Free Taming the Playboy by M. J. Carnal Page A

was tiny and Ryan couldn’t help but notice how much of a woman she had become.  They had known each other for so many years.  It would be so easy with her.  He pictured her in his life for the long haul.  Yet, he couldn’t shake the hold Layla had on him.  It was pointless.  She had changed in mere hours.  Three days ago, he was holding her and snuggling.  Ryan West, snuggler.  He chuckled.  Never going to happen again.
     
    He dove at her and dunked her.  Sputtering, she splashed him with all her might.  He grabbed her arms and pulled her against him.  She screamed and tried to break free.  Her laugh was contagious.  It felt good to laugh.  It felt good to feel something.  He had been numb since the second he gotten Caleb’s phone call in Boston.  His whole world had gone dark.  He couldn’t breathe.  He had spent three days in a fog, unaware of anything happening around him.  Friends didn’t die in their twenties.  It wasn’t supposed to happen that way.  Not in a senseless moment of anger over what still was a mystery. 
     
    Tomorrow was a new day.  Tonight he would cook for Aria, rent a movie and zone out.  A good night sleep might bring clarity in an otherwise confusing week.  He would pray hard.  He would even beg.  Shaking his head, he snapped out of his haze.  She jumped on his back but she was too light to push him under.  Feeling her body against his, he straightened and froze. 
     
    “What’s wrong?”  She smiled at him as he turned around.
     
    “I don’t know.  Shit.  I actually felt guilty for a minute.”  Ryan wiped his face.
     
    “Honey, Mark won’t expect you to stop living.  You have spent a bunch of time at the hospital and he knows it.  You need a break.”  Aria ran her hands up and down his arms.
     
    “You have to stop that.”  He pulled away from her as quickly as he could.  Her face fell but he kept moving.
     
    “Don’t you ever think about us?  Like what if?”
     
    Ryan swam to the side of the pool and pulled himself out.  He sat on the edge and watched her.  She was beautiful and he loved her more than almost anything in the world.  But she was like a sister to him.  “Ari, you know me.  I tell you everything.  I can hardly imagine why the hell you would even think about something like that with me.”
     
    “Everyone needs someone, Ryan.  I could be your someone.”  She ran her hands up his legs, stopping just shy of his soaking wet boxers.
     
    “Shit Aria, stop.  I can’t.  We can’t.  I would never jeopardize what we have.  You know I love you.  But not like….”
     
    “Like you love Layla.” She interrupted. 
     
    Ryan laughed.  “I don’t love Layla.  We had some fun.  But when I left for Boston, shit.  I have no idea what the fuck happened Ari.  I actually liked her.  She was more than just a fuck.”
     
    Aria’s face turned serious.  “She thinks we are together.”
     
    “What? Why?”  Ryan toweled off his hair.
     
    “I stopped at the hospital this morning.  She was standing at the vending machines getting coffee and I tried to talk to her.  She was horrible.  She wouldn’t let me talk and called me your toy.  I tried to stop her but she walked off.”
     
    “This is bad.”  Ryan ran his hands through his hair. 
     
    “There’s more.”  Aria pulled herself from the pool and sat next to him.  She grabbed his hand and this time, he didn’t let go.  “When I talked to Rich, he told me that Mark was really upset the night of the accident.  He said that Sophie had heard him screaming at Caleb about being up in Layla’s room.”
     
    “Can we not ever mention that again?  I don’t know what the hell that was about but she and I ended the minute she took Caleb upstairs.”  He stood up and pulled away.
     
    “Ryan, stop.  I guess she had been crying about you. Sophie says that Caleb went upstairs to talk to her because she was so upset.”
     
    Ryan went pale.  “Why