“Thought it was time I danced with the birthday girl since every guy in the place has gotten the chance to.” He fought for a smirk as he began to sway them, the beat of the song slowed.
“Isn’t your girlfriend going to mind if you’re dancing with me?”
His chest pinched. “She’s not my girlfriend.”
Dakota’s brows lifted as she looked up at him, no hesitation when she asked, “Are you telling me you’ve never had sex with her?”
“Didn’t say that.”
“Ah, so you are the player Cody tells me you are.” He couldn’t tell if she meant it as a tease or if it was an accusation, not with the way those cinnamon eyes glinted beneath the strobing light.
He fought to keep it easy. Playful. Refusing the thing he could feel brewing between them. “I see how it is. My best friend is spreading rumors about me.”
“Is that what they are? Rumors?”
He couldn’t do anything but tug her to him, and he breathed out the words too close to her ear. “I wish they weren’t.”
Giggles floated on the night air as they went stumbling out at closing.
Ryder had his arm looped around Dakota’s waist, supporting her, and the other was around Paisley’s as he guided them to his truck parked in the lot.
The two of them had done it up, tossing back three rounds of shots during the last hour they’d been there. Their laughter had started to come easier just as their words had started to slur.
Chloe, Beth, and Ezra had bailed two hours before, and Cody had ended up slinking off with some girl he’d met from the next town over.
Turned out when it came to Cody, this hadn’t just been about Dakota after all.
But Ryder didn’t mind watching out for her.
It felt like something intrinsic. Something he’d been purposed to do.
Clicking the locks to his truck, he opened the door. “In you go, drunkie-drunks,” he razzed, his voice soft.
Dakota climbed in first, flashing him a glimpse of her perfect ass as she did, then Paisley hopped in behind her. Dakota’s best friend reached out and patted him on the cheek. “You are the best, Ryder. You really know how to take care of a woman. And look at the size of those hands.”
Dakota giggled like it was the funniest thing she’d ever heard.
Ryder all but rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Just don’t puke in my truck.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, Captain.” Paisley gave him a sloppy salute.
He was chuckling as he shut their door and rounded the front, then he was losing his breath all over again when he slipped into the driver’s side.
The scent of Dakota smacked him in the face.
Sugar and vanilla and all things sweet.
Her body was pressed against his as he put the truck in drive and pulled out of the lot.
Neither Paisley nor Dakota stopped laughing the entire ride.
He dropped off Paisley at her grandparents’ house where she’d grown up. He walked her to the door, and she fumbled inside, insisting that she didn’t need help and that he should go take care of her, “Doodle-Boo,” and to make sure that he did it well.
He jogged back to the truck and jumped back in.
Dakota had moved to sit on the main seat, like she’d become aware that they needed to keep the distance between them, too.
A few minutes later, he pulled up in front of her mother’s house.
A swarm of memories rushed him. He thought they were likely some of the best of his life.
He shut off his truck and led her to the front door.
Dakota turned and stared up at him.
The air between them hummed.
An energy he fought to recognize.
“Welcome home, Dakota. I’m glad you’re back,” he said rather than admitting the thousand things that were on his mind.
“I’m glad I am, too,” she whispered.
He hesitated then dragged his fingers through his hair. “You need help inside?”
She giggled again. “I think I’m capable of making it inside on my own. It’s not like I didn’t stumble my way back to my apartment by myself for the last four years.”
A wave of protectiveness slammed him. He hated the idea of her out there like that, wandering on her own. He knew full well the twisted fucks that roamed, looking for prey. “Maybe I just want to look out for you.”
More of that redness splashed her cheeks. “I think I can manage.”
“Maybe I’m the one who can’t.” He meant it to come out a joke, but it rang too true.
He wasn’t sure he could handle this.
This insane thing she made him feel.
Confusion knitted her brow, and he couldn’t do anything but reach out with the pad of his thumb and smooth it out.
He swore he felt the air come alive, and Dakota gulped before she cleared her throat and took a step back. “I should get in.”
He nodded, trying to rein it in. “Yeah.”
Dakota sent him a soft smile and dipped inside, and she clicked the door shut behind her.
Ryder blew out a sigh, and once the lock clicked, he turned to head in the direction of his truck.
Only he found he couldn’t force himself to go to it. He diverted paths.
Drawn.
Unable to go anywhere but the single place that had forever called to him.
He climbed the tree and sat under the peace of the stars.
And maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised when he felt her presence emerge from behind. The way she’d done so many times before.
The way it soothed and coaxed and made him feel like he was exactly where he was supposed to be.
She climbed to the spot beside him and handed him a tin of cookies.
Satisfaction thudded through his bloodstream that she’d been thinking of him. That she just got it.
And they sat like that in that tree beneath the star-speckled sky.
For the whole fucking summer.
Every night they met there.
Talking.
Sometimes just sitting in the silence.
Trusting each other with their fears and their beliefs.
Their hopes and their failures.
One night, Dakota showed up giddy that the local diner had gone up for sale. She dreamed of buying it, and she whispered a thousand ideas of how she was going to turn it into something magical.
A week later, he held her in his arms when she’d been crushed that the bank had rejected her application for the loan because she couldn’t get enough money down.
A few days later, she’d turned around and encouraged him when he’d admitted he’d rented a warehouse that he was going to turn into his own custom welding shop.
They spent all those months getting to know each other, while he was sure no one had ever known him better.
All except for the one thing he could never share with her.
This was his best friend’s little sister, and he knew better than to drag her into that sordid world.
Except she was the best thing that had ever happened to him.
And he knew if he was going to take this where he wanted it, where he was desperate to go, he had to fix it.
End it.
Because he understood the feeling that had taken him over. What had been simmering in him for years.
He was in love with Dakota Cooper.
So, when he went into Dare’s office late that night, he didn’t let old fear stop him. He simply strode in and spat, “I want out.”
Dare rocked back in his chair, chuckling under his breath. “I thought you would have learned your lesson the last time you came in here spouting off about walking away.”
“Yeah, I did learn something, and that’s that I don’t give a fuck about what you have to say any longer.”
Dare tsked, so fucking pompous when he drawled, “Awful brave.”
Ryder planted his hands on Dare’s desk. “I figure one of us is going to end up dead. You shouldn’t be so confident which one of us that’s going to be.”
Dare laughed again, so low that it curdled Ryder’s blood, but he refused to stand down.
Sitting forward, Dare stubbed out his cigarette. “I’ll tell you what, Ryder, I have a job. It’s big. Bigger than anything I’ve ever done before. You get this shipment to the East Coast, it’s 250k in your pocket and a whole fucking ton more in mine. You do it, and we’ll call this thing even.”
Alarms went off in every one of his senses. Warnings clamoring through his cells. Shaking him to his core.
He knew it would be a risk. One bigger than he’d ever taken. But Dakota was worth it.