Just For Fun Friday.. That's what I'm dubbing today! Mostly because I haven't done a teaser in a while and also because I love Fridays!

Who doesn't??

With a date night to look forward to and several hours of work behind me, I am especially love THIS Friday!

And even though The Rush is a bit of an emotional journey, I thought I would give you a FUN teaser. Since after all today is... Just For Fun Friday!! :)


“Excuse me,” he strong-armed me out of the way, his sharp elbow connecting playfully with my ribs. A jolt of electricity zinged up my spine and a lone butterfly flapped its nervous wings in my stomach. “You know what, Tarryn, why don’t you hold off on the two regulars and just make my Chai. I’m going to stay and eat breakfast with my friend here.”

I whipped back around to face the counter, mouth hanging half ajar at Ryder’s announcement. I was assuming he meant me since there was no one else in the café, unless he meant the elderly couple but then I was pretty sure he would have said “friends.” “We’re not friends,” I defended on instinct, more for his sake than mine.

“Fine,” Ryder agreed never looking at me. “Then I’ll be right over there,” Ryder pointed for Tarryn’s benefit, “with my arch-nemesis.”

My mouth dropped the rest of the way open and I stifled the giggle that was bubbling up inside of me.

“Come on, Dr. Evil,” Ryder called to me, and then took a seat at a secluded table with a view of the street. He had my plate of pastries in front of him and he was busy tearing off the corner of my chocolate croissant.

“Why am I Dr. Evil?” I followed him over, wondering if I had ever really wanted to put up a fight. “I should be Inspector Gadget and you should be Dr. Evil.” I sat down heavily on the chair as if I was being held there against my will and forcefully pulled at the plate so that it was more on my side of the table than his.

“Inspector Gadget?” Ryder’s face clouded in confusion and then cleared just as quickly. “You’re thinking of Dr. Claw. Dr. Evil is from Austin Powers.”

It was my turn to be confused. “I’ve never seen Austin Powers.”

“Are you serious? That’s kind of like a crime against humanity,” Ryder shook his head at me and then reached for my croissant again.

“It’s not a crime against humanity,” I announced obviously.

“It kind of is,” Ryder argued. “I can’t believe you’ve never seen Austin Powers. It’s like your life isn’t even complete right now.

He had no idea.

I rolled my eyes at him and then made room when Tarryn brought over our hot drinks. I took a long sip of my macchiato suddenly realizing what I looked like. I brushed at hairline, pushing back nonexistent frizz. “I think I’ll survive.”

“Well, just to be sure, we can watch it at Pheonix’s tonight. He has the complete set,” Ryder finished decisively. “Really, thinking you’ll survive and knowing you will are two totally different things.”

A thought occurred to me, an ugly, horrible, awful thought and before I could talk myself out of it I had to find out. “Why are you being nice to me?” I blurted out with no tact whatsoever.

Without even a second to digest my question, Ryder answered, “I’m not being nice to you. We’re arguing about a movie.”

I slumped back in my chair, completely dizzy. He was right of course. But arguing also kind of felt like flirting…. not any kind of flirting I had ever done before, not the kind that guaranteed a boyfriend that same day or the kind that would help groom me for my future career.... but still, maybe this was a different kind of flirting altogether? A more normal and safe version. Or maybe Ryder was right; maybe we were just fighting over an obscure movie.

“You look confused,” Ryder noted. He was staring at me over the rim of his Chai Tea. I could smell the strong spices from even over here. I felt my insides melt a little at the picture of Ryder, holding his coffee cup with both of his absurdly masculine hands. I imagined his fingertips calloused from playing his guitar and his palms rough like sandpaper. His gray eyes were depthless silver, intense but playful. His lips twisted to a soft smile. This was Saturday morning Ryder, this was relaxed and playful Ryder and my heart started beating double time on instinct.

Because relaxed Ryder couldn’t be more dangerous.