Bedding The Best Friend (Bedding the Bachelors, Book 4) (13 page)

Annie’s mouth dropped open. “What are you doing?”

Ryan grinned, bent his knees, then jumped into the spouting fountain. Holding his arms out, he stood under the spray and let it soak him as Annie watched in shock. Then he vaulted back over the fence, and picked up a handful of mud from under the bush. He smeared it across his chest. “Who’s the bigger mess now, baby?”

A small crowd gathered, and there was a smattering of applause. Ryan smiled at them and bowed at the waist.

Annie shook her head and laughed. “You’re crazy. I can’t believe you did that.”

“I’d do anything for you, Annie. I hope you’re not too embarrassed to be seen with me.”

“Of course not, you goof.”

“My point exactly.” He put his arm back around her. Wet, soggy, and smiling ear to ear, they headed back to their hotel.

They stopped at the front desk on their way in and told them that Annie’s purse had been stolen with her room key in it. The girl at the desk apologized profusely, like it was her fault, made Annie a new key and then comped her fifty dollars in chips and a bottle of champagne that she said would be delivered to her room later that day.

Ryan helped her into the elevator, and when they got to her room, he slid in the key and opened the door. When Annie realized he was following her in, she said, “Oh, I’m okay. Thank you, Ryan.”

“You’re welcome, but I’m not leaving just yet. You go take a shower, and when you get out, I’m going to clean that cut and wrap that knee for you.”

“But you need to get out of your wet clothes, too.”

Ryan closed the door behind him and moved toward the window. “I’ll dry in the sun,” he told her with a grin.

“You are so stubborn,” Annie said.

“Yep,” was his only reply.

Annie shook her head again and went into the bathroom. Before she closed the door, he said, “That knee looks pretty bad. Are you sure you don’t need me to hold you up in the shower?”

“I—I’m sure.” Slowly, Annie shut the door, then leaned against it, willing her heart to stop slamming against the inside of her chest.

She would have taken him up on that offer in a heartbeat if she had thought he was serious.

* * *

When Annie closed the door, Ryan let out the breath he’d been holding since he’d found her lying in that mud. If anything had happened to her…

He couldn’t bear to imagine it. Her being scared and humiliated was enough to make him want to tear some son of a bitch apart. It was his fault for letting her out of his sight. That wasn’t going to happen again while they were here.

Ryan picked up the room phone and called the front desk. “Can I get a first-aid kit sent up, please? I’ll also need an Ace wrap and an ice pack, if you have them.”

“Of course, sir. We’ll bring those right up.”

Before Annie got out of the shower, the first-aid supplies and the free bottle of champagne had been delivered. She came out in a light cotton robe with wet hair, smelling like a rose garden. Her gaze went to the first-aid kit and champagne.

“Awesome. I could use a glass of that.”

“Of course.” Ryan picked up the big magnum of champagne, and as Annie covered her ears, he popped the top. The cork hit the ceiling, and the bubbles rushed out of the top of the bottle and down over Ryan’s hand. He poured the bubbly liquid into the two glass flutes they’d brought up with the champagne and handed one to Annie.

She took it with a shaky hand, and he mentally cursed. She was obviously still upset from having her purse stolen. God, if he could get his hands on the bastard who’d—

Annie raised her glass. “I’d like to toast to my best friend.”

Ryan hesitated. He knew he was her best friend. He loved being her best friend. But damn it, every time he heard those words lately they made him think about what else they could be to each other. “To us,” he finally said.

They clinked their glasses together then drank. He watched her throat work as she swallowed and barely contained the urge to take the glass from her and taste the champagne directly from her mouth.

Whatever was happening with him wasn’t good. Instead of fantasizing about kissing Annie, he should be tending to her wounds. With determination, Ryan put down his glass, rubbed his palms together and said, “You do know how lucky you are, right?”

“Lucky?”

