“I promised you a ride home.”
“It’s really not far,” she assured him. The last thing she needed was another hit of close confines with the man. “Don’t worry about it.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive.” She smiled, hoping to convince him.
“All right.” His brow dipped. “And I’ll give you and Vince an exclusive interview. But in exchange, you stay around.”
“Around?”
He nodded as if she knew exactly what he meant. “You can help me avoid the traps and pitfalls of small-town life. If folks expect me to be something I don’t want to be, you can be my advisor.”
“Sure.” She was already having her doubts.
“Name your price.”
“Spoken like a man with more money than sense,” she teased.
“And?”
“Transparency,” she said. “That’s all I ask. No secrets. Not with me.”
His gaze darkened for a moment, a flicker of something she couldn’t identify crossing his features. But he nodded. “Transparency. I can try that.”
“Good.” Holly adjusted her bag. “I’ll be back tomorrow morning. You and Digby should be ready by eight. And Seb?”
“Yeah?”
“Wear a shirt with sleeves this time. Some of the older ladies in town have weak hearts.”
His laughter followed her all the way to the gate. And echoed in her heart all the way home.
CHAPTER 4
Seb adjusted his grip on the steering wheel of the twenty-four-foot center-console skiff, the steady, rhythmic thrum of the outboard engine vibrating through his palms and up his forearms. The boat had been part of the Marion estate package deal and he’d taken the boat out just enough to get a feel for it. Out here, with the water of the Ashley River merging into the harbor and the expansive views highlighted by the showy golds and bright oranges as the sun dropped lower in the sky, the world felt manageable.
Engines followed the laws of physics. Code followed the logic of its compiler. The marsh and waterways, while chaotic to the untrained eye, followed the rhythm of the tides.
With Holly in the seat next to him, Seb felt as if his luck was following a brighter path.
He’d had to cancel their morning plans due to some untimely bugs in the code. Nothing he couldn’t clean up, but the task had been tedious and time consuming, leaving him with a headache and a sour mood he didn’t want to share with anyone.
Lucky man that he was, Holly had understood and offered to join him for dinner at Parker’s Fish Camp instead.
He’d done his homework on the popular restaurant and when she’d arrived, he’d offered to take the skiff instead of his car. Her eyes had sparkled and he’d been pleased to surprise her a little.
He glanced over as she rooted through her canvas tote, a bag that seemed bottomless. He’d spied her camera bag and a couple of notebooks, as well as the voice recorder. But she bypassed all of that to pull out two red cans of Coke. She popped the tab on one, the crisphissof carbonation nearly lost to the wind, and took a long, appreciative sip.
He probably shouldn’t be watching the way her lips fit to the lip of the beverage.
“Want one?”
How was it she looked so comfortable and exciting at the same time? Her golden ponytail waved out behind her, and her eyes—a bright, inquisitive blue—were fixed on the shoreline as if she were reading a story written by Mother Nature.
“You’re staring, Mr. Sterling,” she called out over the engine’s drone. She didn’t look at him directly, but a playful smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth. “I brought one for you too.” She held out the second can to him.
Seb shifted his weight and kept one hand on the wheel as he accepted the drink. He’d chosen the boat today for another reason. Taking her truck or his car meant sitting in a confined space, wrapped in the scent of her citrus perfume. Out here, the wind would disperse that persistent electricity that seemed to spark under his skin whenever she got close.
