Moments for you, p.1
Moments for You, page 1
MOMENTS FOR YOU
THE WILDER BROTHERS
CARRIE ANN RYAN
CONTENTS
MOMENTS FOR YOU
MOMENTS FOR YOU
Chapter 1
Ridge
Chapter 2
Aurora
Chapter 3
Ridge
Chapter 4
Aurora
Chapter 5
Ridge
Chapter 6
Aurora
Chapter 7
Aurora
Chapter 8
Ridge
Chapter 9
Aurora
Chapter 10
Ridge
Chapter 11
Aurora
Chapter 12
Ridge
Chapter 13
Aurora
Chapter 14
Ridge
Chapter 15
Aurora
Chapter 16
Aurora
Chapter 17
Ridge
Chapter 18
Ridge
Chapter 19
Wyatt
A Note from Carrie Ann Ryan
Also from Carrie Ann Ryan
About the Author
MOMENTS FOR YOU
A WILDER BROTHERS NOVEL
By
Carrie Ann Ryan
MOMENTS FOR YOU
A Wilder Brothers Novel
By: Carrie Ann Ryan
© 2024 Carrie Ann Ryan
Cover Art by Sweet N Spicy Designs
Photo by Wander Aguiar Photography
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person or use proper retail channels to lend a copy. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination.
PRAISE FOR CARRIE ANN RYAN
“Count on Carrie Ann Ryan for emotional, sexy, character driven stories that capture your heart!” – Carly Phillips, NY Times bestselling author
“Carrie Ann Ryan’s romances are my newest addiction! The emotion in her books captures me from the very beginning. The hope and healing hold me close until the end. These love stories will simply sweep you away.” ~ NYT Bestselling Author Deveny Perry
"Carrie Ann Ryan writes the perfect balance of sweet and heat ensuring every story feeds the soul." - Audrey Carlan, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author
“Carrie Ann Ryan never fails to draw readers in with passion, raw sensuality, and characters that pop off the page. Any book by Carrie Ann is an absolute treat.” – New York Times Bestselling Author J. Kenner
“Carrie Ann Ryan knows how to pull your heartstrings and make your pulse pound! Her wonderful Redwood Pack series will draw you in and keep you reading long into the night. I can’t wait to see what comes next with the new generation, the Talons. Keep them coming, Carrie Ann!” –Lara Adrian, New York Times bestselling author of CRAVE THE NIGHT
"With snarky humor, sizzling love scenes, and brilliant, imaginative worldbuilding, The Dante's Circle series reads as if Carrie Ann Ryan peeked at my personal wish list!" – NYT Bestselling Author, Larissa Ione
"Carrie Ann Ryan writes sexy shifters in a world full of passionate happily-ever-afters." – New York Times Bestselling Author Vivian Arend
“Carrie Ann’s books are sexy with characters you can’t help but love from page one. They are heat and heart blended to perfection.” New York Times Bestselling Author Jayne Rylon
Carrie Ann Ryan's books are wickedly funny and deliciously hot, with plenty of twists to keep you guessing. They'll keep you up all night!” USA Today Bestselling Author Cari Quinn
"Once again, Carrie Ann Ryan knocks the Dante's Circle series out of the park. The queen of hot, sexy, enthralling paranormal romance, Carrie Ann is an author not to miss!" New York Times bestselling Author Marie Harte
MOMENTS FOR YOU
Two widows. One wedding dress. And a promise of forever in the next installment of the Wilder Brothers from NYT Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan.
A wedding dress is meant to be worn only once.
When a stranger finds herself in need of a miracle at the last minute, I do the unthinkable: I offer mine to her.
The same one I wore down the aisle for my late husband.
Now I’m invited to the wedding and finding myself wondering why I shut myself away from the world for so long.
I’m only meant to be at the Wilder Retreat for a single day except I go home with not only a job offer, but the promise of something more.
Ridge Wilder is hiding secrets of his own. And the undeniable chemistry between us burns before we even contemplate taking that first step.
Only I’ve already had my happy ever after. I never planned on finding another.
And Ridge is even far more broken than I am—with a past that might come back to haunt us both.
CHAPTER ONE
RIDGE
As a man who’s seen things, has lived through the worst and suffered through the rest, I couldn’t believe I worked at a place that hosted weddings for a living. Actual weddings, with tulle and lace and cake. The amount of work that went into weddings seemed to grow with each passing day and while I was glad I wasn’t in charge of it, I was confused how it all worked and why I was on the periphery of it.
It’d been two years since I moved to the outskirts of San Antonio, Texas, and I still woke up every morning wondering how the hell this was my job. Because it didn’t really feel like my job. People got married, looked happy, and went off to spend the rest of their lives doing God knows what as a married couple.
