by Rachel Lacey
“I’m short-staffed this week,” Carly said. “But I’ll make up for it later this month when I’m in LA with Sam.”
Emma gazed at the contents of the dessert counter, her mouth watering. “What’s good?”
“All of it, of course,” Carly said with a smile. “But these lemon buttercream cupcakes are pretty delicious, if I do say so. I’m also partial to the carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.”
In the end, Emma and Ryan each got a lemon buttercream cupcake to go so that they could take them outside to sit in the square. The need for fresh air was in her blood. His, too, if his lifestyle was any indication. Carly gave her a not-so-subtle wink and a thumbs-up as they headed out with their goodies.
“I take it you already told your friends about us,” Ryan said drily as they walked toward an empty bench.
“I did. You don’t mind, right?”
“Nah.” He sat on the bench, looking at his cupcake as if he had no idea how to eat it. “Cupcakes didn’t have this much frosting when we were kids.”
“I usually eat the icing first and then the cake,” she said, licking at the lemon buttercream. Mm. It was delicious. The perfect blend of sweet and tart.
“That sounds sacrilegious somehow.” He peeled back the paper and took a big bite of his cupcake, icing and all.
“Sometimes I like to enjoy the best part first.” She licked more icing.
“Aren’t you supposed to save the best for last?” he asked, his eyes tracking to her tongue.
“I think that’s a silly saying. What if you never get the chance to enjoy the best part because you waited too long?” She’d lost enough people in her life to know that time was not something to be taken for granted.
“Never thought of it that way.” He kept shoveling his cupcake into his mouth.
She finished eating her icing, then started in on the cake.
“The memorial’s going to look great over there,” Ryan said, staring over at the grassy area she’d soon be transforming into Haven’s memorial garden. “I’m proud of you, you know? You’ve really made something of yourself here.”
“Thanks.” Her heart squeezed. “I have Mary and Lucas to thank for that. When they gave me my first job back in high school, I never imagined that I’d still be working at Artful Blooms ten years later. I thought I wanted to be a teacher. Did I ever tell you that?”
“No. You’d have made a good teacher, though, I think.”
“I took the job at Artful Blooms thinking I’d save up for a few years then get my teaching degree. I never planned to stay, but I’m so glad I did. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
“Generally the best things in life have always taken me completely by surprise,” Ryan said, staring out across the square.
“And the worst.”
His brow furrowed. “Definitely the worst.”
“So what you’re saying is, the things we plan for end up being the mediocre parts of life?” She smiled as she popped the last bite of cupcake into her mouth.
“Guess so. That’s not so romantic, is it?”
“Maybe not, but I think you’re right.”
“I like being taken by surprise. You, Emma Rush, definitely caught me by surprise this year. This”—he leaned in and kissed her—“totally blindsided me. And now I can’t fucking get enough.”
* * *
Ryan spent the next week working his ass off at Off-the-Grid and spending every free moment with Emma. And not just screwing her brains out—although they did plenty of that—but rock climbing together, sharing meals and laughs, and enduring plenty of amused looks from the rest of the group in the process.
Wednesday night saw them all gathering at Ethan and Gabby’s place for game night. The women seemed pretty excited about it. Ryan would have rather had Emma all to himself that night, but this could be fun, too. As long as he got to take her home afterward.
Gabby and Emma had set up a pretty impressive spread of food in the kitchen. There were all kinds of chips, dips, wings, cookies, and a cooler full of beer. He filled a plate, cracked open a beer, and ambled into the living room. Ethan was jumping around in front of the TV, playing some kind of interactive video game. Trent sat on the couch, engrossed in his cell phone.
“Where’s Mark?” Gabby asked, propping her hands on her hips as she surveyed the room.
“He told me to make an excuse for him,” Ryan said.
“Nice excuse,” Emma said with a giggle.
Ryan shrugged. “He’s not so much into games.”
