Page 78 of Ignite

At least she included a smiling emoji.

All her attempts to ignore me in person, only made me notice her more. While she still responded—eventually—to my texts, I kept our text conversation light and full of banter.

But if we’d narrowed down the list of reasons not to date me to the RFS, and if I accepted that a combination of stubbornness and pride wouldn’t let me cave in, I needed to stack up the reasons why she should open her arms and let me in.

My mornings with Felicity had given me an idea, what if the town got behind us and took away her reason to sayno? What if I won over the rest of the town?

I tried harder. With time on my hands, I went door to door meeting local business owners, convincing half a dozen to mentor Ryan and some of the other teens. My long-forgotten brickie’s laboring skills came in handy with a new aged care facility getting the go-ahead. Working outdoors laying bricks hadn’t been the way I intended to make a living, but it was for a good cause and the money wasn’t bad.

The community of Meringa had decided to make me her bitch, and I stopped resisting. Before long, everyone loved me, and conversation was pumped about my teen program and the player roster for next year.

The only person who wasn’t singing my praises was the one person I’d never be able to satisfy—at least, not out of the bedroom—Rylee.

My ute had taken weeks longer than planned to fix. According to Korbin, who dropped around a spare car for me to use in the meantime, Rylee’s perfectionism had taken on new meaning. She’d not only fixed the back damage but had decided to repair every other ding. Then she decided to repaint the entire ute a black gloss. He only told me so I wouldn’t shoot down her surprise.

“What?” I held the beer to my lips. Korbin knew me well, offering me a coldie before giving me the bad news about the latest delay.

“Her little cousin likes to draw.”

“So, I heard.”

“Her little cousin thinks that as old dudes go, you don’t suck.”

“Is that a direct quote because I can’t imagine Ryan saying anyone over twenty doesn’t suck.”

“He wore a bucket of water for using more colorful language.”

“I’d have paid good money to see that.” I almost spat out my mouthful. Little Ryan getting drenched by Rylee? She was probably the only person in town who could get away with it.

“He’s designed a hawk insignia for the back, side panel. They’ve been working on it together.”

“Holy shit.”

Now, I literally fell off the stool, holding onto my drink for dear life. “She did—they did—what?”

“Even though his detention is over, Ryan still hangs out at the shop. Rylee’s been trying to step up and fill her father’s shoes. She’s still trying to get all the fire trucks ready for next season, keep the panel beating business alive, and Ryan on the straight and narrow. She’s been stalling on the ute and telling you about missing parts, when the truth is they’ve been working on the design. Until Ryan got it right, they weren’t going to even start.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“Believe it. When Rylee loves, she does it the way she does everything else.”

“She doesn’t love me,” I scoffed.

“Her actions would say otherwise.” Korbin finished his drink and got up to leave. “I know Reece has already said it, but sort your shit out. The sooner you’re off the market, the sooner I can wipe the tears from all the women who have lost their chance.”

“Selfish much?” I laughed, Korbin hadn’t spent a Saturday night alone since I got here—unless he needed a break.

“Rylee is good people. I don’t say that about a lot of women but it seems you and Eric are punching above your weight. Do what you’ve gotta do to lock her down and make her happy.”

“Working on it.”

Ethan to Rylee:This town is gonna hate you

Rylee:Why?

Ethan:It doesn’t matter.

Rylee:Okay.

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