Chapter 2

Evan could not believe the gorgeous brunette he’d just picked up in the coffee shop also had his watch. Those gorgeous green eyes rounded, and she dissolved into giggles. “Oh, wow. Let me get it for you.”

She started digging in her purse, and Evan decided he could let her use of plastic straws slide if she’d laugh for him again. “Here it is.” She pulled out the watch, said, “Oops,” and immediately dropped it.

A sharp crack sounded as the face of it met the concrete floor in the coffee shop, and Riley was off her barstool in a moment. “Oh, my goodness. I’m so sorry. I can’t believe this.” She picked up the watch, which sure enough, was now broken. She looked at him, pure panic in her eyes now. “I’ve taken such good care of it for four days.”

Evan absolutely did not care about the watch. In fact, he’d already replaced it, as it had been missing for over a week now. “It’s fine,” he said, covering her fingers with his. An electric spark flew up his arm, and he slowly dragged his hand back, taking the broken watch with him. “No big deal.”

“It is a big deal,” she said. “Let me replace it for you.”

“Sit down,” he said, indicating her barstool again. “Honestly, Riley, I don’t care about the watch.” He lifted his left wrist, where an identical one sat. “See?”

She blinked rapidly again. “You already have another one?”

“That’s right.” He didn’t want to tell her too much right now, as most people saw him differently once they knew who he really was. In fact, with his clothes and his brother’s tees, he was surprised she hadn’t put all the pieces together yet. If there were other people in this shop, he’d probably have been recognized by now.

Riley’s barstool scraped and his phone hit the countertop at the same time. “Excuse me,” she said, and before Evan could even move, she was out the door of the coffee shop.

“Wow,” Carl said, also watching the door close behind Riley. “She can run fast.” His youngest brother could sometimes point out the obvious, which only added to Evan’s irritation.

“What just happened?” Evan picked up his phone, and thankfully, the screen wasn’t broken. Riley also hadn’t put in her number. Desperation pulled through him, and he frowned as he looked at the door again.

“She didn’t even finish her latte,” Brett said as he came over. The middle brother, he almost always tried to get Evan and Carl to get along. “What did you say to her?”

“Nothing, I—” He shook his head. Her reaction was why he’d struck out with women more often than not. “Maybe she recognized me.”

“Why would that make her run?” Carl asked. “Besides the fact that you haven’t shaved in forever.”

Evan rolled his eyes as he stood up. “Can I get this to go?” he asked the barista.

She nodded and took his drink. When she handed it back to him in a paper cup, she said, “I saw your concert the other night. You guys are great.”

“Thanks,” Evan said, his easy-going, rockstar smile coming out. He couldn’t help it. Brett, as the band’s public relations front person, had programmed Southern kindness and cordiality into him. Into all the band members of Georgia Panic. Evan just happened to be the front guy, the one whose name everyone knew, the one on the covers of magazines, the one getting stupid “awards” like Sexiest Man Alive.

Okay, maybe that last one was pretty cool.

Hadn’t helped him get a woman worth keeping, though.

“Did you get her number?” Carl asked.

“No,” Evan said.

“But you got the watch back,” he pointed out.

“I don’t care about the watch.” Evan tossed it in the trashcan on the way out, trying to remember where she’d said she worked. “It’s broken now anyway. I was just going to give it to DJ.” His bass guitarist would be disappointed, but it wasn’t like he couldn’t afford his own smart watch.

Evan paused in the shade and pushed up his glasses. “Did either of you see which way she went?”

“You really liked her?” Carl asked.

“Yeah,” Evan said. “She was beautiful, and she flirted with me, and I was seconds away from getting her number.” He looked at his phone again, but the digits didn’t appear there. He wasn’t sure what about Riley had him all worked up, but there was something. A huge spark when she touched his arm. An intense attraction between them. He had to see her again.

