The Good Ones Read online

  From there, it just got crazy. Frosting went everywhere, she was naked, again, and Ryder found her tickle spot, on her sides right above her hips, and he used it mercilessly against her, until she was thrashing and gasping, and pleading for mercy. But he wasn’t done yet. He set her up on the table, hauling his T-shirt out of the way, then he parted her legs and put his mouth on her.

  She fell back against the table, mercifully missing any of the food, and made pleasurable sounds in her throat that he was sure he would hear in his dreams for the rest of his life. Just before she came, he rose to his feet and loosened his jeans so he could thrust into her one more time. That was all it took. When she shouted his name, he felt a feeling of satisfaction he was pretty sure he’d never experienced before. It was everything.

  He braced himself with an arm on either side of her. As he moved forward and back, he watched her fall back into herself, and he said, “Birthday cake. I am definitely a birthday cake sort of guy, which I suppose means I am also your boyfriend.”

  Maisy grinned and then reached for him, pulling him down so that they were pressed together. Then she looked him straight in the eye and whispered, “Best. Boyfriend. Ever.”

  Ryder lost himself then. He drove into her as if he could actually merge them into one if he tried hard enough. Maisy matched him thrust for thrust, until she let go, arching her back and convulsing around him so hard that with a shout, he released in a surge that felt like his soul had just poured itself right into her. He dropped onto his elbows on the table and rested his head beside hers.

  “I’m pretty sure you got that wrong,” he said.

  “What?” she asked. Her voice was groggy and she was threading her fingers through his hair. He hoped she never stopped.

  “It’s not me, it’s you,” he said. He lifted up enough to kiss her. “Best. Girlfriend. Ever.”

  The smile she sent him was blinding and he knew for sure that he would never ever forget how she looked right here, right now. The words. They were right there. He could feel them, clambering to be said, to be whispered in her ear. But he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t get them out.

  He pushed aside his frustration. He didn’t want anything to taint the moment. He had time, a few weeks in fact, to say what needed to be said. He had things he needed to figure out, like how to get Perry up to Connecticut, where she could get the best education he could provide without feeling like he was ripping his heart out, and squaring things with Maisy so she knew exactly how he felt about her. He was determined that he’d do it, and in doing so would be able to convince her that a long-distance relationship could work. It had to, because he absolutely was not giving this woman up.

  * * *

  • • •

  “WHAT happened to all of the cake?” Savannah asked. “And the pie? We had some left over after the opening, I know we did.”

  “Huh?” Maisy looked up from her computer, where she was reviewing the sales figures for yesterday’s opening day. Reviewing figures. Ha, that was a laugh. Her brain was the consistency of pudding, she had bruises in places she didn’t think it was possible to bruise, and she couldn’t stop thinking about the hot cowboy architect, who was out working on her turret. In fact, she’d spent the past twenty minutes trying to come up with a plausible excuse to go see him.

  “What happened to all the pie and cake?” Savannah asked. “The only thing left in the kitchen is a box of stale donuts.”

  “I had the midnight munchies,” Maisy said. “Really bad. Went down there after checking on George and plowed all the food. It was crazy.”

  “It must have been, because the last time I checked you didn’t wear men’s underwear,” Savy said. She pulled a pair of barbeque tongs from behind her back, in which were clamped a pair of plaid boxers. “These were in the pantry. Explain.”

  “The pantry?” Maisy asked. She knew they’d gotten carried away, but the pantry? “Well, that’s unexpected.”

  “Uh-huh,” Savy said. “So, how was it?”

  She wiggled her eyebrows and Maisy felt her face get hot. Not just a little hot but eating a habanero pepper, sweating and panting kind of hot. Still, she tried to bluff her way out.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said.

  “Really?” Savy asked. “Okay, I’ll just trot these out among all of our muscle-bound, hard hat–wearing construction workers and see if anyone claims them.”

