Chasing Mr. Wrong

by Joya Ryan

  Ryder nailed his friend with a glare, but the smug son of a bitch had him there. Because Ryder treated all women in town about the same. He hadn’t dated anyone in a while, mostly because by the time one date turned into two then three, the woman was usually picking out rings or talking about weekend vacations, and that was Ryder’s cue to cut the relationship off ASAP.

  “All this coming from a guy who drinks coconut water,” Ryder said.

  “It has electrolytes,” Huck protested. “And you should listen to me. I’m all wise and shit about women. How do you think I snagged me such a fine one?”

  “Because she took pity on your sorry ass.”

  Huck nodded and smiled. “I’ll admit it, I begged pretty hard. But it was so, so worth it.”

  Autumn was a wonderful woman and perfect for Huck. But Ryder wasn’t in Huck’s situation. As much as Ryder wished things were different, this happily ever after bullshit wasn’t in the cards for him.

  Still, he could try to face this issue with Whitney the best way he knew how. Sure she was alluring. And no, he wasn’t going to make the same mistakes he’d made when he was young.

  Besides, avoiding her wasn’t going to happen. Maybe he could make the summer work by befriending her. By setting limits and proving that he could be around her without losing his damn mind and thinking with the wrong head.

  Surely the more he exposed himself to her, the more tolerance he’d build up, and soon he wouldn’t want her so badly. Made sense. Good plan.

  Willpower was like a muscle. He just had to exercise his until it was as strong as steel.

  “I think I know how to deal with this Whitney situation.”

  “Oh, do share,” Huck said. “Just don’t tell me it involves you busting out the good ol’ boy charm and pleasantries and being friendly.”

  It kind of did.

  “Friendly? I slept with her last night.”

  And the idea of “friendly” was very different than what Huck was talking about. He wanted to be more than friendly with her. He wanted another night to hear those sexy little gasps. But that was the opposite of what he should do. Unless… Maybe he could pretend they hadn’t already had sex—yeah fuckin’ right, because that was all he’d thought about the past twenty-four hours—and he could treat her like a regular woman in town.

  He could show her, and himself, that he could control his urges and stay platonic. He could take her out, have a nice, simple, standard—as in not at all sexual—time, then be on his way. And maybe he could pass off this idea that they were just acquaintances with no attraction whatsoever.

  Again…yeah fuckin’ right.

  But he had to try. Because one look from those brown eyes chipped away at the tightly tethered order he had over his entire world. Whitney was blowing through that world like a level five tornado, and he knew firsthand how easy it was getting swept up in her.

  “I think if we establish a simple friendship, nothing else, everything will be fine and normal.”

  “Fine and normal, huh? Sounds sexy,” Huck joked.

  “I’m going to treat her like a regular woman, not a one-night stand.”

  “Ah crap. You’re going to break out the tie again, aren’t you?”

  “No,” Ryder drawled. “I’m going to keep things—”

  “Boring,” Huck finished for him, shaking his head. “Have fun with that.”

  That was the problem. There was no fun with that. And that was the point! He needed a solid plan. Reverse the other night. Keep Whitney, with her lush mouth and sexy legs, out of his fantasies and keep it platonic.

  Now that they were in the same town, a date would be customary to prove to everyone he was as calm and in control with her as he was with everyone else. And Ryder couldn’t deny that he wanted to see her again, but he could stay out of the sack with her. Had to. Once he set that amicable precedent, everything would get back to normal.

  “Oh shit,” Huck muttered. “I know that look. You have a plan. It’s the same look you get when you’re about to tell me you’ve reorganized the vacation time spreadsheet.”

  “Shut up,” Ryder said with a smile. But he did have a plan. He would prove to himself and to Whitney that he could handle the summer. With her. He wouldn’t alter his schedule and stay away from his sister’s diner. It was the main place he ate, after all. But he would prove he could keep his control, especially when it came to the sassy brunette with an affinity for short shorts. He had nothing to hide, but he did have something to maintain, and that was his will power.

  Yeah, he could show her who was in control. Even if it cost him nightly cold showers.

  It had been another long day at the BBQ. After seeing Ryder yesterday, a small part of Whitney was hoping she’d see him that afternoon. But he didn’t come in for the lunch shift. Not that she was glancing at the door every time its corner caught and rang the little bell.

  She’d asked Penny for as many hours as she could give her, and Penny had obliged. Taking on the lunch and dinner shift would make Whitney’s days hellishly long, but at least the work would keep her busy, and her combined earnings over the summer would be more than enough to get her by for the next chunk of road tripping.

  “Can you turn the game up, darlin’?” an older gentleman asked. Herb, she’d come to learn, was a regular, and tonight the diner was packed and almost all the barstools taken.

  “Of course.” She smiled and turned up the volume on the TV that hung high over the bar.

  Her tables were all set for the moment, so she hung out behind the bar and helped the bartender sling drinks and hand out appetizers. It was busy, but it made for a kind of happy peace. She didn’t have time to think too much. Which was good, since her thoughts either turned toward bad memories or, as of late, good memories. Specifically ones that involved the hot patriarch of the town.

