Read Online She's Got a Way by Maggie McGinnis - Free Book Online Page A

well into her third piña colada of the day right now, a Caribbean breeze tickling her toes as she solved a whodunit before the detective did. She was supposed to be sidling up to a tiki bar later tonight with her new sundress on, irresistible with her sun-kissed shoulders and coconut-shampooed hair.
    She was not supposed to be playing camp counselor to a bunch of teenaged twits who’d ruined her entire summer.
    And she was definitely not supposed to be melting into a stranger’s smoky green eyes while she imagined his hands making her forget all of it.
    *   *   *
    â€œWhat did you say to her?” Piper’s voice was sharp as Luke came around the corner into the kitchen.
    â€œWhat? Who?” He shook his head as he plucked a bottled water out of the fridge. “What are you talking about?”
    â€œGabi. Who do you think?” Piper hooked a thumb toward the window. “She looks like you just stole her puppy.”
    Luke glanced out the window, and felt his stomach clench as he watched Gabi rub her temples, then close her eyes as she raised her face to the sun and took a long, deep breath. Even from here, he could see the tension in her shoulders, could see the tightness in her jaw … could see the frustration in her posture.
    She was so out of her element that she might as well be on Mars, but apparently, she was too proud to accept help. Yet, anyway.
    â€œI offered to give her a hand, if you must know.”
    â€œWow.” Piper raised her eyebrows. “Only took you till day three to freak out about strangers taking over?”
    â€œShut up, Piper.”
    She laughed. “Just saying. I knew you couldn’t stand back and watch.”
    â€œDon’t really have a choice, do I? She’s in charge of them, whether she’s got the least clue or not.”
    â€œ Does she have a clue?”
    Pictures of the past forty-eight hours flashed through his head—the raccoons, the poison ivy, the fish hook that had, as predicted, ended up embedded in Eve’s cheek.
    â€œI’m sure she knows what works in her normal setting. But this is decidedly not her normal setting.”
    â€œObviously. But why do you want to help?”
    Luke sighed. “Because it occurred to me sometime in the past twenty-four hours that maybe the best way to convince Briarwood not to decimate our existence is to show someone from Briarwood how we do things here.”
    â€œAh.” Piper nodded. “But she’s not biting. So what are you going to do?”
    â€œWhat can I do?” He put up his hands. “She’s determined to do it on her own, and I’ve got a project list fit for ten men. I guess for now, if she and the girls leave me alone, I’ll give them the same wide berth.”
    â€œMm-hm.” Piper poured ingredients into a mixing bowl, but kept her eyes carefully averted.
    â€œPiper?”
    She rolled her eyes. “I know. Shut up.”
    *   *   *
    â€œGabi?” A little while later, Oliver swung out of the doorway of the admin cottage. “I have a thought.”
    â€œOkay?”
    â€œC’mere. I want to show you something.” He motioned for her to follow him up a pathway she hadn’t yet taken. It headed uphill from the beach area, toward a thick stand of pines, and it was cool as Oliver led her through the trees and up some stone steps that looked like they’d been placed in the hill a long time ago.
    He paused halfway up, pointing out at the lake. “Best view on the property right here, don’t you think?”
    She followed his finger, nodding at the view of tiny, colorful sailboats hopping along the whitecaps, but suspected his reason for stopping had more to do with catching his breath than showing her the scenery.
    After a moment, he turned to climb the remainder of the hill, and it pained Gabi to admit she was huffing like an asthmatic by the time they crested the top.