She giggled and shook her head. “You’re crazy.”
Ryan took her to his home and carried her to his bedroom on the second floor. She didn’t get a chance to ooh or ahh over anything. Her head was pounding, and she kept her eyes closed to block out the light.
Laying her in bed gently, he put her under the blankets and covered her, propping her up with pillows. She winced at the lights and he immediately turned them all off.
“Thank you,” she told him. “This was not how I was hoping to get into your bed.”
He chuckled and leaned down to kiss her head. “Don’t worry. You can get in my bed however and whenever you want, love.”
She sighed and glanced around the darkened room. “It looks pretty.”
“It’s dark. You can’t see anything.”
“Fine. I can’t see anything,” she grumbled. “I’m imagining it’s pretty.”
“Imagine away. What do you feel like having for dinner?”
She thought about it. “Chicken soup. I know I’m not technically sick, but the thought of chewing is making my head hurt more.”
“You rest,” he said and covered her up more. “I’ll make your soup.”
“A man that can cook, and is hot,” she sighed and took the painkiller he offered her. “I won the lottery.”
He chuckled and walked out of the room. “Call me if you need anything. I’ll come check on you in a few minutes.”
She had to have gone over a piece of glass or something on the road to make her tire blow that way. She’d have to have her mechanic check it to make sure it wouldn’t happen again.
A few minutes later the smell of soup and fresh baked bread made her sit up in bed. She got up, noticing how the pain in her head started to diminish and took a few steps. Glancing out the window, she saw there were no other houses by them. All she saw was forest and trees.
“What are you doing out of bed?” he asked and rushed forward to grab her. “You could fall and hurt yourself.”
“My headache started to feel better, so I wanted to look around.”
He sighed. “If you want to look around, I’ll take you downstairs and we can sit by the fire.”
“Fire?” she asked. “Like a real fire?”
He nodded. “None of that fake stuff like at your place. We’re on a mountain and while it’s warm during the day, the nights get cool enough that we can have a fire going.”
“Sounds good.”
He carried her down to the living room where only a few small lamps were lit, giving the place a soft glow. He had a fire going and sat her on the massive rug in front of the fireplace.
“We’ll eat here. I’ll bring the soup.”
She sat back on the cushions and watched the fire burn. She’d been shot at, stabbed, and quarantined in her time in Africa, but she’d never been in a car accident. She didn’t much care for the aching body or the way Ryan stared at her, his eyes full of worry.
It was then she started to wonder if maybe a longer-term relationship with him was already happening and she didn’t even know it. She’d never wanted to stay in one place until now. Being with Ryan had made her look for ways to spend more time with him.
She loved him. No. Impossible. Yeah. Okay. Tell that to your heart. You love him. How in the world could she be in love with him already? She’d been so careful her entire life not to let any man in too close. And he’d done it without even trying.
He carried a tray and placed it between them on the rug. “Dinner is served.”
She picked up the bowl of soup and inhaled. “Did you really make this so fast? It smells amazing.”
“Nah,” he admitted with a grin. “Mom came by when I told her I was bringing you home and she left food for us.”
“Oh,” she ate a spoonful of the soup and moaned. “She’s a great cook.”
“She is. I told her how much you love croissants and she stopped at a local bakery and got some fresh ones for you.”
She gave him a sad look. “Your mom did all that and I haven’t even met her yet. That’s so sweet.”
“Actually,” he popped a piece of bread into his mouth. “You’ve met Mom.”
She frowned. “No. I’d remember.”
“Yeah. You showed her how to do those silly videos with the animal faces she loved and keeps sending me every few minutes.” He sighed. “Is there a way to mute those videos? They just keep coming.”
“Wait a second,” she gasped. “Jolene is your mom?”
“Ah, yeah.”
She slapped his shoulder and winced. “Ouch, damn it. That hurt.”
“Well, why’d you hit me?”
“Because you stood there watching us play with apps and couldn’t tell me that was your mom?”
He shrugged. “I figured she had already told you.”
“No,” then she grinned. “She’s really sweet.” She ate her soup. “I bet you were a handful as a kid.”
“Hah,” he laughed. “Not me. Barrick. I still can’t get a hold of him.”
She grinned. “I’m sure he’s busy romancing every single woman out there.”
“That’s very true,” he chuckled and ate another piece of bread.
“How come you hadn’t been part of the pride before like you are now?” She swallowed a piece of chicken. “I know you said your uncle was the alpha, so you didn’t really need to worry about it much, but aren’t prides tight? Shouldn’t you have known what was happening?”
He nodded. “Yeah. But I disagreed with how the pride was dealing with the youth. My uncle let them run wild. They were getting reckless to the point they were going outside the pride looking for trouble.” He clenched his jaw and she saw a vein throb on his cheek. “I told Eaton he needed to make some changes, but he told me to mind my business. That he was in charge. So I pulled away.”
She put her empty bowl down and sighed. “What a shame. This division between the community could have been avoided.”
“What you did today was amazing,” he praised her. “For the first time in a long time, I saw them talking and doing something that interested them all.”
She shrugged. “I’ve seen many villages working together. Usually the young need the elders to learn from . I think these young people have just not realized how important it is for them all to work together to keep the pride intact.”
After they ate, he took their dishes to the kitchen and lay down on the rug beside her.
“Tell me about your childhood,” he said.
“I was raised by a nanny. She was the one who taught me everything. One of our cooks was her mom. When I was ready for private school, our nanny got married and went off to start her own family. My parents were always very busy with their companies and charities. Their time with me consisted of dinners and events their friends had where children were supposed to attend.” She leaned her head on his shoulder. “It wasn’t bad. I’ve always had the best of everything.”
“Wow.”
“Don’t feel bad. I had my grandfather. He was more like my father than my dad was. Grandpa used to take me to his office and teach me about giving back to our community. He used to show me his car collection and tell me it was going to be mine one day,” she laughed. “I used to think he was kidding, but I got it. The entire collection and his estate are mine. He left my father the company.”