Page 32 of Reel Love

“It was good to hang out … all except that eel thing …” He makes a face. “But seriously, if you want to meet Alana, please let me know and I’ll have Summer work something out. It’s not every day a man gets the opportunity to meet one of his Hollywood faves. You should take us up on it.”

“Yeah. Right. Maybe.”

“Okay. Well, travel safely. I’ll see you around.”

“You too. I mean, I’ll see you around. Not travel safely, since you’re walking home and then walking back to the shack. So, safety’s not exactly an issue for you … Yeah. I’ll see you, Ben.”

Ben shakes his head at me and turns to walk away.

He looks back over his shoulder and adds, “I recommend the less is more approach in front of Alana to be safe, though. I’ll carry the conversation if we end up getting her to come over.”

“Yeah. Agreed.”

Ben leaves. I take off right after he does. Less than an hour later I’m on Joel’s boat, waiting for Alana as if I meet her every day of my life. No biggie.

She comes speed walking down the dock and starts talking to me before she even tosses me her duffle. “Thank you. I know this is last minute. I hope you weren’t doing something more important.”

“Than driving you? No.” I shake my head. “I was just on my sailboat with a friend. Not sailing. Just hanging out at the docks.”

“Sounds lovely.”

“It was … interesting.”

Her lips turn up in a half-smile. “This, I have to hear.”

I head to the captain’s chair, fully expecting her to take theseat at the back of the boat, but she follows behind me, her curls wild from under the ball cap she’s wearing—a different one than the one she wore to art class. Her sunglasses are aviators today. They don’t do much to hide her identity, but I guess she’s only seeing me and then that massive security detail of hers. And she’s wearing a pair of jeans shorts, a white T-shirt and a loose coverup with Converse tennis shoes. Her legs are extremely distracting, so I keep my eyes trained on the ocean.

“So?” she asks once I start the engine and back up.

“So, what?”

“The story. What made your time with your friend so interesting?”

“I’m pretty sure you don’t want to know.”

“Guy stuff?”

I nearly choke on my laugh. “No. Not exactly. I just shared a few pictures a dive buddy of mine sent me. They grossed my friend out. I was teasing him with them.”

“What pictures?”

“No. Nope. I … probably deleted them.”

Alana does this thing I’ve seen her do in a movie. It’s a move I’ve memorized. It’s sexy and disorienting, and she’s doing it here, now, at me. She pinches the stem of her glasses and slowly lowers them, incrementally unveiling her crystal blue eyes one millimeter at a time. And then she’s smirking at me.

“You deleted them?” One brow pops up into a disbelieving arch.

“Okay. I didn’t. But, I’d kind of have to jump overboard and never surface if I showed you, so …”

“Come on!” she teases. “You can’t say you showed your friend a gross picture and not share it. That’s just wrong.”

“Really?”

Am I really going to show Alana Graves a slime eel?

“Yeah. Really. Hand it over. Show me the pictures.”

I guess I am. Ben would literally die. Or kill me. I grinthinking of all he said. He’s not wrong. I probably should have kept my mouth shut. Well, there’s no turning back now.

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