Page 12 of Not Part of the Plan
It had taken her some time to get used to the little town and its… quirks. But Blue Moon had won her over with its unapologetic weirdness, unpretentiousness, and pride in its oddity. Everyone was welcome here, enfolded into the culture without being asked to assimilate. In Blue Moon, you were good enough just because you existed.
That wasn’t to say that it hadn’t still been a difficult transition. In L.A., she’d go out for drinks with friends after closing. The night was just getting started. In Blue Moon, by the time the brewery’s midnight closing rolled around, the rest of the sleepy town had been shut down for hours.
She took her wine to the window and stared out into the night. She was content here. Maybe a little lonely in the late nights, but that was to be expected. Yet, she couldn’t quite shake the feeling that she was waiting for something. And the only thing she knew for certain was that she’d find it here.
She wasn’tunhappy, Emma qualified. But she also wasn’t the deliriously ecstatic woman Gia was.
She looked out at the main house that rose cool and white in the sliver of spring moonlight. Its gables and elegant trim cast a romantic spell. Within its walls, her sister loved and lived.Is that what she wanted?Emma asked herself. Was she ready to finally call someplace home, finally ready to start her life?
A vision of the devastatingly gorgeous face of Nikolai Vulkov rose in her mind’s eye. That crooked, cocky smile, angular cheekbones and granite jaw. He was exquisite and other-worldly… and he obviously knew it. Emma wondered why, when he looked as he did, he chose a life behind the camera rather than in front of it.
She could only imagine the agents and brands that would quiver with anticipation at that face. Niko was like a joyride. Something dangerous and ill-advised that would make a woman’s system sing until the adrenaline wore off and she had to face the consequences of a bad decision.
Niko was a bad idea, and she was wise enough now not to fall prey to a pretty face again. He was not the stable partner she was looking for. Of that she was sure. And it would be best for her to forget all about him.
With a sigh, Emma sank down on the couch. She pulled her tablet into her lap and dialed her night owl sister on the video chat app.
Eva’s pretty face and disheveled hair filled the screen.
“Hello, fellow night dweller,” Eva said by way of a greeting.
Emma’s little sister wrote mysterious technical manuals for a living and moved around like a vagabond, but Emma managed to catch up with her once or twice a week. It was usually late at night when normal people were tucked safely into bed.
“So, how was your date this week?” Emma asked. The incurably optimistic Eva was always on the lookout for love.
“Ungh.” Eva wrinkled her nose in distaste, inching her reading glasses higher. “He lives with his grandmother as a freeloader and mentioned we should go back to my place to have sex since ‘Gram-Gram is a light sleeper.’” She shoved her hands through her mass of red hair that she hadn’t bothered styling that day.
Emma choked on her wine. “So how was it?” she teased.
“Oh, my God. You’re disgusting!”
“Where do you find these guys?”
Eva rested her chin on her hand. “This one I met in the convenience store. He picked up the iced coffee I’d ordered. I thought it was a mistake and a ‘meet-cute’, but looking back, I think he was trying to steal it.”
“Eva,” Emma sighed out her sister’s name.
“Hey, at least I’m meeting guys. You live in Hot Guy Heaven and have yet to land a sexy farmer or a poetic candle maker. I know Beckett is fresh out of single brothers, but there’s got to be some cousins in that family tree.”
“For your information, I did meet someone today,” Emma tossed back.
“Does he freeload off of his grandmother?”
Emma couldn’t imagine Niko freeloading off of anyone. “Definitely not,” she answered.
“Ill-fitting glass eye that falls out?” Eva asked.
“I’ll make him blink extra hard next time I see him to make sure. You know the guy on the cologne commercial?”
Eva sighed dreamily. “The one who comes out of the water glistening like a Greek god, and he’s wearing those sexy white briefs that you can almost see through?” She closed her eyes and let her mouth spread in a feline smile. “Chest like a linebacker? Biceps perfect for defending damsels in distress?”
Emma nodded. “That’s the one. This guy is cologne commercial hot. I bet women walk into glass doors staring at him. I almost took a header down the stairs looking at him.”
Eva squealed. “More information please!”
“He stops traffic when he walks in the room, and when he looks at you, your heart literally stops.”
“He looked at you?”
