if to say her worries were total s**t and that seemed to add on to an already long list of things that made her loath him. “Those exact reasons, Ms. Rivers, are a huge part of why I am choosing you.”

She felt like crying, bolting out of the café to escape from this man who had so easily pulled her into his web. Now he held all the cards because he had decided it was okay to include her little sister’s future. Why did rich people never know when to stop? He had literally everything he could ever want in his life. How would ruining her own benefit him?

After a long phone chat with Ivy last night, Yara had already made up her mind and hearing Ryder go on and on about the clauses in his contract was starting to get on her nerve. She held up one hand in the air as a gesture for him to stop talking, pulling her sunglasses off as she did. “I believe you have made your point very clear,” she said to emphasize that she was no longer interested in whatever he had to say, “just give me a copy of the contract and I will read through it fast. Your voice is starting to make me nauseous.”

Ryder’s mouth fell open in disbelieve. The sheer audacity of this woman; who the f**k did she think she is? He quickly masked the flash of emotion on his face with one of his calm, controlled looks. He could not give a s**t what she thought of him anymore, now all he wanted was for her to sign the papers so they could leave this town. His businesses were waiting and he could not be away for longer than these two days he had been here. That childish behavior, he would deal with the very first night he moved her into his apartment.

After a few minutes of Yara going through her contract, Ryder was getting impatient and irritable. She had been very disrespectful and it was taking everything in him not to retaliate in ways he knew would shut her up immediately, but he hated more that her poker face was almost as good as his, and knowing her, he was not sure if she was agreeing with him or if she would get up and throw the papers in his face.

“Some of us have businesses to run Ms. Rivers, so just sign the contract.”

He could see right through her, she was just dragging all this on longer than it was necessary to. The contract was literally three pages long, not even back to back, in the simplest language. She was a writer for crying out loud, so he knew she was done going through every important issue in there.

“Chill dude,” she said, wanting to burst out laughing at the fact that for once, she had managed to agitate him. It was such a small thing but it felt like a huge victory for her. She seemed to ponder how much this felt like giving her soul to the devil and before she could talk herself out of this, signed three copies of the contract, apparently the third being one for his lawyer to keep.

“My lawyer will get ahold of you in a few hours to get your account number so you have money to take care of whatever you need. Give your landlord a week’s notice, you are moving in with me in the city.”