Ben laughed. “Yeah, because you’re not dating, so that’s why you’d get all bent outta shape. No feelings at all for her. Totally obvious.”
Ryan shot him the finger. “We’re not dating. Next subject.”
“The man doth protest too much, me thinks, brother of mine.”
Billy’s forehead scrunched. “What are you talking about, Ben?”
“Ask Mr. Reader over there.”
“Bad Shakespeare.” Ryan’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He hoped to God someone had committed a crime so he could leave. He swiped his screen. It was a text from Meg. You need to get your butt over to Brewster’s now! Trey Jackson is moving in on Tara. Hard.
Nope. That wasn’t happening. Be right there.
“Sorry guys, duty calls.”
“Nick’s on call. Let him handle it,” Mike said as he laid down the winning hand.
“No need to get Nick out of his recliner on a Friday night. Just something at Brewster’s. Later.” Ryan gathered his things and headed for the door. When he hit Main Street, he picked up the pace.
Trey Jackson, action star, returned to Anderson Butte every year. The female staff at the hotel knew to steer clear. But Tara wouldn’t know that, and she clearly liked the way he looked when they were jogging the other day. It just added to Ryan’s already dark mood.
He yanked open the door to Brewster’s and was body slammed with loud country music, the scents of greasy bar food and beer, and heat from too many bodies jammed inside the small space.
Glancing around, he spotted his sisters sitting at a table filled with paper bingo cards, Sharpies, and half-full glasses, but he didn’t see Tara.
A pit formed in his stomach. Had Tara gone back to the hotel with Trey?
Then he spotted two blond heads above the crowd on the dance floor and his gut relaxed. After shouldering his way through the milling people, he sat beside Meg. “How long has that been going on?”
Casey smirked. “That was fast. You must’ve run.”
He hadn’t run. Jogged a little maybe. “So should I go break that up?”
“No. Tara will be pissed.” Meg took a long sip of her beer. “Just be patient. When she’s done, get her back out there and keep her there until Trey gets bored waiting and moves on.”
He tried not to watch but he couldn’t help it. Tara smiled at Trey as they talked. Then Trey did some dip thing that surprised her and her hands slipped around his neck to hang on. Pretty slick move. He’d have to remember that one.
As his sisters blathered between themselves about how many drinks they’d won playing bingo, Trey’s hand slowly slipped farther and farther south to Tara’s rear end. One of Tara’s hands caught his and then lifted it to neutral territory. After a few moments, Trey’s hand went for the prize again.
That did it. Ryan jumped up, pushed his way through the other dancers, and then laid a hand on Trey’s shoulder.
He might have squeezed a little harder than necessary.
Trey winced. “What the—”
“Thanks for keeping my girlfriend company until I got here. Mind if I cut in?” Ryan shot him a big, fake, toothy grin.
Trey rubbed his shoulder while staring daggers into Ryan’s eyes. Just as Trey opened his mouth to speak, Tara’s hand wrapped around Ryan’s arm and she yanked. “Thanks for the dance, Trey. Excuse us. I need to have a little chat with my boyfriend.”
Meg was right. He’d pissed Tara off.
He slipped his arm around her waist and swept her up into a two-step before she could drag him outside and rip him a new one.
“What was that about?” Tara growled through gritted teeth.
He pulled her closer so he wouldn’t have to yell above the music. “He’s a jerk. I was saving you from him.”
“Saving me?” She tapped a finger on his bruised nose. “Looked in the mirror lately? I can take care of myself, Ryan.”
The music stopped so she started to pull away, but he wasn’t done yet. He held her in place. “He was pawing you.”
Tara crossed her arms as the next song started up on the jukebox. “I had it under control.”
Because they were causing a traffic jam, he swept her into a dance again. Moving his mouth near her ear, he whispered, “He’s one of those celebrities who thinks he can have whoever he wants, whenever he wants her. He’s got a rap sheet in LA. Multiple sexual assault charges that have mysteriously never been prosecuted. His lawyers make them go away. He and I have had a discussion about his behavior here, but I don’t trust him. I wanted to be sure he didn’t hurt you, Tara.”
