Chasing Carly (Holiday Cove 3)

“Hmm.” I didn’t have to meet Nick’s eyes to know they were full of questions. I’d given him an extremely abridged version of the events that had led to my move to Holiday Cove and he somehow knew it.

I sat back in my chair and tucked my warm hands against my legs. “You want a refill?”

He looked down into his glass as it rested against his thigh, almost as though he hadn’t realized it was empty. When he met my gaze again, he shook his head. “No thanks. You?”

My glass still had a thin layer at the bottom of the cup, but I needed a break from the overwhelming feelings rolling around inside me. I needed to do something. “I think I’ll get another.”

Nick started to rise up from his seat, but I was faster and gestured for him to stay put. “I’ll be right back. Don’t worry, I won’t run off.”

“That would be hard to do since I have the keys to the truck,” he called after me.

I scurried inside Harvey’s and went straight to the bar. Ella, one of the usual bartenders came over and smiled at me. “Two more?”

I shook my head. “No, just one for me, please.”

She arched a perfectly sculpted brow at me. “You scare off your friend?”

“Not yet,” I answered with a laugh.

If only. Things would be much easier without Nick around to distract me.

Ella pulled a fresh pint from the tap and gave me an appraising glance. “So, what’s his story?”

“New in town. He’s working for Aaron.”

Ella’s smile faded. “Such a tragedy.”

“What is?”

“That he’s off the market.”

She was talking about Aaron. I held back an eye roll. The entire female population of Holiday Cove—and its neighboring towns apparently—were mourning the fact that The Player was out of the game. He’d worked his way through most of the single women in a fifty-mile radius and while some of them hated his guts for never calling back—he was the perfect mix of bad boy and panty-charmer. Not only impossible to resist—also hard to stay mad at for too long.

I glanced out at the patio and wondered if Nick was the same kind of guy. There was no doubt that he could charm the panties off just about any female he came into contact with. The smile, eyes, and subtle swagger were enough to get most women frothing at the mouth. But, while I’d seen plenty of women flashing him their attention, he never seemed too interested in returning it. Which was in stark opposition to a pre-Gemma, Aaron.

So what was he looking for? He didn’t have a girlfriend, but he also wasn’t out looking to score.

Ella handed me my beer and I thanked her and pushed a ten across the bar at her. “Thanks.”

She leaned against the bar and snatched up the bill. “Are you into him?”

Ella and I weren’t necessarily friends, in that we hung out outside of the bar, but I went to Harvey’s often enough that we knew each other and were friendly with each other if we crossed paths at the grocery store or when she came into The Siren. Her question was testing the waters. If I said no, she’d snake her way through the crowd and make a move.

I glanced over my shoulder, ready to give her the all clear, but stopped and bit down on my lower lip.

Damn it.

9

Carly

* * *

“Am I boring you?” Nick asked, his eyes teasing after he watched me check my phone for the third time in the last ten minutes.

“I’m sorry…no, you’re not.” I shook my head and shoved the phone back into my pocket. “I’m just worried about Alesha. It’s almost ten o’clock and I told her to be home by then. But so far, she hasn’t even answered any of my texts.”

“I’m sure she’s fine. Well, I hope she’s fine. I should probably get you back anyway. It’s getting chilly out here.”

I stared at the embers of the fire. No one from the bar staff had come out to stoke it and over the past two hours it had burned down significantly. I couldn’t believe how long Nick and I had been talking. After I returned from getting my second beer, he’d entertained me with stories from his time overseas. Mostly goofy stories about his antics with his fellow Marines. Some of the pranks he’d pulled had been pretty epic. He’d made it easy on me, as though he knew I didn’t want to talk about myself, and kept the conversation light and for the most part, centered on himself, but not in an arrogant, look-at-me sort of way.

Nick stood from his chair and offered me a hand. I stared at his outstretched fingers for a moment, before accepting the help and letting him pull me up from the deep chair. Once I was steady on my feet, I pulled my fingers from his, afraid to let them linger. Over the past couple of hours, I’d relaxed into Nick’s stories, but there was still an overhanging worry that I was getting too close to him. Especially after my alarming realization in the bar, with Ella, that somewhere along the way, I’d crossed the line beyond him just being the new guy in town, or Aaron’s friend, or just another regular at The Siren.