TWENTY-ONE
Ryan made a grand entrance in the club. "Am I interrupting?" His voice was deadpan as his eyes settled on Claire.
"Ry-Ryan?" Claire gasped and stood up at the same time, startled. Her eyes squinted in bemusement.
Was this real or some alcohol playing her tricks? She couldn't help but wonder. But seeing that arrogant look, mingled with something like anger on the face of the man standing before her eyes, Claire grasped immediately that it was indeed Ryan.
But what the fuck was he doing here? She gulped, her eyes bored deeply into his. He was devouring her alive, despite the displeasure in his perilous gaze. His eyes were openly scrutinizing her tight dress, the curves, the cleavage, and his lips twisted in a confusing fashion.
"Hi, Panther," he greeted Nathan.
"Oh, hi." Nathan was just as surprised as Claire.
"Mind if I steal your colleague for a minute?" Ryan asked, ignoring Claire's astounded look.
"Um, sure." Nathan huffed a soft laugher, his voice a bit shaky.
"Thanks," Ryan said curtly and turned to Claire. "Shall we?" His usual insolent smile was back on track, his eyes gleaming.
"Ryan, what are you doing here?" Claire demanded quietly. "Do you actually think I'd just leave and—”
"You don't want us to create a scene here, do you, Claire?" Ryan whispered softly into her ear. She shuddered. "I'm fucked with anger right now so I can easily do it."
Anger? Over what? Claire glared at him with a crunchy face and a soft breath escaped her lungs. Considering the legit fact that some of her colleagues were present right now, and her boss as well, she knew going against Ryan at this moment wasn't in her best interest.
"Fine, let me at least clear the cheque,” she answered curtly and swiftly turned to the counter to grab her wallet.
Nathan held her hand and uttered, "I said this is on me, Levy. Welcome to the team treat?"
Ryan rolled his eyes behind Nathan's back. Only Claire managed to see it and she was on the verge of laughing. Fuck, she'd missed him terribly in spite of the mixed emotions she was currently experiencing. Was she glad he was here? Or was she not? She had no idea.
"Okay," she said politely to her boss, ignoring Ryan's cavalier look. "And today was fun. See you on Monday," she added, and Nathan smiled tightly.
"Are we done?" Ryan urged, sarcasm lacing his voice as he added, "Or you still have to kiss him goodbye so that you can finally seal your beautiful evening with butterflies?"
"Don't be a dick!" Claire murmured to his face and walked past him. She could feel his smile as he followed suit.
Ryan was right behind her as they headed to the exit, jostling past some guys who couldn't miss the chance to whistle at the sight of Claire. It made Ryan's hand tug hold waist possessively and shut them off as she smiled up at him.
Sneaky jerk! She loved it.
"You enjoy these lustful stares, don't you?" Ryan accused.
"I'm not answering that because you're twisted," Claire replied. "Oh no!" she suddenly muttered, thoughtful.
"What?" Ryan frowned.
"I forgot about Gena." She stopped moving, turning around towards the dance floor.
"Don't worry about her," replied Ryan, "she's probably outside with Harry. Let's get out of this place." He took her hand.
"Harry is here?" Claire was surprised. He nodded. "Ha! I can't believe this. So women can't have fun on their own in this century, can they?" she mumbled.
"Here we go again," Ryan remarked with a sigh, leading her out through the door. "Always challenging." It was less of an argument until they finally stepped away from the heavy music, and right outside it was a bit relaxing due to fresh air and less noise.
Claire spotted Gena and Harry arguing outside near the parking lot. She looked at Ryan, and he only shrugged.
"Let them sort their own issue," he said haltingly, "because we have ours to solve."
"Hah!" Claire huffed, catching a soothing breath. "Of course we do. Let me return Gena's purse first, because we indeed have a lot to discuss."
"Sure, baby." Ryan grinned diabolically, and Claire's eyes hissed at him.
And with that, she followed Gena. Harry seemed to have had his fill from all the drunk Asian woman. He was grunting, tired of explaining himself.
"Um, excuse me," Claire begged for an audience.
"Sure, go ahead, Claire," Harry replied with great civility and strode towards where Ryan was.
