Ryan: A Contemporary Romance (For The Love Of A Good Woman Book 7) Read online

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter One - Ryan

  Chapter Two - Cassandra

  Chapter Three - Ryan

  Chapter Four - Cassandra

  Chapter Five - Ryan

  Chapter Six - Cassandra

  Chapter Seven - Ryan

  Chapter Eight - Cassandra

  Chapter Nine - Ryan and Cassandra

  Chapter Ten - Ryan

  Chapter Eleven - Cassandra

  Chapter Twelve - Ryan

  Chapter Thirteen - Cassandra

  Chapter Fourteen - Ryan

  Chapter Fifteen - Cassandra

  Chapter Sixteen - Ryan

  Chapter Seventeen - Cassandra and Ryan

  Chapter Eighteen - Cassandra

  Chapter Nineteen - Ryan

  Chapter Twenty - Ryan

  Chapter Twenty-One - Ryan

  Chapter Twenty-Two - Epilogue

  More To Come

  Ryan

  By

  Giulia Lagomarsino

  Ryan

  For The Love Of A Good Woman

  Copyright © 2017 Giulia Lagomarsino

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Printing, 2017

  ASIN:B079WK6YVS

  Self-Published through Kindle Direct Publishing

  This book is dedicated to the characters in this series that I have come to love so much! I hope to see you again soon.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Ryan

  YOU CAN DO this. That’s what I kept telling myself. My palms were clammy. My knees were shaking. I could feel the sweat trickling down my back. I was pretty sure I looked like I was going to pass out and right about now, it was a very real possibility that I would.

  You can do this.

  I just kept repeating it, hoping it would sink in. Why I thought this was a good idea, I’ll never know. I just wanted to help her. I didn’t want her to feel like she was alone anymore. This may not have been the best way to accomplish that, but it was too late now. Our last minute decision to tie the knot didn’t seem so great anymore.

  I turned at the sound of the wedding march to see Cassandra walking down the aisle that was decorated with cheap crepe paper. Her ten year old son, James was walking her toward me with a scowl on his face. I had yet to win the kid over, but then we just met for the first time less than twenty-four hours ago. Cassandra didn’t want to run off and get married without him. I couldn’t blame her. I was going to be his step-father.

  Shit. I’m going to be someone’s father. This is such a bad idea. Why did I think I could do this?

  But as the beautiful woman I had been chasing for close to a year and half walked toward me, I just didn’t have it in me to tell her I’d been wrong. We’d never been on an actual date or even kissed. She’d always held me at arm’s length and I found out why when I showed up on her doorstep one day ago.

  She had a huge smile on her face and I just couldn’t be the bastard that walked away at the altar. Her kid was here. There was no way I could humiliate her like that. It had been my idea after all. I took a deep breath and sucked it up. I forced a smile onto my face which only made the kid scowl harder. I was so fucked.

  I focused on her walking toward me. Her brown, wavy hair hung in loose tendrils over her shoulder and her deep blue eyes stood out because of the dark blue dress I’d bought for her when we arrived. It was her wedding after all, and I wanted her to at least wear something nice.

  As she stood next to me, I tried to imagine how this would all turn out okay. She would move in with me and I’d have a woman to take care of me. She’d cook for me and do the laundry. She’d warm my bed and I’d never have to date again. This would all be okay.

  I turned to the minister who looked like Elvis and rolled my eyes for having found the most cliche place to get married in Vegas. I should have given her more. I should have at least put in a little effort, but she didn’t seem to care.

  Elvis finished singing Fools Rush In, and I couldn’t help laugh at the irony of it all. He went through the motions of giving hip thrusts and added in another song before we finally got to the vows. Cassandra didn’t hesitate when she answered and actually looked happy. I felt like I was going to puke. I swallowed down the nausea that was churning and did my best to appear as if this wasn’t the single most terrifying moment of my life.

  I wasn’t really sure what happened after that. Honestly, I was too busy trying not to pass out, so I hadn’t been listening. Cassandra went from happy to uneasy in a matter of moments and that’s when I realized that I was supposed to be doing something. I looked to the Elvis impersonator with a raised eyebrow.

  “Huh?” Quite intelligent, if I do say so myself.

  “You may kiss the bride,” he repeated.

  “Oh, yeah.” I turned back to Cassandra and leaned in, but just as I went to kiss her, I saw her son glare at me. I gave her a quick peck on the cheek and patted her shoulder. “Congratulations,” I told her with a pained smile.

  Confusion lit her face and her eyes bored into me, no doubt trying to figure out what was wrong with me. Not knowing what else to do, I grabbed her hand and dragged her down the aisle.

  “Come on, John. Let’s head back to the hotel and get some shut eye.”

