or nervous laughter or any of the physical missteps you’d expect when people were new at this together.
“The way you kiss,” Ryan said, closing her eyes and taking a minute. It made Gabriella feel beautiful and sexy, and she loved every moment of it.
“I thought maybe it was just you and your moves.”
Ryan shook her head. “Definitely not.” She closed her eyes and smiled, as if attempting to recover but maybe not wanting to. “I can safely say that comfy couch night gets the full five stars. Heading over to Yelp to write it up now.”
“Oh, then I’ll need a website,” Gabriella said, following Ryan to the door and checking out her perfect ass as she did so. “I hear it reoccurs.”
“Thank God.” Ryan hit the porch. “Oh, my mother says hello and demands you come by.”
“Will you be there?”
“You can assume that I’ll be wherever I know you’ll be.”
Gabriella laughed, leaning in to their new strings-attached plan. Letting herself enjoy their new unrestricted dynamic, terrifyingly heady and delicious as it was. “Part of me doesn’t want you to leave. That part wants to take you right back inside.”
Ryan hesitated. “The old Ryan would have leaned in to that uncertainty and persuaded you to invite me back in, and she’d have been good at it.”
“You’re not going to do that?”
Ryan shook her head. “Good things are worth doing right. We have time. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good. Me neither.” With her index finger, Gabriella pointed at her mouth. “But maybe for the road.”
Ryan’s response was immediate and came with a slow grin. She practically leaped into Gabriella’s space, which made the air around them spark to life as they kissed in the small shred of moonlight. Alone on her porch, she watched the most beautiful creature she’d ever met stroll past the sleeping vines of Tangle Valley to her maroon truck, leaving behind a promise of so much more to come.
Gabriella touched her swollen lips and grinned, clinging to the memory of that kiss for a few seconds longer. Comfy couch night had never felt so good.
* * *
A couple of days later, and Ryan didn’t know what to do about the messages hitting her phone. Since she’d stepped back from her usual nights out, her inbox had been getting a workout. Heather Leonard had definitely faded away after she’d declined her invitation at Truth or Dare, but Lana had doubled her efforts, as had a variety of other women who hadn’t seen Ryan out much lately.
The quantity of messages alone alerted Ryan to the fact she’d been playing the game way too hard. Perspective was everything, and she didn’t full-on regret her past because it had brought her here, but she winced when she saw her behavior in the stark light of day. She was a sex-positive person for sure, but there came a point when you just needed more. At least, she did.
“What are you staring at?” Billy asked and sat down next to her on the brand-new steps in front of Tangled. The craftsmanship was fantastic, and she planned to use that same subcontractor on many more jobs. This place was really beginning to come alive.
“What do I do with this?”
She turned her phone around, and he read the message on her screen out loud. “Come out tonight. Worth your while.” He looked up at her and quirked an eyebrow. “Who’s Brianna from Portland club?”
“Got me. I have a vague memory of dancing with her a few times one night. That was all.”
He pointed at the phone. “More than a vague memory to Brianna from Portland.”
“I know.” She shook her head. “There are a lot of these kinds of messages coming in.”
“Yeah, because you’ve stopped showing up at your spots and showing off your hair and dimple thingies the women are always talking about. Your public is calling you.” He pointed at her phone again. “Literally.”
“Yeah, well, I only seem to want to show up for one woman these days.”
“I know, and it’s the strangest fucking thing. Peter Pan grew up and wants to read the paper and knit, sipping tea from a damn cup and saucer on a vineyard. Dinners out on Tuesday at six p.m. sharp. Home by seven thirty.”
She smacked him one. He didn’t flinch. “Knock it off.” A pause. “Plus, I don’t knit.”
“I’ll amend the fine print.”
She sent him a wink. “But seriously, when we’re together? Nothing boring about it.”
“I believe it. I’ve seen her. I’ve met her.”
Ryan marveled. “Right? She’s different. So what