Page 50 of Always You (A Lilac Bay Novel)

“Sorry,” I said, intentionally raising the eyebrow in question a bit more. “I’ve just never met anyone who actually wanted to live here while working at the hotel for the summer.”

“Who said I’m just there for the summer?” There was something about the way this guy looked at me that had my cheeks heating up. Something about the intense way his eyes were staring into mine, unblinking and warm and full of amusement.

“You want to move here? To Lilac Bay?”

“You’re not doing a very good job being an ambassador for the island,” he pointed out, laughing. “I thought that was supposed to be your thing. Aren’t you the head of the welcome committee for that show?”

Oh. That was where I’d heard his name. The Hillmans had nominated him to be their representative on the island. And now he was chatting me up with those sparkling eyes and that flirty grin. Some coincidence.

“It was nice to meet you,” I said, taking a step backwards. “But I have work to do.”

“Like I said, I want to help.”

“You want to help your boss,” I shot back. “That’s what this is, right? You’re trying to make nice because they want an in with the producer.”

His face clouded. “No. That’s ridiculous.”

“I know they nominated you to be on the committee,” I shot back. “And that they were pissed when they got shot down. So why don’t you go tell them that Jenny will be sure they get their fifteen minutes of fame, okay? No need to send their top employee to flirt with the mayor’s assistant.”

He held up a hand. “Okay, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Uh huh,” I muttered, turning away. “I have to go.”

He called after me but I merely waved over my shoulder as I went to check in on the food tables.

Andrew was standing at the first one, watching me approach.

“Hey,” I began, but he cut me off.

“Who is that guy?”

“Chase something or other,” I said. “He works for the Big Hotel.”

“That’s the guy the Hillmans were trying to get on your committee?” he asked, glaring over my shoulder.

“Yup. And it would appear they don’t give up easily. They sent him to come chat me up, trying to get on my good side.”

“Was he hitting on you?”

I nodded. “Yeah, and doing a pretty good job of it. He could give you a run for your money in the whole smoldering-smirk thing you've got going on.”

Andrew snorted. “Like you would fall for that.”

There was something in his tone I didn’t like. “And what does that mean?”

“Come on, Riley,” he said, finally tearing his eyes away from where Chase stood to look down at me. “A guy like that, flirting with you?”

The thing about being friends with someone for as long as Andrew and I have been friends is that very little is off limits. Especially when that friendship spanned puberty, first kisses, and every subsequent attempt at relationships. Over the years, Andrew and I had developed a very comfortable, teasing kind of friendship—particularly when it came to our interactions with the opposite sex. I ragged him about his man-whoring, and he ragged me about being too busy playing sports and worrying about my sister to bother with dating. I never took anything he said about my love life seriously.

So why did it feel like he had just slapped me?

“You’re an asshole, Andrew.”

His eyes widened. “What did I do?”

“You know, that guy actually flirted with me way before we even found out that we got on the show. So it’s not completely unheard-of, you know. That a cute guy might be interested in me.”

To his credit, Andrew looked aghast. “I didn’t mean that!”