Page 75 of Taming Waves

“Damn, Red. You certainly make a guy work for it,” he muses.

I glance over at Parker, who is staring a hole through the two of us.

I certainly do.

Parker

Heather and I prepare the room for lunch service together. I pull the chairs from their upside-down positions on the tabletops and place them on the floor while she wipes each one down with a towel. Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Audrey and Jake as we work.

“What’s the story there?” I finally ask Heather.

She looks up from her task and follows my gaze to Audrey as she throws her head back, laughing at something Jake said.

“Jake and Audrey? They have some history,” Heather answers.

“History? What kind of history?”

She shrugs. “He has a thing for her.”

“Does she have athingfor him?” I ask.

“Sure. I mean, who wouldn’t? Look at the guy. He’s good-looking and rich. What’s not to like?” she says.

“So, they what, get together when he’s in town, visiting Brew?”

She stops what she’s doing and places a hand on her hip. “If you want to know whether she and Jake sleep together, you’llneed to ask her yourself. I won’t disclose my friend’s personal business, and you should know better than to ask me,” she scolds me.

“Sorry,” I mumble as I move to the next table.

She huffs out a breath and rolls her eyes. “God, men are clueless sometimes. She would have run off to California years ago if he had any real chance. He’s just someone easy. They’ve hooked up a few times, but there’s no chance of them getting too serious with him living across the country,” she says.

I purse my lips and nod.

Heather laughs under her breath. “You’d better up your game, Parker Alston. Thislingering around and staring down every guy who hits on hergame isn’t going to get you anywhere.”

“I’m not playing any games.”

She clicks her tongue. “Aren’t you?”

“No. I’ve been very straight with her.”

“You’ve allowed her to define whatever you have going on as just a friendship.”

“What am I supposed to do? I can’t force her into a relationship, Heather,” I snap.

“Do you really think giving her an expiration date was a good idea?”

“A what?” I ask, confused.

“You told her that you could be friends, but come December, you’d walk away. How do you think that made her feel?”

“No, I said that if she would give being friends a try, I’d walk away in December if she wanted me to,” I correct.

She glares at me as if that will make me suddenly understand her point.

“How do you think that sounded to her? The girl you’d abandoned when things weren’t picture-perfect?”

I’m still having trouble understanding what she’s trying to say.

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