by Joya Ryan
She wasn’t about to question why fate had brought him back to her—hopefully for a repeat performance of last night—but he, however, didn’t look as happy to see her.
“I’m out of candy,” she said and set the blender down on the counter.
“What?” he asked, then shook his head.
What was the big deal? He looked confused, and she was feeling the same. They’d had one night. Make that one incredible night. But apparently Ryder wasn’t too pleased to see her again. Which made her stomach drop.
Not that she cared or anything…
“Hey, brother. I see you’ve met my new waitress,” Penny said, coming to stand by Whitney and putting the milk next to the blender.
“New waitress?” he said, then hit Whitney with a hard look. “That can’t be right. What are you really doing here?”
“Ryder!” Penny said in a horrified tone. “Quit being so rude. What’s the matter with you?”
Whitney frowned. Why was he so pissy? She hadn’t expected to see him again, not to mention… He was Penny’s brother? Crap! She’d slept with her boss’s brother. But he hadn’t exactly been upfront about who he was.
“What am I doing here?” Whitney challenged. “I could ask you the same thing. You said you weren’t from around here.”
A flash of guilt crossed his face. “I said technically.”
“Ah, so we’re being technical now?” She plugged in the blender, then lifted the lid. Let him try to say something else. She’d flip the switch to on and drown him out—
“Wait,” Penny interrupted. “You two have met?”
“Yep,” Whitney said and started scooping some ice cream in the blender. She didn’t know what the hell she was doing, but she needed to pretend to be busy to keep those steely gray eyes off of her. Wasn’t working—because he was staring daggers, and she felt every sharp edge. Which was stupid since he was the one who left out a little detail. But now she was in jeopardy of losing her job. A job she needed so she could get money and move on.
“So you’re Penny’s brother?” She chanced a glance at him. “Which makes you Ryder Diamond, I take it?”
An annoyed frown slid across his face.
“Hey, man,” came a voice from across the restaurant. It was a tall, dark haired man in a suit, walking toward them.
“Bass,” Ryder acknowledged.
Bass made his way to Penny, leaned over the counter to kiss her, then returned his attention on Ryder. “Candy messaged me. She said you never showed for the date last night.”
Whitney’s brows shot up, and Ryder looked at her with surprise. Click. Everything just clicked.
He hadn’t asked her for candy last night. He’d thought she was Candy.
Shit! Shit, shit, shit.
Ryder put both palms on the edge of the bar and leaned over. “Since you’re so keen on my name,” he growled, “why don’t you try telling me yours? The truth this time.”
“I never lied to you,” Whitney said defensively.
“You said your name was Candy.”
“No, you walked in and asked me for candy.”
“Which you happily gave,” he said in a low rasp.
That voice gave her goose bumps. Yeah, she had happily given up a lot last night. But reality was a bitch, because she’d been stupid enough to think he was calling her “sweetness” because he liked her. Even for a night. Nope, he’d thought she was someone else. Awesome.
“Maybe we should give them a minute,” Bass said quietly to Penny.
Penny smacked his chest and whispered, “Are you crazy? I’m not missing this!”
That made Ryder look at his sister, then back at Whitney. “Perhaps we should discuss this in private.”
Whitney lifted her chin. “There’s nothing to discuss. It was one night. It’s over. Clearly you thought I was someone else and I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
He leaned over the counter and brought his face close to hers. “I’d say it was the right place at the right time.” Those gray eyes held a spark that she recognized from last night. God, the man was power in its finest sate. “But you weren’t who I thought you were.”
“Obviously,” she scoffed, then backed away enough to grab the milk and put some in the blender. This distraction wasn’t working as well as she’d hoped, but she was still trying.
As if a haze cleared, Ryder stood to his full height and cleared his throat. Whatever reasonable façade he normally donned was back in place. Gone was the Ryder she knew first hand to be dominant alpha sexiness.
“How long are you here for?” he asked bluntly.
