Speaking of sexy-ass smiles … feeling the heat of his stare, I finally looked up at Ramsay. Now here was a man I never would’ve guessed was my type.
But my body definitely thought he was my type.
Ramsay had a pint in his hand and he gestured with it. “Want anything?”
Guessing that was his charming offer to buy me a drink, I shook my head. I needed to stay sharp around him.
“Juice instead?” Cammie asked. “Diet Coke?”
It was weird to me that they called fizzy drinksjuicein this part of the world, but I’d caught on a few weeks ago when Cammie first said it. “Yeah. I’ll buy, though. What are you having?”
“No, it’s fine, I’ll?—”
“What are you drinking?” Ramsay interrupted her.
“Diet Coke too.”
“I’ll get it.” Forde stepped toward the bar but Ramsay cut him off with a wave of his free hand and leaned over to get the bartender’s attention.
A few minutes later, I was situated at the counter with Ramsay while Cammie and Forde stood beside us talking about people and events I didn’t know and wasn’t there for. I knew Cammie didn’t intend to leave me with Ramsay McRae. She seemed to forget everything else in Forde’s presence, lighting up around him in a way that was hard to explain but that I knew I hadn’t seen from her before. They laughed together like two kids on the playground.
Ramsay stared around the room as he sipped his pint. Akiva lay at his feet now, an actual physical barrier between us and Cammie and Forde.
Irritated that Ramsay was trying to avoid me while I stood right next to him, I asked with the deliberate intention to needle, “So, are you over your snit yet?”
His eyes connected with mine and I ignored the way my heart accelerated. Seriously, I really wanted to know how the hell he did that to me.
“Snit?” He emphasized thet.
“Yeah. I mean, I apologized, and you still grunted at me like a caveman.” I was only half teasing.
Ramsay raised an eyebrow. “Silver, you almost brought a seven-thousand-square-foot house down on yourself.”
“I apologized.” I shrugged. “And promised to never do anything so reckless again.”
“Are you in the right state of mind to be making those promises?”
“Yes. Trust me to know that.” I sipped the soda and wrenched my gaze from his since looking at him made me feel like I’d injected espresso into my veins.
“You ever planning to tell me what sent you to drive a sledgehammer through the wall?”
“Are you ever planning to tell me why you live on an island by yourself?”
He gestured to his beautiful dog. “Not by myself.”
“Mature response.”
“You know all about those.”
“It’s not my fault you’re very annoying.”
Ramsay’s eyes searched my face, glittering with … intensity that felt sexual. “Is that what I am?”
“Yes.” The word wheezed out, and I cleared my throat, my cheeks hot. “Somewhat.”
His lips twitched. “You’re somewhat annoying too.”
Even though I knew he was joking, part of me still wondered if he wasn’t. I didn’t want to think about that too much or why it bothered me. “I’m a goddamntreat,” I replied instead, shrugging off hurt feelings.
