Ryland shrugged. “It could make things damn unpleasant.” He paused. “How long do you think it’ll take you to go through Barry’s files?”
“At least a day or two more. Like I said, there are a lot of them. After that, I’d need to make a search of his office at his house. Maybe even his bedroom.”
While he didn’t raise his eyebrow again, she could tell that had surprised him. “He still lives at home. Well, it’s an estate actually, but he lives there, and I can call his mother and ask if I can come over and talk. I can search his room along with telling her that you and I are getting back together.”
Ryland didn’t jump to respond to that, and then he cursed. “I suppose us getting back together means some big-assed pretense?”
“Oh, yes.” No way around that. “It wouldn’t have to be elaborate or anything. We’d just need to be seen in public, and maybe I would have to introduce you to Barry’s mother.”
The look he gave her couldn’t have possibly gotten any flatter. “That’s the very definition of elaborate.” More cursing, this time coupled with some head shaking.
Nova knew she was quickly losing his support of this plan. Probably because it was a bad idea. Still, it was the only one she had.
“I love my job,” she said. “And I’d like to keep it.”
“Despite Barry being part of the job?” Ryland fired back.
She nodded. “Once I’ve put him in his place and made it clear that there’ll never be anything between him and me, then I think he’ll come to accept it.”
Nova hoped that wasn’t wishful thinking on her part. Or delusional. But she was past the point of desperation here.
“Maybe the pretense with us as a couple won’t have to last long,” she added. “Only until I’m sure there are no more of those pictures lying around.”
Again, no jumping to respond to that, and his mouth tightened as if he’d inhaled too much of that bug spray.
“I’m using a week’s vacation, and I’ll be staying at the Lightning Bug Inn here in Coldwater. That should be enough time to get Barry in check,” she went on, still trying to sell the idea. “I would stay here, but Aunt Liddy Jean has already invited a group of her friends over for a protest planning retreat.” While she loved her aunt, a retreat like that was something Nova wanted to avoid.
When Ryland still didn’t say anything, a thought occurred to her. A bad one. “Uh, I should have asked this already, but are you in a relationship with anyone?”
And she realized she was holding her breath. The exact opposite of what Ryland was doing. He huffed, a quick jolt of air, and scrubbed his hand over his face. “No, but Silla Sweeny’s been giving me the full-court press lately. Either she’s developed a nervous tic or else she’s doing a lot of winking at me.”
Great. A mean girl. Not the kind of interference Nova needed, since they were already dealing with a mean guy—Barry. “You’re dating Silla?”
His “do I look like a fool?” frown actually gave Nova some hope. So much hope that she stepped closer and touched his arm. Not her wisest move because touching him felt like foreplay.
“We can do this, Ryland,” she said.
“Can we?” he challenged.
Obviously, this was going to take more than words. It was going to take drastic measures. A reminder that there was still plenty enough stirring between them. It was a risk, of course, but Nova knew there was something that would prevent the heat from going past the “stir” stage.
Their divorce.
No way was Ryland ever going to forgive her for that, so what she was about to do would be okay. Just a peck to show him that they could kiss and not have it mean anything more than sealing a pact that would benefit them both.
Nova slid her arm around his neck and pulled Ryland down to her, their mouths coming together like magnets. Two things instantly occurred to her. The first was that Ryland tasted good. Really, really good. And the second—this wasn’t a peck.
Nope. It was a full-mouthed kiss. Hungry, too, and it zoomed from the kiss stage to a flood of heat that came with third-base foreplay. Heat that went from the top of her head all the way to her recently pedicured toes. Heat that had seduced her many times and could easily do so again. That seduction reminder was the only reason that Nova eased away from him.
“We can do this,” she repeated. Except this time she was all breathy and her voice was husky.
Ryland looked at her with those scorcher eyes, his silence crawling at a snail’s pace, before he finally nodded. “We can do this.”
CHAPTER THREE
RYLAND HAD LOST his mind. No way could he do this fake reconciliation with Nova, and judging from the blank looks and raised eyebrows he was getting, no one in Coldwater believed it, either.
The only good thing he could say about this asinine plan was that it hadn’t taken long for word to spread that Nova and he were getting back together. Less than twenty-four hours since she’d first broached this scheme with him, seemingly everyone in town had heard about their reconciliation.
Of course, it wasn’t good if no one believed the reunion was real. He didn’t especially care if folks were buying the lie, but Ryland didn’t want them hazarding a guess as to why the lie had happened in the first place. That wouldn’t necessarily lead anyone to speculate about dirty pictures, but the speculation could venture into areas that would cause just as much damaging gossip.
Especially for Nova.
She was the one who was walking the skinniest part of the tightrope here. This could cost Nova her job if word got back to her employer that something wonky was going on. And that was why Nova and he had to figure out a different way of going about this before it blew up in their faces.
Dodging some of those suspicious stares from the townsfolk, Ryland parked his truck at the Lightning Bug Inn, where he planned to go inside and have a chat with Nova. But going in turned out not to be necessary, since the moment he reached the door, she came hurrying out, and their gazes collided.
