“Oh, my gosh, did you just call your dick a python? And wait, a dozen times? You’re lying. You just saw me two days ago!”
“Yep, probably gonna do it another dozen times tonight after that little tit-tease you gave me. I’m just gonna be blowin’ dust.”
Lexi couldn’t breathe. She was doubled over laughing like a braying donkey, holding her middle because her abs were hurting so bad.
Ryder pulled her up and kissed her unexpectedly. His kiss was rough, and her giggles turned to chuckles, then to soft needy sounds as he worked her mouth. He eased her back against the Jeep and deepened their kiss, brushed his tongue against hers over and over until her legs buckled. He backed his mouth off hers with a soft, sexy smack, then rested his forehead against hers. “I wanted to taste you while you were laughing.”
“And?” she asked.
“Fucking perfect.” He pushed his hands off the Jeep and left her weak-kneed and wanting, the tease. Chuckling like he found himself very amusing, Ryder pulled the cooler and rolled-up, red blanket out of the back seat. “What did you bring me?”
“I cooked the last meal of a couple’s vacation at lunch, and they had no need for the leftovers since they’re headed to the airport tonight. I don’t know where you live, so I called Alana and asked where you were so I could surprise you.”
“Best surprise ever. Unless you showed up bare-ass naked. Then that would be the best surprise ever.” Ryder winked and made a tick sound behind his teeth. “Tip for next time. Oh, my God, is this blackened catfish and alexander sauce?” he asked as he stared down into a plastic container.
“Yep! It’s got some kick, too.”
“Woman, you’re gonna get an owl baby put in you today.”
Lexi laughed, but really, that didn’t scare her as much as it probably should. Ryder was going to make a very good daddy for some lucky kid someday. She could tell with how tender he was with Sprinkles and how he’d genuinely loved engaging with children the other day at the Taste of Bryson City.
Ryder led her down a squishy trail toward the ATV garage, and when they came to a bog, he let her climb on his back, then carried her, the cooler, and rolled-up blanket through the muck like he didn’t mind mud on his jeans. And all the while, he talked about his and Weston’s plans for this place. She loved the sound of Ryder’s deep, rich voice when he was excited like this.
He backed out a couple of quads and showed her how to use the smaller of the two. Then he strapped the cooler on the back of his with bungie cords and pulled a wide circle, his face in an animated smile as he talked, his eyes following her. Everything slowed, and the moment dragged blissfully on. Ryder had put on a baseball cap backward, and his thin, white V-neck T-shirt was splattered with mud and dirt from the work he’d been doing before she’d shown up. His jeans were old and threadbare at the knees, and his giant work boots were muddy as he shifted gears on his ATV. His lips moved in slow motion with the words he spoke to her, and his blue eyes sparked with happiness.
She loved him.
That’s what this joyous buzzing feeling in her middle was. She’d fallen that deep already.
Time resumed its natural rhythm, and Lexi pressed the throttle, easing her quad into the tracks Ryder had made. After a few minutes of getting used to it, her confidence grew and she felt comfortable enough to speed up. Ryder grinned over his shoulder in a challenge and hit the gas.
His laughter echoed through the woods and flooded her heart as she raced after him, her lungs burning with how hard she was laughing. He led her through mud puddles and around tree stumps. He led her past brambles and brush, up hills and through gently rolling creeks.
This place was beautiful. Ryder was building a business in an enchanted wood, and she had no doubt that tourists would fall in love with the adventure he and Wes would lead them on. Up and up, they climbed sloping hills until Ryder pulled to a stop in a clearing. He cut the engine, hopped off his quad, showed her how to turn hers off, and then helped her down. Her shoes and calves were splattered with dark mud, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care. Ryder didn’t seem like a man who needed his woman perfect.
After Ryder unstrapped the cooler, he pulled Lexi by the hand toward an old, uprooted tree lying on its side. “You ready?” he asked, but the humor had faded from his face.
Her opinion of this place mattered to him.
“Is it special?” she asked.
“It’s where I come when everything gets too heavy.”
His hand went gentle under hers as he helped her over the log. And when she was settled on the ground, she looked up and gasped in awe. The Smoky Mountains stretched on and on in front of them, green waves jutting up gracefully from the earth. The sky above was a rich color of blue, just like Ryder’s eyes. Wisps of white clouds painted the blue canvas in hurried brush strokes.
“Oh Ryder, it’s amazing.” She shouldn’t ask, because it might ruin the moment, but she had to know exactly where she stood with him. “Have you showed this to anyone else?”
When he shook his head, his eyes were raw and honest. “Haven’t wanted to share it with anyone but you.”
Her eyes prickled with emotion, and she jerked her gaze back to the incredible scenery and blinked rapidly. “I think you’re my favorite person,” she whispered, too chicken to look at him.
There was a smile in his voice when he said, “Good.”
Ryder sat on the ground in front of the log and began pulling out their lunch. Lexi sat on the log behind Ryder and leaned on him, hugging his shoulders. He laughed and pulled off his baseball cap, then put it on her head. It was too big and drooped down, which made her laugh. Pulling the rim backward, she rested her chin on his shoulder and opened her mouth for the bite of catfish he offered her on a plastic fork.