Page 98 of Always Knew It Was You

“What?” I say defensively. “It’s not forever. Just a few months.”

“Right,” he snorts. “Be careful. That’s what I say too. But Laketown has a way of sinking its teeth into you and making itself your forever home.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

CARLY

I can’t stop smiling and it’s becoming a problem.

Yule already caught me doing it twice, smiling at nothing while I was wiping down the counter. After the third time, on his way back to the kitchen, he frowns and asks me, “You doing okay, Carly?”

“Of course,” I answer without looking up. “Why?”

“Because you seem exceptionally chipper today. And I haven’t seen you looking like that for a while.”

I finally glance up and say, “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

Yule raises an eyebrow. “You’ve had that cat-ate-the-canary grin all morning. What gives?”

“Oh, she ate something alright,” Emma calls from her position behind the cocktail bar. She has a shit-eating grin on her face and she winks at Yule conspiratorially. “Or maybe it’s the other way round. Maybe something ate her.”

“Oh, you hush your mouth, Emma Jane.” I giggle as a hot blush fills my face, and Emma snorts her amusement. Meanwhile, Yule looks between us even more confused.

“Alright, either of you want to tell me what’s going on here?”

“Nothing’s going on,” I say. “It’s just been a good day.” And it was. The Tiki Bar has been busy all day but never too busy. We have enough staff to cover all the tables and no one has dropped or spilled anything today. Plus, all my tables were big tippers and I have several hundred bucks tucked into my jeans.

Now that things have wound down in preparation for the evening rush, what’s there not to be happy about?

“Yeah, right.” Emma isn’t willing to let it go like that. She puts one hand up around her mouth to block my view and then stage-whispers to Yule. “Carly has a boyfriend.”

“No, I do not!” I protest like a teenage girl, which makes Emma giggle even more madly, and even Yule cracks a smile. He crosses his arms over his chest and he leans against the counter.

“A boyfriend, huh?” he says teasingly. “And do I know this fella?”

“You don’t know him because he doesn’t exist. I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“It’s Micah Landing,” Emma says, talking over me and Yule’s smile turns puzzled.

“I don’t think I know that name, Landing. Is he one of the mayor’s out-of-wedlock kids?”

“No. He’s Declan’s friend. You know the one with red hair, tall, handsome. He was at my engagement party.

“Oh, that guy?” Yule’s smile instantly turns into a frown. “Carly, no offense, but that guy doesn’t seem like the kind of man you make a boyfriend.”

“No offense taken, Yule, because you’re exactly right. And Micah isn’t my boyfriend.” I send Emma a pointed look. “We’re just hooking up.”

“Right,” Yule says. “But even then, you gotta be careful. You know how you women are. One second you’re just hooking up and the next second you’re getting your own heart broken because you start asking all types of questions about ‘what are we’ and dropping ‘L-bombs’ here and there, while he was honest with you from the beginning that he just wanted a simple roll in the hay. And now he looks like the asshole for leaving you, and you get angry enough that you justify slashing his brand-new tires that he just got for half off.”

We both blink at Yule after his little rant, and Emma tentatively asks, “Erm, you okay, Yule?”

“Yeah. Just an old memory. I’m over it.” The irritated flash on his face tells us he’s not that over it, but he continues. “Anyway, just be careful. It’ll be easy to fall for a pretty face like that and want to believe any lies he tells you, but you gotta remember who he is, and who you are. And he may not even mean to hurt you. It may just be in his DNA. Guys that look like that have been breaking women’s hearts since they could walk.”

“I will,” I assure him and stick my tongue out at Emma who rolls her eyes while still chortling. Everything Yule said I already knew. No matter what Micah tells me, I’m still not deluding myself about the nature of our relationship. It’s a short-term fling, a situationship at best. Sure, he might feel “things” for me, but those are directly linked to how much fun we have together and how fuckable he finds me. They’re certainly not things that I can even start to mistake as love.

So I know all of that.

But that still doesn’t stop me from smiling at inopportune moments during the night, when I think about him again.

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