Page 5 of Her Maine Distraction

“Hi,” I manage to say, swallowing the lump in my throat.

“It’s good to see you, Ellie. You look beautiful.” His smooth voice melts my insides, and my heart beats a little faster at his compliment.

“Uh, um, thank you,” I stutter, looking away from his piercing aqua eyes to take my glass of wine from the counter. “It’s nice to see you, too.”

“Just nice?” he asks, his smile widening, showing off his perfectly straight, white teeth, along with a set of dimples that has my brain going fuzzy.

His short, light brown hair is styled perfectly, and his well-groomed beard frames his solid square jaw impeccably, making his lips all that much more alluring to kiss.

His eyes hold mine, and they seem to possess a life of their own. They sparkle in a way that makes me want to swim in them for days to soak up as much of his carefree nature that had attracted me to him the moment I met him.

Smiling, I shake my head. “Yes, just nice.”

“Huh”–he rubs his jaw–“I was hoping to be a little more memorable.”

“Sorry to disappoint.” I shrug, taking a sip of wine. The last thing I need right now is another man in my life. Even for a night. And Tyler is too good looking for his own good. He’s also too charming, too smooth, and has a little too much frat boy in him for my liking.

“You’re not. It just means I have to work a little harder this time.”

See? Charm.

“Try all you want, but I just got here, so I’m going to go catch up with my friends.”

“Save five minutes for me at some point, though.” He flashes me a grin and winks.

“Why should I?” I ask, a smile coming easy from just talking to him, despite not having felt like smiling since ‘the incident’. That’s what I’ll be calling what I walked in on last night.

“Because I plan on making a lasting impression.”

“We’ll see.” Smiling, I walk back to my friends, feeling his gaze on my back the entire time.

“Is Tyler trying to make a move on you when you haven’t even been here for five minutes?”

“Yeah.” I laugh. “It’s okay, though.”

“How are you?” Ally asks. “What made you come up and surprise us?”

“I just needed to get away. I was going to text you, but thought it would be more fun to surprise you.”

“Is everything okay?”

I wave my hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, of course.”

“Alright…” Ally says, looking skeptical.

“What’s new with all of you? It’s been so long.”

“It has,” Ash says, giving me a hard stare. “And whose fault is that?”

“Ashley,” Mel chastises.

“No, she’s right. I’m sorry I’ve been a little distant. I was just trying to make it easier somehow without you guys around. But now I know that was really dumb of me.”

“It was,” Ash agrees. “But what finally made you realize that?”

“I don’t want to take away from Ally’s night…” I trail off, looking around at all of them.

“Oh, please,” Ally says, rolling her eyes. “I don’t want all the attention on me. So, spill.”

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