Bachelor at Her Bidding (Bachelor Auction Book 2)(23)
She groaned. “Especially anyone who saw you kiss me in the pharmacy just now. Carol Bingley’s going to dine out on that for months.”
“I don’t think so,” Ryan said. “Not after the way people were clapping when I said what I did. I think she’s going to realize how much people dislike her gossiping. She said some awful things about Melinda MacCreadie when the poor woman was trying to cover up how sick she’d been. So I hope what just happened will make Carol stop and think before she spouts off in future.”
Rachel smiled at him. “You’re a good man, Ryan Henderson. Though every patient I saw today has told me that and sung your praises.”
“Everyone I’ve seen today has done the same thing about you.”
The townsfolk really held her in such high esteem? Given that she’d been away for so long, Rachel hadn’t expected that. But it warmed her all the way through. “If the situation was different, I might have plucked up the courage to ask you out.”
“But you’re not looking for a relationship.”
“And neither are you,” she reminded him.
“But you could almost tempt me to change my mind.”
His dark eyes were soulful and hot, and she remembered how it had felt just now when he’d kissed her – taking her from a place of misery and embarrassment to a place of bliss. It pushed her into her own admission. “And you could almost tempt me to change my mind.”
“What if we didn’t have a relationship, as such?” he asked. “What if we had a crazy fling instead?”
“No strings, no promises?”
“Exactly,” he said. “Maybe we can get each other out of our systems. And on the positive side we’re talking about pleasure.” His voice was almost a purr. “And desserts.”
“How’s a girl meant to say no to that?” she asked. “And we have… unfinished business.” She still felt guilty about the fact he’d brought her to an earth-shattering climax but hadn’t taken his own pleasure, thanks to the fact that neither of them had had a condom. And she could feel the color rising in her cheeks as she thought about the way he’d touched her.
“I think that I,” he said softly, “really need to go to Bozeman.”
She wasn’t following this at all. “Why?”
“Supplies,” he said.
Condoms, he meant; and she felt the blush in her face deepen further. “Bozeman.”
His eyes glittered with amusement. “I sure as hell can’t walk into the pharmacy right now and ask Carol Bingley for supplies, can I? Or the pharmacy near the hospital. Or any of the restrooms where someone might see me feeding money into a machine.”
She smiled wryly. “That’s the thing about a small town – everyone knows everything, and if they don’t they’re quite happy to add two and two to make five.”
“So, you and me.” His voice was husky.
She leaned closer. “Dessert, you said.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And Lily Taylor says your food is almost better than sex.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And your food,” she said, “is amazing.” She held his gaze. “How you made me feel on Saturday night was even better than that.”
He sucked in a breath. “It’s been a while for me, so I’m not making any promises. The first time you make love with someone new, it’s a lot like the first time you make a complex recipe and it all goes wrong… but with a bit of practice you learn to get it right, how to handle things.”
Excitement coiled deep inside her. “You think you could learn to handle me?”
“I think,” he said, “I’d very much like to try. And I would really love you to handle me.”
His words turned her knees to liquid. And she could feel a slow heat seeping all the way through her. Handling Ryan. Her fingers against his skin. Exploring, learning…
“Go to Bozeman,” she said, “and text me to tell me when you’re free. And if anyone asks, we’re just good friends, or intending to be.”
“It’s a deal.” He looked at her. “I’m tempted to seal that with a kiss, but I’ll take a rain check. The anticipation makes it all the sweeter.”
And that idea took away the last of any words that might have been in her head. All her senses felt scrambled. If just a hint and a suggestion and the memory of the way he’d touched her could do that, then actually making love with Ryan Henderson was really going to blow her mind…
Chapter Six
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“I’m so sorry that I didn’t manage to pick up your prescription,” Rachel said when her neighbor answered her door. “I did get the bread you asked for, but…” Not the prescription. She could hardly walk back into the pharmacy on Main Street and get it after Ryan had kissed her stupid and harangued Carol Bingley like that.
“That’s all right, love. It’s a few days until I run out of my pills anyway. It was kind of you to offer to fetch them for me in the first place. I know you’re busy.” Mrs. Jacobs smiled at Rachel.
“I’ll get them tomorrow, I promise,” Rachel said. And hopefully Carol Bingley wouldn’t have any new venom in store tomorrow. Though, even if she did, Rachel was feeling pretty immune to it after the way Ryan had stood up for her.