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I sat there and swung, waiting for Ryder in the warm evening air daydreaming about the day when I had my own porch and little ones at my feet. It, unfortunately, wasn’t going to be at my little yellow house. Not sure where I was going to live now, but I absolutely knew who the daddy of those future babies was going to be. It was the man who pulled up in his shiny black sports car five minutes late and skidded to a stop on the driveway in front of the house.
Ryder jumped out in a dark suit, his tie undone and slung around his neck. He rushed up the porch steps. I stood ready to tease him that he’d never been late picking me up, but he froze on the steps, eyes fixed on me. I looked at my attire thinking maybe something was amiss. When I couldn’t see anything, I met his eyes. They were still zeroed in on me.
“What?” I asked nervously.
He sauntered toward me. “I’m speechless, darlin’. You are a vision.”
I smiled and approached him. I lifted the collar of his shirt and placed his tie under it, around his neck.
He gave me a sultry smile. “I always knew you were the kind of woman who would tie her man’s tie for him.”
“Is that so?” I began tying a full Windsor knot. “See, I never pictured you wearing one.”
“Times change.” He leaned in and brushed my lips.
“I see that.” I finished the knot, centered it, and fixed his collar. “You’re all set, handsome.”
“Thank you.” He took my hand. “We need to get going; we’re late.” He led me quickly to his car and opened the passenger side door. He had to help me in more than normal. Sports cars weren’t friendly to women wearing tight, short dresses. I tried to be as ladylike as possible, but still Ryder got a show. Not that he minded.
He ran around to the driver’s side and slid in before taking off like we were on fire.
“I could have met you at the restaurant.”
He shifted gears and kicked up a dust storm, barreling out of the Ranch. He glanced at my bare legs. “Then I couldn’t see those pretty legs of yours.”
“Is that the only reason?”
He took my hand and kissed it. “Shelby, this is our first date and I want everything to be perfect tonight. Besides, I couldn’t wait to see you.”
“Better.” I took my hand back hoping he would use both to steer the car.
He laughed and shifted gears again.
I gripped my seat and swallowed.
“What do you think of my new car?”
“Um . . .” I looked around at all the fancy features while holding on for dear life. “It’s nice.”
“Nice? Listen to it purr.” He increased his speed once we hit the main road outside of the Ranch.
I wanted to say I preferred the rumble of his old truck. “Would you mind slowing down?”
He immediately eased off the gas and glanced my way, noticing how uncomfortable I was. “Sorry, darlin’. I forget sometimes how much power this baby has.”
“It’s fine.” I rubbed my lips together. “Do you still have your truck?”
“That pile of junk? I couldn’t even give it away. I sold it for scrap metal.”
“Oh.”
“You sound disappointed.”
“We made some good memories in it.”
His lip curled up. “We sure did.” His warm hand landed on my thigh and caressed it. “We’ll make new memories in this car.”
I nodded, knowing it wouldn’t be the same. There was something about the back of a truck. “Remind me of the name of the couple we are having dinner with.”
“Wes and Deidre Halstrom. Wes owns a VC firm in Florida. He’s one of the people who I was meeting with when . . .”
We both grinned sheepishly, not wanting to revisit that particular part of our past.
“It’s difficult to get VC investment—his partners must have really believed in you and your product,” I tried to smooth it over.
“They did, but he ended up personally investing. After hearing what his company did and how much of a chunk it would take of mine, I wasn’t too keen on going that route. When I told him so, he still wanted in.”
“I’m impressed.”
“I’m glad, darlin’. Your opinion matters the most to me.”
I reached over and ran my hand down the back of his head and rubbed his neck. “I’ve always been proud of you.”
“Mmm,” he groaned at my touch. “You haven’t seen anything yet. I’ve got big plans for us.”
“Big or small, as long as we do it together, that’s all that matters to me.”
“Think big, Shelby.” Such excitement accompanied his words.
I’d always planned on small, but big could work as long as we stayed grounded and didn’t let business consume us like my family had.
We pulled into Chandlers, the most expensive restaurant in Carrington Cove—and that was saying something considering everything was expensive in Carrington Cove. This little place was nestled up in the mountain and looked more like a bed and breakfast than a restaurant, but it boasted one of the top chefs in the world from Europe. Macey and Marlowe loved this place. Their goal was to get their dates to take them here. For some reason, I hoped Bobby Jay never did. I couldn’t picture him here. To be honest, I couldn’t picture Ryder here either. He used to make fun of these hoity-toity places, as he liked to call them. He used to say he’d rather buy a whole cow than pay $75 for a steak.
