Ryan Hunter (16 page)

The thing with the nice guy, she probably just said that because she knew my dad. Everyone knew Jim Hunter, the vet in this town. No one believed that his son could be any less honorable than him.
Lucky me.

In a conceding gesture, I lifted my hands and told her, “I promise to bring Liza back in one piece…and happy.”

“I’ll take your word for that, young Hunter.” She pointed a manicured nail in my face. “And she’d better be back in her room before one o’clock.”

“Absolutely.”
What a cool mom. She reminded me a lot of my own, and I could totally picture getting acquainted with her as the mother of my girlfriend. There was just one more thing. “Would you mind if we didn’t tell Liza that you found me in here?”
Reading her diary
…

“You still want to
kidnap
her?”

“M-hm.”
I nodded and grinned. “It would make the night a little more adventurous for her. And help her forget.”

Liza’s mom heaved a deep sigh.
“All right. I won’t tell if you don’t tell.” It was adorable how much flak she was taking just to see her daughter smile again. She walked to the door, but before leaving, she cast me a glance back over her shoulder. “It’s because of a boy, right? I guess it’s about Tony?”

Pressing my lips together, I gave a helpless shrug.

“I see. You’re a
good
friend.” She smiled then closed the door silently behind her.

I exhaled a deep, relieved breath and dragged my hands down my face. Shit. That was a close call. I had already seen myself being dragged out the front door by my shirt collar.

Giving up the hope of getting a chance to read more of Liza’s diary, I sat back on her bed and waited the remaining minutes until she came back from her shower, working on my poker face. Unfortunately, I seemed to overdo it.

Her first expression when she saw me still sitting on her bed was one of total mistrust. “You look too innocent. What have you done?” she growled.

“Nothing. I was sitting here since you left and bored the hell out of me,” I lied, taking in the low neckline of her purple T-shirt. It stretched nicely over her boobs and flat stomach, ending half an inch above her dark blue jeans. Holy shit, she looked delicious.

“Why don’t I believe that?”

Giving an innocent shrug, I rose from the bed and nodded at the open window. “Shall we?”

“I guess I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“Nope.” I took her hand and pulled her out of the room over the sill. Holding both her wrists in a tight grip, I lowered her as much as I could without falling headfirst off the roof. There was no chance to put her down on the ground, so when her feet dangled about three feet above the ground, I said, “I’m going to let go now. It’s not a far fall.”

With her eyes on my face, she nodded, not all too happy about my plan.

“On three,” I told her. “One, two, three—” I loosened my grip until she slipped away and landed nicely in her garden, bending her knees and touching the ground for balance. When she straightened and looked all right, I swung on a branch on the tree and made my way down there.

We ducked out of her garden and walked to my car. I wondered if Mrs. Matthews was spying through the window, and it was then that I remembered what Liza had told her
dear diary
about me. So I didn’t only smell good, I smelled
amazing
. And my smile turned her gaga. I looked down at her with a jumpy feeling in my chest. All this information made her startlingly vulnerable to me.

Out on the pavement, Liza sneaked a suspicious side-glance at me. It prompted me to test the theory, so I smirked a little with just one corner of my mouth tilting up and angled my head a little. As if in response, Liza narrowed her eyes at me briefly, but an instant later, her cheeks took on a rosy color, and her lips curved up. She looked away.

Damn, I’d found her trigger. And it was as simple as a smile. If I’d had any idea, I would have smiled more often at her in the past. But then, with her mind set on Mitchell, she might not even have seen it.

I led her to my Audi parked at the other side of the street. A stunned expression settled on Liza’s face as she scanned it from heck to front. “Nice car.”

“Thanks.” The Audi was a babe magnet, so I wasn’t surprised she liked it. “You have your license?”

Her gaze lifted to me.
“Yeah, got it last summer.”

“Want to try her out?”
Since I’d been away for most of the summer, the car was still brand new, and I wouldn’t let anyone drive it. Not even Justin when he begged on his knees. That I offered her the exclusive chance surprised even me. But then, she’d certainly enjoy it, and I really wanted to see her happy again. I figured out that I couldn’t handle her sad eyes.

“Why?”
Liza demanded with a startled laugh.

I shrugged then opened the door on the driver side for her and leaned one arm on it.
“Fun. And distraction.” She looked more than a little skeptical, so I added with a mocking tilt of my brows. “Unless you’re chicken.”

That swayed her. With a broad show-off grin, she planted her butt behind the steering wheel.
“How fast does
she
go?”

I liked how Liza called my baby a
she
like me. “I promise you’ll never find out.” Tossing the keys into her lap, I slammed the door shut and walked to the other side. Being the passenger in my own car was a new experience. One that made me a little uncomfortable—not because I didn’t trust Liza’s driving skills, but because I preferred to be in control of things. Always.

Liza fumbled with the seat, adjusting it to her height, then pushed the button and tipped on the gas to coax out a mighty roar from the engine.

“Think you can handle manual?” I asked.

She didn’t answer but just flashed
a
you-bet
grin at me. Without any trouble, she steered the car out of the lot then started a cozy cruise down the road.

“Is that all you can do?”
I mocked her, casting an exaggerated glance at the speedometer. “This car wasn’t made for strolling. It’s a fucking racing car.”

From her chewing her lips, I could read that she really wanted to try the Audi, but she seemed a little concerned about whatever—tickets, accidents, hitting something.

“You’re thinking too much, Matthews.” I sneered when she cut a glance to my side. “Let go and ball the jack.”