“Ethan told me he’s big into video games,” Gabby said, looking miffed. She whipped out her cell phone, presumably to call Mark.
“He is,” Ethan agreed, jumping into the air. His character on the TV screen did the same, leaping over an obstacle in his way. “And the designer of his favorite video game happens to be my fiancée, although…” He dodged to the left, and his character took a hit to the nuts, knocking him off his platform into the water below. “Fuck. I can’t remember if I ever told Mark that Gabby helped write King of the Desert.”
Ryan took a drink from his beer. “I can’t remember if I mentioned video games when I told him about tonight either. Might have just said games.”
Emma rolled her eyes. “Men suck at communication. Who wants to play Cards Against Humanity?”
“Me!” Gabby gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up, phone pressed to her ear. “Mark, you better get your butt over here. We’ve got food, beer, and video games. Everyone else is here, and you should be, too.” She ended the call. “Voice mail, dammit.”
“I’ll make sure he comes next time,” Ethan said, again jumping through his virtual obstacle course. “He needs to get out more.”
“Is it because of the war?” Gabby asked cautiously. “Does he have PTSD?”
Ethan stopped, causing his character to get whacked and fall into the water again. “Not sure I’d go as far as PTSD, but he’s definitely got some issues.”
“Has he talked to someone?” Gabby asked.
“I think he talked to a shrink at Fort Dix when he was stationed there after he got back stateside,” Ryan said. “He’s doing good, all things considered.”
“I never asked what happened,” Gabby said. “You know, his scar and everything…”
“He’s never told us the details,” Ethan said. “But I think it was pretty bad. It’s not just the scar on his face. His leg is messed up and there were other injuries, too. He had to leave the Special Forces so when it was time for him to reenlist, it wasn’t too hard for me to convince him to come out here and join us at Off-the-Grid.”
“For what it’s worth,” Emma said, “and not to downplay what he went through in the war at all, but he was kind of a loner in high school, too. I think it’s just his nature.”
“That’s true,” Ryan agreed. The only time he’d ever seen Mark come out of his shell had been with Jessica Flynn, his high school sweetheart. Then he’d pushed her away, too, when he enlisted.
Gabby sat on the couch, rubbing her hands over the front of her skirt. “Well, I hope he comes. He should be here with us.”
“I agree.” Ethan went back to jumping through obstacles.
Emma sat on the floor beside the coffee table and dumped out the contents of the Cards Against Humanity box. “Has everyone played?”
“Nope.” Ryan sat beside her.
Gabby looked from him to Emma, and she might as well have had those cartoon hearts in her eyes. Ryan stiffened. He didn’t mind that she knew, that everyone in the damn room knew he and Emma were hooking up, but okay…sometimes it was a little weird.
“I’ve played,” Trent said, putting his cell phone down for the first time all evening. “It’s pretty cool.”
“That’s high praise coming from you,” Emma said with a giggle. She ran through a quick overview of the rules as she passed out cards.
Ethan grumbled as he turned off the video game and came to join them at the coffee table.
“You’ll have fun,” Gabby told him. “I
t’s not a board game, and you’re welcome to get as raunchy as you like.”
He grinned. “Well, in that case…”
They played a few rounds—and the game indeed got raunchy. By the time Gabby won the third hand by playing her “An erection that lasts longer than 4 hours” card on Ethan’s “A romantic candlelit dinner would be incomplete without ________,” Trent was redder than a tomato, and Emma had tears rolling down her cheeks she was laughing so hard.
There was a knock at the door, and Mark came in, looking sheepish.
“He knew better than to risk pissing you off,” Ethan said with a laugh, pointing at Gabby.
She smiled smugly. “Get some food and a beer, Mark, and then I’ll take you on in King of the Desert.”
Mark’s eyebrows went up.
“Fair warning,” Ethan said. “She wrote the damn game.”
“No shit?” Mark was actually smiling now.
“Yep,” Gabby said. “Go on. I’ll get it loaded up.”
