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God, please let Ryder go back to avoiding her, McKenzie prayed. Because she was absolutely mortified at her blurted plea.
Had aliens taken over her brain? How could she have asked him something so insane?
Desperation really had turned McKenzie’s mind to mush.
Ryder didn’t even like her, so the very idea of his going with her was ridiculous.
No more ridiculous than hiring an escort service.
She dug her fingertips into her clammy palms.
At least she knew Ryder. He wouldn’t get the wrong idea or be some criminal who’d slipped through the company’s background checks.
She raked her gaze over his six-foot frame. Chestnut hair, strong nose and cheekbones, honey-colored eyes, dark, thick lashes, full lips framed by deep dimples. Ryder was gorgeous.
She’d thought it the day they met, and that hadn’t changed with time.
Of course, Mr. Gorgeous had said no. He avoided her like the plague. Why would he bail her out of an unpleasant situation?
Only why was he still standing in the doorway?
He’d said no. Okay, fine. He should go away and let her get back to her internet search before she was notified regarding her new patient’s test results.
* * *
“I didn’t expect you to say yes.” Shut up, McKenzie. “I mean, why would you go to Nashville with me?”
He blinked. “You wanted me to go to a wedding with you in Nashville, as in Tennessee?”
Yeah, that was a long way away from Seattle.
Nineteen hundred and seventy-four miles by plane.
Oh, how she knew every long torturous mile of that five-hour flight and how she dreaded every moment.
Just thinking of it had her heart flip-flopping.
Or maybe it was the way Ryder was looking at her that had triggered her cardiac acrobatics.
Perhaps he didn’t like flying any more than she did.
“I would have paid your way,” she defended, just in case he’d thought she’d meant for him to dig into his own pockets to help her.
He looked insulted and gestured toward her darkened computer screen. “I’m not for hire.”
Her face heated. “That’s not what I meant. My covering your expenses would only have been fair. You shouldn’t have to pay to bail me out of a bad situation.”
His expression became pensive. “Is that what this is? A bad situation?”
The worst.
“Spending the weekend with my family will be torture if I go home alone.” For so many reasons. “They’ll be beside themselves with worry that Paul and I’ve broken up. The last thing I want is to have everyone focused on my broken heart instead of my cousin’s happy day.” She sighed. “Plus, I’m in the wedding. I have to go. Yeehaw.”
Feeling tears she’d have sworn she didn’t have left fill her eyes, McKenzie turned toward the computer. She moved the computer mouse, lighting up the screen again.
“I just want to go home, celebrate my cousin’s wedding and enjoy spending time with my family.” A tall order, under the best of circumstances and perhaps impossible while trying to forget about her breakup with Paul. “But, no worries, I have a plan.”
Not necessarily a great plan, but one that would hopefully suffice to keep her first trip home in eons from being completely ruined.
