AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, uh, no. Not at all,” he said. Okay, no matter how attractive that glimpse of her had been, stammering wasn’t going to earn him any points in the suave category. “I should thank you, actually. If I’d encouraged her to go over there and make friends, she’d probably have told me it was an epically stupid idea.”
“Ouch. That’s a pretty steep price to pay for putting her on the spot,” Sloane observed, slipping her graceful frame into one of the two tall chairs in the cozy nook.
Gavin drew back in surprise. “I putheron the spot? She’s the one who gave me a hard time.”
Sloane leaned in, splitting the distance between their bodies by half. “I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Pointing out a teenager’s unease in public tends to make her feel self-conscious. Especially if the teenager in question is full to brimming with hormones.”
It took Gavin a few seconds to attach the labelteenagerto his kid sister, and then a full minute to link the ideas together in a way that made sense. “So, wait. All that attitude was because I said she was uncomfortable?”
Sloane sighed like he was a lost cause. “You said she was uncomfortable because she didn’t know anybody. As far as she’s concerned, you might as well have told the whole room she has no friends.”
“But I didn’t say that.” And damn it, as much as he hated it, Breedidn’thave any friends. Not that he’d have ever said so, because he wished like hell it wasn’t true.
Sloane’s words seeped past his automatic defenses and he paused as they soaked in. Wait a second…had he inadvertently said so?
Seriously, there had to be a secret decoder ring for this stuff.
“Of course you didn’t.” Sloane lifted her shoulders as if all of this hormone-fueled cloak-and-dagger business made perfect sense.
“That’s a hell of a logic leap for someone who claims to have no experience with kids,” he said, realizing only after the words were out that they might offend her. Wonderful. At this rate he was going to piss off the entire room, one woman at a time.
But Sloane just laughed. “Oh, my knowledge about kids is nil. All my experience in this matter comes from the belligerent-daughter department.”
“You?” he asked, certain she was pushing the boundaries of the truth. “Come on. You’re an independent woman with a successful career. That hardly qualifies as belligerent.”
Like any red-blooded guy hiring a romance novelist to watch his sister, Gavin had Googled Sloane the first day she’d spent at the cottage. Her writing credentials were as impressive as she’d claimed; in fact, she’d left out the little tidbit about her last book hitting theUSA Todaybest-seller list. How could her parents not be proud of that?
“Yeah, my mother missed the news flash on that one. According to her, my business cards should readSloane Russo, black sheep of the family.” Sloane’s smile stayed firmly attached to her face, but her jaw ticked ever so slightly, betraying the effort she was making.
“Because you’re a writer?” Something about it just didn’t compute. “What does your father think?”
The hitch in Sloane’s movement was noticeable, but she answered softly, “I don’t know. He died of colon cancer when I was nineteen.”
The words punched him right in the gut. “I’m sorry.” Somehow, the default answer didn’t feel like it was enough. Especially now that he knew first-hand how hollow it could be.
“Thanks.” She measured out a tiny smile. “Anyway, embarrassment notwithstanding, Bree’s still a little hard on you, huh?”
The observation prompted a sharp tug from deep in his belly that hollered at him not to share. “I’m getting used to it.”
Desperate to shift the focus of the conversation, Gavin plucked a glass of champagne from the tray of a passing server and pressed the flute into her hand. “Sorry, I’m not really doing a good job here. I’m supposed to be your date, right?”
“Nowyou’rebeing hard on you, too. And for the record, I’m supposed to be yours.” Sloane grinned, taking a healthy sip from her glass. Her dark brows popped in surprise. “Wow, I was too nervous when I made my toast to actually taste this. It’s really good.”
His lips tingled with the urge to break into a satisfied smile at her approval. “I know. I chose it.”
“You took it off the tray, Gavin. Let’s not get crazy.” Sloane’s laughter folded around him like sun-bleached laundry, fresh from the line, and for the first time, he didn’t fight the streak of goodness it left in its wake.
“No, I really chose it. As in, Carly asked my advice on the best champagne to serve, and this is what I picked.”
“Huh. Guess she hired you for more than just your chiseled jawline.”
Gavin cocked his head, a little bit surprised and a whole lot intrigued. “My what?”
Sloane clamped down on her bottom lip in a move he swore would undo him, but before he could prompt a more detailed answer, an unfamiliar voice uttering Sloane’s name snagged his attention.
“Sorry to interrupt your conversation,” the woman said, smiling pointedly at both of them. “But I thought I should come over and say hi.”
“Hey, Jeannie! You’re not interrupting at all,” Sloane chirped, a little too eagerly. “Actually, I guess I should’ve introduced you two before.”
