The Good Ones Read online

  “That’s great!” Savannah cried. “And also, ew.”

  The kitten dribbled on the towel but Maisy didn’t care. She’d gotten it to pee, even though it was still yowling.

  “Should I keep going?” she asked.

  Ryder looked at the kitten. “I’d give it a break. We have to feed it again in two hours, so we can try to get it to go again then.”

  “Okay,” Maisy said.

  “Wait here.”

  Ryder rose to his feet and grabbed an empty plastic grocery sack from the counter. Maisy dropped the cotton ball into it and he tied it off. Perry took the kitten back to the nest in her lap while Maisy rinsed the towel and put it in the hamper and then washed up in the bathroom. When she returned, they were all gathered around the kitten, who was fast asleep in its fluffy towel.

  “We have to set an alarm,” Perry said. “We need to feed it every two hours.”

  “Or,” Savannah said, “we could call the kitty nanny and have her come and take it.” Maisy, Ryder, and Perry all looked at her. “It was just a thought.”

  “It’s ten o’clock,” Maisy said. “It seems rude to call her so late. We can do this tonight and then reevaluate in the morning.”

  “We’ll help,” Perry said. Ryder glanced at her and she stuck out her chin in a stubborn pose. “I found it. I’m not leaving it.”

  “It’s a school night,” he said.

  “Are you saying that school is more important than saving a life?” she asked.

  He opened his mouth and then looked helplessly at Maisy, who was trying not to laugh. Perry was one smart cookie. No doubt about it. Ryder looked stumped as to what to say so Maisy figured she’d help him out.

  “Of course he isn’t saying that,” she said. “Why don’t you two stay here, and we’ll each take a shift and then we can figure out what to do in the morning after Hannah has a chance to examine it?”

  “Are you sure?” Ryder asked.

  “Absolutely,” Maisy fibbed. She absolutely was not. The thought of Ryder under her roof all night felt exciting, which had to be wrong. He was her architect. She had kissed him. This was bad, very very bad.

  “I’ll take the midnight shift,” Savannah volunteered. “I’m pretty sure I can manage to stay awake for two more hours.”

  “I’ll take the two a.m.,” Maisy volunteered. She figured she wasn’t going to sleep anyway.

  “Okay, then, I’ll take the four o’clock since I’m used to early mornings,” Ryder volunteered.

  “That leaves me with the six,” Perry said.

  “Just enough time to feed the kitten and get to school,” Ryder said.

  “Dad—” she protested.

  “No,” he said. “If you want to take care of this kitten, I support that but it can’t interfere with school.”

  Perry heaved a sigh. “Fine.”

  “All right, it looks like we’re having a sleepover.” Savannah clapped her hands together and glanced at Maisy. “This couch folds out, doesn’t it?”

  Maisy nodded. “But it’s pretty uncomfortable.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Perry said. “I just need a blanket because I am sleeping on the floor next to the box.”

  Maisy looked at Ryder, and he shrugged. “She’s a good floor sleeper. She used to sleep under her bed, convinced the monsters couldn’t find her there.”

  Perry gave her dad a look but the kitten made a squeak and she was diverted.

  “We’ll get you kids some pillows and blankets,” Savannah said. “Give a hand, M?”

  “Sure.”

  Maisy studied Savannah’s walk as she followed her to her room. It didn’t look pissed off and stilted. Still, there had been something in her tone and words the subtext of which sounded like I need to talk to you right now. Uh-oh. Maisy hoped Savy wasn’t put out about the kitten. She was not the world’s biggest animal lover, but Maisy couldn’t believe that Savannah would be okay with kicking a kitten out into the cold.

  Savannah closed the door to her room after them. Then she turned on Maisy and said, “Spill it.”

  “Spill what?”

  “Oh, don’t you play innocent with me,” Savy whispered.

  Maisy blinked. “I sincerely have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “A man shows up here, wearing a wedding ring. The same man is left alone with you for ten minutes and the wedding ring is gone,” Savy said. “Did you really think I wouldn’t notice? So, tell me, what motivated him to take it off?”

