Page 27 of Crazy for You

Their sandwiches arrived, and Mandy handed Emma’s phone back to her. Emma took a bite of her turkey club and chewed through her thoughts. “Well, maybe I’m partly doing this to make him jealous, but he’s made it pretty clear he wants to keep us in the friend zone so, unless he makes a move, I’m going full steam ahead with Tinder.”

“That’s the spirit,” Mandy said, sipping her iced tea. “We’ll definitely get you a Tinder date. I’m going to swipe some more guys for you after we finish eating.”

And she did. By the time they made it back to Off-the-Grid, Mandy had added eleven guys to Emma’s “liked” list. They spent the afternoon planting bushes along the edges of the ropes course. Then Mandy headed out to get ready for a hot date of her own.

Emma slid her phone out of her back pocket and checked Tinder. Joe Relka had replied. I usually prefer them clean shaven, followed by a winky face. Want to come over tonight and show me? Emma scrunched her nose in distaste. What a perv. She deleted Joe Relka from her list. Moving on…

Oh, she had another match! It was a guy she’d liked last night. His profile picture showed him in outdoor gear. Blond hair. Beard. Not hard on the eyes. Not even a little bit. And he had a really nice smile. For the first time, she felt an actual tingle of excitement over the idea of going on a date.

Take that, Ryan.

Grinning, she shoved her cell phone back into her pocket. She spied Trent on a platform overhead, full attention on his own phone. “Hey, Trent,” she called.

Trent glanced down at her, that shock of straight, black hair hanging in his eyes. He needed a haircut badly, but she suspected the ’do was considered cool among his circle of friends. “Hi,” he said with a wave.

“What’ve they got you working on up there?” she asked.

“Oh, uh, I’m getting rid of a downed branch.”

Hmm. Looked more like he’d been playing games on his phone. Emma liked Trent a lot and wanted more than anything for Ryan to bond with his newly found brother, but Trent might be in need of a swift kick to the seat of his pants if this was how he spent his days at Off-the-Grid. She was extremely curious to see him play at the club next week, to see if he truly had talent as a DJ or if it was just another excuse to avoid school.

“Need some help?” she asked.

“Nope. I’m good.” Trent shook his head furiously as he set to work tugging at one of the lines overhead.

“Okay then. Good luck.” Emma walked toward the main building to freshen up before she headed home. Ryan’s bike was still parked out front.

The door to his office was slightly open, just enough for her to catch a glimpse of him seated at his desk. She slipped past his door and into the bathroom at the end of the hall. She used the facilities and spent several minutes at the sink, scrubbing dirt from her hands and arms. When she opened the door, Ryan stood in the hallway, leaning against the doorway to his office. “You’re not going out with Todd Pierce.”

She sucked in a breath. “That’s none of your business.”

Ryan kept his eyes on hers, looking all macho and protective. “You made it my business when you texted me his picture. He’s bad news.”

“You don’t even know him.” Her stomach quivered from all the butterflies flapping around inside it.

“I looked him up.” His voice was low and gravelly.

“You did?” The hallway seemed to constrict around them, pushing them closer together. Her heart was about to pound out of her chest.

“The guy’s got a record, Em.” His brown eyes burned into hers.

“I know. I looked him up, too.”

He raked a hand through his hair. “And you’re still going on a date with him?”

“Who said anything about a date?” she asked, trying desperately to look nonchalant even though her body was totally short-circuiting from all the chemistry in the air between them.

Ryan’s expression was intense and unflinching. “Mandy said you were thinking of asking him out.”

Emma wasn’t sure if she’d moved or if he had, but she was standing way too close to him now. Close enough to see the gold flecks in his dark eyes and feel the warmth of his body on hers. “She was trying to get a rise out of you. Did it work?”

He scrubbed a hand across his jaw and shook his head with a smile. “Guess it did. Whatever is and isn’t between us, no way I’m going to stand back and watch you go out with a criminal. You’re too good for that.”

This time she knew she’d taken another step closer, going up on tiptoes to glare right into his eyes. “And in case you weren’t paying attention, I’m trying to be less good. I’m tired of boring, clean-cut guys. I want excitement, and adventure, and”—she put a hand on his heavily inked biceps—“tattoos. I want a guy who pushes me out of my comfort zone and gives me the kind of mind-blowing sex I’ve only read about in romance novels.”

Ryan’s pupils had dilated until his eyes were black, and the look in them said he wanted to give her all those things and then some. Her hand was still on his arm, her breathing erratic as lust burned its way through her belly. They stood that way for several wild beats of her pounding heart.

“Dammit, Emma,” he rasped, sucking in a deep breath. He only used her full name when he was rattled. She’d noticed that over the course of the last month.

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