Page 4 of Crazy for You

Now he was back, and as it turned out, her crush on him was still alive and well. Which was really inconvenient right now because he was seriously distracting her from the task at hand. Tearing her eyes from his gaze, she turned her attention to the group beside her.

“Hey there, sweet thing. What are you drinking?” one of the lumberjacks asked, his brown eyes bright, words slightly slurred.

Ugh. What was she doing?

“Want a shot of tequila?” another guy asked, waving a shot glass in her direction.

“No, thanks.” She’d agreed to flirt with whoever wiped the ketchup off her cheek, not get shitfaced on tequila.

“Yo, you’ve got a little something…”

She turned, and Ryan’s thumb swiped across her cheek, his rich, cocoa eyes locked on hers, and oh shit…

“Got it.” He grinned while warmth spread through her skin in the wake of his touch and sparks pinged through her belly. “You need another beer?”

“She was about to do a shot,” the drunk guy beside her said.

Ryan’s eyes narrowed in Drunk Guy’s direction.

“Actually, I need to get back to my table.” Emma lurched to her feet and practically ran back to her friends. “Oh my God, you guys. It was Ryan.”

Mandy’s eyes were wide. “I saw. That was actually kind of hot.”

“Deal’s off.” Emma dropped into her chair, heart pounding like she’d just run laps around the bar.

“Not so fast,” Mandy said. “I saw a little zing when he touched your cheek. You said you wanted a hot fling. Ryan could be just the guy to show you a good time.”

“No. Nope. Not happening.” Emma waved her hands in front of her face. Ryan had never seen her as anything but Derek’s tomboyish little sister. No way was she setting herself up for that kind of humiliation.

Carly looked up from her phone, a sheepish expression on her face. “I can’t believe I’m going to miss seeing how this plays out, but guess who’s waiting outside?”

“Sam?” Gabby asked.

“He got in a day early.” Carly was dating Sam Weiss—who also happened to be a super-hot rock star—and he’d been in LA for the past month or so. By the look on Carly’s face, she couldn’t wait another minute to see him.

Mandy waggled her eyebrows. “Have fun.”

“Good luck, Emma. Call me tomorrow.” With a wave, Carly headed for the door.

“So where were we?” Gabby asked, leaning forward conspiratorially.

“We were changing the subject,” Emma said.

“No, we were just modifying the dare,” Mandy said, her eyes gleaming with mischief.

“I’m with Mandy,” Gabby said. “The more I think about it, I love the idea of you flirting with Ryan. I saw the zing when he touched you, too. He could be exactly what you need to break out of the boring guy rut. He’s got that whole bad boy vibe going for him, but underneath the tattoos, he’s a really solid guy.”

“New dare,” Mandy said. “You’re going back to the bar, and you’re going to convince Ryan to give you a ride home on his motorcycle.”

A thrill ran through Emma at the thought. “He can’t. He’s working.”

“Then obviously you’ll have to hang out and keep him company until he’s finished.”

Emma shook her head. “This is crazy. I’m not going to flirt with Ryan.”

Gabby looked thoughtful. “Well, maybe you can work your way into it. You want to shake things up in your life, right? What if you ask Ryan for his help? He teaches rock-climbing lessons at Off-the-Grid. That sounds exciting.”

Emma blew out a breath. That sounded okay—maybe even fun. Ryan could definitely help her break out of her rut, even if things stayed platonic between them. “I could do that.”

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