Stealing Ryder (2 page)

“I know you
’re scared, Kylee, and I know I hurt you, but I swear to you, if you ever call Harper a bitch or anything along those same lines again, I will make your life hell. Hell, do you understand that?” My voice was low, but echoed determination and anger.

“Whatever, Ry. You and I both know she isn’t the right girl for you anyways.”

I pushed past her, not even acknowledging her statement. As I walked into the living room, I saw Evelyn playing with one of her numerous Barbie doll sets. I smiled, remembering the many times I’ve played prince to her princess; because while the guys I used to play football with would laugh at that sight, I treasured the moments I could protect little Evelyn from the evils of the world. She would always be Daddy’s little girl in my eyes.

“Hey princess, you ready to go to
Daddy’s house?” I asked the very distracted little girl.

“Daddy!” she exclaimed in the small yet high-pitched voice of hers.

She ran up to where I was standing. When she reached me, I reached down to her and whisked her up to my chest, where she nuzzled into my neck.

“I love you so much
, princess,” I whispered in her ear.

Kylee, who was standing beh
ind us, coughed to interrupt.

“Go grab your bag upstairs
, Evie,” Kylee said, calling Evelyn by her nickname and gesturing the little girl upstairs.

I knew she wanted to t
alk to me. The reason I was pissed about coming over here in the first place was because I knew this was going to come to a head. She was miserable here, probably ‘cause she couldn’t get laid. More over, she couldn’t find friends to deal with her crap; and now that I had finally moved on, she was trying to punish me. She was still convinced our parents were right.

Since we were little
, our parents had this grand idea that we were goin’ to end up marryin’ each other. I can remember her settin’ up little make-believe weddings. Our relationship didn’t really grow until college though, when we both went to University of Texas.

I had been fooling around in college. I loved women and sex; there was nothing much more to it than that. I liked
the way a woman could make me feel as though I was pleasurin’ ‘em. I loved makin’ them scream my name, calling it out as I pushed harder and deeper. I liked pussy.

My parents, on the other hand, were convinced I needed to be with Kylee. She was desperate. She clung to me and did whatever I needed. If I couldn’t find ass that night, she was right there, clothes off
, willin’ and waitin’.

My parents had this idea
that their prodigy son wouldn’t be playin’ football as a profession. I remember Pops telling me that football was only good for my resume, but that I would take over his precious law firm one day. When I played for University of Texas, my parents were angry and upset because I took football more seriously than school. I was good. I loved hearing the crowd roar and chant my name when I would throw the ball into the end zone. Mom and Pops didn’t come to a single game; and when I started barely sliding by in school, they realized I would surmount to nothing. So they’d cut me off. They left their kid for the dust. 

I had to make my own way so, thank Heaven, the Houston Texans drafted me that year. I worked my ass off at practice for them, making them feel as though their 1.5 million dollar contract was useful
; but Kylee had other plans. Her parents and my parents got together to create this plan to make me take over Pop’s law firm. They told Kylee to get off birth control and do what she did with me, which implied fuckin’ me.

She had convinced herself that in order to make her parents happy, she had to take drastic means to be with me
. So when I was in my first year in the NFL with the Texans, she stopped taking her birth control to get pregnant. One drunken night, when I couldn’t find a chick to take home, I crawled into her small, twin-size bed and fucked her blind. When I found out she was pregnant, a brick came down and crashed onto my shit-hole life I was living in. My buddies convinced me my life was ruined. I didn’t believe her at first. I thought it was some idea she created in her head to get me to stay with her; but sure enough, the DNA test came back and proved I was the father.

So later on, th
ere I was with a football injury, a pregnant fuck-buddy, and no other direction in life. I married her because I thought maybe that would make Mom and Pops happy. Wrong.

They were miserable with me because I told them that even though my football career was over, I wasn’t going back to them. I was never going to work at that godforsaken law firm
, and they simply had to accept it. I could remember Pop’s saying things like:

“Son, you have a family now
; you have to support them, and football won’t support them forever.” They shunned me from the family when I insisted that I wasn’t going to law school.