  “His name is James,” Cassandra hissed.

  “Right. I knew that.” I continued to pull Cassandra behind me, but when we reached the door, she pulled her hand from mine and turned back to get her son, who was sitting in a chair looking pissed. I ran my hand through my hair as she tried to get the little fucker to come with us. What the fuck had I done?

  She finally convinced him to come with us and we quickly piled into the rented car and headed for the hotel. When we got up to the suite I had gotten for us, I turned to James to make peace.

  “There’s a minibar in your room. I’m sure you’ll find all the candy you want, but go easy on the liquor. It’s expensive.”

  “Ryan!” Cassandra gasped next to me.

  “What?” I turned back to James.

  “I’m ten,” James sneered.

  “Well, then stick to beer.”

  “Ryan. He can’t drink alcohol. He’s not old enough.”

  “He’s ten. I was drinking beer with my old man when I was eight.”

  Cassandra gave me a look of shock before turning and taking the kid into the other room. Finally, I was alone and could think over what had just happened. I looked down at my hand and saw the ring firmly in place on my ring finger. I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. I couldn’t believe I had been so stupid. It must have been all of my
friends that were shacking up with their women. They were a bad influence and made me think that I could do this too. I couldn’t, though. I didn’t know the first thing about being a husband or father. The closest I ever came was with my ex-girlfriend and I knew that wasn’t ever turning into marriage, so I never really worried about it.

  I wasn’t opposed to marriage. In fact, if I found the right woman, I would be all over it. But what I had done tonight was colossally stupid. We hadn’t really discussed anything beyond the fact that she was worried about her son’s father coming back and trying to get custody. The worry on her face was too much and so I proposed this crazy idea of us getting married so that she would feel more secure. I think she was so relieved to finally have someone offer to help that she jumped at the opportunity. She would find out really fast how horrible my idea had been.

  Cassandra came out a few minutes later with a scowl on her face. “I know that you’re new to the whole parenting thing, but you do not offer my child alcohol at the age of ten.”

  “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. This is all a lot to take in.”

  “You were the one that suggested we get married. If you changed your mind, why didn’t you say so?”

  “I didn’t,” I lied. “It’s just that I’m becoming a husband and father in one day and I just met the kid one day ago.”

  “James. His name is James, not ‘the kid’.”

  “Look, I’m sorry. I know I’m fucking this up. How about we just go to sleep and talk about all this shit in the morning.”

  “Fine. I can sleep in James’s room.”

  What? “Um, why would you sleep in his room? Our room has a king size bed,” I said, as I stared at her in confusion.

  She sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Ryan, we should have talked about the details before we did this. I thought this was all a marriage of convenience. I didn’t think..”

  “What?” She looked uncomfortable and it finally clicked. “You didn’t think we would sleep together.”

  She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I thought that was all clear. If you decide you don’t want this, we can get this annulled.”

  “No. I told you that I would help you and I will. It’s fine.” It was so not fine. How had I gotten myself into this and why was I agreeing to staying married if she wasn’t even putting out? I walked into my bedroom and shut the door. I had no clue what was going to happen in the morning. Maybe I would wake up and this would all be some bad dream.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Cassandra

  TWO DAYS EARLIER....

  I paced around my cramped apartment as I waited for Michael, James’s father to show. He had contacted me out of the blue a few weeks ago saying that he wanted to get to know James. I had been hesitant because when James was born, he didn’t want anything to do with him.

  Michael and I met right before he was going off to basic training. He was in love with the military and felt that a family would get in the way. I sent him pictures of James as he got older, but Michael never responded. Now, all the sudden, he wanted to meet and I had a bad feeling.

  I sent Michael to my parents’ house for the day because I needed to talk with Michael before James met him. I didn’t know if this was a passing amusement for him or if he really wanted a relationship with him.

  The buzzer sounded and I looked around the small space one last time to be sure it was presentable. I walked over and pressed the call button after taking a few deep breaths.

  “Hello?”

  “Cassandra, it’s Michael.”

  “Come on up.” I buzzed him in and then fidgeted with the locks for a few minutes as I tried to calm my racing heart. When he knocked, I jumped slightly. The pressure was mounting and I needed to calm down or he would think I was a basket case.

  I opened the door to see Michael standing in front of me in a wool pea coat and trousers looking even better than the day he left. He was tall and had dirty blonde hair and light blue eyes. I had always felt I would get lost in his eyes if I looked too long. He had put on quite a bit of muscle and his face was still just as handsome. However, the woman hanging off his arm was definitely something new.

  She was a skinny little thing, dressed immaculately in a green dress that perfectly matched the color of her eyes and nude heels. Her hair was in a fancy chignon with not a hair out of place.

