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5
Cass could sit on this deck, listening to the ocean greet the shore, and sip wine forever.A sense of peace filled the air at how slow life felt here, without a neighbor in sight.Grant and Bea had just taken the dinner dishes inside, and Cass took a deep breath of the sea air, held it in her lungs, and then blew it out.
“It’s lovely here, West,” she said to the black sky.Dinner had been a four-course affair, and the wine had flowed freely.She felt warm from head to toe, but that could be from the muggy air here in Carolina.The sun had gone down an hour ago, but the heat hadn’t lessened much.
“You’d like it,” she said.“And I’m going to the Everglades.I’ll take so many pictures and look for all your favorite birds.”She smiled at the moon, raised her glass with the last swallow of wine in it, and then emptied it.
“Hey,” a man said, and Cass twisted around.“Sorry.”Harrison came up the steps from the beach.“I thought I heard you talking, but I didn’t want to interrupt.”
Cass hated that he’d overheard her.“Just talking to myself,” she said.She set her empty wine glass on the table and wrapped her arms around herself.“This beach is magical.”
“It sure is.”Harrison leaned against the railing.“Bea and Grant got themselves a really nice place here.”
Cass nodded, but she didn’t move any closer to Harrison.He’d likewise left an appropriate gap between them.“You missed a fantastic dinner.”
He flashed her a smile but said nothing.In some ways, that reminded her of West.The man had been steady and strong, never over-reacting or evenreacting to things the way Cass did.“Bea says you own a construction firm here,” she said, hoping to break the ice between them.
“Yes,” Harrison said.
Her heartbeat fluttered, but she wasn’t sure if it was from nerves or excitement.Harrison was easily one of the more handsome men Cass had met in her lifetime.Big, broad shoulders, dark hair, and that full beard.That all checked boxes for her, and he screamed,Just your type!to every cell in Cass’s body.
So many thoughts filled her head, and she wished she could pluck them out one by one.She’d thought about selling the house a lot.Bea was the first person she’d mentioned it to.She’d thought about moving, but not to Hilton Head.Not until she’d touched down in South Carolina.
Now, it seemed like a good possibility.An avenue she hadn’t explored yet, but that she definitely wanted to.
She’d thought about staying for the summer here on the island.She’d thought about dating—something she hadn’t told anyone.Almost Bea, for a moment there in the airport.Then Cass hadn’t been able to do it, and she’d switched her question to whether she could stay here on the island for the summer.
She stole another look at Harrison.He watched the darkness undulate in front of them, the symphony of the sea rumbling somewhere in it neither of them could see.He was definitely her type, and she’d definitely felt her heartbeat bump against her ribs when he’d taken her hand in his at the airport.
That’s called a handshake, she told herself.She shook her head slightly and returned her gaze to the darkness too.Harrison hadn’t held her hand.He’d shaken it.Completely different things.
“Oh, I learned something at my HOA meeting tonight,” he said.
“Yeah?”She turned and leaned her hip into the railing.“Are you on the board or something?”
“It’s really small,” he said.“A row of houses on the northeast side of the island.You can see Carter’s Cove from my back deck.”He smiled, and Cass thought he looked good enough to be on the big screen.She wanted to ask him if he’d ever done any acting, but she refrained.
“So there’s maybe ten houses?Eleven?”He straightened and faced her too.“A couple of the houses aren’t done yet, even, and tonight, I found out that one of them is for sale.”
Cass’s eyes widened.Her pulse quickened.“Really?”She wasn’t sure she could afford a house in a fancy HOA on the water like he’d described.
Harrison chuckled.“Really.The woman who owns it decided not to move here.Her son and daughter-in-law—or maybe her daughter and son-in-law?I don’t know.Someone in her family built a new house and they put in a mother-in-law apartment.So she’s moving to Raleigh instead.”
“Interesting,” Cass said.“I’ll have to look up the listing.
“Oh, they won’t list it, ma’am,” Harrison said.“The houses there—” He cleared his throat.“You have to know someone to get in.They only sell through word-of-mouth.”
Cass took a step closer to him.“This sounds like a ritzy, gated community.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said.
She cocked her head at him, finding him absolutely wonderful.“Ma’am?”
“Just bein’ nice,” he said.
“Well, stop it,” she said.“You’re making me feel old.”She trilled out a laugh she hadn’t heard herself make in a long, long time.With horror, she realized what was happening.
She was flirting with this man.Flirtingwith him.
