Chapter 20
20
EMBER
I’m walking across the main park of Crystal River, away from the fire station and that tall, muscular, stoic man who refuses to properly speak to me, when my phone buzzes with an incoming call. I pass the children’s playground in the park and pick up the phone.
I can immediately tell from the high-pitched hello that it’s Paisley from back home. She’s after the gossip, presumably. I’ve not heard from her since I’ve arrived.
“How’s the town, Ember?” the big-shot lawyer asks, breezing over her greeting.
“Small.”
“Oh, I’m betting you don’t like that. Not a bit.”
I chortle.
“It’s not in my top ten must-see destinations, that’s for sure, but it is kinda cute,” I reply, sitting down on a nearby bench that faces the playground. “ Very small town American.”
“So it’s not New York City?”
“Nope. There are considerably fewer subway systems here.”
My friend snorts.
“How’s this guy you’re having to talk to?” she asks me. “How’s the big bad Penmayne?”
I groan.
“It’s like trying to talk to a brick wall.”
“That bad, huh?”
“That bad. But I’m working on him. Using my magic.”
I watch as children play on a swing. It’s so quiet here. Deafeningly so. I’m used to traffic and car horns and strangers yelling, not this small town silence.
“I’m sure you’ll crack the code eventually, Ember,” Paisley remarks. “That’s what you do. You’re good at breaking down hard interview subjects.”
“Yeah, that’s what I do, but this guy is proving a real challenge.”
“And are there any good men in town? Does anyone catch your eye? Anything to write home about?”
She’s straight to it...
“Not in a million years, Paisley,” I say glumly. “There’s nothing interesting here. Nothing to see... no interesting men at all.”
But that’s a lie, and I know it. As I deny her interrogation, a thought appears in my head. It’s Connor Penmayne. He forms sharply, fully formed, in front of me. Clear as freaking day.
Nope. Nope. Nope.
I don’t want to think of him, especially not as an interesting man , but I can’t help myself.
Oh, no.
“Good luck with your impossible man,” Paisley says, breaking my concentration. “And good luck with the dating field out there. It’s probably tougher than back here.”
“Thanks.”
“Let me know when you’re done and when you get the hell out of there. We’ll go downtown together. We’ll get some drinks, get wildly drunk, and put the world to rights.”
“Oh, I can’t wait for that day, Paisley.”
My friend hangs up and I’m left to watch the kids playing in the park while my head spins. That phone call has only solidified what I’ve been fearing.
I lied to her.
There is most certainly a man here who’s starting to pique my interest. Against all the odds.
It’s not just a professional curiosity that I’m interested in Connor Penmayne, this is something... more . I can’t deny it.
I’m a logical gal – I don’t believe emotions can just get in the way of my work. Surely not.
But that’s what is happening to me. Something totally unexpected and unexplainable.
I’m going crazy over a Penmayne. Boy, oh boy.
Over a man who so clearly hates me with every atom in his lovely, tall, well-framed, perfect, rough body...
I bury my face in my hands.
What is happening to me?