“No,” he said. “I mean, what made you come here?”
“You mean to a sleepy little island with no cars?” she asked, echoing his earlier line.
“In winter no less.” Lucas leaned forward, placing one elbow on the counter and resting his chin in the palm of his hand. “You know my story, Paige Parker. Now tell me yours. And you can start with why in the world a beautiful woman like you is spending a week alone at the beach.”
Her face flushed and a warmth spread through his chest. Complimenting her was an attempt to put her at ease, but her response pleased him far more than he’d expected.
She shifted in her chair, and the red in her cheeks became more noticeable. “I’m celebrating Singles Day.”
For a moment, Lucas drew a blank. But then he remembered the special request that had accompanied the booking. “Ah, that would explain the cake.” He’d thought a request for a cake inscribed with the words “Happy Singles Day” was a mistake, or maybe even a joke. Either way, he had ignored it.
Paige raised a brow. “Yeah, where is that, by the way?”
“Afraid you’ll have to add that to the grievances you’ll be filing with the booking site.”
She shook her head. “It’s becoming quite a list.”
“Ah yes, but on the other hand, there are unadvertised perks.”
“Like what?”
“Not every day you get to play with a litter of adorable puppies.”
Paige nodded. “So we’ll call it even on the cake.”
He was half-afraid to ask, but curiosity got the better of him. After all, whatever she was about to tell him had brought her to the point of booking a last-minute vacation. Surely he would find it amusing if nothing else. “What is Singles Day anyway?”
Her eyes lit up. “Actually, it’s called Singles Appreciation Day or, in some places, Singles Awareness Day.”
He cocked his head to one side. “Sad.”
She pursed her lips, then let him have it with both barrels. “It’s not sad. There’s nothing sad about loving yourself and being content with who you are. The latest census showed that nearly half the country is single.”
That wasn’t what he meant, but the exasperated look on her face was so adorable, Lucas couldn’t help but laugh. And once he started, he couldn’t stop. Paige glared at him, which only made him laugh harder, and when she crossed her arms indignantly over her chest, he nearly doubled over. He hadn’t laughed this hard in ages. It was like he was back in grade school with a serious case of giggles. “No, no, I mean the acronym.” He struggled to catch his breath and, when he finally did, explained. “Singles Appreciation Day,” he said, saying the words slowly so as to separate them. “S-A-D. Sad. Rather unfortunate acronym, don’t you think?” He’d no sooner finished when the laughter returned. Hell, his abs actually hurt.
Paige’s resolve cracked, and her frown melted into an amused grin. “Yeah, I noticed that as well. But for some reason when you said it—”
“You figured I was just being an asshole?”
“Let’s just say you’re lucky I don’t have that cake,” she said, shaking her head. “Or you would be wearing some of it right now.”
“Sorry,” he said, trying his best to act contrite and failing miserably. “Let me make it up to you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “How?”
“By celebrating Singles Day with you.”
She snorted. “I think you’re missing the point of the holiday.”
“Not at all. We can celebrate being alone.” He winked. “Together.”
“You seriously want to celebrate Singles Day with me?”
He’d have thought she was being intentionally obtuse if it weren’t for the genuine look of surprise on her face. “Yes. When is it?”
“Today actually. The day after Valentine’s Day. The day also known as Half-Price Chocolate Day, but that is beside the point.”
Lucas clapped his hands together. “Perfect.” He started for the front door.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“To the store.” He shrugged into his coat. “A special occasion calls for a special meal.”
Chapter 11
Paige couldn’t say for sure, because as far as she knew there weren’t any guidelines or rules when it came to celebrating Singles Day. But she was fairly certain that it wasn’t customary to mark the occasion by going on a first date. Then again, she wasn’t entirely sure if that’s what Lucas had suggested. He’d merely left for the store, promising to return with the ingredients for a suitable celebratory meal and hopefully a bottle of wine to go with it.
She hurried upstairs to grab a quick shower before he returned. As she stood under the pulsing water, she ran through the scenario in her head: food, wine, candles. Granted, the candles were there in case of another power outage, but still. Add to that an impossibly hot man who just so happened to also be single. On paper it certainly sounded like a date. But in reality? Maybe they were just hanging out as friends. And maybe they wouldn’t even be that if it weren’t for the circumstances.
Of course, that didn’t stop her from shaving her legs. All the way up. None of that to-the-knee crap she was sometimes guilty of when she knew darn well no man was going to have a peek any higher. She even found herself wishing she’d had a wax before she left town. But what woman in her right mind would subject herself to that pain when she was going away to protest romance?
Stop, she thought. She was so far ahead of herself that she wasn’t even visible in the rearview mirror. Lucas was just trying to make the best of a lousy situation. And while it seemed like he was attracted to her—hello, hallway boner!— even that could have been an involuntary reaction to a seeing a naked woman. It didn’t mean he was truly into her. The man was still grieving the loss of his wife. He didn’t need Paige throwing herself at him just so she would have her own sex island story to tell Sammy next week.
Of course, that didn’t stop her from wearing her favorite jeans, the ones that hugged her in all the right places and made her ass look pretty fine, if she did say so herself. She paired them with a navy-blue cardigan, then spent far too much time debating how many buttons to leave undone. One for “just friends,” two for “maybe more,” or three for “forget dinner, just do me on the table.” In the end, she erred on the side of “just friends.” Thanks to “the incident,” as she now thought of it, Lucas had already had an eyeful of what was under that sweater. If he was interested in her as more than friends, his imagination, not to mention his memory, could certainly fill in the blanks.