Chapter 20 #2
Mac sighed. “Hey, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be giving you a hard time.” She reached out and patted his arm. “It’s none of my business. If you’re happy, and she’s happy, then it’s your business. Don’t listen to me. I mean, I’m hardly the authority on relationships, am I?”
Riley couldn’t argue. As long as he’d known her, Mackenzie hadn’t dated anyone—at least, not seriously.
So either she was somehow carrying on torrid affairs out of the eye of the Sweetbriar Cove town gossips, or she’d been single all this time.
Which didn’t seem right for someone so warm and beautiful.
“No guys on the scene with you?” he asked.
Mackenzie snorted. “Not the last time I checked. If you see them lining up in the wrong place, let me know.”
She was kidding, but Riley thought he heard a wistful note in her voice.
Still, he didn’t press her. It wasn’t his place, and lord knew he wasn’t the man for a heart-to-heart about true love—not when he couldn’t even give her a straight answer about what was keeping him from having a real relationship.
Instead, he pulled up outside Poppy’s and Cooper’s beach house: the location for the big summer barbecue that night.
There was already festive ticker tape wound around the front porch railings, and the door was open, so Riley set about hoisting the crates of booze out of the truck, while Mackenzie went on ahead.
“Hello?” he called, stepping into the cool hallway.
“We’re in back!” the answer came.
He headed through the house to the back deck, where it looked like the entire contents of the local discount warehouse were stacked by the grill.
“We went a little overboard,” Poppy greeted him with a hug. “But Cooper swears you’ll all eat your body weight in hamburgers.”
“It’s true.” Riley set the crate down in a shady spot and looked around.
They had a gorgeous property that Cooper had restored himself, right on the beach with a full panoramic view that almost rivaled his boat.
Almost. “Mayor Keller underestimated the crowd at his Fourth of July bash last year,” he added, teasing.
“There was a riot when they ran out of hotdogs. You know, we haven’t seen his German Shepard since . . .”
Poppy laughed. “Don’t even joke about it! It’s my first time hosting a town event,” she added with a bashful smile. “I just want it to go smoothly.”
“Everything looks great here,” he reassured her. Mackenzie was setting up folding picnic tables down on the sand, and he could see Cooper prepping for a bonfire, too. “Besides, this is Sweetbriar Cove. As long as you have beer and burgers, you can’t fail.”
As the sun set over the ocean, Riley’s prediction was right: practically the whole town came out for the barbecue. Music echoed across the sand, kids ran riot, smeared with ice cream, and everyone was having a great time . . . except Riley.
Brooke still hadn’t shown.
He tried to shake it off and enjoy himself, but he couldn’t stop watching for her arrival. She said she was working late, but it was almost nine, and there was still no sign?—
“Hey.” A pair of hands suddenly covered his eyes, and he caught a breath of lavender, faint but unmistakably sweet. A familiar voice murmured in his ear. “Guess who?”
Riley was already smiling. He would have known Brooke just from the feel of her, sending his blood surging. “Hmm, let me think about this one . . .” he teased, relishing her touch. “Angelina Jolie?”
“Nope.”
“Debra from the farmer’s market?” he said, naming a pensioner in town who was pushing eighty years old, and spry as ever.
Brooke laughed. “Try again.”
“I know. It’s Poppy. You’ve finally left Cooper behind for a real man.”
“Sorry to disappoint.” Brooke dropped her hands, and he caught her around the waist, spinning her to face him.
“You could never be a disappointment,” he said, leaning in to kiss her. His tension melted away, and he relished the soft caress of her lips on his.
“Did you finish up at the hotel?” he asked, finally drawing back. Brooke looked tired, still wearing her smart work outfit of a crisp navy dress. “I can’t believe you have to work on a Friday night. What’s the point of being boss if you can’t get your underlings to cover for you?”
She gave a weary smile. “It’s all hands on deck with the wedding. I’ve been running around all day dealing with last-minute disasters. Did you know organic and bio-dynamic flour are two very different things?”
“I’m sorry.” Riley touched his hand to her cheek. “Hey, at least it’ll all be over soon.”
Brooke nodded. “To tell the truth, I wonder if it’s even going ahead at all. I just get this vibe from Lila, like she doesn’t want any of this . . .” She shook her head. “Ignore me, I’ve been obsessing over this stuff too long.”
“What can I do?” Riley asked, and Brooke gave him a smile, brighter this time.
“A kiss would help.”
He obliged, cupping her cheek and gently brushing his lips against hers. Brooke gave a little sigh. “Now, if you could just put a burger in my hand, I’d be set.”
He chuckled. “Coming right up.”
Riley took her hand and led her towards the grill.
It felt so natural, intertwining his fingers with hers, and for a moment he let himself imagine what it would be like if he did take the next step, and make this something real.
Waking up with Brooke in the morning, falling asleep with her there in his arms at night…
No tentative texts and casual, “maybe” plans, but someone he could depend on.
Opening up, and really letting himself trust again.
Part of him shrank away from the thought, the same way it had ever since his business went down in flames.
He’d joked about it feeling like a divorce, but in a way, it was true.
He’d invested everything in that company, and been left bitter and burned out at the end.
It was why he’d escaped out here and built a new life, with zero attachments tying him down.
If he didn’t care too much about anything, he wouldn’t get hurt again.
But what if he wanted to care?
Riley swallowed. For the first time, he wished he hadn’t been so brazenly casual with Brooke.
Strolling around town, swearing he was only looking for a good time seemed like the most honest, upfront approach at the time, but now that he was thinking about more, he suddenly realized his plan had backfired.
What if she believed him?
And, worse still, what if that was all she wanted from him, too?
“Brooke?” he found himself asking.
She turned, her hair flaring gold in the firelight, and Riley’s voice caught in his throat. She was beautiful—and his, for the night at least. Things were just fine the way they were. Did he really want to ruin a good thing while he had it?
“What is it?”
“Nothing,” he said, exhaling. “It can wait.”