  “Still doing okay?” Penny asked, hustling past the bar with plates of food and heading toward the tables.

  “Yes, going great.”

  She nodded and smiled. Penny ran this place with pride, and it seemed everyone here liked her as much as they did Ryder. The Diamond siblings had roots and family and a town in their blood. That much was obvious.

  Whitney didn’t have any of those things. When the summer was over, she’d move on, just the way she liked it. But she could take what bits of enjoyment she could while she was there. Because it was those bits that helped fill the emptiness that grew daily in her chest.

  “May I get some ketchup?” another gentleman asked.

  Whitney bent down behind the bar to grab it—

  “I’m starting to think uniforms should be mandatory,” drawled a sexy voice.

  She knew who it was without having to look. No way was this happening again. She rose and handed the ketchup to the patron, and saw that the last available stool in the far corner was now supporting a familiar, sexy contractor.

  “Excuse me?” She walked toward Ryder.

  He placed his forearms on the bar and looked her up and down. A look like that could melt a stronger woman than her, because yeah…she was melting a little.

  “I think my sister should require uniforms to work here,” he repeated, his gray eyes pausing on her shorts. “Maybe pants. And a turtleneck.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because, sweetness, you’re distracting as hell.”

  The way he slid those words out made her want to catch them, keep them in her pocket, and pull them out whenever she was feeling down. A single bit of praise from Ryder Diamond was just golden.

  “No one said you have to look.” She pulled the rag out of her belt loop and wiped off the counter in front of him.

  “That’s my dilemma,” he said. “I can’t not notice you.” He glanced around. “Just like every man in here can’t not notice you.”

  That got her heart to stall. “Why Ryder Diamond, are you hitting on me?”

  “No, ma’am.” He sat back. “Just came in for dinner and a beer. Thought I’d be neighborly to the
city girl.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m glad you met your neighborly quota for the day.” She grabbed a beer, popped the top, and slid it to him.

  “How did you know what I liked?” he asked, examining the bottle.

  “Because it’s what you drank the other night. I, too, have a good memory.”

  Before she walked away, he said, “I’m still waiting for that chat, sweetness.”

  She spun back around and frowned. “Didn’t we just chat?”

  He took a drink from his longneck and shrugged. “I was thinking maybe over coffee sometime.”

  Now she was really confused. “I’m sorry…what?”

  “Coffee,” he said plainly. “I could pick you up.”

  She put a hand on her hip and stared at him. “Like a date?”

  He tilted his beer slightly in his hand, as though gauging its weight. “Kind of. I thought it would be nice.”

  “Nice?” She had to repeat his words. This was bizarre. “I’m not sure I’m following you here. We had one night. It’s done now.”

  “Yes,” he agreed. “But coffee has nothing to do with sex. I thought it would be—”

  “Polite?”

  When he didn’t say anything, reality hit her. Holy crap, Ryder Diamond was trying to be polite? All those good manners everyone talked about were in full gear. Was this how he treated every obstacle in his life? He’d said he’d never had a one-night stand before. So was this him trying to make it right or something?

  “We agreed on one night,” she said again.

  “No, we were both under the impression that we only had one night.”

  “So you want another night?”

  “I want to take you to coffee.”

  “Because that would make you a gentleman?”

  He let out a long breath. “Jesus, why are you being so stubborn?”

  “Because you’ve got this backwards, big guy,” she said with sarcasm. “Typically, you take a woman out, then have sex with her. Guess what, I already gave it up. You don’t have to date me now.”

  Something dark flickered behind his eyes. “I’m trying to—”

  “Oh, I know what you’re trying to do. But I don’t need you to make me feel like a lady, and I don’t want you to take me on some weird coffee pity date just so your impeccable conscience can be cleared of a one-night stand. Because I’m not sorry, and I’m not ashamed.”

  “I’m not sorry or ashamed, either.” He leaned in. “You’re here for the summer now. I’m going to be seeing you, and I need to establish boundaries. Perhaps we can even be friends.”

  Her eyebrows peaked. He wasn’t looking to get into her pants again. He was looking to maintain a platonic distance.

  “Boundaries, huh?”

  He nodded.

  “Well if that’s what you want…” She sighed, then took another step toward him.

  His eyes snatched up her movements so acutely, it felt like he’d touched her. And that idea made her shiver with happiness. Just like the other night when he looked at her with that same lusty expression.

  “One question,” she said.

  “Shoot.”

  “You want to be friends, have boundaries. That means you’re not looking to see me naked again, correct?”

  He dropped his chin and took a deep breath but kept those steely gray eyes on her. “Correct,” he ground out.

  “Uh-huh.” She took another slow, slow step, swaying her hips just a tad. “So you want my clothes to stay on, correct?”

  Another long inhale. “Correct.”

  She nodded and made a slight downward turn of her mouth, pretending to ponder.

  “All right. All of this would add up, except for the way you’re looking at me.”

  He frowned. “How is that?”

  She dished out her own sinful look, with all the heat she felt behind it, and said, “Like you want to eat me up right now.”

