“Keep the rest,” he said. The waiter thanked him.
“Ready to go, my love?” Ryder said, rising from his seat then stepping over to pull out my chair.
“Yes, I am. Dear.” It sounded ironic when I said it. Or like I was mocking him.
We left the restaurant and headed back to the car.
“Home?” I asked. “I mean, my apartment?”
“As much as I would love to take you home and remove that dress, I’m really craving something.” This was a change from what he’d said earlier.
“Okay, what are you in the mood for?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” he said, and started driving. Okay then.
I was beyond curious, but I didn’t want Ryder to know how much, so I stayed quiet and tried to figure out where we were going. Finally, he pulled the car over and parked next to Gil’s gallery. The lights were off and it was clearly closed.
“Um, Ryder? I don’t think anyone is here,” I said as he got out and then held the door open for me.
“It’s okay,” he said, taking my hand and leading me up the steps. From his pocket, he produced a key. Man, he was really good at getting keys from people.
He unlocked the door then put his hands on my shoulders.
“Okay, close your eyes and wait here. I need a minute.”
I raised my eyebrows at him, but he looked really excited. Man, he’d done a lot of planning when he was supposed to be hanging out with his brother.
“In case you were wondering, I called Gil as soon as I could and asked him for a favor. He left the key with Lucah, and I’m hoping that everything is a go,” he said.
“Okay, okay.” I closed my eyes and listened as his footsteps moved away from me. It didn’t really matter if my eyes were closed, since it was so dark in there with only the light from the outside coming in through the windows.
I heard a lot of weird noises. I was a little worried and very tempted to open my eyes, but I kept them closed until Ryder approached me and took my hands.
“You’re not leading me into a trap, are you?” I asked as I slowly took one step after another.
“Nope. Just a surprise that I think you’re going to like.” I wasn’t so sure about that, but I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“As long as you’re not leading me into a room with a video camera that’s streaming live to the internet, or you’re going to chop my head off, I think we’re good,” I said.
He laughed then stopped walking, and I almost crashed into him.
“Okay, open.”
We were in the back of the art gallery, and a lot of the pieces I’d seen in the show had been moved. The corner we were standing in was empty. Well, not exactly empty.
The area had been covered in plastic and giant sheets of paper. An overhead light revealed several buckets of paint and some brushes.
I put two and two together.
“You’re going to ask me to strip and roll around in the paint, aren’t you?” I said.
He beamed.
“Yup. But I’m doing it with you.” He took his jacket off and hung it up on a metal rack I hadn’t noticed at first. Then came his shirt.
“Unless you want to ruin your dress, but I’d rather you not,” he said.
I turned my back to him.
“Unzip me then,” I said, and he did. The dress dropped to the floor. I picked it up and hung it on the rack, and then did the same with my bra and panties. Of course, then I realized the windows were still open to the street, and if someone walked by, they would see everything.
“Uh, Ryder? That’s not exactly part of the plan,” I said, pointing at the windows.
“Shit, I knew I was going to forget something.” He ran to the windows and pulled the blinds down, even though he was mostly naked himself.
When he was done, we took off our shoes then stood next to the paper.
“I can’t say I’ve ever done this before,” I said. But I was more than up for it.
“Well, I wanted to create something with you. Something we could keep that would remind us of this time when we looked at it.”
I liked that.
“So, what color?” he asked me, pointing to the containers of paint.
“Blue,” I said without even thinking. There was a dark blue that reminded me of his eyes.
“You got it,” he said, popping the top off the pan and picking up a roller.
“And what color are you going to do?” I asked.
“Black.” Black and blue. I liked it.
He handed me a roller and opened the black paint as well. Coating each other in the paint was a ton of fun. The stuff was a little cold and tickled when it went on. I was worried about my hair and my skin, but it was special body paint Gil had gotten for a new project.
“He told me about this before I left, so I’ve been thinking about it for a while. If you’re cool with it, he’d love to put this in one of his shows. He’s going to do a lot of other couples and do a whole series on sex.”
“We’ll see. I’m curious to see how it turns out first.”
Ryder spent a lot of time rolling paint on my boobs.
“I think they’re good,” I said.
“Just making sure they’re completely covered,” he said, absolutely serious. I wanted to bop him on the head for that, but I didn’t.
Once we were covered, we stepped on to the paper and lay down on our backs. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I tried to press my skin into the paper as much as I could.
“Okay, now this is the hard part,” Ryder said once we’d been on the paper for a little while. “Getting up.” He rose first then helped me to my feet.
We looked down at the imprint we’d made.
“My ass looks huge,” I said, noting the marks it had made.
“It looks great. As always,” he said. “Want to try again?”
I nodded. Ryder took the giant sheet of paper and spread it out on the floor in the back of the gallery to dry, and got another sheet. We reapplied the paint, which was just as fun as the first time.
This time I went face down and Ryder stayed on his back. He put his arm around me, and I tucked myself into him. Getting up was hard, but the results were really cool. For the third sheet, we smeared the paint all over each other so it mixed, and then rolled on the paper. The effect didn’t look like bodies but was still really cool.
I was laughing, there was paint in my hair, and I’d never been happier.
“I love you so much,” I said. “And you seem so much happier now. You were really dark for a while.”
He hugged me to him, but it didn’t matter since we were both totally covered in the paint.
