Chapter 6

Evan had never seen a more beautiful woman. And when she smiled like that, he couldn’t even remember his own name.

“I need help with the shoes,” she said.

“Is that so?”

“You never said where we were going.” She waved for him to come inside her house, so he stepped from porch to front room. Two cats immediately pressed against his legs, and he bent down and chuckled.

“Hey, guys,” he said. “Let’s see if I can get your names right. Marbles,” he said to the gray and black cat. “And Sunshine must be the white and orange one.” He glanced up at Riley, who giggled.

“You got it.”

He straightened and reached for her hand, unable to keep his to himself for another moment. He felt like someone had sprinkled a heavy amount of pixie dust over him, and everything was so magical. The woman. Her cats. The sound of her voice. All of it.

“So I like to wear these really high heels with this dress,” she said. “But I wasn’t sure if we were going somewhere where more practical shoes would be appropriate.”

“I had the concierge at Sweet Breeze pick our place,” he said. “It’s on the North Shore.”

“Oh, so more casual.” Riley toed a pair of wedges that weren’t as high but would surely be as sexy as the heels.

“Is the North Shore more casual?” he asked.

“Definitely,” Riley said. “Tons of surfing up there, and way less tourists.”

“That’s what I requested—the less tourists part.”

She bent to begin putting on the white wedges, but Evan really wanted to see the heels. “Let’s see the pink heels first,” he said.

“Yeah?” She stepped easily into those, and Evan forgot his own name.

His mouth turned dry, and he quickly pulled his phone from his pocket. “Maybe I need a picture to compare. Strike a pose for me.”

Riley looked at him for a few seconds, the silence turning awkward. “Really?”

“Why not? Don’t tell me a woman like you doesn’t know how to pose.” He grinned at her and swiped his camera on.

Riley smiled and put one hand on her hip, pushing it out. Evan backed up to make sure he got the heels and snapped the picture. “Okay, the white ones.”

She put those on, which took a bit longer due to the straps around the back of her heel. She struck the same pose, and Evan took another picture. “Okay, stay there,” he said, bringing up the one with the pink heels. He held the phone out and looked at her in the flesh and her in the picture, wearing the pink heels.

“Honestly, I think it’s the pink heels, Riley.” He really liked saying her name, and he could not imagine ending this date without kissing her. She had all the curves he liked on a woman, and all that hair…He wanted to fist his fingers in it while he held her close. While they danced on the beach to a band only they could hear.

Slow down, he told himself. Carl told him he was too romantic about things, but Evan didn’t know how to be any different. He wrote a ton of songs about relationships and love—how else was he supposed to be?

“Can I hold onto your arm if I wear them?” she asked. “Because they’re high, and I have a feeling I’m going to want you to take me to the beach after dinner.”

“You like the beach?” Evan wanted to know everything about this woman.

“Love it,” she said. “When the moon is up, and the breeze is blowing, and there’s a handsome man on my arm…” She gave him a coy smile and changed her shoes. With the pink heels back on, she said, “All right, rockstar. I’m ready.”

Evan held out his arm, and pure electricity pulsed through him in the few moments it took Riley to cross the space between them and link her arm in his. “So where are we going tonight?”

“We have a private booth at Oceanside,” he said, leading her out onto the porch.

“Stay,” she said to the gray cat, and he meowed mournfully at her. “Oh, you’re fine. I’ll be back later, Marbles.”

Evan chuckled as Riley closed the door behind them. The ends of her hair brushed his forearm, and pure pleasure moved through him.

“Oh, you have a car service,” Riley said, clear surprise in her voice.

“I don’t have a car on the island,” he said. “I actually don’t like cars much.”

“Really?” She paused as he opened the car door for her and looked into his eyes.

He could look at her forever, and he worked to calm his pulse. He felt this rush every time he stepped on a stage, and if he could have it in his personal life too, he really wanted it.

“Someone like you, with lots of money? Tell me you don’t own at least three cars.”

“I don’t own at least three cars.”

“How many do you own?”

“Two.” He grinned at her. “Now, motorcycles…I have a few of those.”

“And how many is a few for Evan Garfield?” she teased.

Evan tipped his head back and laughed, the sound flying up into the sky. “Six.”

“Six?” Riley shook her head, everything about her speaking to Evan’s soul. “Evan, the term you’re looking for is several. You have several motorcycles.”

