Page 65 of Crazy for You

“Wham, bam, thank you, ma’am,” she said with a smile. “I got what I came for.”

“You are something else, Emma Rush.” She just kept shocking the hell out of him. He stepped into his bedroom to clean up and change into fresh clothes then grabbed a supersized candy bar and a can of Coke from the kitchen.

Emma stood by the front door. Her hair was rumpled, her cheeks flushed, her skirt still slightly askew. She looked thoroughly fucked, and it was all he could do not to take her to his bed and do it again.

Instead, he pulled open his front door. “So you’ll stop by the bar later?”

She nodded then leaned in to whisper in his ear, “And you can wonder whether or not I’m still pantiless.”

He yanked her into his arms and had just started to kiss her when he heard someone clearing their throat behind him. He looked past Emma to see Trent standing at the bottom of the stairs that led to the upstairs condos, a middle-aged couple behind him. The kid was staring at his feet, looking mortified.

Ryan stepped back from Emma. “Hey, Trent. I didn’t see you there.”

Trent shrugged. “So, um, my parents are here for a visit, and I wanted to introduce you.”

Ryan looked again at the older couple standing behind Trent, the couple staring at him with an all-too-familiar air of condescension. Yeah, they probably knew exactly what he and Emma had just done. Way to make a great first impression. Dammit to hell.

15

Emma plastered a big, cheerful smile on her face as Trent introduced her and Ryan to his parents, Kate and Gary Lamar. “It’s such a pleasure to meet you,” she said.

“Yes, indeed,” Kate replied, looking anything but pleased.

“I can’t tell you how glad we all are to have Trent here with us for a little while,” Emma said, giving Ryan’s hand a squeeze.

“So you’re Ryan’s…girlfriend?” Kate paused before that last word, like it didn’t quite fit.

Because it didn’t. Even Emma knew that. She and Ryan were just…friends with benefits. Hooking up. Having wild sex against the wall right below your feet. She felt exposed, as if they somehow knew she wasn’t wearing panties, that Ryan had ripped them off her just minutes earlier. But no. They didn’t know that, not any of it, and it was none of their business. “Yes, I’m Ryan’s girlfriend.”

Ryan had gone oddly quiet, his brown eyes carefully blank. The tension in the air was thick enough to taste. She remembered Ryan telling her that Trent’s adoptive parents had kept the two brothers apart, thinking Ryan was a bad influence. That was why they’d grown up not knowing each other, and that sucked, as far as she was concerned.

“How long are you guys in town?” Ryan asked, his tone even and polite.

“Through the weekend. We weren’t expecting Trent to stay here in Haven this long.” Another little barb lobbed in Ryan’s direction by Kate Lamar. “We came to try to talk some sense into him.”

“I like it here,” Trent said.

“I’m glad you’ll be here a few days because I’d really like to talk,” Ryan said. “but right now, I’m afraid I’m running late for work.”

“I thought you worked at that zip-line place Trent’s been telling us about?” Gary Lamar said.

“I do, sir. I also bartend at the local pub a few nights a week.”

“Oh.” Kate’s face scrunched into an expression of distaste.

“We’d love for you come out to Off-the-Grid tomorrow. Trent can show you around the place. He’s been working hard,” Ryan said.

Kate nodded. “Yes, I would like to see it.”

“Great. I look forward to seeing you there.” Ryan turned to give Emma a quick peck on the lips, then climbed onto his bike and cranked the engine.

Trent’s parents recoiled, and Emma cringed. They’d spent Trent’s whole life keeping him away from his brother, convinced he’d be a bad influence. And now that they’d come here to Haven, they’d stumbled on him making out with Emma, the two of them clearly looking like they’d just had an afternoon quickie. He was tattooed, and he rode a motorcycle, and he worked in a bar, but he was also one of the most honorable men she knew.

Trent was lucky to call Ryan his brother, and Emma would do everything in her power to make sure his parents knew that. But she wasn’t going to cause a scene in front of Trent.

Instead, she drove home from Ryan’s condo, fixed herself a sandwich, and sat down in the living room with her laptop to work on the final digital renderings for the Haven Memorial. The memorial itself would arrive next month, and then she could begin work on the reflecting pool and gardens that would go around it. She’d done four separate designs—one for each season. In the spring, she would accent the memorial with brightly colored tulips and dahlias. In the fall, she would plant a bed of mums. But her favorite was summer, when she would surround the memorial with brilliant, red poppies.

As the memorial would be completed in June, she’d be planting the poppies first, and she could hardly wait. The mayor was organizing a grand opening event on July first, with live music, food, and games for the kids. She was a bundle of nerves about it but also crazy excited. Chewing her bottom lip, she made one last tweak to the summer design then saved them all and sent them to Lucas and Mary for their input and approval.

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