Heat Wave Box Set: Volumes I-III

by C. J. Evans

  The crowd was loud and ordering drinks like pirates with heavy pockets on a weekend furlough from pillaging and plundering. But Ryker was not amongst them. It had been three days since he’d dropped me off and kissed me good-bye. I didn’t dare ask Gordy about him. I didn’t need him thinking that there was something going on between us because clearly there wasn’t.

  Gordy brought my guitar out of the office. “I’ve got the microphone set up. I think what this place could use is our premiere performer.”

  I smiled weakly, not in the mood to sing but not really in the mood to serve drinks either. Several customers caught sight of my guitar, and a round of applause followed me to the chair and microphone.

  I hopped up on the stool, and once I started strumming my fingers over the strings, I felt better. Most of the voices fell silent as I sang. People found seats along the sides of the bar and at the tables. I closed my eyes and lost myself in the music and reminded myself that I had it pretty good right now. I had a great job and a place to live and a guy would just be extra, an extra that would only complicate things. Then, I opened my eyes, and he was standing in the center of the bar watching me with those pale green eyes that seemed to be able to look right into my soul. He watched me like he had the day I cleaned his wounds, like the night that I’d stood in the center of this very room and undressed for him, like the afternoon in the cabin when I’d spread my legs and touched myself. He watched me again, and his gaze seemed to stroke my face.

  Ryker sat at a table with some of his club and instantly the rest of the chairs filled with women, each one wanting to get closer to him. He was a complicated extra that was for damn sure. And every woman seemed to want him as badly as me.

  I finished the set and hurried to the office to trade my guitar for my apron. I would get back to work quickly and keep my mind off of him. As badly as I’d wanted to see him, watching him flirting and talking to other women was going to be rough. I deserved this kick in the ass for letting myself spend the day with him in the first place. Somehow, I’d convinced myself that I was one of those twenty-first century, open-minded women who could just have great sex with a guy and then wave good-bye.

  I walked out of the office and smacked directly into Ryker. I tried to sidle past him, not easy with a man his size. His arm stretched out and caught me. Before I could protest, he wrapped his arm around my waist and led me into the office. He shut the door and pressed me up against that same door. He went to kiss me, but I moved my face out of the way.

  He stopped. “What’s wrong?”

  I sighed. “Do you really have to ask?”

  He looked at me. “Yeah, I do. What the hell?”

  “I can’t do this.”

  He dropped his arms and stepped back. His hurt expression shocked the hell out of me, and I wondered if I was only imagining it, wishing that he was feeling as brokenhearted as I was.

  “I can’t just have fun and then not know if there’s anything between us.”

  He smiled and pressed his hard body against me. “First of all, what happened to holy fucking hell fun? And, hell yes, there is something between us. I need you in my life, Emerie. But the question is, do you need me in yours?”

  I peered up at him, and my pause actually seemed to worry him. I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I think I could get used to the holy fucking hell fun. Kiss me, Ryker.”

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