The Good Ones Page 26

  That did it. Maisy saw her fluttering heart explode into a million tiny hearts like a glitter bomb right over his head. Didn’t he see it or feel it? She felt like her feelings were stuck all over him like confetti.

  “What an interesting perspective,” she said. Good grief, she sounded like she had a stick up her behind when she really just wanted to throw her arms around him and cry, Yes, yes, yes! in an orgasmlike way, which would likely terrify him and send him running into the street.

  “Thanks,” he said. “I’ve found I’m really partial to Beverly Jenkins.”

  Maisy was impressed but required proof. “Favorite title?”

  “Indigo,” he said. “I think I learned more about the underground railroad from that book than I ever did in history class.”

  “That’s it!” Maisy raised her hands in the air. “I can’t take it. You need to get away from me right now.”

  “What? Why? What did I say?”

  They were standing in the main room and Maisy noticed that everyone had stopped browsing to watch them. She would have been embarrassed, but she was already at the breaking point and there was just no room in her emotional wheelbarrow to haul mortification around, too. She spun on her heel and stomped into the office.

  Ryder followed her, clearly not appreciating her need to get away from him. The man had no sense of self-preservation. How was she supposed to deal with that?

  “Maisy?” he asked as he shut the door behind them. “Are you all right? I didn’t mean to—”

  That was all he got out before she jumped him. She hadn’t thought it through. He was taller than she was by a lot, and if he hadn’t caught her around the waist, she likely would have splatted up against his chest and slid down to the ground in a pitiful heap.

  But he did catch her, and when he was about to ask her what was up, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  SHE didn’t mean to, but he was right there and he’d read Bev Jenkins, for Fitzwilliam Darcy’s sake. How was a romance novel–loving woman supposed to resist this man? She couldn’t. She didn’t have the inner fortitude or the will.

  Maisy dug her fingers into his thick hair and angled his head so that she could take full advantage. Ryder made a grunting sound and then moved his hands so that they cupped her bottom, holding her in place while she kissed him with all of the pent-up longing she’d been struggling to suppress.

  The smell of him, of sawdust and soap with a splash of coffee, swirled in her head, making her dizzy. She felt as if she couldn’t get close enough. She arched into him, wanting to feel his heat against her. Ryder must have felt the same because he moved one hand up her back and pulled her in.

  The need to breathe made them break the kiss. But the drive to be joined remained and Ryder moved his mouth to her neck. Maisy tipped her head to the side, allowing him full access. His lips moved over her skin, pausing just below her ear to plant the softest of kisses. Maisy hissed air through her teeth as her insides turned into liquid heat.

  It felt like a particular sort of madness, this crazed lust that made her vision fuzzy as all of her senses shut out everything but him. She couldn’t get enough of the feel of him beneath her fingers, the sound of his raspy breath in her ear, the taste of him still on her lips, the hard press of his body against hers. When he turned and plopped her on top of an empty book cart, Maisy took a deep breath and tried to get her bearings as the cool air hit her hot skin. Ryder didn’t give her a chance.

  He stepped in between her legs, moving her skirt up so he could get as close as their clothing would allow. He cupped the back of her head and lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her as if he’d been thinking of doing this very thing every second of every day since their last kiss. When he moved his other hand to the front of her blouse, Maisy helped him out by yanking her top down and giving him full access to her breasts. It felt wicked and wanton and she loved every bit of it.

  Ryder didn’t hesitate. He moved his mouth over her exposed skin and then hooked her bra with one finger and tugged it down, revealing the rosy peaks that were puckered for his attention. When he put his mouth on one nipple, Maisy couldn’t keep the soft moan from escaping her lips.

  Knock. Knock. Knock. A fist pounded on the office door.

  “Hey, boss, now is not the time to be watching porn in your office.” Savannah’s voice hit Maisy like a Taser. “These walls, while lovely with their fresh paint, are not exactly soundproof.”

  It took Maisy a moment for her friend’s words to kick in. Ryder was right there with her. He lifted his head and, as if he couldn’t help himself, he kissed her quickly on the mouth. Then he pulled her off the cart and adjusted her clothing, pulling up the cups of her bra and adjusting her blouse. If his fingers lingered, Maisy didn’t call him on it, mostly because she had steadied herself by putting her hand on his side and had yet to remove it, even though she was clearly standing just fine on her own two feet.

  “Okay to come in?” Savannah asked. She opened the door but had her hand over her eyes, which was a token gesture at best since she was peeking at them between her middle and ring fingers.

  Maisy cleared her throat. “Yeah, we were just—”

  “Acting out a scene from a book,” Ryder said.

  Maisy gave him an Are you crazy look and he shrugged.

  “Yeah, well, there is a salesperson here from a romance publisher and she wants to talk to you,” Savannah said. “I told her you were tied up for the moment. You weren’t, were you?”

  Maisy glowered at her friend, which was obviously terrifying as Savy laughed really hard, even slapping her knee when she doubled up.

  “Please tell her I’ll be right there,” Maisy said.

  “I’ll have her wait on the porch,” Savy said, still chuckling. She punched Ryder on the shoulder as she left. “Good going, cowboy-architect guy.”

