anymore. It was suddenly very lonely on the picnic bench. “Ryder.” He emerged on his knees from the little pup tent. “Yeah, babe.” “Thank you.” “For what this time?” And he raised an eyebrow at me. It was true, though. My poorly planned escape would have died in the first ten minutes if he’d not been there. “Well, this time, it’s for introducing me to Violet.” “Not sure if you should be thanking me or I should be apologizing.” “What?” “You saw. I was raised in crazy aura.” Ryder waved his hands in the air to indicate what he really thought of the auras. “Well, she bought my stuff. Is that because she’s crazy?” I was a little hurt at that thought. “She may be a nut, but she’s a hardcore business woman. Running a profitable new age shop in small town Michigan for the last 25 years and making enough dough to survive takes brains. She’s debt free, she’s independent, and she paid for my mechanic training when I was done with high school. So while she’s nuts, she also wouldn’t buy your stuff if she didn’t think she’d make money on it.” “How did you know she’d like it? She could have shot me down. Crushed my fragile dreams?” Ryder closed the distance between him and me on the picnic table bench. He looked very serious. “Because you’re talented and your stuff is gorgeous. Just like you are.” It seemed like days since we’d kissed. And I thought back. It was hours when he’d kissed me in the ally. May as well have been days if felt so long ago. I leaned forward and put my lips on his. I reached around and slid my nails lightly across his back. This time, it was his turn to moan as I dragged them across the muscles. He put his hands on my hips and lifted me to his lap. The contact of our lips was never broken. His arms surrounded me. I wanted to really explain how I felt about what he’d done for me. About how I shouldn’t trust him. But did. Completely. But when we kissed, I couldn’t think about anything else. I couldn’t form words. I could only reach for more of him. His fingers on my skin turned me into a creature driven by need and sensation. Ryder pulled my t-shirt over my head and unsnapped the button on my shorts. He popped me up on my feet for a second and pulled them over my hips and down to my ankles. And then he paused. He had his hands on my hips, and I watched his eyes scan from the white panties up to the bra that covered me. “Jesus you're gorgeous as fuck,” he said, and I smiled. I loved his eyes on me almost as much as his hands and lips on me. He lifted his fingers up and slid down both of my bra straps at the same time. The cups barely covered me. He leaned forward and put his lips on the juncture between them. I couldn’t help but sigh at the sensation of his lips as he slid them to my nipple, moving the fabric out of the way as he went. He paused again and stood up in front of me. “Get in the tent,” he said. It wasn’t a request. As sweet as Ryder was to me in the last two days he was as serious as hell. And right now he was in charge of me. He meant to do whatever he wanted to me. And I couldn’t wait. I did exactly as he ordered me to and lay down on the sleeping bag that was open wide for the two of us. Ryder climbed in on top of me. His hard edges fitting perfectly with my soft curves. “I love the way you feel,” he said. And in my heart, I loved way more than just the touch of him. We spent the night exploring each other. Discovering each other. And ignoring everything else even sleep. When the sun came up, I would have hard decisions to make. As he had the day before Ryder woke before I did. He had a campfire, coffee, and food for me. He was totally self-sufficient out here. I suspected he was even more so in his auto body shop and with his club. He handed me a tin mug. He had packed camp gear for one and to a fault, he offered things to me first. I noticed everything about