Page 135 of Face Off

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I shifted deliberately against the hardness beneath me. “I thought we had to finish the hunt.”

“I’m reconsidering my commitment to the rules.”

“You’ve complained about them all morning.”

“My hard on doesn’t give a shit.”

“You’re sober enough to remember we’re competing.”

“Debatable.”

His palm pressed me harder against him, groaning as the employee placed the developing photograph in our basket and looked away with the dignity of someone whose job hadn’t included witnessing this much foreplay.

I rose before the remaining pieces of Ryan’s restraint disappeared beneath me.

He stayed seated for a moment. “Operational problem?” I asked.

Ryan looked down at his shorts. “You’re walking in front of me until this resolves.”

“That sounds like a reward.”

“Move, mami.”

I walked ahead of him, adding slightly more movement to my hips than the route required.

“Charm.”

“Yes, Captain?”

“Keep testing me.”

I looked over my shoulder. “Is that permission?”

“That’s a threat.”

By the final station, the flask was nearly empty, sunlight felt warmer against my face, and Ryan had stopped pretending he wasn’t having fun. He complained about every clue, insulted the shirts whenever an opportunity appeared, and still carried our basket, held doors for the estate employees, and doubled back when he noticed Elenore struggling with the stone steps.

He offered her his arm without making the help feel like an acknowledgment of weakness. When Rider tried to take the basket from her, Ryan distracted him long enough for Elenore to surrender it without argument. He found Briggs’s missing wooden heart beside the fountain and returned it while informing him that losing wedding property before noon was pathetic.

Ryan cared for people in ways that protected their pride.

He had done the same for me. He fed me without calling attention to how little I ate, challenged my thoughts without making me feel foolish, and loved every part of me while allowing me to believe I had hidden the worst ones.

I had mistaken his gentleness for something guaranteed.

Seeing him offer it to everyone else reminded me how much it had cost him to take it away from me.

The last employee arranged our wooden hearts across the table.

A L W A Y S.

Ryan released a humorless laugh. “Bliss has a fucked-up sense of humor.”

“She didn’t know which letters we would receive.”

“She approved the activity.”