Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 82214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“It wasn’t that bad. He might’ve just been a little bit of a creeper.” I chuckled. “And I can stand up for myself, thank you.” I didn’t want to give him too much grief. He was just trying to help.
Ryan scratched his beard. “Yeah, well, I don’t think a little flirtin’ does much harm, but he was getting’ that look in his eyes …”
“Yeah. I know how that goes,” I repeated. “Some boys just don’t like to hear no.” Gazing into my glass, I sighed softly.
He leaned back in his seat. “Yeah, totally. Boys is right. Sure as hell ain’t men.” A laugh escaped his lips in a puff of air. “Just know that look he was givin’ you.”
“And what look was that?” I challenged.
“One that might not end the way you want.”
I measured him, wondering whether I should feel flattered or insulted by how he stepped between us. I had to admit Mike had started giving me weird vibes, and I wasn’t one to challenge fate. At the thought, I eyed my whiskey and chose a slow, careful breath when I realized who’d bought the drink.
“You’re fine,” Ryan said. “Bartender made it and gave it to you. He didn’t touch it.”
“You were watching pretty close,” I commented as I downed the rest.
“Just keeping an eye out.”
I canted my head in thought. “Defending your territory?”
He brushed his arm across his space at the table until it reached a spot inches away from my glass. “How about we draw a line? You stay on your side and me on mine. That way, you don’t think I’m tryin’ anything.”
“How will you know I’m not trying anything?” I challenged, realizing once I said it that I was flirting. Ryan’s green eyes sparkled as the skin around his eyes wrinkled with his smile. It was a contagious smile, one that made my stomach flutter. That moment cleared the tension from earlier; I relaxed on the stool and leaned an elbow onto the bar. “I won’t flirt if you won’t.”
His eyebrows rose, and he drank another sip of his beer. “And if one of us slips?”
“Hm.” I tried to think, wondering first about choosing the buy-a-drink tactic, but the last thing I needed was to wake up with a hangover and miss my flight, so I chose something that seemed fun and noncommittal. “We’ll just have to see what happens.”
He smacked the table and laughed, and with his contagious smile, I laughed, too. His auburn hair almost looked like a rich orange, glistening in the light as he shook his head and beckoned the bartender for another beer. Ryan had this way about him, this commanding presence that made it impossible to ignore his voice and difficult to stray from his gray-green eyes.
“So, what do you do? I mean, if you can answer without sounding like a big shot.”
He brushed his fingers through his hair. “What if I am a big shot?”
“Then you better sound humble about it.”
He chuckled. “Well, I humbly own a landscaping business.” He shrugged. “No big deal.”
“Okay,” I said with a giggle. “Saying ‘no big deal’ doesn’t make it humble.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Doesn’t it?”
“Not in the slightest.”
“What would make it humble?”
I bit the inside of my lip in thought and tried not to meet his gaze. Ryan seemed to know his place and his boundaries, and he was breaking mine down and weakening my grasp on my resolve to shut him down. And while we’d only been talking for a few minutes, I was already having fun.
“Just say what you are without the job description to make it fancy. You’re a lawn guy.”
“A what?” he asked, an airy laugh carrying the question from his lips. “I am not a lawn guy.”
“A gardener then.”
“Not a gardener.”
“You plant stuff, right?”
He scoffed. “I hire people who ‘plant stuff.’” He curled his fingers in air quotes.
“Oh, sorry.” I realized I may have insulted him, but Ryan’s lips quirked, and he trailed my arm with light but rough fingers. I jerked my arm away and drew an invisible line between us, which drew a smile across our faces.
He threw up his hands in a placating motion. “That was stupid. Sorry. What do you do, Miss Sophisticated?”
I fought a glare and instead smiled at the fingers that had grazed my skin. Goosebumps followed his touch, and I sucked in a breath. I hadn’t realized it, but we’d both made a decision at that moment, and I was ready to explore it. I smiled a little at the thought of a one-night romance with a stranger, forever forgotten after we parted ways. The idea had never appealed to me before, but there was something about him, something daring and exciting, that begged to be discovered.
“I’m whatever you want me to be,” I said with a challenging tone, grinning up at him as a glint touched his eyes and lit a fire within me.