Relief hit him first, followed closely by confusion. At the sight of a man making his way around the SUV Emmie had just gotten out of, another emotion hit: jealousy. That last one was particularly unnerving. Why should he care that Emmie was with another man. For that matter, this other man could be her brother or a cousin. Maybe he was her gay best friend from college come to make sure she was doing all right in her new town. It was totally plausible.

Emmie cleared her throat and he looked away from the strange man to her, just then realizing he'd placed his hands on Emmie's shoulders. Before he could say anything to her, Trisha came running out of the diner. "Emmie, we were worried about you!"

Emmie glanced back and forth between Ryker and his sister. "Worried?"

Ryker slipped his hands off of Emmie and into his pockets, trying to make the gesture seem as natural as possible. "Trisha went to pick you up this morning, but you weren't home. She thought something might have happened to you, so she called me."

She looked at him, an amused twinkle in her eyes. "So you came running?"

"Well, I..." He sized up the man Emmie was with, imagining women would think him handsome, he supposed, in a cop sort of way. "Who's this?"

Emmie paused. "This is Sam. He's... an old friend. Sam, this is Ryker. His grandmother owns this restaurant. And Trisha helps run it. Trisha, I'm so sorry. I totally forgot you were picking me up!"

Trish was already shaking her head, everything forgiven. "I'm just glad you're okay. I don't know why I overreacted, it's just..." She glanced at Ryker and then did her own evaluating stare at the tall man standing next to Emmie. "Well, we can talk about it later. Ryker, I apologize for calling you so early. Emmie, I'll see you inside."

With that, his sister rushed back into the restaurant, her face flushed with uncharacteristic embarrassment.

"Emmie, could I talked to you for a minute?" Emmie nodded, but Sam made no motion to move away from her side. "I mean... could I talk to you alone?"

Sam raised an eyebrow and turned to Emmie. She shooed him away. "Go on in and get yourself a coffee. I'll be right there."

Sam hesitated, glaring at Ryker with narrowed eyes. After a second, his expression turned conciliatory, his lips turning up in what Ryker imagined was meant to be a lighthearted smile. "All right, I'll be inside. Right inside."

What was this guy's deal?

Ryker kept his face passive as Sam pushed open the door and, as it swooped closed behind him, he was finally alone with Emmie. He couldn't help but recall the last time they were alone—was it only twelve or so hours ago?

He leaned against the railing leading up the wheelchair accessible ramp he'd helped Iola install a few years ago. "So... no wonder you wanted me to leave so quickly."

Emmie crossed her arms in front of her. "Excuse me?"

"Your old friend, Sam... was he on his way over when you tossed me out of your place yesterday?"

He regretted the harshness in his words as soon as they were out of her mouth. They did not go over well with her.

"First of all, I didn't toss you out, you left of your own free will. Second... no. You know what? There is no second. Sam's comings and goings are none of your business. Hell, maybe Sam brought a couple of friends with him and we all went at it. I have a right to do what I want with my body. I exercised that right with you, did I not? If I choose to do the same with another man, or men, I have exactly zero fucks to give as to whether that bothers you or not. Do you know why?"

"I think I should probably stay quiet now."

"Because you and I have a no entanglement clause. That means we get to exercise our bodies together, however we see fit, and then we both get to go off and live our lives without judgement or attachment or weird jealous rages. I believed you to be capable of this. Was I wrong?"

"Wait, you just spoke about our agreement in the present tense. Does this mean you'll have sex with me again? I thought it was a onetime deal."

Emmie uncrossed her arms, crossed them again. "Answer my question. Are you capable of maintaining the non-entanglement agreement we came to yesterday?"

Ryker took a step towards her, hoping that Sam might be able to spot them through the diner's shaded windows. He grabbed her waist. "You're so no-nonsense. I like it."

Emmie bit her lip, straining to keep a straight face. "Just answer the question."

He pressed her hips to his. "Yes, I am capable of our sex-only arrangement provided you add the clause to our entanglement clause stating that our one-night stand has now been extended to an unspecified number of nights and/or days in which both claimants wish to extend their contract."

"I hope you have a good lawyer looking over all of your company's legal matters because not all of that made--"

Ryker stilled her words with a kiss, then pulled away from her surprised face, grinning. "I think we have a deal. And when I say "deal" I hope you know that it includes the pizza that I'm bringing over to your place tonight."

"Well, I..."

"Please say you like pizza. I'm not sure if I can go through with this arrangement of ours if you don't."

"Is it deep-dish?"

"Is it... what? No, it's just pizza, regular pizza."

"That's disappointing. Deep-dish is my favorite."

Curious. He couldn't help but wonder again where she was from. Deep-dish pizza wasn't exactly common place in the Pacific Northwest. "You've never had Marty's. He's been throwing pies for almost thirty years. He's got this one that's topped with clams and--"

"I'm sorry, did you say clams? I thought it was just 'regular pizza.'"

"It is around here."

"Well, I guess when in Rome..." She laughed. "I'll see you at six. But tell Marty to go light on the mollusks, okay?"

Eying the door, Emmie took a step away from him. She was already late for work and now he was making her even later. It's not like Trish would fire her. But maybe she didn't realize that.

"I'll let you get to work. See you tonight."

He turned and walked back to his car at a brisk pace, refusing to look back in her direction. Somehow, she had the upper hand here. She'd gone missing for five minutes and he'd come running. And he'd let on to the fact that he'd pretty much agree to whatever she wanted in order to spend another night—and hopefully nights, in her bed. The most disturbing thing was... he wasn't sure if he minded her having the upper hand.

Something must be wrong with him. He hadn't let a woman have precedence in his life since Carin and he wasn't about to begin now. Maybe it was the fact that Emmie's insistence on keeping things physical made her seem safe.

That smile of hers, though... there was nothing safe about it. He'd have to guard himself against her charms with the vigilance of a bear protecting its cubs. As long as they both stuck to their agreement, he had nothing to lose. So, for today, he would focus on a different mission: convincing Marty to put a deep-dish pizza on his menu.

A/N: A little background: Chicago deep-dish pizza, for those of you who don't know, is a really big thing in the Midwest. Emmie was inadvertently giving Ryker a clue as to her origins when she brought up deep-dish. I'm not saying you can't get that style of pizza in the Pacific Northwest, but it's not common. I am from Milwaukee originally and now live in Washington State. I have never had clam pizza, however. Someone tell me if it's good or not! I do prefer a thin, crispy crust, though. 

So, Sam and Ryker meet. It could have gone worse, right? Is Ryker really jealous? What will Sam think of him? Will Sam go away and not come back or is he going to stick around? Thoughts?

Today, votes will be collected to buy Emmie the mollusk-free deep-dish pizza of her dreams. Perhaps it will sooth her homesickness a bit...

My dedication today is for jennijames2 who came through with many great choices of actresses to play Emmie. Thank you, Jenni!