by Janice Lynn
“For?”
“Making that the best flight I’ve ever been on.”
Having Ryder beside her had to be how she’d relaxed enough to doze off. Which was odd since he didn’t relax her. Far from it.
She’d never felt so far out of her comfort zone as when he’d kissed her. Only...
“By boring you to sleep?” His tone was teasing.
“By helping me unwind enough that I could sleep. Big difference.”
Seeming to like her answer, he nodded. “You do look calmer.”
Wondering if that was his subtle way of telling her that her makeup was mussed and her hair wild, she stretched to pull her bag out from beneath the seat in front of her.
When she’d retrieved her compact, she glanced in the tiny mirror.
Rather than the mess she expected, her mascara had miraculously stayed on her lashes and wasn’t all down her cheeks other than faint smudges she quickly wiped away.
Digging in her bag, she found a lipstick tube.
“No need for that,” Ryder assured her, watching her. “You look beautiful.”
“Thanks.” His compliment warmed her insides, but she put her lipstick on anyway. She’d need all the armor she could muster prior to facing her mother and the rest of the crew.
Too bad lipstick didn’t come in chainmail.
* * *
Who’d have thought Ryder’s calm, cool and collected pediatric cardiologist colleague was terrified to fly, albeit, she certainly had good reason?
Or that she’d be nervous as a kitten about seeing her family?
Or maybe it was her family meeting him that had her so on edge?
“Is someone meeting us?”
She shook her head. “My brother offered, but I wanted us to have our own transportation. I arranged for a rental car.”
“In case we need to make a quick escape?” he teased, hoping to elicit a smile, even if just a small one.
She didn’t, just nodded. “Exactly.”
Which made him wonder about McKenzie’s relationship with her family. She’d considered hiring an escort service to keep from making the trip home alone. Just what kind of pressure had her family put on her in the past?
“Surely they aren’t that bad?”
Shaking her head, McKenzie sighed. “They’re not bad, just think it’s within their right to meddle in my life. Always have and likely always will try to.”
“Is that why you moved across the country? To get away from them?”
“Of course not.” But she hesitated long enough that he wasn’t sure she bought her answer any more than he did. “But my mother did once sign me up for a speed round dating service night. And then there was the time she contacted local churches to find out if they had programs for singles to meet.”
“Seriously?”
McKenzie nodded. “Oh, yeah. Mama has no problem with meddling in my life even from half the country away.”
“Is that why you ended up in Seattle?” he wondered out loud.
“I visited Seattle with a group of friends while in med school and fell in love with Pike Place Market and just everything about the city.” Her appreciation for the city sparked to life in her eyes. “I applied for residency there, got it, fell further in love with the city, and when I was offered a permanent position at Seattle Cardiac Clinic for Kids, I stayed. How about you?”
“Similar story in some ways. I’m originally from Atlanta, went to medical school in Birmingham, did a cardiology, then a surgery residency in Pittsburgh, then took the positions with Trevane and Seattle Cardiac Clinic for Kids.”
Ryder stood, stretched out his six-foot-plus frame as best as he could in the plane aisle, before grabbing their carry-on bags from the overhead bin.
She stood, double-checked their seats to make sure they hadn’t left anything, then took her bag from him. “Thanks.”
Once inside Nashville Airport, they made a pit stop, then went to the lower level where McKenzie had made arrangements to pick up a rental car.
“Nice,” Ryder teased when the clerk handed over the keys to a minivan.
“This isn’t what I purchased,” McKenzie argued, but to no avail.
Ryder didn’t mind, but McKenzie had the clerk checking again to make sure there wasn’t another option.
He’d stowed their bags in the back of the minivan.
“I’m driving since I know where I’m going,” she informed him, climbing into the driver’s seat.
They made a quick late-night fast-food run, but otherwise it was only a twenty-minute drive from the airport. The closer they got to McKenzie’s family’s house, the tenser she got.
The house was a moderate-size old-style ranch.
“Be prepared for anything,” McKenzie warned as they got their luggage out of the van. “It wouldn’t surprise me if they were all here and jumped out at us when we walk in. Aunt Myrtle may or may not be dressed if that happens.”
Ryder’s curiosity was piqued, but the only person who’d waited on them was McKenzie’s mother. They’d not made it up to the porch when the front door flung open and the petite woman hurried out to wrap her arms around McKenzie.
“Hello, Mama,” McKenzie whispered just loud enough he could hear. “I’ve missed you, too.”
“Let me look at you,” her mother exclaimed, pulling back and eyeing McKenzie in the porch light.
“Don’t you dare comment on how I’ve grown,” McKenzie warned, but was smiling and glassy-eyed.
Ryder could see that despite the fact McKenzie lived so far away, there was no shortage of love between the two women.
“Grown? Ha, you look as if I need to put some meat on you. You’re nothing but skin and bones,” her mother countered, which Ryder found interesting as McKenzie’s mother was a tiny thing herself. “This must be your new guy.”
“Mama, this is Dr. Ryder Andrews.” She gave him a here goes everything look. “Ryder, this is my mother, Roberta Wilkes.”