“I am happy. I’ve learned how to be happy. Thank you for helping me and staying with me, even when I didn’t deserve it.”
Yes, there were times when he hadn’t deserved it, but I was glad I’d stayed. Glad we’d made it to this place. This was the right path for both of us.
“Um, Ryder?”
“Yes, love.”
“Do we have to go home like this?”
He chuckled, and the sound vibrated through his chest. Suddenly, I was very eager to get him home and into bed.
“No, there’s a shower upstairs. Care to join me?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely.”
Monday I had to go back to work, and Inari noticed right away that I was walking strangely.
“So he came home, huh?” she said, handing me my coffee.
“Oh, he came. And came, and came, and came.”
We both laughed.
“Ah, young love,” she said.
Work was business as usual, and I got several offers to stock my lingerie in stores. My life had gone from mediocre to fucking awesome. Ryder came and saw me at lunch to tell me how things were going at the gallery.
“Gil went nuts for the stuff we did the other night.”
I’d given him permission to show them to Gil, and as long as he didn’t put our names on them, he could us
e them. Oh, and as long as we got to keep them after. I wanted that shit in my apartment.
“Awesome. It was pretty cool. We should do it again.” I loved making art with Ryder. Plus, then we got to shower together afterward.
We hadn’t sat down with Lucah and told him we were Slydering, but it wasn’t a secret that Ryder was spending nights at my house.
“So, do you think we need to have an official conversation about you and me with Lucah?” I said as I ate the sandwich Ryder had brought me from a nearby deli.
“Nah. We’re good. He told me that he was going to stay out of it and it was none of his business now. I guess he realized that his meddling did more harm than good.”
I looked at him, shocked. “Are you serious?”
Ryder nodded. “Yeah. I think he’s really starting to trust me. For the first time in . . . ever. Oh, and I’ve got a new therapist. He’s this guy who’s friends with someone who works in Colorado, actually. He seems pretty chill on the phone, so I’m going to see him tomorrow.” Hearing how upbeat he sounded about going to therapy was beyond reassuring.
“So you’re going to keep going?” I asked, finishing my sandwich.
“Yeah. It’s just something I’m going to need to do, maybe for the rest of my life. It’s like . . . medicine for my sanity. And I don’t care what anyone else thinks about it.” Good. He shouldn’t.
“You could come sometime, if you want. Just to see what it’s like.” He balled up his napkin and put it back in the paper bag his lunch had come in.
“Maybe,” I said. That seemed like an intrusion. But if he wanted me there, I’d be there. Because I loved him.
“You don’t have to. But if you want to, you can.”
“Okay.”
We talked about other stuff, including my love for Ryder’s majestic mountain beard, and then it was back to work for me.
“I’ll miss you,” I said. “That sounds so needy. But I do miss you when you’re not here.”
“Well, I’ll be waiting for you when you get home.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key.
“Is that my key?” I asked, and he nodded before dropping it back into his coat.
“Yeah. I made a copy last time I had the key. I just never told you.”
Oh, he was so bad.
“You are definitely on the naughty list, R. Blythe,” I said, narrowing my eyes.
“I should hope so. Nice is so overrated.” And before he kissed me goodbye at the studio door he slapped me on the ass.
Ryder Blythe was a dirty gentleman, a disaster, a dream, a joker, a ginger, a bastard, and a romantic. He brought out the best in me. He challenged me and wasn’t afraid to fight me. He was complicated and simple, and strange and familiar. He was everything. He was mine.
All fucking mine.
The Noctalis Chronicles
Nocturnal (Book One)
Nightmare (Book Two)
Neither (Book Three)
Neverend (Book Four)
The Whisper Trilogy
Whisper (Book One)
Fall and Rise
Deeper We Fall (Book One)
Faster We Burn (Book Two)
Slowly We Trust (Book Three)
My Favorite Mistake
My Sweetest Escape
(Available from Harlequin)
Surrendering
Sweet Surrendering
Surrendering to Us
Dark Surrendering
For Real
UnWritten
Wow. What a trial this book was to right. I started it several times, but it never felt “right.” And then I remembered how I really wanted it to start. With Ryder and Sloane in bed, totally hung over.
This book was work. A lot of it. And as such, I have some very important people to thank. My editor, Kara, number one. This was not an easy journey for either of us, but somehow we got here. My publicist, Jessica, who even though was VERY pregnant at the time of writing this book still was emailing me about it. My formatter, Ali, for cutting me a LOT of slack when I kept pushing the due date for this. And YOU for asking “when is Sloane and Ryder’s book coming out?” I really, really hope I did them justice. Their love story isn’t an easy one, and it wasn’t easy to write it, but I know, in the end, it’s worth it.
Chelsea M. Cameron is a YA/NA and Adult New York Times/USA Today Best Selling author from Maine. Lover of things random and ridiculous, Jane Austen/Charlotte and Emily Bronte Fangirl, red velvet cake enthusiast, obsessive tea drinker, vegetarian, former cheerleader and world's worst video gamer. When not writing, she enjoys watching infomercials, singing in the car and tweeting. She has a degree in journalism from the University of Maine, Orono that she promptly abandoned to write about the people in her own head. More often than not, these people turn out to be just as weird as she is.
Find Chelsea online:
@chel_c_cam
chelseamcameron.com
Chelsea M. Cameron (Official Author Page)
Chelsea M. Cameron, Dark Surrendering
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