Chapter 22
RYDER
I couldn’t take my eyes off Ellie, and with every second that passed, she shifted in her seat across from me at Seafood & More.
She looked fucking stunning in that green dress. It was as if she knew exactly what she would do to me when she slipped that on. Her perfect breasts were on display for me, not enough to be too revealing, but enough to give me a taste of what would be waiting for me tonight.
“Stop staring,” she blushed, taking a sip of her wine.
“Make me.”
She glanced around at the other customers, fiddling with the chain hanging around her neck.
It was simple, contradicting everything I knew about her.
This woman should be decked out in diamonds and gemstones, but instead, she wore a thin gold chain that was barely visible with nothing more than small studs in her ears.
She was a walking contradiction.
She ran a boutique and wore some of the most gorgeous clothes, but didn’t wear anything too flashy.
“Ryder,” she chastised the longer I stared at her.
“Is there something wrong with me staring at you?”
“There is when everyone is watching you watch me.”
I shrugged, not caring at all. “So let them watch me. I don’t give a fuck.”
Her fingers skimmed over the bruises on her neck that I’d left there earlier tonight with my lips. I ran my tongue along my lower lip, remembering the taste of her on my tongue.
“If you keep making that face, people are going to think things,” she chastised.
“Let them,” I smirked just as the waitress approached.
“Have you decided what you want?”
I nodded to Ellie.
“Um…I’ll have the seafood pasta.”
“We’re out of shrimp.”
“Oh,” she said, studying the menu. “Then I’ll have the Lobster Mac ’N Cheese.”
The waitress made a face. “Yeah, sorry. No lobster either.”
“Really?” Ellie asked, her face pinched in a frown.
“Swordfish?”
The waitress shook her head. “Nope. He got the last one,” she said, pointing to another customer.
“Huh. Must be popular.”
“Actually, it was the only one.”
“What do you have?” I asked, trying to make this easier.
The waitress spun the menu and pointed to the burgers. “Those. Oh, and salad.”
“So, you’re a seafood restaurant with no seafood,” I grinned.
“It’s not always like this.”
“No?”
She shook her head. “Sometimes, we have steak.”
Chuckling, I handed the menu over. “Surprise me.”
“And you?” she asked Ellie. “Maybe a salad?”
My good mood instantly vanished at the waitress’s snarky tone.
“She’ll have the smash burger with onion rings,” I answered for Ellie, my eyes never leaving hers.
People in this town were so fucking cruel, but how I hadn’t realized it before now, I wasn’t sure.
Ellie ducked her head as the waitress gathered the menus and walked away.
“Don’t ever hide your eyes from me.”
Slowly, she raised her eyes to meet mine, and what I saw there fucking pissed me off.
Devastation. Embarrassment. Sadness.
“Excuse me a minute.”
Shoving back from my seat, I marched into the back, looking for Jeff. I heard his voice coming from the office, and I ignored the staff’s shouts as I headed straight back there.
Shoving the door open, he chuckled as I walked right in.
“Your waitress…Callie. I want her fired right fucking now.”
“Any reason? Or did you just not like her?” he chuckled.
“She was nasty to Ellie. Suggested she get a salad.”
Jeff’s face instantly turned hard as he shoved back from his desk and walked out. I didn’t need to stick around for the next part. As I walked out, I heard the girl’s gasp as Jeff laid into her.
Grinning, I took my seat across from Ellie and interlocked my fingers with hers. “Where were we?”
“What’s going on?”
“Just taking care of something.”
“Ryder—”
The waitress came storming out of the back, her face filled with tears as she made a dramatic exit. Jeff was at our table just seconds later with a bottle of wine.
“Thought I’d bring over a bottle of wine and some appetizers.”
“To make up for the lack of seafood?” I teased.
“It’s a slow season.”
“Yeah, hard to get seafood in Montana,” I jested, not bothering to mention that states further in got seafood all year round. Not that it was any good unless it was on the coast.
“Fishing is a tricky thing,” he said, scratching his jaw. Popping the cork on the bottle, he set it on the table. “Hope you enjoy the burgers. They’re a specialty.”
“They’re the only thing on the menu,” I corrected.
“Not true. We also have mozzarella sticks,” he grinned as he walked away.
I was still smiling as I poured more wine for Ellie, but she was staring at me warily.
“What did you do?”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, pouring myself a glass.
“That woman…you got her fired.”
“Nobody speaks to you like that,” I said, dropping the act.
“I don’t need you to do that.”
“What? Stand up for you?”
