“You alright?”Ben murmured close to my ear, startling a yelp out of me.“Whoa, easy there, Damien.Seriously, you’re looking a little peaky.”
“Peaky?”I took his drink and polished it off—ick, the Moscow mule lacked a kick, more melted ice than anything—and grinned widely.“I’m fine.Not like I just had a weird conversation and am on the verge of making a probably awful decision.”
“Is it the clam dip?Don’t get any.I tried some and it tastes weird.”
“Uh, no.And don’t tell Carmel that.She’ll cry.”She was circling the room, brandishing a tray of crustacean themed petit fours and tiny finger sandwiches cut into triangles and arranged to look like sailboats, smiling nervously at everyone who met her eyes.“Wait, is it weird like spoiled or weird like I told her not to put that much dill in and she did it anyway?”
“The latter.”
“Oh, thank god.No, it’s not the clam dip.”I glanced over at the last place I’d seen Tubbs only to find Gwendolyn Terhune staring back at me, everyone else in her group gone.Blood rushed hot to my cheeks under her intense, knowing gaze.She smirked, saluted me with her flute of bubbly, and turned towards someone trying to get her attention.
“I saw you disappear with that guy.He bothering you?”
Ben was adorable when he got all butch.I didn’t tell him that because most guys get kind of iffy if you just blurt that sort of thing out, at least outside of very specific contexts of which the New Yacht Club was not one.Instead, I shook my head.“No.I mean.Maybe?”
Ben studied my face carefully, lips pursed in thought, before taking his empty tumbler from me and setting it on the nearby window ledge.“I’ve put in an appearance.Let’s go home.”
The idea of protesting was a weak flicker.Instead, I let him lead around the edge of the party and towards the double doors opening onto the wooden deck overlooking the docks.“Easier to get out this way,” he murmured when I shot him a look in askance.A lot of the party had spilled outside, people clustering in groups to enjoy the last throes of nice weather before the sharp autumn fully set in, nibbling on their canapes and drinking glass after glass of fizzy sweet things.The only person to pay us any mind was Heath, off duty and lookingfine, leaning against the railing overlooking a narrow strip of water between the deck and the first slip.He gave Ben a wry, amused smirk before turning his attention to a guy in a very snazzy blue suit and neon pink tie who was lingering at his side holding two bottles of water.
“That’s new,” I muttered.
“That’s Ralph Hemmings.He’s had a crush on Heath since high school.Went to Fish Head Bay though.He and Heath were tennis rivals.”
“Drama!”I gasped, making Ben roll his eyes and hide a snort of laughter.Absently, I grabbed his hand as we rounded the edge of the crowd, not wanting to get separated.His tensed, fingers twitching before closing around mine just as I thoughtoh crapand started to pull away.The corner of his lips tweaked in a tiny smile and his ears pinked, and he didn’t let go as he opened the small pedestrian gate and led us out onto the shell walkway.
Chapter 3
“So he wants you tomeet him tonight,” Ben repeated, ticking things off on his fingers.“To go over a script.That you haven’t seen.But he hasn’t approached Rory?”
I shook my head.“If Rory had heard about this, my phone would be ringing nonstop.He’sdyingfor me to acceptanythingright now and isn’t thrilled I’m holding out for the right project.”Rory Flick, my agent for my entire career, had a lot of thoughts on whatright projectmeant and a lot of accusations about being picky that weren’t entirely wrong.
Ben grunted in acknowledgement, leaning back on the sofa to look at me for a long, thoughtful moment.“I think you should do it.Talk to him, I mean.You’ve been fretting about your career literally since the day we met so maybe getting a meeting in, seeing something that isn’t a desperate attempt from Rory to capitalize on your summer’s notoriety, might be a good thing.”
“But it’sTubbs,” I whined, flopping back into the leather club chair across from the sofa.Ben had heard the entire story about my history with Tubbs over an Earl Gray affogato, something he was trying out for the tea shop on their prepared drinks menu.It was good but needed a little tweaking, and I was more than happy to be his taste tester.
For the affogato!Geez...