When I left Houston
, because I couldn’t handle my parent’s disappointment and disapproving glares, Kylee followed me like a lost puppy. I almost felt bad that she had no direction in life. She had no goals, no motivation, absolutely nothin’. I tried making it work with her, but it just couldn’t
.
We slept in separate rooms, only waking up to feed or change the baby. I started sleepin’ around again, fuckin’ women to get my primal need out. We broke it off, but I vowed to her and to Evelyn that I was a father for life; and just because I wasn’t with Kylee anymore, didn’t mean that I couldn’t be a father to Evelyn.

“Ry
,” she said, sliding up towards me. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at her. She was hot; I couldn’t deny it. And any other time, I would have taken those hands she was moving along my biceps and thrust them behind her, but I didn’t have that need anymore. All I kept thinkin’ about was Harper. It wasn’t until I met Harper that I realized there was so much more to it. Sex with her was different. I want to wrap her little body around me. I craved her scent and took her all in. I wanted to make love to her every time we were together. When Kylee started to contort her thin body around me, all I could think of was Harper, whose gentle curvature of her boobs and ass sent me into a flurry of excitement.

I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Kylee’s breathing become slow and heavy. I looked up and saw her starin
’ at me with her version of seductive eyes. She has these deep, black bags under her eyes. Her vulnerability and stress almost made me feel some resemblance of emotion for her. I didn’t want to torture her with confusion. It was never meant to be like this, us together. Nothing was supposed to happen this way.

FUCK.

Her face went to meet mine, as she breathed heavily a few inches from me.
She was rubbing against me, and my bastard of a dick responded.  My cock and my heart aren't always on the same page.
I would have taken Kylee right here on the stairs, but Harper isn’t just someone. Harper is whom I’m supposed to be with, and I would never do anything to hurt her. She will always be mine. Forever.

“Kylee
,” I said, pushing her away before this went any further.

“
Ry, I don’t get it. We are meant to be together. We were married, we have a baby, and our families want us together. I just don’t get it; what could go wrong?” she asked in a quiet voice that reeked of desperation.

“A lot went wrong. You want me to be a lawyer…”

“But that is what you are suppose to be! Football clearly didn’t work out for you, and now you sit on your...”

“That is enough
,” I screamed with force.

“I do not want to hear anything else
; do you understand, Kylee? I am not with you, and never will be again. I thought you liked Harper? I thought you didn’t mind her around Evelyn?” I asked her with genuine curiosity.

“Ry, she doesn’t pretend like she is a mom with Evelyn does she?” she finally choked out when she was able to speak.

This caught me off guard. I knew where she was coming from. She felt as though I replaced her with Harper
, and now Harper was going to replace her as a mom. I would never let that happen. Harper knew she was always going to be someone important in Evelyn’s life, but Kylee would always be her mom.

“I can promise you that will never happen. Evelyn will always see you as
Mom. How can she not? You feed her, dress her, and love her more than my own mother even loves me. You are a good mom, Kylee, just not the right person for me.”

“I want to go home.”

“You are home,” I said with force, trying to emphasize that her new base is San Diego, not Houston.

“My parents want me to come home
; they want to see Evie. I can go work with my dad as a secretary in his office. My old friends always ask me when I am moving back; I just want to go home.”

“No. What about me?” I demanded
, trying to keep my voice as steady as I possibly could.

“Come back to Houston. You can go to law school, work for your dad. Come with me
,” she begged.

“Not an option
,” I said, knowing I would never leave Harper alone here. And I didn’t want to ever face my parents again. In the four years since I left home, I’ve never once went to face the pieces of shit that birthed me. Why go back when I have everything here?

“I
can’t stay here; you know I can’t,” she said in a quiet voice; and without saying much more, Evelyn came bounding down the stairs with her little Barbie princess backpack on.

“Look
, Daddy!” she exclaimed, while showing me the front of her backpack with the Barbie’s face plastered on the plastic.

“Just like you
, hunny,” I said, lifting her up and bringing the rest of her stuff outside to the truck.

