Page 28 of The Beachside Rental

“See you then.”As soon as he turned away, he let the smile lift the corners of his mouth.

He told himself it was just a friendly dinner with his neighbor, but he’d never been this anxious to share a meal with a neighbor before.

The meal was good.

The only problem was that Jenna didn’t have much of an appetite.It wasn’t the food.The steak was delicious.It was her.Her stomach felt as though it were filled with butterflies every time she was around Simon.

She moved the food around her plate more than she ate.And in the end, she put her paper napkin over the uneaten food so he wouldn’t notice.

When the meal ended, she insisted on helping him clean up.She rinsed off the dishes while he loaded the dishwasher.When she stopped to think about it, she realized the situation was very domestic—like something she could get used to.

Maybe it was time to think about having something more in her life.Suddenly, the image of Simon popped into her mind.Was he the someone she’d been waiting for?

The dish in her hands slipped from her grasp.It fell into the sink with a loud clatter.

“Everything okay?”Simon sent her a worried look.

She didn’t blame him.With the direction of her thoughts lately, she was worried too.She shoved those thoughts to the back of her mind.

“Uh.Yeah.Everything is fine.Sorry about the plate.”

“Don’t worry.It’s not mine.It came with the rental.”

She picked up the plate and inspected it.Thankfully, it wasn’t chipped.As she carefully handed it to Simon, she had a thought.Perhaps if she were to introduce Simon to more of the locals, he’d have some other friends to hang out with.

“What are you doing tomorrow night?”she blurted out, not giving herself time to weigh the pros and cons of her plan.

Simon arched a brow.“Why?Are you asking me out?”

“Yes.”Realizing how that sounded, she rushed to say, “No.I mean, I thought we could go out as friends.It’s trivia night at the High Tide Pub.”

He hesitated.“I don’t know.”

“Come on.You surely don’t want to spend all of your time here.Do you?”

He shrugged.

“It’ll be fun.I promise.”

“Won’t it be crowded?”

She shrugged.“I doubt it, but I don’t know for sure.It’ll mostly be locals.And I need a partner for trivia.”

He shook his head.“You don’t want me for a partner.”

“Sure, I do.Please…”

He arched a brow.“What’s so important about this trivia game?”

She shrugged once more.

“Okay.If you want my help, out with it.”

“I have to beat my brother.”It was true.She wanted to best her brother so maybe he’d start to take her seriously, instead of seeing her as his annoying little sister.

“I see.So, you’re just using me for my brain?”

She laughed.“Yep.Totally busted.So, what do you say?”