Emma scooted closer to Ryan. “This is fun.”
“Yeah.” He turned and looked at her, and the happy expression on her face made his chest feel all weird, like his ribs had just gotten too tight.
“I have news,” she said, leaning in and dropping her voice.
“Yeah?”
“I met with the Town Planning Committee this morning, and they approved my new design for the memorial.” She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth but couldn’t quite hide the grin creeping over her face.
“That’s fantastic.” Before he’d even realized what he was doing, he had pulled her in and kissed her, right in front of the whole damn room.
“Aww, look at the lovebirds,” Ethan announced, in case anyone had missed it.
All eyes turned to Ryan and Emma. Her cheeks turned pink, but she was still smiling.
“Yo, watch yourself.” Ryan pointed his beer in his buddy’s direction.
Ethan kept on laughing.
Ryan polished off his beer. It ought to make him fucking nuts to know that everyone in the room knew he was sleeping with Emma. Hell, it had only been a week and a half since he first had her in his bed. The whole thing was fucking insane.
But it wasn’t. Because she was still Emma, and she was chatting happily with Trent while she boxed up Cards Against Humanity, and somehow this crazy group had become his family.
And he must be the luckiest son of a bitch in the world. No matter what, he had to make sure he didn’t fuck it up when he and Emma went back to being just friends. He couldn’t lose her—couldn’t lose anyone in this room—but especially not Emma.
* * *
“Rowdy’s after work tonight,” Ethan said, popping his head into Ryan’s office.
He nodded, his attention still on the spreadsheet in front of him. So far, their spring numbers weren’t as high as they’d projected, and he needed to pinpoint where they were falling short. The zip-line was booked solid. Rock climbing lessons were still slow but ahead of their projections.
That only left Mark’s survival skills classes. Ryan ran through their online ledger. Mark had booked one session last week, and none the week before. He’d been so busy helping Ethan with zip-line tours that none of them had noticed. Dammit.
This left them with a twofold problem: how to attract more interest in Mark’s survival skills classes and how to free up Mark’s time so that he actually had time to teach them. Maybe it was time to add another part-time staffer to help Ethan on the zip-line. Another salary might erode their meager profits, but summer vacation was fast approaching, and there ought to be a bounty of local college kids eager and willing to work on a zip-line all day. He’d spend some more time crunching numbers and scenarios and run it past the guys in their monthly meeting on Monday.
Several hours later, Ethan rapped on his door again. “Closing time. Let’s go.”
Ryan exited their accounting software and shut down his computer. By the time he made it to the lobby, Ethan and Mark were already there waiting.
“Trent took off a little while ago,” Ethan said. “Got the feeling he had a hot date tonight.”
“A date?” Ryan shrugged into his jacket. “With who?”
Ethan shrugged. “Beats me. Maybe that chick from the club.”
“She’s four years older than he is.”
“So? They’re both adults.”
Yeah, but twenty-two still seemed a hell of a lot older than eighteen. Ryan followed them outside, where they each got into (or onto) their respective vehicles and headed for town. His thoughts strayed to Emma. What was she up to tonight? He pictured her as he’d left her last night, naked and satisfied.
Desire stirred in his belly. When would this crazy attraction start to fade?
He followed Mark’s SUV into the lot in front of their condo building. Easier to park at home and walk the block and a half to Rowdy’s.
“So, you and Emma, huh?” Mark said, sliding him a look as they waited for Ethan to park.
He nodded, grateful for once that Mark was a man of few words.
Ethan joined them, and they walked down Main Street and into Rowdy’s, where the hostess showed them to their usual table. He glanced at the table in back where he’d sat with Emma last week.
Weird. This whole thing was still messing with his head.
Not that he regretted a single moment. Nope. This thing with Emma, whatever it was, it was one of the hottest relationships he’d ever had.
“You and Emma sure looked cozy last night,” Ethan said once they had a pitcher of beer in front of them. “I hear you two lovebirds have been spending a lot of time together.”
