Summer Shifter Nights Page 4

  “I had no idea. He isn’t wearing a ring.”

  “Ah, so you checked him out? Glad to see you thinking about getting back on the horse, Josie Jo,” Lynsey said proudly.

  “I’m not. Ever. But he asked me to dinner, he said it was to talk about the business. And I totally misread him,” Josie said.

  “Understandable, all things considered,” Lynsey said.

  “Who wants to have dinner with that jerk, anyway?” Anna asked.

  “We need him to give us a loan extension. So I guess I should go and tell him I’ve changed my mind,” Josie said.

  “Sellout,” Anna said.

  “Let me tell you, my young Anna, sometimes we have to sell out. The world is not a perfect place.”

  “I’ll never sell out,” Anna said, scowling at Lynsey.

  “Even for those you love?” Lynsey asked.

  Anna picked up the first of the boxes without answering Lynsey. “I’ll take these through to the kitchen.”

  “Thanks, hon,” Lynsey said, and then to Josie she added. “Here he comes. Go make your date.”

  Josie hooked her hair behind her ear, it never did stay put in its ponytail, and then took a deep breath before approaching Ryan, who had fetched his luggage from the car and was heading for the stairs. She acknowledged he was staring at her more than he should, but now that she knew he was spoken for, she let it go. He was merely interested in her for business reasons, and that meant she could relax a little.

  “Hi, Mr. Sinclair. I decided I could blow my brother off for one night and come out with you for dinner. I can introduce you to a few people, let you get a feel for the town.”

  He smiled, and his dimples showed, making her want to put her lips to each one and kiss them lightly. Spoken for, she reminded herself. “What time shall I pick you up?” he asked.

  “I can meet you here. The bar is usually lively, and the food is good.”

  “I hear the ingredients are fresh grown locally,” he teased.

  “You heard right. It will give you an opportunity to see, hear, and taste what we have to offer.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Seven?” he asked.

  “Seven it is,” she agreed, and backed away, before turning and heading back to Lynsey, who was busy looking at the reservations book. But when Josie reached her, the smile on Lynsey’s face said she had heard every word.

  “He might be spoken for, but the way he looks at you, Josie Jo, says he would like to add touch to the menu.”

  “He’s spoken for, you said it yourself.”

  “I did,” Lynsey said. “But I have been wrong about these things before.”

  “Great,” Josie said, taking a box of vegetables and carrying them through to the kitchen. She should have followed her instincts and stayed away from the man who made her heart leap, and her body fill with heat. She should have learned her lesson from Donny.

  But just because she had agreed to dinner, did not mean history would repeat itself. She had a strong will and she would not be fooled again. By any man.

  6

  Ryan

  She had agreed to have dinner with him! He wanted to ask her why she had changed her mind, but he didn’t want to give her a chance to back out. He wasn’t sure whether it was some kind of instinct where his mate was concerned, but something told him she was hurting. An aura of sadness hung around her, and he longed to chase it away.

  Of course, it might be to do with Silver Springs and the money the company lost. That was the more plausible reason, coupled with her sense of duty, which explained her decision to sell her community farm to pay off the debt owed to Sinclair Holdings.

  He lingered over these thoughts, as he sat on the bed, waiting for the clock to tick around to eight. He had been ready by seven thirty, and although he didn’t plan on being late, he did not want to look too eager. Although a drink in the bar, to steady his nerves, might be better than sitting here like a lovesick fool.

  He checked the time once more, seven forty, and got up off the bed, checking for the fifth time he had his wallet and keys, before letting himself out of the room, and heading down the single flight of stairs to the reception area.

  Ryan felt her presence before he saw her. She was early, a good sign, right? But she looked nervous, really nervous. He loved her a little bit more in that moment, as she twirled a stray length of hair that had escaped the braid she had tamed it into. Ryan was used to being chased by society women, who had nerves of steel, and balls to match, when it came to rich husband-hunting.