  The door shut behind her and Maisy put her face in her hands. “I can never ever leave this room. If I cross the threshold, I’m sure I will go all human-torch-aflame in embarrassment.”

  “I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” he said. “Probably only Savannah heard us because she was right outside the door when she came to get you. Really, you’re fine.”

  “You think?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “But I think it’s apparent that we can’t ignore this.” He pointed at himself and then at her. “There’s something here, Maisy, that is just too potent to ignore.”

  Maisy stared at him. She knew it was fanciful, but she could still see the bits and pieces of her heart that had exploded all over him. But he didn’t know. He couldn’t see it, but she could. The fact was that she was in love with him and it wasn’t going to go away or be diminished by time spent together. In fact, if anything, the more time she spent with him, the worse her heartbreak was going to be when he left, and he was going to leave, of that he had been very clear.

  She supposed it was selfish of her, but she didn’t want a long-distance relationship. She didn’t want to have him just on weekends or, even worse, every other weekend. She wanted a best friend and a partner, someone she went to bed with every night and woke up with every morning, and if that made her demanding, so be it. Ryder’s life was on a different course than hers and she knew that going forward with him would just ruin her for any other man, but the reality was, another man was exactly what she needed if she wanted her heart’s desire. Damn it.

  “I have to go,” she said. She pushed her glasses up on her nose and ran her hands over her skirt, smoothing out the wrinkles. “As for this”—she mimicked his gesture of pointing between them—“it was an error in judgment. It won’t happen again.”

  Ryder studied her face. He must have seen a resolve in her that she didn’t know she possessed, because he gave a reluctant nod. With one hand he reached up and pushed a stray curl off her forehead. It took everything M
aisy had not to lean into his touch, and when his hand dropped, she bolted from the room as if she was running for her life.

  * * *

  • • •

  JERI made herself unofficial DJ of their dance party that night. They pushed the furniture back and rolled up the carpet. Savy had a small strobe light that she plugged in, while Jeri spun tunes off her phone through a small Bluetooth speaker.

  King George watched all of the shenanigans from the safety of his fish-shaped bed, coming out only once to try and pounce on the lights that moved across the floor. Perry scooped him up and danced, holding him close to her chest while she bopped to Michael Franti’s “The Sound of Sunshine.”

  The rest of them formed a circle around her and took turns going in and out of the center. Maisy’s favorite part was when Jeri tried to teach her to twerk. They were both terrible and Savy forced them to sit down and watch a professional. The woman could most def shake what her mama gave her. Maisy laughed herself stupid and when she glanced at Perry, she saw the teen was hiccupping she was laughing so hard.

  “Ice cream break!” Savy declared. The volume on the tunes was lowered and they all tucked into the chocolate ice cream Jeri had brought, swearing it was the only known cure for breakup blues. It made Maisy think of Ryder and his preference for pistachio. She shoved a huge bite into her mouth, not caring if she got a brain freeze.

  “How are you doing, hon?” Maisy asked Perry. “Feeling any better?”

  “A little,” she said. She pushed the ice cream around her bowl while King George crawled up her shirt, trying to reach the bowl to see what was inside. “I just wish I didn’t feel so crushed.”

  “Think of things that make you happy,” Savy said. “Name one thing that brings you joy.”

  “King George,” Perry said without hesitation. “Saving him is probably the greatest thing I’ve ever done with my life.”

  “Given that you’re only fourteen, that’s pretty good,” Jeri said. “I’ve found that when I am feeling poorly about life it helps to think about someone else. If I put all of my energy into helping them, I forget about myself and I find joy in being an agent of change.”

  “A good deed doer, like Auntie El?” Savannah asked. She pointed to the trunk in the corner. Maisy had left it in the hidden room and was reading through all of the files, amazed that her aunt had managed to give so much to so many.

  “Exactly,” Maisy said.

  “I could use some of that,” Jeri said. “I love my family something fierce, but oh, they get me riled. I need to channel my energy into something positive instead of nagging them.”

  “We could form a secret society,” Perry said. “We already have a secret room and a mascot. We could do things to help people anonymously like Auntie El did.”

  “I love it. It could be a sisterhood, but we need a name,” Savy said. “The HEA club?”

  “HEA?” Jeri asked.

  “Happily Ever After,” Savy said. “Like the shop.”

  “No, that would make it too easy to trace back to us,” Maisy said. “Just like if we named it after Auntie El, it would out us before we even got going.”

  “How about . . .” Perry paused. She glanced at them and picked up George in her free hand, holding him next to her face. “The Royal Order of George? After all, he is our first good deed.”

  Maisy grinned. “I love it. All in favor, say Aye.”

  A chorus of ayes sounded and Maisy felt as if something unexpectedly cool had just happened. They finished their ice cream and hashed out some club rules. Perry was elected to be president, Maisy vice president, Savy secretary, and Jeri to be treasurer, natch.