“So you have her email,” Brett said, nudging him to get moving again. Neither of his brothers had wanted to come to the coffee shop on the beach. But Evan rarely went anywhere on his own, and he was going no matter what anyone said. So they’d come along too. “We have a meet-and-greet at City Hall in an hour. You’ll email her tonight, after the show.”

“All right,” Evan drawled, ready to be done with this tour. Thankfully, Getaway Bay was their last stop, and tonight would be their last show.

Then he wanted some of those board shorts Riley had mentioned. He wanted to ditch the street clothes and the beanies and the oversized sunglasses and lay on the beach. He needed to relax.

He’d earned a beach vacation, and he was going to take it—right after tonight’s concert. And right after he emailed Riley and figured out a way to see her again.

***

Three days. Three agonizingly long days, and Riley had not answered his email. He’d been lying on the beach. Tanning. Wearing those board shorts she’d mentioned and nothing else. But he had not been relaxing. He couldn’t, not without knowing that she’d gotten his message.

“Why would she be avoiding me?” he asked, looking over at DJ.

“This again?” the man asked, turning away from his girlfriend.

“You need to figure out where she works,” Lisa said. “I don’t get how you can’t remember. You talked to her for like, three minutes, and she told you very little.”

“Exactly,” Evan said, very near to snapping. “She told me very little.”

“She said she worked on the other side of the bay,” DJ said, wiping his hand over his shaved head. “What did she do?”

Evan closed his eyes and pictured Riley. Petite brunette, with long hair and long eyelashes. So perfectly perched on that barstool, swirling that plastic straw in her coffee. He was no stranger to lattes, and he’d known she was drinking one without having to get too close. So he’d ordered one too.

“Wedding planning,” he said, feeling the ghost of her fingers on his arm.

“Give me a sec,” Lisa said, her fingers already tapping on her phone. “There are a couple of wedding planning places on the island.”

“Send ‘im a list,” DJ said. “And maybe he’ll stop obsessing over this woman.”

Evan wanted to argue. Say he wasn’t obsessed. But he kind of was. He’d started a few songs about Riley, each one dying a few lyrics in. He’d come back to them, sure. He knew how his songwriting approach went by now.

His phone chimed, and he almost dove for it before realizing it was probably Lisa with the list of places. Riley hadn’t said which one, and she hadn’t used a work email. They’d corresponded several times about the watch, so he knew she checked her email on a regular basis.

So she’d chosen not to respond to him. A frown pulled at his eyebrows again, and he wondered if he should just let this woman go. She obviously wasn’t interested in him.

Then the roar of fireworks would fill his veins, and he knew he had to at least try. So he dialed the top name on the list and said, “Yes, hello. I’m looking for Riley Randall…she doesn’t? Okay, thanks.” He hung up, his heart pounding in his chest.

He got this same rush while standing up on the stage before a show, when all the lights were off, and the drums were beating, beating, beating.

No one knew he was there yet, but he knew. In those few moments, he breathed, and he reminded himself how grateful he was to be able to do what he did. Sing, and song-write, and entertain. He loved every minute of it.

Then the lights would come on, and the crowd would scream, and Evan could feed off that energy. Calling around, looking for Riley, felt like that.

“This has to be it,” he said as he finally got to the bottom of the list. The phone rang, and his heart swooped to the bottom of his stomach. What would he do if she wasn’t at this wedding planning place either?

“Your Tidal Forever,” a woman chirped, and the voice struck a chord in Evan’s brain.

“Yes, hi,” he said, changing tactics quickly. “I’m looking for the gorgeous brunette who ran away from me at the coffee shop. Do you happen to know when she takes her lunch?”

On the other end of the line, Riley sucked in a breath and said, “Hold, please.” A click immediately followed, and joy filled Evan from top to bottom.

He laughed, stood up, and said, “I’m going to Your Tidal Forever.”

“Tell Carl,” DJ yelled after him, but Evan didn’t even know where Carl was at the moment, and he could certainly go off on his own. He was forty-two years old, for crying out loud.