Chapter 4

Evan could sense Riley’s tension as it skyrocketed, and he’d said something she didn’t like.

“I don’t want to go out with you,” she said, but there was no power behind the words.

“Why not?”

“You don’t live here,” she said. “And I have a—”

“Policy,” they said together. “I heard,” he added. “And this isn’t about your policy.” He kept walking, every step away from her office a victory. “You think I only liked you because you didn’t know who I was.”

“Or you’re delusional,” she said. “Neither is playing in your favor.”

He smiled, because she was witty and quick, and he liked that. “I’m not delusional,” he said. “I know what I like, and you…I liked you.”

“Yeah, I heard DJ say that,” she said. “What have you been saying about me?

“Honestly?”

She laughed again, not quite getting the humor in the sound. He didn’t really like that, but he supposed she needed some time to warm up to the idea of dating him. He knew he was a lot to handle. His lifestyle. His personality. He’d been told more than once that he was intense, both on stage and in his private life.

He didn’t know how else to be. He wanted to experience everything in life, savor each day, breathe through each moment.

“You better be honest with me,” Riley said. “Otherwise, I should take you back to your brothers right now.”

“Yeah, pass,” he said. “Okay, so honestly. I’ve been a little…obsessive the last couple of days trying to figure out why you wouldn’t respond to my email. It was Lisa who searched for a list of wedding planning places and told me to call. And she only did it so I’d shut up about you.”

“This is unbelievable,” Riley said.

“It’s the honest truth.” Evan watched a bird fly overhead. “DJ said I was moody. Pete texts me every morning to find out if you’ve contacted me yet. He went back to the states for his break. Carl rolls his eyes when I check my phone and frown.” He laughed, because he supposed his behavior the past few days had been a little ridiculous. “But hey, I found you, and I won’t have to be that moody Evan anymore.”

“What if I say I don’t want to go out with you?”

“Is that what you want to say?” he asked, his pulse ricocheting around inside his chest. What would he do if she said yeah, she didn’t want to see him again?

“I’m just asking what if,” she said.

“I don’t do what if’s,” he said. “I just deal with stuff as it actually happens.” He grinned at her as if he was oh-so-wise.

“This is a little surreal for me,” she said. “I mean, you’re a rockstar. You’ve been on the cover of People.” She shook her head, and Evan almost wished none of those things were true. That they’d never happened.

“I’m just a guy,” he said. “A guy who really liked you in the coffee shop. A guy you were going to give your number to before you knew who I was. Why can’t I just be that guy?”

“Because, Evan.” She paused and looked up at him. “You’re not just that guy, and you know it.”

“I like it when you say my name.”

“And no guy just says whatever he’s thinking,” she said. “That’s weird.” She stepped past him, removing her hand from his, and he thought she’d walked out of his life again. Then he realized they’d somehow arrived at Pepe’s, and she’d gone inside.

A smile stared to fill his soul. She hadn’t run away. And he needed to stop saying whatever came to mind. And buy a house on this island, stat.

He followed her inside and joined her in line. “I won’t say whatever’s on my mind,” he said. “I’m not totally weird.”

“Everyone is staring at you,” she said. “So you’re definitely weird.”

“Maybe they’re staring at you.” He refused to look around at the people in the restaurant, choosing instead to study the menu.

“Maybe we should get this food to go.”

“Nope,” Evan said, sliding his hand along Riley’s lower back and letting it rest on her hip. She didn’t flinch or move away from him. In fact, she leaned into him, and Evan couldn’t even read the menu at that point. She smelled amazing, like peaches and oranges and other tropical fruits, and she fit right in his arms.

“First rule for us,” he said. “We don’t run from hard things.”

“We have to have rules?” she asked, inching forward.

“Well, Carl likes rules, and I’ll admit they make some things easier.”

“How about rule two, then?” Riley asked, gently pushing his hand off her hip. “You don’t crowd me in line.”

“As long as you don’t run,” he said, chuckling. “I can handle that.”

Riley cut him a look out of the corner of her eye, and she probably meant it to be a glare. But those green eyes held too much sparkle, and a rush moved through Evan the way waves crashed against the shore.

“I just need to say one more thing on my mind,” he said.

“Oh, boy.” Riley rolled her eyes playfully. “Go on, then. And you better be ready to order.”

“You order for me,” he said. “Because all I can think about is if I’m going to walk away from this restaurant with your number in my phone.”

She giggled, and Evan had his answer. He still wanted to hear her say it though. She tucked her hair behind her ear and stepped up to the cashier to order. He just went with her, watching her as she ordered her big salad and then a platter of pork nachos for him.

Perfect.

She was perfect, and Evan couldn’t believe she’d found his watch and tracked him down. Riley handed him a cup and said, “Chances are, you’re going to get my number.”

“Oh, I need a definitive yes or no,” he said.

She walked over to the soda machine and said, “All right, then. Yes,” in that fun, flirty voice that had been haunting him since he’d met her in the coffee shop. And with that single word, he knew his vacation was about to get a lot more interesting.

***

By the time Evan left the restaurant, he not only had Riley’s number, but a date with her that night. She’d claimed she was going to be “so late” and “in real trouble” when she got back to the office, and she couldn’t see him again until eight o’clock that evening.

He sighed as he sank onto the blanket on the beach, where his family and friends hadn’t moved in the two hours he’d been gone. Someone—probably Brett—had put up a huge umbrella for shade, and Evan stripped his shirt off as he scanned the beach for someone he knew.

