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His eyebrows rose, and he drank another sip of his beer. “And if one of us slips?”
“Hm.” I tried to think, wondering first about choosing the buy-a-drink tactic, but the last thing I needed was to wake up with a hangover and miss my flight, so I chose something that seemed fun and noncommittal. “We’ll just have to see what happens.”
He smacked the table and laughed, and with his contagious smile, I laughed, too. His auburn hair almost looked like a rich orange, glistening in the light as he shook his head and beckoned the bartender for another beer. Ryan had this way about him, this commanding presence that made it impossible to ignore his voice and difficult to stray from his gray-green eyes.
“So, what do you do? I mean, if you can answer without sounding like a big shot.”
He brushed his fingers through his hair. “What if Iama big shot?”
“Then you better sound humble about it.”
He chuckled. “Well, Ihumblyown a landscaping business.” He shrugged. “No big deal.”
“Okay,” I said with a giggle. “Saying ‘no big deal’ doesn’t make it humble.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Doesn’t it?”
“Not in the slightest.”
“What would make it humble?”
I bit the inside of my lip in thought and tried not to meet his gaze. Ryan seemed to know his place and his boundaries, and he was breaking mine down and weakening my grasp on my resolve to shut him down. And while we’d only been talking for a few minutes, I was already having fun.
“Just say what you are without the job description to make it fancy. You’re a lawn guy.”
“Awhat?” he asked, an airy laugh carrying the question from his lips. “I amnota lawn guy.”
“A gardener then.”
“Not a gardener.”
“You plant stuff, right?”
He scoffed. “I hire people who ‘plant stuff.’” He curled his fingers in air quotes.
“Oh, sorry.” I realized I may have insulted him, but Ryan’s lips quirked, and he trailed my arm with light but rough fingers. I jerked my arm away and drew an invisible line between us, which drew a smile across our faces.
He threw up his hands in a placating motion. “That was stupid. Sorry. What doyoudo, Miss Sophisticated?”
I fought a glare and instead smiled at the fingers that had grazed my skin. Goosebumps followed his touch, and I sucked in a breath. I hadn’t realized it, but we’d both made a decision at that moment, and I was ready to explore it. I smiled a little at the thought of a one-night romance with a stranger, forever forgotten after we parted ways. The idea had never appealed to me before, but there was something about him, something daring and exciting, that begged to be discovered.
“I’m whatever you want me to be,” I said with a challenging tone, grinning up at him as a glint touched his eyes and lit a fire within me.
We sat at the dim airport bar, and while he asked me questions about my dreams and what I enjoyed doing, he seemed genuinely interested, as if we weren’t just two strangers who would part ways in the morning. As if we were colleagues or friends, and I found myself enjoying the stress-free feeling of it all.
My heart leaped when he took my hand in his. I’d known this man for less than an hour, yet something about him was reassuring. His palms were warm and firm as if he’d either done this before or felt as confident as I did that something was right—about this, about now.
“Let’s get out of here.” His voice had deepened, the words so low that my whole body trembled at the sound.
I nodded quickly, too ensnared by his gaze to do anything but. I wanted this. I wanted this excitement to go further. I wasn’t sure where it would end, but the pounding in my chest and swirling in my core told me I was ready for all the excitement Ryan had to offer, and I’d succumb to the weakness it drew out of me.
Ryan offered to rent a room in the airport’s hotel, which meant I didn’t have to explain why a twenty-six-year-old still lived with her mom. I was glad we didn’t need a ride there, too afraid of risking a missed flight, and I didn’t want to be without an escape plan in case he turned out to be crazy.
When we found his room, I shucked off my jacket. He went into the bathroom while I propped my stuff against the wall by the door. I heard the faucet come on and then shut off almost as quickly before he came out. My eyes shot open. His broad chest glistened with the stray droplets that had splashed when he washed his face. He was more than ready, bulging through a pair of blue boxers as he stepped closer to me without an ounce of humility.
“You don’t mess around,” I said with a nervous laugh.
His gaze traveled up and down my body. “I can go slower.”
