Hot Finish (12 page)

“Oh.” Hunter’s little face crumpled. “That’s sad. But we’ll be your family, right, Mom?” She looked to her mother for confirmation.

“Of course. We love Suzanne.”

Oh, shit, now she had tears in her eyes. She was going to humiliate herself right here in Tammy’s country chic dining room with this dumb turkey plate in front of her. “Thanks, honey,” she managed to force out. She reached around Ryder, careful not to look at him, and rubbed Hunter’s back. “I love y’all, too.”

“Isn’t Ryder your family?” Hunter asked. “You were married and everything.”

“And everything” pretty much summed it up. Suzanne fought the urge to sigh. Somebody better have poured her wineglass straight to the top after all of this.

“Alright, it’s time to eat,” Elec said. “Food’s gonna get cold. Ryder, you have anything to be thankful for? You’re the only one left to answer.”

What Ryder said just about scared the skirt off of Suzanne. He looked at Hunter and said, “Yes, I am Suzanne’s family. And I’m thankful for every day that I’ve been in her life.”

Then he leaned over and kissed Suzanne on the temple.

Making her actually blush for the first time in over twenty years.

RYDER
watched Suzanne running across Tammy and Elec’s backyard, football tucked under her arm, dodging Pete’s attempts to tag her. There was something very sexy about a woman willing to put on a borrowed pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt and get out in the yard on Thanksgiving Day for a pickup game of touch football. Suzanne had always been like that though, willing to dive in, ready to try anything.

He supposed he ought to help Pete out since they were on the same team. Evan was also on their team, but he had paused to take a sip of his beer. Hunter was blocking Pete, and it looked like their sibling rivalry was alive and strong as they shoved each other a little harder than was necessary. Ryder jogged over and scooped Hunter off the ground and put her under his arm like Suz had with the football.

“Pete, you’re clear, tag Suzanne.”

“Hey!” Hunter protested, wiggling in his arms. “Put me down!”

“Nope.” He bounced her a few times and she laughed.

Pete started charging toward Suzanne, who squawked and took off running again.

Hunter got too heavy so Ryder put her down and they both took off after Pete and Suz. Hunter collided with her brother and Ryder grabbed for Suzanne. She gave him a challenging smile as she slipped out of his grip. Her cheeks were pink from the cold and she was breathing hard from the exertion.

“You’ll have to tackle me to get this ball.”

“It’s touch football.”

“Scared you can’t do it?”

“Oh, I can take you down.” Ryder grinned and did a small circle around her. She spun around, wary. “You sure you want me to do this?”

“Give it your best shot.”

Ryder shoved her into a giant pile of leaves. She stumbled and went down on her butt, laughing even as she fell. “You still don’t have the ball.”

He dropped down and hovered over her, wanting to suck her juicy bottom lip, stained the color of raspberries from the cold. “It’s too bad we didn’t play this game shirts and skins. This would be even more of a fun position than it is.”

Her eyes were shiny and leaves were sticking to her hair. “You’re a dirty man. There are children present.”

Those children were also landing on his back. Someone hit him hard with a monkey move, all arms and legs all over him, and suddenly there were four of them in the pile, laughing and tossing the fiery dried leaves in the air and at each other.

Watching Suzanne laugh and smile, his own grin splitting his face, Ryder had a hell of a lot to be thankful for.

ELEC
sat next to the fire pit, keeping one eye on the logs he had burning there and another on his step-kids playing in the yard. His wife was on the chaise lounge with him, nestled between his legs, her back on his chest, and he kissed her shoulder, perfectly content.

“So what do you think is going on out there?” he asked Tamara.

“Hmm? What you mean?”

“Ryder and Suzanne. There’s a . . . vibe between them.”

Tamara glanced up at him, biting her lip. “They slept together the other night.”

Well, that explained a lot. “Really? I thought that was over and done a long time ago.”

“Yeah, me, too. And I’m worried about Suz. She said it was no big deal, but you know her . . . she says everything isn’t a big deal. But I don’t think she’s ever really gotten over Ryder, and if he’s just playing around, well, I’m worried she’s really going to be hurt.”

Elec studied the pair rolling around in the leaves with Hunter and Pete. They both looked to be having fun, and at dinner Ryder’s words about Suzanne had sounded sincere. Elec didn’t think he was just fooling around to fool around. “I thought Suz was the one who wanted a divorce.”

“Technically, but it was complicated. She didn’t leave him because she didn’t love him. It was other . . . stuff.”

