“Because there’s a fine hunk of man jogging on the beach right now. And he’s coming this way.”
Oh shit. My hands clenched involuntarily, destroying the shape of the clay. “Luna, don’t you dare—”
Before I could finish my warning, she lifted her hand in a finger wave and called out, “Yoo-hoo! Hey there, neighbor. Come say hi!”
I was going to murder her so freaking hard.
Chapter Six
Sawyer
“I’m going to kill you,” I hissed as she continued to call out to Trent, waiving her arm manically on the off chance he didn’t see or hear the crazy lady shouting at him and making a spectacle. “You’re dead to me. So freaking dead I can’t even see you right now.”
“Well you better brace yourself buttercup, because Trent definitely saw me, and he’s headed this way right now.” She pulled in a deep breath. “Mother of God, that man is gorgeous,” she whispered, her eyes widening.
I shot off the stool like my ass was on fire. There couldn’t have been a worse time to run into a smoking hot, dimpled man who had the whole town atwitter and set your skin to tight and itchy.
I didn’t have on a stitch of makeup, I was dressed in some of my rattiest clothes designated strictly for pottery because they were riddled with stains, and my hands were currently covered in brownish, slimy gunk. Damn it, I knew I should have taken the time to blow my hair out!
“Crap, crap, crap,” I hissed as I grabbed a rag and frantically scrubbed at my hands before brushing my wind-blown hair back from my face, silently praying it didn’t look like I’d just stuck my finger in an electrical socket.
Luna turned to me, a smirk on her face as she said, “You know, for someone who isn’t interested, you sure are freaking out right now.”
“Shut up. I hate you,” I grumbled just as a shadow stretched across the white gravel drive. A moment later, Trent came into view, and holy HELL. Somehow, in the days that had passed since I saw him at Drip, I seemed to have forgotten the magnitude of his attractiveness. Or maybe I hadn’t and there was just something about him in running shorts and a tight, sleeveless dry-fit shirt, his olive-toned skin glistening with sweat, that took him to a whole other level.
“Hey,” he greeted, those smoky greenish eyes hitting me like a sledgehammer to the chest. “Sawyer, right?”
“Uh . . .” For the love of crap. I’d lost the power of speech again!
“Yep. That’s Sawyer. My very attractive, single best friend.”
My cheeks flare with heat. “Please stop,” I hissed. But Luna didn’t give a damn.
“And I’m Luna.”
He turned his attention her way, and it felt like I’d just been released from some sort of snare his gaze had trapped me in. “Trent. Nice to meet you.”
“Oh, I know all about you, Trent,” she stated. “You’re the new guy everyone in town is talking about.”
He arched a single brow, the dark, prominent slash lifting higher on his forehead. I’d always been jealous of people who could do that. It just looked so cool when you could lift one brow at a time.
“They are?”
“Oh, sure. It’s a small-town thing. We gossip about every new face that comes through. You caught the end of summer so the tourists have died out, making you the center of attention. Congrats.”
He let out a raspy chuckle, the sound like he’d gargled rocks, and why the hell was that so attractive? There was something seriously wrong with me.
My daughter came rushing up like a tornado, her attention pulled from her painting by the new person standing in her orbit. “I’m Wanay,” she announced loudly, skipping to a stop a few feet in front of Trent.
He looked to my girl and graced her with a soft smile, those dimples pressing into his cheeks, and I was pretty sure one of my ovaries exploded. “Nice to meet you, Renee. That’s a really pretty name.”
Apparently, there wasn’t a female on the planet immune to this man’s good looks, because my girl’s entire face flamed pink at his attention. “I’m named aftew a twin pwincess dat lives in a castle in da clouds!”
“Is that right?”
“Ya-huh! Chawlotte Wanay. I’ll be fwee on my next bifday!”
Okay, so maybe I needed to stress the importance of not talking to strangers to my daughter. Especially if she planned to give them her entire life story in the span of a minute. My baby was a social butterfly practically from the moment she came squalling into the world. She’d yet to meet a person she didn’t automatically become best friends with.
Those dimples notched even deeper. “Wow. That’s big. You’re almost a grownup.”
Renee giggled bashfully, her eyelashes nearly fluttering. Good lord. “You wants ta paint wiff me? I’m makin’ awt.”
I finally managed to form words. “I’m sure Trent’s really busy, doodle bug,” I spoke as I took her by the shoulders and pulled her back into me.
She deflated beneath my hands like a balloon leaking air. “Oh,” she muttered on a pout. “Okay.”
“Maybe I could make art with you some other time, yeah?” Trent said, apparently as helpless to resist Renee’s sad face as everyone else in the world. I couldn’t blame him. It was a powerful look.
“Okay!” And just like that, she bounced right back, having gotten what she wanted in a roundabout way. She spun on her heel and skipped back over to her little table to resume painting.
“Sorry about that,” I said, lowering my voice so Renee couldn’t hear. “She’s kind of hard to say no to.”
“Christ, no joke.” He chuckled. “That face hits you right between the ribs, like someone just kicked a whole litter of adorable puppies right in front of you.”
I let out a bark of laughter at his metaphor. “Oh God. That’s exactly what it’s like.”
“Oh shoot,” Luna chirped just then. “Would you look at that? My coffee’s gone cold. Time for a refill. Come on, shorty,” she called to Renee. “Let’s go get your Lu-Lu a refill, and maybe I’ll sneak you some sugar.”
“Yay!” Renee bounded away from her table, grabbing hold of Luna’s hand.
“Trent, you want a cup?”
“No thanks. I’m good.”
“Oh. Does your wife or girlfriend already have a pot brewing for you when you get back?”
I tried my best to stab her with my glare. Jesus, real smooth, Luna.
“No wife or girlfriend,” Trent answered, and I could hear the struggle to hold back his laughter in his voice.
“So you’re a bachelor then. In that case, you should swing by here for dinner one night. Or several nights. You probably haven’t had a homemade meal in forever, and Sawyer is an amazing cook.”
“I wish the ground would open up and swallow you,” I grumbled.
Trent lost the fight and let loose a husky laugh that made my skin pebble with goose bumps. “Yeah. I just might have to do that.”
“Perfect!” she exclaimed brightly. “Okay, well we’ll just be inside . . .” She hooked her thumb over her shoulder as she started walking backward, leading my daughter toward the house. “You know, out of earshot and all that stuff. See you around, Trent.”