She's the One: COunting on Love, Book 1 (25 page)

Oh, and that she was in
trouble
.

Her cheeks were even flushed when she looked in the bathroom mirror.

“You want him for more than that,” she told her reflection. “He deserves more than that.”

She splashed water on her face and took several deep breaths.

She had to pull it together.

This was all her idea in the first place, and it was important. Ryan was a great guy and she was determined to prove that to him.

A minute later, she stepped into the living room and immediately focused on Ryan. He had one foot propped on the corner of the coffee table, his hands linked behind his head, his eyes on the frozen television image. The position pulled his T-shirt tight across his chest, and the soft cotton of the running pants molded against his crotch.

She pasted on a smile and said the only thing that made any sense.

“I think I’m going to get going.”

He turned and blinked at her. Clearly he’d been lost in thought.

She’d love to know what he’d been thinking about. Frankly, everything about Ryan made her curious.

He stretched to his feet and nodded. “Okay.”

So he wasn’t going to try to talk her into staying? She didn’t frown. Going home was a really good idea. It would keep her from ruining this being-friends thing on the very first night.

But he could
act
like he wanted her to stay. Or fake it.

“So, I’ll see you—”

“How about we try this again Saturday night? And I’ll invite some other people. We’ll barbecue or something.”

She liked that idea. She could see him, be his friend, but with others around there wouldn’t be this constant sexual tension. Or, she amended, looking into Ryan’s eyes and feeling the heat curl through her even from several feet away, at least they wouldn’t be able to
act
on the sexual tension that would be there.

“The girls too?” she asked.

“Yep, invite them all. I’ll tell Gabby and Sierra.”

“We can do potluck. We’ll all bring something,” she said, definitely liking this idea.

“Maybe we’ll play some cheesy party games or something.”

She grinned. “That would be perfect.”

He grinned back. “Then it’s a date.”

She knew he’d said that on purpose. The friends-only thing was her idea, not his. But she did appreciate that he’d resisted any sexual innuendos and more blatant comments—or touches—tonight. He was going along with her request to be friends only. For some reason.

She was choosing not to think about the fact that it might be because he could quite easily get the sexy stuff from just about any female in the greater metropolitan area.

“Sounds like fun,” she told him.

“It does.”

They stood just looking at each other for a really long time. Long enough for her to imagine crossing the floor, pushing those loose-fitting pants to the floor and wrapping her legs around his waist.

She cleared her throat and made her feet move in the opposite direction, toward the door.

“’Night,” she said. “Thanks for the wings and the…” She still couldn’t frickin’ think of what else they’d had.

“Nachos,” he supplied.

Right. Nachos. She frowned. Nachos? There had been nachos? She really liked nachos.

“Thanks for all of it,” she said.

“No problem.”

He stayed right where he was, not making even an attempt to walk her to the door.

Which was a good thing. Being walked to the door might tempt her to kiss him good night. Friends didn’t kiss good night. They didn’t kiss any other time either.

Which, now that she thought about it, was one of her least favorite things about this plan.

It wasn’t like Emma wouldn’t have volunteered to be in charge of the party games at Ryan’s the next night, but Amanda knew for a fact that Ryan had
asked
her sister to be in charge.

The rat.

Emma didn’t play Monopoly or even charades. Oh, no. Emma played things like Suck and Blow, truth or dare and this new one called Balls.

“It’s easy,” Emma told the group that was gathered in Ryan’s living room.

Conner, Nate, Cody and Shane stood to one side, all with beer bottles in their hands. Gabby was there, perched on the arm of the chair where Olivia sat, though Sierra had been unable to make it. Ryan was leaning against the wall next to the bookcase and Amanda stood next to Isabelle near the sliding glass doors.

“I need someone to help me show everyone.” Emma looked around. Olivia started to get up but Emma shook her head. “No, a guy.” She reached and grabbed the closest male and tugged him up in front of the group.

Nate didn’t look happy.

Of all the guys, Nate was the most serious, certainly the least silly. He could have a good time and had a great sense of humor, but he didn’t get as rowdy as the other guys did and he definitely had more decorum. It didn’t surprise Amanda that his teeth were usually gritted when Emma was around. It did make her smile though. As it did everyone else.

“You take a ball.” Emma held up a little pink rubber ball that was about three inches in diameter. “Then you put it between you, like this.” She rested the ball against her stomach with one hand as she grabbed the front of Nate’s shirt and pulled him around to face her…close enough that his stomach was against the ball as well.

Everyone’s eyebrows went up. Except Nate’s. His eyebrows definitely pulled down.

“Then the object is to be the first couple to roll the ball up to the chin of the shortest person. Without using your hands.”

Nate took a huge step back the minute Emma started wiggling, trying to move the ball between her body and his.

The ball fell to the floor and bounced under the coffee table.

She frowned at him. “Not like that. Obviously.”

“I’m not doing that,” Nate said calmly. But firmly. He tipped back his beer bottle.

Emma ran a hand through her hair, then put her hands on her hips. “So, is it just hives or is it like full anaphylactic shock?” she asked Nate.

“What are you talking about?”

“You know, if you have fun. Is the allergic reaction mild or something we need an EpiPen for?”

Nate turned to the guys. “I’m an intelligent man. Why do I encourage her by asking things like ‘what are you talking about’ when I know she’s physically incapable of being anything less than a smartass?”

The guys chuckled and Conner slapped him on the back. “Gee, Em, maybe he just doesn’t want to rub up against you,” Conner said to his sister.

“Uh, I don’t think that’s it,” Cody said.

Conner swung to face him and the fire chief held up his hands. “I’m just sayin’.”

“Don’t.”

