Hot Single Docs: Meeting His Match. Susan Carlisle

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СКАЧАТЬ He knew they weren’t done. They worried about him and he didn’t like that.

      Ryan knocked on Lucy’s apartment door right at eleven. There was a scuffle of movement before she opened the door. “I’m not quite ready. I’ll only be a minute.”

      “Mind if I come in?” he asked.

      Lucy paused longer than he would’ve liked to give her answer.

      “I guess.” She opened the door wider and he followed her into the small but neat apartment. The first thing that struck him was the lack of personal items. Even as a bachelor he had family pictures around his home. It was very telling. There was nothing there to indicate she had any family that she cared about, and he knew differently.

      She wore jeans that fit her slim figure perfectly, not leaving a single curve untouched. Lean and fit, she looked lovely. He wished the bulky cream-colored sweater didn’t hide her luscious breasts. He had told her to dress warmly so he only had himself to blame. She’d pulled her hair up and through the back of a baseball hat and braided it. She looked like a woman-child instead of the competent, mature woman he knew her to be.

      After slipping her arms in to a pea jacket and looping a bright pink scarf around her neck that hung below the hem of the coat, she said, “I’m ready.”

      “Great. I think we’ve got a perfect day to visit. The sun’s shining and the wind isn’t up too high. We need to hustle to make the ferry. I managed to get us tickets on the one o’clock. We were lucky. They take reservations and there were only two left. Otherwise we might have had a long wait.”

      At Battery Park, Ryan paid the cab driver and grabbed Lucy’s hand. “We better run for it.” He loped so she could keep up with his longer stride. As they raced across the park to where the ferry was docked, he glanced back to check on Lucy. Her bright smile and rosy face made him grin like a foolish kid. She looked happy.

      “I’ve not run like that in a long time,” Lucy said, panting as they stood in line to go through security.

      “Neither have I. It felt good.”

      Lucy looked up at him. “It did, didn’t it?”

      He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick hug. “We’ll run back after we see Liberty if you like.”

      She grinned. “I think I’d be just as happy with a walk.”

      He laughed.

      They made it past security and Ryan fished their tickets out of his pocket as the powerful engines of the ferry started to boil.

      “Where did you get those? Do you have an ‘in’ with the port authorities?”

      He waved the papers in his hand. “The internet is a wonderful thing.”

      They walked aboard and found a spot on top. Out in the open they could get a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the city, the bay and New Jersey.

      “It’s amazing,” Lucy said as she stood beside him and looked towards the statue.

      “I love this city.”

      “You’ve never wanted to live anywhere else?” She looked at him as if his next words would be committed to memory.

      “No. How about you? Anyplace special you’d like to live?’

      “Not really. Other than my sister’s I’ve not had a place to call home in a long time.”

      Her words drifted away on the wind as they crossed the harbor. He might have had it rough with his mother dying so young but his dad had always made sure that Ryan had a home. Just as he’d made sure his sisters had known they had one when his father had gotten sick. He didn’t know what he would do without his family...

      Lucy shuddered. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. She didn’t resist but relaxed against him. Ryan liked the feel of her next to him. “Having fun yet?” he asked as they closed in on Liberty Island.

      “Yes. More than I thought I would.”

      He studied her a moment. “What exactly does that mean? You didn’t think it would be fun to spend the day with me?”

      “I wasn’t sure.”

      “You could damage a man’s ego.”

      “I think you have enough of one that it can take a hit.”

      He squeezed her tighter in retaliation. When she giggled he let her go. “Did you really think you wouldn’t have a good time with me?”

      “I’m not going to get the cold shoulder again after we share something personal, am I?”

      “Funny, very funny. Coming from a woman I couldn’t get a smile out of a week ago.”

      The ferry docked and they followed the other passengers down the gangplank. They spent the next two hours exploring the grounds of the statue and listening to a park ranger tell the history of the lady.

      “Can we climb to the top?” Lucy asked.

      “They’re doing repairs. I’m sorry, it’s closed. We’ll come back when it opens.”

      “Oh, I had hoped to look out of her.”

      She had the sweetest pout on her face. He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss, unable to resist her pucker.

      Lucy put her hand to her lips. “Why did you do that?”

      “Because you look so sad.”

      “Oh.”

      He looked up at the top of the statue. If he didn’t focus on something else he was afraid he’d kiss her again. She looked so adorable in her confusion. “My father brought my sisters and me here when we were kids. It was an experience to remember. Every year my father let us take turns picking some place in the city that we would like to go. This was mine. I wasn’t nearly as happy with one of my sister’s picks.”

      “What was that?”

      “She wanted to go to the Met.”

      Lucy’s laughter made him feel good deep down inside. “You don’t like art?”

      “I do. But as a twelve-year-old it was a punishment.”

      She giggled some more.

      “Dad’s rule was that we were to go as a family. I went but I wasn’t happy about it.”

      “Those memories must be fun to share now.” Her voice had taken on a melancholy sound.

      He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “The holidays are something when we all get together. Loud and lots of fun.” He stopped abruptly. His father wouldn’t be here this year. That’s the first time he’d allowed a thought like that to enter his mind.

      This time Lucy returned his comfort. “You’ll miss him.”

      She’d СКАЧАТЬ