6. Chapter Five
Sorry, I can’t make it.
Olive stood him up.
He’d left his cellphone number on a sticky note on her desk before leaving the boutique yesterday, figuring she’d text when she was free for their lunch date. Afternoon had turned into evening, and he still hadn’t heard from her. Then the text popped up on his phone.
‘Sorry, I can’t make it’ leaves a lot to interpretation. Had she been too busy to keep their lunch plans, or did she just not want to go out with him? They wouldn’t shut people up until they closed out this bet.
He tried to convince himself that he was irritated because closing out the bet was now delayed. But that wasn’t it. He’d… gotten a little away from himself at the boutique yesterday. Teasing her. Enjoying the feel of her hand on his ass. Loving the adoring way she looked at him. There was always a flicker of interest in her eyes when she looked at him; had been for a long time. It was so hard to ignore.
Something had been different yesterday. It was the first time he’d seen full-blown desire on her face. Big pupils, flushed cheeks, pink lips. If he’d suggested they go upstairs, he had no doubt she would have taken him up on it.
He was quickly losing his grip when it came to Olive Kent.
Ryker watched the flow of people coming in and out of Sticky Sweet Bakery from his seat by the corner window and absently rubbed his thumb against his paper coffee cup until it burned from the friction.
“What’s got your nuts in a twist?” Fox shoved a plate of sticky buns to the middle of the table. The decadent scent of warm caramel and butter made his stomach growl, but Ryker was too tense to eat. His grizzly tossed and turned all night, growling, and complaining until Ryker finally got up and went outside, hoping fresh air would soothe the beast. It didn’t.
His bear wanted so much more than fresh air.
“Nothing.” He sipped his coffee and ignored Fox as he shoved the plate closer.
“Then eat.”
“Not hungry.”
“Suit yourself.” Fox grabbed a roll and ate it in three bites. “Thanks for meeting me this morning. There’s, ah, something I want to talk to you about.”
His brother’s eyes shone with a flicker of apprehension. There was a waver in his voice that caught Ryker’s full attention.
“What’s up?”
Fox fidgeted with a napkin. “You don’t normally stay and drink your coffee.”
Momentarily confused by the subject change, Ryker sat straighter and took another drink. Was his brother stalling? “That’s what you wanted to talk to me about?”
“No. I’m just curious why you’re still here.”
“I’m taking inventory at the Boulin Pass fire tower later this morning. The snow’s gone early this year so the forest service is starting fire watch rotations at the end of the week. It’s going to be a casual day, so I’ve got time to get a full dose of caffeine before heading out.”
He enjoyed his job with the forest service because he could work outdoors, and it was flexible enough that he could respond to emergency calls. His position was temporary, though, and would soon come to an end. A newly created full-time position was coming open at the end of the month and his boss was encouraging him to take it. It was a solid job offer but the email he still hadn’t read in his inbox offered something potentially better.
Fox leaned back in his chair, obviously not in a hurry to get to the point.
“What did you want to talk about, Fox?”
His brother paused, then plucked another roll from the plate. “Before I forget, I have all the materials to finish the pergola for Mom’s wedding. You coming over tonight to help?”
“I’ll be there.”
Their mom Bunny and their uncle Rowan Mitchell were getting married. It had felt weird at first—their mother marrying their father’s brother—but Ryker and Fox were happy for her. Their uncle was a good man, and their father just wasn’t. He’d abused his family and dishonored his role as a husband and father, two things held sacred by their pack.
“We’ll make sure that she has the perfect day.”
“Yeah,” Fox put the roll back on the plate, untouched. “So, I have some news—”
Movement caught Ryker’s eye. “Hold that thought.”
Purely on impulse, Ryker burst from his chair and wove through the morning crowd to sidle up to the petite woman who’d kept him awake far too long last night pondering why she’d ditched their date.
“You bailed on me.” He blurted.
She didn’t miss a beat. “Good morning to you, too. Yes. I apologize. Things got a little crazy at the store.”
Damn, she smelled good, like vanilla and coconut and tropical flowers. It reminded him of suntan lotion and his mind slid into an image of Olive stretched out on a lounge chair in a tiny red bikini while he slathered the luscious-smelling lotion all over her body…
“I figured you didn’t want to go out with me.”
Olive smiled noncommittally, suggesting that might have been the reason.
Lowering her voice conspiratorially, she leaned closer. “Listen, as far as anyone knows, we did go on a date yesterday. If anyone asks, we’ll tell them we went out of town for privacy. There, obligation over.”
She looked at him as if waiting for him to agree. But…he wasn’t completely on board with that idea. It was a cop-out. If she didn’t want to go out with him, he wanted to hear her say it.
He was about to say as much when he noticed she was dressed in a dark green hoodie, canvas hiking pants, and well-worn hiking boots. Her glossy blonde curls were pulled into a ponytail, and she had a backpack slung over one shoulder.
“Is it outdoor adventure day at the boutique?”
“Haha. The computer system is being updated today so Cara closed the boutique. I’m going to grab my coffee, walk to the Thunder Mount trailhead outside of town, and take myself for a hike.”
“Absolutely not.” The compulsion to shield her from danger pulsed through him. He stepped closer, blocking her from this stupid decision with his body. “You can’t go hiking. It’s too risky.”
She drew back, her eyes landing on his chest and staying there. “Too risky?”