“Huh. Well it looks like that other stuff isn’t mattering so much right now. They seem to be getting along just fine.”

“Maybe.”

Elec laughed and nudged Tamara with his knee. “Don’t be cynical.”

“I’m not! I just care about my friend. I want her to be happy, happy like me.”

“Oh, are you happy?” Elec teased her, stroking the back of her auburn hair. “I wasn’t sure.”

“I’m very happy. The only thing that could make me happier would be if you kissed me.”

“I can do that.” Elec kissed his wife and forgot all about Ryder and Suzanne.

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

SUZANNE
stared at Nikki across the sampling table at the bakery on Saturday and wondered if it were possible for her head to float off of her shoulders and out the front door, and if it did, if that would really be such a bad thing. She was so exhausted her head felt like a helium balloon, and she was fighting random waves of dizziness.

While everyone else in America had spent the day after Thanksgiving cashing in on all the Black Friday sales, Suzanne had been building storyboards of various wedding themes for Nikki. Using pictures of cakes and gowns, along with fabric samples of color palettes to display options, Suzanne had created eight very different, but all very elegant weddings for Nikki to choose from, knowing they were so tight on time at this point that a decision had to be made today or they might as well just book city hall and call it good.

Between working on the storyboards, worry that Nikki would throw another tantrum, and distracting thoughts about Ryder, Suzanne had gotten zero sleep and had the headache to prove it.

But Nikki, bless her little heart, was actually very seriously and quietly studying each one of the storyboards, sometimes making little sounds of pleasure, and occasionally reaching out to touch a fabric. Suzanne would actually feel somewhat proud and pleased if she had been able to focus her eyes. As it was, all she could think was maybe she’d given Nikki too many choices and would overwhelm her.

Fortunately, Nikki shifted to another board and her eyes lit up. She smiled, a sweet almost innocent smile. “Oh, Suzanne, this is beautiful. This is it.”

Suzanne perked up and managed to sit up straight, relieving her hand of its duty attempting to prop her suddenly abnormally heavy head up. “Which one?”

Sighing with pleasure, Nikki said, “Cinderella. It’s perfect. I’m beautiful like Cinderella . . . Jonas is totally Prince Charming. Our love is magic, and so our wedding should be, too.”

“Um-hmm,” Suzanne said, hoping that would pass for agreement. She was just so relieved that Nikki was pleased and had made a decision that she would listen to Nikki waxing poetic about her relationship for hours. Wait. She already had. And gotten a rundown on Jonas’s penile appearance. Yet she couldn’t ever quite manage to give their relationship the enthusiastic endorsement Nikki clearly wanted. All she could do was applaud her decisions that would move this wedding planning forward. Finally.

“That’s an awesome choice, Nikki. I’m sure you’ll be really happy with the way it turns out. And we can keep the same ballroom for the reception, we’ll just change the décor.”

“Great.” Nikki was still fondling the fabric for the gown, her face the picture of contentment. “The carriage you have on here is perfect. I should definitely arrive in a carriage.”

“And since it will be chilly, we’ll have a cape and muff made for you in white to match your gown.”

Nikki’s sigh was beatific, and when her fiancé walked in a moment later, she smiled at him. “I love you.”

It should have made Suzanne happy. Nikki wasn’t screaming or throwing things and she had made a decision she seemed thrilled with. Yet some small part of her was suddenly and quite appallingly jealous of Nikki’s look of love and devotion. Maybe, just maybe, Nikki and Jonas did actually give a shit about each other. Maybe—and Suzanne couldn’t believe she was even thinking it, but she was—maybe their marriage would work out.

Which meant Suzanne might as well just hang it up, because if those two knew more than she did she was in serious trouble.

Time to accept she was going to be alone forever.

The doorbell tinkled and Ryder walked in.

Christ.

She was too foggy to deal with him at the moment. Thanksgiving had ended with Ryder simply getting into his car and leaving, no mention of seeing her again or calling or anything. Not that she would have agreed to see him, but it just seemed like he should have
tried
. Maybe that was dumb, since she’d told him more than once during their night together that it wasn’t going to happen again, but still. The man should look a little more cut up about being denied future sex with her.

Instead, he had a very calm expression on his face as he said, “Hey, Suz, what’s up?”

What was up was her hackles. She was exhausted, Ryder was blowing her off, and Nikki had found the secret to happiness. It was not a combination designed to make her feel good about herself and life, and she was starting to wonder if she hadn’t chosen someone who sucked as a husband maybe she would actually still be married.

