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He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. Then his shoulders slumped as he exhaled. He looked tired and worn as he met my gaze. “If you’re seriously going to date Stangman, I think you need a little warning.”

I lifted an eyebrow and folded my arms over my chest. “Oh, really? Please do enlighten me. I’d just love to hear what kind of warning you have for me about your best friend.”

He let another draining breath out of his lungs. “Look, I don’t want to offend you or anything.”

My back stiffened, and I tensed, bracing for the offending to start.

“But Todd is…” When his voice trailed off, he shifted uncomfortably and looked away.

I lifted my eyebrows. “Todd is…what?”

“He’s…he’s very competitive, okay,” Ryder said, eyeing me intently. “With me especially.”

I shook my head, totally lost. “I’m not following you.”

He growled quietly as if he was irritated he had to explain. “He just loves the fact that you—the only girl to ever totally blow me off—didn’t blow him off. He’s going to keep hanging around you for as long as he thinks it’ll bother me. I’m sorry I put you in this position, but you certainly don’t have to lie down and let him use you, you know.”

My mouth dropped open. Offended? He thought I’d be offended? Well, I wasn’t. I was downright humiliated, because a small part of me actually believed his answer really was the only reason a boy would act interested in me.

“So, you’re saying he doesn’t like me at all and is only giving me attention to get your goat?” I cracked out a dry, sarcastic laugh. “Gee, thanks a lot. That makes me feel so much better. Why, I’m not offended at all.”

“Grace, I’m not trying to insult you.”

“Well, oops. You failed.”

“I’m serious here. He’s not some nice, shy geek boy you’re used to at Hillsburg. He expects you to…” Lifting both hands as if surrendering, he muttered, “Look, just be careful, all right. Don’t let him pressure you where you don’t want to be pressured.”

I had no intention of letting anyone pressure me. Ever. Except, oh, boy, I had just let Todd totally talk me into

giving him a chance; I had even agreed to see him again on Friday.

Ugh.

Ryder sent me a knowing look, as if he could read every thought in my head. “He’s a player.” His quiet voice echoed through my head. “He knows how to talk his way into making people do what they normally would never do. He knows how to find weaknesses, especially in kind-hearted people, and use their own compassion against them.”

Feeling doomed, like I’d fallen into a hole I couldn’t climb out of, I had a bad sense Ryder was right. I could see Todd being a sneaky, conniving worker exactly as he described.

But just as soon as the dread filled me, so did the anger.

“You know what I think?” I growled. “I think you’re the competitive one. I think you’re going behind his back and planting seeds of doubts in my head, so I’ll believe he doesn’t really like me. You already told me you hate the idea of me kissing your best friend. You probably think if you can’t have me, then neither should he. Well, you know what? I think you’re a total jerk, playing him like this.”

Determined to flounce off and end the conversation for good, I turned away.

But the louse called after me, “You’re not the kind of girl he usually dates.”

Unable to let that go, I spun back. “So, what kind of girl am I? The kind you usually date?”

Where this boldness came from, I’m not sure. I’ve been known to have occasional spurts of bravery, but this plucky gust was lasting especially long for me. Maybe that was because I felt like I could totally be myself around Ryder, even though he turned all my sensory glands to hypersensitive whenever he was near.

Who knows, really? I simply went with it and stepped closer, my eyes daring him to contradict me.

He didn’t respond except to give me a look that had my heart doing somersaults. I wanted to escape. But dear Lord, was Ryder Yates trying to tell me I really was the type of girl he liked?

No way.

Up to that point, all his attention toward me had felt like one big spoof. Someone had to be playing a joke. No way deep inside me did I honestly believe he was truly that interested. But from the way he looked into my eyes at that very moment, I began to wonder—really wonder. Was I wrong?

Every follicle of hair on my head stood at attention, excited about the very prospect. Crazy. This was absolutely insane.