Never Too Hot (Hot Shots: Men of Fire #3)(18)
Author: Bella Andre

“Oh Ginger.” Isabel ran one hand over her face. “I didn’t want to say anything to you last night. I hoped I wouldn’t have to, not when you were so clear about keeping your distance. But I really think you should watch it with Connor.”

“Why?” Isabel was the one who’d been pushing her to get out there and date. “Did you know him well as a kid?”

“No. Actually, I hardly ever saw him or his brother. Only when they were having bonfires out on the beach or they were water skiing. I’m just trying to make sure you don’t get hurt.”

“I appreciate that,” Ginger said slowly, and she did, but Isabel’s warning didn’t sit quite right with her. If Connor were anyone else, wouldn’t her friend be encouraging her to live a little? To stop clinging to safety and take a risk for once in her life?

Another possibility struck her. “How serious were you and his father? A couple of dates? Or was it something more?”

Pain flickered across Isabel’s face so quickly she instantly regretted her question. Ginger had been such a shrinking flower for so many years that she sometimes had the sense that she was overcompensating. First with Connor and now with Isabel, pushing and pushing until she forced them to tell her things they’d much rather keep buried.

But before Ginger could tell her friend to forget it, that her probing question was way out of bounds and she was grateful to know Isabel was looking out for her well-being, Isabel said, “We were pretty serious. Very serious, actually.”

And just like that, Isabel started telling her about Connor’s father.

Fifteen years old, her limbs long and slim and tanned in a sundress, Isabel waited on the curb at the corner ofMain Street and First.

She’d ridden her bike into town from her parents’ cabin. Her friend Judy was supposed to meet her here, but eventhough she’d been standing on the curb outside the diner for a half hour, Judy hadn’t shown up yet. But Isabelhadn’t been upset with her friend, whose parents could be uptight about Judy riding into town by herself. Afterall, it was another perfect summer day, and she’d been wanting to go into the small general store on the corner andtry on some sandals she’d seen in the window.

Maybe, she thought with a smile, her parents would buy her a pair for her birthday, which was coming up in a fewweeks. As working musicians, they didn’t have much money to spare, but she’d never felt like they were poor. Howcould they be, when they had an amazing cabin to come to every summer on Blue Mountain Lake? Her grandfather hadbuilt it in the teens and all of her five much older siblings — she was the baby of the family, a “wonderfulsurprise” was what her mother said — had spent their summers on the beach just outside the front door. The wholesummer stretched before her. No school. No lessons. Nothing but fun in the sun.

Smiling to herself, she left her bike propped up against the diner’s brick wall and headed down the street. Inprevious years, she’d brought friends from the city up for a week or two at a time, but none of them everappreciated it as much as she did. They called Blue Mountain Lake “the middle of nowhere” and bemoaned the lack ofshops and boys.

But as far as Isabel was concerned, there were plenty of places to window-shop back in the city the other ninemonths of the year. June, July, and August were all about being outdoors, family time, and having fun.

And as for cute boys, there was only one that mattered to Isabel.

His name was Andrew. He lived next door. And he didn’t seem to notice she was alive.

Seventeen years old, he was built more like a man than a boy, with broad shoulders and light brown hair thatpicked up the sunlight in blond streaks with every passing week of summer. She’d fallen in love with him when shewas ten. Five years of looking. Five years of dreaming. Five years of planning exactly what she’d say to impresshim the first time he talked to her.

Andrew was her Prince Charming, she was absolutely positive of it. One day he’d finally turn around and noticeher. One day he’d kiss her — she blushed just thinking about — and then when he realized he couldn’t live withouther, they’d get married and live happily ever after.

Looking both ways before she ran across the street, Isabel was panting as she reached for the front door of thegeneral store. A two-story house that had been turned into a store when she was just a baby, it was the only placein town to go if you needed underwear or flip-flops or dishes.

Her hand still on the door, she stopped to read a sign that said, PART TIME CASHIER HELP WANTED. Ponderingwhether it might be fun to spend a few hours a week ringing up purchases, thereby earning a few more dollars formilkshakes and Popsicles on the beach with her friends, she was surprised when a strong, tanned arm reached aroundher and opened up the door.

Her breath caught in her throat as she looked up into Andrew’s eyes. “Oh, sorry, I shouldn’t be standing hereblocking traffic,” she babbled, her words tripping over one another to her increasing mortification.

But the boy she’d always loved from afar didn’t seem the least bit impatient. Instead, he smiled, his green eyescrinkling up at the corners, his white teeth a beautiful contrast to his deeply tanned skin.

“Don’t worry,” he said, his low voice sending shivers of excitement through her. “I’m not in any rush. Are you?”

Her cheeks felt so hot she was afraid her head was going to burst into flames.

“No,” she finally said, her voice sounding too loud, far too excited for their simple conversation. Realizing hewas still holding the door for her, she rushed inside, the cool air in the store a welcome change to the heatcoursing through her. Maybe by tonight, her heart would stop pounding like a snare drum. But instead of moving pasther, he simply stood beside her, the same smile on his lips.

His eyes scanned her face for a long moment and she forgot to breathe until he said, “We live next door, don’twe?”

Her ponytail bobbed up and down as she nodded. So many times she’d played out this moment. She’d planned onbeing alluring, yet coy, pleased that she had his attention, yet aloof enough to keep his interest.

Instead, she was acting like a little puppy, desperate for a pat on the head.

But even though she was inexperienced with the opposite sex — no kisses, no hand-holding, not even a trip to themovies — on the verge of becoming a woman, some inner voice she’d never heard before told her to slow down, to lethim make the first move.

Taking a deep breath, she found a small smile to mirror his. “Yes, we do. I’m Isabel.”

“Andrew,” he said, holding out his hand.

She loved how he said it, as if she didn’t know his name, as if she hadn’t been drooling over him for the pastfive years.