“Hey, you must be Sage. I’m Ryan,” he says, pointing at his chest. Then he holds out his hand.
I lift my arm to shake it. He wraps his warm fingers around mine, squeezing lightly. He holds my hand a few seconds too long for comfort, but I keep a friendly smile plastered on my face.
He finally lets go, but not before I see his gaze lower to my tits, then he quickly glances away.
Not interested, my dude.
“Let me show you the cabin,” he offers. Stepping back, he waves his arm around to usher me in.
“Oh, you don’t have to. I’m sure I can find my way around,” I say, hoping he doesn’t push it. But of course he does.
“No, please, I insist. I want to make sure you know where everything is,” he quips, his muddy brown eyes watching me.
It gets harder and harder to force a smile. When all I want to do is throat-punch this weirdo so he’ll get out of here and leave me alone.
“This is the kitchen,” he tells me as we walk into the room that’s obviously the kitchen.Damn, I’m glad you are here to show me around.
“It’s beautiful,” I murmur, my smile finally faltering.
“Not as beautiful as something else I’m looking at right now.”
Gag. Double gag.
Desperate to change the subject, I quickly interject, “So I met your neighbor Travis Blacksburg on the way to the cabin.”
“Travis who?” Ryan asks.
“Blacksburg, he lives about half a mile from here,” I explain.
“Hmm ... that name doesn’t sound familiar. But I still don’t know all my neighbors.” He shrugs.
Interesting. Travis seems to know who Ryan is, but he has no clue who Travis is.That’s odd ... and a shame. Since I was hoping to get some more info on my future husband.
“Oh, well, he was nice enough to give me directions to your cabin.”
Ryan just nods, his beady eyes now blatantly staring at my tits.
Wow. What a loser.
“So, Ryan, I don’t want to rush you out or anything.”Even though that’s exactly what I want. I’m just too damn polite to actually do it.“I’ve had a really long day and just want to lie down.”
“Of course, let me show you the bedroom, and then I’ll be out of your way.” He turns around and walks toward the staircase.
As soon as his back is turned, I reach into the outside pocket of my backpack, where I keep my pepper spray. Quickly fishing it out, I grip it tightly in my palm as I slip my bag off my shoulder to set it on the floor.
Ryan is already halfway up the stairs when I decide to follow him, reluctantly. I keep the hand with the pepper spray behind me, hiding it from him. After all, I’m relying on the element of surprise here.
He leads me down the hall and into the primary bedroom. An icky feeling of danger instantly spreads through me, sending a trail of goose bumps across my skin. With a knot in my stomach and my hand clutching the pepper spray for dear life, I step into the bedroom.
My heart beats against my chest as he turns around, his gaze pinning me once more. “So, Sage ...” He licks his lips, taking a step closer to me. “Are you sure you want to stay here all by yourself? I could stay here with you, keep you company and maybe—”
“Don’t finish that sentence,” I warn, quickly shooting my arm out in front of me. I point the pepper spray right at his face. “If I didn’t make myself clear before, I’m not interested. So unless you want your eyeballs burned all the way out of their sockets with high-potency Mace, I suggest you back the fuck off.”
Shocked, his eyes go wide and his mouth pops open as he immediately jumps a step back. His hands come up in front of him to protect his face. “Whoa, whoa, calm down!” he yells at me. “I was just being flirty.”
Flirty, my ass. Future sex offender is more like it.
“How about I just leave, and we can forget this whole incident ever happened,” he offers with a forced smile, his gaze darting to the door. “I actually have a flight to catch. Like I told you before, I’m leaving the country for a month.”