  She turned and headed for the door with a swish of her hips. Maisy knew she should let her go—it was the only way to save face and not get grilled with a million questions, like, Why is Ryder’s underwear in our pantry? but she couldn’t stand the thought of Ryder getting caught off guard, plus, he might claim them and then everyone would know. Ack! This was a nightmare.

  “Stop!” Maisy jumped to her feet as Savy reached the door. “All right, I’ll tell all, just give me the boxers.”

  Savannah turned back around and when Maisy reached for the boxers Savy extended the tongs only to snatch them away at the last moment. “Talk first.”

  “Aw, come on.” Maisy tried to grab them but Savannah lifted them up and out of reach, like an Olympic torch except plaid cotton.

  “No, I know you. If you get these shorts, I’ll never hear a word,” Savy said. “So spill it.”

  “Fine, but you’re getting the abridged version and nothing more,” Maisy said.

  Savannah nodded and rolled her hand in a go on gesture and Maisy took a deep breath and said, “So, Ryder and I had a long talk—”

  “Really? These beg to differ.” Savy waved the shorts in the air like a flag.

  “Did you want to the hear the story or did you want to torture me? Because you can’t do both.”

  “Are you sure? Because I really feel like I’m having my cake and eating it, too. Oh, wait, is that what you were doing?” Savannah snorted.

  Maisy did not smile, opting instead to assume her resting bitch face. “How long have you been holding that one in?”

  “Pretty much since I found the boxers.” Savy was still laughing. “And it serves you right. You two ate all the cake.”

  “I’m never going to hear the end of this, am I?” Maisy asked. “When we’re one hundred and sitting in our rockers in the old age home, you’re still going to tease me, aren’t you?”

  “M, if we make it to one hundred, we’ll be off our rockers,” Savy said. “But yes, I’ll still be teasing you. So, after you ‘ate all the cake’—and isn’t that a fabulous euphemism?—then what happened?”

  “Nothing much,” she said.

  “So, it was a one and done, scratch the itch, and move on sort of thing?” Savy sounded disappointed.

  “Not exactly,” Maisy said. “And it wasn’t one.”

  “Whaaaaat?!” Savy stared at her in admiration. “Went back for more cake, did you? So, will there be more in your future?”

  “Probably, given that we’re dating and all,” Maisy said.

  At this, Savannah dropped the boxers. “You are? That’s wonderful, despite all of the impending heartbreak when he moves away. I think he’s a good guy, so if you’re happy, I’m happy.”

  “Gee, thanks,” Maisy said. She snatched the boxers off the tongs. “I don’t know if he’s told Perry yet, so do me a solid and keep it on the down-low.”

  “And here I was going to hire a billboard to announce to all of Fairdale that Maisy Kelly is finally getting a little something.”

  Maisy glowered and Savy laughed. “So, was it, you know?” She wiggled her eyebrows.

  “I am not talking about this,” Maisy said. She very primly tucked Ryder’s boxers into her back pocket and started for the door. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go—”

  “Find your man, yeah, yeah, I get it,” Savy said. “I’ll just be here, toiling away, trying to make your brand for you. Don’t you worry about me; I can live without kn
owing all the deets.”

  “Good,” Maisy said. She slipped out of the office, shutting the door behind her. Then she dashed up the stairs to the area Ryder and Seth had cordoned off while they built out the turret on the second floor.

  The scent of wood hit her nostrils. The aroma reminded her of Ryder. He always seemed to have that earthy smell about him. Much like she probably smelled of paper and books. It made her feel as if they were matched. Then she squashed the thought.

  Savannah was right. He was still leaving. Just because they’d jumped each other and now they were a thing did not mean their outcome was going to change. Heartbreak loomed and she was kidding herself if she thought any different. Still, with his boxers in her pocket, she had a reason to see him and that would do for now.

