Page 5 of Ryker

Chapter 5: Corinne

When Ryker shows up at my front door he's wearing black slacks and a black button-up and he looks good. I feel like a pauper in comparison. "I didn't know we were dressing up," I announce when I open the door, looking down at my simple white, floral summer dress. "If you give me approximately forty-two minutes, I can try on seven other outfits I don't like before giving up and settling on this one again. It's a tedious process, but it works." When I look back up, he's smiling.

"You look beautiful, Corinne. I dressed to match Leo anyway."

I frown because this sounds like some kind of subtext that I'm not following. "I'm going to give you one minute to explain yourself before I start making assumptions." I pause, "Scratch that. I've already made assumptions. I'm not having a threesome. I don't care who Leo is or how handsome he is. A threesome with another hot firefighter is not on my sex bucket list. No way, no how."

"Another hot firefighter?" His smile grows and I find my knees growing unstable. His jawline twitches as though he's trying to suppress a laugh. Why is this man so damn attractive? It's not fair. It should be illegal to be this disarmingly attractive. "So you're saying I'm a hot firefighter?"

Wordplay is not my specialty. I know this now. I narrow my eyes at Mr. December and demand answers. "Tell me who Leo is, Special K, before I call your commander and report you for blackmail."

"Go ahead," he challenges back with ease. "I'll tell him that you set fire to your pizza on purpose. Arson, even small scale arson, is a more serious offense than me trying to score a date with the hottest brunette I've ever known."

And that's when I realize I look like a fish again. My mouth starts doing that gaping open and closed thing and I want to punch him and kiss him at the same time.

"That's what I thought." Ryker looks triumphant as he reaches for my hand and starts pulling me out of the front door of my own home. "Now let's go. Leo's my cat and even though he's smarter than your average cat, he's not going to pull dinner out of the oven just because I told him to. We've got a limited window of time and you're wasting it standing here threatening to call my superiors over a blackmail charge that you brought on yourself."

Thankfully, this snaps me out of my fish-like state and I shut and lock the door behind me. Ryker retreats to his truck, going around to the passenger side to open my door for me. "I didn't take you for the cat type," I mumble as he helps me inside. My heels, though only three inches, are stiletto sharp and balance precariously on the step to get into his truck. "I can feel your hand on my ass, Ryker!"

"I'm making sure you get in safely," he stifles a laugh.

Through the dress I can feel his strong hands grabbing my bottom firmly, helping push me into the front seat. I want to smack him again because he's an idiot, but I refrain because it's only for a second. I shoot him a glare and that lasts even less than the amount of time his hands were on my ass before he slams the door in my face and walks around the truck.

"So we're going to your house, I take it," I say when he gets in the truck. "I'm glad to know Leo's a cat. You didn't think to ask if I was allergic though."

"That's because Nathan's allergic, not you."

He says this with such confidence. "Well, I guess you already knew then," I cross my arms over my chest. "What's for dinner? I could be allergic to that."

Even though he's backing out of the driveway, Ryker has enough time to shoot me a look that tells me without words that now I'm acting like a child. "It's lasagna, garlic bread, and a salad. If for some reason, you are allergic to any of these items, I'll be surprised. Mama made them plenty of times growing up and you ate them with your throat swelling up once."

"Allergies can develop as you age," I point out, but even I know that I sound like I'm reaching at this point. I don't know what I'm trying to do or why, but I'm arguing just for the sake of arguing.

When I was getting dressed earlier, I did exactly what I told him I'd do at the door. I tried on seven outfits that I deemed were all worthless, then I threw them aside in favor of this dress. I thought it looked just pure enough to keep Ryker's thoughts in line, but the neckline dipped to show off a little cleavage and the hemline landed at that point on your thigh that promised to ride up the second you sat down. It was a sweet and sexy little number that I bought on a whim before realizing I had no one to wear it for.

We drive in relative silence for the first ten minutes back to his place before he warns me about Leo. "If you see his belly, stop petting him. He lures you in with his cute little face, then he pounces."

"Wow, can't imagine where he learned that from, dad," I deadpan. The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. Honestly, the filter that most people are born with that stops them from saying every little thing that wanders across their brain is lost on me.

"Don't let your sassy little mouth of yours write checks that your cute little ass can't cash, sweetheart," he announces with a cheerful little spring in his tone. The smile on his face says that he isn't joking.

This is the second time that he's alluded to my bottom, but this time isn't so outright. "You're quite heavy-handed, Special K, and I mean that in more ways than one. You threaten people a lot?"

Ryker takes his eyes off the road for just a second, gauging my reaction to his words. "Just the ones who deserve it. You've got a smart mouth and it does things to me. You were always the naughtier of the Harrison kids growing up. Nathan learned from his mistakes though. The only thing you learned was how not to get caught making them a second, third, and fourth time."

I can't help but smile at his recollection of my youthful indiscretions. He wasn't always there for them, but he'd tattled on me a time or two. It was usually for a good reason like something was genuinely going to hurt or injure me, but he was right that the only thing getting in trouble taught me was how to be smarter about it the next go-round. "It feels good to be bad, Ryker, you should try it sometime."

"I'm not the bad boy type, Corinne. It's clear that I like a bad girl though."

The way he says those words, with a little heat on them, sends a shot of desire straight through me. "I don't know what you're alluding to. I've never gotten so much as a speeding ticket, sir."

A smile curls around his lips. "I like it when you call me 'sir'."

Wow. Was I a little wet or what? "Just drive. Don't we have a lasagna to pull out of the oven or something?"

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