Ryder smiled at the petite woman with dark eyes and hair. Although he could see the resemblance between McKenzie and her mother in bone structure and body build, McKenzie must have gotten her coloring from her father.
He stuck out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
McKenzie’s mother clasped his hand between hers, then dropped his hand and gave him the biggest hug he’d ever had. “We are so glad to finally meet you.”
McKenzie sighed. “Mom, you make it sound as if I’ve been hiding him away. Ryder and I haven’t been dating that long. Just a few weeks.”
Roberta gave her daughter a pert look. “Long enough that you brought him home to Reva’s wedding.”
“There is that. Sorry, Ryder.” She turned to her mother. “It’s late, Mama. We have a busy few days ahead of us, and we’re worn out. Can you let us know where we’re sleeping?”
Their rooms ended up being McKenzie’s room. As in singular.
“Your cousin Jeffrey and his wife and kids are in your brother’s old room. Your brother won’t be in until tomorrow and says he’ll take the sofa.”
“I can take the sofa,” Ryder offered despite knowing his six-foot frame wouldn’t comfortably fit. It was the right thing to do and he had to halt the panic rising in McKenzie’s eyes.
“That isn’t necessary,” Roberta assured him, looking quite proud of herself. “I’m a modern woman.”
“You were a modern woman before women were modern,” McKenzie said under her breath, but Ryder heard.
Perhaps her mother had, too, as she gave McKenzie a stern look before smiling at Ryder. “You’ll have to excuse my daughter. Flying addles her mind a little.”
CHAPTER SIX
NOT IN A million years had McKenzie ever envisioned that she’d someday be standing in her childhood bedroom with Dr. Ryder Andrews, with him pretending to be her boyfriend.
Most women would be arguing to get Ryder into their bedroom. Here McKenzie was trying to figure a way to keep him out and coming up short for a feasible reason that wouldn’t raise her family’s suspicions.
“Sorry, Mom,” she sighed. “I’m exhausted and like I said, we have a big few days. I want to hit the sack if that’s okay. It’s been a long day and flight.”
They both knew how traumatizing boarding the plane and the five-hour flight was for her.
Or that it usually was.
She still couldn’t believe she’d fallen asleep on Ryder’s shoulder and missed almost the entire flight and all of the landing.
Best. Flight. Ever.
Her mother leaned in and gave another big squeeze, as if she knew where McKenzie’s thoughts had gone. “No worries. I’m so glad you’re home.”
“Me, too,” she said and meant it. It had been too long since she’d been home, but Seattle was a long way from Nashville for someone terrified of flying. It wasn’t as if she could just hop in her car and go home for a quick visit.
But she could have come home for a visit, a voice nagged. Could have and should have.
Maybe, just maybe her flight back to Seattle would be as smooth as the flight to Nashville and she could put to rest some of her flying fears. Doubtful, but the flight there hadn’t been nearly as bad as expected. Thanks to Ryder.
Her mother gave him a sly look. “And don’t even think you’re sleeping on my sofa, young man. I won’t have it.”
McKenzie shrugged. “I’ll take the sofa.”
Both her mother and Ryder launched into arguments of why that wasn’t happening. Fatigue washed over her. It really had been a long day and she was exhausted.
“I told you I’m a modern woman.” Her mother pointed Ryder in the direction of McKenzie’s old room.
He looked toward her for guidance.
Too tired to care what he thought, she told him, “You may as well follow me.”
Once her mother had given them both another round of hugs and closed the door behind her as she left the small bedroom, McKenzie’s shoulders sagged. She sank onto the edge of the full-sized bed to stare at the man who hadn’t moved from the spot near the door. Was he thinking of making a run for it yet?
She wouldn’t blame him.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“That. This.” She stretched her arm out to indicate the room where he was trapped sleeping with her. “I’ll take the floor and you can have the bed.”
“Quit stealing my lines.”
“You’re doing me a favor. I should be the one to take the floor.”
He shook his head. “Not happening.”
She gave him a tired smile. “Thank you, Ryder. Just know I appreciate you being here.”
His smile filled her with warmth.
“You’re welcome, McKenzie. It’s been interesting.”
No doubt. From her fear of flying to drooling on his shoulder to meeting her mother, he hadn’t seemed bored or shown the slightest irritation, just patience and a kindness that surprised her. Although, she wasn’t sure why as she’d witnessed the same traits demonstrated with how he treated his patients.
“You want the bathroom first?” she offered, pointing to a door on the opposite side of the room. “It’s a Jack and Jill, which means my cousin Jeff, his wife and kids are on the other side so watch the noise. Hopefully, they haven’t left it too messy, but check the lid just in case. They have a four-year-old son.”
Ryder chuckled. “Brings me back to my college dorm days. You sure you want me to go first?”
She nodded and watched as he grabbed his shaving kit bag from his suitcase, along with pajama bottoms and a T-shirt, before he headed into the bathroom.
Once the door closed, she fell back against her bed and stared at a spot on the ceiling.
Truth was Ryder had been a much better travel companion that she’d expected. Probably better than Paul would have been.
