Page 44 of Safe Harbor
Ryan walked into the kitchen and stared at the coffee pot, listening to it brew. This was all so strange to him. He didn't mind Lucy staying over, and he didn't mind making her coffee. Hell, he didn't even mind seeing her walk around in his jersey. There was one other woman who tried to do that — stayed over and then rummaged through his closet for one of his jerseys when he was in the bathroom. Luckily, it wasn't a special one, just something the team gave him for free, so he didn't mind when she huffed and puffed her way out of his apartment after another stellar performance from his "girlfriend" Sydney.
That part was bugging him. He had fun with those little acts he would put on with Sydney, and he justified it by reminding himself that those women were staying in his apartment. They were asking for it when they decided to camp out at his place in the morning and be the girl that's different from all the others, the one who would tame the wild Ryan McCloud.
But this was Lucy. The girl who was different from all the others. He wouldn't mind having her tame him, or at least tame him a little more than he was now. He was still a young stallion on the Detroit Pirates after all. He also was a man who had become smitten with his next door neighbor's best friend. Crap, that sounded a bit cliché, but it was what it was.
With the coffee finally done, he grabbed two mugs that did not have ugly flowers all over them and put them down on his counter. He was about to grab the coffee pot when he heard a quiet knock on the door. He walked over and opened it as quickly and quietly as possible to let Lucy in.
"Thanks."
She smiled and walked past him into his bedroom without an invitation as if she owned the place. He didn't really mind. Ryan just figured she wanted a little privacy as she pulled herself together, not that it mattered considering all that he had seen of her the night before.
"The coffee is done!" he hollered back at her. "Put your pants on and get it while it's hot."
He could hear her walking up behind him as he poured two cups, her arm snaking around his waist with his shorts in her hand.
"What are these for?" he asked.
Ryan turned to see Lucy standing there, hair brushed and pulled back in a ponytail, his jersey still on her but nothing else. The shorts she just handed him were the ones she wore down to the parking garage only minutes earlier. She gave him a wicked smile and took her cup of coffee off the counter.
"I just remembered when you answered the door that first day up north in your boxer briefs," she said. "It was a very nice morning. But you need to be wearing more than your boxer briefs if Sydney is coming over."
"And I remember you were so flustered that you didn't even realize you were talking to me."
"Yes, yes, don't remind me."
Ryan laughed and leaned over to kiss her gently on the forehead. "But that's the best part of the story."
Lucy gave him one of her patented eye rolls in response. "Anyway, can we text Sydney? I want to see the act you two put on."
"Aren't you going to put any pants on?"
Lucy just shrugged. "I kind of want to see how she adapts to the situation."
"Yeah, but it's just…"
His voice trailed off and he realized he was about to reveal more than he wanted to. Lucy stepped closer and looked up at him, and he knew that he was going to tell her whatever she asked to know.
"It's just what?" she asked.
He exhaled and looked out the window so he didn't have to see her eyes. "I do this to get rid of women I don't care about."
He could feel Lucy's warm hand on his chest through his shirt. "Does that mean you care about me?" she asked him quietly.
"I mean, I guess."
Yeah, that was a horrible answer, but Lucy's question had totally thrown him off. Did it mean he cared about her? Yeah, pretty much. But thinking about it that way made things too serious. She wasn't just a booty call, but she wasn't his girlfriend or someone he would go out on a date with. Or was she? Ryan could imagine taking her to some fancy dinner at the Rattlesnake Club or the Whitney. He could imagine being on an actual date with her walking along the riverfront.
Luckily, Lucy seemed to take his stupid answer in stride. "Close enough," she said quietly before kissing him on the cheek. "So are we texting her or what?"
"You really want to do this?"
She gave him a mischievous look. "I really do."
"Don't give me that look," he told her as he reached for his phone.
Lucy stepped closer, her breath on his neck as she stared up at him with anticipation. "What look?" she asked innocently.
Ryan gave her a small growl in frustration, closing his eyes to try and compose himself. "Please go sit on the couch," he pleaded.