  Maisy shrugged. It was way overexaggerated and hampered by the fact that she could not meet her bestie’s rather intense stare. She loved Savy like a sister, she did, but she wasn’t prepared to say that there was something between her and Ryder when she didn’t know what had happened right before they found the kitten. You know, minus her entire world imploding like a supernova of lust.

  “Oh, come on,” Savy said.

  “I’ve got nothing,” Maisy said. She walked past her friend to the closet. She opened the door and foraged on the top shelf until she found a set of sheets, two comforters, and matching pillows.

  “I cannot believe you’re holding out on me, M,” Savy said. “I thought we were friends, best friends, top tier, no-secrets friends. I thought you were the one person I could share my deepest, darkest secrets with, the person who knew all of my flaws and misdeeds but loved me anyway.” She paused and gave Maisy the side eye. When Maisy said nothing, she added in an injured tone, “I guess I was wrong.”

  “Oh, no, nuh-uh, you’re not going to badger it out of me,” Maisy said.

  “It! You said ‘it,’ which implies that there is something to tell.” Savannah’s eyes flashed with triumph.

  Maisy shook her head. “How is it that you didn’t become a lawyer?”

  “Because law is boring.”

  “Oh, right.”

  Maisy turned and headed for the door, thinking she might escape, but with her arms weighed down by blankets and pillows, she wasn’t moving as fast as a getaway required. Savanah reached the door first and jumped in front of Maisy with her back to the door, blocking the exit.

  “Did he kiss you?” Savannah asked. Her light-green eyes were narrowed on Maisy’s face, which, traitor that it was, heated up as if it had a blowtorch on it. Savannah gasped. “He did!”

  “Shh!” Maisy hissed. Her voice was too loud and she cringed and whispered, “Hush.”

  “He did, didn’t he?” Savy pressed.

  “There may have been a small shared moment where his mouth was pressed against mine, but then you two found the kitten and everything went sideways after that,” she said.

  Savannah jumped up and down and clapped her hands. “But this is so exciting. It’s your first interested guy since—”

  “Yeah, can we not go there?”

  “You’re right,” Savy said. She glanced at Maisy. “You need to change into some sexy sleepwear, not that bubble gum thing you had going before.”

  “Are you insane?”

  “No,” Savy said. “More like logical—or were you trying to scare him off?”

  “Hello? His kid is here. Nothing is going to happen and I’m pretty sure that bottle-feeding a kitten and then helping it pee in your hand is a mood killer.”

  “Details.” Savy waved her hand in dismissal.

  “Stop, just stop.”

  “Fine, but if you want to land hot cowboy-architect guy, this could be your best shot.”

  “He’ll be working on the house all summer,” Maisy said. “I think I have time.”

  Savy shook her head at Maisy. “We’re going to be thirty. Time is the one thing we don’t have.”

  “Stop.”

  “I have a better idea. We could offer to let Ryder sleep in your bed and Perry can bunk with me,” Savannah said.

  “You really did hit your hea
d recently, didn’t you?”

  Savy grinned. “No, but I do love watching you blush. You’re so cute.”

  “Go.” Maisy waved her friend aside and opened the door. She called over her shoulder, “And behave yourself.”

  “Not really thinking it’s me we have to worry about,” Savy said. She grabbed the two pillows off the top of the pile and Maisy blew out an exasperated breath as she walked by her friend and returned to the living room.

  Ryder had already opened up the couch, while Perry had moved to sit with the kitten in its towel bundle in the chair by the open window. The curtains wafted on the cool breeze and Perry tucked the kitten close as if afraid it might get a chill.

  “I apologize in advance for the girliness of the linens,” Maisy said to Ryder. “I don’t have many men sleep over.”

  “Is that so?” he asked.

  His grin let her know he was teasing her, and Maisy felt her face get fiery hot for the second time in as many minutes. She heard Savannah snort behind her but she refused to acknowledge her friend. Instead she lifted up the ruffled lavender-and-pink comforter and tossed it at Ryder. It covered his head, making him look like a girly ghost.

