10. Chapter Ten
10
Wren
The conversation comes to a halt as Ryker takes a right turn down a gravel road, and my mouth forms a silent 'O' at what lies over the hill behind a row of trees. I look at him with a raised brow. “You said to wear something nice.”
Ryker chuckles. “I didn’t think you’d walk out wearing that.”
“And you couldn’t tell me to change? There’s no way I’ll be able to ride any of this crap in my dress.”
He shrugs. “Wasn’t sure if we would be riding anything, but I’ve got a pair of basketball shorts in the trunk if you want to throw them on.”
I glare at him. “Absolutely not.”
A man in a bright vest walks up to the car as we pull into the entrance. Ryker explains who he is before pulling into a random spot on the grass. When I get out of the car, I frown at the deserted lot around us. “Where is everyone?”
“I rented the place out for the day. It’s closed to everyone else.”
The fact that he rented it out for the day should not have butterflies erupting in my stomach. This is not a date. This is not a date. It's the same phrase I’ve been saying to myself since he came into my room with breakfast, hoping that it would start to become true. Except, every time I spend time with him, it seems as though he’s got something else for me to learn.
Who rents out a carnival just to hang out with someone?
Ryker slides a twenty-dollar bill toward an associate standing behind a worn-out counter. Then, she prompts us to hold our wrists out before slapping a bracelet onto them with a small smile. “Enjoy your day, and let us know if you need anything.”
“We’ve got to get cheese fries,” I say with a groan, my hand falling onto his arm. “Please?”
The smile he flashes is the brightest I’ve seen since meeting him, and my heart stutters in response. “Whatever you want, Teach.” He lets me pull him toward the truck with an image of a bucket of fries lathered with cheese on the side, and I bounce with excitement in front of the window. The guy inside leans out the window, trails his gaze down my body, and Ryker clears his throat. “Cheese fries.”
There’s an edge to his voice that wasn’t there before, but when I look at him there’s a blank expression on his face. While the cook gets to work on the fries, I walk over to an empty bench with Ryker and sink onto it with a smile. “This is a surprise.”
“A good one, I hope?”
I nudge his shoulder with mine and nod. “A really good one. It’s been forever since I came to one of these, it’s nice to experience again.”
“What’s your favorite memory growing up?”
I’m surprised by the question, considering it’s coming from Ryker, but it’s an easy one to answer. “It would have to be our vacation in Montana during Christmas one year. We were able to go ice skating across this beautiful lake, but I’d never been so it was fun to have my dad try to help me. I may have knocked us both down a few times until eventually it was like riding a bike.”
Ryker chuckles. “So, you like ice skating?”
“It’s not something I do that often, but I’d love to skate across that lake even just one more time. I’ve wondered if it still looks as beautiful as the day we went because I was younger and everything looks pretty when you’re young. I’d just love to experience it as an adult, you know?”
Before Ryker can respond, the worker calls our order out and he rises to go grab it. I watch him curiously as he snatches it out of the cook's hand, glares, and says something that I can’t make out – my lip reading isn’t that good. The cook nods frantically, then spins around and busies himself with nothing in particular.
Considering we’re the only ones here, I’m surprised there’s still a large number of workers lounging around and they’re barely looking our way. With Ryker here, I half-expected a few phones to be out by now and his face to be all over the media. As soon as Ryker steps up to me, I reach out and grab the bucket of fries from the crook of his arm.
I roll my eyes into the back of my head, a moan escaping from the rich taste of the cheese, and when I look over at Ryker, he’s got his gaze focused on me. There’s an orange shimmer in his eyes that I’ve never seen before, the sight of it making my toes curl, and I rub my thighs together discreetly before diving back into the fries.
“What about you?” I ask after swallowing a large bite.
Ryker cocks his head to the side and leans back. “What about me?”
“Your favorite memory, what would it be?”
His eyes darken, and he shakes his head. “Maybe we can table that question for another day.” He glances around us, then smiles and points over my shoulder. “I think a little competition would be a great way to start this day off, don’t ya think?” Before I can reject the idea, he’s already wrapping a large hand around my elbow and pulling me toward one of the game booths behind us.
It’s just like I remember it as a little kid. There’s a row of basketballs lined up in front of us, along with two lone hoops on either side of each other, and I know exactly how this game works. Unfortunately for me, I was never good at this game, and Elias always ended up getting the giant stuffed animal by the end of the night.
