Ricochet (Renegades #3)(75)
Author: Skye Jordan

She smiled as he took her hand and inspected the cut closer. “You look good on your knees.”

He barked a laugh and glanced up, her eyes warm with both sexual heat and pure affection. “I’d get on my knees for you anytime.”

Her smile softened, and her mind muddled. Had he crossed that no-strings, no-complication border he’d promised? The thought created a sudden burn beneath her breastbone. That wouldn’t be good—for either of them. He would be oh so easy to fall for. And he’d be oh so gone in a couple of weeks.

He cleaned her scrape with hydrogen peroxide, pulled the skin together, and secured it there with Steri strips, then covered the whole thing with a couple of Band-Aids. “There. Do you want some ibuprofen?”

“No, I’m okay.” She sighed, suddenly exhausted. She lifted her hand, opening and closing her fingers, testing the feel. “Thanks for…humoring my insanity.”

He smiled. “Let’s tuck you in.”

He pulled off her cowboy boots with a shake of his head. “Never thought these would turn me on.” Then he stood, moved to the head of the bed, and pulled the covers back. “Come on, get in.”

He was really just going to put her to bed and leave? That didn’t sound appealing to Rachel at all. “I’ve got a lot of work—”

“You’ll be more productive rested. I’m not leaving until you’re under the covers with your pretty little head on the pillow.”

She sighed. That sounded so good. Maybe just a quick nap. Then she could stay up late and work in peace while everyone was in bed.

She turned and crawled across the bed, sliding under the covers. Nathan covered her up and lowered to one knee beside the bed. The move made her wonder if Dante had gotten down on one knee to propose to Nicole. Rachel expected a rush of anger. The burn of hurt and betrayal. But she only felt pity. A welcome change.

Nathan leaned over and pressed a kiss to her forehead, then stood.

She caught his hand. The move had been instinctual, unconscious, and now she didn’t know what to do or say when he lifted a quizzical brow.

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

“Load the truck for tomorrow. Find all the people who were looking for me today. Go over the blast protocol with my guys.”

“You’re ready? To blast?”

“First stage is ready.”

“But we don’t have cameramen—”

“Jax promised they’d be here first thing. And Marx will be back in the morning.” He leaned in and stroked her hair. “Everything is taken care of, honey. Get some rest.”

He pulled his hand from hers and stepped away from the bed. Rachel sat up. “Stay.” As soon as she realized how confusing that invitation could be, she added, “Just lay down and talk with me a few minutes. I’m too wound up to sleep.”

He released a breath and rounded the bed. “Just a few minutes. I have a lot still to do tonight.”

On the opposite side of the bed, he stretched out, propped his head on his hand, and stretched his other hand across her waist. “Close your eyes.”

She covered his arm with her hands and stroked his tight muscle, warm skin, toyed with the crisp hair on his forearm. “Thanks.”

They fell into silence. Rachel couldn’t keep her eyes closed, and Nathan didn’t nag her again. His gaze remained on her hands stroking his arm, his expression serious.

After a few minutes, he said, “How long were you two together?”

She knew he meant Dante. “Two years.”

“Do you still love him?”

“God, no.” She lifted her gaze to Nathan’s. “I don’t think I ever really did.”

“Then why the animosity toward your sister?”

“The betrayal,” she said. “She’s my sister. He was my lover. Other than my parents, there was no one I trusted more.”

He nodded. “How did it happen?”

She cleared her throat and threaded their fingers, her gaze on their hands. “I met Dante through my parents. He was the son of one of my father’s customers. He was doing his residency at the time, and he was ridiculously busy. I was managing my father’s business. We struggled to see each other. And there was always a lot of stress. We tried living together, but it didn’t help. He’d just come home from those long hours and fall asleep. But I was looking at the big picture. The long term. I knew the rough times were temporary, so I stuck it out, believing it would pay off in our future.”

She was softening the conflict. In reality, they’d moved in together to alleviate Dante’s financial struggle. She’d worked, making twice what he did in residency. All his money went to paying off his loans, so all Rachel’s went to their living expenses. She’d done that believing in the future Dante had continually promised her.

“After residency, he got a fellowship back east. It was an increase in pay with a guarantee of a great paying position when he was finished,” she continued. “Stupid me, I thought it was the light at the end of the tunnel, so when he said he wanted to move out there alone and get settled before I moved too, I just saw it as another step in the process.”

She sighed and lifted her gaze to the blinds covering the single window. “But Dante never planned on having me move. He was done with the relationship and took a cowardly way out. After six months of cat-and-mouse, he told me he was seeing someone else. Then told me it was Nicole.”

The memory still felt like a knife in her gut. “They saw each other at my cousin’s wedding in Martha’s Vineyard and slept together that first night—just a month after he’d moved. They kept up the affair, flying back and forth across the US to see each other in secret. On a long weekend, I hopped a flight to surprise him—”

“Oh no…”

“Yes.” She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead, forcing the memory away. “It was ugly. They had been screwing for five months while I still thought Dante and I were together. Man, I’ve never felt like such a fool.”

When she paused, he asked, “How long ago was that?”

“About six months,” she said. “My father’s sister passed away right around the same time. She didn’t get along with my father but loved Nicole and me and left us her house here in LA. My parents weren’t happy with Nicole and Dante, but our family had always been so close, the rift between my sister and me was killing them. They wanted what we’d always had, and since I was always the giver in the family and Nicole was always the taker, they expected me to forgive, forget, and accept Nicole and Dante’s relationship.”