Crazy for You

Chapter 6

Ryan was going to lose his fucking mind. He’d just caught Trent up on the ropes course smoking a joint when he was supposed to be repairing a line damaged by a fallen tree limb in last night’s thunderstorm. And Emma…Emma…was on her hands and knees in the dirt potting plants and gossiping with Mandy about the men she’d contacted last night on fucking Tinder.

There was no logical explanation for the fact that he felt like a goddamn Neanderthal at the thought of her going on a date with someone else. No explanation except that he was a damn fool because he was so hot for Emma he could barely see straight when he was around her, yet he’d been the idiot who insisted they remain just friends.

“Lookin’ good,” he said, stopping a few feet away from where they were busy planting some kind of purple and yellow flower in the beds Emma had built around the front perimeter of Off-the-Grid’s office building.

Emma looked over her shoulder at him. “Do you like them?”

“Yeah. They look great.” They definitely brightened up the side of the building, but not nearly as much as Emma’s presence did.

“So what did you think of Todd Pierce?” Mandy asked, sitting forward on her knees.

“Who?” Ryan asked, drawing a blank.

Mandy rolled her eyes dramatically. “Emma said she sent his photo to both of us. She’s thinking about asking him out. What do you think?”

Ryan bristled, remembering the photo of the ponytailed loser on the cheap foreign bike she’d texted to him last night. “I think…” The only motorcycle she ought to be riding is mine. “I think that guy looks like bad news.”

Emma gave him a dirty look. “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

Dammit all. He ought to be cheering her on because, if she started dating someone else, it would let him off the hook for turning her down. He went inside to his office and typed the loser’s name into the search engine. A mug shot popped up from the local news website. Todd Pierce had been arrested last week for drunk and disorderly at the Rusty Bucket, a bar in nearby Silver Springs.

Emma and Mandywashed up and headed into town to the deli for lunch.

“Have you thought about what you’re going to do after Lucas and Mary retire?” Emma asked while they waited for their sandwiches.

Mandy had worked at Artful Blooms for about three years. Before that, she’d taught Zumba at the fitness center. Before that? Emma wasn’t sure, but Mandy was definitely a Jill of many trades. “Not sure. I might see if any of the other landscape firms in the area are hiring. I really do enjoy it.”

“I hope you find something.”

“I will,” Mandy said, looking unconcerned. “Let me see your phone.”

“Why?” Emma asked as she typed in the code and handed it over.

“I’m checking out some more hot guys for you.” Mandy pulled up Tinder and started swiping photos.

“Hey!” Emma made a grab for the phone.

“Chill. I have good taste. If I pick someone you don’t like, just ignore them.”

“Hmph.” Emma sat back with a sigh. Well, maybe she’d have better luck letting someone else pick out her next date anyway. It wasn’t as if she’d done a very good job on her own so far.

“Ooh, I like him. I really like him.” Mandy held the phone out so that Emma could see. A rugged-looking man with longish hair and intense blue eyes was on the screen.

And yeah…he was hot. Not someone Emma would have ever picked out for herself, but… “Definitely. Swipe right.”

“Oh.” Mandy’s eyes widened, and she held up the phone. “He had already liked you so you’re an instant match.”

“Are you serious?” Emma snatched the phone out of her friend’s hand. Sure enough, Rugged Hot Guy—real name Joe Relka—showed as a match on the screen. A button below his picture invited her to start up a chat with him.

“You going to ask him out?”

“No way. Not yet anyway.” Emma clicked through the photos in his profile. In addition to his close-up, there was a snapshot of him hamming for the camera out in the woods, pointing over his shoulder toward a black bear visible in the background. “Okay, I’ll send him a message. What should I say?”

“Ask him if he still has all his fingers and toes.”

“What? Why on earth would I ask him that?”

“The bear.” Mandy gestured toward the phone. “You’ve got to mention the bear. Be interesting. Make him laugh.”

“Hmm.” Emma typed out, Are all your dates this furry? Then she hit Send before she could chicken out.

Mandy reached for the phone, snorting with laughter when she saw Emma’s message. “Perfect.”

Emma giggled as she reached for her Diet Coke.

“Dude, this is addictive,” Mandy said after she’d swipe-liked five more guys for Emma. “I’m totally setting this up on my phone. Maybe we can have a Tinder double date.”