“It’s spring. Bears are coming out of hibernation and the trails aren’t safe.”
Her gaze roamed lazily over his chest, his neck, back to his chest. Was she even listening? Warmth spread through his body at the appreciation on her face.
“Hey,” he whispered. “Up here.” Ryker pointed to his eyes.
Olive’s cheeks flamed, her lips parting. “I—I was trying to figure out what the writing on your shirt says.”
“Oh, this?” Ryker pulled on the shirt to straighten the already perfectly legible lettering. “It says ‘Mitchell Construction’. Big, bold letters. Kind of hard to miss.”
Flustered, she moved up in line too fast and almost ran into the person in front of her. “Anyway, I have bear spray and a bell. I’ll sing and clap my hands the whole time. I’ll be fine.”
“A bell and some weak-ass bear spray won’t deter a ravenous grizzly. You won’t be fine.”
“Want to bet?” Her eyes narrowed in challenge… and then widened in regret when she realized what she’d said. “No, that came out wrong. No bets.”
He grinned triumphantly. “Too late. You went there, Olive, and a Mitchell never backs down from a bet.”
“I know how to take care of myself, Ryker. So forget it.” Reaching into her bag, she produced a can of bear spray. “If it works on you, it should work on a regular bear, right? Should we test it?”
He had a flashback of the fire extinguisher conversation in the fire truck. “It doesn’t work on me. Forget it, Olive. You’re not going hiking today.”
She shoved the bear spray back into her pack with a huff. “I bet that I am.”
“I bet that you’re not.”
When had they gotten close enough to stand chest to chest? She was so small, so fierce. Honestly, he did not doubt that she could hold her own, but even he wouldn’t want to tangle with a starving grizzly. It’s a match she would never win and the protective instinct pulsing through him grew stronger by the second. He couldn’t let her go.
“Why are you so determined to do this?”
“It’s my day off and I want to be out in nature.”
Someone tapped his hip. Ryker looked down at Agnes Kraft peering up at him behind a pair of bright orange, oval glasses without lenses, her skeleton-thin friend beside her. “Is she your date to your mother’s wedding?”
Ryker stepped back and dug his fingers into his hair. Why did this keep happening?
Agnes moved closer; her tent-like dress big enough to house a family of four. “Make sure your tie matches her dress. Don’t forget to buy her flowers, the kind you wear on your wrist.”
Agnes’s friend made an exasperated sound. “It’s a wedding, Aggie, not the prom!”
“Good thing,” Agnes said matter-of-factly and dropped her voice to a whisper shout. “Everyone knows what happens in the back seat of the car on the way home from prom.” She winked.
Her friend gasped. “Aggie!”
“It’s how I got knocked up with Ricky.”
Olive smiled with a quickly crumbling attempt not to laugh, which made him almost laugh because this was ridiculous.
“Agnes, here’s your double hot green tea with honey.” Becks, one of the bakery assistants, carefully slid a paper coffee cup across the counter. Double hot? That wasn’t going to end well. Ryker gingerly picked up the cup and motioned for the elderly woman to make her way to the door. “I’ll carry this, so nobody bumps into you and makes you spill on your pretty dress.”
He waited patiently as Agnes made her way outside, eager to get back to Olive, then handed her the cup and made sure she had a firm grip. “Hang on with both hands, Mrs. Kraft.”
“I’ve got it.”
The cup tipped as soon as he let go, hot tea splashing over the back of his hand. Wincing, he reclaimed control of the cup.
“Wait! I’ve got a tissue.” Agnes struggled to get her purse open and dug inside.
“No need, I’m fine. Here, let’s try again.”
From the corner of his eye, he spotted Olive slip out of the bakery and hurry down the sidewalk in the opposite direction.
Damn her.
“Olive! Wait!”
She walked faster. Did she have a death wish?
He looked at Agnes, trying to be patient, but he was also ready to “accidentally” spill the cup on the sidewalk and be done with it. A decade later, she produced a tissue and traded him for the cup of tea. Amazingly, she gripped it in an iron fist and walked off like nothing had happened.
With a growl, Ryker rushed after Olive. She picked up her pace, but he grabbed the strap of her backpack. She stumbled and fell back, landing hard against his chest with her pack between them. He instinctively wrapped an arm around her waist and his hand splayed across her abdomen to keep her steady. God, she felt good under his hand.
“Hey! That was a dirty move, Ryker!”
She squirmed and he tightened his hold. Her ass rubbed against his crotch, igniting a fire that would quickly get out of control if he didn’t step back. “You seem to have a death wish, so evasive maneuvers were necessary.”
Her sweatshirt was thin enough that he could feel her delicate ribs beneath his hand. Curling his fingers against the fabric, he struggled to let go, his brain telling him to hang on. Don’t let her go.
Don’t ever let her go.
She looked at his arm around her and took a stuttered breath. He let go and she wasted no time spinning to face him with defiance in her pretty eyes.
“Ryker—”
“You want to experience nature today? Fine. I’ve got the perfect solution.”
“Oh?”
“Get in your car and follow me.”
“My car is at the boutique.”
Why did she look uncertain?
“I’ll give you a ride over there to get it.”
Crossing her arms, she took a breath, contemplating. “Okay, fine.”
“Come on. Let’s hurry before Agnes comes back.”