5
If Peyton had ever thought she’d been kissed thoroughly before, she was wrong.
Utterly and completely wrong because…
Holy hell.
Ryder left over an hour ago and she was still trying to wrap her brain around what happened. There had been no hint of him wanting to kiss her. Hell, there hadn’t even been a hint that he was attracted to her and then…BAM! Kissing!
And she wasn’t complaining one bit.
If anything, she wished she had been bold enough to tell him not to leave.
Looking around, she realized all the ways this night went off the rails. She wasn’t relaxed, they’d never finished their dinner, she never had the chance to talk about her ideas for the restaurant, and as much as she’d like to blame it all on Ryder, she couldn’t.
“I was majorly bitchy,” she murmured. “Again.”
Yeah, this was a side of herself she wasn’t loving.
Her whole life, Peyton always avoided confrontations of any kind. She remained neutral in just about every situation, no matter how frustrated she felt. There was just something about Ryder that just…brought out the worst in her.
And that just cost her the opportunity to get what she wanted most.
Her own restaurant.
Okay, so technically it wouldn’t truly be hers, but it was closer than anything she was going to be able to accomplish on her own and she’d blown it.
Or…had she?
Grabbing a slice of cold pizza, she leaned back on the sofa. Everything happened so quickly, but she knew she didn’t say anything about not wanting to work with him and all Ryder said was how he’d understand if she didn’t want to move forward with their working relationship. So…the way she saw it, they were still working together.
But without the kissing.
Which was unfortunate because it had been a long time since she’d been kissed and it had never been like that.
And she would not have minded one bit if Ryder had kissed her some more.
Or carried her off to bed.
“That’s definitely not going to happen.” While she couldn’t know for sure, Peyton had a feeling that once Ryder Ashford set his mind to something, he stuck to it. And it was pretty obvious that he was horrified at the thought of kissing her again.
Just thinking about it made her sigh.
“Figures,” she said around another bite of pizza. “A sexy guy who happens to be crazy handsome goes and kisses me and he practically leaves skid marks in his haste to get away. Awesome.”
Yeah, it definitely didn’t do much for her self-esteem.
Which was why she ate another slice of pizza before walking to the kitchen and searching for something sweet to eat that wasn’t gourmet chocolate from Ryder. Then she remembered her plan to go walk on the beach and decided to save dessert until she got back.
She made it all of three steps off the back deck before she realized how it wasn’t what she wanted. A walk wasn’t going to calm her down or help her relax because what she wanted was answers. She wanted to know more about this resort Ryder was planning and made a promise to herself–again–that she would control herself and not react no matter how much she disagreed with what he was envisioning.
Back in the house, she walked to her bedroom and grabbed a hoodie and pulled it on before slipping on a pair of sandals. It wasn’t glamorous, but it didn’t matter. When she picked up her phone, she quickly tapped out a text to Austin asking for Ryder’s address and was surprised when he didn’t question it.
“Smart man.”
Five minutes later, she was in her car and driving to the southern tip of town. Her nerves were all over the place and she played out at least half a dozen different scenarios in her head in hopes of being prepared for his response to her showing up on his doorstep.
Only one involved him kissing her senseless again and it was the one she was most in favor of.
But when she pulled up to his house a few minutes later, Peyton found herself second-guessing her impulsive decision. His car was there, the lights were on in the house, but suddenly it felt wrong for her to be there.
And completely unprofessional.
If she wanted Ryder to take her seriously, then she needed to learn to act slightly more reserved, think before she spoke, and not show up at his home after dark and uninvited. Tomorrow was another day, and she’d call him and set up an appointment and go from there.
Pausing, she stared up at the house and sighed wistfully. It figured that his home was big and beautiful and someday she hoped to live in something equally magnificent. It was three stories, right on the beach, and from what she could see, there was a pool around the back. The property was large so the neighbors weren’t too close and she had a feeling the inside was just as impressive.
Maybe knocking on his door isn’t the worst idea…
She immediately admonished herself because it was just wrong–all of it. Tomorrow she would call him and they’d sit and talk like colleagues and stay on task instead of making snarky comments at each other.
Knowing it was the right thing to do, Peyton pulled out of the driveway and slowly made her way home.
But stopped for some ice cream first.
The next morning, she went to the café and put in a few hours helping out in the kitchen before going into her office to take care of some invoices. When everything was done, she knew it was time to bite the bullet and call Ryder.
Only…she didn’t have his phone number.
With a muttered curse, she texted her cousin–again–and asked for it. Her phone rang less than a minute later, and she couldn’t help but laugh.
“Hey, Austin!”
“The two of you are taking up way too much of my time,” he said instead of a greeting. “What in the world is going on?”
Peyton gave him the super abbreviated version of what went down the previous evening.
Minus the kissing.
“So you see, I’m trying to be respectful and I wanted to reach out to set up a time for us to try talking things through again.”
“Honestly, Peyton, are you sure you even want to do this?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“It just seems like Ryder pushes your buttons…”
You have no idea…
“And I don’t know why you’d consider pursuing this,” he went on. “If you want, I’ll talk to him for you and make it clear that you’re not interested and to just leave you alone.”
“That’s very sweet of you and I do appreciate you wanting to do that–even though you’re the one who gave him my address–but I’m really curious now about the whole thing. For all we know, it won’t work out and we’ll discover we can’t work together, but I’d like to try.”
She also left out the part about Ryder building her restaurant because it would require a much lengthier conversation.
“If that’s what you want, I’m not going to stand in your way.”
“Thank you, Austin.”
“However…I’d rather not be in the middle, either. So…when the two of you talk, get each other’s contact information and only involve me when absolutely necessary. Please.”
It was said lightly, but she understood what he was getting at.