“Oh, that’s just the pimps,” Ashley supplied helpfully. “Or the johns. There are two hookers on the second floor. This is their busiest time of day. I told Mysty that she should make a little waiting room, but she said anything she leaves out in the hall gets stolen anyway.”
Ryan stared at her sister, his jaw slightly open, before turning back to her. “Get your things. You’re both coming with me. My place isn’t much bigger, but at least it’s not a hotbed of criminal activity.”
“That you know of,” Ashley corrected, settling Emily on her hip. “According to Shauna Rae, you just never know when the people next door are cooking meth until the trailer explodes. Such a tragedy. It’s why she moved here. Of course, she says this is way worse than the trailer park.”
“You must be Ashley.” Ryan just barged right in. He’d never had trouble taking control.
Of course, her sister had gotten a lot sassier since having Emily. “And you must be someone I don’t know and have never heard a word about.”
“I’m Ryan Church.” He flushed a little as though he’d just realized he was making a scene. “I, uhm, I work with your sister.”
Ashley didn’t even try to disguise her open appraisal. Or, if she did, she was doing a terrible job. “And now you’re ordering us to move? Is that part of her job?”
Ryan gave Ashley what Jill thought of as his patented “superhero” look. When his jaw squared and he got that glint in his eyes, she just knew he was going to save the world, or at least her. “I just want to protect your sister and that means protecting you too.”
“All right then. I’m going to put Emily down for a nap while you two chat.” She looked over at Jill. “I take back what I said. Give him a second chance.”
Jill frowned. She thought she’d at least have her sister in her corner. “You just said he was a typical asshole.”
“Yeah, well, that was before I saw him. Holy hell, sister, he is smoking hot. Dayum. He looks like he should be on a movie screen. Looks like that deserve a second chance. I bet you have a six-pack.” Ashley looked at his torso like she could see straight through to his abs.
Ryan smiled and gave her sister a flirty wink, shocking the hell out of Jill. She hadn’t seen him smile once since she’d come to work at Sanctum. This was the same flirty, fun Ryan she’d fallen madly in love with. He was usually so serious, but then he would turn the charm on and she would turn into a puddle of goo. “Hey, I work out a lot and it’s Texas, so I mostly don’t wear a shirt. You’ll have to put up with that when you and your sister come live at my place.”
Ashley’s appreciative sigh filled the room, and even Emily seemed enthralled by the big guy. “A daily show. Sounds better than cable. Which we don’t have. Also, I would very much like to move. I started naming the rats yesterday. It’s time. So you two let me know when to pack.”
“As soon as possible,” Ryan said.
“We’re not moving,” Jill said at the same time.
“You two crazy kids figure it out.” Ashley looked down at her feet as something furry skittered by. “Oh, look, there’s Cheesy. I call her that because she likes cheese.”
Ashley walked into her room, humming a Disney tune. They really did need to move. But they weren’t doing it because Ryan told her to. “Why are you here?”
He stopped, forcing his hands into his pockets as he turned back to her. “I’m sorry about the orders. It’s habit. I was just surprised to see this place. I should have come out here sooner. I should have checked up on you.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. We’re not together, Ryan.”
There was that smoldering look that made her heart race and her knees get weak, and left absolutely no room for her brain to function because she went into full-on lust overload. When he stared at her and his eyes darkened, she wanted nothing more than to throw herself at his feet. It was so much easier to deal with him when they were both studiously ignoring each other. “That was a mistake, Jillian. I made a terrible mistake.”
That was not what she needed to hear. “It wasn’t a mistake. The mistake was signing a contract with you in the first place.”
“No. The mistake was not allowing you to make your own decision.”
She rolled her eyes. What the hell was this about? Not two weeks before, he’d tried to get her to sign another contract, one she was sure would be very much like the first one, heavily weighted in his favor. “I didn’t get to make decisions, Ryan.”
“You made one every single day.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Jillian, you chose to sign the contract. I didn’t force you to. I didn’t force you to stay with me. I didn’t lock you up. You made the decision every single day to stay with me.”
Her stomach turned because he was right. “Thank you for reminding me.”
His expression softened. “You were right. I was wrong. You made the decision every day to keep us together, and I should have trusted in that.”
He totally misunderstood her. “Ryan, I thanked you for reminding me just what a doormat I used to be.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Doormat? You weren’t a doormat. Jillian, do you really think I mistreated you?”
She sighed heavily and sank to her secondhand couch. When she’d been with Ryan, he’d showered her with gifts, made certain that she had everything she needed on the material front. He’d never harmed her, always been deeply careful with their play. Even the spankings he’d given her had been for her pleasure. The discipline portion of their relationship had been very light, the contract between them more about protection and comfort than her obedience. “No. You didn’t mistreat me. Not at all. You just didn’t really notice I was there.”
His handsome face contorted in confusion. “What relationship were you in? My brothers talk about that time as the lost year because I did nothing but work and be with you. They miss you, by the way. They made it very clear to me that I was a moron for letting you go.”
“You didn’t let me go, Ryan. You pushed me off on another man.” Even thinking about it threatened to enrage her.
A grim look came over his face, and he sat down beside her, leaving plenty of space between them as though he was afraid to frighten her off. “I thought I was doing what was best for you. I promised to take care of you, and that day I had just gotten word that I might have been going to prison.”