Not that that was remotely fair or true, but in her current mood it felt wonderful and liberating to blame everything on Ryder.

“What are you doing here?” she said, trying to ignore the fact that Nikki and Jonas were rubbing noses.

“Nice to see you, too. I came to help Jonas taste cakes. Nikki doesn’t want to actually eat any of the cake and she wanted a second opinion.”

“I could have given you another opinion,” Suzanne told Nikki, who was gazing blissfully at the images of a Cinderella wedding in front of her.

“Oh, you shouldn’t be eating cake,” Nikki told her. “Especially at your age. Not even Pilates will help.”

She would not say what she was really thinking . . . Suzanne dug her nails into the denim of her jeans and kept her lips clamped shut.

“Suzanne can eat all the cake she wants, she’s smoking hot,” Ryder said.

That was kind of sweet. Suzanne felt sort of bad for irrationally blaming the horrific state of her life on him.

Nikki didn’t respond to that. She just said, “So can this bakery do this cake?” She held up the image Suzanne had found of a four-tier cake in pink fondant, a glass slipper on top, and crystal wheels on either side of the cake, creating an elegant illusion of a carriage.

“Yes, I’m sure they can do something similar. Let me tell the baking consultant that we’re ready for our appointment.” And she might just tell the baker that the bride was a bitch. So much for Nikki’s earlier brief moment of sweet complacency.

Ryder hovered along beside her. “Don’t listen to Nikki,” he murmured. “She’s anorexic. You look amazing.”

“My self-esteem is fine, but thanks, I do appreciate your concern.” She also appreciated his penis. A little loopy from lack of sleep, Suzanne added, “But I’ll give you five bucks if you wave a piece of cake in her face.”

“Are you crazy? I’ll end up with it crammed up my nostrils.” Ryder stopped at the counter with her, his fingers automatically reaching out for a display of cupcakes before he stopped himself.

Amused by his transparent sweet tooth, Suzanne glanced around for a bell to ring for the consultant and said, “I did offer five bucks, and trust me, that’s hard to come by these days.”

“Is this stuff cash and carry?” he asked, scanning the glass case in earnest now.

“Probably. But you’d better not. You’ll get fat before Nikki’s wedding.”

He snorted. Then he leaned close in to her and whispered, “OMG, get that cake out of my face, I’ll be faaattt!” His voice was a ridiculous masculine mockery of Nikki’s shrill tone.

She refused to laugh. “One of her is annoying enough. I don’t need a second bride.”

“You don’t think I make a good diva?”

“No. You’re too hairy.” Feeling devilish, she pointed to a pair of candy apples, sitting next to each other on their paper doilies, and said, “Those are nice and smooth, shiny.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I am not hairy,” he protested. “Especially not down there.”

“Where?” she asked with mock innocence. “Down where? I was talking about candy apples.”

“Come on, you have to admit I keep my manscape tidy. No moss growing under my—”

Suzanne smacked his arm to shut him up when she realized the bakery consultant had stepped up in front of him. “Hi!” she said to her brightly. “I’m Suzanne Jefferson, we have an appointment.”

“Oh, right.” The woman frowned in disapproval. “I’m Joyce. Is this the groom?”

“Best man,” Ryder told her with a charming smile, sticking his hand out. “Nice to meet you.”

Joyce ignored his hand and came out from behind the counter. “Do you have an idea of what you’d like for a cake? How many guests?”

Ryder made a face at Suzanne as Joyce gave them their back. “Wow. A battle-ax baker. She’s as scary as Nikki in a whole new way.”

Suzanne rolled her eyes at him. “Maybe it’s because you were talking about your mossy balls in front of her edible art.”

“They are not mossy. They’re”—Ryder held his hands up like he was cupping his own testicles—“nice.”

Oh, God, she was going to laugh. She just couldn’t help it. He was such an idiot, in such a cute, sexy, adorable way. “Friendly, too.”

“Damn straight.”

A little laugh did escape, but Suzanne covered it up with a cough. “Now use your lips for cake tasting instead of talking,” she told him in a stern voice.

“Is that all?” he asked, his eyebrows going up and down.

“For now.”

Her answer clearly shocked him because his look instantly shifted from teasing to lustful. “Later?”

She shouldn’t, she really shouldn’t go there again with him, but she was afraid she knew herself all too well and it wouldn’t take a whole lot to convince her to sheet dive again, especially after the last few days of nonstop stress. There was something really appealing about just rolling around naked and laughing with Ryder.

