Page 9 of Love is Grand

“Premeditated, huh?” She glanced at me, and I loved her fire, how it shimmered just beneath the surface.

“I only heard a few hours ago you’d be here. I did my best.”

I raised a hand in the air, drawing Ben away from another guest, and asked for two glasses of cabernet. When they arrived, I clinked my glass to Shell’s.

“Go mingle. I’ll find you later.”

Shell

“Time to go,” Cal said low in my ear after he’d made his way back to me. “Say your good-byes.”

He walked away like he could boss me around, and I swallowed the notion that he could. Setting my long-empty wineglass on the bar, I looked around the room.

Ben was bent over under the bar, putting something away, and Rylan and Adam were nowhere to be seen. Probably in the kitchen micromanaging things, or outside with other guests.

I waved at Teddi, and she winked and blew me a kiss. She was cuddled in the corner, sharing a drink and conversation with a guy from the Jet Ski rental place. Of course, Adam had befriended the entire island in less than a month. They all knew him as the guy who had bought the big place in the West Bay.

Moving toward the kitchen, I found Rylan there, her head in the fridge.

“Thanks, Ry,” I said, and she nearly jumped ten feet in the air.

“Shit, you scared me. I was looking for the half-and-half. Cal wants a cup of coffee.” She jerked her thumb toward the coffeemaker brewing in the corner of the counter.

Frowning, I said, “I’m sure he could have made it himself.”

What is it with this man? Does he order everyone around?

Rylan grinned at me. “Aw, thanks for thinking of me, but after a decade of serving drinks behind the bar, I always have coffee on when people are around. In fact, Adam used to slide behind the bar and serve himself coffee after we got back.”

Her face took on a dreamy expression. She was such a goner for the guy.

“Well, you’re the best,” I said. “Thanks again for having me.”

I needed to get the hell out of the kitchen before Cal came to retrieve his coffee. With half-and-half, apparently. I hadn’t stayed long enough on the night I’d spent with him at the Ritz to know how he took his coffee.

“I’m glad you took time for you. You deserve it, Shell.”

Rylan grabbed my hand and squeezed, almost as if she were trying to infuse me with her luck for falling in love. But there was no such thing when it came to me.

Speed-walking toward the front door, I decided to leave without saying good-bye to Adam, and hopefully before Cal knew I was gone.

The breath I’d been holding came whooshing from my mouth as soon as I crossed the threshold and made it outside to cross the long expanse of driveway to where I’d left my car, a used but reliable Mazda. I’d bought it with my tips. Ricky had scoffed at me, saying I could use the jitney or borrow my parents’ car.

The guy was a dick, and I was dumb enough not to see it until it was too late.

Served me right for falling for the first guy to give me an orgasm, and it wasn’t even an epic one. As time went on, I’d realized he didn’t know his way around a woman’s body. He’d just been the first man to touch mine—there.

“Hold up,” a familiar deep voice called out as I slipped into my car.

Shit. I’d been caught up in my Ricky funk, and now I had to deal with Cal.

“Where are you going?” he asked, his voice low and rumbly, causing goose bumps to pop up all over my body.

“Home.”

“The plan was for me to drive you.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, not from fear or regret, but apprehension.

---