  “Yes, that’s so,” she said.

  With a laugh, Ryder pulled the comforter off his head. Maisy lowered her head to hide her smile and tossed a side of the sheet toward him and together they made the bed. It felt strangely intimate to be making a bed with a man, okay, a hot man, and she found she didn’t know where to look. When she tucked a pillow under her chin and wrestled it into its case, she could feel him watching her as he did the same and it made her self-conscious in ways she hadn’t been in forever. It made her want to launch herself at him and run away from him—at the same time.

  She fluffed the pillow and dropped it in place. Then she hustled over to Savannah and Perry and helped settle the kitten into the box. It wiggled its way deeper into the towel and let out a small mewling cry that plucked Maisy’s heartstrings. She wondered where its mama was and why it had been left on the front porch. She hoped mama cat was all right.

  “Do you think he’ll be warm enough?” Perry asked. She took the pillow her dad handed her and moved so he could spread her comforter on the floor. “What if he gets hungry? Or lonely?”

  “We’ll feed him again soon,” Maisy said.

  “You’re right here if he gets lonely,” Savy added.

  “We’ll keep an eye on him and the heating pad and make sure he’s toasty,” Ryder said. “We’ll get him through tonight, for sure.”

  Maisy glanced at him in alarm and he shrugged. Was he crazy? Hearts were on the line here. This could be a disaster! She jerked her head toward the kitchenette, indicating that he should follow her. His eyes went wide, but he nodded in understanding.

  Chapter Fourteen

  RYDER felt like a kid being called out of the classroom for bad behavior. He supposed this should have bothered him, but if Maisy was the teach then he really didn’t mind, especially if she let him kiss her again soon. He wondered if this was how all of her male students felt. He had a feeling it was.

  “Did you need some help with cleanup?” he asked.

  “Yes, thanks,” Maisy said. Then under her breath, she whispered, “I was thinking more like damage control.”

  She turned and walked to the far end of the kitchenette and he followed. She walked with purpose. He liked that. He’d noticed that about her. She moved with direction and intent, sort of like an arrow shot out of a bow. She always seemed to have a target that she aimed herself at and then it was full speed ahead to her end point.

  Once in the kitchen, Maisy opened the fridge, which was practically barren. Ryder got the feeling that neither she nor Savannah were big on the kitchen arts. He had only honed his culinary skills when his ex-wife left and he realized he needed to feed himself and Perry something besides canned soup. Over the past few years, he had actually come to enjoy prepping meals and looked forward to it as a stress reliever from his work days. He wondered how Maisy would react if he offered to cook her dinner.

  “I think we can fit the boxes in here,” she said. She gestured to the pizza boxes.

  Ryder picked them up and slid them onto the empty upper shelf. Okay, that was definitely easier cleanup than when he was making homemade sauce or when he was feeling superambitious and baked bread. As much as she devoured whole loaves of his bread, even Perry complained that he got flour everywhere.

  While they were hunkered in front of the open fridge, Maisy said, “I’m worried that something might happen to the kitten tonight, and it will be a crushing blow for Perry.”

  “It might, but it might not,” he said.

  “But—”

  “Listen, Perry won’t sleep at all if she thinks the kitten’s in danger,” he said. “And what good will that do? The kitten will either make it or not, but her worrying won’t change a thing, so we might as well look at the situation in a positive light and do everything we can to keep the kitten alive.”

  Maisy knew he had a point. Worrying wouldn’t change anything. But still.

  “It’s just so tiny and fragile,” she said. She straightened up and closed the fridge. She grabbed the bags of chips and boxes of cookies, handing some to Ryder, and led the way into the walk-in pantry. It was a tight squeeze but it gave them a bit of privacy.

  “Sometimes the tiniest are the mightiest,” Ryder said. He leaned against the mostly empty shelves and regarded her under the light of the bare bulb overhead. “Did you know a leaf-cutter ant can lift up to fifty times its own weight?”