The conversation between Kylee and
me was over…for now. I had to talk to her more about it on Sunday. It would be settled then. Evelyn wouldn’t be confronted with two obviously-fighting parents. It was wrong.

Just as I
was about to carry her outside and into the car, I heard Kylee shout, “Wait!”

I turned around and saw Kylee running from the inside of the house.

I turned around, with Evelyn still in my arms, and Kylee came up to both of us. She went up on her tiptoes to kiss Evelyn on the forehead, and whispered loud enough in her ears so I could hear.

“I love you
, baby,” she said and kissed her forehead. I leaned down so she could kiss Evelyn’s forehead. She snuck in and pecked me on the cheek.

“I love you
, too, and always will. Think about Houston.”

I turned around and walke
d back to my truck, shifting the car seat, making sure it was in right. Kylee would always be a part of my family; and while I loved Harper, I wondered if I was doing the right thing. If Kylee left, I knew my life in San Diego would follow; how hard would Harper be willing to work if I was thousands of miles away?

Chapter 2

Harper

The sun
seeped back into the room, and I barely remembered Ryder leaving this morning to go surfing. I spun myself around in his sheets and pressed my toes against the cold wooden floors of his mansion. When I pressed the button to open the shades, the breath in my lungs stopped as I saw the entire ocean cascading into the shore right beneath my feet. It still shook me up that Ryder was not only the owner of this magnificent house, but he was all mine. He owned my every thought, fantasy, and desire I had. He saved me from my past, and from myself. I haven’t had one of my nightmares in the month I’ve been with him, and we haven’t spent but a couple nights apart.

I tucked in the sheet over my breast and walked around his room. When Ryder went out surfing, which had been
frequently lately, I liked to explore his house and make a nice breakfast that he and Evelyn could come home to.

I ran my hands along his football
trophies, which were sitting on the shelf across from his desk. He was so proud of them, just as he was of Evelyn. I grabbed a picture frame, which was next to one of his all-star trophies, and looked at it with a scowl on my face.

It was a moment captured of Kylee and Ryder
, with little Evelyn playing on the beach. It looked like it was some sort of professional photo, and was clearly staged. I knew she was always going to be in his life, but it bothered me. I felt as though I had gone through sharing my past with him, and now I have to share his past with the present.

Just as I was studying the frame, I heard a car enter through the carport downstairs. Quickly, I grabbed my sweatpants
and a light, racerback tank top over my white bra. I went down the stairs to meet Ryder outside, and saw Evelyn hopping down from the truck.

“Harper!”
she screamed, which came out more like hah-puh. She bounded towards me, and I picked her up in a hug.

“Go inside
, Evelyn. I was about to start making some breakfast, but I think Daddy can make you pancakes if you ask nicely enough.”

“Can we have pancakes,
Daddy?”

She ran inside while Ryder came slinking towards me. He had a way
about him when he walked; there was a contrast with the gentle ease of how cool he looked, but his slumped shoulders told me he was angry at something that happened. This was usually the case when he’d seen Kylee recently. He would come home distant and irritated.

“
What’s wrong, baby?” I asked with caution, afraid I would step on his toes. It was something I was used to that bothered Ryder. I was always scared he was going to run away— away to the more logical choice he had. Away to the family he had created years ago. Desperation leaked through my voice, and Ryder immediately snapped his head around.

“
Stop actin’ crazy woman. There ain’t nothing wrong, and you know it. You
know
how much I hate when you question me.” He emphasized the “know” and I was struck by the dominance in his voice. Normally, he was loving, and would reassure my anxiety; but this was unlike him. A sting of pain coursed through my bones, and my body pulled away from his. My shoulders slumped down and my heart started beating faster.

“No. I am so sorry.” His voice turned back
to the compassionate man I remembered. He walked towards me, wrapped his muscular arms ever so lightly around my back, and squeezed me against his strong chest.

“I am just so stressed out with Kylee. She says she wants to move back to Houston.”

