She beamed up at me. “I know. It just amazes me. Seeing your boyfriend on magazine covers, on television, havingpeople stop him to ask if he is Ryker Lee… it can be intimidating. I love it, don’t get me wrong. You are living your dream, and I love that. You did it. I am so proud of you. I just have my moments when I wonder if I am enough.”
This was not what I wanted to hear, but if she’s thinking this, I was damn glad she’d told me. I needed to clear this shit up now. I moved and leaned against the truck, then pulled her into my lap, facing me. “You wonder if you’re enough? Aurora, I’m the only one who should have that fear. You are the bravest person I know. You’re kind, giving, you make differences in the world, and you’re breathtakingly beautiful. I can catch a ball and run fast. I’ve not overcome anything. And I’m not as fucking gorgeous as you are. So, baby, it is me that should be intimidated,” I told her. “I see men looking at you. Everywhere we go. I’m just thankful I’m big enough that it scares them the fuck off,” I added, and she giggled.
“You are crazy, Ryker Lee.”
I cupped her face in my hands. “Hell yeah, I am. I’ve been crazy about you from day one. That will never change.”
“I’m pretty crazy about you too,” she said softly.
I wish we had blankets in the back of this damn truck. I tried to think of some way to make it more comfortable, but I had no supplies. I leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose.
“We have two options, because I’m now hard as a rock and I need to be reaffirmed,” I told her. “We can climb back in the truck and act like we are teens or go back to my parents’, sneak in the back, and go straight to my room.”
She made a small gasping noise when she wiggled enough in my lap to see I was being honest about my situation. “What’s wrong with right here?” she asked.
“There’s no cushions or blankets,” I said, getting more worked up at the thought of it.
“We don’t need them. I think I’ve proven I’m not breakable already,” she said in a saucy tone, then sat back and began to pull her shirt up over her head.
The back of the truck it was, then.
CHAPTER FOUR
AURORA
Tallulah was my first friend in Lawton. The day I was faced with going to a regular high school instead of the school for the hearing impaired I had always attended, I’d been so nervous. She had made it easier. Her ability to use sign language, after taking a summer class on it one year, had instantly eased me, and I hadn’t felt like I had to rely on Hunter for everything.
She had called me, devastated, after Nash and her had broken up, and I’d flown to Chicago to spend time with her. Having them back together made everything perfect for the dedication. Nash and Ryker were cousins, but they acted like brothers. Their families were very close, andI liked to think one day Tallulah and I would be family. I couldn’t imagine Nash with anyone else. He’d been unable to move on after they’d broken up. It had worried Ryker. We’d spent many nights talking about it.
The day that Nash had bought a new truck, he had gotten drunk and called Ryker. His drunken ramblings had said that he couldn’t get in his old truck. That Tallulah was all over it. He had found one of her hair ties that day and lost it. Gone and traded it in, then gone home to get drunk because his new truck didn’t smell like her.
She wasn’t one to share much except when she was hurting, but reading people’s expressions was something I was good at. I knew that as much fun as we were having this morning, drinking mimosas while watching Riley, Willa, and Maggie try on wedding dresses, Tallulah was envious.
Part of me understood that, but something in Tallulah’s eyes was different. Almost as if she feared she wasn’t going to get this. This had been a last-minute trip put together by Willa. She had pointed out it could be hard to get us all together again and she wanted us all there when she picked out her dress, and Riley and Maggie agreed.
“Not that one,” Maggie said when Riley walked out in the newest dress she had tried on. “The one before was way better. You have great boobs. That one doesn’t show them off.”
Riley laughed. “Noted,” she replied. “When are you going to try on the second one you picked out?” she asked Maggie.
“In a minute,” she said, then held up her drink to take a sip.
“That’s just juice. The champagne is over there,” Willa told her, pointing at the table across from me.
It was just a moment, a second really, that her expression faltered. I thought perhaps it was just me who’d seen it, but Willa had seen it too. She gasped loudly. “OH MY GOD!” she squealed, then clapped her hands together.
Maggie’s face turned slightly red, then she looked at me as if she were apologizing. “I’m sorry. This weekend is about the field. About Hunter’s memory and legacy. With all the other things that have happened, I just didn’t want to add to it. This isn’t about me.” She said the words so quickly, if I didn’t have the implant I wouldn’t have understood her. I couldn’t have read her lips that fast.
“What?” Riley asked, looking from Maggie to me then at Willa.
“Everything that has happened since we all got back to town has been perfect. Hunter would have wanted all this happiness.”
“What am I missing? Did someone else get engaged?” Riley asked, looking from me to Ezmita to Tallulah.
“I’m pregnant.” Maggie said the words, then burst into a huge smile as tears welled up in her eyes.
Willa wrapped her arms around her and started squealing again.
“It’s about time one of you got knocked up,” Riley said, beaming, then went to hug Maggie too.