Page 41 of Rough Ride

She shrugged. “May and Dee are hard not to like. They really are nice.”

“Well, if they accept you, you have it made.”

She smiled at him as he opened the passenger side door. “They were nice to me because of you, Eli.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“They love you like a brother and they want to make sure no one is mean to you.”

It was dark out and only a street lamp lit the area but she was sure he blushed.

“That’s ridiculous.”

When she said nothing, he asked, “Are you going to get in?”

She nodded and said nothing, unable to stop smiling. Seeing Eli St. John blush didn’t happen every day. All in all—a pretty good night.

Now if she could remember that it wasn’t a date and there would be nothing else at the end of the night, she would be fine.

Sure, no problem at all.

* * *

They rode up in the elevator together. Being on one of the top floors, they ended up alone for the last couple. Eli was itchy, from the inside out. The woman had him beyond hot. He just needed to make sure that he controlled himself. Tomorrow night they would be at Rough ‘n Ready. If he could get the ladies to keep an eye on Crysta, he could get one of the private rooms.

That didn’t even sound good. Not like it usually did. He hadn’t been this intrigued by a woman. All he wanted to do was strip her down and fuck her. As they stepped out of the elevator, her phone chimed. She frowned over the number.

“Hello.”

They walked down the hall as she talked on the phone.

“Uh, yeah, but how did you get my number.” She was quiet for a second then laughed. “Okay. I’ll accept your sister gave you my number.”

Then, more silence on her part. “Oh, I’m having lunch with the ladies tomorrow.”

She glanced in his direction.

“I’m going out tomorrow night.”

She waited for Stryker to speak. It irritated Eli he couldn’t hear what the ass was saying to her.

“Yeah. I take it you don’t play?”

She was quiet for a few moments. “Well, I guess if you want to come to the Big Island, that’s cool. I assumed you’d been there before. I don’t know much about?—”

Silence again. “Oh, okay, sure. I’d show you around the ranch.”

He tried not to get pissed that she was making a date with the bastard. Granted, he had been just thinking of taking on a sub tomorrow night, but he wasn’t planning it right in front of her. Well, okay, not on the phone.

Shit.

He slid the card into the slot and opened the door. He was lucky to get two rooms that had an outer area that connected. They both had their own rooms, but they had another door, which locked to the outside. It was the easiest thing he could think of for security.

“Okay. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

She clicked off her phone and offered him a smile. “That was Devon.”

He grunted.

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