by Quinn, Taryn
Christ, my bones just ached at the thought of being twenty-one again. Then again, being crammed in a car without a fucking door would do that. “Happy early birthday, darlin’.”
“Thanks.” She lowered her lashes and did that peering through them thing that chicks learned at age four.
I lifted my coffee in a salute. “Have a good one.” I knew that look and before she asked for my number or passed me hers, I needed to get the hell out.
Luckily, she was probably too young to recognize me. NASCAR wasn’t exactly huge in the area, but I never knew when a fan would come out of the woodwork.
I took a right out of the little shop, and sure enough, just around the bend a sidewalk chalkboard sign had bouquet specials listed. I sipped my coffee as I checked out the spreads in the window, then choked at the familiar woman arranging daisies and some other fluffy red flower in a basket.
My heart flipped around in my chest as if I was coming up on the damn checkered flag in the final lap. What the hell was she doing here?
Before I could think twice, I pushed through the door. A bell that could be in one of those damn Hallmark movies tinkled above my head. She didn’t even look up. But a pretty older woman came around a half wall.
“Hello.” Her face crinkled up into a friendly smile.
I smiled at her, but nodded at my intended target. “I see someone I know.”
“Oh.” Her smile faltered a little. “We don’t really do social calls during work hours.”
My eyebrow zinged up. Social call? I widened my smile, adding a little charm. “She’s my sister-in-law.”
“Oh. You’re related to Dare, aren’t you?”
“Guilty.”
Her eyes went big and she nibbled on her lower lip. “That race car driver.”
My oh, shit antennae went a little twitchy, but I nodded. “That’s me.”
“You were all the town could talk about after the wedding.”
“I bet.”
The woman had the good grace to blush. “Yes, well it was quite…exciting.”
That was one word for my first official interaction with Rylee Ford. Her screaming at me under a gazebo full of lights with half the town in attendance for my brother’s wedding wasn’t likely to be forgotten anytime soon.
Not by me either.
She was the one who’d wanted no names, no do-overs, nothing but one night. Too bad she couldn’t always have what she wanted.
But maybe I was about to get a second chance when it came to my wants.
We’d just see.
I lifted my finger to my lips and strolled over to where Rylee was bopping her head to some internal beat. Or to the wireless earbuds she was wearing. She moved her hips in a soft sway that I remembered all too well. Okay, so maybe it had been more of an undulating rhythm as she rode me blind.
Thankfully, I was wearing a button-down shirt with the tails over my jeans to hide just how well I remembered that night in December.
I tapped her shoulder.
She jumped and swung around with the shears in her hand pointing out.
Only my quick reflexes saved my shirt. I jumped back. “Whoa.”
She tugged out her earbud and pocketed it, then came two more steps toward me with the shears still in hand. “What are you doing here?”
“Nice to see you too, Ry.”
“Rylee.” The blond woman’s gasp made Rylee take two steps back.
“Sorry. He scared me.” She dropped the wicked-looking scissors and pasted on a fake smile. “Nice to see you again, Gage.”
“I don’t really believe you.” I glanced at the blond, whose gaze was bouncing eagerly between us. I’d run far and fast from that invasive gossipy, glee-filled smile. I didn’t know this woman, but I’d known plenty like her growing up.
My parents had a pizza place here in Crescent Cove, but they’d opened that after I left home. My original hometown of Laurel was similar, if a little more run-down than this homespun place. But they were all the same under the charm.
“Think I could steal Rylee for lunch?”
“It’s not time—”
“Sure. It’s slow right now.”
Rylee pressed her lips together. I remembered her doing that in the bar just before she blew my damn mind with a kiss.
Somehow I didn’t think I was going to be that lucky today.
“But I have to finish the baskets for the Perkins party.” Rylee didn’t sound petulant, but it was a close thing.
Since pissing her off was my favorite thing to do, I grinned at the older woman. “Thirty minutes won’t matter much.”
Rylee huffed out a breath. “You don’t need to listen to him, Kathy.”
“It’s not every day that family is in town, right?”
“No. Definitely not.” I smirked at Rylee. “We should definitely catch up.”
I turned back to Kathy. “I’d love a big, sunny arrangement for my mother. You know, the kind to brighten her spirits on a gray day.”
“Oh, that’s lovely. Isn’t that sweet, Rylee?” Kathy hurried around the counter for a little pad.
“Super sweet.” Her voice was deadpan and I had to strangle a laugh.
“I’ll write that up and do that myself. I’ll have it ready when you guys come back from lunch.” Kathy gave me a sunny smile. “I’m assuming money is no object?”
Oh, I was going to pay for this one. “Not when it when it comes to my mom.”
“Wonderful. Now you two have a nice lunch to catch up.”
Rylee pulled out her other earbud and jammed it into the case in her pocket. “Oh, we will.” She stepped over to where she’d been working and picked up a massive bag off the floor. She hooked it over her shoulder and headed for the door without another word.
“She missed me, I can tell.”
Kathy tapped her pencil against her palm. “So I see.”
