Ryder's POV

I hadn’t been able to get her out of my head since that night.

The moment she left my house, still flushed, still trembling, still carrying the scent of me on her skin, something shifted inside me, something I couldn’t name and didn’t want to examine. I told myself it was just sex. Just a mistake. Just a moment of weakness after years of keeping everyone at arm’s length. She was young enough to be my daughter, for God’s sake. She was Dylan’s ex-fiancée. Letting her stay in my head any longer than necessary would be reckless, dangerous, and reputation-destroying. So I tried to bury and lock it...