“Oh.” Her eyes grew wide. “No wonder Meg acted so weird when he asked me to dance.”
He nodded. “She texted me. That’s why I’m here.”
“I’m sorry, Ryan.” She smiled before she circled her hands around his waist and gave him a hug. And then kept holding on. “I appreciate that more than I can tell you. Thank you.”
“Welcome.”
He loved holding her in his arms. Six feet of the most beautiful woman in the world. He could dance with her all night.
But she wasn’t ready for anything serious yet, so he slowly slipped his hand lower toward her butt, stopping right before the critical point.
When her chest rumbled against his with a laugh, it made him smile.
She leaned back, her eyes still sparkling with humor. “Move your hand or lose it.”
He slowly moved his hand a few inches higher, loving all the curves. “What’d Trey say to make you smile? I never know what to say to a woman when we dance. It’s awkward.”
“He was telling me about filming his last movie in Bali. Sounded beautiful and fun.”
“Tough to compete with that.” He pulled her a little closer.
“You don’t have to compete with that. Women just want to know you’re interested in them, Ryan. You could just ask her how her day was and that’d be enough.”
“How was your day, Tara?”
“Great. How was yours?”
He thought about that for a minute. “Weird. I arrested Pam and Toby for being naked in public.”
“Pam mentioned that earlier.” Tara laughed. “She said she hated how you didn’t even look—much. If I was your real girlfriend, I would appreciate that. A lot.”
“Yeah?”
“Mm hmm.” She snuggled closer and smiled. “Pam said she had a huge crush on you in high school. But you only had eyes for Sarah.”
“Pam wasn’t and never has been girlfriend material.”
“What does that mean?” Tara leaned back and frowned. “She’s really nice.”
He shrugged. “It’s just . . . she sleeps around . . . a lot . . . and a guy doesn’t want . . . the mother of his—”
“Stop right there. So it’s okay for a guy to sleep with as many girls as he wants, sowing his oats until he decides to settle down, but a woman can’t, Mr. Stuck-In-The-Fifties? If a woman is single, that’s her right.”
“I’m just not attracted to that type of woman.” His mother had slept around. No way would he ever want to be with someone like that.
Before he could figure out how to explain that to Tara, she said, “Well, it’s a good thing we’re just a fake couple, then, because I plan to become that type of woman from here on out.”
Here on out? Damn her ex-husband for whatever he’d done to make Tara feel that way. “I tried sleeping with women just for the sake of it, without the rest, and all it did was make me feel like a jerk for doing it.”
Tara’s eyes found his and held for a long moment before she let out a sigh. “We’ll see, I guess. You’re a good dancer, Sheriff.”
Avoidance from her, as usual. “You too. I like dancing with someone a little closer to my own size.”
“You do need dating lessons, pal.” Tara rolled her eyes. “You mean closer to your own height.
A woman never wants her size compared to a man’s.”
“So you won’t be asking to borrow a shirt anytime soon?”
“Only if I decide to go skinny-dipping and get caught without one.”
He loved that she got his sense of humor. “I’d happily share. But with you, I’d definitely look first.”
Tara’s lips parted, but she just blinked at him. It was the second time he’d seen her speechless. The last was when he’d used her real name.
The song ended so he quickly asked, “Want a drink?”
She slipped out of his arms. “At the risk of offending your old-school ways, I’ll buy you a drink for saving me earlier. I saw Corona in your fridge. One of those?”
“Great. Thanks.”
He didn’t want her to buy his drinks and had almost said so, but then he’d have been proving her point, so he made his way back to his sisters. The smirks on their faces made him want to keep right on walking.
Meg said, “Now I’ve seen it all. You talked to Tara the whole time you danced?”
“She was kicking my ass.” He sat beside Meg. “A guy has to defend himself.”
