***
RYDER WATCHED THE muscles in Violet’s jaw tighten, even more than before Joel had arrived. This time, with Joel’s presence, Ryder couldn’t observe...and take pleasure in the way Violet’s full lower lip pursed with the clenched motion.
Joel could never know what had transpired between them. Bro code, or some shit like that. Besides, Ryder didn’t want to fuel the bad blood that ran between Joel and his ex-wife.
Now that Ryder had felt Violet under his touch, his outlook on this woman was changing.
Changing? Why? You had sex with her that was it. Unexpected, mind-blowing, can’t-get-it-out-of-my-head, sex.
He felt like a teenager who’d tasted his first flavour of a woman, leaving him craving more. Only he’d had women, but never one like Violet.
Ryder shook his head, as he dragged his gaze away from Violet’s luscious lip that he wanted to tug between his teeth, and back to the gold ballroom they stood in.
I need a new distraction.
Neutral framed oil paintings lined the walls around them, encased in exquisite moulding contrasting against the dark cherry wood floor, and brass chandeliers above.
If Ryder had forbidden his feet to take him to Violet, which would have been the better decision, and instead stopped to read the signed art, he didn’t doubt the marvelous masterpieces would be renowned artist. But there was something intriguing about the way this woman looked at him, like she wanted to look at him, and the battle in her eyes made him want to dig deeper into what made Violet Caliendo.
She was wild fire, that was evident, dangerous to touch and she’d left her mark on Ryder. But, maybe she wasn’t exactly who Ryder presumed. He would have never foreseen Violet approaching him the way she had, but expected her rough and controlling touch. It was the gentle affection during, the way she moved, arched, and moaned under this touch that was leaving him confused.
Violet guided this group with a confident stride, presenting immense strength, doing a job no one should ever be tasked with, planning her ex-husband’s wedding, and Ryder didn’t see a touch of frostiness trickling from her body. That said volumes about her, didn’t it? Then when she looked at Ryder, and she did, even against her attempts not to, there was desire flaming in those eyes, with a touch of irritation with him, but then there was that look he couldn’t identify. Whatever it was, Ryder felt it too. It was more than his desire for Violet, he felt drawn to her.
You don’t know her. Joel knows her.
Joel talked a lot of trash about a lot of people leaving Ryder only to ever believe half, if that, of what came out of his mouth. Then why had Ryder trusted his portrayal of Violet, the cold and heartless Ice Queen? Because Ryder hadn’t cared one way or the other about who the real Violet Caliendo was. And he cared now? No...yes...maybe...
Joel punched Ryder’s shoulder, dragging his thoughts away from the Violet debate going on in his head and back to the conversation at hand.
What were they talking about?
Joel wanted every detail of Ryder’s morning.
I woke up early to my phone ringing wild, as my cousins who have invested into the company and hired on to re-develop our look were demanding decisions. I spent hours on the phone before another call came in from my dad’s worker, saying he was in the mood to go fishing. My dad, who has dementia and doesn’t know who I am half the time and I spent the morning sitting on the dock at Crystal Lake, with yes a brunette named, Sabin and a blonde named, Tank and they were the closest to a companion I was looking for...until now.
Ryder’s eyes darted to Violet, damn it, he couldn’t help it. Companion. She was no companion...was she?
“Well, you know I’ve always been a sucker for blondes,” Ryder said, hating the way Joel brought this out in him.
Joel laughed his tune of approval. “Yeah, you do. So blonde it was. That’s my man.”
Blonde beauty with a highlight of violet.
Joel held his fist out and Ryder cringed when his fist was forced to meet it. He hated what Violet might be thinking right now. Hated what she was thinking? Why? It wasn’t like they were in a relationship. Damn, they’d just done what everyone thought he did: had sex in the bathroom.
Still, it bothered him.
“Honestly though, Joel, I didn’t initiate it at all. She walked her long, slim, gorgeous legs toward me, grabbed my shirt with her seductive fingers and planted her wanting lips on mine.” As Ryder described only partial moments of this morning, the rest replayed in his mind and he found himself wanting to go back in time and lavish in the encounter all over again.
Violet’s head turned full throttle in Ryder’s direction. Not just a slight tilt of her head, or an eye stealing side-view, but she looked right at him. When their betraying eyes met for the short flash, her appetite burst, telling him she’d travelled back into that room with him.
Did Violet want a replay?
The anticipation that she might, excited Ryder, but bolts of lightning warded his thoughts.
Ice queen. Tornado. What are you thinking?
This woman was no ice queen and he liked the way the ambience of her tornado twisted his insides.
“Do you hear that Violet? What a guy.” Did Joel not see what was happening between them? Was anything happening between them or was Ryder creating it?
“I hear him.” Violet’s gaze didn’t waver and her tone wasn’t threatening.
Was it an invitation?
Ryder didn’t know for certain. But what he did know, was that if they didn’t break the contact, Joel would become suspicious.
Ryder turned to the groom-to-be and told him the truth. “It was the best sex I’ve ever had.”
The comment fetched a roar out of Joel and when his eyes rolled into the air with his laughter Ryder sought out Violet’s again. She was still watching him closely, hadn’t moved. He expected a glare of warning to not say a word, but as many times today, Violet surprised him with a look of confusion and like she was digging into the depth of Ryder for answers to her own questions.
Just ask me, and then maybe I will understand what is going on here.
“Damn Ryder.” Joel hit his shoulder, before turning and walking away mumbling, “If only all blondes were that way.”
Missy was a brunette. It was a direct hit at Violet and it sent prickles through Ryder’s body. Why did Joel always have to be such an ass? Ryder didn’t like it. Violet caught the flicker of hurt over her face and masked it quickly, but not before Ryder saw it.
Ryder was learning Violet was the queen of masking her emotions, but he was curious what was behind those emotions and why she kept letting him in today, a little more each time their eyes met. Who was the real Violet Caliendo? It seemed that Joel didn’t know her as well as he claimed to, or else Joel was full of himself. Wouldn’t be the first time he’d exaggerated or flat our lied.
Ryder hated that Violet was masking hurt inflicted by Joel, when she was being nothing but hospitable to the entire group.
When Joel was out of hearing range, Ryder stepped in front of Violet and said, “Joel talks a lot of talk and he has no idea what he’s talking about with you. Everything I said about today was true and everything was about you.”
Violet’s eyebrows arched, and the mystifying desire clouded her eyes, then slipped away into the depths of her facade. She licked her lips, sucking them into her mouth, a movement that caused a stir down below. When she released them she said, “Ryder, I don’t need you to pet my ego and tell me I’m good at sex, because my ex jabs that I’m not.”
He didn’t feel that he needed to say it, but he wanted her to know.
“There’s a reason we’re divorced.” With that, Violet walked away, taking any contemplation Ryder had created thinking he met a different version of Violet than Joel.
Ryder was left standing alone, facing the exit and feeling like a giant ass for spending this whole appointment trying to figure out a woman who was nothing more than what she portr
ayed: Ice Queen.
Joel hit the nail straight on with this woman. Ice Queen. That knowledge should be enough to keep Violet out of Ryder’s thoughts from here on in.