Page 20 of Falling for Mr. Wright

He helped her out of her coat. “I might have had a bit of a jock reputation before I started dating Melanie.”

Sarah couldn’t help but laugh. She could easily imagine Ryan breaking the hearts of girls everywhere. “Ohreally,” she teased. “And these ladies refer to your having sex with them as a Fifth-Quarter Experience?”

He shrugged, flashing her a lopsided grin. “What can I say? Teenage hormones.” He nodded toward Lizzie. “Now you’ve met—”

Sarah pounced on his words before he could finish. “Did you give her a Fifth-Quarter Experience?”

“God no. I was going to say now you’ve met my ex’s cousin.” He gave her a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Probably why she was so curious about you.”

Sarah recognized the vulnerability in his words and another surge of protectiveness washed over her. Petty high school crap. “You know, now that Logan’s not here to ruin it, we could have actuallybeena fake couple like in all those romance novels.”

“Want to? It’s not too late,” he said, waggling his eyebrows.

A vision of them walking hand in hand across the foyer, her laughing casually at something he’d said, hit her like a semitruck.

“Yes,” she blurted out before she could stop herself. She straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. “I mean…if it helps you get through this night, I’m willing to do whatever you need.”

Whatever you need?God, she really needed to stop talking.

“I don’t know…” He draped her coat over his arm, not quite meeting her eyes. “I’m not good at faking things. Let’s stick to the mysterious, hot office colleague.”

“Okay,” she said, relieved, but inexplicably disappointed. What was wrong with her?

And then she processed what he said.

“Wait. I thought I was only mysterious and alluring. Now I’m hot?”

Ryan turned red. “Um…I mean…”

So, she wasn’t the only one embarrassed. “I’m kidding, Ryan.” Sort of.

“Right.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll go check us in and get our name tags.”

Over at the registration area, Lizzie chatted with several other women dressed in similar black cocktail dresses. That small feeling crept back in, but Sarah immediately squashed it and stood straight in her high heels. Tonight, she’d be the sophisticated, cosmopolitan woman she’d become. A woman who could easily be on Ryan’s arm, even if he preferred to keep things professional.

Ryan came up beside her. “Having second thoughts?”

“Not at all.” She reached out and straightened the name badge he had put on himself, unable to hold back laughter when she saw the picture.

“Ryan, you were so…”

He brought his head down, covering his picture with his finger. “Dorky.”

“No. Not at all.” She moved his hand away. From what she could tell from the black-and-white thumbnail photo, Ryan had been a seventeen-year-oldhottie, his hair a little longer than it was now, and combed to the side. She nodded toward Lizzie and her friends. “I bet you broke a few hearts over there.”

“Doubt it.” His smile widened. “I have something for you.” He handed Sarah her name tag and then another badge like his.

“What is this?” Her eyes widened when she recognized the face. “Oh…my…God. Look at Logan’s hair. Are his bangs feathered?”

“Yep.”

She slid Logan’s name badge into her clutch. She’d have a blast teasing him when she got back to the office. “Wow. Not what I’d expected.”

Her gaze darted back up to Ryan’s badge.

No, not what she’d expected at all.

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