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Ryan studied me for a few moments in silence.

“I wasn’t trying to keep it quiet. I just…didn’t want to talk about it,” she said.

“That’s fine, you don’t have to. But if you wanted to, you could talk to me.” Not that I knew anything about the pressures of being a candle heiress, but I knew how to listen.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, her arms relaxing a little.

“The place I think we should eat our pizza isn’t technically in Arrowbridge, but it’s well worth a drive down the road,” I said.

“Is it?”

I nodded and two of the kids crashed into my legs as they chased each other around and I fell into Ryan’s chest. If her reflexes hadn’t been so good, I would have face-planted right into her tits. I wouldn’t have minded one bit, but she probably would have.

“Sorry,” I gasped, but she didn’t let go of me right away. Her fingers twitched, digging into my skin for a fraction of a heartbeat before she basically picked me up and set me on my feet again.

Nick called for our order and Ryan went to fetch it.

“Lead the way,” she said to me as she carried everything.

“Okay, turn right here,” I told her.

“If you weren’t so tiny, I might be worried for my safety,” she said.

“Hey, I can be dangerous. You don’t know,” I said. “I could be really good with knives. Or poisons.”

Ryan looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “I think I can take you.”

“Oh, turn here,” I said.

Ryan pulled into the parking lot of the lighthouse in Castleton. The sun hadn’t gone down yet, but the light was on already, flashing every few seconds.

There were a few people wandering around, walking their dogs, taking pictures of the sunset and the waves as they crashed against the cliffs where the lighthouse perched.

“I haven’t been here before,” Ryan said.

“See? There’s lots to explore in this little part of the state.”

Ryan carried the food down toward the picnic tables.

“You’ll have a little more room than you did at Sydney and Lark’s table,” I said as she swung one leg and then the other over the bench to sit down.

“I wouldn’t have gone if I’d known it was going to be that crowded,” she said.

“Same,” I agreed as I opened my pizza box and pulled two slices onto my paper plate, along with two of the sliders.

Ryan cracked the top of her soda can and I watched her throat as she swallowed. She gazed out over the ocean for a moment.

“You can’t beat the view,” I said.

“No, you can’t,” she agreed before selecting a slice of pizza. I waited to take a bite of mine until after she did.

“You’re watching me,” she said.

“Sorry,” I said, flustered at being caught ogling her.

“You can, if you want,” she said casually. “I don’t mind.”

I looked up in surprise and there it was again. That heat pulsing between us like a living thing. I took a shaky breath and forced myself to go back to my pizza.