She's the One: COunting on Love, Book 1 (20 page)

“Fuck,” Ryan muttered, sounding even less happy. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“It’s fine.” And it was. It was good in fact. If they were in the lit parking lot, other people around, the real world present, she could shake this off. It was just a product of having gone without sex for so long and the rush of doing something that she’d
never
let herself do with anyone else. Ryan was special for that reason. She could let it all go and not worry. That made him someone unique in her life.

That’s all this weird obsession was. Probably.

“You sure?” Ryan asked.

“Yep.” She straightened her shirt, licked her lips, smoothed her hair and then stepped around Ryan. “Hi, Shane.”

Shane’s eyes grew to three times their usual size. “
Amanda
?”

Exactly the reaction she’d been expecting. “Yes. It’s me. I’m fine. Everything is fine. We’ll…leave.”

Shane stepped back, giving her plenty of space to walk past him. She somehow managed to walk the ten feet of alley, pass her brother’s friend, the
cop
, and not die of humiliation.

As Ryan passed him, she heard Shane hiss, “In a dark alley? I kinda wanna hit you for that myself.”

“In fact,” she said as she turned to Shane. “If you could give me a ride home, that would be great.”

What she meant was,
If you could give me a ride home that would keep me from throwing myself at Ryan again
.

Shane looked from her to Ryan. “Uh.”

“That’s not necessary. I’ll take you home,” Ryan said firmly, coming to her.

She moved away from him, but caught Shane’s frown. Damn, she didn’t want Ryan to be in trouble. She turned back and went to Ryan, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “It would be better if Shane takes me. Olivia and Emma will be back soon.”

“I can fix that,” Ryan said, catching her hand and keeping her from getting away.

“No.” She met his gaze. “Really. I need to go back alone.”

She’d never let him leave. She might even steal Shane’s handcuffs to make sure Ryan didn’t go anywhere.

Some space was a good idea.
Not
hanging out with the guy who made her not care about anything else or what anyone thought was also a good idea.

Ryan stared at her for another long second. Then he looked at Shane. “You’ll take her?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll call you later,” Ryan said to her.

She nodded. She wouldn’t answer, but it would be nice of him to call.

Ryan didn’t chase women. He just didn’t.

So why was he in the hallway outside the offices for the faculty of the physical therapy program at Creighton University?

Because Amanda had gotten a ride home with Shane last night. And because she wasn’t answering his calls.

Why wasn’t she answering his calls?

Typically he wouldn’t care. If a woman didn’t call him back, she didn’t call him back.

Of course, that didn’t really happen either.

He let himself into the suite of administrative offices and the receptionist looked up with a bright smile. When she really focused on him, her smile got a little brighter.

That
he was used to. The instant flirt that women put on when they met him. His female friends said it was because he didn’t smile at women, he
smiled
at women. All women.

Well, he didn’t do it on purpose, but he did like the result.

He smiled at the receptionist. “Hi.”

“Hi,” she answered back, her smile warming. “Can I help you?”

“I’m looking for Aman—Dr. Dixon.” Ryan put the paper sack he held behind his back. He also didn’t bring or send gifts to women. Not that he wasn’t willing. He just hadn’t needed to. Until now. And suddenly his gift seemed silly.

“She’s in her office. Is she expecting you?”

Ryan sighed. “You know, I really think she is.” If Amanda
wasn’t
expecting him, she wasn’t as smart as everyone thought she was.

The receptionist glanced at the phone in front of her, then over her shoulder. “She must have finished her call. Let me check with her.”

Ryan nodded. If Amanda refused to see him here, he had other ways. Lots of them. He might not have a lot of experience in pursuing a woman, but he was stubborn. And creative.

“Dr. Dixon? There’s someone here to see you.” The woman glanced at Ryan. “Your name?”

“The Best Night of Her Life.”

The receptionist’s eyes widened and she grinned, but she simply said, “He says you’re expecting him—” She paused, then nodded. “I’ll send him right in.”

Obviously Amanda had overheard his answer.

Ryan gave her a wink. “Thanks.”

“You bet. Third door on the right.”

He knocked and turned the knob at the same time.

“Seriously?” Amanda asked as he stepped into her office.

She was standing behind her desk, looking so different from the girl who had been dancing at Frigid the other night he had to blink a few times.

She definitely wasn’t smiling at him. Women always smiled at him.

“You can try to deny that I’m the best night of your life,” Ryan said, stepping farther into the room and nudging the door shut. “But I won’t believe it.”

She rolled her eyes. And did not try to deny it. “What are you doing here?”

Her hair was pulled back and clipped at the base of her head, she had glasses on and she was wearing gray slacks and a black, silky, button-up shirt.

“You didn’t expect to see me?”

She sighed. “You mean after the six phone calls and four texts from you today?”

“And the five shots at Frigid, the tea, the Snickers, the pickle chips. That’s more than I’ve spent on a woman in a long time. I’m invested here.”

“I never got the pickle chips,” she pointed out.

He tossed the paper bag he held onto her desk.

She almost smiled as she reached for it, opened it and looked inside. Then she did smile. Finally. She pulled out a bag of pickle chips and another Snickers.

“
Two
Snickers,” he said. “Very invested here.”

“That’s really sad,” she told him.

“That I’m invested in you?” He didn’t invest in relationships. This was something. Something he still couldn’t quite define.

“That this is the most you’ve spent on a woman in a long time.”