Suzanne couldn’t help but smile, even as she evaded the question. “Shut up and eat your cake.”

NORMALLY
sitting around a bakery while other people rambled on and on about the construction of a Cinderella wedding cake would have put Ryder to sleep in under sixty seconds, but he wasn’t bored. Not watching Suzanne work. He had tuned out what they were saying a while ago, but just staring at Suzanne as she took charge and directed the conversation with class and efficiency was sexy as hell.

Content to just sit back and wait for his cake, Ryder wondered if Suz had been serious when she’d hinted about them hooking up later. She’d never been a tease. Usually if she threw something on the table, she followed through with it. Then again, she had bailed on him in the bar after they had kissed, so maybe she’d retreat on this one, too.

While he was perfectly willing and eager for another night with her, if that wasn’t her intention, he would live. He was cool with just hanging with her, getting the opportunity to spend time with her and make her laugh. He had never stopped loving her, not even when he had tried to tell himself he had, and it was a happy relief to be able to let that out a little, to indulge himself in his feelings and in spending time with Suz.

Now there was even actual cake involved. He’d lost track of the flavors they had been discussing because they were nothing Ryder had ever heard of, but there was now a whole tray of little cake pieces in front of him and he was being urged to eat them. No one needed to ask him twice.

“That’s lemon Maurice,” Suzanne told him, pointing to the first piece. “A chiffon cake with a lemon mousse filling. What do you both think?”

He thought Suzanne had originally intended to sample the flavors herself, but now wasn’t as a result of Nikki’s stupid comment. Annoyed by that, and the whole ridiculous unearned pretentiousness Nikki was displaying, studying the baker’s sketches and dimensions, he shoved a huge bite in his mouth. It was good. Not rocking his world, but tasty cake.

Jonas shrugged. “It’s good.” He swiped a crumb off his lip with the paper napkin he’d been handed by the saleslady.

“I think it’s a little bourgeois,” Ryder said, not sure what possessed him to assume the role of arrogant food critic, but quite confident the cake was just good, not great. “The flavor explodes too quickly, with no secondary undercurrent of flavor. You might want to tell Maurice that, whoever the hell he is.”

Suzanne stared at him, Joyce the baker glared at him, and Nikki looked up from her papers. “Oh,” she said. “That’s bad, isn’t it?”

“Just try the second one,” Suzanne said, shoving the next sample in his direction from her seat next to him.

“White with a raspberry filling and a buttercream icing.”

Hmm. Ryder chewed thoughtfully. “Well, I appreciate the excitement the raspberry brings to the white cake but it’s missing a certain mass appeal.”

Joyce frowned. Nikki frowned. Suzanne frowned. There seemed to have been a tent sale on sour expressions, because they’d all picked one up.

“This is a peach champagne filling in a traditional white cake.”

That didn’t even sound good. Ryder put it in his mouth. Blech. It didn’t taste good either. Dropping the role of verbose food critic, he just said straight out, “This is like eating bubble bath.”

Jonas was shuddering, too, and looking like he wanted to spit the remnants in his mouth back into his napkin, but resisted. Swallowing hard, he thumped his chest and coughed. “Can I have a glass of water?”

“Shush,” Nikki told him, but she did pull a water bottle out of her giant handbag and hand it to him.

“This is chocolate hazelnut meringue,” Suzanne said, her voice getting a little clipped. She shoved the fourth piece at him.

The chocolate melted in his mouth, and Ryder longed for a glass of milk. Now this was cake. “Two thumbs up. This is rich and moist, and the hazelnut hint keeps it from being pedestrian.”

Suzanne’s eyebrows shot up. “You’ve been watching the Food Network, haven’t you?”

He was busted. “Maybe. Just a little. On Mondays.”

There was a long pause where she just stared at him, then she started laughing. It burst out with a loud crack, and Ryder couldn’t help but laugh, too. She might have been laughing at him, but it was still funny to see her cackling so hard tears were in her eyes and she was doubled over and wheezing.

“What’s so funny?” Nikki asked.

“I’m sorry,” Suzanne managed, trying to rein it in, using her finger to swipe under her eyes. “But the thought of Ryder watching foodie shows just really cracks me up. I mean, he has never cooked that I’m aware of.”

Joyce, who was glancing at her watch, said, “I didn’t realize you knew your clients so well.”