Chapter Three
“Tell me this isn’t really happening. That I’m dreaming. That I fell on the ice and knocked myself out or something.”
Dramatic as always. Ryan smiled from the doorway, watching Rosie march promptly to the roaring fireplace in the elaborate family room and wrap her arms around herself. “Sorry, princess. Didn’t see a single speck of ice on my way in.”
She spun toward him, her dark, glossy locks whipping around her still-blushing face. “Don’t call me that. Please.”
Ouch. That stung and he wasn’t quite sure why. “Sorry. Second nature, I guess.”
“It’s been too long for that, Ryan. My God, what are you even doing here?” The creamy, porcelain skin on her brow pinched together in confusion.
“I could ask you the same.” He took a slow step forward, rounding a massive chair, with his hands tucked in his pockets. His standard-attire work boots thudded softly against the hardwood floor.
“I work for Blake. And last I heard, you worked for Josh Hudson in River Bend. Unless something’s changed…” Her perfect teeth sank into the plump pillow of her lower lip again and she batted her eyelashes almost imperceptibly. Not a conscious action—just something she used to do when she was nervous.
Well, she should be nervous, damn it. Just like he should be pissed off. Only he wasn’t. In fact, he wasn’t even a little upset right now. Which was odd as hell, because every time he’d contemplated what it would feel like to see her again, he’d nearly stroked out from the barrage of mixed emotions--mostly anger--about how she’d up and left the way she had.
“You’ve kept tabs on me?” He took another step closer. Carefully, of course, because there was no way he’d give her an excuse to run away from him again.
She laughed softly. Defensively, even. “More like my Aunt Nancy won’t leave well enough alone. She always finds a way to slip something about you into the conversation.”
Note to self: Send Nancy Hudson flowers ASAP.
“But that’s beside the point.” Her throat worked as she swallowed. “Why are you here?” she asked again.
“Vaughn Roberts is Will’s uncle. He’s had some health problems and Will offered to help him out with this project, given your boss’s high profile.”
She cocked her head to the side, giving him another glimpse of her long, sleek neck. He’d kissed that skin before. Given his first hickey there, too, God only knew how many moons ago. “Okay, but how do you come into play?”
“Believe it or not, I’m on vacation.”
“Ah.” She nodded, one thin eyebrow lifted. “Well, that makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?”
A low laugh rumbled in his chest. “Right? Leave it to Will to rope me into these things.”
A frown weighed down her mouth again and he remembered—she had no idea who Will was or how far he and Ryan went back. She’d skipped out on him before that time in his life.
“We went to college together,” he began to explain, then thought better of it. This woman had left him high and dry without any explanation. The likelihood of her giving a shit about his college days was probably slim. “Look, it’s complicated, okay? A lot of this is complicated, actually.”
“You can say that again.” She paced over to the big window again, the snowcapped mountains apparently more exciting than him. “You must have a million questions.”
Give or take a thousand, yeah. “I don’t expect answers, Rosie. Hell, I don’t even expect you to continue this conversation with me.” His hand found the back of the leather sofa, his fingers digging in deep. “Maybe we should just chalk this up to an unexpected surprise and leave it at that. No questions asked.”
She didn’t respond, merely continued staring out the window, unmoving.
He nodded to no one but himself, the finality of this too-short visit not sitting as well as he’d tried to imply. “It was good to see you again, Rose. You’re as breathtaking as ever and, from the looks of it, you’re doing pretty well for yourself, too. I’m happy for you.”
With that, he turned on his heel and walked out. He didn’t want to, but he had to before he said something they’d both regret.
Something that sounded an awful lot like I never stopped loving you.
***
“You never told me you grew up in River Bend.” Janine, Blake’s assistant, waggled a taunting finger at Rosemary from across the kitchen island in the condo they’d moved into a few weeks earlier. The accommodations were only temporary, until Rosemary could find a place of her own, which, thus far, hadn’t gone as well as she’d hoped. Sweetgrass wasn’t L.A., unfortunately. “More to point, you never told me that you lost your virginity to my cousin Ryan.”
Rosemary broke off a chunk of her blueberry scone and popped it in her mouth. She wasn’t even hungry—thank you for that, Ryan Croft—but she’d be miserable come two o’clock in the morning if she skipped out on dinner entirely. “I can’t believe you two are related. I mean, what are the chances?”
“About a million to one. Roughly the same as him showing up at Blake’s today.” Janine smiled. “He texted me, by the way. I might’ve forgot to mention that earlier.”
“Ugh.” She shoved the scone away and reached for her water instead. “I’m still not sure what he’s even doing here. Is he going to keep working with Vaughn on the renovations, or was he just offering ideas?”
“Don’t know. We’re supposed to grab a cup of coffee in a bit. I figured I’d get the scoop from him then.”
A pang of something twitched in Rosemary’s belly. Cautiously, she met her friend’s gaze. “You’re meeting him? Tonight?”
“Yep. You want to come?”
As if! “Nice try, but I’m pretty sure I’m the last person he wants to see.”
“That’s not exactly a no.”
“It’s definitely a no.”
“But it’s not No, I don’t want to see him again, is it?”
Ugh. Of course, it wasn’t. Seeing Ryan again was all she’d been able to think about since he’d left Blake’s. If she hadn’t been so worried about saving face, she would have gone after him. Explained all the things she’d wanted to explain for years, even if he didn’t want to hear them.
“Go. Take my place tonight.”
Her head snapped up, shaking from side to side before she even met Janine’s eyes. “No way.” Seeing disappointment on his face when she walked in would be a hundred times worse than hearing the door close behind him earlier. Worse than knowing that how she’d felt in that moment was nothing compared to how he must’ve felt, finding out she’d left River Bend all those years ago without any intention of coming back.
“I’ve known you for years, Rose, and I’ve never seen you this out of it over a guy before. You need to go, you know?”
“And what would I say? Hey, it’s me again. I couldn’t leave well enough alone. I’m here to twist the knife a little deeper?” She slid off the stool and tossed her scone into the trash. “I think the best thing I can do is lay low. The only big thing Blake’s got going on right now are the details for The Angel Alliance. I can work on that from here, no problem. Just in case Ryan shows up again.”
“How old are you?” Janine narrowed her eyes.
“What does that matter?”
“It matters because I’m pretty sure you’re too damn old to be acting like a scared teenager.”
“Oh, please. I am totally not acting like that.” Totally? Crap.
Janine grinned. “Are so and, frankly, it’s annoying. It’s not even you, for Pete’s sake.”
When Ryan Croft was involved, feeling like a total schmuck was very much her. At least for the last nine years anyway.
“Give it one more shot. At the very least, see if you can figure out how long he’s going to be here, so if tonight does go completely south, you know how long you have to hide out. Not that I’m condoning that kind of childish behavior…”
“You could ask him just as easily as I could.”
“I could, yes. But I won’t, because it doesn’t matter to me one lick. Therefore I’m no longer interested in asking.” Her roommate inspected her nails with put-on interest.
“I hate you.”
“Hate to break it to you, but you’re not capable of that emotion. Ryan isn’t either, so I think you should go tonight. Put on a pretty dress and do up your hair. Pretend we’re back in L.A. Heck, think of it as a business meeting if that’s what it takes.”
Janine was wrong. Rose could hate, and if she didn’t take this opportunity to apologize to Ryan properly, she would hate herself more than she already did.
“I’ll go,” she sighed. “I don’t want to, but it’s the right thing to do.”
Janine gave an approving shriek and jumped up from her seat. “Well, what are you waiting for, girl? We’ve gotta get you ready!”