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“Maybe we should give them a minute,” Bass said quietly to Penny.
Penny smacked his chest and whispered, “Are you crazy? I’m not missing this!”
That made Ryder look at his sister, then back at Whitney. “Perhaps we should discuss this in private.”
Whitney lifted her chin. “There’s nothing to discuss. It was one night. It’s over. Clearly you thought I was someone else and I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
He leaned over the counter and brought his face close to hers. “I’d say it was the right place at the right time.” Those gray eyes held a spark that she recognized from last night. God, the man was power in its finest sate. “But you weren’t who I thought you were.”
“Obviously,” she scoffed, then backed away enough to grab the milk and put some in the blender. This distraction wasn’t working as well as she’d hoped, but she was still trying.
As if a haze cleared, Ryder stood to his full height and cleared his throat. Whatever reasonable façade he normally donned was back in place. Gone was the Ryder she knew first hand to be dominant alpha sexiness.
“How long are you here for?” he asked bluntly.
“The summer.” She glanced at Penny. “That is, if I still have a job?”
Penny’s auburn brows shot up. “Oh, honey, of course you do. Don’t let this overgrown stick in the mud have you thinking otherwise.”
Ryder glanced at the ceiling as if trying to gain patience. “You said you didn’t stay anywhere too long,” he said, his gaze landing back on Whitney.
“Ryder Diamond,” Penny said, admonishing his manners for the second time.
He nodded once then took a breath, as though looking for a way to rephrase. It would seem Mr. Diamond of the freaking town of Diamond had a code of manners and some kind of reputation to uphold, because as more eyes turned toward them, the straighter he stood.
“Well, it was eventful running into you again…?”
Oh, so now he wanted her name? Normally she’d make a guy like this work for it, but the way he was looking at her, she’d bet knowing her name would rattle him for the rest of the day.
“Whitney,” she said.
“Whitney,” he repeated, and holy hell, her name on his lips made her goose bumps turn nuclear. But the way he looked at her got her hot for a different reason. Why was he mad at her? This misunderstanding wasn’t her fault, damn it. “I don’t suspect I’ll be seeing much more of you,” he finished.
That was the last straw.
No way in hell would this guy brush her off in a way that made her look like the crazy woman. Ryder liked his manners and his little coded language? Fine, she could play. And she would. Because she might not be a local, but she had a feeling she knew the town’s golden boy in a way very few did. Fact number one? Ryder liked to be challenged. It was the first thing she’d learned about him.
“Not interested in seeing more of me?” she asked. “That explains why last night you were so determined to use your tongue on my skin. Since you couldn’t really see and all.”
Penny held back a smile, and so did Bass. Ryder just looked ready to throttle her. Or maybe kiss her. She wasn’t going to think of him either way. He wanted to be a dick? Fine. She would just state facts until he broke.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Ryder said and pushed off the counter.
He was stillness and control, but just beneath the surface she could feel his body hum the same way it had last night when he’d been on the brink of losing that calm. It made her whole body stand to attention and her instinct pipe up, demanding that she push for more. Because the man was beyond more.
He was frustrating and sexy, and if calling him out got him to loosen up, she’d do it. At the very least so he wouldn’t stand there and make this mess her fault. Because it was a mess. She was working for his sister all summer, in a town that was named after him, and judging by the looks and the waves, he was like a damn celebrity around here.
How was Whitney supposed to compete with that? She had no one. No family or real friends. And she had slept with a man that came with those things, plus an entire town.
Not her scene.
Not her forte.
Not her life.
Best to keep the one night just that. One. And it was in the past now. But pushing Ryder’s buttons enough to make him acknowledge the truth wouldn’t hurt anyone. Hell, it might even make her feel better.
“Nothing to talk about,” she said, and sealed the blender.
