“We’re out tonight. We’ve been having some trouble getting shipments in.”
Getting fresh fish around here didn’t seem like much of a challenge. We lived next to the ocean, the brewery abutted the bay, and there was more than one fisherman who would be happy to supply a restaurant that did this much business on an off night.
“Sorry to hear that,” I said. “I’ll go with the blue cheese maple bacon burger, fries.”
“Excellent,” she said. “Ryder?”
“Burger, double cheese, double onion with fries,” Ryder said.
She nodded and tucked all the menus under her arm. “Anyone want to try the Barberry Butte beer? On the house.”
“Is that Chris’s rhubarb-cranberry beer?” Jean asked.
“Yep.”
“No thanks,” Ryder and I said at the same time Jean and Myra said, “Sure.”
“Two yes, two no, got it.” Molly was off at a quick clip.
“I didn’t know you liked cranberries,” I said to Jean.
“You know I like free beer.”
Ryder chuckled.
I took a drink of my beer, watched Ryder drink his, spending a little too much attention to how his lips moved against his glass. Maybe our wait would be best spent going over business, not my fantasies of his lips on my skin.
“Which of my sisters conned you into volunteering for the department?” I asked. Jean might think I planned everything out before jumping in, but she was wrong. Look at me—spontaneous.
He shook his head. “Neither. I volunteered.”
“When?”
“This morning, after you came by and mentioned you were short-handed.”
“I didn’t bring that up so you would offer your time.”
“Why not offer my time? This is my town too. My home. I don’t mind pitching in. I’m a quick study. Took some law classes in college. Keep up at the gun range, know self-defense. Plus, I’m charming and capable of talking people into seeing things my way, which should come in handy during the crowd detail at the Rhubarb Rally. I know I’m not a trained police officer—I understand the rigors it takes to become one. But I’d make a decent security detail, or handyman, or janitor, or whatever you need around the place.” That last he offered up with a shy smile. It added a dose of humility to his assurances.
Confident in his abilities, but not an overbearing jerk about them. Damn him. Could he get any sexier?
“You already have a job.”
“I set my own schedule. I’m sure I could take a week out to help with the rally, then maybe we can talk about how many hours a week you’d need me after that.”
“You think this is permanent?”
“I’m hoping it might be.” The way he said it, with a low purr in his voice, made me wonder if he was talking about the job or if he was asking how many hours a week I, personally, would need him.
Both ideas made my pulse race.
Okay, the me-needing-him-personally made my heart race a little more than the other thing.
“And I suppose you’re both on board with this?” I asked my sisters.
Jean rubbed her thumb down the condensation of her glass and gave me the most serious look she’d had all night. “Ryder’s smart, went to college, owns his own business. Other than coming back to this Podunk town, he seems to have good decision-making skills. He plays well with others, isn’t a gossip, and—not to make your head swell, Bailey—he’s hardcore physically fit. Plus, he shoots a gun. The perfect man…”
Ryder choked on his beer but got himself quickly under control.