My jaw must have dropped to the ground. I had no idea she was even considering moving back to Houston. I knew Ryder loved me with all his heart, but he was a parent first. And if he moved to Texas, he would go back to her. He didn’t have anything here but me, and I wasn’t good enough. I would always be the one on the sidelines supporting him and loving him, but never being good enough. My past taught me not to get too close, so I couldn’t even imagine getting close to him.

“I am not going back, just to let you know
. So stop thinking about it, Harper. Please,” he said, as he graced his velvet and plush lips against mine, sending a wave of electricity pulsing through my body. He wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me up.

I wrapped my
arms around his strong chest and felt each definition of his abs pressed against my breasts. As our kiss deepened, a small moan escaped my mouth, and we were swept into our own world. A sizzle ran through my bones, as I demanded to taste more of his body. He ran his large hands through my hair, tugging slightly through the ends, making my core crave him.

“Ewwww
,” a little voice squeaked, and I immediately jumped down, hitting my ankle in the wrong place as I landed. I turned around, mortified that Evelyn was standing right there at the door with her hand to her mouth, sticking out her tongue.

“Daddy is kissing Harp
er. Ew.” She thought this was the funniest thing that had ever happened, and started busting out in the cutest giggle I have ever heard. I wasn’t sure how to react, but when I heard a hearty laugh, I turned around and saw Ryder laughing hysterically. He had his hands over his abs, clutching on as he crouched over, letting out a wonderful belly-laugh. He ran over to Evelyn and lifted her off the ground, spinning her around a couple times, and throwing her in the air.

“What’s so funny, little gal?” She couldn’t contain her laughter
, and the cute giggle turned into a full belly–laugh, as wonderful as her daddy’s.

It was precious moments like this that my worries escaped
me and I was brought back to the present, instead of living with my thoughts constantly in the past. A short moment captured, but impacted long into the future. A small smile from a bright, little five-year-old girl could bring happiness to the entire room. I ran up to both of them and pulled them both into a huge bear hug.

“Who is ready for some of
Daddy’s famous pancakes now?” I asked, looking Ryder right in the deep pools of his blue eyes.

“Me
,” he said, staring straight at me without hesitation, as if to tell me he is ready for this, for us. He isn’t going to Houston without coming up with a solution or some sort of schedule. I could relax…hopefully.

“Let me go get the mail, then I’ll be right behind you guys.” I always checked the mail because Ryder had a tendency to forget mail ever came. It was such a typical guy thing.
I opened the box at the end of the driveway and flipped through a couple bills. One letter struck me as odd because it appeared to be something formal with Ryder’s name in calligraphy. Interesting.

When I walked back inside
, I could smell the wafting scent of butter.

“I got your mail
, babe; it’s on the front table. You look like you have some formal invitation or something.” I approached him while he stooped down to be on my level, and gave him a small kiss against his cheek.

“It smells delicious in here, doesn’t it Evelyn?” I asked the small
, female version of Ryder, who was perfectly perched on the table, waiting anxiously for her pancakes.

“Yum
!” she exclaimed while rubbing her belly.

When the pancakes were ready, Ryder divided them out and gave us each a couple on a plate. When I looked down
, I noticed both Evelyn and I had two heart-shaped pancakes on our plates.

“Heart
,” she busted out, before diving into her food. 

“How sweet
,” I whispered, before giving him another quick peck on the lips.

“Anything for the most important people in my life.” He smiled
at me and I felt the butterflies flutter through my stomach. Even though we had been practically living together, the excitement of seeing him show his love for me never fades. I never knew what real love could be like.

I was never loved by my pa
rents, or by Tye, my abusive ex, so I don’t know what real love looks like. I am trying to learn everyday what it means to be fully immersed in deep unconditional love, but it’s hard. I still have my flaws, like everyone else, but the pain from my past sometimes leaks into my present.

As I start
ed to dive into the buttery goodness of my pancakes, I engaged in conversation with Evelyn about her new daycare friends, her life, and her favorite princess of the week.

“Do you like my daddy?”
she asked me out of the blue. Not sure of how to respond, I looked over to Ryder, who doesn’t react to the question.

“Of course I like your daddy. He means a lot to me, just like he means to you.”

