I picked up Kayden and carried him into the kitchen where I put him in his playpen with a bunch of his toys to keep him occupied.
Every part of me tightened when I thought about why it was down here rather than upstairs. The way Ryder had insisted on buying that crib, then had spent two hours putting it together.
I bit my lip, taken back to how hot it’d been in that room. The way his skin had become damp as he worked, the way his black tee had clung to the sweat.
Watching him put that crib together was like watching my own personal porn.
Paisley pulled her laptop from the bag and opened it, and she also took out a notebook and a bunch of different colored pens.
“Do you want something to drink?” I asked her.
“Iced tea?”
“Coming up.” I went to the refrigerator so I could pour each of us a glass from the pitcher, ignoring the way I could feel the curiosity in her eyes as she followed me with her gaze.
“So, where is Ryder, anyway?”
I cleared my throat. “Upstairs.”
“Hmm…” was all that came out of her.
I set the teas on the table then took the seat next to her and turned the focus on why she’d come here. “So, do you have any ideas about what you’d like to serve?”
She tapped into her computer, and she brought up a Pinterest board with about a thousand different of those ideas.
I laughed. “Uh-oh, we are serious about this.”
She cast me a side-eye, only the hint of a tease remaining there. “We are definitely serious about this, Dakota. Really serious. I want him to know how much he means to me.”
“I promise he already knows that, but I also promise we’re going to make this incredibly special. A night he will never forget.”
“You can bet it’s going to be a night he’ll never forget,” she said out of the side of her mouth, letting go of the innuendo.
I faked disgust. “You can keep those plans to yourself, thank you very much. I’ll just focus on the food.”
“That’s an entirely different board you probably don’t want to see.” She wagged her brows.
Giggles flooded out. “Um, yeah. You’d better have that set to private. I don’t think I need that visual in my head.”
“You need something—”
“Shut it,” I said, letting go of the razzing warning before I sat forward so I could study some of the ideas she’d pinned.
There were a bunch of appetizers done in elaborate ways, and a few hearty entrees that had been set in pretty dishes, plus she’d pinned a ton of different ideas on decorating the trays and displays.
“It looks to me like you’re thinking mostly heavy appetizers.”
“Yeah, I’d like to set up a big buffet table with an array of yummy things that we can pop into our mouths. I don’t want to do the whole sit-down thing. I think Caleb will like it better if he can just hang out with his family and friends.”
I snagged her pink pen so I could jot some notes in my own notebook.
“Hey, that’s mine.” She feigned a whine.
“I like it, and I want it, so it’s mine,” I told her with a sly grin. “And am I not volunteering my time, energy, and resources to make this happen? You’d think you wouldn’t mind sharing your pen with me.”
“What I think is you’re a dirty thief and I’m never going to see my favorite pen again. I bet you’re actually the one responsible for these break-ins and you set the whole thing up at your house as a decoy.”
I gaped at her. “You caught me.”
She didn’t even fight her grin, knocking her shoulder into mine. “You know anything that’s mine is also yours, Doodle-Boo. I mean, except for my man.”
Another giggle slipped free. I always felt like I was back to being thirteen when I was around her.
We went through some different options and settled on a theme of country chic. From there, we made detailed lists.
Appetizers and desserts.
Drinks and decorations.
We were almost finished when I heard footsteps echoing on the stairs. A minute later, Ryder appeared in the doorway.
Paisley and I both looked up, but I was pretty sure it was only me who felt the earth shift.
That slight tilting that always shivered through me whenever he came into my space. Only this time, I swore I felt the world canting farther to the side than it ever had before.
The man stood there in dark jeans and a fitted black tee, black hair shining and damp from his shower. Every line of his face was sharp and edged in severity, though those gunmetal eyes were tender when he found us all in his kitchen.
“My Rye-Rye,” Kayden called, scrambling to stand and holding onto the sides of the playpen as he jumped.
“Hey, my little K-Bear.” Ryder strolled over to Kayden, and he ran one of those tatted hands over the top of his head. “How are you today?”
“I pway,” Kayden told him, holding out a big, chunky truck that he’d been zooming over the walls of his playpen. “Wook it.”
“What? Is that a monster truck? That’s awesome. You’ve got the coolest cars around.” He was all soft smirks, and I was having a hard time with the way my belly flipped at the sight.
Maybe staying here really was a bad idea. God knew how hard it was to constantly be in his space. But I’d make it through this. He was my friend first, and that was what I needed to remember.
He moved to Paisley and pulled her out of the chair, hugging her hard and swinging her around. “Paisley-Cakes. Are you staying out of trouble?”
“Who me?” She said it like him asking it was an offense when he set her onto her feet.
Playfulness danced through his features. “Looks to me like you two are up to no good in here.”
He slanted me one of those grins.
The kind that dripped sex.
I doubted he even knew it. The impact he had.
I shifted on the seat.
“Never.” Paisley touched her chest before she sat back down.
Ryder chuckled one of those raspy sounds as he wandered over to the coffee pot. “If I’ve ever seen any trouble, it’s you two.”
“Oh yeah, we’re total troublemakers. Sorry you have to bail us out of jail every weekend.” I rolled my eyes.
His laughter was quiet, scraping the air like a jagged lullaby, and he glanced over as he stirred creamer into his coffee. “What are you guys up to?”
I opened my mouth to tell him about catering Caleb’s party, only Paisley beat me to it.
Except what came out of her mouth was not what I expected.
“Oh, I’m just helping Dakota get set up on a dating app.” She turned to look at me. Mischief pranced all over her lips. She cocked her head to the side, her fingers poised at the keys. “Do you consider yourself more of a dominant or a submissive?”
Me? Not so much a troublemaker. But Paisley? She loved standing at the pot and stirring it.
I was going to strangle her for it.
Only I didn’t get the chance to before the growled words sawed through the air.
“Excuse me?”
All the softness Ryder had been wearing evaporated.
Poof.
Gone in an instant.
In its place was a vibrating hostility that made my stomach quake.
He came our way, head cocked to the side as he approached.
“I’m setting up Dakota’s dating profile on this new app,” Paisley acted like she was clarifying. “It’s really detailed. It turns out our friend here is into some crazy kink.”
Embarrassment flooded me.
I was going to kill her.
“Paisley,” I snapped low. “Don’t you dare—”
Ryder slamming down the lid to her laptop trapped the words on my tongue.
“Absolutely not,” he snarled.
Paisley blinked up at him. Completely innocent when she was as guilty as could be. “And why not?”
That fierce gaze slanted to me. “Because I said no.”
I didn’t know if I was irritated or turned on.
Both, which pissed me off, too.
“Sorry to break it to you, Ryder, but I’m pretty sure you don’t have a say in the matter.” Paisley shook her head at him where he was still leaning over the table with his hand holding her laptop shut. “Our Dakota here is ready to get out and have a little fun. She’s on the hunt for the good D. You wouldn’t want to get in the way of a woman in need, would you?”