Don't Forget Me Tomorrow (Time River, #2)

by A.L. Jackson

Really kissing her for the first time. Nothing had ever felt quite like kissing Dakota Cooper. It was flames and heat and pure relief.

“A little hot for that, isn’t it?” “Never too hot for me.” The smirk was back in full force.

“I already rode in, Cookie, so you might as well let me.” I’d started calling her that years ago. Now there was no way I could stop.

“Guess I like you on your knees for me.” A snort left my nose. I’d been for years, and she didn’t have a clue.

Because I’d wanted to give her everything I had, but the only thing I had been able to do was give her the one gift that I could.

The man was lit in a backdrop of vibrant pinks and purples and blues. He was midnight in the middle of it.

The man was chiseled strength and constrained danger. Hotter than any sin I’d ever dream of committing.

I’d been in love with Ryder Nash since I was nineteen, probably earlier than that if I was being honest with myself. I was working on getting over that, though.

The man midnight at the helm. He kicked over his old bike and it grumbled to life.

She tsked a sound of surprised disbelief. “That boy always seems to know when you’re in trouble, doesn’t he?” I couldn’t keep from rolling my eyes. “He didn’t know I was in trouble. We just happened to be in the same place at the same time.” It wasn’t like he had some sort of sixth sense about me.

Paisley was right—I was really letting those true crime podcasts get the best of me.

Knocked the fuck out from everything that was Dakota Cooper.

Ryder, Cody. It had always been Ryder. Because Cody might have always supported me, but it was Ryder who’d given me the courage to chase my dreams.

“I’m not sure, Dakota, but if you are? I promise I will take care of you. Protect you.” “Why?”

“Because protecting you is what I was created to do.”

“We each have our own lives, Ryder.” I forced it out around the tumult. His teeth ground. “You are my life, Dakota.”

My heart thudded an erratic beat. Not unless I could fucking get it back.

Ryder Nash could demolish me, and the last thing I needed was to get my heart shattered.

“You deserve everything. Had once thought I’d be the one to give it to you.”

Desire hit me from all sides. Lust gathered in my guts.

“Because the only person I want to touch me is you.”

A dark, towering storm. Chaos. Mayhem. Midnight.

I had gone to sleep knowing it, the scent of her still all over me. On my fingers and on my tongue, my body painted in her ecstasy.

Because the air deepened, a shiver blowing through. An arrow of warmth and a quiver of need. And a second later, Ryder was coming for me.

I love you. I love you. My soul chanted it. Demanded it.

Then I was only setting myself up to get destroyed. And I didn’t need that kind of destruction.

“I love you, Dakota. I’m gone for you. Since I was twenty-two fucking years old, I’ve been gone for you. Since you became the one thing in this world that could soothe the ache inside me. Since you became the reason to look beyond my circumstances. Since you reminded me of the good things this world might have to offer.”

“You saved me, Dakota. Saved me when I was lost. When I’d given up. And I keep trying to push you away because I know I don’t deserve you. But I can’t do that any longer. I can’t fucking deny that you are the one thing in this life that I’ve been living for. You are the light breaking the darkness inside me. And I’m begging you, please don’t walk away.”

Darkness rained around him. Midnight.