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Annabelle grinned this time before both girls waved and turned away.

Alone at last. It was strange to have this feeling. I’d imagined the whole ‘meeting Ryan’s family’ going much differently in my head. I expected his sisters to question whether I was good enough for their brother but I never imagined being in the center of a family feud.

I walked over to the bed and eyed Ryan’s and my overnight bags sitting on top. My handbag was also there. I reached over and pulled out my cell before collapsing on the mattress.

There was a text from Derek and a missed call from Connor.

I called Connor first but it went straight to voicemail. He was most likely to be in a meeting at this time so I sent him a text asking him to call me back before reading the text from Derek. Derek was asking whether Ryan’s family was nice and if we’d christened his childhood bed.

You are gross! His family is nice, except one sister and to answer your question. No. I’ve hardly spent anytime with Ryan.

His reply was immediate.
Who is it? I’m not scared to set her straight. She better not mess with my girl!

I smiled and typed back a response.
Nothing I can’t handle. What are you doing?

On set for a commercial. Just texting you while I wait for them to set up the next shot.

Fun! Well, I’m currently texting you while alone in a bedroom.

If I were straight this could get exciting.

You’re crazy. Have fun at the shoot.

Make fun in the bedroom ;-)

I rolled my eyes and dropped my phone on the bed.

“Who do I have to knock out for the goofy little grin on your face?”

I gasped at the sound of Ryan’s voice suddenly in the room. I tried to sit up but he’d marched over and grabbed hold of both my wrists with his hands, pinning me down before I could even manage. “So, are you going to tell me?” he asked settling between my legs. His large body hovered over mine, his lips slightly brushing my cheek. My body shuddered at the gentle touch.

“Derek. He just said something funny that’s all,” I replied, closing my eyes.

“Did he? What did he say?” Ryan whispered close to my ear, before licking the lobe.

“I told him to have fun at the shoot he’s on and he told me to ‘make fun in the bedroom’.”

“
Hmm…
” Ryan released one of my wrists, letting his hand drop to my bare thigh. I inhaled a sharp breath as his hand made its way up the inside of my thigh, taking my dress along with it. “I have an idea of what we can do for fun.”

My legs parted willingly as his fingers slipped inside my underwear and slid against my wet folds. I was under his spell. There was no way of escaping now.

“Bella, you’re so wet and ready for me.” A loud moan escaped me as a finger pushed inside. Ryan quickly silenced it with a hungry, greedy kiss.

As soon as he released my other wrist, I reached for his jeans and quickly undid the button. They were half way off when I suddenly froze. “What’s wrong, Bella?” Ryan asked, pulling away just enough so that I could see his face. His fingers stilled but remained inside of me.

“Ryan, we’re at your mother’s house. We shouldn’t be doing this sort of stuff here, and definitely not when the house is full.”

Ryan searched my face for a moment before chuckling and then pressing a firm kiss on my forehead. “What if we’re quiet?”

“
Ryan
…”

“I need to be inside you, Evangeline. You help take everything away.”

My brows furrowed. “What do you mean by that?”

He removed his fingers and stared at my face for a moment before sighing and rolling off. I was grateful for the heavy weight off me, but I immediately missed having him so close. “Do you want to talk about what happened with your sisters?” I asked in a low voice, turning on my side to face him.

His eyes never left the ceiling as he slowly shook his head from side to side, his face expressionless. “No, not really. Shit. I shouldn’t have brought you here. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Ouch.
“I don’t understand your decision either but I’m okay with being here.” A tiny smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. “Besides Gabriella, the rest of your family has been wonderful. Your sisters are lovely and your mother is a beautiful woman but…”

“But?” Ryan slowly turned his head to face me. My faint smile disappeared.

Oh God
. With his eyes on me I felt my protective barrier crumble into tiny pieces around me. Taking a deep breath I continued. I’d waited long enough; I needed the answers. “But what does your mother think about us? About
our
situation?”
Ohgodohgod
… “I mean… outside you said what we have is complicated. I get that, but is it always going to be like this?”

“You want us to be exclusive?” he questioned, watching me with those beautiful but intimidating eyes.

“
No!
” I retorted.
“I mean I don’t know what I want…”
It’s just hard to keep doing what we’re doing without having feelings for you!

“I can’t do relationships, Evangeline,” he replied, his eyes dropping to the mattress. My eyes followed his gaze.
You mean you can’t be a one-woman guy.

The thought of Ryan being with other women sickened me, but why? I got myself into this; there was no one else to blame but myself. I was well aware of the type of man he was from the start. I shouldn’t have let it get this far if I never wanted my feelings to get involved. But the guy was so hard to resist, he knew that and played it to his advantage. Still, I should’ve known better than to get caught up. On top of that, the press were having a field day trying to figure out whether we were actually a couple or not, taking photos of us whenever they could. If only they knew the real situation at hand, but would they listen to the truth? From past experiences I doubted that very much.

