RaeAnne Thayne - Blackberry Summer

“Uh.” Brilliant answer, she knew. She couldn’t help it—she couldn’t remember the last time anything beyond leaving her grocery list at home managed to fluster her. Surely she must have misunderstood. He was just being polite, wasn’t he?

“It was only a simple dinner invitation, Claire.” A dimple quirked at the edge of his mouth. “I didn’t intend to send you into a panic.”

She forced a bland smile and reminded herself this was pesky Riley McKnight. “The day you send me into a panic is the day I dye my hair purple and join a punk-rock band.”

“Now that I would love to see.”

Too late, she remembered that he never backed down from a challenge. Once when they were kids, Alex had been grounded for a month when she dared her brother to ride his bike down from the top of the Woodrose Mountain trail without hitting his brakes once. He’d made it almost to the bottom before his spectacular crash—and, of course, never once considered braking to slow his descent. That would have been cheating.

That was years ago. A man didn’t become a decorated law enforcement officer without gaining a little wisdom along the way and learning how to pick his battles, right?

“I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to catch up,” she answered as calmly as she could manage. “Alex tells me you’re renting the old Harper place on Blackberry Lane. That’s just down the street from my house. I’m in the redbrick house with the portico.”

He smiled again. “Great. Guess I know where to head when I need to borrow a cup of sugar.”

How on earth did he manage to make such a simple statement sound vaguely sexy? She decided to ignore it—just as she decided it would probably be better not to mention it had been a long time since she’d loaned anyone a cup of sugar—or enjoyed any other euphemism, for that matter.

“Is it all right if I reopen the store now? I can’t afford to be closed all day.”

“As far as the police are concerned, sure. Do you need me to send somebody over to help you clean up?”

She shook her head. “I’ll check around and see if I can round up a crew.”

“Okay. So I’ll call you, right?”

She frowned. She was so out of practice at this, she had no idea how to tactfully discourage him. Better to just plow ahead, she decided. “Riley, I don’t know if that’s such a great idea…”

He gave her a long, amused look. “Funny, I figured you’d want to know what’s going on with the case.”

“Of course I do!”

“What else did you think I meant?”

She had no way of answering that without sounding like an idiot. Now she remembered why he used to drive her and Alex crazy.

“Absolutely nothing. Please do call me. About the case anyway.”

“Right. I’ll be in touch.”

Only after he left and she moved to close the door behind him did she remember that silly horoscope. Something fun and exciting is heading your way. That was Riley McKnight, all right. Too bad she wasn’t in the market for either of those things—and especially not with her best friend’s younger brother.

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