“I like my job,” he quickly said, not risking a glance toward the athlete he was wooing to further advance his career. “Parts of it, anyway. It’s the hours I’m not fond of, but that’s on me and my inability to set healthy limits. But, you know, with the promotion, I’ll be able to retire early, so I guess I’m working toward a new goal.”
Evan’s dark eyebrows drew crinkly together as he sized him up. “A lot of shit can happen between now and then.”
“True.”
Zoe seemed to go quiet. She ate her dinner, sipped her water, but didn’t say much.
Ryder quietly checked her expression, kept one eye on her to see if he’d done or said something wrong, but she forced a nose scrunching smile for him.
Evan seemed to catch that his sister had something on her mind, and carried the conversation. Mostly football talk, as the quarterbacks at the table talked shop through the rest of dinner, and Zoe finally engaged when Evan brought up the upcoming football season at the high school, where they both assisted their dad in coaching. It must be strange, Evan having played through college, then shocked the entire town—probably the entire country—by disappearing after an incredible showing in college ball.
As the evening wore on, Zoe looked ready to fall asleep. With her hours at the pub, she probably slept as horribly as he did. He opened his mouth to ask if she was okay, but quickly closed again, leaving her to her thoughts.
When plates were empty, Evan stood up and stretched, then started clearing. “Hey, so, I promised Jagger a drink at Black Op tonight, so we’re ditching you guy.”
Ryder popped up and pulled a business card from his wallet. He passed it to Jagger, both standing in the middle ground between the kitchen and living room again. “Give me a call on Monday, or whenever, and let’s go over details. I’ve got a lot of ideas.”
“Absolutely,” Jagger answered with a broad grin. “Thanks, man. This is huge. I’m so excited.”
“Me too,” Ryder answered, genuinely grinning at the idea of it. Jess at Bellamy was going to go nuts over this. And Gene would start expecting him to have a celebrity ace up his sleeve for big deals like this. Fuck.
He glanced over to check on Zoe again, not hearing a peep from her for a while, and she was slowly stacking dishes.
“I got it,” he said, and popped over and slid the plates from her hands. “You made dinner.”
As she looked up at him, her nose scrunched curiously, and she calculated his intentions with a long look. “You’re a guest. Go sit and relax, and maybe we can visit for a bit after they leave?”
“I’d like that,” he answered easily, and backed away with the plates anyway, and prepped them for Evan at the sink.
Zoe just watched him curiously.
It didn’t take long, with the three of them barely even fitting in the small kitchen.
Evan finished rinsing and loading the dishwasher, and glanced over at Zoe, who was nearly asleep wiping down the table. Evan slipped the rag from her hand and smacked a kiss on the top of his sister’s head. He tossed the rag in the sink and nodded a goodbye at Ryder as he headed out the door, Jagger doing one last wave as he followed him out.
The quiet set in immediately in the vacant house, and Zoe rested her hands on the back of a dining chair and smiled softly at him.
Maybe this was a setup for Zoe and him, too? Maybe?
“Hey,” he said softly, moving back over and bracing his hands on the back of the seat next to her. Facing her, quietly, he said, “I can get going, unless you want to watch a movie or something?”
She brightened up and smiled quietly sweetly at him, her cheeks flush and bright, but her eyes lacked the normal sharp certainty. “Want to go for a drive?”
“In that pretty truck, that absolutely is not as snooty as my Porche, even though it’s the shiniest thing on the property?”
“Hush you,” she teased, the vibrance of her beckoning him in like, hell, he was entirely a moth drawn to her cozy amber flame. “It’s all about finding joy in the little things.”
Without a doubt, he was an idiot for coming up here. He’d already nailed the Bellamy contract, so he didn’t need Jagger. Icing on the cake, but he’d be a fool to deny why he’d really come tonight. “There is nothing little about that truck. Aside from the driver.”
Zoe rolled her eyes as she moved toward the door. She tossed a denim jacket over her shoulder like a rope for a climb, and backed out the door, her gooey brown eyes beckoning him to follow. “Grab that blanket from the back of the couch? There’s a chill in the air.”
Butterflies flooded his chest at the image. Stars and a blanket in the back of her truck? He plucked the woolen plaid off the sofa and rolled it up as he followed her outside. “I cannot remember the last time I kissed a girl in the back of a pickup truck.”
Ryder caught up to her with a leap off the porch step and moved to take her hand.
Shitty timing. She shifted the coat and started digging for keys. “Once we’re solidly in our twenties, we prefer to be calledwomen,” she said flashing him a dare on her tease.
“That was a retrospective reference. The last time I necked with anyone outside of an urban setting, I was a naïve boy dreaming of a grandiose future.” He reached up to take the handle, the truck door clicking open easily, and he stepped onto the siderail and hoisted himself inside. He laughed as he settled in his seat. “I mean, I wouldn’t say this truck is a ‘he’s compensating for something’ sort of truck, but… are you secretly preparing for a zombie apocalypse?”