  The workers had framed the turret, installed the electrical and the outside boards. Now they were working on putting up the sheetrock on the interior around the windows. It was going to be the most spectacular room. Maisy was so excited. She wasn’t sure if this was going to be her office—she was pretty sure it was—or a specialty room that could be used for book signings and events. Maybe it could be both. She didn’t know yet. She just knew that she loved it already.

  “Hello?” she called into the room.

  Four men in hard hats turned at the sound of her voice, but only one made her heart thump hard in her chest. She grinned. She couldn’t help it. Ryder grinned back and then muttered something to his crew as he stepped over tools to get to her. He removed his hard hat on the way and she could see where it had squashed his hair flat. She wanted to shove her fingers into it and mess it up, but she resisted as she noticed Seth was watching them with an amused look.

  “Everything all right?” he asked.

  “Yeah, but can I talk to you for sec?”

  “Sure.”

  Maisy gestured for him to follow her into one of the adjoining rooms. It was devoted to sweet romances and women’s fiction.

  As Ryder walked behind her it was all she could do to keep images of him bracing her up against a bookshelf and having his way with her out of her head. She fanned her face with her hand. Good grief, she was becoming the naughty bookseller.

  She glanced around the room, relieved that it was empty. She then dug into her pocket and pulled out his boxers. She held them out to him and he laughed.

  “I wondered where those had gotten to last night,” he said. “Where’d you find them?”

  “Savannah discovered them in the pantry.”

  “The pantry?” He shoved them in his pocket and scratched his chin. “Huh.”

  Maisy studied his face. He didn’t look even the littlest bit embarrassed. Maybe he didn’t hear her. “Did you catch the part where Savannah found them?”

  “Yeah, I caught that,” he said. He glanced around the room. He seemed satisfied with what he saw and reached behind him to shut the door. “So, she knows we’re a couple.”

  “We’re a couple who got up to shenanigans in the kitchen.”

  He started to walk toward her and Maisy backed up. “Shenanigans? Is that what you call it?”

  “Do you have a better word?” she asked. She backed up right into a bookcase and he took swift advantage, blocking her exit by putting an arm on each side of her. It was thrilling.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  “I HAVE a whole dictionary of better words,” he said. He then proceeded to lean close to her so that his mouth was just a breath from her ear and he whispered all of the words he would use to describe what they had done the night before. Some of the words were sweet and some were wicked and one was downright filthy and made her break into a light sweat.

  “Intercourse.” He planted a kiss on her. “Coupling.” He moved his lips down her throat. “Fornicating.”

  “Oh, my,” she whispered.

  “Copulation.” His hands slid up her sides, cupping her breasts. “Fucking.” His thumbs slid over her nipples and Maisy thought she might faint.

  She wanted to grab him but she didn’t want to stop the wordy torment he was causing inside of her, so she gripped the bookshelf at her back, digging her fingers into the shelf so hard she was pretty sure she was going to leave claw marks while he continued to turn up the heat with his sexy words. Maisy suspected she was going to dissolve into a puddle at his feet but she held on, breathless and dizzy from the lust that had her temporarily blinded.

  “Lovemaking,” he said. Then he leaned into her, kissing her until she didn’t know which way was up. Ryder was the only thing holding her together and she clung to him. And then he pulled back, stepping away from her as if he’d done nothing more than describe the weather. Maisy blinked twice and with a shaky hand pushed her glasses up on her nose.

  “Tell me I get to see you tonight,” he said.

  Incapable of speech, mostly because she was afraid she’d beg him to strip off her clothes and have his way with her right then and there, Maisy nodded. She felt like a bobblehead, the sort they gave out at baseball games, but he smiled as if quite pleased with himself. Then he leaned in close and she was so sure he was going to kiss her, but he didn’t. He just whispered in her ear, “Seven o’clock.” And then he was gone.

  “You okay?” Savannah asked when she returned to their office on the first floor.

