Off Limits (Secrets Kept, #1)

by Riley Hart

I left for California three months later. I kept my Georgia cell phone number. Mads never called, and my parents never got their friends back.

“The second tragedy here is that we’re both gorgeous, queer men, and it can never go anywhere because you were married to my sister.”

“Hey, sorry, I—” The man’s words cut off as familiar hazel eyes stared back at me. Ryder was there, wearing a shirt that said Lynwood Mechanics right above his heart. Mechanics. Ryder was a mechanic. Ryder was… “No…” he said, and that one word made my world spin, made me hold on to the railing in the elevator, fearing I would collapse if I didn’t. “You live…here? You’re a doctor…fuck.”

this was us and we were impossible.

“Why is it you who makes me feel alive in ways I didn’t know were possible? The one person I can never have.”

“I want you too.” Our lips grazed when I spoke. “I feel you… Down to the marrow of my bones, I feel you, this rightness I didn’t even know I was missing. Like a part of me was waiting for you all along. No matter how hard I try, I can’t make it go away.”

“You wanna mark me all up inside? Make it so everyone knows I’m yours? Because I am, Hutch. Maybe I shouldn’t be, but I am.”

“I don’t regret you.” “I don’t regret you either,”

“Well, that’s a damn shame because I’m so fucking in love with you. I’ll spend every day trying to earn you back if I have to.”

“I’m not letting you go, Hutch. I’ve never had this, something so true, and now that I do, there’s no walking away for me.”

I didn’t flinch at Ryder’s soft touch on my naked shoulder. I’d sensed him there before he approached, before our skin met.

I’m tired, Ry…tired of pretending everything is okay when it’s not. Tired of not letting people in. Tired of accepting behavior I don’t deserve.”