She's the One (Lowcountry Lovers Series Book 2) (7 page)

“I’m renting a place on 182 East Bay Street, in the French Quarter.” She turned on her sultry smile and shifted in her seat until she was facing him, her skirt pushed up to the tops of her gorgeous thighs. “I’ve missed you, Shane, but not your country music.” She turned the CD off.

The lone stop light on the island was red, he could hang a left and head toward the little area called Front Beach that had some trinket shops, a few restaurants and a hotel, or he could drive a half hour to her place in Charleston. Cassie leaned over the console. Her fingers traced a line down her neck, then splayed across her cleavage. “Are you taking me to dinner or are you taking me to bed?”

His body responded to her voice, an old habit. But in his mind, he could see the band packing up. That guy offering to give Melissa and Savannah a ride; he’d have a good excuse since Cassie had destroyed their bikes. The guy would act like he was being a good Samaritan and would drop Savannah off at her place before he took Melissa home.

Shane knew she played bass and had seen her play once at a little bar on Shem Creek, not long after they met. He was pretty sure Melissa didn’t have a history with that guy, and it was obvious the guy wanted to start one with her.

But hadn’t Melissa begged Shane to choose Cassie to accommodate the stars or some kind of bullshit? He turned left, cruised by the packed parking area and pulled up in front of The Palms Oceanfront Hotel. A few tourists were waiting for a cab along with a kid who was acting as both valet and bellman for the tiny hotel. Shane got out of the truck and opened the door for Cassie.

He would have to be dead not to have noticed her legs and the body attached to them. He’d always liked her hair long and it was even longer than the last time he’d seen her. He offered his hand and she got out of the car unfolding with a long, breathy sigh that made sure she had everyone’s attention.

“Help you sir?” The kid’s sunglasses weren’t as dark as he thought, or maybe he didn’t care that he was undressing Cassie with his eyes. But she was used to the attention, hell, even Shane had gotten used to it when they were together.

Shane put four twenties in the kid’s hand along with Cassie’s keys. “182 East Bay Street. Forty for cab fair, the rest is yours.”

Cassie went ballistic, but it helped that she was still falling down drunk. In a flash, Shane was back in the truck with the doors locked. Her shoe hit the back window as he drove away.

To be honest, it was kind of a rush, like a teenager playing a prank, until he thought about Melissa. He hurried back down toward the marina. The restaurant’s parking lot was still packed, the dinner crowd coming in after a day on the beaches. He double-parked next to Cassie’s black Mercedes. The way the bikes were wedged underneath, it would take a tow truck to lift the car off of them. He got out of his vehicle, hurried to the makeshift bandstand, and stopped short.

The line for the restaurant was out the door; a few families sat at the tables around the bandstand, waiting to be seated inside. The fire pit was smoldering. And Melissa was gone.

He rode by her cottage on 30
^th
and parked across the street. A red Prius was parked in the driveway with every indie band and save-the-world bumper sticker imaginable. Her windows were open; he could hear the music, the blues she loved. He didn’t know what the song was, they all kind of sounded alike to him.

Just thinking about that guy touching Melissa, trying to seduce her with some stupid song made Shane crazy. He heard her laugh. His chest felt tight and he realized he had the steering wheel in a death grip. Luckily for Shane, every light in the house was still on; he’d seen her walk back toward the kitchen a couple of times. Fully clothed.

With the truck windows down he could smell the ocean but could barely hear it. The moonlight played on the tin rooftop; Melissa loved this house. She’d restored most of it herself. He’d shown her how to do the DIY projects she’d wanted to tackle, and he knew every board of the place. He had shown her how to lay tile and wood floors and patch holes in the drywall. The whole time he told himself he was just being a good guy, a friend, but damned if somewhere along the way he hadn’t fallen for her.

He should have told her how he felt sooner. He should be the guy making her laugh, making her feel the music. He opened the car door. It wasn’t too late. He would make her believe that she was the one for him, not Cassie. He got out of the car. The music stopped. The night sounds and the ocean he could barely hear a few minutes ago were deafening as he strained to listen for some clue as to what was happening inside the house.
Screw this.
He started for the gate of the picket fence he’d helped her paint, and the arbor he’d helped her build.

But just before he opened the gate, the house went dark.

M
elissa saw Shane walking toward Island Bliss and took off around the corner to her office.

“You can run, girlfriend, but you can’t hide,” Pearl cackled. “That fine man is headed this way and the look on his face says he’s wanting something. And that something is—why, hey there, Shane Carver. Good to see you. What brings you in on this fine Monday morning?”

The office was so small, even with her flimsy door closed, Melissa could hear every word Pearl said.

“Good to see you, Pearl. Is Melissa in?”

“Well, she’s in, but I’m not sure if she’s
in in
, if you know what I mean. Let me check for you.” Pearl paused for effect before the phone on Melissa’s desk buzzed. “Are you in?”

