Then it hit me. She wasn’t telling him she was hurt. Grinning from ear to ear, I made my way to the shower. Operation: Win Ryn Back had officially begun.
WHEN DODGE MENTIONED HEADING BACK to South Padre, I had to control myself. I about yelled out no in my panicked state. I definitely didn’t want him knowing I sprained my ankle. He would have dropped everything to come back down and that was the last thing I wanted. Not when I was sitting in the middle of Tristan’s living room and he was giving me one hundred percent of his attention.
Dodge was on the other end of the phone talking to someone at his club. “Just leave the delivery at the back door; I’ll take care of it.”
Closing my eyes, I did the one thing I wasn’t totally sure I should be doing. “Dodge, we’ll talk when I get back to Austin. Right now I just need some time to clear my head.”
“Ryn, baby, you know I care about you. If you want to take this relationship further, I’m totally in all the way.”
Letting out a breath, I whispered, “I know. I’m just not sure where I see us going.”
Silence. “Ryn, I’m falling for you. You have to see that.”
Dropping my head back against the sofa, I shook it slowly. Fuck me. Why do I have the wrong guy wanting to make a future together? “I do. I just don’t want to rush into something because I’m trying to forget someone else. I like being with you, Dodge, it’s fun and there are no expectations. Can we just keep it like that at least until after the holidays?” Hearing his frustration over the phone, he whispered, “Yeah, baby. I’ll talk to you when you get back.”
“Okay, talk to you soon.”
Hanging up I felt a bit of pressure removed. Dodge was just supposed to be my rebound fuck buddy. Then it changed to just my fuck buddy. I liked it that way. I had no expectations of him having to romance me. We were just having fun. I had to admit I enjoyed his company, but he didn’t make me feel alive like Tristan did. His touch didn’t cause my stomach to drop. His smile didn’t melt my insides completely.
Turning, I glanced toward the stairs. Tristan could be unbelievably sweet when he wanted to. I’d never let him know I heard him talking to me last night when he came in to check on me. Tristan whispered how he wished he could take the pain away and I almost called out to him when he began to leave.
Looking straight ahead, I admitted to myself what I had been so desperately trying to push away.
I was still in love with Tristan and I didn’t want to get over him.
Ugh. I wanted him so damn much. It was all I dreamt about.