Claiming Felicity (Ace Security #4)(27)

“I know. I’m not happy that her letter was apparently the impetus for Rose to kill Ace, but I know I didn’t have anything to do with it.”

“Good. Why don’t you go in there with your brothers,” she said with a tilt of her head, indicating the office.

“I think I will. You okay out here?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Ryder. I’m good. I’ll just go in and help Alexis and Bailey in the kitchen.”

Ryder widened his eyes in mock horror.

“Shut up,” she giggled, then smacked him on the shoulder. “Let me up, you big brute.”

With a grin, Ryder helped her stand. He liked this side of her. Liked their easy-going teasing. Too much of their time together had been intense; he wanted a lifetime of teasing and joking around with her.

When Ryder and his brothers came out of the office an hour later, he felt much better about his relationship with his brothers. None of them were happy with what they’d learned, but with knowing came a certain amount of peace. The Anderson brothers, because they realized that their father had chosen to stay in an awful marriage to protect them; and Ryder, because of the forgiveness they’d extended to his mother for her role, however unintended, in Ace’s murder.

Ryder stopped short at the sight that greeted him when he walked into the large open living area. Grace was fast asleep on the couch with one of the twins snoring on her chest. Bailey was holding the other baby, and she and Alexis had their eyes glued to some reality show on television.

But that wasn’t what caught Ryder’s attention. It was Felicity sitting at the table with Joel. Their heads were together, and she was showing the boy something on a piece of paper. They were so engrossed in what they were doing, neither saw Ryder approach.

“So that’s the easiest way to divide fractions. I agree that multiplying them is much more fun, but if you follow those steps, you can easily do the division,” Felicity was telling Joel softly.

“Cool! You’re just as smart as Nathan,” Joel told Felicity, his eyes staring up at her in awe.

She chuckled. “I don’t know about that. But math is fun. I like it. Numbers make sense. They always work the same way, there’s always a right and wrong answer. You can’t say that about English or a lot of other subjects.”

Joel nodded vigorously. “Yeah, that’s what I think too. Sometimes I don’t understand how to do stuff the way my teacher explains it, but Nathan always helps me when I get home. But you made it even easier to understand than he did last time we tried to do this stuff. Thanks!”

Felicity ruffled his hair and said, “You’re more than welcome.”

Ryder cleared his throat.

“Hey, Ryder,” Joel said, “is Nathan done? I want to show him how Felicity taught me to work these fractions!”

“Yeah, he’s done. Just talking with his brothers about everyday stuff.”

“Cool. Thanks again, Felicity!” he called, and was off like a shot.

Ryder eased into the seat he’d left and looked down at the scrap paper on the table in front of him. It was covered in fractions and math problems. He looked over at Felicity and said, “Math, love?”

She bit her lip and nodded, but didn’t elaborate.

Ryder reached for her arm and straightened it on the table in front of him. With his fingertip, he traced the cursive words on her forearm. “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. I love this.”

“Albert Einstein,” Felicity said softly.

“I know.”

“It . . . it’s about more than math,” she admitted.

Ryder’s heart melted. “I figured as much.” He continued to run his finger up and down her arm, not commenting on the goose bumps that rose as a result of his touch.

Felicity took a deep breath and looked up at him. Instead of seeing fright in her eyes, he saw determination.

“I need your help, Ryder.”

“You got it, love.”

“It’s my college roommate’s boyfriend, he—”

Ryder put his finger over her lips. “Not now, and not here.”

Her brows came down in confusion. “But I thought you wanted me to tell you everything.”

“I do. But I want to make sure you feel safe when you do it. I don’t want there to be any interruptions either.”

“I feel safe now, and what kind of interruptions are—”

As she was speaking, Joel burst back into the room. “Felicity! Nathan says good job! He’s impressed that you know fractions!”

Ryder lifted his eyebrows at Felicity, as if to say, “See?”

“That’s great, Joel.”

“We’ll talk later, love,” Ryder told her, then leaned over and kissed her temple.

With every day that went by, every day he spent with her, Ryder was discovering another facet of Felicity’s personality and true self. He knew she was smart, but seeing her work so easily with Joel had solidified it. He couldn’t remember how to divide fractions if his life depended on it.

He just had to continue to be patient. She’d given him her real name and had said she’d tell him her story. Nothing in his life had felt as good as Felicity’s trust.

Late that night, after a fun dinner with his brothers and a hilarious game of Cards Against Humanity—played while Joel was occupied watching a movie—Ryder led Felicity into the now-closed gym. They nodded at the lone cleaning woman who came in each night to disinfect the locker rooms and make sure all the workout machines were wiped down.