Let Me Burn (Angel Sands 1)

Lucas swallowed. “I don’t know.” He looked at Caitie, but her expression was unreadable. “I think I might want to keep it, but I guess it depends on Caitie.”

She was chewing on her lip. “If you want to keep it that’s fine by me. I’m not going to be able to help with it, though. Not when I’m living out here.”

Deenie was smiling widely. “But you can visit, can’t you? And maybe one day you’ll want to use it for vacations.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Caitie didn’t sound so sure.

“Anyway, I need to finish making it habitable first. In between committee meetings of course.” He gritted his teeth at the thought.

“Who else is on the committee?” his mom asked. “Anybody I know?”

“Apart from Frank? There’s his wife, of course. And a lady called Janice Martin co-chairs it.”

“Janice Martin? I know her.” Deenie nodded. “Weren’t you at school with her son, Caitie? Bill or somebody?”

“Will,” Caitie corrected. “Though I didn’t know him much. Last I heard he was engaged to Ember Kennedy. She was in my year, too. Remember her from band?”

Lucas felt his throat get tight. Itchy, too. He cleared it but it gave him no relief.

“I do remember her. Lovely girl, but couldn’t play the clarinet to save her life.” Deenie laughed. “Not that you were much better on the flute.”

“Gee, thanks, Mom.” Caitie rolled her eyes, then turned to grin at Lucas. “And we wonder why we turned out so screwed up.”

“Yeah.” He only half heard her. He was still trying to take in the news that Ember Kennedy was engaged. It felt like a slap in the face. She hadn’t mentioned a fiancé – or husband. But then why would she? They’d only spoken a couple of times, why would she reveal her marital status?

“You look so pale,” Deenie was saying to Caitie, the conversation having thankfully moved on from Ember. “Does New York not have any sun?”

“I was pale when I lived in California,” Caitie pointed out. “I just blend in better here.”

Seriously, though, if Ember had a fiancé or husband, why the hell was she trying to lift that propane tank at the store? Shouldn’t the guy have helped? Or was Lucas being too sexist? He wasn’t sure.

“It’s a shame you can’t be here for Angel Day.” His mom gave Caitie a sad smile. “We used to have so much fun there.”

“I wish I could too.” There was a strange note in Caitie’s voice that he couldn’t quite place. On the screen he saw her swallow hard. “But things are crazy here. I don’t want to turn down the work. Maybe you guys can come visit me soon.”

Maybe he should just ask Ember about this guy. But what the hell conversation would that be? ‘Hey, how’s school? Oh and by the way, I heard you were engaged. Is that true? Why am I asking? Well because…’

Because…

“We should definitely come out, shouldn’t we, Wallace?” his mom said, sounding excited. His father lifted his gaze from his paper, nodded, then looked down again.

Why should it matter to him that Ember Kennedy was engaged? He wasn’t sure.

All he knew was that he didn’t like the thought of her being with somebody else.

11

It was a glorious Friday evening. The air was warm and still, the sound of the surf soothing to her ears as Ember parked her car and joined the rest of the committee at the Fair site.

The annual Angel Day Fair was held in the same place every year. In the large green expanse at the end of the boardwalk, right before you reached Paxton’s Pier. For the rest of the year it was a park, used mostly by tourists as a spill-over picnic site when the beach became too busy. But for one day a year it was a magical place, filled with vendors and rides and – most importantly – people, all delighted to celebrate the town’s foundation day.

Her phone started to buzz in her pocket as she reached the edge of the grass. She pulled it out and immediately rolled her eyes. Though the screen was locked, it was displaying ten alerts, all from the Sizzle app. They’d been arriving thick and fast all week, and some of them were completely crazy. Guys wanting to know if she was into bondage, others asking if she’d let them dress up like babies and pretend to be their mother.

Luckily there were one or two nice guys on there. Ones who were interested in chatting with her, asking her questions about her job and her hobbies. More importantly, they took her mind off her embarrassing encounters with Lucas Russell.

She swallowed hard, remembering how his hands had felt as he caught her on that playhouse. Warm, strong, and completely overwhelming. Her reaction to him was so over the top.

Maybe that’s why she’d tentatively agreed to go on a date with one of her matches. Adam Michaelson seemed friendly enough, and there really wasn’t anything to lose. And there was the added bonus that Ally would be delighted she was finally going out with a guy. It was a win-win situation.