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“Welcome to the best speed dating event in Santa Capinari.” Becky claps her hands excitedly as she greets everyone. “I hope everyone is ready to find love this evening.” She beams.

I watch as Lucia and Izzy roll their eyes at each other, and I stifle a laugh before looking around to see if any of the men look like they have the potential to be the one.

“Firstly, I want to thank Dalton Leone for letting us use this amazing space and also Sage for coordinating so many fun plans so that the singles of this town can have fun.”

“Hope it’s worth the forty bucks,” the guy next to me mutters to his friend, and the other guy looks around and grins.

I see him watching me watch him and offer him a small smile when he winks at me. The guy has warm blue eyes and a huge smile that shows off his perfect white teeth. His floppy golden-blond hair still appears damp, and I wonder if he’s a surfer. His deep golden tan would indicate that. Not that it matters much to me, as I’ve never surfed before in my life.

“I’m going to ask all the women to come step over here. Show off your best shimmies, ladies.” Becky shakes her hips, and Lucia groans out loud as we make our way over to the tables.

“This is super cringe,” she says in a voice that is far too loud.

I can see Becky looking over at us with a frown at the comment. Blood rushes to my face, and I keep staring forward, too awkward to make eye contact.

“What? I thought you loved dancing.” Izzy giggles as she throws her hands up in the air like she’s headed toward the dance floor and wants to be the life of the party.

“Shimmying at a speed dating event in front of random men is not the same as doing it on a dark dance floor. Right, Rosie?”

“Yeah, it’s not quite the same,” I agree as I walk and not dance. It feels like all eyes are on me, even though I know they aren’t. “But at least the dating part will start soon, and we’ll be flirting with all the hot men.”

“Show me one?” Lucia asks, looking back, and Izzy laughs loudly.

Maybe it was a mistake, asking them to do this with me.

“I’m meant to be the comedian here.” I press my finger to my lips to attempt to get her to lower her voice. “Which, by the way, we need to check out an open mic night soon.”

“The surfer dude looks very hot,” Izzy says, licking her lips like she sees something tasty.

“That’s Frogger,” Lucia says with a wrinkle of her nose. “His whole life is surf, sand, and sex, in that order. And I have it on good authority that he’s not good at the first or the latter.”

“You hooked up with him?” I ask in surprise, and she bursts out laughing.

“He wishes. I would never. In fact …” Her voice trails off as the door to the restaurant opens, and we all look over in anticipatory surprise, hoping that some cute guys have entered the building. “Oh, of course they would show up.” She sounds annoyed and shakes her head.

“Oh wow,” is all I can squeak out as I see Brett and Roman walk in and head over to the bar, where Jimmy the Fish is serving up the complimentary drinks for everyone attending the event. He places them in a row on the bar for us to grab when we’re thirsty or need a break.

Dalton waves his friends over, and I watch as Sage gives him a kiss on the cheek and heads to the back. My sister is radiant with happiness, and I am delighted to see the weight finally lifted off of her shoulders, even though I still carry some resentment over the fact that she didn’t tell me for a couple of months that we had a different father. I understand her reasoning, but I am still hurt that she didn’t trust me. Not that I hold it over her.

“I bet they’ve come to spy on us.” Izzy gives me a look. “You know how overprotective they all are. I kinda like that they are like that. Having dated someone like Colton, who couldn’t care less about what I was doing, it’s nice to know there are men who care about our well-being.”

“They just want to tell us what we can or can’t do.” Lucia shakes her head. “I’m not interested in being bossed around.”

I watch as she glares at the men, and I’m surprised when I see Roman laughing.

“Jerk,” she mutters under her breath, and I wonder if there’s something there that I don’t know about.

“Me neither,” I add. “Not that any of them can tell me what to do anyway.”

I can’t help but sneak another peek at Brett, and I see that he’s staring at me, his eyes dark and thoughtful. I offer him a wide smile and wave, but all he gives me back is a sharp nod before turning away.

The man gets on my last nerves. I mean, I think he is absolutely gorgeous, and I’d date him in a heartbeat if he asked, but he gives me nothing. He barely talks, never shares anything about himself, and has never once responded when I’ve innocently flirted with him. Which has been infuriating me for weeks.

When Sage and I moved to Santa Capinari and I first laid eyes on him, I was instantly smitten, but now I am over my crush. I am no longer going to waste time on a man who has zero interest in me. I’ve decided to put him in the friend zone and see if he’ll open up to me as friends. Yes, it is kind of a challenge, but I really am intrigued to get to know him better. Plus, it is obvious to me that he isn’t interested, so technically, he put me in the friend zone first.

“Ladies, have a seat at the tables. Jimmy will bring you your drinks, and the men will make their rounds. You will have seven-minute dates with each man, but we’re going to make this fun. We’re going to add some games to the evening as well. Don’t forget to mark down the names of those you like.” She pauses and then points to the men. “And, fellas, be the man every rom-com movie wants you to be. Be charming, ask questions, get to know the ladies. For all you know, your future wife is here tonight.”

“Or my future ex-girlfriend,” one guy shouts, and a bunch of men laugh.