"Are you okay?" Claire handed the purse to Gena.
"Of course I'm okay." Gena spat. "Do you really think a few tequila shots could take me down?" She ran a hand through her hair.
"Actually, it was more than a few," Claire said with a laugh. "But anyway, what next? Do you want me to stick around? Because I wanna stick around." She peeled a nervous glance at Ryan, who was now talking to Harry.
Gena laughed loudly. "Why? Are you scared to be alone with him?"
"Honestly, I am," Claire confessed. "Is that weird? I mean, not even in my wildest dream have I expected to see him here. And I was trying so hard to avoid him." She puffed out some air.
"Weirdly fair," Gena replied. "Well, Harry wants us to get this over with before the night ends, and I want the same thing I guess."
Claire was fond of them. "He is so sweet—unlike someone I know," she remarked while shooting daggers at Ryan. "Well, I guess I'll just get going and face my fate for tonight."
"Okay." Gena chuckled, very aware of that fate's name.
"But please be nice, Gena. The guy is trying," Claire whispered.
"I'll try." They shared a friendly hug before parting.
Claire returned to Ryan, and Harry to Gena afterwards.
"I have plenty of questions right now," Claire muttered as she stood before Ryan. "But I'll only ask one."
"Go ahead." Ryan replied coolly, his eyes narrowed down at her.
"What's the meaning of this?" she asked.
"Meaning of what?" He scowled.
"Stop playing dumb with me, Ryan! I'm talking about you coming all the way here just to ruin my night. I can understand Harry's attitude, because he has a good reason to. But you? What made you come here, huh?"
"I also have a good reason." Ryan said.
"And what is it?'
"You," he said pointedly, and suddenly his face darkened. "Why were you flirting with Panther earlier?"
"Excuse me!" Claire exclaimed. "I wasn't flirting with him! And even if that was the case, it has nothing to do with you now, does it?" She pounced on him, her chest touching his.
"Oh it surely does!" Ryan muttered between gritted teeth "Everything about you, Claire, matters to me. Do you get it?" He gripped her waist tightly, pulled her closer to him, his face angered.
"No, I don't get it," Claire objected, panting, stirred by his tight hold. "I thought we're done with the shit, Ryan—when you decided to mute for over a week and left to God-knows-where without a word."
"Oh?" Ryan smirked, amused.
"Yeah," Claire breathed. "I thought it was over between us, and I was relieved that at last everything's back to normal. But guess what, here you are, once again to mess with my life, you jerk! Do you enjoy it? Do you like this—"
Ryan silenced her with a kiss, stoutly taking control of her psyche. She grumbled, holding his shoulders for support as he squeezed her back tightly, paying no attention to anything else; they were in the parking lot and probably someone could've passed by.
His lips, as always, were demanding of her mouth, twirling and swirling his tongue with hers, deeply, restlessly, both fighting for dominance. How she missed him! Claire couldn't deny this fact, and she felt conned when he pulled back, leaving her wanton.
"That's what I thought either," Ryan said, panting the same way she did. "But it all changed when I saw the picture of you, and that . . . that Panther. I hate it when you're with him, or any other man, while dressed like this. Fuck, can't you see how distracting you are, Claire?" He trailed his impetuous eyes down her chest, peeking through her swollen breasts barely covered by the dress cups.
Claire scowled at that. Her dress was just a party dress and some chicks in the club had it worse compared to hers. What's with him? Was he jealous? She smiled. For some stupid reasons this simple fact brought Claire a grand felicity. She was touched.
"And so what?" she questioned him, playfully grazing his growing stubble with the back of her hand. "Do you want me to praise you for your heroic act of ruining my night just because you disprove my dress? Because I was really enjoying myself there."
"Oh really?" Ryan snorted.
"Yes," Claire whispered.
"Do you want to go back?" Ryan's voice was calm, his eyes serious. "If that's what you want, you can go ahead, Claire. I won't stop you." He was mad.
Claire took a step back mentally. Did she want him gone and return to that noisy place?
"If not let's get the fuck out of here." Ryan led her toward the taxi that'd been waiting forever.
