Page 16 of The Small-Town Seduction Plan

Kiss him? Ha! I’m more likely to slap the man right in that insolent mouth of his.

And clearly, the feeling is mutual.

5

AVERY

“…and you should have seen the way he was smirking at me. Newsflash, babe: women use moisturizer! We don’t just emerge from some beauty cocoon with naturally plucked eyebrows, and even skin tone, and zero body hair. He’s just so… so… UGH!”

I make a noise of frustration, and Brooke laughs down the phone line. “You sound pretty wound up,” she says, teasing. “What does this guy look like again?”

“He’s all big and burly,” I sigh, making my way along the shoreline, and keeping one eye out for cute shells and sea glass as I go. It’s a bright, warm morning, and the bay is still quiet: just a few people out walking their dogs, and some enthusiastic vacationers setting up their beach chairs and umbrellas and coolers for the day. “He walks around in a backwards ball cap with mud on his boots, you know, like it’s some kind of badge of masculinity to ignore a razor blade.”

“Mmhmmm…” Brooke’s murmur is suggestive. “Sounds like he’s made quite the impression.”

I recoil. “Eww, no, not like that!”

“Are you sure? Because I’m sensing some tension here…”

“Only the tension of me wanting to shove him off a cliff,” I declare firmly.

Then I get a flash of that moment last night, Duke’s eyes on my mouth, hungry…

I shake it off. “He’s so not my type,” I insist. “You know I can’t stand these muscular fitness guys, all they care about is their lifting goals and macros, and showing off their six-pack.”

“I don’t know,” Brooke teases playfully. “This Duke doesn’t sound like he’s crowding out the mirror at Planet Fitness on a Friday night.”

I snort with laughter at the image. Duke, preening over his pecs? “Yeah, I don’t think so.”

“That’s right,” Brooke says, and I can just hear the smirk in her voice. “You prefer guys who look like tortured Victorian poets, all dark and brooding and about to waste away of consumption.”

I laugh. “I like guys who can get me cast in the next blockbuster movie, or land me a big brand sponsorship deal,” I correct her. “At least then, I have something to show for it when the whole messy affair falls apart.”

I learned the hard way that love never lasts in Hollywood. But screen credits and cold hard cash?

They won’t leave you weeping on the bathroom floor, wondering where it all went wrong. Marilyn Monroe knew the score, alright.

Diamonds (and real estate) are a girl’s best friend.

“The plan seems to be working, though,” I say, determined to be optimistic. I pick up my pace, power-walking along the pebbly shoreline. “There hasn’t been anything in the tabloids about me all week. Not even fake sightings online.”

“I can’t believe someone said you were at a Zen monastery in Tibet,” Brooke giggles.

“I might as well be,” I say wryly. “I feel like I’ve taken vows of silence and contemplation, with all this time I’m spending alone."

"Don't forget chastity!”

I groan. “I couldn’t if I tried!”

It’s been over a week since I arrived in town, and those first fraught run-ins with Duke Hendricks aside, my life has settled into a quiet, predictable routine. I’m still avoiding the crowds in town and keeping a low profile, taking long walks on the beach alone, and sticking to the safety of the cottage, away from curious tourist eyes. I’ve been reading my way through Jacee’s collection of wildly pornographic 1970’s romance novels, and cooking every sugar-free, carb-free, fun-free recipe in Gwyneth’s cookbook, and filling my evenings watching every Oscar-winning Best Actress performance of the last twenty years.

It’s been peaceful. Relaxing.

And if I have to keep it up for much longer, I’m going to lose my mind and start climbing those jungle-painted walls.

“So, when can you come visit?” I ask Brooke hopefully. “It’s only a few hours from the city. You could come stay the weekend. And there are a ton of art galleries up in Provincetown,” I add. “You could talk to them about exhibiting some of your photography.”

“Easy there,” Brooke cuts me off. “I do kids’ parties and pet portraits. I’m not exactly gallery material.”

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