“Why do people think we’re a couple?” she asked.

“You sleep in my house and work at my cafe, ergo, we’re a couple. People in Lyntacky like things all tied up neat. Ryder is single, but he shouldn’t be. Therefore, he now isn’t. Also—and these are just my thoughts—I’m fairly sure they just enjoy annoying the shit out of me.”

“That’s just messed up.”

“And then some,” he added.

“Where are we going?” Libby asked, realizing they weren’t driving down the main street to his house.

“It’s dinner at Mom’s tonight,” Ryder said.

“What?” Libby never shrieked and was always calm. She wasn’t calm now. The RV, the kiss—it was all messing with her sanity. “I-I can’t go to your mother’s house. I’m not clean, and I don’t have anything with me to give her.” She could hear the panic in her voice.

“Clean?” He took his eyes briefly off the road to look her over. “You don’t smell, and I can’t see any dirt.”

“I am still wearing my working clothes, Ryder.”

“Okay.”

“Turn around. I need flowers and wine. In fact, you know what, just drop me at your place. I won’t leave, I promise.” Family dinner was not something she wanted to be part of.

“Mom invited you, and she’s an excellent cook.” Ryder sounded amused. “She won’t expect you to bring anything. That’s my Uncle Asher’s house,” he added, pointing out the window. “Brody, Phoebe, and Ally live further along, and Sawyer at the end of this road with Birdie. And this is the place I grew up in.”

Libby studied the big house. She’d grown up in the city where there was noise and exhaust fumes. What would it be like to grow up here surrounded by nature?

“Let’s go.”

“Ryder, can’t I just go back to your place? I promise I’ll stay there, at least until tomorrow.”

“I didn’t take the girl who walked out on her loser ex-fiancé and slept in her car and was game to stay in that moldy RV with a leaking roof and no insulation as a coward.”

“Ryder.” Libby sighed, and it came from the soles of her feet. “My life is out of control right now, and it’s never been like that. In fact, I usually have my day planned from the minute I open my eyes to the minute I shut them.”

“Not spontaneous, then?”

“I need control, and I don’t have that here, now.”

“Okay, so how about you get out, and then tell me to do the same, and then we’re going inside to eat my mom’s amazing honey-garlic chicken. It’s been cooking all day.” He got out, and she watched his long strides carry him around the hood to her door. He then opened it.

“I already owe you so much. I thought staying in the RV was the right thing to do, considering Sydney Jane.”

“Again, not my girlfriend,” he said. “Come on, Libby, hurry it along, or my brothers will eat everything, and you really don’t want to see me hangry.”

“What kind of martial arts do you do?” Why she needed to know that right then, Libby wasn’t sure, but she said the words anyway.

Ryder braced his hands on the roof and leaned in. “Judo.” How did you know I do martial arts?”

“I saw you. Delores told me where to find Dr. Hannah because maybe she had a room for me, and I saw you in that hall in your gi.”

He was so close now, and she felt that tension simmer between them again, but it was stronger because of the kiss they’d just shared. This man could be dangerous, Libby thought, if she were not running from her wedding and had vowed never to look at a man again until she had her head on straight.

“You didn’t want to stay?” He leaned in closer, smiling.

She shook her head.

“What kind of martial arts do you do, Libby Gulliver?”

“Not me, my brother, and I was forced to watch him perform.” Their faces were close, and she saw a small scar in the middle of his forehead. “Why did you think I did martial arts?”