Claiming Felicity (Ace Security #4)(31)

He thought she might get emotional after hearing his intention, but he’d expected tears. Not the huge smile that spread across her face.

“You’re moving here,” she stated.

“Yeah,” he confirmed.

“I want that,” she said firmly. “I’ve never felt about someone the way I feel about you. I want to see where we can go. But I need to get this asshole making my life a living hell to fuck off first.”

He smiled back at her. “As much as I like this new attitude, I’m a bit confused by it,” He admitted. “What brought on the change? Last night you were scared and unsure about me being here still. Now you’re not. Why?”

“I thought about everything after I went to bed last night.”

“Everything?”

“Yeah. Everything. Joseph. My mom. How I got here to Castle Rock. Grace and what she went through and how happy she is now. Alexis and Blake, and even Bailey and Nathan. Hell, Joel has been braver than I’ve been recently. And I got mad. That asshole doesn’t have the right to do this to me. He doesn’t have the right to ruin my life. But the thing is, he only ruins my life if I let him. When I was twenty, I wasn’t experienced enough to know how to fight back. Then, all I knew was running and hiding. But since I don’t have to hide anymore, Joseph knows where I am, and I like living here, I decided that I would do whatever it took to help you help me.”

“Come here,” Ryder ordered, holding out an arm.

Without hesitation, Felicity took the few steps to get to his side. She snuggled into him, and he closed his arms around her. He kissed the top of her head, then vowed, “You won’t regret this.”

She picked up her head and looked up at him. “I know I won’t. Ryder?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re gonna make love to me, right?”

He about choked, but he immediately said, “Absolutely.”

She dropped her cheek back to his shoulder and nodded. “Good. It’s been a long time for me, and honestly, I wasn’t sure I’d ever trust anyone enough to let them get that close to me again. But even though we haven’t known each other that long, I trust you more than I have anyone in my entire life.”

Ryder took a deep breath. “It’s been a while for me too, love. And you know, I hope, that I trust you the same way. I wouldn’t have told you about Zariya if I didn’t.”

“I know. I thought about that last night too. I’m not saying I’m ready to drag you to my bed right this second, but I wanted you to know that I’m going to do everything in my power to fight back this time. If Grace could do it, and have her happily ever after, I can too.”

They stood wrapped in each other’s arms for a long moment, then Ryder palmed her nape and urged her back. When she looked up at him, he said, “All you have in your fridge is egg whites and V8 juice. Feel like going out for breakfast?”

She smiled up at him and nodded. “Yeah, I can do that.”

“Good.” He didn’t push her to tell him everything right that second. For now, Ryder needed to make sure Felicity felt safe, that she knew she not only had him, but his brothers as well, at her back. Now that he knew they were on the same page when it came to a relationship, the urgency to have her under him had lessened.

But knowing they’d eventually get there had eased the caveman inside of him. She was already his; the lovemaking would come.



They didn’t make it to breakfast. When they’d gone downstairs, Cole had informed them that he’d received a call from the electric company wanting verification that they wanted to end their service. As they were discussing it, the alarm company called with the same request.

By the time lunch came around, they’d heard from two other companies who wanted to verify the cancellation of services, and when they’d made a preemptive call to check on their lease, they found that the owner of the building had also been informed that they would be shutting down the gym.

It had taken all day to clear up the misunderstandings. At first Felicity assumed it was just a simple mistake with the electric company, but as time went on, and as more and more companies contacted them about severing services, the ball of fury in Felicity’s gut grew. As she’d told Ryder that morning, she was no longer scared—she was furious.

She had no doubt Joseph was behind everything. He’d done the same thing to her before. Except then she hadn’t found out that the landlord had rented her apartment to someone else until it was too late. The electricity had shut off one day, and when she’d called about it, she’d been informed that they had a record of her canceling it because she said she’d be moving.

Ryder had hovered around her office as she and Cole dealt with the various businesses and reassured them they were not going anywhere as well as put in safeguards to prevent the same thing from happening in the future. Ryder had gone out and gotten them both lunch and had placed the sandwiches on their desks without a word.

When six o’clock rolled around, Ryder came into the office and declared that she was done for the day.

Cole had agreed. “There’s nothing more we can do today when everyone’s closed. I’m pretty sure we got ahold of everyone important. The water delivery and laundry service will continue. I haven’t been able to get ahold of the cleaning service, but when Mrs. Hanley shows up, if she shows up, I’ll have a talk with her and verify that we want to continue using her services. Thanks for your help today, Felicity.”