She's the One: COunting on Love, Book 1 (26 page)

“Okay, dip your knees a little.”

She grabbed a handful of denim on each of his hips to keep from falling over and squatted down. That brought the ball up a few inches. He shifted and rotated his hips a little, trying to move it up.

“Come up slowly,” he said.

She followed the command, very aware of the heat and hardness on the other side of the insignificant distance created by the ball.

Then Ryan took a little pressure off the ball, bent his knees a bit and—

“We won!”

Everyone groaned and all the other couples stepped apart, balls bouncing to the floor as Shane shouted out their victory.

Ryan stood, slowly, the ball still rolling between them, their bodies sliding against each other. Neither of them stepped back. Neither of them let go of the other. Neither of them broke eye contact.

She could see, clearly, that he was remembering the other night when they’d been this close but with no clothes between them—and no friends around them. The desire in his eyes made every nerve in her body feel like it had been stretched tight and she was waiting for something to let go, knowing she’d feel it all over.

“Of course you did,” Emma groused.

“Well, we’re pretty good at wiggling against each other,” Shane said.

“God, just shut up, Shane,” Isabelle said.

Her sharp tone
pulled Amanda and Ryan away from each other—physically and mentally. Their ball bounced away as Amanda turned to look at her sister.

Shane was loud and boisterous and funny and didn’t at all mind being center stage. He was essentially a six-foot-four, two-hundred-and-sixty-pound, goatee-wearing Emma Dixon. Which meant that his filter wasn’t always on and he didn’t have a mute button.

He often exasperated and sometimes embarrassed Isabelle. But Amanda had never heard her sister actually get mad at him.

She sounded mad now.

Everyone else had quieted and turned to face Isabelle and Shane.

Conner’s eyes narrowed and he stepped forward. “What’s going on?”

He’d obviously noticed the rigid way Isabelle was holding herself, the pink of her cheeks and the way she wasn’t looking at Shane.

And then there was the frustrated look on Shane’s face.

They had clearly been fighting.

“What’s going on is between me and your sister,” Shane said tightly.

So something
was
going on.

“Okay, let’s go again!” Emma said brightly.

“No,” Conner told her firmly. “This was a terrible idea.”

“Really?” Emma, always one to push past the point of someone’s temper or comfort zone, turned to Nate. “Was this a terrible idea, Doc?”

Normally, Amanda would have expected Nate to sigh and give her some sarcastic comment. Instead he frowned at her. “Shut up, Emma You’re not helping.”

Amanda’s eyes widened. She was the first to agree that her sister needed more people telling her when she was over the line, but she was a little surprised that Nate was the one doing it. Nate was usually more…
calm
, she supposed was one way to put it. He was composed. He didn’t typically get riled up unless they were on the football field. Of course, Emma had a way of doing that to people too.

“I think it’s time for Seven Minutes in Heaven, right?” Shane asked, his eyes on Conner. “I pick Isabelle.”

Emma rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Cody muttered “dumbass” under his breath.

Isabelle swung to face him. “There is no way I’m going in any room with you alone. I can’t believe you’re even here today.”

Amanda sucked in a breath.
What
was going on? And why hadn’t Isabelle said anything before this?

“I’m here today because you’re here today,” Shane said firmly.

“Funny, that rule didn’t apply Thursday night when you went to Vegas to see your ex instead of staying here with me,” Isabelle said.

Everyone sucked in a breath at that.

“What the
hell
?” Conner demanded.

Nate moved closer to Conner. “Easy, buddy.”

Shane’s jaw was tight when he said, “I told you nothing happened. She needed my help. End of story.”

Amanda watched Shane with fascination. The guy was one of the toughest players in the entire amateur football league, and she knew he’d taken down bad guys and broken up bar fights. There was no way that he was
always
the jovial, good-time, everyone’s-best-buddy guy that they all knew. But she had never seen him as anything else. Until now.

He was quite clearly furious.

But he wasn’t the only one who was furious. Isabelle’s eyes narrowed and she poked a finger into his chest. “Well, I’m not going to pretend that everything’s fine and that we’re madly in love when you’ve just waltzed back in from an all-nighter in Vegas with your ex-stripper-girlfriend.”

There was total silence in the condo for ten seconds. Then Shane said, “She’s not an ex-stripper.”

“Ah!” Isabelle yelled, then grabbed her purse and stomped toward the bathroom.

“You’re such an idiot,” Cody told Shane.

“So she’s a
current
stripper?” Nate asked. “But she’s your ex-girlfriend.”

Shane’s only response was, “Fuck.”

“I’m going to murder you.”

Everyone turned to look at Conner. Furious seemed to be contagious. Nate grabbed Conner’s arm.

“It’s fine, Dix,” Shane said. “Nothing happened.”

“Isabelle’s upset.”

“Isabelle will be fine,” Shane said firmly. “I’ll take care of it.”

“I think you’ve done enough.”

Ryan stepped forward as Conner did. “Okay, enough.”

There were still several feet separating the two men, but it felt like someone was about to throw a punch. Ryan was the calming influence in the group. And it was his house. They’d listen to him.

“How about everyone take a deep breath. Shane, you move into the kitchen and we’ll have a talk; Conner, you head out with Nate and take a little walk.”

Several seconds ticked by. Neither man moved. No one said anything.

Ryan looked back and forth between his friends. “Guys? What do you think?”

Okay, so the calming influence might need to include some of his mother’s tea. Or something stronger. Maybe he had some other calming herbs. Was marijuana an herb?

Amanda rubbed her forehead. She looked at Olivia. Olivia nodded and went after Isabelle.

