Page 63 of Summer of Love (Costas Sisters 2)
“I couldn’t sleep.”
And was it any wonder? Between her worries about Sam, her distrust of Uncle Russ and her need for Ryan, her head spun with too many thoughts and concerns. She couldn’t turn to Ryan for comfort because, despite their night together, they both agreed it wasn’t smart to share a bed again with Sam so close by. So, for now, it was hands off, but she couldn’t tear her gaze away from him and the body she’d already learned so well.
He joined her at the table, straddling the chair from behind. “What’s wrong besides all the obvious things?” he asked.
Somehow she managed to laugh. “Would you believe me if I said everything’s fine?”
One side of his mouth lifted in a half grin. “No.”
“I miss you,” she said, her voice low and husky, her meaning obvious.
He reached out and toyed with the lapel of her robe, his fingers dipping below the thin fabric to tease her skin with soft circular caresses. “I miss you, too.”
She leaned forward. He followed until their foreheads touched and their lips were mere inches apart. She sensed his warmth and heat and smelled his musky, morning scent.
They remained connected that way for a long silent moment, so innocent and yet so very sensual. Her heart sped up in her chest, and her pulse pounded in her throat.
Suddenly his lips brushed hers and lingered until she tasted sweetness, longing and temptation.
“Talk to me,” he urged and sat back before Sam could walk in and catch them.
She sighed but knew he was right. Just as she knew she had no choice but to talk about what was on her mind. Drawing a deep breath, she dove right in. “Did you notice anything strange about your uncle’s interest in Sam’s necklace?”
His back and shoulders stiffened. His completely casual stance—and the sense of happiness she’d briefly sensed—fled. “He tried to make her feel welcome by buying her a gift.”
“A necklace.”
Ryan raised an eyebrow. “So?”
“He seemed very curious about the one she already wears,” Zoe said. So much for gently leading him to the subject. Well nobody had ever praised her for her tact or delicate way of phrasing things, she thought.
Ryan moved his head from side to side, stretching his suddenly tense muscles. In seconds flat, he’d gone from surprisingly relaxed considering the episode last night, to wound tight.
He just couldn’t believe Zoe could accuse Uncle Russ of anything underhanded. “Those old keys are odd looking. Anyone in their right mind would ask about them,” he said, hating he had to defend his uncle to the woman he loved.
Loved?
He paused in shock. Long enough to think and let emotion wash over him. Long enough to realize he did love her. The feelings had been growing for a while, he now knew, building the more he got to know and admire her.
But he couldn’t deal with that primal emotion right now, not when she was questioning the one stable thing in his family life.
Damn, why couldn’t one thing in his life be easy right now?
“Sure, anyone might ask about the keys—once,” Zoe said, interrupting his thoughts. “He asked about them once, and Sam answered. Then he bought her a necklace that she refused to take, but he didn’t leave well enough alone. He pushed. He offered to put those keys away for safekeeping. It was like he wanted to get his hands on them.” Zoe pulled her robe tighter.
“Uncle Russ was being his usual solicitous, kind self.” Ryan rose and picked up his cold coffee and poured it into the sink. “You’re reaching. I don’t know what you have against Uncle Russ, but he has nothing but my best interest at heart. Which means he has Sam’s best interest at heart too. God, he’s the only one I can turn to.”
“I know.” Zoe came up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “That’s what makes this so hard.” She exhaled, and he felt her breath warm against his back. “But Ryan, how do you explain what the guy said to you last night? That you should find the key to the mystery?”
“For God’s sake, it’s an expression!”
“It’s too much of a coincidence,” she insisted.
He blinked, everything inside him rejecting the notion because it would rip apart the foundation of the only security he’d had. Uncle Russ, who’d come to all his graduation ceremonies, who’d never missed a birthday, who called him the son he never had.
“The last thing I want to do is upset you.” She hugged him tightly. “But if I agree to put Uncle Russ and any agenda I might imagine aside, would you do something for me?”
“What?” he asked.
She urged him around until he faced her. “Just look into the keys. We’ll talk to Sam, we’ll get a good look at them, and we’ll see for ourselves if we can figure out what they lead to. How could that hurt anything?”
