He glanced at his watch. He had time to wash up and head to town for dinner supplies, after which he’d start cooking for his guest. Maybe she was just coming over to spy on his neighbor, but Aaron found himself looking forward to the evening a bit too eagerly. Especially since he’d been telling himself that nothing significant was going to happen between them. Somehow, that didn’t seem to dim his enthusiasm.
An hour later, he stashed his grocery purchases in the backseat of his car, pleased by the selection he’d found at the modest-sized supermarket he’d happened upon not far from the resort. A small coffee shop with a recognizable logo shared the parking lot with the grocery store. It was too warm for a hot beverage, but an iced mocha to go sounded good for the short drive back to the cabin.
Deciding the groceries would be fine for the couple minutes it took him to run in and place his order, he locked the car and went inside. The lighting was dim, the air conditioner blasting to provide a chilly contrast to the summer heat. Folksy guitar music played from hidden speakers, and the aroma of brewing coffee wafted temptingly from behind the counter, upon which a tempting display of pastries was arranged in a glass case. He hadn’t thought of dessert for tonight, he realized. He wasn’t much of a baker, so he ordered a couple of sugar-dusted lemon bars along with his iced coffee.
After paying the flirty barista, he turned toward the door with his purchases, only to stop when he recognized the young woman sitting in the darkest corner of the shop. Lori Bell wasn’t alone—and she wasn’t exactly sitting. Rather, she was wound around a long-haired, bearded guy in a black tee and black jeans, their lips fused in a kiss that would have been more fittingly exchanged in private.
She must have spotted him out of the corner of her eye. Peeling herself away from the embrace, she looked shocked to see him. He nodded in greeting. “Hello, Lori.”
Murmuring something to her friend, she stood and hurried toward him, her filmy gray sundress fluttering around her. She seemed to dress in shades of mist, he thought. Not as clichéd as her companion’s stark black, but definitely a statement of its own, especially when combined with her black-and-blue hair.
“Um—hi, Aaron,” she said, her smile strained. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
He held up his bag of pastries. “Just picking up a few groceries and snacks. Taking a little time off, yourself?”
She nodded somberly. “Listen, Aaron, I’d really appreciate it if you don’t mention seeing me here, especially with—”
She looked toward the young man watching them with a grim expression. “My family hates him,” she confided with a sigh. “They would freak if they knew about...well, what you just saw.”
“I see no reason to mention running into you,” he assured her. Lori was over eighteen. It was certainly none of his business whom she wanted to make out with in a public coffee shop, though that didn’t seem the brightest location in which to carry on a secret romance.
Gratitude flooded her pretty, dramatically made-up face. She rested a silver-nailed hand on his arm for a moment. “Thank you.”
He shrugged. “Sure. I’ll see you around. Uh—take care,” he added, the closest to a warning he felt acceptable to offer her.
Her smile glittered, a hint of a hard edge making her look older than her years. “Sure, no problem. See you, Aaron.”
Shaking his head in bemusement, he headed for his car, needing to get his groceries put away as soon as possible. He thought about the promise Lori had just elicited from him. Yet another confidence shared with him by one of the Bell siblings, though this one had been by accident.
Hard to believe he’d known this family less than twenty-four hours, he thought with a rueful chuckle. And even though he’d come here to escape the hovering of family, he found himself surrounded by yet another too-close clan. The irony did not escape him.
Chapter Five
Shelby spent entirely too much time thinking about what she was going to wear for dinner with Aaron. For someone who usually cared so little about fashion, especially for a casual fish fry in the resort, she had a hard time making up her mind. She even thought about asking Maggie’s advice, but she rejected that impulse immediately, telling herself not to be ridiculous. After taking a shower, she donned a pair of jeans and a white top with lace edging and tiny buttons running down the front. Feminine, a little dressier than work clothes, but not over the top for a fish fry, she decided. She brushed on a touch of makeup, left her hair loose and curly and decided that was enough primping.
Aaron had instructed her not to bring anything, but that didn’t seem right. She wasn’t much of a baker, as her family could attest, but her specialty was a quickie peanut butter cookie with chocolate chips. If Aaron had provided another dessert for this evening, she would leave the cookies with him for snacks. She figured everyone liked peanut butter cookies. Unless they were allergic to peanuts, she thought with a sudden frown, clutching the plastic container of cookies in her hands. She’d made the cookies once when Andrew was here, and he hadn’t been allergic. Could one identical twin be allergic to peanuts and not the other?
Sighing, she shoved her keys into her pocket and moved toward the door. If Aaron was allergic, he would surely tell her rather than risk death to be polite. Why was she overthinking everything this evening?
She decided to ride her bike rather than walk or take a golf cart. Snapping her hot-pink-and-purple helmet on her head, she pedaled past the family houses and toward Cabin Eight, taking the most direct path past the tent area. The familiar smells of smoldering charcoal briquettes and grilling meats wafted past her as campers prepared their evening meals. Some cooked inside their fancy RVs, and others went into town or to the Chimes Grill for dinner, but outdoor grilling was as much a part of camping as water sports. She exchanged waves and nods with people she passed, then swerved to miss a yappy little dog who’d escaped its pursuing owner. There was a strict leash rule in the resort, but Shelby didn’t bother to remind the obviously embarrassed owner, who held a dangling leash in her hand as she scooped up the mischievous pup.
She saw Aaron moving around outside his cabin before she pedaled into the driveway. She skidded to a stop, put down the kickstand and reached up slowly to unfasten her helmet without taking her eyes off Aaron. How foolish was she to think he was even better-looking than his twin? The man was pure perfection in jeans and a pale yellow polo shirt that emphasized the rich tan of skin and coffee-brown of hair and eyes. Had she
really asked him to allow her to reject him in front of her family? Sometimes she amazed herself with her own crazy impulses. As for why he’d agreed—apparently he was easily amused.
She saw that he’d set the picnic table, using a red-and-white-checked plastic cloth and bright blue unbreakable plates from the cabin’s kitchen. She did not recognize the cheery yellow vase holding a bouquet of white daisies at the center of the table. A fat citronella candle in a clear glass holder flickered beside the daisies. Even though the sun had not yet set, the candle added a nice touch. That wasn’t something they provided, either. Aaron had been shopping.
He turned to smile at her in greeting and her pulse rate tripped in response. She reminded herself not to take any of this too seriously. So maybe she didn’t remember her heart ever doing quite this same frantic Texas two-step just because a good-looking man smiled at her. Maybe she found herself getting mesmerized by those gleaming dark eyes to a point where she, who rarely lacked for words, could hardly put a coherent sentence together. And maybe the fact that he’d set out daisies and a candle made her knees go all shaky. It was all just an act, at least on his part.
She brushed a hand through her hair to make sure it hadn’t been flattened by the helmet she’d left dangling from her handlebars. “Everything looks very nice,” she said, carrying the container of cookies as she approached him. “I hope you didn’t go to too much trouble.”
“I had a good time with it,” he assured her. “It’s been a while since I put together a fish fry.”
“What can I do to help?”
“Everything’s ready.”
She raised her eyebrows in surprise. She’d assumed she would be helping him prepare the meal. “Oh—well.”