They were both in the backseat, taciturn, staring at either side of the windows. But a while later Claire found herself staring at him, and she was dying to make him talk somehow.
"I missed you," Ryan uttered hoarsely. "You were always on mind," he added, and nothing but sincerity laced his now calm voice.
Claire could feel the butterflies fluttering their wings in her stomach.
"If you did, then why didn't you do anything about it?" she asked him with a perfect indifference.
Ryan smiled gently. "Because I wanted to do as you want. I wanted to leave you alone."
"And then what changed?" Claire returned, her gaze tentative.
"I don't know." Ryan sighed, tipping his head exhaustively onto the headrest. "Maybe you're too irresistible to be left alone." His smile was pure provocation.
The heat rose into Claire's body, her core aroused by his voice alone.
"I met your girlfriend last week," she told him, unable to hide the feeling of discomfort at the remembrance of her encounter with Doris. "She knows about us; I can feel that she knows."
Ryan's face didn't flex. "What did she say to you?" he quizzed.
Claire took a deep breath, dropping her head on his shoulder. He slipped his hand around her neck and pulled her closer, body to body, hugging her side.
"It's not even important, Ryan. Whatever she said doesn't seem to cure my illness, my stupidity, and you're the reason for everything," Claire muttered in a low, defeated voice. "Where did you go?" she asked him.
"To Havana," he replied.
"Business?"
"Hmm. Business."
"Is it beautiful over there?" She looked up at him.
"It is. But I had no time to explore the beauty of it."
"What a waste." She sighed.
Ryan laughed. "Perhaps next time I'll take you with me so we can explore together."
Only if that next time existed, Claire thought without making an audible comment. She shut her eyes at his soft kiss on top of her head. Was she ever going to stop melting in his arms? Wanting him to hold her tight? Desiring more of him each time? She couldn't tell as she loved all of him.
The car finally pulled over at Claire's house after a short traffic free ride. And that's when she realized how crazy her feelings were growing for this crazy man beside her. She didn't want to go away from him. How could she when all she needed was feeling him deep inside her?
"We're here, Claire. You should go in and rest," Ryan said calmly.
For once ever since they met Claire wished for Ryan to beg her to stay. She hoped that he'd at least force her, as he usually did, but he did not do as such. Staring at each other, they remained silent inside the car, the driver waiting with all his patience for someone to exit.
No one did for almost a minute.
"If it weren't for Doris," Ryan uttered out of the blue, "would things be different between us?"
Would they? Claire wondered.
"I don't know, but I'm certainly sure that you're not the type of man I dreamed of," she answered.
Ryan frowned. "And who is your type? Panther?" His tone was accusing.
"What's with you and Nathan? Are you jealous of him?" Claire chuckled.
"Ugh!" Ryan groaned dismissively.
Claire chuckled again. "But then again, why not? He may not be that handsome, but he still looks good enough. He's charming, he does make me smile most of the time, and he's single."
"I swear if you continue talking that way about him, I'm going to transfer him to some overseas branch!" Ryan snapped quietly, his voice menacing.
"What? Are you crazy?" Claire laughed aloud. "Why would you send an innocent and hard-working man away just because you don't like how I talk about him?" she blurted.
"Because I can," Ryan replied blankly. "And I thought by now you've already confirmed that I'm crazy and capable of doing just that."
"No, you can't do that," Claire argued.
Could he?
"Oh yes I can, Claire. Try me," Ryan replied.
"Oh no, you're just bluffing, Ryan Stevens!" She bit her bottom lip.
"Don't try me, Claire. I'm not as good as you want to believe."
"I know you're bad—so very bad. But I also know you're good," Claire said softly, and her words seemed to deepen into Ryan's heart.
His eyes shone amorously.
"You really love trouble," he muttered, smiling indulgently while stroking her hair. She smiled ditto. "Let's go home," he said.
"Home?" Claire's voice lurched haphazardly.
"Mmm." Ryan bobbed his head affirmatively.
"Your home, you mean?"
"If you prefer that name, yes," Ryan uttered. "Stay with me," he added, and it was enough to melt Claire's heart.
"Let's go," she breathed.