Casey finished off her drink. “Yeah, I always smile like that too when I get my ass kicked. We’d better go, Meg. Grandma’s probably tempted to drown our kids in the lake by now.”
“’Kay.” Meg gave him a shoulder bump. “Walk her home. And when you get there, ask her how a guy knows if he’s a good kisser.”
“Tara’s not going to fall for that.”
“She will, because earlier, Pam told the story about how badly you and Sarah both fumbled through your first kiss in middle school. Look a little pathetic and she won’t be able to not help you.”
That was freakin’ embarrassing. It was just that one time. “Why the hell did Pam do that?”
“It was on purpose. Trust me. Do as I say and you’ll get that kiss. We all want to see you guys together, Ry. Here she comes. Good luck.” He stood so his sisters could slide out of the booth. They said goodbye to Tara on their way out.
The embarrassed middle school kid in him wanted to prove to Tara that he’d improved in the kissing department.
Would that line really work? As annoying as it was, his sisters were rarely wrong when it came to advice about women. But they hadn’t seen the way Tara had nearly ripped the pockets off his shirt the last time he’d almost kissed her. She’d have to be the one to make the first move. Not him.
Tara said goodbye to the girls and then made her way to the table. Ryan stood beside it, waiting for her to sit first. The man had manners. She had to give him points for that. “Ran them off too, huh? You’re batting a thousand tonight.” She added a smile so he’d know she was just kidding as she laid their drinks on the table then slipped into one of his sisters’ vacated spots.
He sat across from her and then tapped his glass lightly to hers. “But now I have you all to myself. Thanks for the drink.”
She grunted. “You’re welcome. But us sitting here alone is going to get tongues wagging even harder, you know.”
“I don’t mind.” His eyes locked with hers as he took a pull from his glass.
She didn’t mind as much anymore either. It was easier than trying to convince everyone otherwise. “I’m afraid the women are going to hate me for being the one to break your in-town-dating rule. Missy will be first in line.”
“They’ll get over it. Especially when I move away.”
“You’re really serious about that?”
“I just need the right job offer, and I’m out of here.” His jaw clenched before he took another long drink.
She studied his face. For someone so sure about moving, he didn’t seem happy about it. Maybe time for a subject change. “So, back to your lessons. Your past girlfriends said you were too quiet. Since they didn’t live in town, how often did you talk to them?”
He shrugged. “On the weekend when I saw them. We usually made plans for the following weekend before I left.”
“What?” Was he kidding? When he just stared back at her looking perplexed, she said, “So you never called on, say, a Wednesday night, just to see how she was? You just showed up for the weekend date and booty call?”
Ryan frowned as he rubbed the back of his neck. “You make it sound bad. It wasn’t like that.”
“Well, I bet it sure felt that way to the women you dated. I’d have dumped your ass too!”
He fiddled with a bingo card for a minute before he said, “I don’t like to talk on the phone. I’ve tried but it just feels . . .”
His voice had turned so quiet she suddenly felt sorry for him. “Women will do all the talking if you just ask them the right questions. Then all you have to do is make sounds of approval and go with the flow.”
“Asking the right questions is where the problem lies.”
“You’re a cop. Someone trained to notice things.” She closed her eyes. “What color are my eyes?”
“Blue.”
“See?” She opened her eyes again. “How tall am I?”
He smiled. “Six feet plus or minus a half inch.”
“Correct again. We’ll skip the weight question. Since we’ve already been on three dates now, sort of, what do you know about me?”
“That your weight is perfect, and you actually eat, unlike some of my other past dates. You avoid answering questions about anything personal, especially about your former husband or marriage. Your big purse holds an ever-present e-reader and pepper spray. You have a nice family, but you don’t want one of your own. You run most every day. You prefer your wine red and your coffee black. You moved here from Denver. You’d like to go whitewater rafting and you spoil your puppy.”