“Yo, since when do we discuss our love lives with each other?”
“Since my fiancée started knowing more about your love life than I do,” Ethan said.
Ryan choked on a mouthful of beer. “Gabby knows—never mind, I don’t want to know.”
“Chicks share everything, you know that,” Ethan said with a grin.
Which was why he didn’t date girls. He just slept with them. Hell. “That’s great, man. I guess you can just ask Gabby about it then.”
Now it was Mark’s turn to choke on his beer. When Ryan turned to glare at him, he looked an awful lot like he was trying to swallow a laugh.
“This is going to come back to bite me in the ass, isn’t it?” Ryan said.
“Listen, I don’t know what kind of kinky shit you two are into, but if it involves ass-biting…” Ethan broke off, laughing himself silly.
“You know what I mean, asshole.”
“It probably is, yes,” Mark said, his expression suddenly serious.
“It doesn’t have to,” Ethan said. “Just keep it casual if you don’t want it to go anywhere. Usually these things fizzle after a month or two. If I were you, I’d try to let it take its natural course so that there are no hard feelings when you break up. I mean, this is Emma we’re talking about. She’s one of us. There’s no cutting her out of the group just because you were an ass and fucked things up.”
“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of,” Ryan muttered.
“So just play it cool, man. Maybe let her be the one to pull the plug. You’re helping her sow her wild oats, right? So once she gets it out of her system…”
Mark looked between them. “What’s this?”
“I heard the girls put her up to it, gave her a dare or some such shit,” Ethan told him. “Emma said she wanted a hot fling, and Ryan was the lucky stud who wiped ketchup off her cheek.”
“Christ. Gabby even told you about the ketchup thing?” Ryan polished off his beer and reached for the pitcher to pour himself another.
“I’m telling you. Chicks love to gossip.”
“And I think you’re turning into one.” Ryan delivered the jab without any heat behind it because truly, the only one he was pissed at was himself. Emma had told him about the dare and the ketchup thing. He knew she was trying to live it up this year and try new things. But to hear Ethan say she was sowing her wil
d oats with him? That fucking stung. Because now that he thought about it, it was true. So she’d have her fun, get Ryan out of her system, and then find herself a respectable guy to settle down with.
That actually should have suited him perfectly because it would preserve their friendship when all was said and done. But it didn’t. It burned in his gut like blistering hot coals.
Chapter Fourteen
Emma stopped at the Haven Deli after work on Thursday. Something she used to do about once a week: order takeout for dinner on her way home. But today, the prospect felt lonely. How had Ryan become such a big part of her life in such a short time? Doing her best to shake off the unsettled feeling, she made her way to the counter and placed her order for a hot pastrami sandwich to go.
“Emma?”
She turned, cringing inwardly because she recognized that voice, and yep…
Tristan Farrell, the world’s most boring man—the man who’d dumped her for being boring—stood behind her in line, wearing a green button-down shirt and khaki slacks, a wide smile on his face. “Fancy seeing you here.”
Emma mustered a smile of her own. “Small town.”
“You look really great,” he said, gesturing to her dress.
“Oh, um, thanks.”
“So how have you been?” he asked.
“Good.” Great, if she were being perfectly honest with herself. Her smile widened. “And you?”
“Never better.” And he launched into a ten-minute update on his life while she prayed for her order to hurry up and get there. After he’d finished telling her about his mom’s recent diabetes diagnosis, he paused. “Hey, you want to get together sometime?”
“What?” She drew back. Was he talking about a date? Because that ship had already sailed clear out of the harbor and halfway across the ocean…
“It’s just”—he shifted from one foot to the other—“seeing you again made me realize I still have feelings for you. I just wondered if maybe you feel the same way.”
“Sorry, but no, I don’t.” Maybe she shouldn’t have been so blunt, but there it was. Seeing Tristan again had only reaffirmed for her how glad she was they weren’t still together.