  “I could use a fan and a bucket of ice,” Maisy said. Then she thunked her head onto her desk and tried not to fixate on the clock and how long it would be until seven o’clock.

  * * *

  • • •

  RYDER was waiting for her at seven just like he promised. He had a picnic packed and he hustled her out of the bookstore and into his truck, where he kissed her and snapped her into the passenger seat as if she was the most precious cargo in the world.

  He took a dusty winding road out of town, holding her hand for the entire ride. Maisy felt giddy. Being with Ryder, just the two of them, was everything falling for someone should be.

  They spread a blanket on the banks of Crescent Lake, where they sat, talking about the bookstore and laughing, while the sun set in a blaze of tangerine and magenta, fading into a deep purple. When the first star winked at them from above, Maisy grabbed Ryder’s hand in hers and cast her desperate wish up into the heavens, hoping that this time might never end, that maybe a happily ever after could be hers after all.

  “What are you doing?” Ryder asked. She could feel him watching her as she focused on her star.

  “Wishing,” she said. She pointed to the sky and he glanced up. “You should make a wish, too.”

  Ryder looked at her. His blue gaze swept over her face as if he was trying to memorize every eyelash and freckle.

  “I don’t need to,” he said. His voice was gruff when he added, “You’re already here.”

  Oh. Maisy pounced, flattening him beneath her slight frame as she kissed him with all of the love and longing that beat in her fierce heart. This man. Her man. How she loved him.

  * * *

  • • •

  THE next two weeks were the most singular of Maisy’s life and it wasn’t just the sex, or Ryder, or the sex with Ryder. That was the cherry on top of the awesome life sundae she had going on. The local news station out of Asheville had come out to do a story on her bookstore and her first two Saturdays, their busiest day of the week, had been full of customers from opening until closing.

  Savannah had gotten the website fully functioning and they had begun taking online orders, and Maisy’s system for inventory was almost finished. It felt as if all of Fairdale and the surrounding area had embraced her dream of a romance bookstore and she could not be more thrilled. She knew that the novelty would wear off and that she had to be ready to entice readers back to the shop. Savanah had started a mailing list, and they were sending out coupons in their first newsletter.

  Maisy also scheduled their first official author book signing. The w
riter, Tara McDonough, was local, living just over the border in Tennessee, and her publisher had sent Maisy an advance reader copy of her latest book. It was a beautiful time travel, love story saga, spanning decades and generations, where a woman from the Smoky Mountains steps through a mystical portal and travels back in time to the highlands of her Scottish ancestors.

  There were battle scenes, a hero wearing a kilt, an epic voyage across the North Sea, a hero wearing a kilt, a plague that ravages the population, a hero wearing a kilt . . . oh, my, that hero wearing a kilt. On the third night that Maisy picked up the book to read during a quiet night in with Ryder, he grabbed a plaid throw from the corner of her bedroom and wrapped it around his waist.

  He then spoken in a Scottish brogue to her and Maisy tossed the book aside to jump on her man. Afterward when their skin cooled and their heart rates returned to normal, Maisy read to him from the book. She read about the heroine’s love of the hero even as she tried desperately to find her way home to her own time and place, and then she read of the hero’s reluctance to let the woman he loved leave his side, even if she didn’t truly belong to him.

  Maisy had never read to a man in bed and certainly not the poignant and at times deeply erotic scenes that she read to Ryder. When she yawned, he took the book and put it aside and then made love to her in the slowest, sweetest way imaginable, as if he was trying to draw out and savor every single second of their time together. Maisy knew exactly how he felt. When they were joined, she felt complete but all too soon, it ended, and despite the joy that filled her during their time together, she was left feeling bereft.

  Still, she refused to waste a second of their time together being sad. She would fret about it when the moment came. For now, Ryder was hers. They found excuses to see each other during the day. At dinnertime they took care of George together and then Perry dashed out to be with Cooper while Maisy and Ryder spent their evening together at home or out.