  I found myself stupidly running my hand over my own messy hair that I hadn’t had time to do today. Normally, I was more put together than this, but James had been a pain to get going this morning and then I had the one hour drive out to my parents’ house. I just barely made it home before our scheduled time.

  I stepped to the side after I finished gawking and waved my arm for them to come in.

  “Michael, I didn’t know you would be bringing along a friend.”

  “This is my wife, Alisha. She really wanted to meet James.”

  “James isn’t here,” I said with a little too much force.

  “I thought that was the whole purpose of this visit?” he asked.

  “Michael, you have never shown any interest in my son-”

  “Our son,” he interjected.

  “You’ve never shown any interest in him before. What made you think you would just show up and meet him without talking to me first? Or that you could bring your wife along for the first meeting? He doesn’t even know who you are.”

  “You’ve never told him about me?”

  “Yes, I did when he was younger, but when it became clear that you had no interest in getting to know him, I stopped talking about you. I didn’t want him thinking that you would be coming around some day.”

  “Well, I did and I want to meet him.”

  “Why now?”

  “I’m out of the military. I’m looking to settle down.”

  I nodded. “So now that the military is out of the way, you have time for your son.”

  “If I may interrupt,” the prissy little wife continued without waiting for a response. “I would love to meet James. When Michael told me about him, I insisted that he should form a relationship with him.”

  My heart softened toward the woman and hardened toward Michael. “So, your wife had to convince you it was important to meet your son?”

  “No, we talked about it for a while and I realized that it would never get any easier to walk back into his life. I know that I screwed up before, but now I’ve come to my senses and I want to be a part of his life.”

  “For how long? Are you planning on going to baseball games and parent teacher conferences? How about taking him to dentist appointments?”

  “Jesus. I just want to meet the little guy,” he said, running a hand over his face.

  “The ‘little guy’ is ten now and wouldn’t appreciate you calling him that. Before I let you into his life, I need to know how much time you plan on spending with him. He’s used to his life being just the two of us and I won’t have you changing that if you’re not planning on being a full time dad.”

  Alisha stepped forward and put a hand on my arm, but removed it when I narrowed my eyes at her.

  “We plan on being very involved in his life. We would like to be a part of his life in a more..permanent way.”

  “A more permanent way?” I repeated.

  “We would like to have him come stay with us a few times a week. Maybe we could work out for him to stay with us half the time. I’m sure you would appreciate the break after all the time you’ve spent doing it alone.”

  My heart started to pound in my chest. They weren’t talking about meeting, they were talking about custody arrangements. She didn’t even have to say it. I could see from the look on her face, that was their plan.

  “I don’t need a break from my son. I love him very much and have been raising him myself for the past ten years.”

  “Listen, Cassandra. I didn’t want to bring this up, but you leave me no choice.” Michael had always been quick to anger when things didn’t go his way. I could see that he hadn’t been expe
cting me to put up such a fight. Perhaps that I would even fall to his feet and thank him for coming back for James. “I’m his father and I have every right to see him. If I have to, I’ll take you to court and get custody of my son and I’ll win. Alisha and I have a lot of money and a nice home.” He looked around my tiny apartment in disgust. “It wouldn’t take much to convince a judge that we could provide more for him.”

  I walked to the door and opened it. “If you feel that’s necessary, be my guest, but just remember that you’ll also be paying back child support along with whatever the judge deems appropriate for current support. I think it’s time you leave.”

  He was fuming now and his face had taken on a nasty red hue. “My lawyer will be in touch.” He grabbed Alisha’s hand and pulled her along behind him.

  “It was lovely to meet you Cassandra,” Alisha said as she left the apartment. I slammed the door and paced around my apartment, trying to figure out what my next step would be. My parents didn’t have the money for a legal battle and neither did I. I made a decent living and kept us in this apartment because it was financially beneficial to us. I taught James that we would never live above our means, so we stayed here. I had put away a good chunk of money in savings and in a college savings account for him, neither of which I wanted to touch. While it was a good chunk of savings for me, it would wipe me out if he took me to court.

  I checked my watch and saw that I needed to head over to my parents’ house if I was going to beat the traffic. I grabbed my jacket and purse and headed downstairs.

  “Cassandra!” I turned from my car door to see Ryan Jackson headed toward me. He looked absolutely mouth watering in a dark grey suit and white shirt that was left unbuttoned. He must have been coming from the office. As he ran toward me, I could see his muscles moving under his suit jacket. He was lean, but his arm muscles showed through his suit. I had dreamt for over a year of something happening between us, but I had never allowed it because I was scared what that would mean for James. He was the sexiest man I’d ever met and the only one that had ever made me want to consider a relationship.