Ryder moved forward and flashed Maisie his most charming smile, the kind that could talk cops out of speeding tickets and women out of their clothes. "So, you must be his boss."
Maisie pushed away from the table and stood with barely a smile. "And you must be his friend." Her voice was flat, like she wanted to be a million miles away. "Ryder, right?"
She didn't sound like Maisie – at least, not the version who'd been falling asleep in my arms.
Ryder approached the table and reached across it to hold out his hand. "Guilty as charged."
She took his hand, gave it a perfunctory shake, but then quickly pulled back. Her face was devoid of expression as she said, "Nice to meet you."
Ryder laughed. "Hey, don't worry. Whatever Griff's told you, it's probably true."
She let out a small, halfhearted chuckle. "Yeah, well…he's not really a talker, so..." She swallowed hard, like the rest of it wasn't worth saying.
My brow creased in confusion. And yeah, maybe concern.
Not really a talker?
Maybe.
But we'd talked plenty where it counted. I loved how open she was – about her dad, the shop, and more. Okay, so I hadn't been Mister Chatty from the get-go. But I liked where we were going and figured it was only a matter of time.
And hey, I'd shown herthisplace, hadn't I?
Maybe that was the problem – the place itself. Hell, evenIfelt squeamish if I gave it too much thought.I shouldn't have left her alone, cooling her heels in the stench.
I'd promised to return in what?Thirty seconds?
I hadn't.
But hey, I was here now. Looking to make things right, I told her with a smile, "Sorry, that took longer than I thought."
She blinked. "Oh, that? It's fine. Totally." But judging from her face, it was anything but.
I kept my smile in place. "Hey, you can always blame Ryder."
She frowned. "Ryder?"
I hitched my thumb in his direction. "He's a magnet for trouble." Yeah, it was a stupid thing to say, because Ryder was actually behaving himself.No lewd comments. No digs about last night. No cracks about Maisie's roommate or Maisie herself.
But then, just as I was starting to relax, he gave Maisie a sly grin. "So, what'dyoudo last night?"
Asshole.
I spoke up. "That's none of our business."
Ryder turned and gave me a funny look. "Ourbusiness." He paused. "Wait…so the two of you weren't together?"
I knew the exact moment it hit him, because his face went suddenly blank.
Quickly, he turned back to Maisie. "Eh, don't mind me. Just talking trash, you know?" He pointed at nothing in particular. "So….what do you think of the place?"
It was a decent recovery, but I was still on edge.
Maisie took a new look around. As she did, I tried to read her expression. If she started asking questions, I would need to give her answers. And now wasn't the time.
Fucking Ryder.He wasn't half as funny as he thought he was.
And now, judging from the look in his eyes, his own funny bone had taken a serious hit.He'd fucked up, and he knew it.