“Thanks a lot, Pearl.”

“Well, are you or aren’t you?”

She hated that she was nervous about seeing Shane. She wasn’t ashamed of what she’d done with Bo. Not after watching Shane leave with the tall, stacked brunette.

“Send him back and remind me to fire you. Again.”

“Honey, you’ve tried, but you can’t get rid of me.”

Melissa hung up the phone.

“Know what I mean, Shane?” she hollered after him. “You go on back now; she’s ready for you. Uh huh, that girl is. Ready. For. You.”

“Hey,” Melissa said softly. She could see he was hurt, maybe as hurt as she was that someone else was meant for him. He put the invoice for the sign on her desk.

“What are you doing tonight?”

“Shane, I—”

“Three dates. You agreed. And remember, I know what your Monday’s are like.” It was true, during the off-season Melissa usually took a half-day off to recover from being the lone wolf on call on weekends on both the real estate and property management sides.

“We’ve had this discussion, Shane.”

“There was no discussion. It was just you telling me to get lost.”

“And then you left with
her
.” She hated that she sounded hurt, but she refused to tell him she saw him sitting across from her house at 2:30 in the morning.

Shane probably thought Bo was stretched out in her bed, not that Bo didn’t want to be. He had been on the couch. He and Melissa had kissed and messed around enough to make her want him, but every time things started heading in that direction, she pulled back, unable to shake the image of that girl’s ass slung over Shane’s shoulder. And those fireworks, those damn fireworks, that said it was wrong for Melissa to pursue anything with Shane Carver.

“I’m not letting you out of this because of what you thought you saw, Melissa. What did you feel?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.” He shoved a hand through his hair. He had the most intense chocolate brown eyes. “I’ll pick you up at six.”

“You’re really going to hold me to this?”

“You’re damn right.”

“Where are we going?”

“Your favorite place.”

The office was quiet after Shane left, taking all the oxygen in the room with him. Pearl gave Melissa a moment to regroup, but only a moment.

“I’d sure like for Shane Carver to take me to my favorite place, and it wouldn’t be no beach, I can promise you that.”

A
round noon, before she headed home, Melissa swung by Mermaid Cove to check on Savannah. Her car was there. It was such a beautiful day. Melissa was surprised Savannah wasn’t on the beach or by the pool. But Jack was stretched out in a lounge chair, reading a Harlan Colbin novel.

“Hey, Jack.” He looked up from his book and smiled. “Have you seen Savannah around?”

“Haven’t been looking for her, but no. My guess is she’s holed up in the townhouse waiting for the planets to align the way she wants.”

Things had gone better than Melissa expected when Jack spoke to Savannah at the oyster roast. She didn’t flip out, for one thing. She blushed, in a very good way, but she still looked afraid of him or what he could do to her if she let him in again.

“Have you tried talking to her?”

“I just got back to what
she
would call civilization. Getting ready to start a new job at the MUSC Hospital in a couple of weeks. I’m not looking to start anything with anybody. Especially Savannah.”

“Really? Because Saturday night it looked like you did want to start something.”

“Been there, done that, and it was an unmitigated disaster.” He was trying to act like he didn’t care. “I was just being neighborly, saying hi.”

You still look good in my shirt,
was not
just saying hi. “Good.”

“Good? Why are you so interested her?”

“Savannah’s a sweet girl, a sweet, lonely girl who’s never gotten over you; she doesn’t know it yet, but I’m going to help her with that.”

He laughed, and flipped down his shades with a cocky smirk Melissa wanted to wipe right off of his face. “What are you some kind of matchmaker?”

“Yeah, as a matter of fact, I am.” That got his attention.

“I thought you were, like a rental agent or something.”

“Yeah, but what I do best is help people find the person they’re meant to be with.” He tipped his chin toward the sun. “And when
that
doesn’t work, I help them find the next best thing. I’m going to help Savannah find that next best thing, Jack. She’ll get over you once and for all, and get on with her life. Simple as that.”

“Yeah,” he said bitterly. “You get right on that.”

Game on, buster.

M
elissa saw Savannah, peeking out the window every five seconds while she was down by the pool with Jack. And apparently, they were back in the ninth grade again when she opened the door to the townhouse with a million questions.

“What did he say? Wait. I don’t want to know,” she said, gnawing on her bottom lip. Not the most discreet person in the world, she yanked back the vertical blinds to look at Jack. “Oh, tell me. Please tell me.”

“He said he wasn’t interested.” Savannah looked at Melissa like she’d just shot Bambi’s mother.

“In me?”

Melissa nodded.

“Oh.”

Deflated like a balloon, she let go of the blinds and plopped down on the couch beside Melissa, staring into space. “I guess—I thought that, you know, he’s
here
. Maybe it was a coincidence, but I never believed in coincidences.” She swallowed hard and looked at Melissa. “He really said that?”

“Yeah, I pretty much told him I was going to make it my mission to find someone to help you get over him.”