“That’s assuming I get a date.”

Mandy gave her a look. “Are you kidding me? You’re fun and adorable. They’ll be lining up. And meanwhile, you’re driving Ryan crazy.”

“You think so?”

“Did you see the look on his face when I asked him about Todd Pierce? I thought smoke was going to start coming out of his ears.”

“I can’t believe you did that anyway. I was never actually going to go out with Todd Pierce and certainly not after you found his mug shot.”

“Sure did get a nice reaction out of Ryan, though, didn’t it?” Mandy looked smug.

Their sandwiches arrived, and Mandy handed Emma’s phone back to her. Emma took a bite of her turkey club and chewed through her thoughts. “Well, maybe I’m partly doing this to make him jealous, but he’s made it pretty clear he wants to keep us in the friend zone so, unless he makes a move, I’m going full steam ahead with Tinder.”

“That’s the spirit,” Mandy said, sipping her iced tea. “We’ll definitely get you a Tinder date. I’m going to swipe some more guys for you after we finish eating.”

And she did. By the time they made it back to Off-the-Grid, Mandy had added eleven guys to Emma’s “liked” list. They spent the afternoon planting bushes along the edges of the ropes course. Then Mandy headed out to get ready for a hot date of her own.

Emma slid her phone out of her back pocket and checked Tinder. Joe Relka had replied. I usually prefer them clean shaven, followed by a winky face. Want to come over tonight and show me? Emma scrunched her nose in distaste. What a perv. She deleted Joe Relka from her list. Moving on…

Oh, she had another match! It was a guy she’d liked last night. His profile picture showed him in outdoor gear. Blond hair. Beard. Not hard on the eyes. Not even a little bit. And he had a really nice smile. For the first time, she felt an actual tingle of excitement over the idea of going on a date.

Take that, Ryan.

Grinning, she shoved her cell phone back into her pocket. She spied Trent on a platform overhead, full attention on his own phone. “Hey, Trent,” she called.

Trent glanced down at her, that shock of straight, black hair hanging in his eyes. He needed a haircut badly, but she suspected the ’do was considered cool among his circle of friends. “Hi,” he said with a wave.

“What’ve they got you working on up there?” she asked.

“Oh, uh, I’m getting rid of a downed branch.”

Hmm. Looked more like he’d been playing games on his phone. Emma liked Trent a lot and wanted more than anything for Ryan to bond with his newly found brother, but Trent might be in need of a swift kick to the seat of his pants if this was how he spent his days at Off-the-Grid. She was extremely curious to see him play at the club next week, to see if he truly had talent as a DJ or if it was just another excuse to avoid school.

“Need some help?” she asked.

“Nope. I’m good.” Trent shook his head furiously as he set to work tugging at one of the lines overhead.

“Okay then. Good luck.” Emma walked toward the main building to freshen up before she headed home. Ryan’s bike was still parked out front.

The door to his office was slightly open, just enough for her to catch a glimpse of him seated at his desk. She slipped past his door and into the bathroom at the end of the hall. She used the facilities and spent several minutes at the sink, scrubbing dirt from her hands and arms. When she opened the door, Ryan stood in the hallway, leaning against the doorway to his office. “You’re not going out with Todd Pierce.”

She sucked in a breath. “That’s none of your business.”

Ryan kept his eyes on hers, looking all macho and protective. “You made it my business when you texted me his picture. He’s bad news.”

“You don’t even know him.” Her stomach quivered from all the butterflies flapping around inside it.

“I looked him up.” His voice was low and gravelly.

“You did?” The hallway seemed to constrict around them, pushing them closer together. Her heart was about to pound out of her chest.

“The guy’s got a record, Em.” His brown eyes burned into hers.

“I know. I looked him up, too.”

He raked a hand through his hair. “And you’re still going on a date with him?”

“Who said anything about a date?” she asked, trying desperately to look nonchalant even though her body was totally short-circuiting from all the chemistry in the air between them.

Ryan’s expression was intense and unflinching. “Mandy said you were thinking of asking him out.”

Emma wasn’t sure if she’d moved or if he had, but she was standing way too close to him now. Close enough to see the gold flecks in his dark eyes and feel the warmth of his body on hers. “She was trying to get a rise out of you. Did it work?”

He scrubbed a hand across his jaw and shook his head with a smile. “Guess it did. Whatever is and isn’t between us, no way I’m going to stand back and watch you go out with a criminal. You’re too good for that.”