  Weekly meetings were scheduled for Sunday nights since that was the only night that the bookstore closed early and no one had any other standing Sunday commitments. They made a list of people who they would like to help in a variety of ways. After much discussion, Perry’s nomination of Hannah the vet was approved since they all agreed that she had gone above and beyond in her care of King George, and they wanted to repay her commitment to all animals in some way. They had no ideas as yet, but planned to come up with something amazing. In the meantime, they all agreed that they would be on the lookout for ways to help their fellow residents and the community of Fairdale.

  Savy had just finished writing it all down and storing it in Auntie El’s trunk when a ruckus kicked up outside. Music was blaring and Maisy wasn’t positive, but she thought someone was throwing rocks at the small window.

  “What the hell?” She darted up the stairs and hurried through the room that housed most of the romantic suspense collection, with everything from Daphne du Maurier to Catherine Coulter, and out into the hallway. The noise was louder here and she realized someone was outside in front of the bookstore.

  “It sounds like someone is having a dance party outside,” Savy said. She caught up to Maisy and the two of them jogged down the stairs to the first floor.

  Since they were closed, the lights in the shop were dim. Maisy snapped on the porch light and glanced through the side window to see Cooper Wainwright standing on the front porch, holding a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a small Bluetooth speaker in the other.

  “Would you look at that,” Savannah said from the other window. “Give the boy a boom box and a trench coat and he’s John Cusack from Say Anything . . .”

  “Be still my heart,” Maisy said. She turned around and glanced at the stairs. Perry was skipping down with Jeri right behind her. “I think this is for you, Perry.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Maisy gestured to the window and Perry peeked outside. “Cooper!” She stepped back and looked at the group. “What do I do?”

  “What do you mean, ‘What do I do?’” Jeri asked. “That boy is putting himself on the line. You march yourself out there and find out what he wants.”

  “What if he wants to get back together?” Perry asked.

  “Do you want to get back together?” Savy asked.

  “I don’t know,” Perry wailed.

  “Hush, child.” Jeri stepped forward. She took her by the shoulders and looked her over. She then pinched her cheeks, fluffed her hair, and said, “Bite your lips and give them some color.” Perry did as she was told. “Okay, now you’re ready. Go see what he has to say, bless his heart, and then don’t think about your answer, just listen to your heart. Now go.”

  Savannah opened the door, and Jeri gave Perry a shove outside. Maisy slid out behind her to monitor the situation in case it went weird or sad or awkward. As she slid into the shadows, she recognized the song playing as Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years.” Not bad.

  “Cooper, what’s going on?” Perry asked.

  He turned down the volume on the speaker and thrust the flowers at her. “These are for you.”

  Maisy noticed that they were roses, red ones, and she felt her heart go squish as she realized this was probably Perry’s first bouquet from a boy.

  “I know you said you didn’t want to go out with me, because you’re leaving and it’s pointless,” Cooper said. “But I disagree. I don’t think it’s pointless. I don’t care where you go, I want to date you for as long as I can, and I don’t care if my heart gets smashed to bits when you leave. I’d rather be miserable later because I got to spend the summer with the girl I love than be miserable now because you’re here and I can’t be with you. Perry, please, I know you care about me, too. Give us a chance.”

  He stood with his arms wide, offering himself to her completely. It was the most romantic thing Maisy had ever seen. She glanced at Perry. She couldn’t imagine saying no to this boy, but Perry wasn’t her and she’d already had a lot of loss in her life. Maisy held her breath, waiting to see what Perry would do.

  The young woman stared down at her flowers and then glanced up at Cooper. He gave her a lopsided smile and that seemed to tip the scale in his
favor. Perry took one step forward and then another and then she threw herself into his arms and Cooper hugged her, lifting her off her feet.

  He kissed her quick on the lips and asked, “I take it that’s a yes?”

  Perry smiled. She nodded and said, “Yes, I’ll go out with you.”

  Cooper made a fist and pulled it into his side. “What are you doing tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after?”

  “Nothing,” she laughed.

  “Change of plans,” he said. “How about we go on a horseback ride? I already asked Mr. Solis and he said we could take two of his horses for a trail ride, and then there’s the county fair, we can ride the rides until we puke.”

  Perry tipped her chin up. “You were pretty sure of me.”

  “I was hopeful,” Cooper said. His grin lit up the night. “Plus, I had an inside source who told me you might say yes if I made a big enough impression.” He pointed behind him with his thumb, and Maisy saw Ryder standing in the driveway, leaning against his truck.

  “Dad?” Perry asked.

  “Hey, ladybug,” he said.

  “Did you tell Cooper to come here or are you waiting to tackle him to the ground?” she asked.

  “I gave him a lift. I thought he should at least give it his best shot,” he said. He looked past her at Maisy for just a moment and then back at his daughter. “You don’t want to let go of something amazing just because the timing isn’t right.”

  Maisy felt her willpower slip away like a shadow in the dark as Perry ran down the steps, still holding her flowers, and hugged her father. Ryder held her tight and kissed the top of her head.

  Cooper followed her. He and Ryder shook hands, then Ryder nodded. Maisy watched as Perry handed her father the flowers and then took Cooper’s hand and walked down the driveway with him, obviously headed into town. Maisy wondered if they were going for ice cream and didn’t that just make her heart melt.