“Frannie, I’m going with Will,” I called to her. “Let Bernadette know, will you?”
Frannie waved at me impatiently. She was too concerned about missing any more of her game to be curious about what I might be doing sneaking off in Will Price’s car.
And what a car it was.
“This is what you drive?” I was so shocked I dropped Will’s hand.
“Yes.” In the glow of the parking lamps, I could see Will reaching into his pocket for his keys, a bewildered expression on his face. “Why, what’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing’s wrong with it,” I said. “It’s just not what I’d expected a guy like you to drive.”
“What do you mean, a guy like me?” Will opened the passenger door of the bright red Tesla. “What did you expect?”
“Something more—well, gas-guzzling, to tell you the truth. A Range Rover, maybe. Or a Porsche. Possibly a Ferrari.”
“Ouch.” He winced. “You really do have a low opinion of me, don’t you? Do you think I’m actually that insecure that I’d need an expensive, gas-guzzling sports car to prove my masculinity?”
“Yes,” I said cheerfully as I climbed inside the Tesla, noticing that, unlike his house, it was filthy. The floor pads were covered in sand. Something rolled under one of my feet. I reached down to lift it and found a grimy tennis ball. “Do you have a dog?”
“Chloe does.” He’d swung into the driver’s seat. “I promised her one after we moved. I felt like it was the least I could do.”
“Of course you did.” I dropped the slimy ball over my shoulder, into the back seat. “Let me guess: a Rottweiler.”
He shook his head. “You really do hate me, don’t you? Susie is a springer spaniel, and she’s lovely.”
“Susie?” I burst into incredulous laughter. “Your sister named her dog Susie?”
“Yes, my sister named her dog after your character, Susie Spaniel.” His dark eyes twinkled at me. “You see? I really have read your books. I know all the characters. Kitty, her parents, her best friend Felicity, Susie Spaniel, Rex, Raul—”
I stopped laughing abruptly. Raul? He knew about Raul? This was getting uncomfortable. “I’m sorry. I just … that really is very sweet.” Our gazes met, and I suddenly became aware of how very quiet it was in the parking lot—and how very alone we were. He was sitting so close that I could feel the heat coming off his body … that hard, lean body I’d already seen half naked earlier in the day. All I had to do was lean forward a little and put my hands on that—
These were completely unsuitable thoughts to be having while a man was missing.
“I should probably tell you where we’re going, shouldn’t I?” I said, in a voice that sounded much too high-pitched.
“That would be helpful,” he said. “Yes.”
“The Lazy Parrot Inn, please.”
He’d started to turn on the ignition, but now he switched it off and twisted in his seat to stare at me in disbelief. “Your hotel? You think Garrett is back at your hotel?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why on earth would he go back there?”
“Because where else is he going to go? It’s high season here. Every other hotel room is booked. Unless he planned this thing months in advance—which I highly doubt—he doesn’t have anywhere else to hide.”
“But the man would have to be an idiot to think that no one would look there.”
“Well, no one has,” I pointed out. “Until now.”
Will frowned. “It’s not possible. Only a fool—”
“May I point out that Garrett was serenading your teenage sister on the ukulele this afternoon, right in front of you? He is a fool.”
“I don’t believe it,” he said. “But to prove you wrong, I’m willing to look.”
“Oh, sorry,” I said in my most sarcastic tone. “Is spending time alone with me such a burden?”
He grinned. “No. I enjoy your company—however repugnant you seem to find mine.”
“You’ve been growing on me slightly,” I admitted grudgingly. If only he knew the truth—like the fact that I was sitting there thinking about him naked.
He looked delighted. “Have I? What did it? It was my immense knowledge of feminist characters in children’s fiction, wasn’t it?”
I choked. “God, no.”
“What, then? It was the boat, wasn’t it? Most women find a man with a really big … boat irresistible.”
“Don’t be disgusting.” Please, be disgusting. Be disgusting all over my body.
What was going on, anyway? Will Price wasn’t the flirting type.
Although, to be honest, neither was I. Or at least I hadn’t been for a really long time. Was this happening simply because I was alone in a car with an attractive man (whom I’d admittedly hated until a little while ago), or because the evening had been so stressful, it was nice to release a little tension? Or was there something else going on? If it turned out to be the stupid green flash—or worse, Kellyjean’s essential oil—I was not going to be happy.
“What kind of car do you drive, anyway?” Will asked.
“What? Me? None. I’m a New Yorker. I don’t own a car. I don’t even have a license.”
“What about your father?”
“My father? What about my father?”
“What does he drive?”
“Nothing.”
Will raised his eyebrows. “So how is your father going to get around when he moves here?”
“My dad’s not moving here. I’m looking at places for him farther north, in the Orlando area.” I risked a glance at him, though it meant picturing him naked again. “Where’s all this concern for my dad coming from?”
“Because you don’t seem to have really thought through how to take care of yours, who seems like a good one. At least if he moved here, he could walk nearly everywhere he wanted to go. This is a small island. Your dad wouldn’t have to drive anywhere.”
While a lot of unexpected things had happened since my arrival in Little Bridge—having a heart-to-heart with (and then kissing) Will Price on his yacht; watching Garrett Newcombe disappear himself into the Gulf of Mexico—discussing my dad’s future living plans with Will had to be one of the weirdest.
“Um,” I said, as we pulled up in front of the hotel, “I appreciate your concern. But I suspect the real estate prices here in Little Bridge might be a little out of my dad’s”—meaning my—“price range anyway.”
“You don’t have to buy,” Will said. “Renting first is always a good way to tell if you like an area. Then you can buy later, once you know your way around the local real estate.”
If someone had told me a week ago I’d be spending any amount of time with Will Price discussing Florida real estate, I think my head would have exploded. Now it simply seemed … normal.
Will had slid the car into the space in front of the hotel marked Lazy Parrot Inn Guest Drop-Off/Pickup Only. Now he got out, walked over to open my door, and said, “After you.”