“I…” He trailed off. Okay, maybe it was. Yeah, it probably was. He sighed. This was usually easier. A lot easier. Women really being into him and wanting to be with him was definitely easier. But Amanda wanted to be with him…didn’t she? If she didn’t, why didn’t she?

He frowned and stepped to her desk. “I didn’t like that Shane took you home last night. What’s going on?”

“It’s an easier break,” she said.

Yeah. No way. He rounded her desk, but she scooted around the corner away from him. “What the
hell
is going on?”

“We had a fantastic weekend,” she told him from the other side of the desk. “We did. I’m so glad we did…everything we did.” Her cheeks got a little pink at that. “But it was just the weekend. I’m back to my real life now and—” She swallowed. “I can’t do
this
.”

“What is
this
anyway?” He’d really like to know.

“I don’t—” She swallowed again, but met his gaze directly. “I don’t know.”

He grinned. That actually helped.

“But it’s messing with me.” She took a deep breath. “It makes me want to be reckless and not get up in the morning in spite of an early class, and eat potato chips for dinner and…”

“Make out with a spy in a dark alley?” he supplied.

She nodded. “And not care who knows.”

There was something in those few words, a deeper meaning that Ryan really wanted to know more about. That was also unusual. Getting deep and personal was a sure way to make things complicated.

But he wanted things complicated with Amanda.

He moved around the edge of the desk toward her again, but slower this time, hoping she’d stay put. “So you’re having some fun.”

She didn’t move. She watched him approach with big eyes. “Too much.”

“Do you really think that’s a problem?” He stopped right in front of her. He lifted his hand and took a piece of her hair between his finger and thumb, rubbing his thumb over the silky strand.

She stared up at him. “You make me want to do things that I shouldn’t.”

“I don’t think pickle chips are a good idea any time, especially for dinner. That one’s not on me.”

“Yeah, but wanting to give you a blow job in my office in the middle of the workday is totally on you.”

Heat licked through him and he leaned in. “Yeah, okay, I’ll take the blame for that.”

She took a deep breath in through her nose. “This is exactly what I’m talking about. I have to have self-control.I have responsibilities. I have people who look up to me.”

“I promise not to tell anyone about the blow job.”

She licked her bottom lip. But she still said, “If
anyone
asked me if they should give someone a blow job in the middle of their office during a workday, I would say it’s a bad idea.”

“And if Conner or Cody or Shane wanted to give someone a blow job in the middle of their office during the workday, it would
be
a bad idea,” Ryan said.

“Ryan—”

“I promise not to make you a slacker or a jerk or a criminal. And I promise not to be offended that you think hanging out with me will make you any of those things.”

“I—”

He leaned in. “Kiss me, Amanda.”

Her phone started ringing. She hesitated. She stared at his mouth.

The phone rang again.

Ryan held his breath. And bit his tongue. He wanted to tell her to ignore it. He wanted to kiss her and know that he could distract her from everything else.

But that would just prove to her that all the things she already believed—and was afraid of—about being with him were true.

He really, really liked that he could make her do things she shouldn’t.

“Son of a bitch,” she said on the third ring. “I have to answer that.”

He knew she was going to say that.

He leaned back and let her reach for the phone. The motion drew her pants tighter across her ass and her shirt away from her waistband. And he kept his hands to himself. See, she didn’t have to worry about his bad influence. He could control himself.

Then he remembered her saying that she wanted to give him a blow job and his hands went to her waist, stroking over the smooth skin exposed.

She pushed his hands away. “Yes, this is Dr. Dixon.”

He ran a hand over the curve of her right buttock. She slapped it and moved to put the corner of the desk between them.

“Damn.” She paused with a frown. “Okay, I appreciate that.” Another pause and a deeper frown. “I will. Thank you.”

She replaced the receiver and Ryan could tell that his chances of a blow job were completely gone.

“You okay?” he asked.

She looked up and shook her head. “No. And I can’t believe that you made me forget that.”

He smiled. “Isn’t that a good thing? I can make your day better. I can—”

“No, it’s not good,” Amanda interrupted. “It’s bad. It’s very bad. I’ve spent the morning trying to keep one of the best and brightest students to come through our program from quitting. And then you walk in here and all I can think about is…” She trailed off and Ryan knew better than to fill in the blank. Even if he had been tempted to fill it in with pickle chips. Which had not been the first thing to come to mind.

“What’s going on?”

“Jill didn’t show up at her clinical today,” Amanda said.

“The girl from laser tag?”

“Yes. Her clinical instructor called me first thing this morning. Then I had a text message from Jill saying that she was withdrawing from the program.”

“The program?” Ryan asked, not really following. But Amanda was upset. And he hated it. He also hated that he had nothing to offer other than tea and another massage—and he didn’t think that offer would go over very well at the moment.

“The entire program. She’s quitting, dropping out.”

“Does she want to transfer to another program?”

“No. She says she’s just done. That everyone was right and how can a deaf girl be a good therapist.” Amanda’s expression changed from worried to pissed in a blink of an eye. “Which is, of course, ridiculous. She’s going to be a fantastic therapist. She’s academically one of the best and her people skills are amazing. She’s loved everything up to this point. Or at least, I thought she did.”

“Maybe she was hiding it from you,” Ryan suggested. “Maybe this was the final straw.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Now Amanda looked determined. Her quick mood shifts were impressive. “Nobody quits my program because things get a little tough. She
needs
to be a physical therapist. The world needs her to be a physical therapist.”