Wildfire Hurricane (A Ryder Boys Novel Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

chased by a whisper of hope. Could it really be him? He’d left her behind, and she’d never once heard from him. Part of her heart had searched for him while the greater part tried to hold itself together. If she lost him again, there’d be no surviving it this time. It’s not him. It can’t be.
    “Turn around and speak to me, Simone. Unless you want me to stare at your sweet ass all day.”
    Flynn coughed and Cassandra gasped.
    Simone slowly spun and faced him. He stood at the top of the stairs, holding an odd-looking axe in his hands and snarling down at her like Cujo having a bad hair day. Sculpted muscles filled out his once scrawny frame. Soot smeared his scowling face and streaked his clothes. His short brown hair stood straight off the top of his head as if shocked to see her. He could’ve been someone else, and for a moment her memory failed to place him. But that scar, the jagged lightning bolt on his cheek, marked him as the man who’d seen through her act and let her touch his soul. “Daschle Herbert Ryder.”
    His knuckles turned white as his fingers tightened around the axe handle, and his scar popped in stark relief against his darkening face. “Don’t you dare—! I can’t believe you’re…I never thought…especially after all this time!”
    A smile twisted her lips. She couldn’t help it. Sparks sizzled through her limbs and exploded between her thighs. So many years since she’d seen him and making him sputter still turned her on.
    Aching loneliness crashed over her and she rocked back, bracing a hand against a desk to remain upright. My God, I’ve missed him! But she couldn’t let him know that. Bastard didn’t believe her then and he wouldn’t believe her now no matter how much she argued her innocence. She planted her feet and crossed her arms over her chest, using old, festering anger to support her quivering legs. She found the rage much closer to the surface than she expected. “I want you to…” Kiss me, touch me, bend me over this desk and fuck— Her heart fluttered and she clamped her lips shut before she said any of that. “To go to hell.”
    Dash scratched his head and coughed as a cloud of ashes descended on his shoulders. “Where do you think I’ve been, darlin’?”
     
    ***
     
    Roaring flames around us.
    Blazing heat between us.
    The fire could’ve forged us forever.
    But she tempered it with betrayal.
     
    The last line of his epic poem raced through Dash’s brain as he became aware that everyone in the room was staring at him. Flynn. The pale, no-balls secretary who begged to be on Dash’s crew gaped, his gaze darting between him and his new boss. His eyes lit up and he cracked a grin as if he’d discovered a way to exploit the situation.
    Cassandra.
    Oh shit, Cassie. His wannabe and his used-to-be in the same room. Shouldn’t that have caused a time warp or something? Dash shuddered and tried to recall Mal’s crazy theories about timelines and alternate universes. What are you doing, man? Ditch the fiction and focus on reality. He watched a question mark draw itself on Cassie’s face. He’d deal with that later.
    Simone. Not Simon. He should’ve known that. Hell, she’d probably made the typo herself so her reentry into his world would make an even bigger splash. Her long black hair spilled shiny coils down her back, and her deep brown eyes flashed hot enough to melt chrome. She stared at him too, arms crossed, feet planted shoulder-width apart. Ready for battle. Jesus, am I getting hard?
    “Where you’ve been?” Her eyes widened and her lip curled. “I have no idea where you’ve been. You’re the one who left, remember?”
    “Remember why?” Damn it, don’t do this now!
    She flinched. No one else saw it because their gazes were still glued to him, but she faltered—just for a moment—then the fuse ignited. “Because of you ! I never touched him! I told you that, but you refused to believe me.”
    “I have proof.”
    “Fuck your proof!”