She's the One: COunting on Love, Book 1 (4 page)

She shrugged and pulled her chin away from his touch. “It means that it’s got to be difficult keeping track of everyone in and out of your bed without making them all wear name tags.”

He grinned. He couldn’t help it. She was sassy too. He liked that. And liked even more that it didn’t show all the time. Emma was pretty much what-you-see-is-what-you-get. He liked knowing that there might be layers to Amanda Dixon to discover.

“Where would they pin the name tags?” he couldn’t resist asking.

For a moment, Amanda seemed surprised. Then she smiled. “You’ll have to get the adhesive ones, I guess.”

“Might cover up something I need to see.”

“You could try only dating women named Jennifer or something.”

He smiled. “But then Tim Winters wouldn’t believe whatever you told him about you and me.”

Amanda pressed her lips together. Then said, “I’m really sorry he hit you.”

“I’ll live. What I want to know is why he did it.”

“I thought he…told you.”

She actually blushed and Ryan wondered if he could remember the last time he’d seen a woman blush. Not off the top of his head.

“I want to hear it from you.”

She looked at the collar of his shirt instead of his eyes. “I told him I had a one-night stand with someone and had feelings for him.”

“Me.”

“Yes.”

“How’d I get to be the lucky one?”

She snorted.

He hated that she thought he was messing around. “Amanda.”

She finally looked up into his eyes.

“Why me?”

She swallowed. “You’re…the type, I guess.”

He frowned at that. That was what she thought of him? That he was the type of guy to screw around with another man’s girl?

“I don’t touch what isn’t free to be touched.”

She sighed. “Tim and I are not dating. We haven’t done more than chat and dance. I was trying to let him down easy without the whole ‘you’re a great guy, but—’ routine. I thought another guy was the easiest way.”

“Especially if the other guy ruined you for all other men. Who can argue with that?”

Her eyes widened and she blushed again, but then she laughed. “That’s what I thought. Ruined is ruined, after all.”

He’d love to be the one to ruin her.

The thought snuck up on him, and Ryan had to take a quick breath before saying casually, “Clearly he’s a little more into you than you thought.”

She shrugged and gave him a small smile. “The one time I think ‘what would Emma do?’ and I end up with an honest-to-goodness nice guy. Figures.”

“What does ‘what would Emma do’ mean?” Ryan asked.

Amanda laughed softly. “Well, I guess what
wouldn’t
Emma do might be more accurate. As you know.”

Ah, and there was the jab about him and her little sister. He’d been expecting it.

Okay, maybe she had a point. Emma was a bit notorious and yeah, okay, Ryan knew Emma’s naughty side personally. Still…

“Why are you thinking about what Emma would do or not do when it comes to Winters?”

“He’s been flirting with me and he’s good-looking, so when he asked me to dance, I thought ‘what would Emma do?’ Emma’s never turned down a dance with a cute guy. Ever.”

“Why are you doing things just because Emma would do them?” Though knowing what kind of things Emma would do, the idea sounded pretty good to him. He’d love to see Amanda in some skimpy lingerie. Or do some role-playing with her. His gut tightened and his palms itched. Oh, yeah. They’d start with the pirate and his slave girl.

“Let me ask
you
a question,” Amanda said instead of answering his question. “Is Emma sexy?”

Ryan was pretty sure he was going to get himself into trouble, but he answered, “Yes.”

“You notice her as soon as she walks into a room?”

Well, not
just
him but… “Yes.”

“And she’s fun? Someone people want to spend time with, someone people look forward to seeing?”

Ryan felt like he was even closer to screwing up as he nodded. “Yes. Emma’s…Emma.”

Amanda didn’t look insulted. “Exactly. Emma is Emma. She’s the girl all the guys want to be with and all the girls want to be.” She swallowed hard and crossed her arms. “Even me.”

Ryan felt a kick in his gut. “Emma also drives a lot of people crazy.”

Amanda nodded. “I know. I’m at the top of that list. But there’s no denying that Emma has a lot of fun. She’s sexy, and people want to be around her, people pay attention to her—who wouldn’t want to be her? Or like her? Even if just for a little bit?”

“Okay, I’ll grant you all of that. So, you thought you’d flirt and dance a little, but Tim took it the wrong way.”

“Right.”

“And when you had to let him down you thought ‘what would Emma do?’”

“Something like that.”

“And you picked me because?”

“Because you’re…” She trailed off and her cheeks got even redder.

Ryan couldn’t help his grin. This he had to hear. “Because I’m…?”

“Something Emma would do.”

He couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped. No one could really argue with that, he supposed.

Amanda wet her bottom lip and looked up at him and said softly, “Sorry.”

He didn’t want an apology. He didn’t want her to be sorry for having the idea of the two of them burning up the sheets one night. He wanted her to keep that idea firmly in mind, in fact.

But Winters had mentioned something that Emma wouldn’t do—he’d said Amanda had fallen in love with Ryan.

“Did you tell him it was a one-night stand?”

He liked the idea that she would think he was so amazing that one night would cause her to be head over heels. Even if it was only in her imagination.

Amanda took a deep breath. “Yes, just one night.”

Ryan moved in closer, wanting her full attention on him. “Okay. Make it up to me.”

“How?”

“Give me that night.”

“What night?” she asked carefully.

“The one we allegedly had. And whatever it was that ruined you for all other men.”

Amanda stared at him as if he were crazy. Which he probably was. She’d made up a fling. It was simple and innocent—mostly—and nothing he really needed to worry about. Winters had slugged him and gotten it out of his system. It was probably over. And if it wasn’t, Amanda had plenty of people—including him—who would step in to dissuade Tim from trying to win her over. It wouldn’t require any of them pretending to be her lover.