“Hey, Nate,” Emma said, not quite ready to let the doctor just walk away. “Tell you what—you play this game as my partner and I won’t talk for…thirty whole minutes.”

Nate snorted. “You’ll explode.”

“A risk I’m willing to take,” Em told him.

Nate stepped toward her, clearly suspicious. “What’s the catch?”

“Nothing. No talking. Thirty minutes. All you have to do is a play a two-minute game with me and you’ll have peace and quiet for half an hour.”

Amanda watched the exchange with interest. She was kind of on Nate’s side. Thirty minutes of no talking would be tough for Emma, no doubt about it.

She couldn’t help it. She glanced at Ryan. He was watching
her
. He was clearly amused, but he was standing with his back against the wall, his arms crossed, obviously content just to watch. And his subject of interest seemed to be her.

She felt warm and gave him a smile, but dutifully turned back to the game and their friends and family. They were just hanging out. It didn’t matter to her where his attention was.

Except that she could have sworn she felt his eyes drop to the butt of her jeans. The fitted ones. With the pink rhinestones on the back pockets. That she might have paired with a silky pink top and pink heels tonight, hoping he’d think she looked nice.

Amanda groaned inwardly. This wasn’t how this was supposed to be. She hadn’t been thinking about what Cody or Nate would think of her outfit. Dammit.

“Why do you want to be his partner?” Cody asked Emma, stepping forward. “I’ll gladly roll the ball with you.” He gave Emma a little wink.

She grinned. “’Cause we’d definitely win,” she told Cody. “You and I could shimmy and wiggle together just fine. It’s more fair to everyone else if I’m paired with Nate.”

Cody laughed and elbowed Nate. “You don’t think Nate can shimmy and wiggle when he needs to?”

Emma shrugged and looked at Nate. “It’s gotta be hard to move when you’ve got such a huge stick up your ass.”

Nate’s expression didn’t change as he met Emma’s gaze evenly. He continued to watch her as he tipped his bottle back again and finished his beer. Then he handed the empty to Shane. “Honey, I know you’re just goading me to get me to partner with you because you want to make sure that you don’t have any competition from whoever
does
pair up with me.”

“Sure, that must be it,” Emma said dryly, watching him step forward again.

“But if you want to be up against me that bad, I can hardly say no. I don’t want you to have to beg or cry in front of all your friends.”

“You’re a prince,” she told him, patting his cheek.

“Uh-huh. Where’s the ball?”

Conner sighed.

Gabby rose from her seat. “Come here, Dixon,” she said to Conner. “There’s a considerable lack of females you can wiggle against in here without it being gross.”

Conner looked around the room, realized she was right and went to stand next to her.

Shane, of course, made a beeline for Isabelle, leaving Olivia, Amanda, Cody and Ryan not paired up.

“Well, darn, guess I have to go front-to-front with Amanda or Olivia,” Cody said, giving Amanda a grin.

She smiled back and told herself that she would
not
be disappointed not to be paired with Ryan. It was most definitely for the best. Which meant that she also would
not
be jealous of her sister.

She did, however, notice that Emma was trying to catch Olivia’s eye over Nate’s shoulder. Then Nate said something that claimed Emma’s attention.

Ryan stepped up to Amanda’s side. “I’m thinking maybe—”

“Come on, Cody, you’re with me,” Olivia said, grabbing his sleeve and tugging. “We’re better matched for height.”

Cody was maybe an inch shorter than Ryan, but Olivia was a good three inches shorter than Amanda, so maybe that made sense.

Amanda turned to face Ryan. She saw the look in his eyes. The same combination of “this is gonna be great” and “oh crap” that she was feeling. Yeah, this was going to make something, but she didn’t really think it was sense.

“I kind of thought the group thing would
keep
me from being up against you tonight,” Ryan said quietly, as Emma tossed rubber balls to everyone.

Amanda nodded and tried to swallow. “I can switch with Iz or even Olivia,” she offered.

Ryan caught the ball with one hand, never taking his eyes off of her. “See, now that would make this being friends thing even harder.”

“How?” How could it get harder to ignore their attraction and forget about the awesome sex than it would be rubbing up against each other?

He reached up to run his thumb over her jaw. “I’d be feeling way more possessive and jealous than a guy who’s just a friend should.”

Oh. And she was liking that a lot more than a girl who’s just a friend should.

“We could refuse to play,” she suggested, really hoping he’d shoot that down too.

He gave her a slow, sexy grin and held the ball up. “Babe, I can act chivalrous and chaste, but I can’t act stupid. No straight guy in his right mind would sit this out.”

She grinned and felt a combination of relief and desire hit her.

“Remember, you have to roll the ball all the way up to the shortest person’s chin,” Emma called out as everyone positioned themselves and the balls at bellybutton level. “No hands. First couple to get there wins.”

Amanda became immediately aware of only Ryan. His big body moved in against hers and his scent and heat surrounded her.

“What do we win?” she vaguely heard Shane ask.

“You get to go first for Seven Minutes in Heaven,” Emma called back. “With your choice of partner.”

Conner and Nate groaned.

Cody asked, “Did I hit my head and suddenly wake up back in seventh grade?”

“Love that,” Shane said.

Emma just laughed. Likely she’d just pulled that one off the top of her head. Then again, Amanda could totally see Emma playing and loving all these games. She just hoped the night ended before Emma decided it was time for strip poker.

“Ready. Set. Go!” Emma started the game and the race was on.

Amanda was out, mentally anyway, within three seconds. They couldn’t use their hands on the ball, but nobody said they couldn’t use them on each other. Ryan’s hands rested on her hips and he guided her motions with touch and soft coaching.