This time she knew she’d taken another step closer, going up on tiptoes to glare right into his eyes. “And in case you weren’t paying attention, I’m trying to be less good. I’m tired of boring, clean-cut guys. I want excitement, and adventure, and”—she put a hand on his heavily inked biceps—“tattoos. I want a guy who pushes me out of my comfort zone and gives me the kind of mind-blowing sex I’ve only read about in romance novels.”

Ryan’s pupils had dilated until his eyes were black, and the look in them said he wanted to give her all those things and then some. Her hand was still on his arm, her breathing erratic as lust burned its way through her belly. They stood that way for several wild beats of her pounding heart.

“Dammit, Emma,” he rasped, sucking in a deep breath. He only used her full name when he was rattled. She’d noticed that over the course of the last month.

Dammit indeed. He wasn’t going to kiss her, and she was so frustrated she wanted to scream. Instead, she lifted her hand from his biceps and jabbed a finger against his chest. “You don’t get a say in who I do or don’t date.”

His big, warm hand closed over hers, flattening it against the firm expanse of his chest. “I damn well do. Your brother would turn over in his grave if I let you date a guy like Todd Pierce.”

There he went, playing the Derek card again. “If he were here, he wouldn’t be able to stop me any more than you can.”

“You can’t possibly?—”

Emma heard voices a moment before Mark and Ethan turned the corner. They stopped dead in their tracks and stared, and Emma wished the floor would swallow her whole.

Ryan lookedfrom the guys to Emma as the hallway sizzled with a heavy silence. He was acutely aware that Emma’s hand was on his chest, still engulfed in his. And they were standing way too close. For one long, awkward moment, they just stared at each other. Then she scooted backward, mumbled a hasty good-bye, and headed for the door.

“Whoa,” Ethan said once she’d gone. “You and Emma? Where the fuck did that come from?”

Ryan shook his head. “Not what you’re thinking.”

“I know what I saw.” A wide grin spread across his buddy’s face. “You two were looking at each other like you were about two beats from jumping in the sack together, and while I totally did not see this coming, I kind of dig the idea of you guys together.”

Mark nodded in agreement, looking suspiciously as if he was fighting a smile of his own.

“We’re not together,” Ryan said, pushing past them to go get a drink from the water cooler in the lobby. “In fact, we were arguing about her choice of men on Tinder.”

“You hear this?” Ethan said to Mark.

Mark shook his head with a smile. “I hear it. Don’t believe a word of it.”

“I’ve got to go secure the equipment for the night, but this definitely calls for beers at Rowdy’s later,” Ethan said.

“Agreed.” Mark headed for the door.

Ryan, finding himself completely tongue-tied where Emma was concerned, followed them out, headed for the ropes course to see if Trent was still there getting rid of that downed branch. He found the kid seated on the rope bridge, feet dangling, cell phone in hand. He wore ear buds, his head bobbing to whatever music he had going. The hand saw lay discarded on the bridge beside him.

Ryan’s temper reared up like an angry beast. He wasn’t a stickler about work. He and the guys messed around plenty, but they also worked their asses off out here. Maybe hiring his brother had been a mistake because now he was going to have to give the kid a lecture, and he’d rather Trent learn this lesson from an employer who wasn’t also the brother trying to find a way back into his life for good.

He stopped below the rope bridge and looked up, waiting for Trent to notice him.

“Oh, hey,” Trent said finally, shoving the phone and ear buds into the pocket of his hoodie. “I just finished with that branch. Took me all afternoon.”

“Shouldn’t have taken more than an hour or so,” Ryan said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“Oh, uh…” Trent shrugged awkwardly.

“You know we don’t have any rules about cell phones out here, but every single time I’ve come out to check on you today, man, you’ve been goofing off. You smoked weed while you’re on my dime. If you were anyone but my brother, I’d have fired you on the spot.” He kicked at a rock on the path and sent it soaring toward the woods.

Trent straightened, temper sparking in his dark eyes. “Well, don’t let that hold you back.”

“Come down from there so we can talk.” Ryan grabbed the downed branch Trent had disentangled, carrying it to the edge of the clearing to toss it into the woods. He needed to watch himself right now because a healthy portion of his current mood had to do with what had just gone down between him and Emma, not Trent.