And somehow my growly ass was part of it.
Still not quite sure where I fit in.
“Why are you growling?”
I looked over at my boss, Trace, and shook my head. I was damn lucky that Trace had been looking for someone to help him with the security side of the Wilder Retreat. I’d had my own job a few hours away and thought I knew what the fuck I was doing.
Then fate had decided that no, that was not the case. No, my life turned on its axis, and there was no coming back from that.
When me and my brothers came here for a family reunion, I had offered myself up as tribute. I needed a job, a change. A place to run away, and I hadn’t wanted to ask my cousins, the ever popular and successful Wilder brothers, for help.
They owned this retreat. They, along with their spouses, had taken an old inn and winery that had slowly been going downhill and created something that was quite stunning.
Even when the storm knocked out some of the walls, had demolished a building or two, and carved through the land nearly two years ago, they rebuilt.
Because that’s what happened when the Wilders got in the way. We looked at the destruction, tried to fight back, and then we rebuilt.
And somehow I joined the fray, dragging along my three brothers.
Although Gabriel didn’t stay here, as he was usually out on tour being a rockstar, he was still here as much as he could be.
Brooks had decided to come and help rebuild because that’s what his job was, and he decided to stay. Same with Wyatt. Although Wyatt had decided to go crazy and built a bar and distillery on the property even though there was already a damn winery. Apparently the Wilder brothers and cousins were becoming a conglomerate, and I was the security specialist.
Because of course that made sense.
“Ridge? What’s up with you?”
I shook my head, pulling myself out of my own thoughts. The anniversary of my coming here was quickly approaching, and that meant in six months I’d reach the anniversary of something I didn’t want to think about. So I wouldn’t.
“What? I’m fine.”
“Sure, you are. Do you want to talk about it?”
“I blame you marrying Elliot and Sidney for you thinking I actually want to talk about my feelings. Elliot is the cousin who always likes to do that.”
Trace shook his head, a small smile playing on his face. He’d shaved his beard off a few months ago, and I knew my cousin had mourned that the big bushy thing was gone. But Trace liked a clean face, and it still surprised me to see that strong jawline instead of the beard.
I loved that my boss and cousin had not only gotten married, but they also married someone they had met on the property, a woman left at the altar. Well, she sure knew how to show the world that she could stand on her own two feet. Because she married not one man, but two, right on this property nearly a year and a half ago.
In fact, all of my cousins were married. The only female Wilder of our generation was married with two kids up in Colorado but visited often. Eliza was brilliant, and one of my favorite people in the world. I was also glad she didn’t live here so she couldn’t ask me any questions. She’d be able to see right through my snark and growls. And while I knew my cousins and brothers all wanted to know why I had decided to move here seemingly out of the blue, I knew Eliza would be the only person I would break for.
Eli was the eldest of us all. The fact that he was in charge of this whole place and seemed to have a vision for the Wilder Retreat and Winery to grow into something huge, honestly didn’t shock me. It should have, but it hadn’t. All six of my male cousins had gone into the
Eli and his wife Alexis had a daughter named Kylie; and Evan and Kendall, who had been married twice, had twins, Reese and Cassie.
The rest of my cousins were probably going to follow the others when it came to babies, but for now they were taking time to enjoy being married.
I was kind of grateful for that—not that I wanted to think about it, because that would just etch those thoughts on my face, and then people would have questions.
And I hated questions.
“Come on, let’s go do the perimeter. We have the team on, but thankfully we don’t have a wedding today.”
I rolled my shoulders back, glad Trace changed the subject. No one needed to know why I started working here, why I needed to be near family.
Nobody.
“I thought we had that retirement ceremony?” I asked, looking over my tablet.
Trace nodded as we headed out of his office, in the main building of the inn, situated in the center of the Wilder property, and down the stairs.
It was part of the original structure, though some of it had been damaged in the tornado. They had rebuilt, thanks to my brother Wyatt, and everything was starting to look up again. Since my cousins bought the place, they had revamped many of the cabins on the property and added a few more in the distance that were eco-friendly. I was grateful for that, considering I lived in one. They also added a spa, which made me snort and roll my eyes, but people liked it, and the infinity pools were nice to swim in when no one was around. I didn’t want to deal with people.
That’s why I loved my job. I protected people, but I didn’t have to talk to them to do it.
They’d also added a high-end restaurant down the hill near the entrance of the property. My cousin-in-law Kendall ran it, as well as the catering and restaurant on the property itself, and I wasn’t quite sure how she was doing it all. Her longtime sous chef had moved away over a year ago because Sandy’s partner had gotten a dream job in Paris.