Paul would have complained about her drooling on his trendy clothes and leaving him to entertain himself during the flight.
Ryder had been...nice.
Nice? Calling his kiss nice seemed almost an insult. The man could kiss.
No wonder she’d done just fine during takeoff. His kiss had sent her mind soaring before the plane had ever left the ground.
Which confused her. Less than a month ago she’d hoped to someday marry Paul and spend her life with him. How was it Ryder’s kiss had electrified her, left her wanting more?
She shouldn’t want Ryder to kiss her. Shouldn’t be thinking about his kiss. He’d kissed her only to stop her panic attack. She’d kissed him only because she’d been panicked.
Knowing she was going to pass out if she didn’t get out of the bed, she forced herself up and began unpacking her suitcase and storing the items into her closet. She paused to smile at some of the things her mother still had hanging as if they were waiting on McKenzie to come home to wear them after all these years. A jacket with a basketball emblem emblazoned on the sleeve had her reaching out to touch the well-worn material.
Good grief, her prom dress even hung in there. Why would her mother keep that? Even if McKenzie had wanted to wear the dress, she wouldn’t be able to shimmy that tiny dress up past her hips, much less zip the thing.
When Ryder had finished in the bathroom and came back into McKenzie’s room, she’d finished unpacking her suitcase and was pushing the bag into her closet.
Glancing over to where he walked toward his suitcase, her gaze collided with bare feet.
She gulped.
She’d never been a foot person, quite the opposite, but Ryder’s feet were sexy. Her gaze rose higher, taking in his flannel pajama bottoms that somehow managed to look like they belonged in an ad, over his Seattle sport team T-shirt that looked soft, well-worn and accentuated his waist and shoulders.
She should have just stopped right there and looked away, but she didn’t. Instead, her eyes moved onward to pause at his lips.
His lips that had kissed her on the plane.
Kissed her quite thoroughly. Her lips tingled at the memory. All of her tingled at the memory.
Tingly pleasure swept over her. Then, realizing she was gawking at him, heat flooded her face.
Get your mind away from that kiss, she ordered herself. Thinking about kissing Ryder when he was in her bedroom was not okay.
None of this was real.
Her gaze caught his honey-colored one.
Oh, yeah, he knew she’d been checking him out. Her face burned. He was here as a favor. What was wrong with her that she was looking at Ryder as if...as if this was real?
He was hot and outdid any teenaged fantasies she’d ever dreamed up in this room. Or anywhere else. Just wow.
And not where her mind should have gone about a pretend boyfriend.
Seeing Ryder at the hospital and clinic and acknowledging that he was drop-dead gorgeous was one thing. Having him in her bedroom and perusing him in a completely sexual way was quite another.
She needed to get her head on straight. No doubt her reaction was just extreme travel weariness and her intense emotions to flying including gratitude for his distraction.
She straightened from where she’d been kneeling, putting the suitcase in her closet, and pasted a smile on her still-flaming face as if she hadn’t been looking at him as if he were chocolate dipped and she were a chocoholic ready to binge.
* * *
Ryder dropped his toiletries bag on top of his suitcase, then turned toward McKenzie. His lips twitching, he arched a brow. “All unpacked?”
She stood just a few feet away—anywhere in the room was only a few feet away.
“Um, yeah. You’re welcome to hang anything you
want to in my closet.” Her cheeks flushing, she immediately averted her eyes.
McKenzie had never looked at him the way she currently was.
As if she was seeing him as a man. A desirable man.
Okay, maybe during their kiss, but he wasn’t sure because she’d been so focused on the plane ride and had acted so no-big-deal afterward.
But in that moment their eyes met, hers had glowed as if she liked what she saw. A lot.
Ryder felt his own cheeks flush, knew he needed to get his thoughts back under control because nothing could happen physically between them.
Not tonight or at any point that weekend.
McKenzie was vulnerable, on the rebound. Ryder refused to be a rebound fling.
“I...um...” She paused, gave him a tentative smile that set warning bells off in his head. “I’m going to brush my teeth and change into my pajamas. Take my bed, please.”
* * *
Take her bed, please? McKenzie thought, mortified as she washed her face and went through the motions of getting ready to go to sleep.
With Ryder in her bed.
Ryder whom she’d worked with for months and who she’d always agreed with her coworkers was easy on the eyes. But McKenzie had never really seen him. Because Ryder had always made her nervous when he was around, she’d never let herself fully take in just how sexy he was.
Had she known that if she’d let herself, she could have fallen into fantasizing about him, so she’d kept blinders on to avoid a guilty conscience since she’d been committed to Paul?
Ryder was hot.
Scorching.
Glancing at herself in the bathroom mirror one last time, she frowned at the haggardness of her features.
Yeah, Ryder looked fab after hours of travel. She just looked tuckered out.
Fine. Despite her sudden acute awareness of his overabundance of maleness, they weren’t really dating. He was her pretend boyfriend and they weren’t about to do anything except make a trip to night-night land.
Even if part of her wished this was real, that she and Ryder were embarking on a real relationship, that the sexual tension she felt was more than just her sudden awakening to his overabundance of testosterone.