Page 56 of After Tonight

Yeah, whoa. Just…whoa. He loved things about her? Things that drove her mom crazy? And he was willing to say that to her mom?

“Don’t you think it’s awesome that you can always depend on Riley to make you think about new things you haven’t thought about before and old things in a different way?” he asked, directing the question at Erika.

Riley realized she was holding her breath.

Her mother was studying her with a puzzled look on her face. After a long moment, she nodded. “I guess she does do that.”

Riley couldn’t have been more surprised if her mother had announced she was going to get a few tattoos to match Riley’s.

There was a long, totally silent pause. Then her brother, shockingly, said, “Yeah, me too.” He gave Riley a grin. “And if Riley says Derek’s pizza is good, everyone will know that’s the God’s honest truth.”

That was nice. It wasn’t that Riley didn’t think her brother loved her. She knew that her inability to be on time for things and her messy bedroom and her general disregard for most rules drove him crazy. But she’d always gotten the impression that Kyle understood why she did the things she did. All her unorganized, don’t-care attitude had been on purpose. She was actually quite on top of things with her work and, while her apartment in California wasn’t immaculate, it wasn’t the mess her high school bedroom had been.

But it was nice to hear Kyle say some things he appreciated about her too. And that it was her honesty that people most liked.

And if I say Derek’s good boyfriend material, all the women in town will know that’s the God’s honest truth.

She could do that. She would do that. He was a good guy. Who she couldn’t have.

But she felt her freaking bottom lip tremble.

Coincidentally, that was the moment Derek let her mom go, took three steps toward her, and held out his hand. “So, let’s go already. I can’t wait to see what you think.”

She didn’t look at her parents or her brother as she reached out, took his hand, and let him tug her out of the kitchen.

He kept going down the hall toward the front door.

“Who’s covering the bar?” she asked, the realization that he showed up here when he should have been at work just occurring to her.

“I’m not the only one who can pour beer in this town. I’m just the only one willing to stay up until midnight doing it every night.” He shot her a quick grin.

For some reason, her stomach flipped.

“So who’s babysitting the bar while you run over here?”

He pulled the front door open. “Bryan. Until midnight. Then he’s closing up.”

“The bar is closing at midnight?”

“Yep.” He gestured for her to step out of the door.

“But what about the people who all come in after midnight?”

“They’ll be okay.”

She still hadn’t stepped out of the door. She turned to face him fully, standing closer than she really needed to for the conversation. But he’d rescued her in there. And she wanted to stand close to him. Really close. “Why aren’t you going to be at work tonight?”

“I have somewhere else to be.”

“Where?”

“With you.”

That made her feel a rush of warmth and affection. Was that what he was feeling? Or was he feeling sorry for her? Or horny? “Why?”

He let out a breath. “Ry, do you really want to talk about that? I mean, we can delve in, if you want, but I think that might be more than either of us is really up to right now.”

He had a point. A very good point. This was complicated. And that meant he wasn’t just horny or feeling sorry for her. “Are we going to eat pizza?”

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