“I am like good old Wile E. One day I’ll meet Mrs. Right.”
“She might not like all of your Ms. Today’s,” Ryder said pointedly.
“Then there’s that.” Sy shook his head with mock shame.
“I imagine there are a number of beach-volleyball babes that are hotties just waiting for you to show up,” I offered, grinning. Between his good looks and charm, I imagined he was devastating the local female population and knew it. Falling like bees to honey.
Sy chuckled. “I like her, Ryder. She gets me.”
“Yeah, well, don’t like her too much, and we’ll be just fine,” he grumbled, and it didn’t make sense to me. He was sounding possessive, but I’d seen his face when he realized who I was this morning. Shit. I was going to start crying if I thought about that moment anymore. My badass self turned my tenderhearted self around in my mind, so I stopped seeing his disdainful look. While I was distracted by my dopey thoughts, Sy sped on.
He pulled across the finish line first, and I came across, pitifully, in fourth place. He gave another hoot for winning, which prompted me to throw one of the pillows at him, causing him to chuckle.
“That sucked.” I shook my head. “I want a rematch. I think you cheated.”
“How can I cheat? It’s a car race on a video game!” He threw the pillow back at me.
“I don’t know, but I think you did.”
“Play again?”
“Let’s do it.”
But as I started to make my sports car go, I was suddenly airborne. The control pad fell harmlessly onto the couch, and Ryder was holding me in his arms, striding to his bedroom.
“What the hell? What are you doing?” I sputtered, catching sight of Sy’s look of triumph over Ryder’s shoulder. One would think he’d been trying to engage Ryder’s anger deliberately.
“We need to talk.”
“Okay, fine. But most people in polite society don’t just grab you and haul you off.”
“I never said I was part of polite society.” He kicked his door shut behind us and tossed me down on the bed.
“What’s with all the he-man antics?” I sputtered, making my way in an entirely ungainly fashion to the other side of the bed.
“Stay away from Sy.” Ryder’s deep voice had a steel edge, and his eyes were like granite.
Chapter Eighteen
“What?”
I actually needed a moment to comprehend what he was saying, and when the full import of his words hit, I wanted to throw him out the window. If I wanted to be treated like shit, I could just call my aunt. She’d be delighted to tell me what a horrible individual I was.
“I’m just warning you not to get your hopes up for him. I know he’s good looking, and he’s a helluva lot nicer than I am, but he’s not serious when it comes to women.”
“You’re warning me not to flirt with him?” I was offended on so many levels! Anger started simmering as my blood pressure rose.
He must have had a sense of my impending wrath, because he got this stubborn look on his face, and in his growly voice, he said, “I’m just saying, don’t let his charm fool you. He likes to fuck around.”