“Sure, you have a certified firefighter slash paramedic at your disposal. I’m going to fix you up so well you’ll never want to go to the doctor again. You’ll come straight to me.”

“I’ll save a lot of money that way,” she said with a laugh. “Unless you’ll expect compensation?”

“Since I’d never take money from you, I suppose I’ll have to think of some other way you can pay me back.” Her cheeks heated as she stared at him, and he wanted to kiss his own ass. She’d responded to his sexual innuendo as one would expect, only he shouldn’t have made it in the first place.

“Scoot up there against the headboard.”

Annie did as she was told, and Ryan sat down next to her with the first-aid box and ice pack. He used the hand sanitizer then put the ice pack beneath her knee and said, “Rest your leg on that.”

Annie let her leg down on the bed on top of the ice pack. Ryan moved his hand, relishing the way her soft skin felt against his fingers.

He opened the first-aid kit next and found a packet of Neosporin. He opened it and then spread the ointment on a clean, white two-by-two piece of gauze. He pressed it to the cut on her leg, and she sucked in a breath.

“Did I hurt you?” he said, worried.

“No, it just stung a little. It feels fine now.”

Ryan put a piece of medical tape across the gauze and then took out the Ace wrap. “I’m going to start near your thigh because I don’t want to wrap it too tight on your knee and cut off your circulation, okay?”

Annie nodded.

Ryan took the rolled-up Ace wrap and slipped it beneath the lower part of her thigh. His hand trembled when he touched her, and he hoped Annie didn’t notice. He felt like a high school kid touching his first girl. He brought the wrap over the top of her leg, tucked it under the other side, then repeated the motions. Each time he lifted her thigh, touching her warm skin, his jeans got tighter. Annie watched his hands, riveted. Goose flesh scattered across her skin.

He wasn’t in denial anymore. He knew his touch did something to her, just like touching her did something to him. It wouldn’t be smart to do anything about it, yet it took every ounce of willpower he had to resist. Ryan looked up at her, just barely letting his gaze rest on her hardened nipples, visible even through the robe. “Are you cold?”

Annie sucked in a breath. “No, I’m—I’m fine.”

Ryan kept treating her leg, moving the ice pack when he reached her knee, then wrapping until he got to the top of her muscular calf. He was sad to see the end of the roll. Annie had gorgeous legs. Lightly toned and smooth. He wanted to explore the patch of skin behind her knee, and nibble on her cute little toes; the nails were currently painted a deep purple and reminded him of ripe berries. He settled for securing the wrap with another piece of tape, then slowly sliding his hands down her leg, thigh to calf, as if smoothing down the bandage.

“Good as new,” he told her.

She stared at him. Her breath was coming quicker now, and her cheeks were flushed a pretty pink. His gaze returned to her chest, currently concealed by her robe. He wondered how far down her body she blushed. What color her nipples were. That night on the phone—she’d said they were both pink and brown, but there were so many lovely possibilities. He wondered if she waxed or kept a tidy patch of hair at the top of her mound.

God, her thighs would be so pale. So creamy. And he bet she’d taste amazing. He bet—

“Thank you,” she said, causing his gaze to jerk back up to her face. She drank down the rest of her champagne. “You’re a good friend.”

Her hand trembled slightly.

“Would you like more?”

She smoothed down her hair. “No, I better not stumble into the police station drunk,” she said with a smile. “Let me fix myself up, and I’ll be ready to go. Are you going to change?”

He grinned. “Why? Embarrassed to be seen with me now that I’m the only messy one?”

“Never,” she said. “Besides, the women always did like you wet. Remember how many girls you picked up at the pool the summer before college? I thought you were going to set some kind of world record.”

He frowned as he watched her walk to the bathroom. “Right.” Had she deliberately brought up other women because she’d caught him staring at her? “If I recall, plenty of girls flirted with me, but they never stuck around for long once they knew they couldn’t compete with my best girl.”

