Page 9 of If We Never Met

"Why is it too bad?"

"Because he came to Whisper Lake hoping for privacy."

"Why? Is he an actor? A reality TV star? A billionaire? What?"

"I'm sorry, Keira, I can't tell you. He's a guest, and my inn was recommended to him by my brother, Grayson, who said I could guarantee him privacy."

She needed to respect Lizzie's decision, but now she was even more insanely curious about him.

"I'm sure if you take out your phone, you can figure out who he is pretty quickly," Lizzie added. "I'm surprised you didn't already try that."

"I didn't have his last name."

"Oh, good point."

"He was really nice to me. He actually rescued me from the real Danny. He saw the boring time I was having, and he came over to the table and made up an excuse for me to leave, saying the alarm on my store was going off."

Lizzie raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Yes. And the story gets better. He ordered me fish tacos to go. I'd actually been raving about them when we were talking, and he remembered. It's so rare that someone would do something like that. He said he felt bad for not having told me he wasn't Danny as soon as he realized my mistake."

"I wonder why he didn't tell you."

"I don't think I gave him a chance. I couldn't stop talking. We just had this instant connection." She paused, licking her lips. "I think he felt it, too. That's why he didn't cut me off."

Concern moved across Lizzie's now serious expression.

"What?" Keira asked.

"You need to leave Dante alone, Keira."

"Why?"

"He has a girlfriend."

"He did mention he'd been seeing someone, but he didn't call her his girlfriend."

"Well, the media calls her that. There are a lot of pictures of them together online. That's all I can say."

"Fine. I'll either look him up, or I'll just forget about him."

"Somehow, I don't think you're going to forget about him," Lizzie said dryly. "I haven't seen you this excited about a guy in forever. I'm sorry he's taken. I'm also sorry that he's not someone who's going to be in town for more than a few weeks."

"I figured he was just passing through." She felt a wave of depression at Lizzie's words. It was stupid to feel such disappointment over a guy she'd spoken to for about fifteen minutes. She needed to change the subject. "What's new with you? Where's Justin tonight?"

"He and Zach are going over plans for Justin's new office building. I'm glad you stopped by, even if it was just to get dirt on Dante. Or maybe you thought you'd run into him?"

"He did leave me in an abrupt and mysterious way. If he'd just said goodbye and walked away, I wouldn't have thought twice about it. But he literally bolted out of sight. It made me curious. Not that I have time to be curious. I should be in the shop, working on Hannah's dress."

"I thought that was done, and you were down to the bridesmaids' dresses."

"No. Hannah's dress is not quite perfect yet. It needs something and I haven't been able to figure out what."

"Are you sure it's not perfect? Hannah said last week she loved it. Maybe you're being too hard on yourself."

"I just can't let her walk down the aisle in something that isn't the best it can be."

Lizzie gave her a thoughtful look. "You don't usually get stuck or blocked on design. You did Chelsea's wedding dress in a few weeks and her gown for the awards show in less than a week."

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