Riding the Wrong Cowboy #3
It's a basket. Full of yarn, soft and colorful in about a dozen different shades, with a crochet hook nestled in the middle, a half-finished project still attached. I look at the yarn. I look at Ryker, who has gone completely still, a flush creeping up his neck.
"Is this yours?"
"...Maybe."
"You crochet?"
"It's relaxing," he mutters defensively. "And Princess Tank likes the blankets."
My grin is so wide it hurts. Because I'm already thinking about Eli, quiet, gentle Eli, with his tote bag full of yarn, his soft voice, and his calm presence. Eli, who deserves someone who sees past the surface to the soft center underneath. Del's best friend needs to meet this man.
"Ryker," I say slowly. "Are you single?"
He blinks. "Yes. I thought that was obvious, given that I brought you home to have sex."
My face heats. "Right. Obviously." My brain is still recalibrating from the whole I'm in love with my best friend revelation, and apparently basic logic is a casualty. "And you're looking for something real? Not just hookups?"
"I mean… yeah, but—"
"I might know the guy for you."
Ryker stares at me. "Did you just go from trying to hook up with me, to almost crying about your best friend, to trying to set me up with someone?"
"I'm a multitasker." I clutch the yarn basket to my chest. "His name is Eli. He crochets too. He's really kind, he has the prettiest smile, and I think you two would genuinely hit it off."
"Max."
"Just think about it!"
Ryker shakes his head slowly, but he's smiling, a real one, eyebrows still slightly raised, the corners of his eyes crinkling in a way that doesn't belong on a man who looks like he could bench press a car. "You're something else, you know that?"
"I've been told."
He takes the yarn basket back and tucks it safely out of sight, then stands. "Come on. I'm driving you home."
"You don't have to—"
"I'm driving you home." Firm. "You've had a night."
My throat goes tight. "Ryker?"
"Yeah?"
"You deserve someone who sees all of this." I gesture around the apartment, the plants, the books, the soft blanket, Princess Tank snoring on the couch. "The real you. Not the sexy bouncer bit."
He's quiet for a moment. Then he reaches out and ruffles my hair, gently. "Go get your man, Max."
Princess Tank follows us to the door, tail wagging lopsidedly, and I crouch down to say goodbye. She licks my chin, and my throat goes tight for reasons that have nothing to do with a three-legged dog and everything to do with the fact that I know what I have to do now.
The drive home is quiet. I stare out the window, watching streetlights blur past, my mind full of Leo. Leo's laugh, and his hands, and that careful smile that hasn't reached his eyes all week. Leo, who I'm in love with, who I have to tell… Somehow.
Ryker pulls up outside the house, and I unbuckle my seatbelt but don't move to get out. "Thank you," I say. "For tonight. For being decent when you didn't have to be."
"For not having sex with you when you clearly weren't in the right headspace?" The corner of his mouth quirks up.
"Yeah." I wince. "When you put it like that, it sounds like the absolute minimum."
"That's a low bar, gorgeous."
"It shouldn't be, but it is." I look at him, this huge, intimidating man who crochets blankets for his three-legged rescue dog and makes chai from scratch, who stopped the second I froze up and made me tea instead. "You're a good guy, Ryker."
"Don't spread that around. Bad for the brand." I laugh, and it feels good.
"Good luck with Leo," he says.
"Good luck with… everything." I hesitate. "I'm serious about Eli. I'll text you his Instagram or something."
Ryker shakes his head. "Max—"
"He crochets." I let that land for a second.
"And he's completely unflappable. Like, nothing rattles him.
He's quiet and sharp, and he'll show up with snacks before you even know you're hungry.
" I think about Eli's dry humor, the way his observations land three seconds after he delivers them, the way he carries yarn in his tote bag like it's the most normal thing in the world.
"He's the kind of person who'd see Princess Tank and just…
get it. Get you. His best friend is basically attached to my housemate.
By the face, mostly." Ryker's mouth twitches.
"Del is moving into the geek house, which means Eli is basically moving in too, except he sleeps at his own place and maintains the illusion of boundaries.
So I've had a lot of time to watch." I pause.
"He once sat in our kitchen for three hours crocheting and didn't say a single unnecessary word the entire time, and it was the most peaceful three hours of my life.
Our house is chaotic. But Eli was… calm. "
Ryker is quiet for a moment. Not dismissively quiet, he’s thinking quiet.
"I'm not saying text him tonight," I say. "Just — think about it."
"Get out of my car, Max." But he's almost smiling. I get out of his car and stand on the sidewalk watching him drive away, and then I turn and look at the house. Leo's window is dark.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll figure out what to say. How to say it. Whether I'm brave enough to risk everything. But tonight, I know one thing for certain… I'm in love with Leo.