  There was nothing about Josie that screamed she was out to catch herself a rich husband. In fact, he would wager the opposite was true. She’d gone for casual—a T-shirt with a butterfly emblazoned across the front, pulled off one shoulder, to reveal her bronze, weather-tanned skin, and black jeans, with knee-high boots.

  “Hi, Miss Halliwell,” he said exaggerating her name. “Or can we cope with informal, just for the night since we are off the clock?”

  “Are we off the clock?” she asked. “I thought this was business.”

  “Whatever you want to call it,” he said easily, assessing the spooked look in her eye. “I’m just glad to have some company. It’s a long, lonely road sometimes.”

  “Do you travel a lot?” she asked, leading him toward the bar. “Where would you like to sit?”

  He would have preferred a quiet corner of the room, somewhere secluded, with seductive lighting, where he could have Josie all to himself, but that would make this seem like a date. Which might make Josie run.

  “You choose,” Ryan said. “I entrust myself to your capable hands, since this is your town.”

  She took a moment to look around the room. “Over there. Table in the corner.”

  He chuckled, “Are you trying to seduce me, Miss Halliwell?”

  “I’m sorry?” she asked, shock on her face. Then her face cleared. “Oh, no. I thought it would give us some privacy, but not for that reason.”

  “Then why?” he asked, curious. “Are you hiding?”

  She sighed and turned to him. “I figured you might want to eat your meal without a hundred people asking who you were.”

  “I see. I thought I was here to meet people. But if you want to keep me all to yourself…”

  “I don’t. And if you think that is why I’m choosing this table, we can sit slap-bang in the middle of the room.”

  He’d pressed her buttons and made her defensive. Ryan wasn’t sure why. He wasn’t that kind of a guy.

  It’s because you are like a dog with a bone. And there is something our mate is not telling us, his bear said.

  His bear was right, but he was in danger of going too far. “No, the corner is perfect,” he said, gently.

  “Hi there, you two,” Lynsey said, coming over and handing them menus. “What can I get you to drink?”

  “I’ll have a white wine, and whatever Mr. Sinclair wants.” Josie looked at him expectantly.

  “A beer. Nice and cold,” Ryan said.

  “Great, coming right up,” Lynsey said.

  “Can you put it on the company account, Lynsey, please?” Josie asked.

  “Sure thing, Josie Jo,” Lynsey said, giving her a wink. “Business, not pleasure, such a pity.”

  Josie hid a smile, until Lynsey sashayed away. “She has her eye on you. If you weren’t spoken for, she would have dragged you off to bed by now.”

  “Spoken for?” Ryan asked, then remembered the conversation he had with Lynsey. “Oh, spoken for.” Now it all made sense—he could not figure out why Josie had changed her mind, now it was blindingly clear.

  “Yes. She has a strong feminist streak and would never go after another woman’s man.” Josie opened the menu. “I’m afraid the food may not be what you are used to.”

  “Oh, as long as the steak is good, and there is plenty of it, I’m happy,” Ryan said.

  Josie closed her menu. “You surprise me.”

  “I do?” Ryan asked, and placed his menu on the table. “In what
way?”

  “You have expensive tastes in suits, and cars. Your watch is probably worth more than I earn in a year, and your shoes…”

  “What about my shoes?” Ryan asked, as another waitress came by and gave them drinks.

  “Thanks, Shelby. We’re ready to order,” Josie said. “I’ll have the chicken. And Mr. Sinclair will have…”

  “Steak, medium rare.” They finished up their order, and he waited for Shelby to leave before he asked, “What about my shoes?”

  She sipped her wine and looked at him, and he wanted to reach over and drag her to him, and kiss her. He so very much wanted to kiss her. The need deepened when she gave a half smile and said, “They are serious shoes. Don’t mess around with me shoes.”

  He nearly sprayed his beer across the table. “If I didn’t know better, Miss Halliwell, I would say you are messing with me. But since this is a business meeting, and I am wearing my serious shoes, I know I’m mistaken.”

  She flashed him a smile. “I would never mess with a man who was so serious in the shoes department.”