“That wasn’t—”
“Ellie, we’re out for a nice dinner together and someone was cruel to you. Do you really think I’m the type of guy to stand back and watch that happen?”
“No,” she sighed.
“Neither is Jeff. You should have seen his face when I told him what she did. Not everyone in this town is a piece of shit.”
“Still, this is only going to make things worse for me.”
I was about to take a sip of my wine when I put the glass down and stared at her until she finally met my eyes.
“They’ll only treat you like shit as long as you let them.
Staying silent hasn’t done a damn thing for you, and they won’t respect you any more for letting them do it.
This isn’t school, Ellie. You’re a grown woman, and you definitely don’t need some twenty-something who knows nothing about life to make you feel like you’re not the most fucking awesome person in this town.
You own a shop. You own a home. You’re an amazing person with a great personality. Don’t let them stomp that out.”
Her cheeks turned a fuckable shade of red as she picked up her own glass and took a sip. It was damn hard to sit at this table with her, pretending to be interested in food, when all I wanted was to take her home and keep her in my bed until the sun came up.
But I was doing this for a reason, and I wasn’t about to let my cock get in the way of that.
“So, how’s the law office going?” she asked, changing the subject.
“It’s a mess, honestly. Mr. Peterson has files going back a hundred years. He said I should keep them around because a lot have to do with the town. Though, where I’m supposed to store them is another question.”
“There’s an empty building next to it. You could always rent that out and use it as storage and a front office.”
I nodded, thinking about how I could arrange that. “And close off the outdoor exit from my current location.”
“Well, you might want to keep it as an emergency exit,” she grinned. “You never know when you might want to make a quick getaway.”
“Business is business.”
“Right, until Mrs. Abernathy walks in and needs you to file a restraining order against the couple kissing across the courtyard. Or Mrs. Butterworth gets upset because of all the skateboarders around town.”
“Okay,” I chuckled. “An emergency exit.”
“And you have to do something about the color of the office,” she said, her nose scrunching up in disgust.
“Brown isn’t to your taste?”
“I’m pretty sure that office hasn’t been painted since Mr. Peterson opened the practice. And the furniture has to be replaced. Olive green and orange are not welcoming.”
“What else needs to be fixed?” I asked, interested in what she would say next.
“Those valances…as beautiful as they are, they’re yellowing.”
“I would have thought you would want to keep those.”
She pulled a face, shaking her head. “For a house, maybe. I think those were also a gift from his mother when he moved into the office.”
“So, what you’re saying is that my office needs an overhaul.”
“If you can afford it.”
I nodded, not wanting to say something like, oh, yeah. I’ve got the money. Or if you only knew how much I had in my bank account. Something like that would not impress a woman like Ellie.
Not that I was trying to impress her. This wasn’t a date. But she was currently one of my only friends in this town, and I wasn’t about to destroy the one relationship that was working for me.
“Hmm, well, I suppose I could get some new paint and take care of the walls. Maybe white,” I said, wondering what her reaction would be.
Again, she frowned.
“No good?”
“Well, it’s just so sterile.”
“It’s bright.”
“It has no feeling!” she argued.
I hid my grin, rather enjoying seeing this side to her. I liked to get a rise out of her, and even better, I was getting free decorating advice. “Okay, then what color should I go with?”
“That takes a lot of thought. You want something warm and inviting. Nothing pretentious—”
“And it has to go with the new leather furniture.”
A squeak left her lips that she quickly covered by taking another sip of wine.
“What? Now there’s something wrong with leather?”
“No, not at all,” she murmured. “If you want everyone in town to think you’re a—”
“A what?” My lips twitched in amusement, but somehow, I held back my laughter.
“Look, you’re in a small town, not New York. You can’t have people walk into your office when it looks like some modern, lifeless office where the uncaring lawyer sits upon his throne, ready to destroy anyone in his path.”
“Isn’t that what most people want from a lawyer?”
“Not in this town. Yes, we want to know you’re capable, but these people will never go to you if they think you’re going to take every last dime they have.”
I studied her for a moment, then nodded. “Okay, you’re hired.”
“Hired?”
“To decorate my office.”
A new waitress brought out our food, apologizing for the change in service before asking if there was anything else she could get us.
“No, we’re good. Thank you.” I turned my attention back to Ellie. “So, Saturday?”
“For what?”
“To start picking out samples.” I took my first bite of the burger and groaned in amazement. “This is fantastic. Better than seafood.”
“Wait, but this isn’t my office,” she argued.