But Ryan didn’t want it to be that simple. Obviously.

“What do you mean?” she finally asked.

“I mean, I got hit for this. I think it’s only fair I get to actually do whatever it is that I got hit for.”

“He thinks we…” She frowned. “You know what he thinks.”

“He thinks we slept together.”

She nodded.

“That’s what I want.”

He could see her fingers digging into her arms where she had them crossed. “Basically, you want me to sleep with you to make up for the fact that you got hit.”

“Seems like the decent thing to do.” He fought his grin at her outrage.

“What’s
decent
about that?”

He leaned in closer. “Apparently it’s something that’s occurred to you as a possibility. I came to mind when you needed someone to have an imaginary fling with.”

She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. “It was subconscious,” she mumbled.

“Even better. Subconscious desires say a lot about how you really feel.” Oh, this was fun.

“I can’t sleep with a guy who’s slept with my sister.”

“Good thing I haven’t then.”

She arched an eyebrow. “You are aware that
Emma
is my sister, right?”

He grinned. “Very aware, actually. And your sister and I have done some heavy-duty flirting, we’ve kissed and we went skinny-dipping one night. But that’s it.”

Amanda looked seriously shocked. “What?”

“Skinny-dipping. I’ve seen her naked,” he admitted. “But there was no sex.”

“You expect me to believe that
you
and
Emma
got naked together but didn’t have sex.”

Ryan lifted a shoulder. “Yeah.”

“But…” She glanced toward the table where her sister Isabelle had joined Olivia and Emma. She looked up at him. “Really?”

“Really.”

“So…” She trailed off, seemingly still processing the information about him and Emma.

He knew most people thought they’d had a one-night stand. They let them think it because it drove Conner crazy.

Ryan tucked a hand in his front pocket. “So…a guy you’re obviously attracted to is asking you to spend a hot night with him having the best sex of your life. There’s only one question you should be asking.”

She sucked in a quick breath.

“Come on, Mandi, ask me what the question is.” She wanted to, he could tell. He also liked the way her eyes widened slightly at the nickname he’d just given her. No one called her anything but Amanda, or Dr. Dixon.

He waited. He’d wait all night for her.

Finally, she said, “What question should I be asking?”

He grinned. “What would Emma do?”

Amanda groaned. They both knew the answer to that question. Emma would jump in with both feet and big old loud
yee-haw
.

Oh, boy.

But worse—it didn’t matter that Emma would definitely do it. Amanda wanted to do it, and it had nothing to do with Emma.

“What are you suggesting,
exactly
?” she asked.

Ryan grinned and she knew she was in trouble. She’d basically just admitted that she was interested. A firm “hell no”, maybe punctuated by a good scowl, would have possibly talked him out of it. But she hadn’t done any of that.

“You, me, some whipped cream and twenty-four uninterrupted hours.”

Yep. That sounded just about perfect.

“Only twenty-four?”

In a blink, Ryan’s grin dropped and was replaced by a hot, hungry look. “I’ll give you twenty-four
days
if you want them.”

She was very afraid that she did. She swallowed hard. “That’s a lot of whipped cream.”

“Yeah. We’ll probably have to use some chocolate syrup and some marshmallow cream too.”

Amanda fought the smile…and the “yes, now, let’s go” that threatened. “Marshmallow cream?”

“Ever tried it?”

“For sex? No.”

“You’ll never want it on ice cream again.”

“Well, that will save me a ton of calories.”

“And, trust me, you’ll be burning up a bunch too.”

“Then how can I say no?”

Nothing bad would happen. It was Ryan. He was dangerous in a sexy, he-can-make-me-do-anything-he-wants way, and there was, of course, that risk of him ruining her for all other men. And she wouldn’t have to worry about embarrassing herself or anyone else. Ryan would be discreet. In fact, her brother was the last person who’d ever find out about anything between her and Ryan. Ryan wouldn’t risk telling Conner he’d hooked up with
another
of Conner’s sisters. No way.

Ryan took a deep breath and shook his head. “I can’t believe I just made a date for sex with Amanda Dixon.”

“Did we set a date?”

“How’s right now?”

Right now sounded pretty great, actually. And it might be a good idea not to think about this too hard or too long. “I happen to have the next twenty-four hours free.” That was true only since Olivia had announced her birthday wish, but, well, if Emma was going to take care of the rest of Amanda’s to-do list, then Ryan was the only thing she needed to do.

Ryan lifted a hand to her face, running his thumb over her cheek, staring at her.

“What?” she finally asked, the heat from his touch radiating through her body—though some parts warmed more than others.

“I’m just mapping out in my mind how to see, touch and taste as much of you as possible all at one time.”

Tingles exploded through her body. Oh boy. He was
such
a good choice if she only had one wild weekend. And he hadn’t slept with Emma. That was…amazing. Amanda sucked in a quick breath and licked her lips. She didn’t intend for it to be seductive, but judging by the look on Ryan’s face, it was anyway.

It was that look, that combination of fascination and heat, that made something click deep inside her. This was her one weekend, the one chance to let it all go, to do a few—okay, as many as possible—of the things that made her envy Emma. And this was the perfect guy. She could trust him. And there was no denying the attraction.

What would Emma do? She’d make every minute really count.

“I changed my mind,” she said.

Ryan frowned. “No way. That’s not an option.”

She smiled. His eagerness made every ounce of feminine power that she possessed flare to life. “Oh, I promise to make it up to you,” she said. “All I want it a chance to figure out which things on my list we can get to in twenty-four hours. And what supplies I need to bring.”