Hot Finish (Fast Track #3)(18)
Author: Erin McCarthy

“Imogen! Darlin’, what are you doing here?” A smile split Ty’s face, and for a guy who’d been holding tight to the ban on women, he looked pretty damn giddy to see his fiancée.

“I’m here for moral support,” Imogen said, giving Ty a kiss on the cheek as she moved around the campfire. “Suzanne needed some help delivering her client.”

That was obvious. Nikki was trying to climb up Jonas’s lap, but kept sliding down his legs. Finally Jonas put a big hand on her tiny butt and hauled her up onto him, holding her firmly in place.

Ryder stood up. “Hey, Suz, have a seat.”

She gave him a weak smile. “No, thanks. Now that Jonas has Nikki, I’m going to head home.”

“You just got here. You don’t really want to turn right around and head back do you?” Meaning he didn’t really want her to turn around and head back. Ryder was drinking in the sight of her, her legs long and naturally muscular, her ass high and perky in those close-fitting jeans. Not that he had anything other than stupid small talk to say to her, but he still wanted her to hang around awhile.

The other girl who had stumbled up behind Nikki had plopped herself on Evan’s lap. He looked equal parts horrified and turned on. Ty was kissing Imogen on the neck and she was laughing and trying to push him away. Nikki and Jonas were making out, aggressive little sounds of pleasure coming from the bride-to-be.

Yeah, there were half a dozen reasons he didn’t want Suzanne to head out, not the least of which was that he didn’t want to be left lone man out in what was quickly turning into a love fest around the fire.

“No, trust me, I really do want to leave.”

He gave her his most charming smile. “If you leave me here alone with all of them, I will cry, Suzanne.”

“You’ve never cried once in your entire life.”

Actually, he’d cried twice in his lifetime. The first time was the day Suz had miscarried their baby. The other was the day she walked out of their house and didn’t come back. But she didn’t know that, so he just said, “I’m going to start.”

“Whatever,” she said, but she did plop down into his empty chair. “I’ll tell you what, Ryder, I don’t mean to complain, but this is a hard way to make a living. I’m a wedding planner not a designated driver.”

“You did the right thing. Jonas can handle her.”

He turned and looked at Jonas, who was managing to contain a wobbly and giggling Nikki.

“How many drinks did you have, honey?” Jonas asked her.

“Three. But I haven’t eaten since yesterday. I think they went straight to my head.”

“Nikki, you have to eat,” he told her in a gentle voice. “It’s not good for you, and you look amazing the way you are. You’d look amazing at any weight, you know.” He looked around her at the crowd. “Did we bring any food that isn’t junk food?”

“I sent a vegetable tray with Ty,” Imogen said. “Where is it, Ty?”

“In the cooler. I’ll get it.” He fished around in the second cooler and emerged with a plate full of carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli. “Here you go, Strickland.”

While Jonas coaxed Nikki to eat a carrot, Ryder studied Suzanne. She looked exhausted. Even in the dark night, with only the light from the lanterns and the fire, Ryder could see the dark circles under her eyes. He squatted down next to her. “Has all week been like this?”

Suzanne started to wave her hand, but then she just gave a nod. “Pretty much. This girl is running me ragged.”

“At least we got our court date ironed out,” he said, then immediately regretting bringing that up.

Her eyes narrowed and her voice was suspicious. “Yeah, at least there’s that.”

They sat in what Ryder was pretty sure was an uncomfortable silence. A glance over showed Evan was trying to back up in a chair that wouldn’t allow him to go anywhere, while Nikki’s friend groped his jock. He kept moving her hand away from his jeans, but she always managed to find her way right back. The girl had awesome reflexes if she could pass in that tight of a space.

Nikki held a half-eaten carrot in her hand as she kissed Jonas enthusiastically. Imogen and Ty were snuggling in his chair, talking quietly.

“Well, this is somewhat awkward,” he told Suzanne.

“If you think this is awkward, you should have been in the car when Nikki was describing Jonas’s penis to us in great detail.”

Ryder felt his skin crawl. “Damn, am I glad I missed that.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think we heard an ounce of truth, because if you listened to that girl, Strickland is as thick as a jar of pasta sauce and as long as a garden hose, both of which I’m pretty sure are physically impossible. If he was packing the way she claims, he couldn’t climb in the car to drive.”

Ryder was momentarily stuck on the image of a penis as thick as a jar of pasta sauce, but then he said, “Well, I guess it’s sweet she’s bragging about him, in a weird, creepy sort of way.”

“I can’t figure those two out,” Suzanne said, hands reaching up to adjust the loose bun she’d put her hair in. “I mean, what do they see in each other? What do they talk about? How do they ever make decisions? But I guess we all have to admit they do seem happy together.”

“So, did you ever brag about me?” Ryder asked before he could stop himself. Not that he was insecure or anything, but it would be nice to hear confirmation that he was no slouch.

But given the look on Suzanne’s face, he was seeking reassurance from the wrong source.

CHAPTER SEVEN

SUZANNE gave her ex-husband an incredulous look. He was really asking if she had run around bragging on his dick size. Men were unbelievable. “Of course. I even took out a newspaper ad, then posted it all over the Internet.”

“Ha, ha,” he said petulantly.

He was hunkered down on the ground next to her, and Suzanne studied him. Ryder didn’t look like he was in much of a better mood than she was. He was still damn cute though, despite the goofy striped knit hat he was wearing to combat the cold. Hands in the pockets of her vest, Suzanne sighed.

“Are you really asking me if you were up to snuff?”

“No, of course not. I was joking.”

Sure he was. “You have nothing to worry about. Your penis is very pretty and more than enough to make any woman happy.”

How many women it had made happy in the last two years she didn’t even want to contemplate. Not that she’d been celibate, but just thinking about him making love to another woman got her back up. Drivers had bimbos throwing themselves at them all the time, and she was sure Ryder had partaken a time or two, or twelve. Thinking that he might have enjoyed sex with some chick ten years her junior more than he’d enjoyed it with her stuck in her craw.