  “It’s all part of my armor,” he said, dropping the barrier he usually kept up between him and other people. Particularly people who might be about to lose everything. Ryan had already decided that was not happening, not if he could find anyway to make this right.

  “Armor? Why would a man like you need armor?” Josie asked, the levity leaving her voice.

  “Because this isn’t me. This is the man the world has to see.” He sipped his beer, wishing he had ordered something stronger. Soul-baring had not been on the menu.

  Josie didn’t answer, she simply studied him, trying to figure him out. Well, if she could, she would be the first. No one, not even Ryan himself, could ever understand what made him tick. His brother Jared had tried, moving him through several departments at Sinclair Holdings. It wasn’t that Ryan didn’t do the job, he gave one hundred percent to everything that was put before him. But job satisfaction had never materialized.

  “You think I’m a spoiled rich kid,” he said, looking down at his beer.

  Josie sipped her wine and then placed the glass down on the counter, twirling the stem between her fingers. “I don’t know what you are, Ryan Sinclair.”

  “Do you want to know?” he asked, his voice low, husky with emotion. He wanted to spill his soul, spread it out across the table and let her pick through it.

  “Dinner,” Lynsey said, coming up behind Ryan. Josie’s eyes rose to meet her friend’s, and Ryan wondered if she was giving a silent cry for help, but if she did, he didn’t read it in her expression. All that he saw was confusion.

  Which was exactly what he had felt inside his whole life.

  7

  Josie

  Ryan’s revelation went way beyond serious shoes. Way beyond. As a woman who had always known exactly who she was and what she wanted to do, Josie struggled to know how to react.

  “Why do you do the job you do? If you don’t like it,” she asked, knowing the evening had somehow slipped past business and was now knee-deep in personal.

  “Because it’s expected. My father left when I was young, and my brother, Jared, stepped in and saved us from losing everything. He sacrificed his life for us, my mom, and Kris, my younger brother. When I was old enough to work, I joined the company, it was my duty to pay something back to Jared. I worked hard to be successful, and became everything I thought I was expected to be. But as the years go by, I have this intense sense of dissatisfaction with what I do.” He put his hand up to his chest, his words raw, no pretense, making the expensive car and suits a lie.

  “Why don’t you leave?” Josie asked softly.

  “Because I didn’t know what to leave for…” He looked at her with such intense honesty that she could not swallow and her food stuck in her throat.

  Josie reached for her wine and took a couple of big mouthfuls, the cool liquid washing her food down, giving her time to think of what she was supposed to say in answer to his honesty. “I have heard the same thing so many times. With the people I work with on the farm. You aren’t expected to have all the answers. No one is.”

  “But you do,” he said, picking up his knife and fork and starting to eat.

  “Do I?” she asked.

  “Yes, you have it all together,” he said.

  “Work-wise, yes. I guess in that we are opposites, I’ve always known what I wanted to do with my life. Business, at least. My parents instilled a strong work ethic in both Michael and me, an ethical ethic, that’s what they called it.”

  “Hence the recycling company and the community farm. Both help the town, the people, and the environment.”

  She smiled. “My parents are hippies. Can you tell?”

  “Are hippies? That means they live in town too?” he asked.

  “Nope, they are in Indonesia right now, helping out after the floods. They passed the company on to me and Michael.”

  “Ahh, which is why it’s so important to hold on to it?” Ryan asked.

  “Not for them, no. They don’t hold on to material things. They believe in fate…” She drained her glass and called Shelby over to get them refills. Josie didn’t usually drink too much, but tonight was turning into a baring of the soul, which she had not expected. “So if we lose the company, it’s meant to be.”

  “Not the most sensible way of looking at things,” Ryan said.

  “I never said they were sensible,” Josie said. “Michael has more of the head for business. My parents started the company, but it is Michael who has built it up. I often feel guilty that I’m a shareholder at all.”

  “So how will you feel, if Silver Springs Recycling is lost?” he asked, his words like a spear in her chest. Josie placed her hand there as if to stem the flow of blood from the wound.

