Page 4 of Mr. Dangerous

"I think you have to eat Abby's fresh out of the frying grease," I said, which made her pale. I had thought we were just bantering in the house. Now I wondered if I dragged her out for lunch when she not only didn't want to be with me, she didn't want to eat at all. "You want to gosomeplaceelse?"

She waved me off. "I'm here for you, buddy. We can wait for atable."

We ordered at the counter. I would have teased Naomi for ordering chicken tenders at the best seafood joint in town, but before I could, the woman at the counter asked, "Oh! Rob Delaney, isthatyou?"

I nodded. With her swinging blond hair and brown eyes, she was pretty, but she didn't ring any bells. She passed over the number tag to place on our table, holding it out to me so that our fingers brushed when Itookit.

"Our favorite hometown hero!" she exclaimed. "Look, I'll get a table set up for you. Give me oneminute."

"It's really okay," I said, but she was already bustling off. Two teenagers who had queued up behind ussighed.

"Hometown hero, huh?" Naomiasked.

"It's not what I would call myself,"Isaid.

Naomi leaned in close, pulling her braid of dark hair over her shoulder. "Her name's Amy, by the way. We all went to high schooltogether."

She had obviously leaned in to whisper, but this close together, I breathed in the creamy vanilla scent of shampoo from her glossy dark hair. It made me want to stroke the escaped strands of hair back from her forehead and kiss the bridge of heradorablenose.

Instead, I asked, "Was it that obvious I don'trememberher?"

"I don't think anything's that obvious to Amy." Her voice was dry as she leaned awayagain.

Amy led us to a table up against the navy-blue-painted fence around the deck. From here, when I squinted between the buildings, I could catch a glimpse of the sun glinting off the ocean. Sometimes people interpretocean viewpretty broadly in RhodeIsland.

"I'll be right back with your drinks," she promised me, patting my shoulder before she sashayed back through the crowd of tables. She hadn't actually spoken toNaomi.

"If I had known we were going out in public," Naomi said, tugging on her braid absently, "I would have put on some makeup. Especially with such a very important person. Aren't you embarrassed to be seenwithme?"

Her tone was teasing and light, but I didn't buy it. I gave her a serious, appraising look over. She rolled her eyes, glancing away and twisting back in her seat as if to find that sliver view of the ocean. But she’d given me permission to study the face I’d missed, and I wasn’t going to passitup.

In profile, her small nose tilted up dramatically at the end, like a tiny little ski slope. Her pink lips were wide and perfectly formed, with a distinct bow at the top. When we were teenagers, I'd thought far too often about kissing that bow, about getting Naomi to drop the smirk. The smirk, apparently, was permanent. Ten years had gone by, and Naomi was even pricklier than she'd been in highschool.

Her eyes, though. Wide hazel eyes, touched with green, flecked with gold. Her lashes were long and even darker than her hair. Naomi might have been wearing a baggy blue t-shirt, jeans and a pair of battered running shoes, but she lookedirresistible.

Not that I could let herknowthat.

But I could get away with telling her, "Oh, shut up. You're gorgeous and youknowit."

She shook her head, looking pleased at the same time as she rejected the compliment. "I think Amy's probably more yourstyle."

I glanced at Amy, who wound her way back through the crowd with a tray. She wore tight jeans and an even tighter white tank top embroidered with theAbby'slogo.

"I think maybe you could take style tips from her," I said, to give Naomi something to prickle about. Naomi shook her head as Amy unloaded the sodas and a basket offries.

"Here you go," Amy said, flashing a wide grin at me. "Everything else will be right out, all right? Let me know if you need anything. You can even text me while I'm at the counter in case I don't see you wave, here's mynumber."

When Amy had gone again, she left me with a Post-it note and Naomi with barely concealedlaughter.

"That was subtle,"Naomisaid.

"It's a burden of mine." I started to fold the pink note before I realized Naomi was watching. How could Naomi not look in the mirror and see the same beautiful, distinctive features that made me feel slightly crazy? I crumpled the note and shrugged, dropping it alongside our straw wrappers. "I'm not really intoblonds."

Her lips quirked up slightly. She pulled a face as if she wasn't willing to let me see that I had made her happy. But still. I felt a surge oflightness.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with myself here in Newport," I said. "Seeing family seemed like a good use of my time out of commission, but my brothers can't just drop everything. Neither will mycousins."

"Well, there's your father and your grandmother, atleast."

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