Free Always His (Crazed Devotion #1) by C.A. Harms Page A

her part will never change that. And being a father takes a hell of a lot more than knocking some innocent girl up. You ain’t no father.” His face darkened with anger. “That little girl deserves a hell of a lot more than you’ve ever given her. She’s not some tool you can use to get closer to Nicole. She’s innocent in this entire mess, and you’re a heartless son of a bitch if you don’t realize that.”
    “Ryker?” Nicole’s asked from behind me. “What’s going on?”
    I didn’t turn around to face her. “Tyler was just leaving,” I said as I stared at his sorry ass. “Isn’t that right.”
    His nostrils flared as he looked between Nicole and myself. “You and I need to talk,” he said when his gaze locked on her.
    “Whatever you gotta say to her, you can say right now.” If he thought I would allow him within a few feet of her without me there too, he was dumber than I thought.
    Nicole didn’t argue. She remained silent as we waited for Tyler to speak. Our united front only pissed him off more. After glaring at me for a few more moments, he turned and stormed off toward his truck. His tires squealed as he drove off.

I watched as Ryker lay on the couch and Tori stood at his side. She pointed to the tattoo on his arm. “What is this?” she asked.
    “That’s to help me remember someone I lost, a friend,” Ryker told her as he touched it.
    “I lost a toy once, but Mommy found it under my bed,” Tori told him, and it made me smile.
    “What’s that say?” she asked as she pointed to the verse on his chest. My own chest tightened as I remembered what it said. I had never realized a few words could mean so much, and seeing them tattooed on his chest had been my breaking point.
    “It’s about your momma,” Ryker said. “It explains just how much I love her.” He looked up from Tori’s face to meet my gaze and winked.
    And as if that wasn’t enough to make me weak in the knees, what happened next nearly made me crumble to the floor. My little girl crawled onto Ryker’s chest and curled up, wrapping her arms around his neck. He held her close and buried his nose in her hair.
    In that moment, the last little shred of doubt lingering in my mind faded.
    I moved across the living room and knelt at his side as he watched me in silence. Tori snuggled into him a little closer, and her eyes sagged as she fought off her exhaustion.
    Ryker removed a hand from her back and wrapped it around my waist, his fingers gently curling into my side.
    I laid my head on his chest next to Tori and kissed the area just over the tattoo. “I love you, Ryker,” I whispered, and he kissed my forehead. “My heart has always belonged to you.” No matter the distance between us or the mistakes we made, I had always been his. And I knew that was the way it always would be.

    “C’mere,” Ryker said as he motioned for me to join him in the center of my living room.
    Tori had been in bed for close to an hour after she passed out on Ryker’s chest. He’d carried her to bed, tucked her in securely, and even placed a gentle kiss to her forehead. I watched in awe through it all as I fell just a little harder.
    I walked toward him as he held his hand out to me, and once I was close enough, he laced our fingers together. He raised our joined hands and kissed mine, then curled his other hand around my waist. The way he was looking at me made my heart race unbelievably fast.
    “I haven’t been this happy in so long,” he said as he began to sway with me in his arms.
    I looked up at him, and he dropped his head to bring our mouths closer. “I want more nights like tonight. With you and Tori,” he whispered, his gaze still locked on mine.
    “She adores you.” I smiled, thinking about how much Tori had warmed up to him without hesitation.
    “I adore her too,” he confessed. “She amazing, just like her momma.”
    I ran my hands through his hair and laced them together behind his neck, then pulled his mouth toward