Love, Diamonds, and Spades (Cactus Creek #2)(8)

He glanced up and down the alley once more and strangely, she was touched by his fierce concern, unused to anyone actually fussing over her like this. “I’m fine, Rylan, really. I only come out here during the daytime, and I always check the security cameras before I do. I’d never put myself at risk and leave my son without a mother.”

He nodded then, noticeably eased by that info.

“Are you here to see Luke?”

“Nope. I’m actually here to see you. I wanted to set a couple of things straight.”

She frowned. “Okay.”

With one more suspicious look up and down the brightly lit alley, he grabbed the door handle back into Desert Confections and held the door open for her. “After you.”

Quinn had to fight back a smile. He was still worrying over her.

It was…nice.

The second they walked into the office, he turned and pinned her with a look. “You’ve been sentencing me for crimes I haven’t committed, sweetheart. So we’re clear, I am not nor have I ever been a player.”

Well, that was direct.

“I haven’t been sentencing you.” Just doing my best to ignore you. “I don’t care how many women you fool around with.”

“I care how many women you think I’ve been sleeping with. Because that number lately is zero. Has been for a while. The college girl you saw me with outside of Ocotillos is my cousin. She overheard some frat guys on campus calling her fat and she was feeling bad so I gave her a hug while she cried her eyes out.”

Oh no. Quinn had a really bad feeling she was going to be eating crow soon.

“The waitress you saw in this alley?” he continued, gruffly. “Yes, she’s a little handsy, but she’s also not at all into me. How do I know? Because she was attacking my face with kisses to thank me for the back stage passes I was able to get from one of my buddies…for her girlfriend’s favorite band.”

Yep. A big ole heaping pile of crow was flapping into her horizon.

And clearly, he knew it too. His brow rose up to dare her to continue to be judge, jury, and executioner for his trial.

“Why are you telling me this?” she asked instead, wondering where in the heck he was getting his intel…and if she would in fact have to strangle Luke any time soon for having a big, yapping mouth. Because if so, she was really going to need to get some chocolatiering lessons first.

“Welcome to small town express, sugar. The walls, trees, and floors here have not just ears, but big ole mouths as well.” He made sure she was looking him right in the eye when he repeated, “So like I said, I’m not a player.”

“What about the band bunnies?” she countered, a sore spot for her ego she didn’t like to think about. “They were all over you. And you were eating it up. Signing their bodies…”

Her ex used to get off on doing that.

Rylan sighed. “That has never happened before that day. Those girls were doing it for some sorority initiation scavenger hunt. One of them, I recognized. She’s been a fan for years and she kept going on about how their team was behind by so many points. I felt bad. So I signed one of their hips—not my fan’s.” He grimaced at the memory. “I’m sure you don’t believe me but I’ve really tried not to think about that incident since.”

She actually did believe him.

“Honestly, the guys and I hardly get requests for autographs. Mostly just girls wanting to party. And I’m way too old for that. As a rule, we never hook up with groupies. My drummer is probably the only one who isn’t uncomfortable with the bunny attention; he kind of digs it. The other two guys, Tucker and Levi are both married. Me, I’ve never liked getting treated like a piece of meat.”

That one was harder for her to believe. Not because she thought he was lying, but because history told her otherwise. “So you’re saying if a bunch of your hottest fan girls stripped and wanted a group thing, you’d turn them down?” Yeah, highly doubtful.

She watched an array of reactions pass over his face: frustration, incredulity, a touch of amused disbelief, but mostly, he just looked offended. “You do realize I’m just a local musician, right? I don’t have wild parties and groupies throwing their panties at me. I have fans, yes, but it’s nothing like what you’re imagining.”

“I know for a fact that even local musicians get caught up in the whole fan orgy thing.”

His eyes narrowed. “You do, do you? Anyone I know?” The question was casual, but his hard gaze was anything but.

“Don’t switch the subject to me,” she said quickly. “You say you’re just a local musician but I’ve heard you hang out with some bigger musicians when they’re in town for concerts, and you’ve even opened for a few.”

A slow grin overtook his features. “Been reading up on me, sweetheart?”

She felt her cheeks burn. “The town talks,” she evaded. It was the truth, everyone in town was completely nosy, but, in an entirely bizarre way. They didn’t gossip about the things she expected them to. For instance, they seemed to care a whole heck of a lot more about his weekly poker game than anything else, even his celebrity connections.

Thankfully, Rylan seemed to take her explanation at face value, and instead of teasing her into confessing that she may have googled him a little bit, he leaned against the wall and shrugged. “If you have questions, ask me. I’m an open book. A pretty dull book at that, if you’d let your imagination calm down for a bit to really take a closer look.”