Pissy and smiling?

“Is that a good thing?” Whitney asked.

“Hell yes, it is,” Penny said. “My brother walks around like he owns the damn place, because he kind of does. But what a lot of people don’t know is that he also carries the weight of the world on his shoulders.”

Lily nodded and slurped up another hefty straw full of margarita. “Yeah, it’s been hard for him. Trying find someone genuine, that he can actually have fun with, is difficult.”

Fun. Well, Whitney liked to think she was fun. But she was also not permanent. It poked on the knot in her stomach, though, thinking that Ryder really couldn’t find someone that liked him for him. It was his own fault for putting on that damn front all the time.

Except he hadn’t with her. At least not when they were alone. That was what Whitney liked the best about him. The real side, not the ultra-polite persona. Sure, manners were fine and good, but the real Ryder had soul and depth, and a raw passion that she’d never met a match to.

“Do you like him?” Penny asked.

Whitney glanced down at her drink. She hadn’t had girl talk like this since her sister passed, and honestly, things with Ryder were getting complicated, because she was feeling more than she should. Here, with Penny and Lily, she wanted to give in and remember what it felt like to have a sister. A friend. Not to mention, she could use some advice.

“He irritates me. Confuses me.” She glanced at Penny, but she didn’t seem to take offense to Whitney openly speaking about her brother that way. In fact, she seemed thrilled by it. So she went on. “But there are other things I like about him.”

“Details!” Lily said.

Penny held up her hand. “But not too many details since he is my brother and…gross.”

Whitney laughed. “Noted.” She took a sip of her drink and settled into her side of the couch. “Well, he does this one thing that’s really annoying,” she admitted.

Both women leaned in, as if hanging on her every word.

“Is he an ass?” Penny asked.

“Does he snore or something?” Lily added.

“No,” Whitney hesitated. “He keeps trying to…date me.”

Penny and Lily exchanged a glance. Finally Penny responded with, “That dick!”

“Yeah, what a douche,” Lily agreed.

Whitney laughed again. “I know it sounds dumb, but he’s all about boundaries and control and manners. He wants to go on a date, but only to keep things under his control.” And if she were being extra honest, those dates were meant to be private. Because that’s how Ryder liked it. Sure, he’d taken her to his place. Wined and dined her… Well, more like Bagel Bites and heavy machinery’ed her. But still! It was his version of dating, and part of her liked it.

Yet it was becoming clearer and clearer that Ryder kept public and private affairs separate. Even if she wanted a real relationship with him, she’d only get a piece of one when they were alone.

“I heard that,” Penny said, and saluted her drink in the air. “Bass has his own ideas of control. And it’s oh so fun to watch him lose it.” The heat behind Penny’s green eyes made Whitney believe her. “But it’s also fun being on the receiving end of all that power.”

It was Whitney’s turn to salute because, yeah, she could testify to that.

“That’s what I mean. It is amazing to be with him when he lets go, and I feel like it’s the real him I’m actually experiencing. I’m not interested in the polite Mr. Diamond. He can either have his distance or…”

“Be all up in your business,” Lily said with a wink.

Whitney smiled, thinking of a few nights ago, when Ryder and she had been in the lake and, yep, he’d been all up in her business all right.

“Exactly. I’m not looking to land the head of the town or whatever he is. I just like being with him when he’s…himself.”

Penny smiled. “You’re perfect!”

Lily nodded in agreement.

“What?”

Penny just shook her head. “Oh, my brother has finally met his match and I love it! You won’t give him an inch. I can tell. Just how you answered that question is sheer brilliance.”

Whitney wasn’t out to ruin anything, or play coy. She just wouldn’t give in to Ryder in every way he wanted. Like being platonic. It was either complete distance or being so close she could taste him. No in-between.

Penny held up her margarita glass. “Here’s to going after what you want,” she said.

“And not being shy about it,” Lily added, holding up her pitcher.

Whitney felt a flash of true sisterhood, and it both hurt and filled that empty space in her chest where Kacey’s memory was tucked away. She looked at the two women who’d made her feel welcome and not so alone, and she clinked her glass with theirs.

“I’ll drink to that.”

Chapter Ten

“Shit!” Ryder growled. “This is wrong. Hell it’s…a half inch too short.” He looked at the perfectly cut piece of granite countertop that was now resting on the long handmade cabinet in the main lobby of the Davenport Hall. A cabinet that had taken him two weeks to make, stain, and install. And of all things to go wrong, the damn countertop was too short.

Huck stood behind him and eyed the fuck all mess he was looking at. In construction, a half inch was a big deal, and even Ryder couldn’t make a chunk of granite grow. Which meant…

“We’re going to have to redo the cabinet,” Huck said.

“Yep.” Ryder blew out a breath. He’d measured and re-measured the damn thing ten times. He never made an error like this. “Who was in charge of the supply shipment and granite dealer?”

Huck glanced over his shoulder, his white spackled hands tucked beneath his arms. “Jerry was.”

Ryder wasn’t into playing the blame game. But he’d built this damn box from scratch and knew—knew—the measurements. Granted, he’d been distracted lately by Whitney. Could he really have made this error himself? Shit, he didn’t know. And he wasn’t about to blame someone else on a hunch. It didn’t matter, because the end result was the same. He’d have to redo the whole damn thing. And fast.

“What if we order a small piece of granite, cut it to size, and cover that small spot?” Huck said.

Ryder shook his head. “Davenport wants all clean lines. He would lose his shit if he saw two pieces of stone instead of a single piece.”

“How about we take apart the cabinet and cut it down to size?”

Ryder nodded. It would work, even if the solution wasn’t as simple as Huck made it out to be. The way Ryder had constructed the cabinet meant a fair amount of trouble to take it apart, sand down the half inch, and put it back together. He could do it, it would just take time—something he was running out of.

“Hello!” a booming voice rang out. If his day couldn’t get any better, Milton Davenport had to show up himself just then. “Hi, boys! Just came to see how things are progressing.” Davenport’s words cut short when he looked at the countertop.

“It’s coming along,” Ryder said.

“Looks like a mistake,” Davenport said, pointing a pudgy finger at the counter.

“Nothing that can’t be fixed,” Ryder assured.

“There’s a lot of money at stake here, and you’re messing up with granite? Do you know how expensive that is?”

“Yes, I do.” Ryder was trying to stay calm. “I’ll take care of it. The cabinet and countertop will be solid and one piece like you wanted.”

Davenport shook his head. “What other mistakes are being made?” he asked with a hiss to his tone.

The crew was dispersing. Huck stood his ground, ready to support his friend, but Ryder gave him a subtle signal to go on with the rest of the crew. As much as he’d like to have his friend there for backup, Davenport would respond better if they were alone.

“I can assure you, everything is going smoothly.”