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“Because, sweetness, you’re distracting as hell.”
The way he slid those words out made her want to catch them, keep them in her pocket, and pull them out whenever she was feeling down. A single bit of praise from Ryder Diamond was just golden.
“No one said you have to look.” She pulled the rag out of her belt loop and wiped off the counter in front of him.
“That’s my dilemma,” he said. “I can’t not notice you.” He glanced around. “Just like every man in here can’t not notice you.”
That got her heart to stall. “Why Ryder Diamond, are you hitting on me?”
“No, ma’am.” He sat back. “Just came in for dinner and a beer. Thought I’d be neighborly to the
city girl.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m glad you met your neighborly quota for the day.” She grabbed a beer, popped the top, and slid it to him.
“How did you know what I liked?” he asked, examining the bottle.
“Because it’s what you drank the other night. I, too, have a good memory.”
Before she walked away, he said, “I’m still waiting for that chat, sweetness.”
She spun back around and frowned. “Didn’t we just chat?”
He took a drink from his longneck and shrugged. “I was thinking maybe over coffee sometime.”
Now she was really confused. “I’m sorry…what?”
“Coffee,” he said plainly. “I could pick you up.”
She put a hand on her hip and stared at him. “Like a date?”
He tilted his beer slightly in his hand, as though gauging its weight. “Kind of. I thought it would be nice.”
“Nice?” She had to repeat his words. This was bizarre. “I’m not sure I’m following you here. We had one night. It’s done now.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “But coffee has nothing to do with sex. I thought it would be—”
“Polite?”
When he didn’t say anything, reality hit her. Holy crap, Ryder Diamond was trying to be polite? All those good manners everyone talked about were in full gear. Was this how he treated every obstacle in his life? He’d said he’d never had a one-night stand before. So was this him trying to make it right or something?
“We agreed on one night,” she said again.
“No, we were both under the impression that we only had one night.”
“So you want another night?”
“I want to take you to coffee.”
“Because that would make you a gentleman?”
He let out a long breath. “Jesus, why are you being so stubborn?”
“Because you’ve got this backwards, big guy,” she said with sarcasm. “Typically, you take a woman out, then have sex with her. Guess what, I already gave it up. You don’t have to date me now.”
Something dark flickered behind his eyes. “I’m trying to—”
“Oh, I know what you’re trying to do. But I don’t need you to make me feel like a lady, and I don’t want you to take me on some weird coffee pity date just so your impeccable conscience can be cleared of a one-night stand. Because I’m not sorry, and I’m not ashamed.”
