Chapter Fifteen
True to his promise, Ryder had stayed away. At home he only spoke to her when absolutely necessary. There’d been no more drop-bys, no more dinners, no nothing. At work he’d been polite and cordial. Not cool, exactly, but professional. He’d been receptive to all her ideas, praising her when he liked something, arguing with her when he didn’t. But there was no sparking with her. No evil gleam in his eyes like when he sparred with her.
Sophie couldn’t pretend. She missed him. Too much for comfort.
By Friday evening, Sophie had prepared herself for the night to come. Or as much as she could. She wore a flirty little sleeveless black cocktail dress with matching four-inch sandals that made her legs actually look long.
To her dismay, all day she’d been excited for all the wrong reasons. She wanted to see him, be forced to spend time with him. She ached for that hot, electric jolt he evoked in her. No matter how hard she’d tried, she’d been unable to talk herself out of it. With no idea what to expect, her instincts were on high alert, inappropriately thrilling her.
The doorbell rang and her heart leapt into her throat, pounding in a rapid beat. As slowly as she could, she walked to the door and opened it.
Oh dear God.
Ryder stood in front of her wearing all black, his silvery eyes practically glowing in the porch light. She swallowed her lust, put on a bright smile, and said, “Hey, ready to go?”
He raked his gaze down her body, bold and aggressive, giving the first sign in forever that he still wanted her. “Ready.”
The Mustang was in the driveway, looking as badass as its owner. She turned and grabbed her purse. “Great. Bill said we were going to Rock’s Steakhouse?”
“That’s the plan.” He stepped aside.
Some of her tension eased as she slid past him. So far so good.
Behind her keys jingled. “You look nice.”
Wasn’t this all ... civil. Good. Maybe this would be easier than she thought.
She climbed into the car, and as the doors shut she said, “So do you.”
He smirked. “I’m sure Bill will be happy.”
“Cheryl too.”
Was this a game? It had to be a trick?
He turned over the engine, and it roared to life. “Did you have a good day?”
“Busy but good. Small-town government isn’t as easy as I thought.”
“There’s a lot going on right now.” He pulled out of the driveway. “The town square is important to people, and everyone I’ve talked to is happy with your contribution.”
The niggling of disappointment poked in her sternum, frustrating her. It forced her to confront the truth: She’d been prepared for sabotage, and it had excited her.
Well, good. This was the best-case scenario.
She cleared her throat. “I’m glad. The Fourth of July Festival is in good shape and I’ve met with a lot of business owners in town, and I think given a little time I can increase sponsorships by thirty percent. The advance pre-order ticket sale promotion I came up with has been really well received, and with the strong sales, it can only help businesses see the benefits.”
“I know.” He shifted into third gear, and she tried not to get distracted by the muscles moving under his powerful thighs. “I get your daily reports.”
“I wasn’t sure if you read them.”
“Every word.”
The car fell silent.
She looked out the window. She could get through this night with him being nice and polite.
She thought of him, the way he kissed her and made her ache. She pressed her thighs together.
If he could be cool, so could she.
* * *
Ryder clenched the steering wheel and tried to think about baseball, puppies, and grandmothers. He had his plan and he needed to stick to it.
All week had been hell. Hell every time he treated her like a business associate. Hell every time he saw her in the backyard. All he wanted was to follow her inside and throw her across the kitchen table.
But he hadn’t done that—because he wanted her to ache for him. He wanted her lying in bed, the covers twisted around her legs, restless.
Tonight he needed to show her she didn’t want to be friends, didn’t want to be just neighbors. And the only way he could think to do that was to show her exactly what being just neighbors looked like. To drive her right out of her mind with friendliness.
So it didn’t matter if she looked spectacular.
It didn’t matter how her legs looked in her dress.
Or how he wanted to wrap her thighs around his hips.
He gripped the gearshift tighter.
He would not slip his hands up her skirt and into her panties.
At least, not yet.
She moved restlessly in the seat.
“Is everything okay?” He kept his voice innocent.
“Everything is great.” She shot him a scowl before her expression cleared. “I’m looking forward to my first night out in Revival.”
“Rock’s is an institution.”
She laughed, a little too high pitched. “You’re forgetting I live in Chicago, I have Gibsons and the Chop House.”
But Chicago didn’t have him. “You’ll have to judge for yourself if it meets your standards.”
She frowned. “Aren’t you going to try and convince me it’s better?”
“Nope.” He wasn’t going to engage her in any arguments at all.
Her brows furrowed deeper. “All right.”