No one had bothered him at Pepe’s, which was an amazing Mexican restaurant just down the boardwalk and across the street. It had quieted after they’d gotten their food, and Riley had allowed him to sit with his back to the crowd. He was used to getting stared at, though he still didn’t like it. Used to giving autographs, and giving hugs and high-fives, and getting pictures taken.

He’d promised Riley to take her somewhere off the beaten path for their date that night, and a blip of unrest moved through him. He’d been on the island of Getaway Bay for a week now, but he didn’t know hardly any paths, beaten or unbeaten.

He called the hotel where he was staying, glad the concierge had given him his direct line. “Hey, Nate,” he said when the man answered in his crisp, professional voice—very much like the one Riley had used to answer the phone earlier. “It’s Evan Garfield. I’m wondering if you can give me the name of some…private restaurants or places to go tonight.”

“Of course,” the man said. “For how many people?”

“Two,” he said. “I don’t want anything too fancy.” Riley didn’t seem like the type of woman to appreciate it when a man threw his money around, though Evan had plenty of that. “I want slow, summer night. Somewhere where not a lot of crowds hang out.”

“Are you willing to drive?”

The thought of Riley cuddled up with him in the back seat of a luxury car increased Evan’s internal temperature about fifty degrees. “Sure,” he said. “If you can get me a car service. I don’t have a vehicle on the island.” In fact, Evan hadn’t driven for himself much in the past five years. He owned a motorcycle in each of the cities where he had houses, and that usually did just fine for him.

And Riley in a sexy helmet, on the back of a bike, holding onto him…

“I can get you a service, sir,” Nate said. “The North Shore is beautiful in the evening. It’s got a cool vibe, and there are much less people there. Everyone is…chill.”

“Chill sounds great,” Evan said.

“Seafood okay?”

“Yep.”

“I’ll get you a table at Oceanside,” Nate said. “Excellent views. Private booths. Access to a beach with sea turtles that only restaurant-goers can visit. It’s very low-key.”

Evan appreciated that Nate didn’t say “romantic,” though he’d somehow gotten that clue from Evan anyway. “Sounds amazing.”

“What time can I make the reservation?”

“Uh, later,” Evan said. “I can’t leave until eight.”

“I’ll make it for nine-fifteen,” he said. “It’s only about fifty minutes up to the North Shore.”

“Thanks, man,” Evan said. “You’re the best.”

“Of course, sir,” Nate said, and Evan thought he could definitely hear a smile in the man’s voice. He’d be sure to put a wad of cash on the man’s desk when he went back to the hotel to shower. They were staying at one of the higher levels at Sweet Breeze, and he had access to their private beach and a pool only guests on that floor could use. But everyone had wanted to try out the East Bay today, and Evan liked that it was a little less crowded on this side.

“How’d it go?” Brett asked, coming out of nowhere and sitting beside Evan.

“So great.” He smiled at his more laid-back brother. “I got her number, and we’re going out tonight.”

Brett chuckled as he shook his head. “I’m kind of surprised at this.”

“I know, right?” Evan said. “I never do this.” And he didn’t. He toured the country as Georgia Panic performed, and he wasn’t one of those rockstars with women in his room every night. His one and only marriage had taught him so much, though it had fallen apart after only two years.

He hadn’t thought about Kitty in a decade, and it had been fifteen years since their relationship had shattered him. He’d been so busy with the band, and music, and everything taking off that he hadn’t dated in a long time.

He went out with someone here and there, mostly for show. To an event. An awards show. Something like that. But a real date, where he got to hold a woman’s hand and talk to her? Learn about her? Think about kissing her?

Yeah, he hadn’t done that in a long, long time.

“What if this thing with Riley becomes serious?” Brett asked.

“Are you Carl?” Evan asked, laughing. Brett joined in with him, but they both sobered pretty quickly.

“I don’t know,” Evan said. “We’re not touring again for a while, and maybe I’ll just stay here.”

“And what? Fly to LA for band meetings?”

“Sure,” Evan said. “Why not?” He looked at his brother, his mind firing through possibilities. “I mean, Hank just videoed in for most of the last two songs while he stayed in Nashville with Melinda.” The backup vocalist and keyboardist had become a father while they’d been working on their last album, and he’d caught up fine once he’d made it to LA. “And there are other places to record.”

“Sure, sure,” Brett said, which meant he was still thinking about things. Evan appreciated that his brother actually did think before he spoke, because Carl would’ve just told him how ridiculous he was being, and that he couldn’t stay in Getaway Bay because of a pretty face.

But Carl hadn’t felt the sparks shooting through Evan’s whole body when he touched Riley. There was something between them, and Evan wanted to find out if it could grow and morph and bloom into something lasting.

After all, he wasn’t getting any younger, and he wouldn’t be a rockstar forever. He thought about what Riley had told him about her loud, obnoxious family, and he wanted one of his own.

None of his brothers had significant others, and maybe it was time to stop dragging them all over the world so they had a shot at a more normal life.

Evan wanted it all—he always had. Normalcy at home. Fame on the road. Private time to pluck a guitar and work through troublesome lyrics. Public time to show the world what gifts God had given him.

“I want a family,” he said, only realizing he’d said it out loud when Brett said, “Yeah, I hear you, bro. I hear you.”

“You do too?”

“I’ve been thinking it might be time for me to settle down,” Brett said with a shrug. “Here comes Carl. Don’t say anything to him about this. Please.”

“Deal,” Evan said as Carl stopped in front of them.

“What’s the deal?” he demanded, and Evan just started laughing.