Page 48 of Falling for the Wrong Guy

Ava turned a questioning glance my direction.

“Works for me,” I said. “Is there any white wine to wash them down with?”

“Sure is. Luke brought some the other night, and they never opened it, so it’ll be a good one. The perfect accompaniment to burnt marshmallows and chocolate.” Ella got up from the couch. “We’ll have to bundle up, so we can roast the marshmallows on the firepit. The last time Layla and I made s’mores in the house, we set off the fire alarms.”

I borrowed Isla’s knit scarf and beanie, and the three of us headed out to the back patio with our marshmallows, graham crackers, chocolate and wine. Minutes later the smell of burnt sugar circled our heads as we turned and jostled our marshmallows to perfection. Ella and I were all-over scorch types, whereas Ava preferred to patiently toast hers to golden perfection. The warmth of the fire drew us closer as a cool coastal mist started to take hold of the hillside.

I lifted my marshmallows and blew on them frantically to put out the flames. Scorched was one thing, but I’d lost many a mallow to an uncontrollable wildfire. “Have you heard any more about the faculty position at the university, Ava?”

Ava’s face was getting pink from the flames as she leaned close enough to keep a watchful eye on her stick. “I’ve applied. Now, it’s just a waiting game. And in the meantime?—”

“In the meantime, you’re having your doubts about staying in one place for so long,” Ella said.

Ava blew a puff of air. It curled the flame tips away from her. “I don’t know what I want. When I’m three months deep into a research expedition, all I can think about is getting home to the cottage, to Whisper Cove … to my sisters.” She smiled at both of us. Ava, with her green eyes and black hair, was an exotic beauty. But she was never interested in cosmetics and fashion, the stuff the rest of us found fun and important. She didn’t need all the embellishments. Ava could wear a pair of faded khakis and black T-shirt into a room filled with women in glittering designer dresses, and she would still steal all the attention. She blew on her marshmallow to stop a tiny red glow and continued. “Then I get home, and immediately, I start feeling restless, and the walls start to close in and?—”

Ella’s mouth dropped. “You don’t like living here? With us?”

“I don’t think that’s what she said, El.” My marshmallows were properly charred, so I pulled them from the fire.

“Aria’s right, El. That’s not at all what I meant. I’ve just been cursed or blessed, not sure which, with wanderlust. I love to travel. This world is so big, and each place is so unique, I want to see every inch of it.”

Ella’s shoulders sank. “So, you aren’t going to stay and work at the university?”

“I didn’t say that either. Let’s switch subjects for now.”

Ella sat up straighter and stretched up to get a view of the beach below. “Here’s a new subject. I think your hunky”—she paused and cleared her throat—“your traitorous hunk is back. I see a flashlight down on the beach. What is it he’s looking for? Buried treasure?” Both Ava and Ella had a laugh about that. When I didn’t join them, they stopped their laughter and looked at me.

I shrugged. “You’re not too far off. Although, now I’m wondering if everything he told me was a lie. Like everything else about him.” I pushed my marshmallows between the graham crackers and chocolate and left the s’more on the plate. “I wasn’t in the mood to confront him earlier, but I am now.” I licked some sticky marshmallow off my finger. “Wish me luck and hands off my s’more. I’m going to need it when I return.”

I tossed the scarf importantly around my neck and marched sure-footedly down to the beach. The usual bank of fog hadn’t rolled in yet, so it was easy to make my way down to the sand. He was down by the same rocks we’d found him at the night my sisters hastily invited him up for dinner. My sisters were immediately taken with him. He sure had all of us fooled. Me especially.

Even though the lights from the house above only provided a weak glow, there was no mistaking the massive shoulder span. His flashlight dipped in and out of the rocks on that side of the cove. I adjusted my beanie and marched (as best I could in soft sand) to where he was leaning over, looking for hislost treasure.

“You’ve already searched these rocks. I’m starting to think—” My words trailed off, and I stepped back with a gasp as the man turned around. It wasn’t Dex. The shadows made his cruel grin look even more menacing. A second man, smaller in stature but equally scary, stepped out from behind the outcropping.

I took another step backward.

The big man pointed his flashlight in my face. I put up my hands to block the beam.

“Look what we have here. Seems like a pretty little mermaid just washed up on shore.” He lowered the flashlight down to my legs. “That ain’t no fish tail. You live around here, sweetums?” He took a step forward. I turned around. Sand kicked up behind me as I ran for the path to the house. I flew up it without looking back. Ella was mid-bite as she looked up from her plate.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

Ava turned to look at me.

“Inside,” I said between breaths. “Now. And bring my s’more.” (Oversized villain or not, I saw no reason to waste a perfectly good s’more.)

I locked the door behind us and turned out the lights, so we could huddle in front of the window unseen.

“I don’t understand. Was it Dex?” Ella asked.

“No, two strangers, and not kind-looking ones either.”

“But they were looking for same thing as Dex?” Ava asked. “Couldn’t just be a coincidence.”

I put up my hand to stop the chat. We watched as the two figures marched across the sand. We all released a simultaneous sigh of relief when they walked past the path leading up to the cottage. They reached the rocky hillside that led back up to the road and started their climb out of the cove.

“Not a coincidence,” I finally said. “And I’m going to get to the bottom of this soon.”

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