Ryan Renewed: New York Ruthless: Book 5

I fasten my Breitling onto my wrist as I walk into the kitchen. Jessie is sitting on the breakfast bar, with Liam standing between her thighs as he kisses her. He didn’t leave her bedroom last night after he went after her, so Conor, Mikey and I left them to it.

“Haven’t you two had enough of each other by now?” I ask as I sit beside them and pour myself a fresh coffee. “I mean we all heard you make-up fucking all last night.”

Jessie blushes even though there is no way she can’t have known we didn’t hear them. At one point we were worried they were killing each other until we heard her coming – loudly.

“Never,” Liam says with a grin as he pulls back from her and turns to me. “You want a protein shake? I was just gonna make one.”

I arch an eyebrow at him. “I’d rather have scrambled eggs.”

“Fine.” He rolls his eyes and walks to the refrigerator.

“Did you sleep okay?” Jessie asks as she shuffles along the counter until she’s sitting in front of me.

“Not really. I never sleep well when you’re not with me.”

“Sorry,” she whispers.

I slide my arms around her waist. “You don’t need to apologize. It’s just a fact.”

“A fact that you can’t function without me?” She grins at me.

“I can function without you,” I say, bending my head and dropping a soft kiss on her bare thigh, “but I don’t want to.”

She runs her fingers through my hair and my cock twitches to life. Fuck, I wish I had time to take her back to bed. Even just to lie next to her for a while. I’m so fucking tired, but there are never enough hours in the day. I need to cut back on work, but every time I try, something seems to go wrong.

I look up at her and she gives me the sweetest smile. Sometimes I think about leaving everything behind and running away with her and my brothers. Living in our lake house, with a few kids running around and no shit to deal with.

“You look tired,” she whispers.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re working too hard.” She tugs gently on my hair, tilting my head back so she can stare into my eyes and right into my goddamn soul.

I wrap my arms tighter around her waist. “Come here.” I pull her to me until her thighs are wrapped around me. Grabbing a fistful of her hair, I pull her lips to mine and kiss her and she moans softly into my mouth. “Fuck, Jessie,” I groan as I pull away from her. “I need to stop before I take you to bed and barricade us in for the rest of the week.”

“That sounds good to me.”

“Not a chance.” Liam appears with a plate of scrambled egg and two slices of toast.

Jessie scoots down off the counter and sits beside me. “I need you with me today,” I say to Liam before I take a bite of my food.

“Why? We having more problems?” He frowns.

“What problems?” Jessie asks.

I swallow before I answer them. “It’s nothing we can’t handle. More of an annoyance than anything else,” I say to Jessie. “But yeah, someone has been upsetting some of our customers again. I just need to smooth some things over but it won’t hurt to taken some muscle along.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Jessie asks.

“No, sweetheart. We got it.”

“Okay, but let me know if I can do anything, especially if it keeps happening. I mean I know you say it’s just an annoyance but if it’s happened before then someone is deliberately targeting you, right?”

I hate that she said you and not us but I let it go. “But they’re such minor issues though. I mean if someone wanted to seriously target us, they’d make more of a move. At least that’s how it’s always been in the past.”

“You say it’s minor but it’s got two of you dealing with it.”

“Only because it involves some of our best customers,” I tell her. Usually I would let some of our employees sort minor disputes but this security contract is one of our biggest and the director can get a little antsy if he doesn’t speak to me or Conor.

“It could be a distraction,” Jessie says with a shrug. “Just don’t dismiss the idea that it’s something bigger is all I’m saying.”

“She has a point,” Liam chips in.

“Hmm.” I rub a hand over my jaw. She does.

Two hours later, Liam and I are on our way to Connecticut to meet with Brad Sawyer, the director of Sawyer Transport. We provide security for him amongst other things.

“You and Jessie sort your differences then?” I ask Liam

“We did,” he says as a smile flickers over his lips.

“I’ve never seen you so worked up like that with her before. There something else going on, son?”

He sucks in a breath. “I know I’ve been a dumbass over this Hayden guy…”

“But?”

“But I don’t trust him and I’m terrified that someone is gonna take her from us, Shane. I mean every time we think her past is behind her, it comes back and bites us all on the ass. I couldn’t handle it if we lost her again.”

“I know. None of us could, but you have to stop living every day thinking you’re going to lose her. You’ll drive yourself and her crazy if you don’t.”

“I keep seeing her in that basement, Shane. I keep dreaming about it, only in my dream, she’s dead. Then I wake up and I think it’s real and I relive the most horrible moment of my life over and over again.”

I reach over and put my hand on the back of his neck. “You’ve been through a lot this past year. Maybe—”

“I don’t want to talk to no shrink,” he interrupts me.

“Okay. But just talk to us then. Stop keeping it all bottled in until you explode like you did last night.”

“Okay,” he says with a soft sigh.

We’re quiet for a while and when I turn to look at him, he’s got a goofy smile on his face.

“Making up was that good, huh?” I chuckle.

“It was fucking epic.” He laughs too. “I can see why you argue with her all the time.”

“Not all the time.” I shake my head.

“Not as much as you used to, no, but still…”

I arch an eyebrow at him. “Well, you said yourself, fucking epic.”

“You’re definitely less tightly wound than you used to be, bro,” Liam goes on. “Our girl is good for us.”

I roll my shoulders and flex my neck. I don’t feel less tightly wound today, but I do agree that she’s good for us. In fact, Jessie Ryan is the best thing that’s ever happened to the Ryan family.