She paused at the bathroom door then looked over her shoulder at him. “That’s sweet, but you forget the day you ditched me for Angie Florentine the last day the pool was open.”

“What? I never ditched you.”

She smiled almost sadly. “Yeah. You did. But it’s okay. I’ve always known how much I mean to you. I’m your best friend, right?”

“Right,” he said softly.

But she’d already walked into the bathroom and shut the door.

Chapter Nine

After Ryan changed, they took a cab to the police station. On the way, Annie called and canceled her credit cards. She had no money. She didn’t even have an ID. Her naughty weekend in Vegas had turned into a disaster.

She almost started crying again, but she tamped her emotions down. She wasn’t going to wallow in them and let some slimeball ruin her trip.

After she finished canceling the cards, she called her sister. “Hey, Janie!”

“Hey, Sis, what’s up? I thought you’d be in Vegas by now.”

“I am,” she told her. Then she told Janie what had happened. “Don’t tell Dad. He’ll just worry.”

“Oh man, Annie, I’m so sorry. You’re okay, though?”

“Yeah. But I need a favor.”

“Sure, anything.”

“I need you to dip into that joint savings account we have and wire me some money.”

Janie and Annie’s grandmother had left them some money that the girls had put into a savings account that either of them could access. They called it “rainy day money.” This day certainly qualified.

“Sure, no problem. Where should I send it?”

Annie told her sister how much she wanted and the name of the hotel to wire it to. “Send it to Ryan Hennessey so he can use his ID to pick it up.”

“Uh, wait a minute. Ryan went with you?” Her sister knew exactly how Annie felt about her best friend. She constantly urged her to tell Ryan before it was too late and he got serious with someone else. Annie knew exactly what Janie was thinking by her tone of voice.

“He sort of invited himself along.”

Ryan smiled.

“That’s a good sign,” Janie said.

“We’ll talk later,” she told her sister, unsure if Ryan could hear Janie or not.

“Right. Talk about Ryan later. As usual.”

“Bye, Janie. I love you. Thank you.”

“I love you, too. You’re welcome. Be safe.”

“I will. Kiss Dad for me.”

After she hung up, Ryan said, “I would have lent you some money.”

Annie put her hand on his. “I know you would have, but you’ve done enough.”

An hour later, after giving her statement, Annie and Ryan headed back to the hotel. Luckily, the money her sister sent had arrived, so they stopped to pick it up. As they turned away from the counter, Annie ran smack into a wide chest. It felt like hitting a wall.

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry,” she said. The man she’d run into was extremely handsome, with blondish-brown hair and light green eyes. He had an elegant build that was still plenty sexy. And his smile was pure bad boy.

“It was my fault. I wasn’t looking where I was going.” The man turned to look at Ryan and smiled. “Ryan?”

“Max! Great to see you. Annie, this is Max Dalton. He and his brother, Rhys, are friends of Jamie Whitcomb’s. And now we’re friends, too. We met at Eric’s bachelor party.”

“Ah.” Annie thought about the bachelor party. About how wild it must have been. About how handsome Max was. Not as handsome as Ryan, but given all the hot men at that bachelor party—including Jamie, Cole, Luke, Gabe and Eric, all friends of Ryan’s—the women must have been dropping around them like flies. “Nice to meet you, Max.”

“A pleasure to meet you, as well. I’m sorry for being so clumsy. I had my mind on work, and it’s been a busy day.”

“Max has the coolest job ever. He’s a professional magician, and he just opened a theater. Jamie told us all about it. Said it was amazing and is booked solid for the next few weeks.”

“That’s incredible,” Annie said. “Congratulations!”

“Thank you. So what are you two doing here? Sneaking off to The Little White Wedding Chapel, perhaps?”

Ryan and Annie both laughed nervously.

“We’re just on a little vacation,” Ryan told him.

Max reached into his coat and pulled out two tickets. He handed them to Annie and said, “As an apology for my clumsiness. I hope you don’t already have plans.”