  His jaw clenched, as if he were thinking just that. Whitney wasn’t in the business of chasing things that weren’t meant to be caught. She was in the business of experiencing the best life had to offer. Right now, she was in Diamond, with Mr. Diamond. And she’d be lying if she didn’t admit that experiencing him was one of the best things Diamond had offered her so far.

  But he wanted boundaries. Why? Did he think she would get attached? Turn into some swoony girl that would latch onto him now that she was in his way? She needed to find out. Normally she wouldn’t care about getting to know a guy, but it was so much fun pushing Ryder’s buttons and seeing him give up his secrets.

  For example, take what he was doing right now. Pursing his lips, doing his damnedest to stay closed off.

  “While you sit there and keep telling yourself that you’re not interested in me, I’ll be right over here, minding my own business, and calling bullshit on you,” she said with a happy smile.

  Ryder wanted to play a game of avoidance? She could play, too. And she’d call his bluff. He wanted her. She could see it in his eyes, and damn her stupid body, she wanted him in return. But she wasn’t about to let him get the impression that she wanted more or needed some kind of polite conversation about rules and distance. He could have his distance. She’d just be doing her thing from afar. If that happened to test his control…so be it. It was all fun in the end.

  “So, are we going out for coffee?” he asked. “Just a friendly cup between two neighbors.”

  “No, thanks,” she said. “But let me know if you want another night.”

  “Whitney…” he rasped as she started to strut away. “What kind of game are you playing?”

  “I’m not the one playing games. Unlike you, I’m being honest.”

  “So am I.”

  “Great! Then we understand each other.”

  “Not really,” he said.

  She turned back to him, leaned over the bar, and absently ran two fingers along the neck of his beer. “I’m onto you, Mr. Diamond. You have impulse issues.”

  Wow, he smelled good. All man, and an outdoorsy, woodsy scent that had her hormones jumping for a taste.

  “I control my impulses just fine,” he countered.

  “Yes, that’s right. You especially controlled those impulses when you were bench-pressing me over you the other night.

  “And if I recall…” He did his own little lean and brought his face in line with hers, putting his firm mouth within licking distance. “My reward was your tight, hot pussy as I moved you up and down. Best damn workout of my life.”

  It took everything she had not to moan and tremble at the recollection. “Ah, so you do remember.”

  “I may have given in the other night, but that’s what I’m trying to rectify from here on out.”

  Ice water would have been more subtle than that cold phrase.

  She stood up straight and plastered on her best fake smile. “Good luck with that, then.”

  “You really looking to challenge me?”

  “I’m just looking for some honesty,” she said again.

  “I want you,” he growled. “That’s not a secret.”

  “But you’re trying to resist me?”

  He nodded.

  “Why?”

  “Because you threaten something very important to me.”

  Her mouth dropped. Wow, that stung. What an ass. “Oh, I threaten your precious reputation, huh?”

  “No,” he said quickly.

  She almost believed him. But it didn’t matter. Fact remained that they were opposites in almost every way, and she wasn’t going to stand there and try to be buddies with a man that made her wet at just the sight of him.

  “Well, I’m sorry, but I’m not falling over myself to get to the messiah of Diamond. Not my style.”

  “I’m aware,” he said lowly.

  She paused for a moment. Maybe she was being too hard on him. But he was being so freakin’ cryptic. The man was a walking contradiction. One moment he was looking at her and talking to her like she was the object of all his
fantasies, the next he was trying to push an odd, platonic notion of a coffee date on her. Manners vs. desire. He was walking a very thin line, and it was one she couldn’t walk with him.

  It was fine trying to be nice. She wasn’t completely without manners. But good manners never stopped her from claiming something. She wanted someone, she went after him. But Ryder was looking for rules, boundaries, and…

  “Control,” she whispered. It all came together. His control was what she threatened. She’d felt it that night she was with him. He held such a tight grip over everything, it seemed, yet when he was with her, he let out his wild side. A side of him she’d give anything to experience again.

  And all he wants is coffee…

  Nope, she wasn’t going to play the part of “boring date”.

  “All right, Mr. Diamond, you’ve made your intentions clear. And while they’re noble, I’ll still have to decline.”

  “What?” He frowned, and she leaned over the bar, pressing her cleavage together.

  Yeah, that got his attention.

  “I’m not interested in being friends. In fact, I’m not at all interested in this faux Ryder Diamond in front of me.”

  His brow sliced down, and he stared at her with pissed off lust, and she knew she was pushing those same buttons she’d found before. Did no one ever challenge him? Ever turn down a date with him?

  “I like the Ryder I met the other night,” she whispered close to his face. “The one that smacked my ass and made me come hard.” She glanced at his mouth, remembering what it had been like to hold him inside her, then she looked back at his eyes. “Can that naughty Ryder come out to play? Or do you have him locked up somewhere?”

  “You have no idea what you’re messing with, little girl.”

  Oooh! There it was! That sexy, raspy dominance she’d heard the other night.

  “I’m very aware of what I’m messing with. The question is…are you?”

  He looked her over, hard. She rose to stand, then turned on her heel to get back to the other customers.

  But not before she slapped a menu down in front of him and said, “Let me know when you’ve made up your mind on what you want.”