It didn’t take any more convincing. With the engine howling beautifully, I was pressed into the seat. That was fun. And I knew she had some, too, as she raced my baby toward to the beach.

I had her taking a right turn at the ocean. “Have you ever been to Club Tuscany?”

She gave me an appalled look.
“I’m sixteen for another few weeks. Of course not.”

“Ah, right.”
Sometimes she behaved a lot older than that. Sometimes a lot younger…I didn’t care. I’d take her at any age.

“How old are you?”
she wanted to know then.

“Eighteen.”

“Since
when
?”

July first. She’d come to watch Tony at training that day and she hadn’t said happy birthday.
“Last month.”

Her brows furrowed to a line.
“But that’s still not old enough to go clubbing.”

“It is when yo
ur brother-in-law owns the club.” I had never had any trouble getting in. Paul, the bouncer knew me, and Rachel would always cover for me if anyone was snooping around, demanding a license. “Follow that road for another ten miles,” I gave her directions, then scooted a little lower in the seat and pulled my cap deeper down my face. She handled my car quite well on her own, and there was no need for me to watch like a driving instructor. In fact, it was pretty cool to have a chauffeur for once. It gave me time to study her delicate hand on the gearshift while thinking about her diary confessions. So, she liked it when I touched her. What else did she like about me? I should have pocketed that damn diary and read every little bit she’d said about me in there. It was too damn tempting to know.

A quarter of an hour later, we reached the outskirts of San Luis, and I directed to her to big building with the dark red façade, that had spelled
Club Tuscany in huge beaming letters across the second floor level.

Liza cut the engine and climbed out. When I walked around the car, Paul had her already captured with his most intimidating glare.
“You need to wait till you turn twenty-one to get in, sweetness,” he said and made her back off immediately.

“Hi, Paul.
She’s with me,” I told him and tucked Liza under my arm, realizing with a start how very well she fit in there. “Is Rachel in tonight?”

“Hey, Ryan.
Didn’t know you were coming,” Paul answered and pulled down the evil bounder masquerade, replacing it with a welcoming expression. “Rachel won’t be in until later, but Philip’s here.”

“Cool.”
We bumped fists, then he opened the door for us, and I dragged a shy Liza with me.

“Is Rachel your sister?” she whispered.

I resorted to my normal voice when I told her, “Yeah. Philip is her husband. He’s cool. You will like him.”

As the stomping beat grew louder the farther we walked down the windowless aisle that was dimly lit by neon bars, Liza pulled on my arm and stopped me.
“I don’t think I should be here,” she whined. “On second thought, you shouldn’t be here either.”

“You worry too much.
” I pulled her on, giving her no chance to back out. “I’m here almost every weekend. Everyone knows me. And no one will bother us.”

I pushed the thick metal door in front of us open. A cloud of dry smoke and sweat immediately stabbed us in the face. The strobe light made focusing impossible, but I knew my way around here and maneuvered us through the bumping and grinding crowd of clubbers.
“C’mon, let’s dance.”

The word
dance
shifted down a gear in Liza’s pace, but I came here for a reason, and feeling her body close to mine was definitely one of the most important. Holding her hand tight, I dragged her along onto the middle of the dance floor, then I turned her around and pressed her against me. Her skin and hair were the only things smelling good in this place, and I dragged in a deep breath when I lowered my head to hers. “Loosen up, Matthews. You’re supposed to have fun.” Giving her a soft push, I twirled her under my arm, then caught her again, and pressed my lips to her ear. “Or at least look like you do.”

Liza laughed, but I could also feel her shivering slightly every time I hugged her tight against my chest. Mmm, it was just the way I wanted her to react to me. Spinning her around, I caught her with her back to my front, running my palm from just underneath her breasts down over her stomach until my hand lay splayed over the small strip of naked skin on her belly. With gentle moves, I made her roll her body with mine to the music.

“What are you doing?” she shouted over her shoulder between hiccups of shy laughter.

Nuzzling her temple, I said in her ear,
“Distracting you.” I moved her again and loved how her body rubbed against mine, making me go wild for her.

It was probably a good thing that Phil came in at that minute and motioned for me to come over as our gazes caught across the room, because otherwise I might just have dragged Liza back out into my car to fucking make out with her for the rest of the night.

Liza smoothed her clothes, that had turned into a mess from my holding her, as we headed over to the oblong bar where Phil served some drinks to a couple of patrons. When they left, he grabbed two cans of Coke from the fridge and placed them in front of Liza and me. Since there were no speakers above the bar, we could talk in an almost normal volume back here.

“Phil—Liza,” I introduced them. “Liza, this is Phil, my older sister’s husband.”

Liza shook hands with him then guzzled down what seemed to be three quarters of the Coke on one go. I helped her onto one of the high, leather bar stools and took a casual stance between her legs, turned to face the bar.

Phil knew that whoever I brought with me to this club wasn’t my girlfriend, so he asked, “You know each other from school?”

“Sort of. We play soccer together now,” I told him. “New co-ed team.”

“Really?
That’s cool.” He turned an interested face to Liza and pulled his shoulder length hair into a pony tail. “Do you like it?”

“Yeah, it’s great. Love the training.”

What did she just say? Slowly to make an impact, I turned toward her, raising one brow.

“What?”
she mouthed, returning my look with an irritated one of her own.

Our gazes locked for the length of a heartbeat,
then I tucked her soft strands behind her ear and leaned closer. “I still have the text where you say you’re done with soccer,
Liza.”

I realized how she swallowed at my taunt. But then she
leaned back just a little and looked me sternly in the eye. “Did you really not know my name before I sent you that message?”