Ryleigh
Keenan slammed his truck shut, and Ryleigh had trouble following him with his long strides as he walked on the sidewalk somewhere downtown in Austin. After dropping Tommy off at Keenan’s mother, he’d been withdrawn and stuck in his head.
They’d made love for hours last night, and she hadn’t expected to see this change in him. It all started after the call he received this morning from his cousin Donovan.
Apparently the guy owned a security company, was a private investigator and a skilled hacker. He had news about Keenan’s ex and wanted to have a talk with him. Keenan had invited her to come along for moral support, but by the look of his mood swing, she already regretted she’d agreed.
“Why didn’t you ask your cousin sooner to find Evangeline?”
He stopped his walk mid stride. “Donovan had searched for her, but when even a skilled PI like Don had trouble finding her, it became clear that she did one hell of a job in preparing her disappearance act. We wondered if maybe there was more going on and I didn’t want to endanger Tommy, so I asked Don to stop his search.”
“But if your cousin is as good as you say he is, he may had found out her troubles and—”
With a sigh, he kicked an empty coffee-to-go cup to the side of the curb. “You don’t understand, Ry. I was dealing with a heartbroken three-year-old, and I was struggling with my own feelings. I guess that over the years I got afraid to find out what really happened.”
He kissed the back of her hand and said; “I realize now that sticking your head in the sand isn’t solving any problems. If I had known about her plan to leave us like a thief in the night, I would have made her sign away her parental rights first and then showed her the door.”
He treaded their fingers, and she followed Keenan inside a building and waited on the elevator to open.
“Is this where Donovan works?”
A grunt had been his reply.
She bit her nail, suddenly craving a cigarette.
“Stop biting your nails. I hope you’re not thinking about smoking again?”
When she looked up, she noticed him eyeing her through the reflection in the elevator doors in front of them.
“Stop being a grumpy asshole whenever things don’t go your way.”
He stiffened. “Excuse me?”
“It’s true. When we picked up Tommy from school that day, you were out for a fight with me. Just like you are doing now.”
She didn’t like to throw it just out there like that, in the middle of an office building while waiting on the elevator to come down. But so be it.
“How am I picking a fight with you?”
With a sardonic laugh she said, “By pointing out my flaws. You just had to bring up smoking, even though you know I’ve quit. Or when we picked up Tommy, you said you knew he got into a fight because I taught him defensive moves.”
He let go of her hand and took a step back. “I can’t believe you are really starting a fight over this right now.”
She normally would have kept the peace, so maybe her nerves also got the best of her. “I’m sorry. Forget I said anything.”
He pushed the button for the elevator for the third time. He sighed and said, “I’m sorry. You’re right. I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”
“Is this our first fight?”
He tugged her into the empty elevator and embraced her with his arms. “Nah. It was our first tiff. I’ll never fight with you; I know you’ll beat my ass, anyway.”
She giggled against his chest. “Damn right I will.”
She startled at the loud ding of the elevator and followed Keenan outside.
“Hey, Kayla. How are you?” Keenan said to the receptionist behind the desk with a Mills Security logo.
“Hi, Keen. Hello, I’m Kayla,” the light blonde bombshell said to Ryleigh.