“I love my daddy, so do you love my daddy?” she asked, a very curious five-year–old, indeed.

“I do love your daddy
. Is it okay with you if I share him?”

“Yeah, I like you
,” she said, diving into the last bites of her pancake.

“I love both
a’you,” Ryder finally said, as he peeped up from his phone. His stare could captivate me, and right now, in this moment, I felt lost in the deep abyss of his eyes. The windows behind him showed the blue ocean that cascaded gently into the shore, which matched the powerful stare of his turquoise eyes. His gaze radiated through my body, gravitating through the deepest parts of my core.

Just as I was about to respond
, my phone buzzed, indicating a new text message coming in. It could only be from one person, Skye, my go-to girlfriend, who was busy stressing about her wedding, which was in a year.

S.O.S. Need your help. ASAP. Come to flower shop in dtwn, San Diego.

XOXO

Skye

She was suppose to be picking out the different types of floral arrangements today with her fiancé Jayson, but I assumed that he had to go away on business. He worked with his family at some financial planning company, and frequently had to travel to meet with different clients. The more I got to know him this last month, the more I knew him and Skye were perfect for each other. He grounded her, and loved her for who she was. The bubbly, slightly annoying, but best friend I would ever have. He listened to her when she talked about her family in a serious manner, explaining how she never really had a home with a mom and dad in it; but he also endured her overzealous attitude that, many times, people considered over-the-top.

“Who is it?” Ryder asked
, as he saw me checking my phone. He worried I would fall back into old patterns and start being interested in hooking up with other men. His insecurities about keeping me around were annoying at times, but the newfound dominance kept me interested, and kept everything spicy.

“It was just Skye. She has some sort of wedding disaster.”

“You need to go to her?” he asked with genuine concern laced in his voice.

“She said she needs me, but I can stay here
,” I told him, not wanting to ruin his planned-out day with Evelyn. I knew how excited he got when Evelyn is around.

“No, go.
Evelyn and I will hang out at the beach today. It’s a really nice day out.” He got up and grabbed my plate and roughed his hands through my hair.

“Okay, thanks
, babe. I’ll see you later then.” I turned to look at the little girl who was no longer eating her food, but just playing with it. “Evelyn, I am going, but I’ll see you later.”

“Bye-bye.” She waved as I got up to give Ryder a hug in the kitchen.

“I’ll miss you,” he whispered in my ear in a very low, almost inaudible tone. “Your nipples are peekin’ out through your shirt, and I want to wrap my tongue around them, and suck ’em ‘til you cry,” he moaned oh-so-quietly.

Fuck. He knew exactly what to say when I needed him the most. I craved his touch and his large cock thudding against the walls of my sex. I needed him desperately.

“Mm,” was all I could come up with without taking him right there on the kitchen counter. “I’ll see you soon,” I whispered, and grabbed my bag and headed out to the car.

I couldn’t think anymore because if I did, I would be back at the house
, begging for more. So I made my way up the beach and towards downtown San Diego, where Skye desperately needed my help picking out flower arrangements.

***

When I got to the flower shop, which was located smack in the middle of the business distract of San Diego, I opened the door and my thoughts immediately switched from Ryder to the pleasant aroma of fresh blossoming flowers. I could hear Skye from the front door, arguing with what I could only assume was the poor owner of this place.

“But you just don’t get it
; I need those flowers in a light pink, not magenta, but light, almost dusted, pink.” I heard her complaining to the older gentleman as I approached.

“Harp! Oh, Harper, I am so glad
you
are here,” she emphasized as she crinkled her nose with a pout. “This guy doesn’t seem to understand that I cannot have these flowers in a deep pink, but need a light pink.”

I gave her a big hug to hopefully ease some of the anxiety she was having about the wedding. Her dad had promised that he would come down for it
, and now the whole thing had become such a production. He didn’t see Skye very often because he didn’t get along with her mother…at all. So, he spent most of his days up in Los Angeles, only giving Skye money when she needed it. Now that he told her he and his new family would attend her wedding next year, she was freaking out over every detail, making sure everything was just absolutely perfect.