I found myself wondering how many other girls Ryan had been with since we met and whether I actually wanted to know the answer to that question when Ryan interrupted. “I haven’t been with anyone else since you, Evangeline, if that makes you feel better.”

I glanced up to find him staring at me again. “It shouldn’t matter whether you have or not,” I managed to reply. It hurt hearing the words come out of my own mouth, but it was the truth and I had to face it.

“But it matters to you, therefore it matters to me.” He lifted a hand and placed it on my cheek. “I know I have a reputation, and the media harass you because of it, but that’s only one side of me, Evie.” His use of my nickname should have troubled me but it didn’t, I didn’t even tense this time. “If things were different, if they were easier and I wasn’t afraid of possibly losing you forever, I’d share the rest of me. I’d give you everything and do anything you want of me…”

Huh?

“Ryan, what are you trying to say? I’m fine with the person next to me. He’s more than I could ever want.”

“To hear you say that once you knew the truth,” he whispered caressing my cheek with his thumb.

I searched his face for a long time, trying to figure out what he meant by that.

CHAPTER 20

“
Bella
?” A soft whisper in my ear woke me up.
Huh?

I opened my eyes and found myself nestled underneath a blanket, my head on the pillow and Ryan’s head resting against the crook of my neck with his firm, strong arm wrapped around me. How’d I end up like this?

“What happened?” I asked, trying to recall the last event in my head.

Ryan chuckled. “I mustn’t be very interesting company because you fell asleep on me.”

“I
did
?”

I felt him nod against me, his stumble tickling my neck.

That was odd. I wasn’t even tired.

“I wanted to let you sleep but Sera insisted that I wake you for dinner. She thought you’d be hungry,” he said, lightly running the tips of his fingers against my side.

Dinner?
Oh my God
.
That meant I’d been asleep for at least a few hours.
How rude of me! But Serafina was right about the hungry part; I was starving. “I’m so sorry, Ryan. Is she mad? I can’t believe I was so rude. We have to get down there now.”

“Calm down, Evie. She’s not mad. She’s worried but not mad.”

“
Wait
… she’s worried? Of what?” I shifted so that we were facing each other.

“I’m not sure.” He shrugged. “She hounded me with questions on whether I was looking after you properly, whatever that means.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered softly.

A tiny crease appeared in the middle of his brows. “Stop saying sorry. It’s fine. It’s just Sera being Sera,” he replied, lightly kissing the tip of my nose.

I closed my eyes and before I knew it my mouth had found his. First, they were gentle and soft, which quickly escalated into strong and hungry kisses that left me wanting more. Ryan pulled me closer so that we were firmly pressed up against each other. His fingers trailed down my spine, leaving a hot blaze in their wake, then firmly squeezed my ass.

I’d just managed to reach around and wrap my arm around his neck when he suddenly pulled away. “Baby, I want inside of you so bad but everyone’s waiting for us downstairs,” he said with a devious smirk.

Dinner! Shoot, I’d almost forgotten.
I immediately let him go and sat up straight. “Oh my God, your family is going to hate me,” I complained, reaching up to try and fix my tangled hair.

Ryan sat up beside me and grabbed both my hands with his before threading his fingers through mine. “No they’re not. You’re impossible to hate.”

Yeah right,
I wanted to say but he lifted my hand to his mouth and pressed his lips on the top of my palm before I had the chance to get the words out. “Let’s go down…” he started, looking up at me from under his thick, long lashes. “Before I change my mind and have you spread out and tied up to each bed post.”

“
Ryan!
” I scowled. I managed to pull a hand away and attempted to give him a light slap on the shoulder but with a laugh, he swiftly dodged the move.

****

Dinner went surprisingly better than I’d expected. I was seated beside Annabelle and Ryan, who kept resting his hand on my thigh. I continuously flicked it away, despite earning myself a gentle squeeze each time his hand returned. It was hard to keep myself from turning and telling him off.

Serafina had cooked an amazing, mouth-watering Italian dish, which tasted so good I asked for seconds, receiving stunned reactions from all but Serafina, who just had a strange, proud smile on her face the entire night.

Annabelle did most of the talking, rambling on about cute boys, college and everything else teenage girls liked to talk about. And when she finally got the chance to speak, Chiara shared stories about life in Australia with her husband and children.

The two girls then went on to talk about their other sister, Liliana, who wasn’t able to make it over.

Gabriella barely spoke the entire time. She laughed a few times at some of the stories Chiara shared about her kids and added a few comments here and there throughout the dinner, but not once did she bother to acknowledge me. If I spoke she ignored me, if somebody directly asked me a question she would pretend she was busy doing something else like, moving food around on her plate or helping herself to another glass of wine. It wasn’t until after dinner and I was alone in the kitchen with her that she decided to speak to me.

“What’s your deal?”

“
Excuse me?
” I stopped drying the plate I had in my hands and turned to face her.

Gabriella still had her hands in the sink water but her narrowed eyes were securely locked on me.