I slipped through the door with a grin. Man, I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed this woman until I saw her again.
Now I just had to remind her she’d missed me too.
Four
“I can’t believe you did that.” I stalked down the sidewalk toward Brewed Awakening. I definitely hadn’t had enough coffee to deal with Gage Kramer.
“Did what? Ask you to lunch?” he called from behind me.
“In a high-handed, dirty, and underhanded way.”
“So, I’m high-handed and underhanded?”
His stupidly long legs had him catching up to me in like two long strides. Ugh. “Don’t be an ass.”
“Just making sure which it is.” He grinned down at me.
“What are you doing here?”
“Aww, did you miss me, huntress?”
I scrunched up my shoulders. “Don’t call me that.” I did not need to remember him calling me that. Especially when he did it while I was…
Nope.
No.
Not going to think about that night.
“You liked it that—”
I whirled on him in the middle of the street. “We are not discussing that night. One and done, remember?”
“Just because it was one and done doesn’t mean I don’t remember every damn detail.”
The laughter was no longer in his golden brown eyes. Just the intensity I remembered so very vividly when he’d laced our fingers together over my head, pinning me to the sumptuous mattress at the Sherman Inn. He’d stretched me out and covered every inch of my body with his.
“You remember it too.”
I swallowed. “It was good for a one-night stand.” I whirled away from him and practically ran for the café.
Macy represented safety. One steely look from her and out of control hormones locked themselves down out of self-preservation.
“Oh, honey, if all one-night stands were like that, everyone would do them. You know it was more than that.”
I shut my eyes as I braced myself on the wide double doors of Brewed Awakening. I shook off his words and swung open the door to the n
oise and craziness that was Macy’s café. Dozens of people littered tables and lined up for coffee and food, and Macy’s crew of people rushed around as orders were shouted. It was too noisy to talk to him.
Dear God, I needed coffee to handle this.
What the hell was he doing in town? He should be practicing driving or something. Whatever it was that race car drivers did between races. I didn’t freaking know.
He followed me inside. I could feel his warmth behind me. Before Gage, no man had ever made me so aware of him in my space. The few guys I’d dated were fun. They were good guys who knew about boundaries and manners.
Gage knew about none of those things.
The tips of his fingers rested on my lower back, and I had to resist the urge to shiver followed directly by a lean-in. Since the moment we’d met, we’d been invading each other’s space. For God’s sake, I’d kissed him before even attempting to know his name. That wasn’t me. I might not want strings when it came to men, but at least there were names exchanged before my panties hung off the chandelier.
Not that that had occurred with Gage. It had actually been a Tiffany lamp, but close enough.
He lowered his mouth to my ear. “What’s good here?”
I stepped away from him. “Everything.”
His low laugh made me pick up the pace to get into line. I didn’t need him making fun of me on top of it. In fact, I didn’t need any of this. I was just getting settled in Crescent Cove. I had a decent job and I’d even made a new friend.
Sort of.
If late night break-ins and a love of scary movies counted anyway.
“Hey, mocha latte. How’s it hanging?”
“I need a double shot.”
Macy wiped down the counter. “And for your friend?”
Gage stepped up right behind me. I elbowed him back a step. The bastard just laughed. “Surprise me. I’m told you’re a bit of a genius knowing what people need.”
Macy glanced at me then at Gage. “Uh-huh. You got it.” She tipped her head. “What do you do, stretch?”
“He’s a race car driver.”
“Ex-race car driver.”
I spun around. “Excuse me?”
“You don’t know...well, anything about me, huntress.”
“Well, alrighty then.” Macy looked between us then hurried away from us to her espresso machine.
I frowned up at him. “What does that mean?”
He shrugged. “You just made it way more interesting to be back in town.”
“Wait, what?”
He leaned down into my space. “I was only passing through. Visit the folks, harass my brother. You know how it goes. Now? Well, Crescent Cove just got a lot more intriguing.”
I was officially fucked, minus the orgasm. At least a recent one. And orgasms were not like pennies in the bank. Saving them up did not pay dividends. It just made you that much more likely to jump the first sexy dude who touched your…dart.
“Here you go.” Macy rattled off the total for our drinks.
Gage held out his credit card. “Can you add two lunch specials to that?”
“Sure.” She tapped her long finger along the edge of Gage’s card. “All good, mocha?”
“What?” I blinked. God, I felt so dumb. I literally couldn’t get past the part about him staying in town. “Oh, umm.” I blinked up at the menu board with the lunch special of soup and grilled cheese. Sounded amazing actually. Even if my stupid body temperature would skyrocket for the rest of the day. “Yes, thank you.”
Macy swiped his card and handed him his receipt.
Gage took it and stuffed a bill into the tip jar. “Thanks.”
I didn’t want to look, but fucking sue me. How he tipped said a lot about a guy. Twenty fucking bucks? Yeah, either he was trying to impress me—working—or he was throwing around money to look cool—asshole.
Jury was still out.
He took our cups with a charming smile for Macy. “Thanks.” He turned, invading my space again. “Sit outside or in here?”