Well, at least no crying would happen in front of Conner. That might help. Even though he’d probably assume that Isabelle was crying—even if she wasn’t. Isabelle never cried.

Then again, her boyfriends never spent the night in Vegas with their stripper ex-girlfriends.

“Let’s go outside,” Nate said to Conner.

“No way,” Conner said. “I want to know what the fuck is going on.”

“Listen, guys,” Ryan said. “Just cool it.”

“I’m not messing around,” Shane said, directly to Conner. “I love her.”

“Well, she deserves better,” Conner told him.

“She deserves a guy who will give her exactly what she wants and needs in every way…and that’s me,” Shane said.

Both men stepped forward again, and Amanda’s heart thumped hard in her chest.

Ryan held up his hands, keeping both men at arm’s length. Opposite arms. “Dix,” he said to Conner, “you gotta know there are things about your sisters that you don’t know.”

Conner—and everyone else—looked at him in surprise. “What’s that mean?” Conner demanded.

Amanda crossed her arms and waited for the answer.

“You’re their brother,” Ryan said, “They don’t confide everything in you. You don’t automatically know everything they’re thinking and feeling just because you’re their big brother.”

Amanda and Emma looked at each other with expressions that were a cross between stunned and amused. No, of course Conner didn’t know everything about them. But he thought he did, and they let him think that. It made him happy and made their lives easier.

“And there are things
you
know about them that I don’t?” Conner asked Ryan.

“There are things
I
know,” Shane said.

Amanda wanted to smack him.
Why
did he insist on rubbing this in?

Ryan swung his gaze to Shane. “And
you
,” he said, pointing at Shane. “You need to just concentrate on Isabelle. Conner wants her happy. If you think you can pull that off, then
do
it. If not, leave her alone. But it’s about
her
. Stop mouthing off to Dixon.”

Amanda was a little impressed at that. It was true. Shane needed to be concentrating on making Isabelle okay. It wasn’t about Conner being okay.

She looked from Ryan to her brother, then around the room.

Huh.

It wasn’t about Conner.

And all the people in that room that she was related to—including the man whom she’d spent so much time trying to impress, whom she’d tried to help by reducing his burdens and worries, the man who had been her solid ground for so long—were really pissing her off.

“Conner, I think you need to go with Nate,” she said, stepping forward.

Her brother looked at her, clearly surprised. “What?”

“I think Ryan’s right. You need to cool off.”

Conner crossed his arms and glared at Shane. “I’m not leaving until Isabelle leaves.”

“Me either,” Shane said.

“Maybe Isabelle’s not coming out of the bathroom until you both leave,” Emma said.

“Maybe you should go try to talk to your sister and see how she’s doing,” Nate said to Emma.

She shrugged. “It’s way more interesting out here.”

“Maybe I should have brought more beer,” Cody muttered.

“Maybe I should run and get some,” Gabby volunteered, getting to her feet.

Amanda didn’t blame her for wanting to get out of here.

“For God’s sake,” Ryan muttered and headed for the hallway that led to the bathroom.

He was actually stomping. Ryan never stomped. Or muttered.

Everyone’s eyes got wide a moment later when they heard him pound on the bathroom door and shout, “Isabelle, get your butt out here.”

Conner’s stunned look quickly changed to a frown, and as Ryan came back into the living room, he said, “What the hell, Kaye?”

Isabelle and Olivia were right behind him.

“Everybody out,” Ryan announced, pointing at the front door. “Now.”

Everyone stared at him. Emma asked, “You’re throwing us out?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re yelling,” she pointed out.

“I know,” he yelled.

“You don’t yell,” Emma said.

“And you don’t throw your friends out of your house,” Cody mentioned.

“I don’t care,” Ryan told him. “You can all be stupid and hard-headed outside as well as in. And if you’re out, I don’t have to listen to it. Out. Now.” His tone was firm, his gaze was steady and his finger pointing at the door left no room for confusion.

Everyone decided that he was serious, and the women grabbed their purses while the men set their beer bottles and cups down on the nearest surfaces and headed for the door.

Amanda wasn’t as amazed at Ryan’s outburst as the rest of them seemed to be. Ryan didn’t do drama or chaos. He’d tried to be the peacekeeper, but when that hadn’t worked, he’d decided the next best course of action to remove the stress was to throw it out.

Amanda tried to get next to Isabelle, who was trying to avoid being next to Conner or Shane. Which was difficult because both of them were waiting for her and both of them were annoyed that the other was waiting for her. Amanda reached out to grab Isabelle’s arm, intent on keeping her away from
both
men, when she suddenly felt a tug at the back of her jeans.

She glanced over her shoulder to find Ryan hanging on to her. “Not you,” he said simply.

“But, I…” She glanced at her sisters, then her brother.

“You’re staying.”

Since it was what she wanted to do deep down anyway, and because she felt as bad about Ryan’s irritation as she did about her siblings being at odds, she stopped struggling immediately.

The door shut behind Cody without anyone really noticing that she wasn’t in the pack. They were all talking, arguing, chastising each other and wondering about Ryan suddenly getting loud and firm, and Amanda figured it would be awhile before anyone realized she wasn’t with them.

“Are you okay?” she asked Ryan, who was still holding on to her jeans even though she’d turned to face him. It brought her up closer to him than friends should probably stand, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to protest.

He looked into her eyes as he chuckled softly. “Seriously? You’re asking
me
if I’m okay? I’m fine. What about you?”

“But you yelled. At your friends.”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t do that.”

“I don’t need to do that. Usually.”