“Wow. That was a lot of words in a row.” She chuckled as she took another sip of her wine. “And I don’t spoil my puppy. I may indulge him a bit. But otherwise that was very good. And for your information, I also love movies. Any kind except horror—even guy flicks. So out of that list, what would be the easiest thing to discuss for you?”
“Your weight?”
“Be serious, we’re having a class here.”
He took her hand and stared deeply into her eyes. When his lips tilted into a slow, sweet smile, her stomach clenched again. Would that ever stop?
“While I’d love to ask about your ex, and your need to carry pepper spray in Anderson Butte, I suppose I’d do better asking about the book you’re reading or about Sherlock.”
“And you’d be right!” She tugged her hand from his and glanced at her phone. “I didn’t realize how late it was. Let’s resume class on our next date.” She sent him a smirk. “I need to go home and spoil my puppy.”
“I’ll walk you.” He drained his beer glass.
She slid out of the booth. “You don’t have to protect me, Sheriff. That’s what my pepper spray is for.”
He opened the door for her to step first into the blessedly cool mountain air. “I was hoping you’d protect me. You’re the one who’s armed, here. I’m off duty.”
She laughed. “Come on, then. I’ll see you safely to your front door. But don’t expect a goodnight kiss. I hear you’re bad at that.”
He ran a hand down his face. “Meg told me about Pam’s big mouth. But that was actually a plot on the girls’ part to get you to let me kiss you.”
“What?” She stopped walking.
“They like you and mean well.” He slid an arm around her waist and tugged her along with him. “I was supposed to ask you how a guy knows if he’s a good kisser. And if you’d help me know if I am. But you’re not ready.”
She hated that she’d let fear get the best of her the last time she’d agreed to a kiss from him. Hated worse that he’d seen it. She needed to move on, start fresh again. Forget Spencer and what he’d done. It was in the past and she was ready to get back out there.
Probably.
She’d been thinking so hard she hadn’t noticed when they passed by Ryan’s house and ended up at hers.
He was moving to Denver soon. He’d be the perfect one to give her that first kiss since her ex’s hate-filled ones.
She was going to do it.
Tara hopped up on the porch before he could step up, then turned and faced him. Eye to eye with him, she laid her hands on his shoulders. “For the sake of our lessons, let’s see if you’ve improved since middle school.” Before he could respond, she laid her mouth on his.
Memories of Spencer’s last angry kiss stiffened her spine just like it had the last time, and her hands went to Ryan’s chest again in automatic defense. But she needed to move past her fear. She wanted to kiss Ryan, so she fought back the anxiety and focused only on his warm lips pressed against hers. They were soft and full and tasted like the Corona with lime he’d just finished. Their mouths fit together perfectly, like they were created only for each other.
When he tilted his head for a better angle, her lips parted of their own accord, inviting—no, begging—him to take more. Three years was a long time without a man’s touch, but the spark of awareness that swept through her, warming her from the inside out, was a response her body had never had to a simple kiss before. It confused her as much as it ignited the long-dormant urges that screamed for more.
As his tongue danced lightly with hers and found a primal rhythm they both seemed to know, he took her hands, still fisted on the front of his shirt, and moved them to his waist. Then he slowly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her so close his heart pounded against hers. Even their heartbeats seemed to be in synch.
She moaned at the sexy pleasure his mouth sent straight to her core, and slipped her hands around his neck as their kiss grew more intense. Urgent. Needy. And damn hot.
An alarm in the back of her brain finally broke through the spell he’d woven, warning that things were moving too quickly. She should stop before she didn’t have the will left to resist taking him to bed to see if he was as good at making love as he was at kissing. She’d have to guess he was.
Reluctantly, she slowly leaned back ever so slightly, ending their kiss, and blinked her eyes open. They stood with their arms wrapped around the other, warm breath mingling, as they stared into each other’s eyes. A full minute passed before he finally whispered, “So? What’s the verdict, Tara?”
It Had to Be Love (An It Had to Be Novel) Page 10
