Page 54 of The Best Thing He Never Wanted

He almost choked on his coffee.

She slapped his arm. “I didn’t mean like that.” Her smile changed. “I just meant…” She paused. “Although…”

“Bea?”

“Yes, Blane?”

“Don’t think I didn’t want to.”

Her smile disappeared.

“You had an early flight. And I didn’t see how…” He let the words trail off.

“I know.” She smiled again, softer this time. “And you were right.” She patted his arm and went back to buttering her croissant.

He took a drink of coffee, trying to figure out what exactly she meant by that. Maybe she was glad he hadn’t kissed her. Glad they hadn’t gone where last night could have taken them. Was that what she meant? He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

After they’d eaten, he cleared the table while Bea dug through her purse and pulled out a folded map of the island.

He stopped when he came back and saw her spreading it out over the table.

“You carry a paper map?”

She looked up at him. “Don’t start.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Your eyebrows said it for you.”

He sat down beside her. “Phones have maps now.”

“I am aware of that, thank you. But I like to see where things are in relation to each other. The whole island, not a little square on a screen.”

“Fair enough.”

“And when my phone dies, or I have no signal, or I accidentally do something dreadful to it because I still don’t understand half of what it does, I shall have my map.”

His mouth twitched. “Prepared.”

“Exactly.”

He leaned over it. “Show me where we’re going.”

She found the spot with her finger.

“Here. Well, roughly here. The village is up in the hills, and the house is just outside it.”

He studied the map. “How far from the airport?”

“About an hour and a half, depending on traffic.”

His gaze moved over the roads, tracing the route without thinking about it. Airport. Main road. Smaller road inland. Villages. Mountain roads.

“You’re doing it, aren’t you?”

He looked at her. “Doing what?”

“Assessing.”