“Zoe? Are you in there?” the interrupter asked.
“Oh, Evan, good. Hang on,” Zoe said quickly. She hopped off the vanity and quickly grabbed Ryder’s t-shirt and tugged it over her head.
Ryder grabbed his button up and stuffed his arms in quickly.
Zoe, apparently, wasn’t at all embarrassed and tied the undershirt in a knot at the side as she reached for the door and eased the door open, while Ryder was still buttoning up.
Evan’s grin was ripe with amusement as he tilted a look past Zoe. “Hey, Ryder.”
A frog jammed into his throat, and all he managed to say was, “Evan.” Past Evan, he saw Jagger Prince snapping and bopping his fists together with self-conscious impatience.
“Everything… alright?” Evan asked Zoe, one side of his mouth lifting into a grin ripe with a snarky tease.
“My stupid strapless bra fell down and when I went to fix it, I broke one of the straps of my dress.”
“Right,” Evan said, nodding and scrunching his brow low with teasing disbelief.
She shrugged playfully and said, “And, well, um…”
He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck and glanced behind him, then back at Zoe. “Finn and Haley are leaving in a sec, but I was going to head out and beat the crowd, so if you want to come home now… and sit in back… or I was going to see if Pops could bring you home if you wanted to stay longer…”
Zoe glanced back.
The clock was ticking. Ryder had one shot at this, and the pressure was acutely on.
Cinderella probably had a torn dress and had to take a pumpkin taxi home because she and the prince had gotten frisky in the rose garden, and he found her shoe because he was the one who had taken it off her. Ryder quickly said, “I can drive you home. Whenever you’re ready. I’m staying here tonight, so…” Fuck. Subtlety was instantly erased with the urgent moment of required bluntness.
“Thanks,” Zoe said, a little breathless and mischief brewing in her look, and, fuck, he wished he didn’t have to rush off in the morning.
Evan pushed off the doorframe and looked equally awkward over the exchange. “So, um, I’ll see you at home… whenever…” he said to Zoe.
“Yeah,” she said, nodding and glancing behind him again.
He lowered his voice and said, “Seriously though, call anytime, if you need a ride, or anything.”
“I know,” she said. “Thanks.”
Another pang of envy smacked Ryder right in the gut. Not only would his siblings not have been keeping an eye out for each other to notice that one of them had ducked out of sight with someone, but they wouldn’t have silently ragged each other with teasing looks, and offered to drop everything, even a night with a hotshot athlete, to come to the rescue. Haley spent so much time with Finn’s family, Grady with Claire’s, and he was starting to see why. Polar opposite of theirs.
“See you,” Evan said to Ryder, tipping a nod.
Already blushing, Ryder released his last button and waved subtly.
Zoe quickly closed the door and leaned against it. “I’m never going to live this down.”
Ryder stalked toward her and framed one hand on either side of her, unable to resist; fearless when she looked at him like that. He nipped a light kiss, enough to tease her into leaning in, and pulled away enough to see her frustration, that he wasn’t sinking in for a kiss like before. “We can see off the newlyweds and then I can drive you home, or, if you want to stay and hang out a while—”
Before he could finish his thought, she had her hands gripped in his hair and tongue down his throat. Stunned, breathless, he tried to catch up.
When she released him, she gulped an overdue breath and asked, “Is there a sneaky way up to your room?”
Thrill surged through him, relief and lust and so much, and he stepped back and quickly tucked in his shirt. “Are you sure?”
Head tilting with a wicked dare, she tipped up her chin. “No strings, if that’s what you’re worried about. You’re leaving tomorrow, right?”
“I really do have a shitty reputation.”
She snorted a laugh and set her hands on her hips. “Not like that. I mean, you live out of state, and I’m not looking to start anything complicated. But I’m having a good time, and I can’t remember the last time I’ve been spontaneous.”
