Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
PENNY
A litany of swearing had me glancing over at Vi. She stood at her workstation, a plume of smoke rising from her saucepan, looking so egregiously insulted that I laughed.
“Not funny.” She pointed at me with a wooden spoon. “I’ve burned my cheese sauce, and I’m getting a stupid hot flash. Can you hot flash at twenty-eight? No? Maybe I’m dying. Today would be a good day for that. Right now would be a good day for that, before I have to start over on this sauce.”
“No one’s dying today,” I said. “ Love Island ’s dropping new episodes tomorrow night.”
“Ugh, you’re right.” With a low growl, Vi yanked off her apron and then her mandatory white blouse, trying to cool down. The thin white tank she wore beneath said, The tits are real, the smile is fake. “I can’t believe I screwed up the sauce and have to remake it.”
“Be quick…” I checked my maps app. “There’s traffic on the 101. I’m heading out. Try and ha ve a good one.”
“Hey!” she called after me. “Don’t forget, it’s girls’ night! I’ll see you at the Cork and Barrel.”
Which was why, ten hours later, tired but starving, I took an Uber and met up with Vi and Renee at our favorite local bar and grill.
Very local. The place was actually more of a dive bar, complete with terrible lighting, worn tables and chairs, a back room for pool and darts, and a grumpy bartender named Mack.
I’d gone to school with Mack, who under his “fuck-that” attitude was a good guy, so I felt very safe, and comfortable—even if he refused to play any music outside of eighties rock.
Locals loved it because the prices were good, and surprisingly, the food even better.
But the biggest bonus was that tourists tended to drive right on by the dingy building, so it was never overcrowded.
We ordered burgers and fries. Correction: Renee and I ordered burgers and fries. Vi abstained.
“My body’s a temple,” Vi said. “At least until I lose five pounds.”
“My body isn’t a temple,” Renee said. “It’s a Catholic church. Filled with wine, bread, and guilt. Oh, and cookies.”
Vi ordered us a pitcher of margaritas. Mack delivered with his usual irreverence. “Ladies,” he said, pouring each of us a glass. “Looking good.” He switched on the sarcasm when he met Vi’s gaze. “Ready to admit you’re dying to go out with me yet?”
“Am I dead?” Vi asked sweetly, returning his easy smile. “No? Then not yet.”
Mack grinned. This had been going on for years. “One of these days, you’re going to get tired of the assholes and realize I’ve been standing here all along.”
“Maybe,” Vi said. “But today is not that day.”
Mack shrugged good-naturedly. “I’ll wear you down eventually.” With a wink at all of us, he headed back to the bar.
“You could do worse,” Renee said. “And you have.”
Vi sighed and slumped in her seat. “I know.”
“He’s a really good guy.”
“I know that too. It’s just that…he’s a keeper, and…I’m not ready.”
Renee bumped her shoulder to her sister’s. “Take your time. I’m certainly doing the same.”
“Apparently, we all are,” I said, and we lifted our glasses and clinked them together.
“When life gives you lemons,” Vi said, “grab the salt and the tequila.”
“Hear, hear,” Renee said, and we all drank.
“What a week,” Vi gasped as her margarita went down. “If by any chance, I work myself into a coma, I need one of you to promise you’ll make sure all my fanfic tabs are closed and history deleted.”
Renee snorted her drink out her nose.
“I got you,” I wheezed.
When our food came, Vi stole a French fry from my plate. “You look like you’ve got news.”
I shook my head. “No news.”
Renee studied me. “Oh, there’s definitely news.”
Knowing it was fruitless to hold back, I leaned in. They dramatically mirrored the move. “Okay, maybe I have one problem,” I said.
“Is it about a guy?” Renee asked, then clapped her hands. “Oh, please let it be about a guy.”
“Fine. It’s about a guy.” A guy I’d spent a week avoiding now in favor of overthinking everything…
Vi’s brows went up. “As in his body won’t fit in the bag kind of problems or…you like him problems?”
I promptly choked on a sip.
Renee smiled. “Door number two. Nice.”
But Vi wasn’t smiling. She knew about Mitch, and what I’d left behind in the dust—that being my self-worth and confidence.
“Does it have anything to do with the new glow you’re wearing?” Renee asked.
Vi’s head spun my way so fast I got dizzy. “How did I miss the glow?”
“I’m not glowing.”
Violet pointed at me. “You bumped uglies with Ryder Colburn.”
“Ohmigod, shh!” I looked around, but thankfully, no one was paying us any attention. Just Vi and Renee, staring at me, waiting. “Fine!” I tossed up my hands. “We did it, and now I’m low-key freaking out about it, okay?”
