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He lowered his hand from his face and extended it toward her. “Sebastian Grant. I’m the new head of tourism development in town.”
Carly’s mouth gaped. Of course he was. She’d heard the rumor that Mr. O’Doyle was retiring from the position he’d held for over thirty-five years and she knew the mayor’s office was hoping to hire a replacement by the start of tourist season, but she hadn’t known they’d found someone.
Or that he’d be a young, handsome guy with a savior complex.
“Nice to meet you,” she said, feeling her cheeks flush with heat even more than they had seconds ago. “I’m Carly Walters—I run the Sealena Bookstore and Museum on Main Street.”
“Ah! Yes!” The man’s eyes lit up. “Great to meet you. Mayor Crinly said you’d be my greatest resource on all things Sealena.”
As somewhat of a local expert on the Serpent Queen, Carly was heavily involved in the tourism department. She sat on the local planning committee and helped to arrange a lot of the town’s events, such as the Sealena Festival happening the following month. Mayor Crinly had already given her a heads-up that she’d be spending a lot of time with whomever took over the position.
“I, uh, guess I didn’t make a great first impression.”
Sebastian shook his head as he helped her descend the stairs from the stage. “On the contrary,” he said. “You’ve impressed the hell out of me—definitely shows commitment to participate in something like this. You wouldn’t catch me up there.” He shuddered at the thought. The other contestants had dispersed, and the judging had commenced. Music had resumed, and luckily, everyone had continued on with their evening as though the costume malfunction hadn’t happened.
Carly laughed. “I was winning too, until that stupid plank of wood.” Her costume had been the best by far. Once she’d agreed to participate, she’d gone all in on the design and, being a Sealena expert, made hers as authentic as possible with a likeness to the Serpent Queen that none of the other competitors could have hoped to duplicate, with a multiple snake headdress that had taken weeks to sew together. Her body-painted scales of various greens, tans and gold had taken three hours to apply with an airbrush and stencil. She’d even temporarily dyed her long dark hair an ocean shade of green for a more authentic look than the wigs worn by her fellow competitors. The gold tank top she wore matched the long serpent appendage she’d fabricated from a mermaid tail she’d bought the year before when she’d signed up for a mermaid swim class, where she’d quickly discovered that her abs were just not up to the challenge.
She’d had this win, hands down.
Now it appeared the trophy and bragging rights belonged to Amelia Fisher, the first-grade teacher, who was graciously accepting her award from the judging table.
“There’s always next year,” Sebastian said.
Carly laughed and shook her head as she turned toward the back room, where she had a change of clothing waiting. “Not for me. This was a once-in-a-lifetime event.”
“Glad I was here to witness it, then,” he called after her teasingly. His gaze drifted over her with obvious interest and she felt her cheeks warm again.
When was the last time a man had looked at her that way?
Longer than forever. A serial monogamist, she didn’t do casual and didn’t like to waste her time on relationships that weren’t going to lead anywhere.
“I look forward to talking to you about the Sealena Festival,” she said, pushing open the back staff-room door.
“Likewise,” he said. Then he jogged toward her and lowered his voice to a conspirator’s level. “And, uh, Carly?”
Her pulse picked up slightly. “Yeah?”
“It’s Saturday.”
She frowned. “Huh?”
“Your underwear saidFriday,” he said with a grin and a wave as he headed back to rejoin the group seated at the mayor’s table.
Carly watched after him, an odd feeling washing over her. Had they been flirting just now? It had felt like flirting, but it had been so long since she’d flirted or been flirted with that she couldn’t be sure. And did she want to flirt with a man who was going to be a colleague of sorts?
Rachel finally caught up to her in the hallway, dressed in a tight, lime-green body-con dress and matching six-inch heels. It was no mystery why her friend had taken so long to get through the crowd. Carly would never be able to walk in such tight fabric with stilettos. Rachel was from Seattle and she still dressed like a city girl despite having lived in the casual small town for almost a year. “Holy hotness. Who was your sexy rescuer?” she asked, her gaze on Sebastian.
“Sebastian Grant, the new head of tourism development,” Carly said, pushing through the staff-room door of the pub.
Rachel followed her inside. “New head of tourism? So, essentially your new shadow for the summer?” she said with unconcealed pleasure at the turn of events. Her blue eyes sparkled and Carly could already see the matchmaking wheels turning in her friend’s mind. Recently engaged, Rachel had love on the brain 24/7 and she was constantly trying to convince Carly to sign up for relationship apps, speed dating events... She’d even suggested a reality dating show, which, luckily, Carly had not succumbed to the pressure of.
Yet.
“Who just saw me in my underwear,” she said as she carefully removed the snake headdress without yanking out pieces of her stiff, dyed hair. She was going to need a really great hair conditioning treatment after this.
“Everyone just saw you in your underwear,” Rachel said, helping to unzip the tail from around Carly’s waist.
She breathed in deep as the tight fabric was removed. “Thanks for the reminder.”
