The Closer You Get (21 page)

“Your new friend,” Adam said with venom in his voice, “would not fit in with your family and their friends.”

“I don’t even fit in with my family and their friends.”

“Yeah, and this is going to help? Bringing a known womanizer into a room where half the women have probably already fucked him?”

“Hey,” Rye said. “Time to back off, Adam.”

Adam ignored him and kept his eyes on Cora. “You’ll never fit in with them if you date this jackass.”

“I’ve never wanted to fit in with them, Adam. I’m happy the way things are. Is that what you think of me? That I need to change so I can be like my mom and sisters? Is that why you were so excited about helping me pick out new clothes and get my hair done?”

“I thought you’d want to be respectable.”

“I am respectable. I’m a very respected business woman, and I have good, solid friendships around town. I don’t need to appear upper crust and civilized and thumb my nose at people. Jesus, Adam, who are you?”

“I’m the guy you’ve called your best friend your entire life and now here you are throwing me over for some witless, muscle bound, man-slut.”

“Rye is smarter than you and me put together, so don’t stereotype him like that. I’m not throwing you over, either. You’re the one making this a territory issue. All I wanna do is hang out with a man I might eventually get to sleep with.”

“Then do it, already, and get it over with so you can get him out of your life! He’s no good, Cora.”

Rye gave up. He put his pool cue back on the rack on the wall. “I’m going home, sweetheart. Alone, unless you wanna come with me for a while.”

She blinked up at him. “I think I’ll just see you tomorrow.”

His chest ached, just a little. He swallowed back the pain, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and left. He wasn’t going to add more stress to this situation. Adam was the one trying to force her to choose. Rye didn’t need to act like a jealous maniac and exacerbate the situation.

But he couldn’t help feeling a little betrayed. All he wanted was to spend some time with her. Touch her. Talk to her. If Adam could just stay away for a while…or just stop hating him so much. It didn’t help that Rye halfway agreed with the guy. He knew he wasn’t good enough for Cora. He knew it was an act of sheer grace that had gotten him that date with her Saturday night.
 

He was sitting down on the couch with a beer about the time Cash got out of his shower. “Late night at work?” Cash asked.

“Went to Darcy’s.”

“Ah. You getting anywhere with the boss lady?”

Once again, Rye hadn’t told Cash anything about his date Saturday night. “I don’t know. We went on a date, Saturday, and had a great time.”

“You got laid? With Cora? And you didn’t tell me?”

“No. I didn’t get laid. I said I went out on a date.”

“And had a great time. Since when does a ‘great time’ with you mean anything other than sex?”

Rye sighed. Rome wasn’t built in a day. And his reputation as a dog was going to take a long time to bury. “Well, in this case, ‘great time’ means we went to the movies and made out a little.” He’d just leave off the part about coming in his pants like a fifteen-year-old on his first date.
 

Cash gaped at him like he’d just started speaking in Swahili or something. “Made out a little?”

Rye shrugged. “I wanna treat her right. Gotta build some trust.”

Cash’s expression shifted, and he suddenly broke into a big grin. “You like her. Ain’t that precious.”

“Fuck you.”

“Yeah, you like her. You love her.” He drew out the L-word.

“I don’t love her. I just think she’s special, and I don’t want to just screw around with her. I guess I wanna be her friend, too. So…”

“I’m just teasing, Rye. I think it’s great. About time, really. I hope things work out.”
 

Rye watched his brother watching TV. “What about you?” he asked. “Things going well with Adam?”

Cash shrugged. “I think so.”

Rye frowned and nodded. “Sounds…promising?”

“I don’t know. I want to get close to him, but I don’t know how. And I think he doesn’t know how, either. I get the feeling he’s…handling me.”

“I do not need those kinds of details.”

Cash punched him in the shoulder. “You know what I mean. I get the feeling he’s keeping me at arm’s length. Trying to control just how far this thing between us goes. I guess, if there’s a ceiling to this relationship, then…it’s not going to last much longer.”

“That sucks.” Rye tried not to be relieved. If things fizzled with Adam and Cash, he wouldn’t have to worry so much about being friendly with the guy. It was selfish.
 

“Yeah,” Cash said. “I like him. A lot. I really want it to work out.”

