Page 14 of The Mistakes I've Made
Feeling my foul mood growing by the second, I decided it was time for a break. Pulling out my cell, I called the only person I knew who could pull me out of this horrible funk I was in.
“You know, you could just walk across the street,” Millie greeted me, not even bothering to say hello.
I smiled, thankful for her friendship. We’d been buddies in high school, but we had grown apart after she went on to college, and I stayed here. It had been a mutual distancing, but honestly, I had been grateful for it at the time. I had been bitter back then. Bitter and angry over the life I’d given up, and hearing about hers just starting out? Well, it hadn’t helped.
“Yeah, but what would be the fun in that?” I goaded.
“I could try to sell you one of these fancy soaps I just got in. I’ve got one that smells like lavender and another that smells exactly like vanilla ice cream. It’s divine.”
“Why in the world would I ever want to smell like ice cream?” I asked, leaning back in the old leather chair. I propped my feet up on the desk and allowed myself a moment to relax. It’d already been a long day, having been out on the sound twice with tourists already and it was barely noon. And my day wasn’t close to being over yet.
“Well, I’m sure Sierra wouldn’t mind.”
My feet dropped to the floor with a thud. “Who told you?”
She laughed, a lyrical laugh that sent my nerves into panic mode, my eyes darting around for any sign of Sierra’s crazy grandfather.
“Seriously, Millie, who?”
“Relax,” she said. “Dean told me about it, and I said I’d rile you up a little just to make sure you were done and past it. Because, really, Taylor? She’s, like, twenty-two. Tops.”
“So?”
“She’s in college. Do you even remember college?” Her voice held a certain amount of judgment mixed with a healthy dose of amusement.
“Hey! We’re not that old. You talk like we’re a candle or two away from retirement. And, to answer your question, no, I don’t remember college. Remember, not all of us got to go.”
I heard her suck in a breath.
“Sorry. I forget how much I missed while I was—”
“Gone? Well, at least you came to your senses and came home.”
“I did,” she confirmed. “It only took ten years and one hell of a sexy Brit to get me back here. Now, how about I make up for some of that lost time by taking you out for lunch? I’ll swing by and pick you up in a few minutes.”
“Sure,” I said, feeling my stomach grumble in agreement.
We hung up, and I used what little time I had to look at my schedule for the afternoon and pick up around the office. While there wasn’t much in here for the customers, we did have a small rack by the door of products and a mini fridge of drinks and snacks, all of which got thoroughly ransacked with each tour.
Just as I was rearranging the small box of Airheads, I heard the door chime, signaling the arrival of my lunch date.
“You’d better be taking me to Billy’s because I have a hankering for shrimp, and you know no one on this godforsaken island does shrimp better than that man.”
“I don’t believe I’m familiar with the wordhankeringor a man named Billy.” The voice that replied was smooth as silk and immediately made my boy down under come to attention.
Definitely not Millie. I’d trained myself to ignore the fact that she was a smokin’-hot female a long time ago. She’d always been the kind of friend I wanted to keep, which meant I’d basically been treating her like a dude since puberty.
My head popped up, and I nearly slammed into the female with the sexy voice.
“Sorry,” I said, holding my hands out to steady us both. “I, uh, thought you were someone else.”
“Clearly,” she replied, a sort of smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth.
And what a beautiful mouth it was. Pretty and pink with just the right amount of pout. A man could kiss those lips for days and never get bored.
But the gorgeous view didn’t stop there.
No, it spread from head to toe.