Considering it had been raining since I moved to town, I was taking the outdoors option. That and I could walk away faster if need be. “Outside.” That, and I was already feeling a hot flash coming on. They were getting freaking ridiculous.
“I’ll have Vee bring your food out.”
“Thanks, Mace.”
She simply nodded in her no-nonsense style and went on to the next customer.
It took some doing to get out of the café. I swore everyone in town must have been there for lunch though it was barely noon.
He gestured to a table at the edge of the outdoor patio.
I rushed over to grab it. Not because I wanted to get space between us. Surely not.
I’d barely slid my butt into a chair before a woman with wild, curly dark hair tried to grab it. “Damn.” She gave me a shrug and moved to a smaller table at the back of the patio.
“Quick.” Gage’s voice rumbled near me as he set my to-go cup down.
I cleared my throat and curled my fingers around it. Better than doing something stupid like looping my finger into the worn denim about six inches from my face. Good grief.
And a flash of memory made me swallow a groan. Of me on my knees going at a very similar zipper.
Nope. Do not need that in my brain right now.
I focused on the funky to-go cup. There were about fifteen different designs on the cups and I’d gotten almost all of them. Most of them had a small Halloween or horror item hidden in the seasonal drawings. I grinned as I spotted the skull hidden in the center of a rose.
God, I loved Macy.
“What’s the smile for? I know it’s not for me.”
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
He sat across from me, invading my space once again. Mostly because it was a little table and he had legs for freaking days. But his muscled arms and the long fingers wrapped around his cup seemed to fill every bit of the available room as well.
Everything about him was far too large. Including his ego. And other things that didn’t bear repetition except in my dirtiest fantasies.
“Do you have to?”
“What?”
I glanced at his hands past the midway mark of the table.
“You liked when I invaded your space before. In fact, I nearly changed your nickname to barnacle.”
“Shut up. What do you want?”
“I want you to tell me what made you smile.”
“Why do you care?”
He leaned back in his chair, but his big stupid foot was still caging me into my chair. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“I’m less than nothing to you. We had one night, Gage.”
“Well, there’s two fallacies in there. Number one, you’re my sister-in-law now, so you’re definitely not in the less than nothing category to me. And hello, what we did that night? Nothing forgettable there, huntress.”
I flushed. “Would you stop saying stuff like that?”
“Is it that I’m mentioning it or that you can’t forget it either that riles you so?”
I picked at the double shot sticker on the side of my cup. “I haven’t thought of you since.”
“I might believe you if you looked at me.”
I lifted my gaze to his. “Not a moment since.”
“Liar.” He leaned forward and curled his fingers around mine. His thumb brushed over my wrist. “Because your pulse wouldn’t be racing if you didn’t care.”
“Maybe it’s stranger danger.”
“I’m no stranger. Especially where my tongue has been.”
“Would you keep it down?” I ducked my head and looked around.
“Oh, like you did at the wedding? I think the cat’s out of the bag there.”
“Yeah, well, not everyone in this café was there.”
“Everyone knows.”
“You underestimate your appeal to the people of this town.”
He glanced around and I followed his gaze. Two women from a table over
had their phones up to take a creeper picture. Another two guys were speaking in low voices as they kept sneaking glances over at us.
Not only had I slept with my future brother-in-law, but he was a celebrity to boot. There should have been all sorts of girl points to be had. And five years ago, I would have high-fived my girlfriends for bagging a hot dude with star status.
Now? I just wanted to crawl under this table.
I didn’t want to be Good Time Rylee anymore. I wanted to start over and make a life somewhere. Once upon a time, I’d thought it would have been in a big city like Chicago or Portland. I wasn’t really the New York City or the Los Angeles type, but a bigger city with cool places to see would be nice.
But now I really liked the idea of settling into a life where things were a little slower. Maybe even finding someone to settle down with someday. But not yet. I wanted to actually be on my own for a little while first.
Not living with my parents because I was too irresponsible to keep a job for more than three months. Or…
No. I wasn’t going to think about the sleepwalking thing. I wasn’t going to let that take over my life again.
“You’ve got a whole conversation going on in that gorgeous head of yours. Which part of it includes me?”
For once, I could give him an honest answer. “None of it.”
He sat back with a half-laugh. “Good thing my ego can withstand you, huntress.”
“Rylee. I know we didn’t get to say names much, but let’s go with Rylee.” Because that nickname was far too familiar. Not to mention I didn’t want to be reminded of exactly how thoroughly I’d pounced on him that night in the bar—and then at the inn.
He sipped his coffee, then gave a surprised, “Hmm.”
“She’s good at knowing what you need.”
“I guess there’s a reason why people are lined up out the door.” He took another longer sip then winced.
“It’s still hot, idiot.”
He arched a brow at me.
I shrugged, then took a sip of my own gloriousness. Even with two shots of espresso, it wasn’t bitter. I didn’t know how she did it, but I spent way too much in her shop.
“What are you doing in town, Gage?”
“I told you.”
“No, you gave me the answer you give to work buddies.”