“Ryder?”
There he was, just as tall and somehow even sexier than yesterday. His white T-shirt clung to his muscles with a little sweat, and his blue jeans were dusty. A worn Stetson rested on the top of his head. Clearly he’d just come from working hard. Construction maybe? Whatever it was had left white paint marks all over his hands and dirt beneath his nails. Damn, the man was fine, and he smelled like sun, cologne, and hot alpha male.
She wasn’t about to question why fate had brought him back to her—hopefully for a repeat performance of last night—but he, however, didn’t look as happy to see her.
“I’m out of candy,” she said and set the blender down on the counter.
“What?” he asked, then shook his head.
What was the big deal? He looked confused, and she was feeling the same. They’d had one night. Make that one incredible night. But apparently Ryder wasn’t too pleased to see her again. Which made her stomach drop.
Not that she cared or anything…
“Hey, brother. I see you’ve met my new waitress,” Penny said, coming to stand by Whitney and putting the milk next to the blender.
“New waitress?” he said, then hit Whitney with a hard look. “That can’t be right. What are you really doing here?”
“Ryder!” Penny said in a horrified tone. “Quit being so rude. What’s the matter with you?”
Whitney frowned. Why was he so pissy? She hadn’t expected to see him again, not to mention… He was Penny’s brother? Crap! She’d slept with her boss’s brother. But he hadn’t exactly been upfront about who he was.
“What am I doing here?” Whitney challenged. “I could ask you the same thing. You said you weren’t from around here.”
A flash of guilt crossed his face. “I said technically.”
“Ah, so we’re being technical now?” She plugged in the blender, then lifted the lid. Let him try to say something else. She’d flip the switch to on and drown him out—
“Wait,” Penny interrupted. “You two have met?”
“Yep,” Whitney said and started scooping some ice cream in the blender. She didn’t know what the hell she was doing, but she needed to pretend to be busy to keep those steely gray eyes off of her. Wasn’t working—because he was staring daggers, and she felt every sharp edge. Which was stupid since he was the one who left out a little detail. But now she was in jeopardy of losing her job. A job she needed so she could get money and move on.
“So you’re Penny’s brother?” She chanced a glance at him. “Which makes you Ryder Diamond, I take it?”
An annoyed frown slid across his face.
“Hey, man,” came a voice from across the restaurant. It was a tall, dark haired man in a suit, walking toward them.
“Bass,” Ryder acknowledged.
Bass made his way to Penny, leaned over the counter to kiss her, then returned his attention on Ryder. “Candy messaged me. She said you never showed for the date last night.”
Whitney’s brows shot up, and Ryder looked at her with surprise. Click. Everything just clicked.
He hadn’t asked her for candy last night. He’d thought she was Candy.
Shit! Shit, shit, shit.
Ryder put both palms on the edge of the bar and leaned over. “Since you’re so keen on my name,” he growled, “why don’t you try telling me yours? The truth this time.”
“I never lied to you,” Whitney said defensively.
“You said your name was Candy.”
“No, you walked in and asked me for candy.”
“Which you happily gave,” he said in a low rasp.
That voice gave her goose bumps. Yeah, she had happily given up a lot last night. But reality was a bitch, because she’d been stupid enough to think he was calling her “sweetness” because he liked her. Even for a night. Nope, he’d thought she was someone else. Awesome.