By the time he’d gotten rid of the branch, Trent had climbed down from the rope bridge, saw in hand. “I don’t need your charity. If you want to fire me, go ahead and do it.”

“I don’t.” Ryan scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “I don’t want to fire you at all, but you’ve got to start pulling your weight around here. And if I ever catch you lighting up out here again, you’re done. Are we clear?”

“I could get a job somewhere else,” Trent said, his chin up.

“You could, but I think you’ll find that working out here beats the pants off busing tables or ringing up groceries at the supermart.” Ryan paused. “I want you to work here, Trent, but you’ve got to do the job I’m paying you for.”

His brother deflated some then, tugging his beanie lower over his ears. “Fine.” He headed off in the direction of the house.

Ryan watched him go, pulsing with frustration and restless energy. He debated going for a climb, but he’d have to go back to the house and get his gear, and by then the guys would be ready to hit Rowdy’s. He’d just have to endure their ribbing about Emma and hope a few beers would be enough to make it bearable.

He had to get a handle on himself where Emma was concerned. If he could just hold her off long enough, this attraction between them was sure to fizzle. She’d find someone new, and he’d hook up with another woman—and he and Emma could go back to being just friends. Because if they slept together? Forget it. That would change everything, and he’d never forgive himself if he fucked up their friendship because he was thinking with his dick.

Thirty minutes later, he, Ethan, and Mark were seated at their usual table, a pitcher of beer and a platter of wings between them, and—ribbing or not—Ryan felt his tension leaking away after a few good laughs with his buddies.

“So back to this thing with Emma,” Ethan said after they’d moved on to their second pitcher.

“There is no thing,” Ryan answered, reaching for another wing.

“We definitely saw something,” Mark commented. “And it’s not the first time I’ve seen it. There’s been kind of a vibe between you two lately.”

“It was the first time I saw it,” Ethan said. “But I’m telling you, if we hadn’t walked in and interrupted you…”

Ryan shrugged. “Maybe there was a vibe, or whatever. But that’s all it is, and all it’s going to be.”

“Why’s that?” Mark asked.

“Yo, we’re talking about Emma here.” He shook his head, taking another gulp of his beer.

“Is this about Derek?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah, partly. I made a promise before he enlisted that I’d look out for her, and more specifically, that I wouldn’t go after her.”

Ethan raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, that made sense when she was fifteen, but you’re both consenting adults now.”

Pretty much what Emma had said. “Doesn’t change the fact that she and I have been friends, practically family, since we were kids. If I sleep with her, sooner or later things will go south and she’ll end up hating me.”

“That a common problem you have?” Mark asked drily.

“No, but I don’t date chicks like Emma. I just hook up. You know, keep it casual. Emma’s not a casual, hookup kind of girl, and I won’t take advantage of her.”

“You have a point there.” Ethan bit into another wing. “But on that note, when’s the last time you did hook up with someone?”

Ryan took a drink from his beer to avoid having to answer that question.

“Not sure I’ve seen you with a woman since I got back in town,” Mark said. “Other than Emma, of course.”

Ryan shrugged. “I’ve been busy, between Off-the-Grid and tending bar…”

“Too busy to get laid?” Ethan’s eyebrows arched.

Ryan snatched a wing from the platter and bit into it.

Mark glanced across the table at Ethan. “It’s worse than we thought.”

Ethan nodded. “I can’t remember the last time I saw you with a woman other than Emma either. Damn. I had no idea you were this hung up on her. How long’s it been, man?”

Too fucking long. Ryan finished eating his wing, flipped Ethan the bird, and lifted his beer.

“Interesting.” Ethan took a drink from his own beer. “So why are you so sure you couldn’t have something real with her, something more than a hookup?”

Ryan took another drink from his beer. “Emma’s got this thing right now where she’s trying to shake things up. She wants to get a tattoo and date outside her comfort zone. I think it’s a dare her friends put her up to. But this isn’t who she is, and sooner or later she’s going to come to her senses.”

“You sure about that?” Ethan asked with humor in his eyes.

Ryan grimaced. “She’s looking up guys on Tinder…shady guys. I don’t know how to stop her.”

“I know how.” Ethan was laughing now.

Even Mark was grinning from ear to ear.

“Yo, I’m not sleeping with Emma. You assholes are supposed to back me up here.”