Ryker throws a couple of bills down on the counter and slides them toward the worker, who grabs the wad of cash without a word and then looks at me. “You ready to get your ass kicked, Teach?”
I roll my eyes. “Not a chance, Rockstar.” Even though I know how this is going to end, there’s something about the way his eyes are shining that makes me want him to believe he has no chance of winning.
As soon as the worker blows his whistle beside us, I grab the first ball my hands land on and toss it toward the hoop – it doesn’t surprise me when it misses by a couple of feet and lands into the netting below. I blow out a rough breath but shake it off because being a Grace means we don’t back down from a challenge – and that’s exactly what this is.
“Ah, come on,” Ryker says, that big smile still shining brightly on his face as he looks at me. “You can do better than that.” To prove his words wrong, I toss the next ball forward, and it doesn’t even come close to the rim before falling into the net. “Or not,” he adds with a chuckle.
By the time our time is up, I can already tell by Ryker’s cocky grin that he won and gets to pick from the giant stuffed animals hanging along the tent wall. There’s a few options for him to choose from, but my gaze lingers on the large stuffed penguin that has small pink hearts on its cheeks and a goofy grin.
I don’t say anything, only stand to the side as he rubs at his chin in concentration and blinks as he points at the penguin. “I’ll take that one.” Still, I keep my mouth shut as the attendant unhooks the penguin from its place and hands it over to Ryker.
It isn’t until we are walking along the dirt path, circling the rides and games, that I end up saying anything because Ryker hands the stuffed animal over to me. “What is this for?”
Ryke shrugs and runs a hand through his hair, which only causes his shirt to ride up to reveal a sliver of his toned stomach. “What, you really thought I was going to win and not get something just for you?”
“You’re a surprise, you know that?”
“I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or not,” he says with a long pause following afterward. “Is it?”
“A very good thing,” I whisper while hugging the penguin to my chest as Ryker grabs hold of my bucket of cheese fries. “Where to next, Rockstar? This is your show, and I’m just following along.”
And now I’ve got an image of following him around backstage during a big show . It’s one I can’t unsee, which is nerve- wracking, to say the least, because, as I’ve repeated to myself multiple times already, he’s my client and completely off-limits.
This is a side of him I’ve yet to see. He’s got such a rough exterior, but there’s something softer hidden behind all that anger, and now I’m dying to see it come out.
I clap excitedly when we round a corner and see the petting zoo up ahead. “Oh my, we have to go in there!”
Ryker groans but lets me pull him toward them without a single word of complaint. The attendants are already waiting patiently inside, phones glued to their faces, but they immediately shove them away when we step into the tent.
One of the girls gives us a friendly smile, her eyes lingering on Ryker a little too long for my liking, and I clear my throat with a frown. “We’d like a cup of food and a bottle of milk, please ,” I grind out.
She blinks as if suddenly realizing where she’s at and nods when I narrow my eyes at her. “Oh, of course.”
As she bends over to grab everything, I steal a quick glance at Ryker to see if he’s giving her the attention, I’m sure she’s craving. To my surprise, it doesn’t even look as though he’s entertaining the way she looked at him.
That doesn’t change the jealousy coursing through me, but helps it ease up just a little bit.
As soon as we step through the wooden gate, every goat near us comes rushing over, eager for their next bite of food. I watch as Ryker calmly leans down with the cup aimed at their mouths. He smiles at it, his hand comes over its nose as he pets it, and my heart warms just a little more for him.
I hadn’t expected him to come in here with me, more so stand on the sidelines and watch from behind the fence – this is a sweet surprise. I’ve no clue how I will keep denying how I feel when I’m around him after this.
He said it wasn’t supposed to be a date, but the longer we stand here together, the more I wish he would reach over and thread his fingers through mine as if we were on one.
My focus should be on his anger, helping him find ways to cope with it, yet all I can think about are how I could make him come undone… or how soft his lips feel against mine.
This could go sideways pretty quickly, being this close to him when my feelings are all over the place, but I can’t bring myself to back out of the contract I signed with his manager. Even if I could, I’m not sure I’d be able to do it because I don’t want to walk away from him.
Which means I’ve got to figure out how to handle this.