Love, Diamonds, and Spades (Cactus Creek #2)(12)

“My sources tell me you don’t just visit her sometimes. You drop in on her every day.”

“Fine, I stop by every day. She’s adorable to tease, what can I say? I have a sweet tooth for that sort of thing.”

“And the little daily gifts?”

Damn, she really did miss her calling as an interrogator.

“I’ve just been welcoming her to town.”

“Pretty extravagant welcome.” Dani tapped her foot and stared at him, telling him in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t going to budge one step until he fessed up. “Want to know what I think?”

Not at all, no.

“I think you are trying to date her. You’re wooing her and testing the waters to see if she’ll just trip and fall into a relationship with you. And because you’re still broken-hearted over Lacey, you’re being a wuss about the whole thing.”

“You’ve got this all wrong, Dani.”

“Won’t believe you until you explain it to me.”

He sighed. “I just…like seeing her smile, okay?” God, that sounded lame.

Dani was now clutching her hands to her chest and looking at him like he’d just recited a freaking poem.

“The woman never smiles,” he clarified gruffly. “Except for when she’s with her son, then she lights up the whole freakin’ room. But other than that, she never smiles. And it’s a damn shame. She’s obviously a great mom and judging by everything she’s been doing with the chocolate and beer throwdown, she’s hella good at her job. But you just have to look at her exhausted face to see the universe has been treating her like crap.”

He leaned back against his truck and avoided Dani’s eyes. “So I bug her, and crack a few jokes—generally, just act like my usual dumbass self until she smiles.” Shrugging, he tried to explain what it felt like the first time he’d dragged a smile out of her. “I don’t know, for those short few seconds when she’s smiling, she’s not just happy but it’s like she’s…getting along with the universe for a little while. So, yeah, I just…like making her smile. Even though she fights like hell not to.”

“So you’ve just been trying to make her smile? That’s it? That’s the only reason?”

“No,” he sighed. “I also do it because I’m a friggin’ junkie looking for a fix every day.” Shoving his hands in his back pocket, he thunked his head back against the truck. “I damn near go into withdrawal by afternoon, wanting, criminy, needing to see her smile again. You happy? I admit it. I’m addicted to the little hellcat’s smiles.”

Dani stood there in stunned silence for a few surprised seconds.

…Before taking off down the driveway for her car.

Oh, shit.

She was locked in her car backing out onto the street before he realized what she was going to do.

“Woman, don’t you dare meddle.”

Dani shouted back from her quickly retreating vehicle, “Give me a few days, a week tops, considering it’s Quinn and all. And you better not try to ignore me when I call you!”

With her delighted laughter trailing behind her on the wind like cartoon skid marks, Rylan turned and headed back to his house. Though he loved Dani, he was annoyed as hell that she was going to interfere with the pleasant foundation he’d built for his platonic little friendship with Quinn.

But mostly, he was secretly glad she had only one one-hundredth of the patience he did.





CHAPTER SIX


A FEW DAYS LATER, Quinn was standing at the counter in Desert Confections staring at the front door like it owed her money.

She’d seen Rylan’s truck pass by and turn into the side alley a good ten minutes ago but he’d yet to make his usual appearance. Even though she’d never utter the words unless required by a warrant signed by a Supreme Court judge, seeing Rylan during his little visits was becoming one of her favorite parts of the day.

So where the heck was he, darn it?

Images of him getting accosted by band bunnies outside of Ocotillos suddenly flooded her mind. The idea was outlandish, of course, because just as Rylan had noted, he wasn’t surrounded by hoards of girls like she’d once thought. After she finally took her blinders off, she noticed that yes, there were fans, and yes—dammit—there were women who hit on him a lot, but it was nothing like the slutty sex carnivals Brody and his buddies used to live for.

She was still leery of the whole gambling thing, and while his assurance that he never wagered money when he gambled should have eased her wariness of the whole thing, it didn’t.

Because she knew exactly what sort of things could be wagered in the place of money.

…A disturbing reminder she forced herself not to jump to conclusions over again.

Besides, Rylan was just a friend. So his gambling was the talk of the town at times, he was free to do as he pleased. She had no claims on him.

Now seriously, where the heck was he?

Quinn gathered up a half-empty trash bag—knowing how these things tend to overflow when the shop was busy—and went out to the side alley to throw it in the dumpster.

The unbidden smile that was clamoring to get out as soon as she saw Rylan out there swiftly turned into a scowl when she saw he was standing next to her car, which, currently, was jacked up a few feet off the ground with its hood up and an unknown body underneath it, tinkering away.