“You look great.” She surveyed him, her eyes sultry and approving as she stuffed her phone into her back pocket and gave him her full attention. “I hear you’re working a lot.”
“I am.” He offered Colleen a smile. “In fact I’m on my way to an appointment, but my mom called and asked me to stop by to give you a hand.” He lifted his gaze to meet Delaney’s. She wore a little smirk, as if she already knew exactly why Ethan had been summoned and found it amusing. “Phoebe told me you’d found some help, but I wanted to make sure.”
“How sweet of you,” Misty said.
Colleen gushed over Ethan taking time out of his day to come by, but he didn’t look away from Delaney. And she never looked away from him.
“Have you heard about Drew’s grand opening party for Black Jack’s?” Misty asked.
Ethan forced his gaze from Delaney’s and focused on Misty. She had her legs crossed, one foot swinging. She was also dressed for the warm weather, something he only noticed as an afterthought even though she could be considered just as physically beautiful as Delaney.
With her elbow on the arm of the chair, her chin in her hand, and those eyes staring up at Ethan, he realized he knew two dozen guys in town who’d shove him off a cliff to take his place right now. Yet it was all he could do not to look back at Delaney.
“Saturday night,” Misty said. “Everyone’s going.”
“I’ve heard.” He pushed his hands into his pockets. “I’m supplying the beer.”
Misty laughed, the sound low and sexy. “Oh, boy, you do get around, don’t you? Why don’t we go together? Just swing by and pick me up around seven thirty.”
He could see how easily men could get swept away by her smooth, take-charge ways. She’d just set her sights on the wrong man. “Thanks, but my work schedule has been—”
Bang, bang, bang interrupted him as Delaney pounded a nail into the wall in an obnoxious attempt to interrupt. Now
Ethan was officially amused, too.
He waited until the banging stopped. “I’m sure I’ll see you there.”
Misty had been propositioning him from the first week of her split with the ex, and she was a perfect example of why he didn’t date women in Wildwood—complications, rumors, ties, and manipulation.
Mrs. Woodly, a lively seventysomething-year-old, appeared in the opening to the space. “Hi there, Ethan. Sorry to interrupt. Colleen, do you mind watching the store while I run to the ladies’?”
“Of course not.”
As Colleen wandered away, Misty’s phone pinged, and she pulled it from her back pocket. Her eyes lit up, and she stuffed it away again, already pushing from the chair. “Cody Stoker joined the crowd at Scrub-a-Pup,” she said, starting toward the door. “Since Ethan’s not going to take me to the party, I’ll take my chances elsewhere. See you across the street, Delaney.”
Ethan chuckled at how quickly the woman jumped at another opportunity. That was another reason he didn’t do ties—women were entirely too fickle for his taste.
“Okay . . .” Delaney said, then trailed off when she turned and found Misty gone, disappeared into the maze of spaces that made up the floor. “Sure,” she pretended to call, as if someone was listening. “No problem. Just here working in a space that’s not mine for people who aren’t even here.”
She sighed. Her shoulders slumped. And she met Ethan’s gaze with an annoyed, what-can-you-do expression.
“Yeah. I get that a lot, too.”
Her mouth lifted into a grin. Then she looked away and positioned another nail. “You’re free to go, Inspector Hayes. I can handle a few birdhouses. I promise.”
Bang, bang, bang.
“I’m surprised you told Phoebe about us. I’m pretty sure I’ve just been moved to her blacklist.”
“I didn’t tell her. She just knew.” She shrugged. “You get used to it. I lived there as a teen. Just bring her flowers or open her car door for her, and you’ll pop right back over to the golden list.”
He made a sound of doubt. “I don’t think so.”
“Just be glad she can’t read you as well as she can me.” She turned her attention back to another nail. “You’d better go before she gets to know you too well.”
Bang, bang, bang.
But Ethan didn’t want to go. In fact, he didn’t want to do anything but stand around and talk to her, tease her, see her smile, look at her legs in those cutoffs.