“Are you serious?” she joked with a smile. “You’re checking out my boobs?”
Ryan shrugged. “You put them out there.”
Piper rolled her eyes. “I sleep in this, you moron. Besides, you’ve seen way better racks on the hoochie mamas that chase you all over the circuit. There’s not a lot here to see.”
“Listen, I’m a guy,” he countered. “You should be worried if you’d walked in here like that and I didn’t stare. Boobs are boobs and we want to see them all.”
“Yes, I know. Any hint of skin around the chest area and you guys instantly quit blinking and your mouths fall open.”
Grinning, Ryan took the ice pack she held out. “We only do that with attractive women.”
“Oh, please.” She laughed. “Besides, Ryan, we’re best friends. I’m like one of the guys.”
“Not from where I’m standing. You’re all woman.”
With no effort on his part, his tone had changed. His voice had deepened, his smile had faded. Yeah, he wasn’t kidding about her not being just one of the guys. Yes, she’d grown up around cowboys and now worked with mostly men, but she was far from a guy and all that silk and lace hanging to dry in her guest bath proved his point.
“You’ve seen me in a swimsuit,” she reminded him, her voice softer. “It’s not a big deal.”
He couldn’t stop his eyes from roaming over her bare skin and that valley between her breasts. When he met her gaze again, he didn’t see desire as he’d hoped, he saw uncertainty.
“You must’ve really hit your head,” she joked. “You’ve never talked like this before or looked at me like...like...”
“Like what?” he murmured.
“Like you want me.”
“I know exactly what I’m saying and what I want, Piper.” He purposely let his eyes drop to her mouth as he slid his hand up and over her bare shoulder. “You know how special you are in my life and how much I value our friendship.”
“Then why are you looking at me like you want to kiss me?” she whispered.
“Because I do.”
She didn’t back away, but her body froze beneath his touch. The dead last thing he wanted to do was to scare her or to make her uncomfortable. Unfortunately he’d managed to do both.
His plan of seduction needed a bit more work. He wasn’t used to being the one chasing. If he didn’t botch it, this could be interesting.
Ryan dropped his arm and eased back into his propped-up pillows. “Thanks for the pills and the ice.”
Her brows pulled together. “So you get all worked up and then...nothing?”
Shrugging, Ryan grinned. “I’ve been worked up before, Red. Now get out of here before I take what I really want.”
Deep green eyes widened, but she just nodded as she came to her feet. “Good night, Ryan. I’ll be in periodically to check on you.”
He swallowed, afraid that if he opened his mouth, he’d beg her to stay, to crawl beneath the sheets with him and see just how far they could push their friendship.
But in the end he watched her go, and waited for the door to click shut before he groaned out his frustration.
Thank God his injuries weren’t worse. There was no way he could stay here long term and not want to try his hand at playing house with his very sexy, very intriguing best friend.
And he’d been scared that retirement would be boring.
* * *
Mercy. Someone had beaten him with a two-by-four...or his car had flipped and pinned him. Either way, Ryan nearly whimpered when he crawled—yes, crawled—out of bed the next morning.
He’d been thrown from a horse countless times. But normally he’d soaked in a tub of hot water and have a nice rub-down after to help ease the pain that would inevitably set in.
But asking Piper for a rub-down last night would’ve only ended one way...with all their clothes off.
Padding down the hallway toward the kitchen, Ryan rounded the corner. At the small kitchen table, Piper sat with papers spread around her and her hand holding her forehead up while her other hand scribbled something. A tall oscillating fan sat in the corner, rotating back and forth to stir the air.
“Piper?”
She jerked, dropped the pencil and sent it rolling off onto the tile. “Ryan? You okay? I didn’t expect you up this early.”
Her eyes ventured down his body, heating him even more. Okay, if she didn’t keep her eyes up, she was really going to get a sight. He was barely holding it together as it was, considering she sat there in that damn flimsy pale blue tank. The outline of her nipples mocked him just as it had last night.
“I couldn’t sleep, but I’m usually up early anyway.”
“I know you cowboys are notorious for being early risers, but I was hoping you’d rest a bit more.”
Piper came to her feet and damn that silky outfit looked just as sexy this morning—more so since it was all rumpled against her body...not to mention how sexy that satin looked lying against dewy skin. Yeah, the heat was taking its toll and he was reaping the benefits.
The curves of her perfectly shaped bottom taunted him. Ryan flexed his hands at his sides and called on his every last ounce of willpower.
She bent to retrieve the pencil and the top gaped just enough to give him even more to fantasize about. He looked away because, God help him, if he kept looking at her he was going to forget she was doing a good deed for him and totally swipe those damn papers off her table and lay her down and...
“Are you in a lot of pain?” she asked.
“Yeah.” His tone sounded like sandpaper, but he couldn’t even get enough saliva to swallow. “All over.”
She tossed the pencil onto her pile of papers and moved across the room to open a small cabinet. She removed a bottle and popped the lid, shaking out three pills.
“Let me get you some water.” She handed him the medicine and pulled a bottle of water from the fridge. “You probably need to keep some ice on those ribs, too.”
While she busied herself getting his ice pack, he watched her turn into a paramedic right in front of his eyes. She was always putting others’ needs first and it was apparent he’d interrupted something she was working on.
“What are all the papers?” he asked, nodded to the mess on the table.
Piper moved to his bare side and gently applied the pack. “Oh, it’s nothing. Just the glamorous spreadsheets my life has been condensed to.”
“What the hell do you need a spreadsheet for?” he asked, walking over to take a glance.
“I like organization,” she explained. “I can’t focus on my renovations and the budget if I don’t have it laid out right in front of me.”
Ryan fingered through a few sheets before he turned back to her. “I’ve told you I will gladly foot the bill for someone to come in and finish this. You don’t have to drag out the process of fixing up your house.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, Piper lifted her chin. “Are we seriously going to get into that again? I know you have a concussion, but surely you recall me not only saying no to your first offer, but hell no.”
Ryan propped his hands on his hips, a little more than pleased when Piper’s eyes drifted down. She quickly brought them back up to meet his gaze, but she’d looked enough to puff up his ego where she was concerned.