Page 33 of Christmas Wish
“Who the hell’s that?” Rags muttered.
Ryder looked up and saw his brothers staring over his shoulder. He craned his neck and his gaze fell on Savannah. She’d changed into a long-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of snug blue jeans. Her golden hair fell loosely over her shoulders in waves, and he wanted to reach out and bury his fingers in its silkiness.
“Hey, are you okay?” he asked, his voice a nearly silent rasp.
Savannah turned her head and looked at him. His breath caught in his throat when he saw her face; her eyes were a little puffy and red, and he could tell she’d been crying. At that moment, he loathed himself for doing that to her.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” she said softly. Their gazes locked for a few seconds, then she looked away.
Ryder pivoted in his seat to look right at her. “You’re not.” He pointed at Hawk. “This is Hawk.” Then he introduced the others, ending with, “and this is Savannah.”
The men’s eyes darted from Savannah to Ryder then back to Savannah.
“It’s good meeting a … friend of Ryder’s,” Hawk said, the corners of his mouth twitching.
“Yeah. We don’t get to meet many of his wo—I mean friends.” Rags grinned.
“Did you get my juice, Mommy?” Timmy said, stopping behind Savannah and peeking out at the bikers behind his mother’s shapely legs.
“Who do we have here?” Hawk asked.
Timmy hid behind his mother.
“You gonna come over here and give us five?” Throttle asked.
“What’s that?” Timmy whispered.
Hawk held out his hand. “Go ahead and hit it with yours.”
“These are my friends,” Ryder said. “It’s cool.”
Timmy shuffled slowly over and tapped his hand against Hawk’s palm then he stepped back, his eyes wide.
“That a boy. How old are you?” Hawk leaned back against the chair’s cushion.
“Six.”
“My boy’s five and our president’s son is six. Maybe you can all play together sometime,” Hawk said.
Timmy looked up at his mother. “Can I, Mommy?”
“We’ll see. Let’s go in the kitchen to get you some juice. I’m sure Ryder and his friends are busy visiting.” She gripped his hand. “It was nice meeting you,” she said before disappearing to the other room.
“I better check on the chili,” Ryder said, standing up.
“Yeah, you do that.” Animal guffawed, and the other men joined in.
“Fuck you,” Ryder gritted as he made his way to the kitchen.
When he entered, he saw Savannah pouring a glass of apple juice in a mug while Timmy sat on one of the stools. Ryder went over to the stove and lifted up the lid, then he stirred the contents in the pot. He added more chili powder and a few dashes of cayenne pepper.
“Is that going to be our lunch?” Timmy asked.
Ryder glanced at the wall clock. “It’s looking like it’s gonna be more like your dinner.” He chuckled and Timmy giggled.
“Here you go,” Savannah said, going around to the other side of the island as if to avoid getting close to Ryder. She placed the mug down on the counter. “Do you want to bring it to your room?”
Timmy wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and shook his head.
