Page 57 of Always You (A Lilac Bay Novel)

“I need a bathroom break,” Jenny said. “Wanna come?”

“Sure.” It would be nice to splash some cold water on my face. Of course, once we got up from the table, I was immediately swarmed by people wanting details on the show. “Make sure you vote,” I kept repeating. “Tell your friends, tell family off-island, tell everyone you can.” Jenny tried to stay with me but I waved her ahead. “I’ll catch up with you back at the table.”

It took a good ten minutes for me to get through the crowd and reach the hallway to the restrooms. And once I got there, my path was blocked again.

“Hey,” Chase said, his entire face lighting up at the sight of me. “I was hoping I might run into you.”

I glanced over his shoulder at the St. Pauli Girl clock in the hallway. “Isn’t it a little bit late to catch the ferry back to the mainland?”

He shook his head, still smiling.Riley James, don’t you dare let yourself be affected by that smile.“I told you,” he said. “I’m staying on the island.”

Hmm. I had been sure that was just a line.

“Look,” he said, leaning down a little bit to better see into my face. And if you think for a second that I wasn’t really into the fact that he was so much taller than me, you obviously aren’t a five-foot-ten woman. “I think you have the wrong idea about me. I asked around at work and heard about the Hillmans nominating me for that committee. I didn’t know a thing about it.”

Of course it would have to be nearly as crowded in this hallway as it was out in the dining room. No room to take a step back, to escape from the straight-up heavenly scent of his cologne. Something dark and musky, maybe sandalwood? It was delicious. Most of the guys around here—well, Andrew, anyhow—stuck to Ivory soap and Old Spice and called it a day.

He was watching me closely and I realized, belatedly, that he was waiting for an answer. While I was busy smelling him.

“Look,” I said quickly. “It’s not that I think you’re lying or something. But you work for people who are heavily invested in using my position to get on TV.”

“But I don’t care about any of that,” he said. “I don’t want to be on TV.”

You should be on TV, I thought, my eyes drifting down to the faint shadow of stubble on his chin. Something about that stubble was really working for me—maybe it was the contrast between the roughness and the rest of his perfectly polished look. Either way, this was a guy that could be on TV. Hell, he could be in movies. And that voice didn’t hurt, either. That voice that sounded like rough velvet and—shit, he was talking again. I dragged my eyes away from the highly appealing stubble and forced myself to meet his eyes. Which didn’t really help much, because they were every bit as gorgeous as the rest of him. Gorgeous and focused on me.

“—think it would be nice to get together and talk, that’s all,” he was saying.

“I really don’t have time right now,” I said. “I’m crazy busy with this whole project.”

“I get that.” The look of disappointment on his face made my stomach flip. Either this guy was a fantastic actor, or he really liked me. Suddenly he smiled. “Well, you have to eat, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re not too busy to eat. I saw you eating a burger just an hour ago.” He’d been watching me? His smile grew. “Let’s eat together.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re pretty persuasive?”

He laughed. “I’m actually usually pretty shy.” Somehow, I had a hard time believing that. Guys who looked like him weren’t usually known for shyness. I had first-hand experience in dealing with the ego of the guy all the girls wanted. “But here’s the thing.” He leaned in a little closer, and my heart immediately jumped into my throat. “I keep seeing you, Riley. Ever since that baseball game, I see you. Everywhere I go in town. You’re impossible to miss.”

“It’s because I’m so tall,” I murmured stupidly. But that’s what happens when a Jonathan Rhys-Myers look-alike gets all up close and personal. You get stupid.

Chase’s eyes crinkled up around the corners. Awesome. He wasn’t just gorgeous, he was adorable, too. “I don’t think that’s why. But I think I would be pretty stupid not to try to get you to notice me back.”

“I notice you,” I breathed out.

“Then have dinner with me. Tomorrow. Anywhere you want.”

“Sure.” The word was out of my mouth before he’d even finished inviting. Maybe that made me stupid. Maybe I should have stuck with my initial instinct that this guy was trying to get close to the show. But I didn’t have a will of steel. A gorgeous man was asking me out. And I hadn’t been out with anyone in ages. Like I was going to hold out for much longer.

“Great,” he said, straightening up, his eyes doing that crinkling thing again. “Can I call you in the morning?”

He held out his phone and I took it, entering my number. “That would be good.”

I practically floated back to the table, the scent of his cologne somehow seeming to follow me. I couldn’t wait to tell Libby and Jenny this. I would have to wait for Andrew to find his inevitable hook-up before I brought it up, though. I wasn’t in the mood for him to pour cold water over my date.

When I got to the table, I saw that Andrew wouldn’t be a problem. His chair was empty.

“Where’d Andrew go?”