I didn’t quite understand how my cousin-in-law did it all, but she did kick ass. And the restaurant served some of the best food I’d ever had in my life. A little high-end for me, considering I wasn’t used to having at least three forks and two knives at a place setting, or having someone clean up the crumbs between each serving. Made me feel like I had too many thumbs.
Kendall was on her third round of sous chefs because people couldn’t keep up with her. And I didn’t say that lightly. Kendall could kick ass and expected the best out of people. And the people she kept hiring looked on paper as if they knew what they were doing, and passed all the security checks, but they sucked.
One had only wanted to be near another cousin-in-law of mine, an Academy Award-winning actress, and our other cousin-in-law, who happened to be the most famous pop star in the world. Oh, they had gone to culinary school, and were amazing at cooking and creating pastries for events and the restaurant, but they had spent most of their time trying to stalk both Lark and Bethany.
Kicking them out had been fun.
At least it gave me a little thrill.
The second person couldn’t keep up with the demand of a wedding business, catering business, and a high-end restaurant.
It was a lot, but Kendall had it down to a science, and she just needed someone to step in who could not only follow rules but have some vision when it came to baking.
Of course, it didn’t always work out that way.
She was on the third one now, and I thought they were doing pretty good, considering some of the desserts I’d tried, but knowing our luck, I wasn’t sure how long they would last.
“Are we heading out to the winery today?” I asked, following Trace.
The property itself had come with the vines and the winery. Many of the staff working on that had actually come with the original place too. They were okay with the change to Wilder Wines and were damn good at creating new blends.
Two of my cousins were handling that section, which was good because I wasn’t a wine guy, though they made things taste pretty decent.
“On our end, we have two tours going on today, bigger ones with the wine clubs, but the team has it. You and I are going to go head over to the west side and check on the bar and distillery.” Trace rolled his eyes. “I still cannot believe that Wyatt somehow convinced the others to add that on.”
I laughed; I couldn’t help it.
“Well, we Wilder cousins couldn’t just stand back and let the six of them take over the world.”
“Much to Elliot’s consternation,” Trace added. “However, you guys buying the acreage next door and buying in to the business so you’re all partners? Damn good decision. Although I still don’t know why you call me boss when you’re part owner.”
I shook my head, that odd uncomfortable feeling coming again. This place had become far more permanent than I planned, but I couldn’t help it. My brothers were here. My family was here.
And I didn’t have anywhere else to go.
“You own it, too, just like Elliot does. Apparently it’s an all-in-the-family situation. And you were here first for security.”
“Good job I’ve done.” He rolled his eyes. “I swear, people are getting more brazen.”
“But you’re keeping them out. Keeping people safe. I know it’s not easy when this place has become a hotspot for celebrities to get married and have events. Although why they would want to come to San Antonio, Texas, I don’t know.”
Trace snorted and looked over his shoulder, as if afraid someone would pop out of the bushes and kick me in the shins for saying that. “You do realize that we live here now. We should probably not shit on the city we live in.”
“True. And we are in hill country. It’s beautiful. But, I don’t know, I thought most people would want a destination wedding on a beach or something.”
“But then sand gets in places.” Trace shuddered, and I threw my head back and laughed, truly meaning it.
I liked Trace. I liked it here.
We had over a hundred acres with a winery, a distillery, a spa, forested trails, and cabins. We had a tasting room, barrel rooms, and huge buildings for all the equipment for the winery. Let alone the vines.
We had a farmhouse, chicken coops, and even another annex with all the farm equipment. We had an outside dance hall, an indoor one, and a huge fountain area for parties and weddings.
I literally couldn’t believe this was where I lived, and this was what we did for a living. I watched people make promises to each other and wondered what would have happened if I’d been able to keep mine.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Alexis snapped as she paced down the path, Eli on her heels.
“Babe. Let’s go inside and talk about it. We’ll figure it out.”
She whirled on him, though I saw panic in her eyes, not anger. “Figure it out? How the hell are we supposed to figure it out when I’m the one freaking out? I never freak out. I’m the wedding planner for this entire business. I can handle this. I’ve handled everything. But I don’t know if I can do this, Eli.”
She pulled her long dark hair away from her face, putting it in a messy bun, which I’d rarely seen from her. She was the epitome of being put together. I had seen brides break down, mothers-in-law fighting over their precious children, and even people coming to blows, and Alexis had always been steadfast.
She could handle anything, and yet for some reason, something seemed to have broken her.
“Babe. We can figure this out.” Eli cupped his wife’s face. People were milling about, guests who were here just for a vacation rather than a wedding, but nobody was paying attention. They all had things on their minds, nothing to do with the tableau in front of them.