“The summer.” She glanced at Penny. “That is, if I still have a job?”
Penny’s auburn brows shot up. “Oh, honey, of course you do. Don’t let this overgrown stick in the mud have you thinking otherwise.”
Ryder glanced at the ceiling as if trying to gain patience. “You said you didn’t stay anywhere too long,” he said, his gaze landing back on Whitney.
“Ryder Diamond,” Penny said, admonishing his manners for the second time.
He nodded once then took a breath, as though looking for a way to rephrase. It would seem Mr. Diamond of the freaking town of Diamond had a code of manners and some kind of reputation to uphold, because as more eyes turned toward them, the straighter he stood.
“Well, it was eventful running into you again…?”
Oh, so now he wanted her name? Normally she’d make a guy like this work for it, but the way he was looking at her, she’d bet knowing her name would rattle him for the rest of the day.
“Whitney,” she said.
“Whitney,” he repeated, and holy hell, her name on his lips made her goose bumps turn nuclear. But the way he looked at her got her hot for a different reason. Why was he mad at her? This misunderstanding wasn’t her fault, damn it. “I don’t suspect I’ll be seeing much more of you,” he finished.
That was the last straw.
No way in hell would this guy brush her off in a way that made her look like the crazy woman. Ryder liked his manners and his little coded language? Fine, she could play. And she would. Because she might not be a local, but she had a feeling she knew the town’s golden boy in a way very few did. Fact number one? Ryder liked to be challenged. It was the first thing she’d learned about him.
“Not interested in seeing more of me?” she asked. “That explains why last night you were so determined to use your tongue on my skin. Since you couldn’t really see and all.”
Penny held back a smile, and so did Bass. Ryder just looked ready to throttle her. Or maybe kiss her. She wasn’t going to think of him either way. He wanted to be a dick? Fine. She would just state facts until he broke.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Ryder said and pushed off the counter.
He was stillness and control, but just beneath the surface she could feel his body hum the same way it had last night when he’d been on the brink of losing that calm. It made her whole body stand to attention and her instinct pipe up, demanding that she push for more. Because the man was beyond more.
He was frustrating and sexy, and if calling him out got him to loosen up, she’d do it. At the very least so he wouldn’t stand there and make this mess her fault. Because it was a mess. She was working for his sister all summer, in a town that was named after him, and judging by the looks and the waves, he was like a damn celebrity around here.
How was Whitney supposed to compete with that? She had no one. No family or real friends. And she had slept with a man that came with those things, plus an entire town.
Not her scene.
Not her forte.
Not her life.
Best to keep the one night just that. One. And it was in the past now. But pushing Ryder’s buttons enough to make him acknowledge the truth wouldn’t hurt anyone. Hell, it might even make her feel better.
“Nothing to talk about,” she said, and sealed the blender.
“Oh, I disagree, sweetness.” The w
ay he slid that word out, like it was meant just for her, made her skin prickle with need and her thighs ache with desire.
Push just a bit more…
“Well, you may want to be careful when it comes to conversing with me,” she said, and rested her forearm atop the blender. Holding his stare, she flicked on the shred button, and the sound of the spinning blades rang out as they cut through the ice cream. “I’m a dangerous wild card, remember?”
With a heavy breath, Ryder nodded once. “I remember.”
His gaze lingered on her body for a moment, then he turned to walk out. And that pissed her off. Partly because just the look he gave her made her skin buzz with the need to touch him, and partly because the way he spoke to her made her want to fight with him. Fight in a hair pulling, biting, kissing kind of way.
She was pretty sure he wanted that, too. She just had to be patient. She watched his shoulders move as he continued his trek to the exit…
Three…
Another two steps.
Two…
He reached the door.
One.
He paused and glanced over his shoulder, those steely eyes hitting her with a look of raw lust and passion.
When he walked outside, she knew one thing.
They would talk about this later, after all.
