Page 19 of One Unexpected Kiss

Claire closed her eyes and exhaled. “For Stephanie, not for me. The drink. Sex on the beach, the drink. Do you know it?”

“I am extremely familiar with sex on the beach.”

A gentleman would not add to a lady’s discomfort, but I’d never claimed to be one. Besides, I would do anything to make Claire off-balance. For the sake of the Carolina Banks. It had nothing to do with the infuriating way my dick had woken up the moment she’d uttered the word “sex.”

Of all the basic drinks she could have asked for, what made her think of that one? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

Stephanie leaned her elbows on the bar. “I’m sure you are very familiar with it. Claire, on the other hand—”

“Is hungry and ready to order.” Claire glared at her sister. “I’ll have a burger.”

“Well-done with cheese, right?”

She blinked and nodded, probably surprised I’d remembered another trivial detail. Nothing about this woman had ever seemed trivial to me, though. At the moment, I resented the hell out of her for that. I looked at Stephanie.

“I haven’t had a chance to look at the menu. I was too busy getting swindled out of twenty bucks.”

I grinned. “Martin can barely walk, but he’s a marksman when it comes to darts. Everyone around here knows better than to fall for his poor-old-man act.”

Stephanie shook his head. “I’ll remember that for next time. You know what? I’ll have a burger too.”

Claire cocked her head. “What did you say his name was? Martin?”

I could tell by the way she was sizing him up that she must have figured out the local business commission was the roadblock standing in the way of the Markham resort. Martin was a longstanding member.Damn Mayor Stoltz.She must have told Claire about that. I’d hoped Claire would be stumped by that little detail for a while, but I should have known better. She was a woman who got shit done.

Until now. “I’ll put your order in,” I said instead of answering her question. She might be sexy as hell when she was flustered, but that would not distract me from remembering that she was the enemy.

CHAPTER 5

Bennett

I PARKED ATBob White’s house and climbed out of my truck, six-pack in hand. After pounding on his door and getting no response, I unlatched the side gate and walked around back. The sound of a lathe told me my hunch had been correct and he was in his wood shop.

The Whites owned an iconic store called Winter Wonderland, which was—ironically—closed during the winter and open in the summer. They specialized in one-of-a-kind Christmas decorations, such as handcrafted ornaments and hand-painted signs. They spent eight months of the year creating merchandise. In the decades their family had been running the shop, their shelves had never run empty, and I’d always marveled at that. If there was anyone on the local business commission who respected the sanctity of the off-season, it was the Whites. Without it, they wouldn’t have had time to create inventory for their store.

Not wanting to startle him, I waited until Bob had turned off his machine before calling attention to my presence.

“Is that a new design?” I asked.

Bob didn’t even look up. “You know it’s not, Bennett. You bought one for your mom.”

Shit.The old man was sharp. Not only had he known it was me without even looking, but he remembered a transaction from three years before.

I moved closer. “So it is,” I said, though honestly, I had no idea. I could remember the exact ratio of hops to the other ingredients in all our brews, but my memory didn’t have room for trivial information such as what I’d bought my mother for Christmas. It was a miracle I hadn’t gotten her the same thing twice.

Bob removed the ornament from the machine and blew off the sawdust. “It’s a classic and our bestseller.” He gestured to the beer I held. “You want something.” It was a statement, not a question.

Aww, hell.“Why do you say that?”

He lowered his glasses and shot me a dry look over them. “Out with it.”

Begrudgingly appreciating his directness, I tucked the six-pack in the fridge he kept in his shop before getting down to business. “You know how we tabled the vote on the Markham resort?”

“I do.”

“Mayor Stoltz has given us a deadline. We have to vote on it in four weeks.”

“Changing the zoning won’t fix anything. The proposed site borders on the Zooks’ land, so Markham would need to buy it.”

---