Well, shit. Rye dropped his head back onto the sofa. “Then you probably need to make the first move. Be the first to open up.”

“I feel like I already have. I feel like at this point, he’s waiting for me to tell him about all my baggage so he can decide for sure whether he wants me or not. So, like, it’s a fifty-fifty shot this thing ends the minute I open my mouth.”

“Jesus, what a prick.”

“Hey, man…”

“No, seriously! I’m fucking sick of this guy.” Rye felt his ears growing hot. He could handle just about anything Adam dished out at him, but if Adam was going to hurt his brother, then the gloves were off. “You can do better, Cash.”

“I don’t want to do better. I think I’m in—”

“Don’t say it. Don’t fucking say it.”

Cash closed his mouth and didn’t say another word.
 

Rye’s cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and jumped to his feet when he saw the screen. Cora. He smiled and raised the phone to his ear, even as he walked back toward his bedroom. “Rye,” he said, keeping his voice low and cool.

“Hey. It’s me. Cora. From work.”

He grinned at how she was always identifying herself as though he didn’t know who it was. “Cora from work…yes. What can I do for you, Cora from work?” Take you to my bed? Fulfill your wildest fantasies? An exchange of oral sex, perhaps?

She giggled a little. “Um, I’m sorry Adam ran you off, earlier.”

“Yeah? Me too.”

“Can I be honest?”

“I’d prefer it,” he said, with more bravado than he felt. Sometimes honesty hurt.

“The thing is, I’ve been trying to stay cool about this thing between you and me,” she said, “but the fact is, I really like you. A lot.”

If Rye grinned any bigger, his face was going to split in two.

“And I’m afraid of what Adam might do to this. I want you to know that I’m working on him the best I can, but I promise you, he’s not a threat to you.”

“You’re worried I’m gonna run away?”

“You’ve been driven away from places before, Rye. Don’t let him drive you away from me.”

He sobered right up. She was right. He did have a tendency to run. And Adam’s attitude, coupled with Cash’s fears about their relationship, gave him a queasy, running-away sort of feeling. “Right now,” he said, his voice cracking, “I’m just trying to earn your trust. I don’t know where my place is…in your life.”

She was quiet for a few moments. “Let’s try this. I’ll back you up if you need to face off with Adam. Okay? But in return, you promise not to make an issue out of it unless it’s absolutely necessary. I don’t want to lose my best friend, but he’s not being a very good friend right now. And I guess you are sort of stepping in on his turf. I mean, he’s always been the one to play pool with me or have a beer after work. So this is naturally difficult. I’d like to include him, but that won’t work if he’s going to keep being such an ass.”

“Maybe I should talk to him. Man to man or something.”

“Um, that’s not my area of expertise. You do whatever you want, there. But I’ll keep trying to get him to ease up.”

“Okay. I’ll do my part, then.”

“Great. Well…thank you.”

“No, problem.”
 

The silence that came next was awkward. Rye didn’t know what else to say, but he didn’t want to get off the phone. In truth, he wanted to invite her over. He wanted to convince her to climb into bed with him and let him make love to her. He was on the verge of asking her, when she finally broke the silence.

“Um…so we’re still on for Wednesday?”

The county fair date. “Absolutely. I’m looking forward to it. Know what, though? Fair dates are usually group dates. You got any friends we could hang out with?”

“Um…yeah. But…don’t you want to be alone with me?”

“We’re gonna be alone plenty. Trust me. But we gotta get to know each other, right? Meet each other’s friends and family? This’ll be a good chance for that.”

“Well, I know Adam will want to go, so if you bring Cash, maybe that will keep the tension low.”

“Yeah. What about your girlfriends? The redhead and the pizza chick?”

“Franny and Lyssa,” she laughed. “Yeah, I’ll invite them.”

“Great.”

“Rye?”

“Yes?”

“Will there be more…making out?”

He laughed. “Get your sweet ass over here, and I’ll make out with you right now.”

He listened to her breathing for a moment before she said, “Do you think you can last more than five minutes?”

“Oh my God, shut up!” he cried.

Cora’s laughter, even at his expense, filled him with warmth.
 

“Yeah, it’s really funny,” he said, trying to sound mad, but failing. “Here I am turning over a new leaf, trying to be a better man. You were the one wriggling your hot little body all over me. You should be ashamed of yourself, Cora.”