He pulled into the parking lot and found a spot before turning off the car. He took the keys from the ignition. “Ready for your big date?”
“Yep.” Her chin tilted in defiance. “You?”
“Yep.” Just as she was about to get out of the car, he grabbed her wrist.
She sucked in a breath. “What?”
He gave her his most winning smirk. “Try not to break Bill’s heart.”
He let her go and she jerked her arm away, huffing as she got out of the car and slammed the door.
Oh, this plan was working.
He smiled at her retreating form, shoulders all straight and thrown back in defiance.
Excellent.
* * *
God, he was the most frustrating man on the planet. Two could play this game.
Sophie plastered a pleasant expression on her face and walked through the restaurant, following as the hostess led them through tables to a corner booth where Bill and Cheryl were already seated.
Bill sat on one side of the booth, Cheryl on the other. They’d appeared deep in conversation, only stopping when Ryder and Sophie stood in front of them. The hostess put the menus on the table and stepped away.
Sophie waggled her fingers. “Hi.”
Bill smiled at her. “Hey, you guys made it.”
“We did,” she said, nodding. She turned her attention to Cheryl, dressed in a cute floral sundress in pastels. A look Sophie could never pull off in a million years, but the other woman made it work. She was very pretty—sweet and innocent, but pretty. The right man would want to mess her up and defile her. Sophie smiled. “You look pretty.” She craned over her shoulder to smirk at Ryder. “Doesn’t she?”
His gaze flickered before he shifted to Cheryl. “Very much so. Like a breath of fresh air.”
Cheryl appeared as though she might faint on the spot. Her lashes fluttered. “Thank you.”
All wrong for Ryder, who needed someone who could go toe-to-toe with him.
Cheryl glanced at Sophie. “You look great too.”
She hoped so, she’d worked damn hard at it. “Thanks.”
“Have you been waiting long?” Ryder asked from behind her.
Cheryl cast a furtive glance at him, and a pretty flush broke out over her cheeks.
Sophie resisted an eye roll. God, could the woman stroke his ego a little harder? It was clear by the way she bit her lip and tried not to look at Ryder she had a crush on him. And why wouldn’t she? The man was so seriously hot it was ridiculous. But she didn’t have to be all blushy about it.
“Not at all,” Bill said, his voice light and pleasant. Bill was no slouch in the looks department. He was built like a football player, tall and broad. He’d do quite well. She just had to shift her focus off Ryder.
Since Bill was her date, she slid into the booth next to him, and Ryder did the same next to Cheryl.
Their eyes caught and held.
Well, now, wasn’t this cozy.
Sophie jerked her attention to the table. “This is fun. After trying to get acclimated, it’s great to get out and let off some steam.”
Bill shifted to the corner, sliding his arm along the back of the booth and behind Sophie’s head. “I heard you’ve been getting rave reviews.”
“She has,” Ryder said, his gaze skimming over her. “Sophie’s not only organized but she’s charismatic. She’s already met with half the town, it seems.”
She held out her hands. “I’m just doing my job.”
“It’s great,” Cheryl said, shifting toward Ryder and flashing him an angelic smile. “The whole town is excited about the Fourth of July Festival.”
Sophie’s belly tightened with what she refused to name as jealousy.
“It’s fun to be involved, but it’s not nearly as important as the work you do at the clinic,” Sophie said, politely.
“Sophie’s right.” Ryder slanted a glance at Cheryl, whose cheeks pinkened with his gaze on her.
Poor girl, she might be crushing on Ryder hard, but she’d never be able to handle him. She’d die of shyness. Sophie’s brows furrowed. What did they say about the quiet ones? That they were the most wild.
Sophie studied Cheryl with her demure sundress, neat hair, and restrained makeup. She couldn’t imagine her wild. Couldn’t imagine Ryder sliding between her legs and whispering dirty things in her ear. Couldn’t imagine him kissing Cheryl the way he kissed her, like he’d eat her alive. Like he was trying to communicate how he planned to fuck her by his mouth alone.
Her core heated at the mere thought of it. Stop.
She needed to stop.
“Is it warm in here?” Bill asked, shaking Sophie from her haze. “I can see if they can jack up the air.”
Sophie shifted in her seat, dismayed she appeared ... heated. “Nope, I’m good. It’s the perfect temperature.”
Her gaze slid to Ryder, who smirked. As though he knew what she was thinking about.
Bill nodded. “So Ryder, how are you enjoying your new neighbor?”
Sophie tensed.
Ryder picked up his glass of water and took a sip. “She keeps things interesting.”
