Page 52 of Something to Someone

He sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose like I was the irritating one. “Caroline, please.”

Why did he always have to sound so sincere? It made it hard to brush him off when his voice dropped, and his excitement ebbed. “Where do you want to take me?”

“It’s…a surprise,” he said

I shook my head and stood firm. We were inching into date-like territory, and that was more dangerous than anything. “I don’t think that’s a good?—”

“They have the best mozzarella sticks,” he said, and my argument died. All substance to said argument was further diminished when my stomach growled louder than it had any right to. “It’ll be fun, I promise. I’ll even let you pay for something, so it doesn’t feel too much like a date.”

“Let me?” I questioned, but by his smile, he knew he had me. He closed the distance between us, his hands dropping to my hips, I was greeted by his scent—something deep with a touch of sweetness that I wanted to smell every single moment of every single day.

I didn’t let myself linger on that revelation too long. I leaned in as he did, but the second before our lips touched, the doorbell rang again. Both of us stopped, a breath apart, and looked at each other then to the door.

“Are you expecting someone else?”

“Well, I wasn’t expecting anyone to begin with,” I said. He reluctantly let me go, his fingers lingering against my waist for as long as they could. I stepped up to the door and felt Ryder close at my back.

When I swung it open, I wished I hadn’t.

“Scott,” I said by way of greeting. His smile was slow as was his voice when he said, “Hi, Caroline.”

“What are you—what are you doing here? I didn’t know you were in town.”

“Last minute business trip in the city, and I have a free night tonight. I figured I’d surprise you. I have a reservation already. It’s a new French restaurant downtown.”

Two months ago, I would have jumped at his offer. Scott was an executive at an oil and gas company, which required extensive travel. He didn’t live in the city, but when he was here, he always called me. And I always answered.

He didn’t expect anything more than the one night we usually had. It started with dinner at some very nice, expensive restaurant and ended with us in a very fancy penthouse suite at a hotel downtown. He didn’t spare any expense, and it was a good time for all.

Now, I was dumbstruck and not pleasantly surprised.

“I—I see. It’s good to see you, but I don’t think I can?—”

“Hi,” Ryder interrupted my stuttering and stepped into view of the open door. I closed my eyes and tried to take a deep breath. I was living a nightmare, but unfortunately, it was my real life. Waking up wasn’t an option.

I opened my eyes in time to see Ryder extending his hand. Scott quickly glanced from me to it.

“I’m Ryder. It’s nice to meet you, Scott, was it?”

Scott took Ryder’s hand and shook it once with a tight-lipped smile. The saying, “you could cut the tension with a knife,” wasn’t strong enough. You would need a chainsaw or some other gas-powered tool to cut through the tension weighing down the air around us.

“Nice to meet you,” Scott said. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I probably should have called first.”

“It’s not a problem,” I said automatically, and I caught Ryder glance at me out of the corner of my eye. I wasn’t thinking straight. I didn’t know what else to say that didn’t involve screaming and running away.

“I’ll just call you later, Caroline,” Scott said, and rather than open my mouth to cause more of an issue, I nodded and tried for a smile. “Nice to meet you, Ryder.”

Ryder waved, and I couldn’t get the door closed quickly enough. I shut it, locked it, and leaned against the glass. Deciding that it wasn’t a good idea to bang my head against it, I shut my eyes and attempted to recompose myself.

Scott was a man of his word—he would absolutely call me later, and I had no idea what I was going to do when my phone rang. It wasn’t my intention to sleep with anyone else—honestly, I wasn’t really interested—but doing so would unequivocally prove to Ryder how serious I was about not wanting anything more.

I knew it was an awful thing to do or to even think, but that didn’t keep the thought from creeping in and taking root.

I opened my eyes and straightened to find Ryder watching me, arms crossed in front of him and eyebrows raised. Smoothing my hands down my dress, I matched his stance, crossing my arms but trying for an unbothered expression.

We stared at one another for a long while. Long enough that my eyes went dry, and I began to feel uncomfortable with the distance between us. The urge to cross to him was strong. A muscle in his jaw twitched, and I noticed his hands flex from beneath his arms.

Finally, he relaxed and ran his fingers through his hair.

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