Nova opened her mouth as if about to blurt out something, but she obviously rethought that when she glanced back at the way the nosy receptionist, Ozara Proctor, had her attention glued to them.
“We need to talk,” Nova whispered to him, and as if it were the most natural thing in the world, she brushed a kiss on his mouth.
She no doubt did that to keep up the failing facade, but like their other kiss, it had an impact on him. One that caused his body to harden and beg for more. Ryland had no intentions of giving it more.
Nova hooked her arm through his and led him away from Ozara and the inn, and they began a slow stroll up Main Street. “No one believes we’re getting back together,” she said, taking the words right out of his mouth.
“Well, it was a dumb plan,” he commented.
“No. It just needs tweaking. We need to be seen together. You know, seen together like this.” She tipped her head to their connected arms and then brushed another kiss on his cheek. “This walk should help things.”
Ryland wasn’t convinced of that at all and thought that was a lot to ask of a mere walk. “Do you remember how it was when we were together?” he asked, and he gave her a moment to consider it. “This isn’t the same.”
“Yes,” she agreed after a long pause and then sighed. “We didn’t have a problem with public displays of affection.”
No, they hadn’t. They’d made out and gotten caught often enough that no one had doubts that they had the hots for each other.
What they were doing now was as tame as it got. Still, Ryland couldn’t see himself pushing back to that kind of contact. Not unless he wanted to get a full-fledged erection, along with confusing the hell out of his brain. He’d spent a great deal of time telling his brain that Nova was hands off, that it was over for them, and this might fry some of his mental circuits.
“I finished the search of my hou
se,” Nova went on as they continued their walk. “There weren’t any more pictures. I also made it through about half of Barry’s computer files, and I found six folders with our photos in them. I deleted them, of course.”
Well, that was good about the deletions, but clearly Barry believed in overkill if he’d put the photos in that many places. And that led Ryland to a big concern.
“Barry could have copies of those pictures anywhere,” Ryland grumbled. Of course, he’d already come to that conclusion before Nova had pointed out the six folders, and this overkill was riling the hell out of him. “I’ve thought about seeing the sheriff to get some kind of restraining order—”
“Then everyone would know. That’d be the fastest way for word to get around. I’m not saying that Sheriff Laramie is a tattletale, but lots of eyes could see the paperwork and word would spread.”
She was right, damn it.
“By the way, Barry is still in town, staying at the inn,” she went on. “And he’s talking to people, trying to find proof that what we’re doing is a sham. That’s why it’s probably a good idea if I stay the night at your place. I think that would help convince him that we’re giving our marriage a second chance.”
That stopped Ryland in his tracks, and he wasn’t thinking squat about appearances and facades when he looked at her. “You really think it’s smart for us to be under the same roof?”
“No,” she readily admitted in a grumble. “We’re still attracted to each other.”
At least she didn’t try to give him some BS response, but it was only a half answer. Hell yes, the attraction was still there, but acting on it would cause some problems. It’d be like poking at a wound that had never healed.
“But staying at your place is the fastest way to convince Barry that we’re together,” she added a moment later.
“No, not the fastest way,” he argued, and going on instinct, Ryland pulled her to him. Right there on Main Street. Anything they did here would be gossip in the blink of an eye.
So, Ryland kissed her.
It started out a little stiff. Probably because they were both thinking about the audience they no doubt had. Or the attraction and how it could come back to haunt them. But stiffness and doubts didn’t stand a chance against the chrome-melting heat that slid right through him. Ryland maybe could have weathered that heat had it not been for the sound Nova made.
A silky moan of pleasure.
A sound so familiar to him that it had triggered plenty of their past sexual encounters. Because of that audience, Ryland had to remind himself that there’d be no such triggering today. However, he didn’t pull away from her. Didn’t make it short or sweet. He just dived in and went for a scalding kiss that would hopefully convince anyone with even marginal eyesight that this wasn’t the fake rekindling that it was.
As fakes went, it was a doozy. Her mouth against his. The taste of her. And his favorite part—their tongues playing around. That brought on another of those moans from Nova, and since no one was close enough to actually hear it, Ryland knew it was the real deal. One of those conditioned responses.
Hadn’t Nova said that she’d started dating Barry simply because he was part of the picture? Well, her reaction to this kiss could be like that. Ryland held on to that thought until Nova moved in and her body was pressed against his. After that, he couldn’t hold on to any thought. But he could certainly feel.
So many times they’d done just this. Kiss, touch and then escalate into more kissing, more touching and then sex. Ryland couldn’t latch onto enough reasons why that couldn’t happen now, but Nova must have remembered something because she tore her mouth from his and stepped back. Only then did Ryland hear someone calling his name.
Silla Sweeny.
If the woman had come to wink at him again, then clearly her timing sucked. Of course, he probably should thank her for yanking him out of the mindless lust haze created by that kiss.
“Ryland,” Silla called again. She hurried across the street directly toward him, and judging from her expression, she was a woman on a mission. Ryland decided to nip that mission in the bud.