  “Is that supposed to reassure me?” Maisy asked. “Because now all I can see is a muscle-laden ant making off with the kitten in the middle of the night while we’re all sleeping.”

  Ryder laughed. It was as natural as breathing to loop an arm around her shoulders and pull her close. He placed a kiss on the top of her head, marveling at the softness of her curls. He twined one around his finger and gently tugged it straight and when he let go, it curled up tight. He was fascinated.

  He felt her eyes on his face and he glanced down to see her watching him, studying his face as if trying to figure out what made him tick. His gaze drifted down to her mouth. He noticed her upper lip was just a little bit fuller than the lower one and he desperately wanted to kiss her again and see if it was as amazing the second time around. If only they hadn’t been interrupted by the—

  “Dad,” Perry called him, and he dropped his arm from around Maisy and took a hasty step back into the kitchen.

  “Yes, ladybug,” he said as he walked back into the living room. Perry wasn’t looking at him but rather into the box. Savannah, who was sitting on the floor beside her, was staring at him. Her eyes moved from him to Maisy and back. He had a feeling she suspected shenanigans were afoot. Totally worth it.

  “Do you think it’s a boy or a girl?” Perry asked.

  “I’m not sure it’s old enough for us to tell,” he said. “If it’s a boy, it’s . . . um . . . man parts should be visible.”

  Perry looked at him. “You can say testicles.”

  “I can,” he agreed. “But I was trying to be delicate. Besides, you freaked out when I said nipple.”

  “That’s because it’s one of those words that no one should say ever,” Perry said.

  “Yeah, like all those words that aren’t pervy but sound it. For example, moist,” Savy said.

  “Right? Ew. Or caulk,” Perry said.

  “Ladybug!” Ryder said. He knew where this was headed and it wasn’t good.

  “Kumquat,” Maisy said with a giggle. It rolled off her kissable lips and Ryder felt suddenly short of breath.

  Savannah and Perry laughed and Ryder knew he was doomed. He gave Maisy his best stink eye. She laughed harder.

  “Aw, come on cowboy architect,” she taunted him. “Surely you can think of a word that isn’t dirty but
sounds it.” She gave him a daring look. Ryder had a feeling he was going to see that arched eyebrow and twist of her lips in his dreams, his very sweaty dreams.

  Ryder put his hand on the back of his neck and said, “Fine. Uvula.”

  He drew the word out and Maisy laughed while Savannah and Perry made pained expressions.

  “Satisfied?” Ryder asked. He was enjoying watching this flirty version of Maisy. It was as if now that they’d gotten a taste they couldn’t help but tease each other.

  “I bet you can’t say testicles in front of women,” Maisy taunted him.

  “Yes, I can,” he said.

  “Oh, really?” Savannah gave him a dubious look. “Can you say vagina?”

  “You had to go there.” Ryder looked pained.

  “He can,” Perry said. “He’s always said that it was best to use the proper names for body parts, because it’s just biology and there’s no shame in biology. Right, Dad?”

  “Yeah, but I was thinking of convos between you and your doctor not me and three women,” he said.

  “He can’t do it,” Maisy whispered, not really to Savannah.

  “No? You really want to hear me say the biologically correct terms of the man parts and lady bits?”

  All three women were grinning and nodding.

  “Okay, then. Testiclevaginapenisbreasts. Boom.” His voice cracked in the middle but he got it out.

  Now Maisy laughed out loud, completely unrestrained. She put her hand on his arm as she doubled over to catch her breath. When she came back up, her glasses were askew and her grin was wide and framed by two deep dimples. Adorable.

  “You made them one word,” she said, still chuckling.

  “I figured it was better that way. Commit and get it done, sort of like eating your vegetables,” he said.

  Savannah wagged a finger at him, but she was laughing, too, and said, “I like you.”

  “Most women do,” Perry said. She said it as if she couldn’t figure out why women liked him, but Ryder decided not to dwell on the implied insult and instead focused on the positive.

  “Thanks, ladybug.”