Page 55 of Christmas Wish
Chapter Fifteen
Ryder perched onthe edge of the bed and placed the suction liner over his cone-shaped stump as doubt snaked through him. What the hell was he thinking? If he undressed, Savannah would see it and probably cringe or pretend that it was okay, which would be even worse than if she ran away from him. “You’re not the man you used to be. I need a whole man.”Dana’s words echoed through his head, and he smacked his fist against it trying to make them stop.
Savannah wants me—she knows about my leg. For fuck’s sake, she held me while I freaked out that night. She’s not Dana.He hung his head down and ran his fingers through his hair; he couldn’t risk triggering an episode—not when his life seemed to be getting back to normal. Savannah was the first woman he’d been interested in since Dana left him.What a fucking mess.
Grabbing his prosthesis, he fit his protected flesh into the inner socket then stood up and pulled up his jeans. He’d learned long ago that it was easier to slide his jeans on over his artificial leg before putting it on. After buttoning his shirt and pulling on his boots, he opened the door to the sweet aroma of cinnamon and brown sugar curling around him.
When he entered the kitchen, Savannah was by the sink with her back to him. Her fine rounded ass moved in time to the beats of “Jingle Bell Rock” as she sang out loud while stacking pans in the chrome rack.
Ryder smiled and quietly walked over to put his arm around her waist.
“Oh!” Savannah craned her neck then giggled. “You scared the hell out of me.”
“Don’t stop dancing, darlin’,” he said, his mouth barely touching her ear. He swept her hair to one side and gently sucked her earlobe between his teeth then kissed a trail to her shoulder. She moaned and cocked her head to the side, and her sweet ass wiggled against his hard-as-fuck dick.
“I like the way you move, baby,” he rasped. His hand inched its way down toward her crotch until the jarring sound of the oven timer startled him. Savannah kissed his chin and broke away, then grabbed a pair of potholders before opening the oven door. She took out a sheet of bubbling cinnamon rolls, some of the gooey filling oozing onto the pan, and Ryder’s stomach growled.
“Those smell fucking awesome, woman,” he said.
“Are they ready yet?” Timmy asked as he walked into the kitchen. Brutus padded behind him, stretched and shook himself, then he circled several times before dropping to the ground.
“They will be real soon—I just have to ice them. Go ahead and sit down,” Savannah said.
Ryder pulled out the chair for Timmy then slid into the one next to him. He bent down and ran his hand over his dog’s thick fur.
“What have you and Brutus been up to?” he asked Timmy.
The small boy shrugged as he watched his mother spread icing over the warm rolls. “Mommy and me took Brutus for a walk.”
“Mommy andI, notme, sweetie,” Savannah said.
Timmy shifted his gaze to Ryder. “We went to our trailer.”
A sharp pain hit him low and hard in the gut, and his heart clenched. “Why did you do that?” he asked, his focus on Savannah.
She pushed back the hair from her face with her wrist. “I had to get some things—like this cookie sheet, and I wanted to run the engine, but I couldn’t get it to turn over.”
“It’s broken,” Timmy added.
“I can take a look at it later. You planning on going somewhere?” He twisted his mouth. Damn, he hated to ask the question, but he had to know if Savannah and her boy were moving on as much as he’d dreaded the answer.
“Not really. I just thought I should run the engine. My dad used to pound that in our heads when we were teenagers.”
Ryder let out a ragged breath. “Yeah, it’s good to do that on cold days. It probably just needs a battery jump.”
“Here you go,” Savannah said as she placed the plate of cinnamon rolls in the middle of the table.” She placed one on Timmy’s plate and did the same for Ryder then poured coffee in his mug.
Ryder ran his hand up her thigh then winked at her when she looked down at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
“Is that all you’re having for breakfast, champ?” Ryder stirred a dash of milk into his coffee.
“I had yogurt and bananas, strawberries and … what else did I have, Mommy?” Cream cheese frosting smeared across his face.
Savannah wiped a damp paper towel over his mouth and chin. “Blueberries and pineapple.”
Ryder chuckled and picked up his roll then put it back on the plate. “Damn. I forgot to feed Brutus.”
Savannah placed a hand on his shoulder. “I already fed him. Do you want some fruit salad? I picked up a bunch of frozen fruit at the store the other day.”
