Page 39 of Savior
“No wonder you never traveled. So, what brings you to Florida? More work?”
Her smile goes electric. “Actually, I’m scoping out honeymoon spots.” She holds up her hand and flashes a ring the size of a small mountain.
“Holy Moses!” I scoot around the table for a better look. “Look at that!”
“Well, when he wasn’t shouting at me, he was the hottest man I’d ever met.”
My mind blanks for a second. “Don’t tell me you’re marrying him?”
“Oiu,” she says with a huge smile. “Next fall.”
“Congratulations!”
“Thank you.” She picks up an empty glass and fills it with wine before handing it to me. “Let’s toast to me.”
We clink glasses, and I say, “To the first of many wonderful vacations with the sexy French chef.”
She raises her glass to sip but gasps, “Wait! What about you? I’m no bridezilla. What are we toasting for you?”
I think about it for a second and then blush. “Well, I did just meet someone and I don’t know if it’s serious, but I feel like it could be, if I let myself.”
“Take it from me, the quintessential single girl: do it. It’s the scariest, most death defying leap you’ll ever take, but when it’s the right person, anything is worth the risk.” She raises her glass and I do the same. “To my sexy chef and to your...”
“Sexy Southern cop,” I supply.
Her giggles are infectious. “That’s what I’m talking about. To them and to us.”
I clink glasses. “To us.”
* * *
After the last guest has eaten, including the bubbly and very tipsy Lena, I clean up and and take the short walk back to the bungalow. Rocky trots happily by my side, only deviating from the path to investigate a bush or to dart ahead and then come back to my side.
I finally broke down a few days ago and got a car to take me back and forth to town. Unlike most of the large cities I’ve lived in the past few months, Nassau doesn’t feature a large transportation system and I couldn’t keep relying on Diane’s generosity every time I needed to go into town for groceries or to run an errand.
It isn’t anything special, just a six-year-old sedan that was in desperate need of another coat of paint, but it will get me to and from town. Like Rocky and the garden, though, it’s another way for me to lay down roots.
Logan leans against it, smiling at me as I near the house. The sight of him almost stops me in my tracks, if nothing else, it slows my pace considerably.
He exchanged his police uniform for a pair of jogging pants and a T-shirt, but he could be dressed in rags and somehow make them look sexy. The pants hug his muscular thighs and the T-shirt accentuates his defined chest. I’m not going to lie. It’s been a long time since I’ve been with a man. A long time since I’ve felt the kind of heat he stirs to life.
When I get close enough, he tugs my hand and pulls me to him. “Hey,” he says, after kissing me senseless. He leans closer, and I feel his breath on my neck. “You smell amazing.”
“I smell like I’ve been working all day.” I pull away because the eager feeling in my belly is screaming at me to drag him inside and do some investigation of my own.
His eyes glint like he can see the truth behind my evasion, and it makes me want to frown at him. “Ready to go?” he asks.
“Let me just water the garden and grab his leash.”
He follows me across the yard and up the stairs. “How was work?”
I glance back at him as I unlock the door. “It was all right. You?” I wonder if it sounds as awkward aloud as it does in my head. “How’s the case going?”
“It’s going. Haven’t had much luck interviewing potential witnesses, but we’ll get there.”
I make a noncommittal humming sound as I turn on the water to the hose and start spraying. I keep my face averted so he can’t read my expression. The fact is, I know just how frustrating the waiting can be—except from the other end of the scenario. I know what it’s like to wait and wait as the police valiantly try to dig up clues.
“You’ll find the guy,” I say, and I hope it doesn’t sound as hollow to him as it does to my own ears.