“I’m bummed Autumn couldn’t make it,” Penny said.
Lily tossed a long straw into the blender carafe and drank straight from it. “Me, too. Although the phone call will haunt my nightmares.” She took another long swallow and shuddered. “I heard Huck in the background, all growly, saying something about her fine ass and what he was going to do to it.”
“Those two,” Penny said. “I swear, they’re always pawing each other. If they’re not careful, Huck will impregnate her again while she’s still pregnant with this one.”
“Says the woman who can’t go thirty seconds without groping or being groped by the town’s attorney,” Lily said with a smile.
Penny just shrugged. “Have you seen Bass’s ass? Pretty sure it’s against the law to not grope it whenever he’s in arm’s reach.”
Whitney laughed. They all seemed so happy. Except Lily didn’t have a significant other, and Whitney noticed the flash of yearning behind her eyes. Maybe she noticed it because she knew what that felt like. Or maybe Lily really was looking for someone.
“At least Autumn had a good excuse for not coming out tonight,” Penny said. “Huck gets cranky when she doesn’t give him attention. And she’s been kicking him out more often to go be social. He doesn’t let her out of his sight much unless she forces guys’ night on him. I swear that man is obsessed with her.”
“But in the best way,” Lily said with a smile. “I keep thinking the baby is going to come out with tattoos just like his daddy.”
“You think it’s a boy?” Penny said. “My money is on a girl.”
Both of them were clearly happy for their friends. Whitney had figured out that their little circle was more like family, and they all spoke great about each other and seemed to really care.
Whitney was still trying to keep everyone straight, though. “You said that your friend Jenna also couldn’t make it?”
Lily nodded. “Yes. Jenna is married to my brother Colt. They took Alex to go camping for the weekend.”
Whitney nodded. Yep, definitely all family.
“How are you doing with Alex being gone?” Penny asked Lily.
Lily shrugged. Her ponytail bobbed a little, and she adjusted her seat in the oversize chair. Her pajamas were thin purple pants and a matching tank top. She looked angelic with her ivory skin and big blue eyes.
“I know I need to let go and let him grow up. Being with Colt is so great for Alex, because he has a man he can look up to. But they want to take him for two whole weeks next month. Colt is doing some promotional appearances for the circuit and Alex is over the moon excited to go with him and Jenna.”
“Sounds like it’d be a good thing,” Whitney said. Not that it was her business, but the girls were including her, and she couldn’t help but get caught up a little.
“Yeah, it would be. Just… Two weeks without my little kiddo.” She sighed and laughed at herself. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
“You’re going to get out and have fun,” Penny said. “Maybe meet a man.”
Lily took another long sip of her pitcher. “I don’t know about that.”
“I do,” Penny persisted. “You’re hot! And I don’t even want to know how long it’s been since you’ve gotten any.”
Lily shook her head. “Too long.”
“Yeah, so think of this as a mini vacation coming up for you. It will give you a chance to really relax.”
“Speaking of relaxing,” Lily said, turning her stare on Whitney. “The town’s golden boy has been looking a special kind of relaxed lately.”
Whitney’s cheeks heated just a touch, and both Lily and Penny giggled.
“I…ah…huh?” Whitney took another drink.
“Oh no!” Penny laughed. “Don’t think you can’t dish about what’s been going on with you and Ryder. I’ve never in his life seen him look so pissy while smiling at the same time. Whatever you’re doing, keep it up!”
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.