Chapter Four
Ryder slid the putty knife along the drywall, covering it with more white paste.
“Hey,” Huck said from the door leading into the back of the bakery. “Heard you didn’t get lunch.” He held up a takeout bag from Penny’s BBQ.
Yeah, Ryder had showed up earlier to get lunch then had been distracted by the new waitress. He’d had to get out of there, fast, before he let a different kind of hunger convince him to take another bite out of her.
“You heard about that, huh?” Ryder asked.
Huck just shrugged, pulled up an upside-down bucket, and took a seat. He dug into his own bag, unwrapped a burger, and looked up at him. “Autumn was there. Said you and the new girl have some history after all.”
“I wouldn’t call it history,” he said.
“Then what do you call it?” Huck took a bite of his burger.
The smell of meat and cheese made Ryder’s stomach twist with hunger. He pushed it aside and refocused on the wall. “We had a night. I thought she was the girl you guys set me up with.”
Huck’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding.” He threw back his head and let loose a loud laugh, then finally noticed Ryder wasn’t laughing with him. “Shit, man. That sucks.” He tossed a French fry into his mouth. “Is that why you’re drywalling a bakery today? To hide out?”
“No,” Ryder answered honestly. “Mrs. Gates called and needed this wall fixed.”
And like the good boy Ryder was, he’d hopped right to it. He was a Diamond after all, and his father and grandfather had left him big reputations to live up to. The town and the people were a priority to him. Not just because his whole business rested on a delicate balance of them staying local and using his company for construction and building, but because it was his home. One his family had built. One he’d been a part of. One he took pride in.
“How’s the Davenport Hall remodel going?” he asked Huck. These days, that was where Ryder spent his time. It was a fixture in the town, and the old hall had taken the past two months to get up to code. Now they were only a few weeks away from restoring the historical hall to its former glory.
“Oh no, you’re not getting out of this that easy. I wanna hear more about the waitress and how she got your panties in a wad.”
Damn gossip mill. But he couldn’t expect anything less. It was a small town, and everyone knew everyone’s business. Not to mention, his sister and Bass looked ready to wet themselves with amusement earlier. Whitney was a brassy one, and he had to give her credit—she got his blood going. Didn’t change the fact that he needed to stay away from her. Especially now that she was within reach.
“I showed up, thought she was Candy. She’s not. Now she’s at Penny’s slinging drinks.”
“And you get to see her every day.”
“No,” Ryder said quickly. In fact, his plan was to avoid her for the rest of the summer.
Then why the hell had he said he’d see her later?
Shit, the woman had him thinking in circles.
“Uh-huh,” Huck said with a smile, then took another bite of his burger. “You know, sometimes games can be fun. Isn’t that what you once told me?”
God, Ryder was regretting that. Not his buddy’s happiness, but that he’d ever said jack shit about romance. Because this wasn’t romance, this was a one-nighter, and it was done. So done that he was stealing glimpses at the clock and praying for five to roll around so he could go back to Penny’s and have a chat with the mouthy waitress that had called him out and roused the beast he kept locked up.
“I’m not interested in any game,” Ryder said. “She knows I’m a Diamond now. You should have seen her face when she realized that fun fact.”
“She offer up marriage or something?” Huck teased.
“No, she looked…” Ryder frowned. Whitney had actually looked annoyed. When she figured out that he was a Diamond, her eyes hadn’t sparkled with a plan. She hadn’t even attempted to talk about seeing him again. It was like the realization of who he was turned her off more than on. “She looked like it didn’t matter,” Ryder finally muttered.
“That’s a good thing,” Huck said.
Yeah, it could be. Only it didn’t change that he actually was a Diamond. And with that came a lot of baggage. Not to mention, the more serious problem…
“She irritates me,” Ryder said, then went back to laying spackle on the wall.
Huck laughed. “Oh really? So you’re pissy because a woman doesn’t put up with your nice manners bullshit and pushes you to…what?”