  “Guilty.” She placed her fork down on her plate, her food only half eaten, her appetite gone.

  “What do you have to be guilty for? If your brother runs the company, then the money disappearing was his responsibility.”

  “That’s not quite true,” Josie said, wondering how exactly they had gotten here. She had no intention of telling Ryan the whole truth. But maybe if she told him most of the truth, that might change the way he looked at the company’s finances, and the blame he had allotted to Michael.

  “Care to enlighten me?” he asked his head cocked to one side, his dimples gone as he studied her face.

  “I was the one who trusted Donny.”

  “Donny.”

  “Donald Cresswell. He and I were…”

  “More than friends…”

  She nodded, avoiding his eyes, because what she saw there was too raw, too intense, as if this really mattered to him. “Much more.”

  “And he ran out on you?” Ryan said. “With the money?”

  “Yep, and a girl from town.” She put a bright smile on her face. “So you see, if I hadn’t been such a gullible fool, Michael would not have trusted Donny, and none of this would ever have happened.”

  “Josie, I’m so sorry.” He reached across the table, his hand covering hers and squeezing it tenderly as he leaned forward, his voice hoarse with emotion. “Not all men are like Donny.”

  “I know,” she said, pulling her hand back from his. The connection between them had ignited when their skin came into contact. “There is you. All spoken for and everything.”

  “Josie, what I said to…”

  “Josie! Good to see you out and about again. And with a man. Nothing like getting back on the horse, is there?” Donna Trevant, affectionately known as the one-woman local neighborhood watch, was heading toward them, her voice booming across the room, so that everyone looked at Josie and Ryan. “And what a handsome man he is.”

  “Donna,” Josie said. “How are you?”

  “Better for seeing you out on the town. We wagered you would become a nun after what Donny did.” Donna’s eyes narrowed, focusing in on Ryan, waiting for his reaction. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be talking about that j
ackass when you are out with your new man.”

  “This is Ryan Sinclair, he is a business associate, not my new man.”

  “Business associate, is that what we’re calling it these days?” Donna asked, offering her hand to Ryan. “Charmed, I am sure.”

  “Hello,” Ryan took Donna’s offered hand, and shook it, her grip as strong as any man’s.

  “Donna is ex–special forces,” Josie said.

  “Good to meet you, Donna,” Ryan said.

  “I’m sorry. I’m interrupting you. I’ll go and get a drink,” Donna said, and left, with one backward glance.

  “She likes to check out anyone new in town,” Josie said.

  “I’d hazard a guess, it’s because she wants to get a nice juicy piece of gossip.”

  Josie nodded. “I’ve been keeping the gossip mill going for the last couple of months.”

  “I could kiss you, that would make the gossip mill explode,” Ryan said.

  “No. Thank you, that kind of gossip I can do without. I can just imagine what would happen if someone happened to take a photo of us. It would be all over the internet. Since you are Ryan Sinclair.”

  “I wouldn’t mind,” Ryan said.

  “But your significant other might,” Josie reminded him.

  “Ahh, my significant other.” Ryan looked down at his plate, and then up at her, but before he could add anything else to whatever it was he was going to say, there was a commotion at the bar.

  “Excuse me.” Josie got up and headed across the room to the bar. “Hey fellas, what’s wrong?”

  “What’s wrong?” Pete, one of the foremen at Silver Springs Recycling, pointed to Ian, who was a mechanic at Lawson’s Repair Shop. “I’ll tell you. This idiot ripped off the alloys on my car.”

  “I did not. I’m telling you, they were gone when I opened up this morning. I thought you took them off before you left the car for me to service.”

  “This is not the place to be arguing,” Josie said. “Can’t you figure it out tomorrow?”

  “No, but we can figure it out, outside.” Pete pushed Ian, and Ian pushed him back. Somehow they got to the door, and spilled outside. Josie followed. Was it a full moon? This kind of testosterone-fueled behavior was usually saved until that time of the month.