“No,” he argued in good fun. “I’d need seven to get to several. Six is still a few.”

“We’ll agree to disagree.” She slid into the car, and Evan followed her, glad she didn’t move too far over on the seat. In fact, she cuddled right into him the way he’d fantasized about earlier that day.

He laced his fingers through hers, unable to keep his smile from spreading across his whole face. “So we don’t agree about counting terms,” he said. “But I love the beach too, so that’s one thing in common. And I’m excited to tell you I got a place here in Getaway Bay.”

“You did?” Riley turned her head and looked at him. “You’re renting?”

“Yep,” he said. “For several months.”

“Oh, boy.” The flirtation in her voice made everything male in him come alive. “There’s that several again.”

“I signed a six-month contract.”

“So six is several.”

“I walked into this one, didn’t I?” He laughed, glad when Riley joined him. “A friend of mine is getting married here on the island in December, and he called this afternoon to ask if I’d sing at the wedding.”

“Oh, really? Which wedding is it?”

“His name is Charlie Pyne. His fiancée is Amelia Webb.”

“Pyne?” Riley’s perfectly sculpted eyebrows lifted. “We’re planning that wedding. I mean, I’m not. My firm. Your Tidal Forever.”

“Oh, that’s amazing.”

“His consultant is one of my best friends,” Riley said, beaming at him. “Lisa Ashford. Amelia is local to Getaway Bay. I think she met Charlie…let’s see. On a camping trip in Canada?”

“Yeah.” Evan marveled at her. “How do you remember all of that?”

“It’s my job to know all of that,” she said. “I’m supposed to know every person who walks through the door and have earl grey tea ready for some and hot coffee for others, cold soda for certain brides, and only filtered water for still others.”

“I can barely remember what I did yesterday,” Evan said, the smooth movement of the car beneath him comforting.

“You remembered me,” she said. “Enough to remember I worked at a wedding planning company.”

“True,” he said. “I suppose if I’m motivated enough, I can recall details.” He remembered a lot of things that had happened in his forty-two years of life. The important things. The events and people that really mattered.

Like Riley.

He squeezed her hand. “Thanks for going out with me.”

“You can surely get a date anytime you want,” she said.

“I don’t know about that.”

“Oh, jeez.” She rolled her eyes. “Do you even know who you are?”

“Do you?”

Riley looked at him again, their eyes locking. Several seconds of silence passed, and Evan didn’t know her very well, but he wanted to know everything he could.

“Behind all of the awards, and the songs, and the titles, I’m just Evan Garfield,” he said. “And the sooner you realize that, the more fun we’ll be able to have.”

Riley drew in a deep breath, so many things swirling in those gorgeous, green eyes. “Okay, if you’re just a regular guy, tell me something you did as a kid to get into trouble.”

Evan started chuckling, the sound turning into laughter pretty quickly. “That’s an easy one. I’m the oldest of three brothers, and I’m pretty sure no one in Sweet Springs was upset when the Garfields moved.”

“So you led the charge into mischief,” Riley said.

“All the time,” Evan said. “One time, we went an picked all the peas from our neighbor’s garden down the street. I loved fresh peas from the garden.” Evan could smell the night air, feel the dirt beneath his bare feet, and taste those fresh peas. “We’d done it too many times, and he was waiting for us. With a gun.” Evan laughed again, though he hadn’t been laughing then. “We got in so much trouble. My dad actually called the cops on us.”

“Your dad? Not the neighbor?”

“Kent Shirtluff called my dad. My dad called the cops. Lessons were learned. All that jazz.”

“So you didn’t raid people’s gardens anymore.”

“Well…” Evan laughed again, cutting off the sound after only a moment. “Carl really liked tomatoes from the garden.”

“Why didn’t you guys just plant your own dang garden?” Riley laughed too, and Evan couldn’t believe what his life had become in such a short time.

“Gardens require work,” he said. “Why do all that when you can sneak over a fence in the middle of the night?”

“You’re bad,” she said, still giggling.

“Hey, I’ve never been arrested,” he said. “And that’s something when you’re a celebrity.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” she said dryly.

“Hey, do you want to go shopping with me tomorrow?” he asked.

“What are you buying?” she asked.

“A motorcycle.”

She sighed as she leaned back into his body. “You really are a bad boy, even if the law hasn’t caught up to you yet.”

Hey, if she wanted a bad boy, Evan could be that for her.