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Again…yeah fuckin’ right.
But he had to try. Because one look from those brown eyes chipped away at the tightly tethered order he had over his entire world. Whitney was blowing through that world like a level five tornado, and he knew firsthand how easy it was getting swept up in her.
“I think if we establish a simple friendship, nothing else, everything will be fine and normal.”
“Fine and normal, huh? Sounds sexy,” Huck joked.
“I’m going to treat her like a regular woman, not a one-night stand.”
“Ah crap. You’re going to break out the tie again, aren’t you?”
“No,” Ryder drawled. “I’m going to keep things—”
“Boring,” Huck finished for him, shaking his head. “Have fun with that.”
That was the problem. There was no fun with that. And that was the point! He needed a solid plan. Reverse the other night. Keep Whitney, with her lush mouth and sexy legs, out of his fantasies and keep it platonic.
Now that they were in the same town, a date would be customary to prove to everyone he was as calm and in control with her as he was with everyone else. And Ryder couldn’t deny that he wanted to see her again, but he could stay out of the sack with her. Had to. Once he set that amicable precedent, everything would get back to normal.
“Oh shit,” Huck muttered. “I know that look. You have a plan. It’s the same look you get when you’re about to tell me you’ve reorganized the vacation time spreadsheet.”
“Shut up,” Ryder said with a smile. But he did have a plan. He would prove to himself and to Whitney that he could handle the summer. With her. He wouldn’t alter his schedule and stay away from his sister’s diner. It was the main place he ate, after all. But he would prove he could keep his control, especially when it came to the sassy brunette with an affinity for short shorts. He had nothing to hide, but he did have something to maintain, and that was his will power.
Yeah, he could show her who was in control. Even if it cost him nightly cold showers.
It had been another long day at the BBQ. After seeing Ryder yesterday, a small part of Whitney was hoping she’d see him that afternoon. But he didn’t come in for the lunch shift. Not that she was glancing at the door every time its corner caught and rang the little bell.
She’d asked Penny for as many hours as she could give her, and Penny had obliged. Taking on the lunch and dinner shift would make Whitney’s days hellishly long, but at least the work would keep her busy, and her combined earnings over the summer would be more than enough to get her by for the next chunk of road tripping.
“Can you turn the game up, darlin’?” an older gentleman asked. Herb, she’d come to learn, was a regular, and tonight the diner was packed and almost all the barstools taken.
“Of course.” She smiled and turned up the volume on the TV that hung high over the bar.
Her tables were all set for the moment, so she hung out behind the bar and helped the bartender sling drinks and hand out appetizers. It was busy, but it made for a kind of happy peace. She didn’t have time to think too much. Which was good, since her thoughts either turned toward bad memories or, as of late, good memories. Specifically ones that involved the hot patriarch of the town.
“Still doing okay?” Penny asked, hustling past the bar with plates of food and heading toward the tables.
“Yes, going great.”
She nodded and smiled. Penny ran this place with pride, and it seemed everyone here liked her as much as they did Ryder. The Diamond siblings had roots and family and a town in their blood. That much was obvious.
Whitney didn’t have any of those things. When the summer was over, she’d move on, just the way she liked it. But she could take what bits of enjoyment she could while she was there. Because it was those bits that helped fill the emptiness that grew daily in her chest.
“May I get some ketchup?” another gentleman asked.
Whitney bent down behind the bar to grab it—
“I’m starting to think uniforms should be mandatory,” drawled a sexy voice.
She knew who it was without having to look. No way was this happening again. She rose and handed the ketchup to the patron, and saw that the last available stool in the far corner was now supporting a familiar, sexy contractor.
“Excuse me?” She walked toward Ryder.
He placed his forearms on the bar and looked her up and down. A look like that could melt a stronger woman than her, because yeah…she was melting a little.
“I think my sister should require uniforms to work here,” he repeated, his gray eyes pausing on her shorts. “Maybe pants. And a turtleneck.”
“Why is that?”
