“Good for you,” he said, smiling painfully wide as he took the moment for his mother. Promotion. Baby on the way. After years of disappointing his mother with his lack of upward traction, the woman would be elated, but…
Ryder stepped back again, shifted the gift bag on his wrist and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans.
“Patricia, come on and have a seat,” Claire said, crossing over and taking Patricia by the arm. “Have you been keeping up with the texts?” she asked, and peeked over her shoulder and winked at Ryder.
Thank you,he mouthed.
A cozy group, even with Patricia’s injection into their fold.
As he stood still, calculating where to sit, who to sit by, who to visit with, Zoe rose from her spot and rounded the waiting room loveseat to reach him. She stuffed her hands in the kangaroo pocket of her oversized hoodie. “You must be starving. Unless you ate on the plane?”
Tightening his middle couldn’t mask the noisy rumble at the very mention of food. “I’m okay,” he said.
Zoe tipped her head back with a delicious laugh and came up shaking her head at him, her bottom lip teasing between her teeth. “No wonder you don’t lie, to your clients and, so far, not to me. You are terrible at it.”
Desperation tingled under his skin, an urge to sneak his hands into her pockets with her, to dip in and taste where she’d bitten her lip. In another reality, he’d wonder if she’d cast some sort of spell over him.
“Where’s Raphe?” he asked.
“Oh, he’s… not here.” She answered with a forced laziness. She nodded toward the others again, and this time, he followed and sat next to her on the little loveseat.
From under the seat, next to a cute gift bag and another sweatshirt, she pulled out a small cooler. Setting it on the floor, she lowered the handle and popped open the lid. Where there had been plenty of room for a small feast, a neatly wrapped sandwich remained, nestled amongst the ice packs.
Zoe withdrew the sandwich and extended it.
“You saved one for me?”
“Of course,” she said with a subtle shake of her head and a big drop in her dark eyebrows. “I knew you’d be here.”
A long leg extended and a big foot nudged his. Ryder turned to see Evan grinning mischievously, one side of his mouth turned up with a hint of a challenge. “You owe me. Zoe nearly had to hide the cooler to keep me out of it. My salad was good, but… I’m going through carb withdrawal. That’s Cascade Bakery sourdough, fresh this morning.”
Zoe cozied up in the small seat they shared and drew her legs up, dropping her knees to rest on his lap.
A cozy group, so she probably had no idea how badly she was torturing him, toned legs in snug leggings, her warmth radiating over his legs.
“Oh, I forgot you’re shredding,” Ryder said, laughing subtly and nodding.
“Give it up,” Scott said with a snort. “You’re already in better shape than the rest of us, and if he doesn’t see that—”
“I know,” Evan said, firing an unheated glare back at his father. “He sees me for my obvious hotness,” he teased, and puffed up his chest. “But, you know.” He shrugged instead of finishing his sentence.
Ryder unwrapped the sandwich and snuck a glance at Zoe. Not that she’d succumbed to slowing so far, but… she was the defensive coordinator for a high school football team, and had three big guys in her life she could tackle as if she was twice their size. From what Evan had been telling him, anyway.
In one bite, Zoe converted him into becoming a cold sandwich person. A groan vibrated down his throat as his tastebuds announced his new favorite flavor combination. Evan was right about the sourdough. Best he’d ever tasted. But the sharp cheddar and Havarti, chipotle in there somewhere, tomato. Halseth’s was famous for their smoked meats, for good reason. This smoked turkey wasn’t like anything you could buy at the store.
At his side, Zoe beamed as she watched him smile over a sandwich.
“What?” he asked through squirrel cheeks, grinning wider as he met her look.
“You. I think that’s the most honest and obvious expression I’ve ever seen on you,” she whispered, and winked playfully. “Except that other time.”
He snorted a laugh and tamped it down so he could swallow.
Scott lifted his phone and grinned broadly at the screen. “Finn says it’ll be awhile before the next update. She wants to push, so the nurse is getting the doctor.”
The room erupted into chatter. Patricia regaled them with tales of Haley’s birth, and how she’d just slid right out. Third babies and all. How Grady had been a difficult birth. Ryder had been the most beautiful baby she’d ever laid eyes on, dark hair and a smile since birth.
Zoe’s eyes widened.
