She pointed them to the beach, where Evan with his usual easy stride was making his way toward the boat that just then pulled up alongside his own boat on the dock. A girl jumped out of the boat to tie it to the dock, her long blonde hair whipping around her.
A gorgeous girl. And though she could not hear what the girl was saying, her bright smile said it all. Great. Another female falling at Evan Reynolds’ feet.
“Hi, Cassie.” Evan jumped down into the boat to get the packages while she tied up the boat. Climbing back onto the dock, box in hand, he said, “I got them, Cass. You don’t need to dock. I’m all set.”
She gave him a pretend pout, apparently trying out another of her flirty looks on him. “You’re no fun. I was going to stay all afternoon and let you have your wicked way with me.”
Evan couldn’t help but smile at her usual taunt. “But then I’d have to get my groceries somewhere else because your father would be hunting me with a gun.”
Cassie Bailey was a beautiful girl, tall and tanned and blonde with a killer smile and a natural way about her a guy could really appreciate. Some other guy, not the guy who was planning on buying groceries at her father’s store for the rest of his life. He didn’t need that complication. Plus, Cassie was only nineteen and though some men liked younger women—his father for one, in his heyday—Evan wasn’t so inclined. She reminded him of the kid sister of a friend in college he had always had to steer clear of since she seemed to have targeted him for her first big crush and was determined to lose her virginity with him.
Cassie, from the knowing way she talked and the fact that kids seemed to mature pretty fast in these small towns despite the stereotype, had probably already lost her virginity. But Evan wasn’t interested in letting her bone up on her technique with him.
She was in short shorts today, despite that it was cool for this time of year, and a halter tied around her waist. Cassie was sexy. No doubt about it. But he’d never even been tempted by the possibility of hooking up with her. He didn’t mind being a sport about the ongoing flirtation, though. It was kind of cute.
“You’re breaking my heart, Evan.”
“I don’t believe it. Girls as pretty as you don’t have a heart when it comes to men.”
He turned to walk back up the dock, hoping they could leave it at that.
“Do you really think I’m pretty, Evan?” The plaintive voice behind him stopped him. What was it with chicks? No matter how good looking or smart or funny, they all seemed to harbor some deep insecurity when it came to guys. Whereas guys, no matter how ugly or stupid or dull-witted, seemed to consider themselves great catches. It apparently was Mother Nature’s way of giving a break to the poor slobs comprising the male half of the human race.
Maybe that was why he’d been so attracted to Andrea Prentiss in the first place. Well, not in the first place. Then he’d just fucked her because he thought he was entitled to and she was so sexy. But when he had gotten to know her as Andrea Prentiss, even for as short a time as that was, she had seemed so confident, as if she didn’t give a damn about what he or any man thought of her. To see her scared, as she had been since she’d gotten here, just pissed him off even more.
He turned back to Cassie, and despite fishing for the compliment, she put on a saucy smile.
“Of course I think you’re pretty, Cassie. I’d have to be blind not to think you were pretty.”
“Tommy says you’re gay,” she offered, referring to the asshole kid he’d seen lurking around her a few times when he was at the store.
“And if I was that would concern Tommy how? Is he looking for a date with me?”
She laughed. It would probably be easier if he let her think he was gay. But she had to learn that she didn’t have to come on to every man she met and that it was okay if she didn’t hook up with them. More than okay. Better. Better that she value herself more highly and have sex only when she felt something for the guy.
Christ, he was feeling old right now.
“I’m going to tell Tommy you said that. It’s going to make him so mad.”
“Tommy is a jerk, Cassie. You deserve better.”
“Like you,” she pointed out and he shook his head wearily. “Why don’t you like me, Evan? I want to know.”
“I do like you. That’s the point. That’s why I wouldn’t want to mess it up.”
But the look on her face told him he probably was messing it up. He was familiar with hero-worship. This was so what he didn’t need right now.
He turned his back again. “So get lost, beautiful.”