Quicksilver Dreams(170)
“Christ, Taylor, have a little mercy here.” Sy shifted in his seat uncomfortably.
“What?” I blinked, coming back to the moment a bit flushed. That’s when I realized Sy could see and feel what I was thinking and feeling, which was absolutely mortifying. Ducking my head, I quickly erected my mental wall, mumbling, “So sorry.”
“It’s okay. Not exactly a prude, but don’t want to be a Peeping Tom. At least not with my best friend. With anyone else it’s open season.” He grinned, his dimples making a quick appearance before he took another bite of sandwich, chewing thoughtfully. “The point I was trying to make was that he feels connected to you, which I’ve only seen him do with one other female, and she turned out to be an opportunist. I’m just saying take care. He seems like a big beast, I know, but see if you can look past that.”
Another female? Hmm. The thought made me unhappy, but I didn’t get to dwell on it.
Suddenly, a blue, oval light filled the room, almost too bright to even look at and more brilliantly beautiful than I’d ever seen before. I gasped with the suddenness of it all and flashed a panicked look at Sy, but he ignored it and kept eating as though nothing were happening. When the light dimmed, Ryder was standing there, larger than life. I’d forgotten how big he actually was until he appeared, seeming to shrink the space around him. My eyes drank in the sight of him greedily. His black hair looked mussed, and his green eyes were dark and grim as he caught sight of me. As nervous as I was, my body still reacted to the sight of him, heart pinging against my chest and flushed breathlessness descending on me.
“She brought us sandwiches,” Sy offered in a cheerful tone, though his eyes remained serious and watchful.
“Where’s your phone?” Ryder ignored Sy’s comment, his voice sounding dangerously calm. He stalked across the room, grabbed the chair next to mine and yanked it out to sit on it, crowding my space with his large form.
Falling back on old habits, I didn’t back away. I learned early in life never to look scared, because that’s when you got punked. In fact, I chose to cross my legs, which I have to say looked absolutely fabulous in my daisy dukes, and I swung the top one nonchalantly to show that I was cool as a cucumber, though I wasn’t. Bravado. It’s my knee-jerk reaction to dealing with any stressful situation. I pretend my way through it.
“It’s in the smaller bedroom, recharging,” I replied evenly, refusing to show that I was feeling intimidated, though I was. I mean, shit, he was much bigger than I was and was likely twice my weight, not that I thought he was going to hurt me. I’m just not used to having big men invade my space.
“Why didn’t you let us know you were leaving?” He was beginning to emphasize his words individually, as though I were a simpleton who had trouble understanding spoken language, and that had my anger stirring. What an ass.
“You said to interrupt if there was an emergency. There was no emergency other than I was hungry.”
“You could have interrupted us any time.”
“I didn’t feel comfortable doing that.”
“Why didn’t you just grab something from the fridge?”
“It’s not my house.” My tone became snappier. Ryder was treating me like a child, thinking it was his place to question me about my activities, and Sy was watching us with growing amusement, which was completely embarrassing. It was making me feel like I was just the “silly little woman,” which I hate.
“I told you to make yourself at home.”