“To lose control,” Ryder snapped. “I’ve been down this road with this kind of woman before.”
“Man, you’ve got to get over that.”
Ryder shook his head. The woman he’d eloped with had taken a settlement but could have taken a lot more. She’d tied his family up in court and attempted to bleed them dry before they’d finally reached a number big enough to get her to walk away. All because he’d gotten caught up with a woman that made him feel free.
Free.
The single word Whitney had used to describe herself last night.
No. Ryder had learned that control was key to everything. Giving in to his impulses would have consequences, and he wouldn’t make that mistake again. He’d slipped up last night. Sampled a temptation he shouldn’t have. Now he needed to get a goddamn grip.
When he was out of control, he was a slave to his instincts and things fell apart. He didn’t know who he was if not Ryder Diamond. And one night with Whitney had him reeling. Because for a perfect fucking second, when he’d been in the dark and surrounded by her, he’d been just a man.
“She really got to you, didn’t she?” Huck said with amazement.
“She didn’t get to me. We had a good time. That’s it.”
“Yeah, I know how that goes. You’ve met my fiancé, right?”
Ryder had to roll his eyes. Huck had once upon a time thought one night was enough. Turned out, he’d found his match in the right woman, and that one night had turned into forever. That was fine. For Huck.
But that wasn’t what was happening with Ryder. Whitney wasn’t Miss Right. She was Miss Right Now. He wasn’t ashamed of her, not by any means. Hell, any man would be lucky to have her on his arm. But she represented everything he knew to stay away from. She threatened his control—the one thing he clung tightly to.
They weren’t at the lodge anymore, and he couldn’t pretend he was just Ryder. He was Ryder Diamond. It wasn’t just good manners, it was who he was. Who he was brought up to be. Throwing caution to the wind wasn’t something he did.
But you did with her…
Which was why he needed to fix this.
/> “So your one-night stand’s sticking around for the whole summer?” Huck asked.
The term “one-night stand” made a tremor roll up Ryder’s spine. He’d had a moment, given in to his impulse for Whitney. Yes, it was supposed to only be for one night. But…
“What’s your point?”
Huck shrugged. “Just pointing out there’s no real avoiding her, or you’ll starve to death.”
Shit, he was kind of right. Not to mention Penny was his sister, and the BBQ was the main hangout in town, which all his friends frequented. Avoiding her wasn’t likely. But the thought of being close to her and not touching her made his hands twitch.
“This is going to be a problem,” Ryder mumbled.
“Why does it have to be a problem?” Huck asked. “Why don’t you just treat her the same as you would any other woman? Unless you don’t think you can.” Huck waggled his brows like a teenage girl.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact that there seems to be something about this woman. She got you to give in and doesn’t seem to care who you are. Isn’t that the kind of woman you keep bitching you never meet in Diamond?”
“She’s not a serious woman,” Ryder said. Not for him at least. Because Ryder was serious about everything. “She’s a tumbleweed. Has no plans to stay here longer than the summer.”
“So? That’s perfect then. Because if you were looking for serious, you would have given in to one of the ladies on the casserole brigade that comes by your home weekly. They’re all serious about wanting to settle down with you. Tempting, I know. But wait a minute!” Huck gasped like a soap opera queen. “You haven’t taken any of them up on their offers lately. You know why?”
Ryder groaned. “Please enlighten me with your wisdom.”
“Because deep down you know what you really want, and it’s not the Suzie Homemaker. It’s the rebel without a cause. Face it, you’re into the chicks—”
“That are bad for me,” Ryder cut in.
Huck shrugged and took a bite of his burger. “Maybe. But I’m not telling you to go marry the woman. I’m telling you to stop lying to yourself about what it is you really want. Otherwise you would have snatched up one of the nice ladies from the church choir by now. Serious or not, you seriously need to take a look at your fridge, because it’s where casseroles go to die, and yet you’re still single.”