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Penny and Lily exchanged a glance. Finally Penny responded with, “That dick!”
“Yeah, what a douche,” Lily agreed.
Whitney laughed again. “I know it sounds dumb, but he’s all about boundaries and control and manners. He wants to go on a date, but only to keep things under his control.” And if she were being extra honest, those dates were meant to be private. Because that’s how Ryder liked it. Sure, he’d taken her to his place. Wined and dined her… Well, more like Bagel Bites and heavy machinery’ed her. But still! It was his version of dating, and part of her liked it.
Yet it was becoming clearer and clearer that Ryder kept public and private affairs separate. Even if she wanted a real relationship with him, she’d only get a piece of one when they were alone.
“I heard that,” Penny said, and saluted her drink in the air. “Bass has his own ideas of control. And it’s oh so fun to watch him lose it.” The heat behind Penny’s green eyes made Whitney believe her. “But it’s also fun being on the receiving end of all that power.”
It was Whitney’s turn to salute because, yeah, she could testify to that.
“That’s what I mean. It is amazing to be with him when he lets go, and I feel like it’s the real him I’m actually experiencing. I’m not interested in the polite Mr. Diamond. He can either have his distance or…”
“Be all up in your business,” Lily said with a wink.
Whitney smiled, thinking of a few nights ago, when Ryder and she had been in the lake and, yep, he’d been all up in her business all right.
“Exactly. I’m not looking to land the head of the town or whatever he is. I just like being with him when he’s…himself.”
Penny smiled. “You’re perfect!”
Lily nodded in agreement.
“What?”
Penny just shook her head. “Oh, my brother has finally met his match and I love it! You won’t give him an inch. I can tell. Just how you answered that question is sheer brilliance.”
Whitney wasn’t out to ruin anything, or play coy. She just wouldn’t give in to Ryder in every way he wanted. Like being platonic. It was either complete distance or being so close she could taste him. No in-between.
Penny held up her margarita glass. “Here’s to going after what you want,” she said.
“And not being shy about it,” Lily added, holding up her pitcher.
Whitney felt a flash of true sisterhood, and it both hurt and filled that empty space in her chest where Kacey’s memory was tucked away. She looked at the two women who’d made her feel welcome and not so alone, and she clinked her glass with theirs.
“I’ll drink to that.”
Chapter Ten
“Shit!” Ryder growled. “This is wrong. Hell it’s…a half inch too short.” He looked at the perfectly cut piece of granite countertop that was now resting on the long handmade cabinet in the main lobby of the Davenport Hall. A cabinet that had taken him two weeks to make, stain, and install. And of all things to go wrong, the damn countertop was too short.
Huck stood behind him and eyed the fuck all mess he was looking at. In construction, a half inch was a big deal, and even Ryder couldn’t make a chunk of granite grow. Which meant…
“We’re going to have to redo the cabinet,” Huck said.
“Yep.” Ryder blew out a breath. He’d measured and re-measured the damn thing ten times. He never made an error like this. “Who was in charge of the supply shipment and granite dealer?”
Huck glanced over his shoulder, his white spackled hands tucked beneath his arms. “Jerry was.”
Ryder wasn’t into playing the blame game. But he’d built this damn box from scratch and knew—knew—the measurements. Granted, he’d been distracted lately by Whitney. Could he really have made this error himself? Shit, he didn’t know. And he wasn’t about to blame someone else on a hunch. It didn’t matter, because the end result was the same. He’d have to redo the whole damn thing. And fast.
“What if we order a small piece of granite, cut it to size, and cover that small spot?” Huck said.
Ryder shook his head. “Davenport wants all clean lines. He would lose his shit if he saw two pieces of stone instead of a single piece.”
“How about we take apart the cabinet and cut it down to size?”
Ryder nodded. It would work, even if the solution wasn’t as simple as Huck made it out to be. The way Ryder had constructed the cabinet meant a fair amount of trouble to take it apart, sand down the half inch, and put it back together. He could do it, it would just take time—something he was running out of.
