Page 22 of The Trouble with Sexy (Rock Canyon, Idaho 0.50)

His eyes met her fiery gaze and he tried to speak, “Ryan—”

She waved her hand to cut him off. “I just can’t seem to get it right, can I? Either I’m a boring prude or I’m just asking for it, right? I can’t just do what makes me feel good, because people always want something else. I have been here, working with you, apparently giving you all kinds of signals, but you never picked up on anything until Gracie got ahold of me. Which begs the question Gregg . . . did you really have feelings for me or was it just Gracie’s influence that made me so desirable to you?”

He reached out to her and she slapped at his hands. “Do not touch me. I’m so angry I can’t even see straight. I’m such an idiot! You have no idea who I am. You think just because I dress differently, that I’m not still me? If you knew me at all, you’d know that no matter who flirted with me or how cute a guy was I would never hurt you.”

He tried to reach out to her again but she snatched her jacket and jerked away. “Be sure to lock up, boss.”

IT WAS AMAZING how easy it was for her to avoid Gregg for the next two days. She’d gone about business as usual on Tuesday, and went straight home after her last appointment. She’d ignored his phone calls and curled up in front of the TV to watch Private Practice, a bowl of kettle corn in her lap. She finally turned her phone off after he sent her a text that said, We need to talk.

Thank God she hadn’t done something stupid like tell him she loved him. Well, at least not when he was awake. She might have said the words quietly while she watched him sleeping next to her. He’d looked so relaxed and handsome, and she’d just needed to say the words. And then she’d proceeded to wake him up in the naughtiest way she could think of. Her stomach hurt thinking how awful it was that you could go from blissfully happy one day to crawl-in-a-hole miserable the next.

Wednesday morning, Ryan drove by The Local Bean and saw him sitting inside waiting for her, so she just kept going out to her first appointment. She tried not to think about him, but throughout the day flashes of his smile or the image of him naked under her as they made love had her stomach in knots. She hadn’t meant to lose her temper with him, but he’d deserved a set-down after insinuating she was dressed unprofessionally. That she was somehow asking men to flirt with her. She had just wanted to feel good about herself, and yes, to be more appealing to the opposite sex, but the minute he kissed her outside Buck’s, no one else had even crossed her mind. But she knew needed to talk to him, and no matter what he said, she needed to just get past it and be professional. She could work next to him even if they weren’t together.

After driving back to the studio, Ryan went into The Local Bean to get the coffee she’d missed that morning. Gracie saw her and gave her a guilty smile. “Hey sweets, just the girl I wanted to talk to.”

Ryan raised her eyebrow. “I know we haven’t been friends that long, but I’ve seen your ‘I’ve done something bad’ look enough with Gemma to think maybe I should get my coffee before you say anything.”

Gracie made her usual coffee with room for cream and handed it to her quickly. “So Gregg was in here this morning and he kind of told me what happened between you guys.”

Ryan stiffened, irritated that Gregg would talk to Gracie about their quarrel. “He shouldn’t have done that.”

Gracie shrugged. “Yeah well, I only got the edited guy version so I knew there was more to it. But I may have made a slight error in judgment.”

Ryan smiled a little. “You? No.”

Gracie glared. “You need to stop talking to Gemma. Anyway, it’s not that big of a deal, but I might have said that he should probably apologize quickly because you volunteered for the singles auction on Friday.”

“You told him what?” Ryan’s voice roared in the quiet coffee shop.

Gracie looked sheepishly around. “I was just trying to speed things along so you guys could kiss and make up.”

Ryan groaned. “The fight started because of a client Gregg thought showed too much interest in me. Then he suggested maybe I shouldn’t dress so provocatively at work.”

Gracie gasped in outrage. “What an ass! That’s not even close to what he said happened.”

Ryan raised her eyebrow. “Oh really?”

“Yeah, he said you two just had a misunderstanding and he was going to give you time to cool down.”

Ryan’s eyes narrowed. “Oh I need time to cool down, do I?”

“Yeah, and that’s when I mentioned the singles thing. I was just trying to speed the makeup sex along.”

Ryan groaned. “Gracie . . .”

“Okay, okay, sorry. I’ll take your name off the list.”

Then Ryan had an idea. A wonderful idea. “No don’t. I’ll do the auction.”

Gracie’s jaw dropped. “Really? Are you sure?”

Ryan grinned over her coffee cup. “Definitely. It’s for a good cause right?”

AFTER TWO DAYS, Gregg was spitting mad. He’d shown up at Ryan’s house on Wednesday night with a handful of roses, hoping to catch her, but she wasn’t home. He’d debated over waiting for her, but it was too freaking cold outside. Plus, with the mood he was in, he’d probably have just made the situation worse.

What had possessed her to do the singles auction after she told him she was still the same Ryan she’d always been? The old Ryan would never have volunteered for a singles auction, let alone when she wasn’t single.

Technically she is single.

---