The waiter showed up, saving Sophie from having to kick him under the table.
She beamed at him. “I’ll have a double martini, straight up with olives.”
Ryder cocked a brow.
“I’ll have a white wine spritzer,” Cheryl said, making Sophie look like a raving alcoholic.
But she didn’t care. Girly wine spritzers wouldn’t cut it.
She needed alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.
* * *
This dinner ... wasn’t working out as Ryder had planned.
Sophie had quite the buzz going, and he wasn’t exactly the most sober he’d ever been. Bill and Cheryl, on the other hand, kept it perfectly together. The sane ones in their little party of four.
The night was a recipe for disaster but had taught him one thing. Seeing Sophie and Cheryl side by side, he understood why he’d kept forgetting to ask Cheryl out. She was nice enough, and she was certainly pretty enough. And sweet. Very sweet.
But watching Sophie in her little black dress with her flashing eyes and death glares only brought home the fact that nice and sweet wasn’t his kind of girl. When he’d decided to move to Revival and started to think about settling down, he’d thought he’d needed to change the kind of girl he dated, but now he understood the truth.
He needed someone like Sophie.
Someone who’d kick ass and take names. Someone who was as bored by convention as he was. Someone who’d make damn sure he didn’t get away with anything. Before Sophie, he’d been limiting himself both ways.
Sophie had shown him. She was like him that way. A little too wild, too edgy to really quite fit into convention.
He’d feel bad about Cheryl, really he would, only he was doing her a favor. He wasn’t any more suited for her than she was for him. He kept hoping she’d figure out she liked talking to Bill a hell of a lot more than she liked talking to him.
Cheryl laughed at something Bill said, but Ryder had no clue what they were talking about.
Bill grinned at Cheryl. “He told me he couldn’t do burpees because it was against his religious freedom.”
This made Bill and Cheryl roar with laughter.
Across the table Sophie looked at him, brow raised. He shrugged. She shifted in her seat, taking another sip of her drink and meeting his gaze over the rim. He knew that look. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. Under the table, he moved his foot, stretching out his leg so it slid next to her heel. She licked her lips and stayed.
In that moment, he confronted the truth. He would get emotionally attached to her—hell, he was emotionally attached to her. The smart thing to do was to save both of them from heartbreak. But he couldn’t.
If he didn’t just fucking take her and make her belong to him for as long as he had her, she’d be a regret.
And he didn’t do regrets. He’d never played it safe in his entire life, and he wasn’t about to start with Sophie. He’d never met another woman like her, and he didn’t intend to let her go until he had to.
So he was going for it. Consequences be damned.
His eyes met hers. He moved his leg so his calf brushed against hers.
She sucked in a breath. Pressed against him.
She’d been drinking and her defenses were weak, he understood that. But he also understood all it meant was she allowed herself what she wanted.
Him.
“Everything okay?” Bill asked, seemingly oblivious to the tension between Sophie and him.
“Everything’s great.” Sophie’s voice was a touch too breathless. Eyes on Ryder she asked, “Do you want to go dancing?”
“Yes,” he said, because there was only one thing he wanted to do more, and he’d get that soon enough.
For now, he’d drive her wild.
Cheryl laughed, nervous and high, ripping Ryder’s attention away from Sophie. She touched the hem of her dress. “I don’t really know how to dance that well.”
Oh no. Ryder started to frantically spin through the reasons he had to go dancing, but Sophie saved him.
She waved a hand. “It’s all good. We’ll show you. It will be fun.”
Bill cleared his throat. “Well . . . I’m not much of a dancer either.”
Figured.
Sophie clasped her hands in prayer. “Please? It will be fun, I promise.”
Bill glanced down at her, a slight frown on his lips before he turned to Cheryl. “What do you say?”
Maybe the guy wasn’t an idiot. There was no love match with Sophie, and his eyes seemed intent on Cheryl. She glanced at Ryder before her eyes flirted back to Bill. “If you’re game.”
Ryder looked at Sophie and without another thought to sanity slipped his hand under the table, leaning forward and touching her bare knee.
With a little jump, she shot him a furtive glance before parting her legs. His fingers played over the bare skin on the inside of her thigh. Her brown eyes darkened as he traced a finger over her skin.
She gave a radiant smile to Bill and Cheryl. “Are you guys in?”
Cheryl and Bill glanced at each other and then shrugged.
Cheryl nodded. “Sure.”
Sophie slid down a little in her seat and he gripped her leg. “Check?”
She picked up her drink, downed the last bit, and put it back on the table. “Check.”