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Chapter One
Ryder Diamond looked in the mirror and scowled. Why the hell had he agreed to a blind date? Sure, his buddies were all settling down with their true loves. Even his best friend Bass was playing house with Ryder’s little sister—something that still made Ryder’s hand twitch with the need to punch him.
“And now I’m letting him set me up on a blind date,” Ryder mumbled.
The snap of an opening beer can sounded from behind him, and Ryder turned to find Huck walking into his room. Only it wasn’t a beer he was holding.
“What the hell is that?” Ryder asked, and motioned to the can in Huck’s hand.
“It’s coconut water. Supposed to be really good for you.” He took a big swig, and Ryder almost retched. A few months ago¸ Huck had been double fisting beers and slamming them faster than he could open the next one. But things had changed for his friend—like the love of a good woman.
“Speaking of what the hell…” Huck said. “What the hell is that?” He eyed Ryder’s shirt.
Ryder looked down the front of himself. “It’s a tie.”
“No, no, no, no.” Huck took a swig of canned water and yelled over his shoulder. “Bass, get in here. This is bad.”
Ryder glared and crossed his arms as Bass walked in and chuckled at Ryder’s appearance.
“Are you going to church there, handsome?” Bass joked.
“What are you two even doing here?” Ryder asked, tugging at his tie and taking it off. He tossed it on the floor and unfastened the top two buttons of his shirt.
“Well, I had come to watch the game,” Huck said. “But apparently you’re putting on a different kind of show.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a single dollar bill. “Gonna give us a dance, big boy?”
“Fuck off,” Ryder said, rolling up the cuffs of his blue dress shirt.
“Sorry, can’t do that, either.” Huck huffed like a distressed teenager. “Autumn is doing her pregnancy workout video and kicked me out. It’s not my fault she looks amazing in those tight pants. When she bends over, I just want to—”
“I can see why she kicked you out,” Ryder said.
“Well, I came to make sure you don’t mess this up,” Bass said. “You’ve been an asshole lately, and you need to get laid, or at the very least get out and socialize.”
“I’m plenty social,” Ryder defended himself.
Of course, by “social”, he meant that he was in town running errands, or he was working. But he always chatted with people whenever he could. The town was important to him. His family had built it, for Christ’s sake. And Ryder’s father and grandfather had shoes particularly difficult to fill, since their legacies were the beacons of pride around there.
Which was why he tried to present the best side of himself at all times.
He also was running a business that relied on his small town to stay local and use Diamond Construction when they needed something built. It was a delicate balance of good will, good faith, and good manners.
“Social?” Bass challenged. “Is that what you call working eighteen-hour days? I didn’t bring my dictionary with me, but I’m pretty sure those are two very different things.”
As if the universe were on cue, his cell phone buzzed with a text. Clara Davenport. She was the only daughter of Milton Davenport who, presently, was sort of Ryder’s boss. The man owned a ton of land in Diamond. Land in need of developing. It was the kind of business relationship that could secure Ryder’s future and the future of his employees.
Take the current development project. Ryder and his team were remodeling the Davenport Hall, which was where the eighteen-hour days were coming in. But this hall could lead to more deals with Davenport. He just needed to see this project through with no distractions, no problems, and things would be fine.
He glanced at his phone and hit ignore. Because the one thing that was not fine was Clara calling and texting looking to “discuss ideas” on the interior decorating of the Hall only to rope Ryder into a pseudo-date. Not that she’d call it a pseudo-date, but subtlety wasn’t her strong suit. She was arrogant, cold, and laying it on thick, and it was clear she was after Ryder for a lot more than his renovation skills. And he just wasn’t interested.
To be honest, he didn’t have time for dating at all, even if he were interested. But Huck and Bass had been on his ass often enough that agreeing to this one blind date seemed like the easiest way to shut them up.
“I agreed to this setup of yours,” Ryder said. “I didn’t agree to get shit from you about it.”
Besides, Bass’s friend was only in town for one night. Just passing through. So no matter how well—or, if Ryder’s track
record was any indication, how not well—it went, he’d be back to his normal life tomorrow.
Still, he felt compelled to say, “I don’t need help getting dates.”
“Oh, I’m aware,” Bass said with seriousness. “But half the single females around here don’t want to date you, they want to marry you.”
Huck did some kind of hand waving gesture while singing, “If you like it, you should put a ring on it.”
When both Bass and Ryder stared at their tattooed, pierced, and generally badass looking friend singing, of all things, a Beyoncé song, Huck stopped and shrugged.
“What? Autumn aerobicizes to that song. It’s catchy.”
“Jesus,” Ryder muttered.
Bass gave Huck a look like he understood and smiled.
His friends were happy. Really fucking happy. And Ryder was happy for them. Both had wonderful women in their lives, and Huck was going be a father. Both of them had an ease in every step that made it seem like they were walking on sunshine 24/7.
“This is a great opportunity for you,” Bass said, returning his attention to Ryder. “Everyone around here knows you, your name, and…”
Bass trailed off, but Ryder could guess what he was going to say next, because he’d dealt with it for a while now. Everyone, especially women, wanted a piece of Ryder. And not in the cool kind of way. They didn’t want him, they wanted what he could offer—like his name and station in town.
Something he’d learned the hard way when he was young and stupid, and it had almost cost his family everything.