“Yes, Nova and I are trying to patch things up,” he volunteered.
Nova gave a nod of agreement, hooked her arm around Ryland again, and they faced Silla together. “We want to give our marriage another try,” Nova piped in.
“Uh-huh,” Silla remarked as if she wasn’t the least bit interested in that announcement. She definitely wasn’t winking at him when she pulled a piece of paper from her purse. Except it wasn’t paper, Ryland soon realized.
It was a photo.
“Someone left this on my car.” Silla thrust the picture toward him.
Both Ryland and Nova groaned. It was the shot of him in his boxer briefs, the one that had gotten him the modeling contract.
“Uh, that’s you,” Silla pointed out, and her attention slid to the armlock Nova and he had on each other. “Why would you give me a picture like that if you’re getting back with Nova?”
Oh, there was a good answer for that. He wouldn’t give Silla a photo of him, not under any circumstance. But Ryland sure as hell knew who had.
“Barry,” Nova growled out like profanity.
Yeah, Barry. And Ryland intended to have a chat with the scumbag right now. He took Nova by the arm and led her to the inn.
* * *
NOVA WASN’T SURE if it was a lucky break that Barry hadn’t been in this room at the inn. On the one hand, she would have liked to throttle the idiot for printing out a copy of the photo of Ryland and leaving it for Silla. On the other hand, Nova figured that Ryland and she were both too pissed to be confronting Barry at this moment.
If they did, actual throttling might take place.
She didn’t want Ryland and her to get arrested. That wouldn’t help matters. But it certainly wasn’t helping that Silla now had that photo.
Nova tried to call Barry, but the call went straight to voice mail. So she tried again and again while Ryland confirmed with Ozara that Barry had indeed left about a half hour earlier, and the woman didn’t know where he was. Obviously, Barry had known there’d be fallout, and the weasel hadn’t wanted to face Ryland and her.
When they came back out of the inn, Silla was still there, clearly waiting for them. “Well?” Silla pressed. “Why would you give me this picture?”
“I didn’t.” Ryland plucked it from the woman’s hand, and even though Silla tried to take it back, Ryland held on. He folded it and shoved it into his pocket. “Did you see the picture anywhere else?” he pressed.
And his question sent Nova’s heart to her kneecaps. Because this might not be the only copy. Heck, Barry could have given one to everybody in town.
“No, I didn’t see others,” Silla answered. Frowning, she stared at him. “Say, what’s going on?”
“A bad joke,” Ryland snarled, and this time when he took hold of Nova, he led her toward his truck. “Where would Barry go?” he asked Nova the moment they were inside.
“I’m not sure, but he couldn’t have gone far.” She tipped her head to a red Mustang. “That’s his car.”
“So, he’s probably out leaving copies of this picture everywhere.” He cursed, groaned and scrubbed his hand over his face.
Nova couldn’t disagree with his frustration, and she figured when Ryland pulled out of the parking lot that they weren’t just going out for a leisurely drive. Nope. Ryland was looking for Barry.
Thankfully, there weren’t many places Barry could leave the photo outside in Coldwater, but in case he’d ducked into one of the shops or businesses, Nova kept watch of the windows as Ryland drove down Main Street. But there was no sign of Barry. No signs of copies of the photos, either, and Nova looked at every vehicle they passed to make sure.
Ryland’s phone rang, the sound shooting through the truck, and for one hopeful moment, Nova though
t it might be Barry calling to face the music. Sadly, it wasn’t. It was Nico Laramie, a local rodeo rider and Ryland’s good friend.
“Say, I found a picture of you wearing just your boxers on my truck windshield,” Nico said the moment that Ryland answered the call. “While plenty of women might enjoy seeing this, I gotta say that I’m not your target audience. Is this a joke, or do you have some kind of trouble going on in your life?” Nico added, his tone going a little more serious.
“Trouble.” Ryland’s jaw got even tighter than it had been. “Did you happen to see who put the picture there?”
“Sorry, nope. It was on my truck when I came out of the bakery.”
That caused Ryland to do a U-turn and he headed back in the direction they’d come from. “If you see a big guy with blond hair, I’m looking for him. His name is Barry Waterman, and he’s the one doing this.”
“Uh, doing what exactly?” Nico asked.
Ryland hesitated as if trying to figure out the best way to answer that. “Trying to get back at Nova by using me. If you see him, try to stop him.”
Nico assured him that he would, and Ryland ended the call. However, it wasn’t long before they spotted Nico, and he was indeed outside Patty Cake’s bakery. Ryland pulled up alongside him, and Nico handed him the picture. Despite the awkwardness of the situation, Nico flashed her a grin.
“Hey, Nova,” Nico said, the grin still in place. “So, it’s true. You two are getting back together.”
Since Nico seemed to be one of the few people who actually believed that, Nova glanced at herself in the side mirror. Well, she did look flushed, and that might be partly from Ryland’s kiss, but she figured it had more to do with the frustration over what Barry had done.
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