Her laughter slowly faded until it stopped altogether. “I’m not, though. Ashamed.”

Music to his ears. “Good. Maybe we can go a little further, next time.”

“Further?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Like…how?”

“I think I’ll leave that to your imagination. See you tomorrow, Cora.”

“Um…okay. Goodnight, Rye.”

“Night.”

A
FTER
WORK
ON
Wednesday, Rye hurried home to change. It was silly since he dressed mostly casual at work anyway. But the day was hot, and he wanted to change into cargo shorts and a t-shirt, as opposed to jeans and a button-down. He threw on his favorite baseball cap and then paced the hall outside Cash’s bedroom door.

“Hey, you about ready?” Rye asked.

“In a minute,” Cash shouted back.

Rye sighed. This was his second date with Cora, and he was even more nervous than the first. He knew he hadn’t made a good first impression on her friends. He hoped he could rectify the situation tonight.
 

Cash came out and nearly ran into Rye before he saw him. “Jesus, quit hovering, man,” Cash said. He shoved Rye away and headed toward the front door.

“Are we picking up Adam?” Rye asked as he locked the front door behind him and jogged down the steps toward his truck.
 

“Nah, he said he’ll meet us there.”

Rye slid on his sunglasses. At six in the evening, the sun was still glaringly bright. He drove to Cora’s house and was halfway to the front door when she came out, looking cute in short shorts, a tank top, and her hair pulled back in a ponytail. Rye kissed her on the cheek, hooked an arm around her waist and led her to the truck. Cash got out to let her in the middle, and the three of them drove to the fairgrounds.
 

They parked in a large, dirt lot that was nearly full. For a small town fair, it sure was drawing a crowd. Rye saw why when he saw the sign for the concert. There were several, big name bands playing over the next few evenings.
 

Rye and Cora strolled hand-in-hand to where Adam and her other friends were gathered by the front gate. As much as Rye wanted to kick Adam in the teeth every time he saw him, he was relieved to see the smile on Adam’s face at the sight of Cash. The two men approached each other, and Rye could see that, for them, the rest of the world disappeared. Cash grabbed a handful of Adam’s hair and kissed him on the forehead. Then he slung his arm over Adam’s shoulders. Adam’s arm went around Cash’s waist as they paid the ticket-taker and went into the fairgrounds.

“They’re so cute, aren’t they?” Franny said, jogging up to Cora and Rye. Beyond her, leaning against the gate looking like he wanted to be anywhere but here, was Sullivan Fletcher.
 

“I’ve never seen Adam so happy,” Cora replied.

“Your brother better treat him right,” Franny said, jabbing Rye in the chest.

“Judging from the sounds coming out of Cash’s bedroom, I think they’re treating each other plenty right.”

Franny giggled and spun on her heel. “Sully!” she shouted. “This is a date, dammit, get over here and hold my hand.”

Sullivan glared and shook his head in disgust before approaching and grudgingly taking her hand. Franny grinned like she’d just won an award.
 

“Where’s Lyssa?” Cora asked as Rye paid their way into the fair.
 

“Running the restaurant,” Franny said. “Her manager who was gonna cover for her at the restaurant, got sick. And I extorted this date from Sullivan, so she’s stuck working.”

“Extorted?” Rye asked.
 

“Yeah. I redecorated his mom’s living room in return for a favor. This is the favor.”

“It was as much a gift to Lyssa,” Sullivan grumbled. “Why couldn’t you ask her for a date?”

“I don’t swing that way, baby.”

“I want to know,” Rye asked, “why she had to extort a date from you, man? Why wouldn’t you go out with her willingly?”

Just then, Franny jumped up and down and squealed. “Shooting gallery! Shooting gallery! Win me a teddy bear, Sully!”

Sullivan gave Rye a look in lieu of a response. Then with a sigh of deep despair, he made his way to the shooting gallery, digging quarters out of his pocket.

Rye hung back with Cora, laughing. “Poor guy.”

“I don’t know what her deal is,” Cora said. “Lately she’s obsessed with him. She thinks he’s got a secret or something. She’s worked up this whole fantasy in her mind.”

Rye watched her talk, once again, only half-listening. “Do you think they’ll hook up?” he asked, just to keep her talking.