“Seems kinda high key,” Renee said into her glass.
Vi looked worried. “We don’t need details, but…was it that bad?”
I sighed. “It was that good .”
“What’s he like?” Renee asked. “Does he look good naked? How many times did you do it?”
“Those are details,” I pointed out.
Vi was looking at me. Solemn. “Have you given him the bad temper test?”
“What’s the bad temper test?” Renee wanted to know.
Vi didn’t take her eyes off me. We both knew I couldn’t really trust someone until I’d seen him lose his temper.
But I’d seen Ryder mad, several times now, and while I’d definitely caught a wisp of steam coming out of his ears when I’d nearly been run over, for example, and also when his brother had been yanking his chain, he’d remained cool, calm, and collected.
In fact, the only time he hadn’t been cool, calm, and collected had been in bed, where he’d been all unleashed passion and zero inhibitions.
It’d been contagious.
And the most erotic evening of my life.
“The temper test is simple,” Vi told her sister. “You get into a long line or disconnect the internet, and then see how he reacts. That’s when you’ll see the real guy beneath the facade.”
“I’ve seen the real guy beneath the facade,” I said.
Vi lifted a brow. “And?”
I drew a deep breath. “Mitch presented himself as a kind, caring guy. But he wasn’t, not on the inside. Not where it counted.”
“And Ryder?” my best friend asked.
“For months and months, I only saw Work Ryder, but even then, he was kind and caring all the way through. No front. No pretense. But now we’ve gotten…closer, and it’s still all true.”
Vi looked at me. “If it’s Kiera you’re worried about, you could ask to dump the Colburn Restorations account. It wouldn’t be hard to pawn off, you already know just about everyone on Kiera’s payroll would take it in a heartbeat.”
“I mean, I mostly bat for the other team,” Renee said, “but even I wouldn’t kick him out of my bed for eating crackers.”
Vi looked at her. “How old are you, eighty? Who eats crackers in bed?”
Renee raised her hand.
“Wow.” Vi turned back to me.
“I don’t want to give up Ryder’s account,” I admitted.
Vi smiled as she squeezed my hand. “Do you have any idea how good some happy looks on you?”
All I knew was that it felt good.
But could it last?
When I finally got home—a full pitcher later—it was somewhere around midnight. The night was cool, the air scented like sea salt and cedar, and the sky was lit with a myriad of stars and a glowing moon as I walked through our front yard and in the front door.
Where I promptly collapsed on the couch. “Just resting my eyes for a sec,” I announced. “No one let me sit here for more than five minutes!”
Pika-boo squawked, then said in Grandma’s voice, “Honey, take your time!”
“Haha,” I muttered drowsily. “But I mean it. Don’t let me fall asleep.”
A minute later, I realized the house felt incredibly still and quiet. I opened my eyes and gasped. Early morning sun was just barely slanting in the living room window—and stabbing my eyeballs.
In shock, I sat up, arms flailing in confusion, nearly taking out the mug of coffee someone had been wafting beneath my nose. I wanted that coffee, wanted it bad too, but…please, please, please let it be Grandma or Wyatt and not?—
“Wonder Woman awakens.” The voice was unbearably familiar, low and husky, and…highly amused .
I sighed because I knew what my hair looked like—an explosion in a mattress factory. I drew a deep breath of the coffee and got sexy Ryder Colburn-scented air as a bonus.
I’d indeed fallen asleep on the couch and had slept the night through. Slowly, very slowly, I sat up, hands on my head, holding it onto my body.
Ryder, the ass, had the nerve to stand there, freshly showered, dressed for his day, eyes clear and alert, looking good enough to eat.
The sheer injustice of it…
Crouching in front of me, balanced on the balls of his feet, he took me in, the way I held my head. Then he studied my face, and finally, dipped his gaze to take in the rest of me, still wearing yesterday’s clothes, then back to my face, and…that was definitely a smile on his.
“Don’t even try to tell me you haven’t seen a woman wake up in her natural state before,” I said.
He laughed. “You don’t scare me, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
I was more worried I was going to throw myself at him for looking so damn good, not to mention smelling even better, making me want things I had no business wanting.
I snatched the coffee from his hands, and in tune to his soft laugh, I drank deeply and gratefully before handing the mug back to him, empty.
We rose at the same moment, and I found myself standing so close that if he leaned in an inch, he could put his mouth on mine. My eager nipples peaked, which, given the flare in his eyes, didn’t escape his attention as he slowly lifted his gaze to mine.
All along, he’d seemed okay with my no-relationship stance, but right now, in this intimate, sensual bordering on erotic position, his eyes said something else entirely.
And I trembled with the need to give in.