Chapter 6

Fisher

"So,what brings a guy like you to a place like this?"

Behind me, Cash groaned in dismay, but I smiled brightly at the pretty tourist who'd taken up residence on one of The Rusty Hook barstools.

I must have tried too hard, judging by the way he flinched back from me.

"I, uh…I'm just—" He licked his lips. "My family owns a house here?"

I tilted my head, confused by his reaction. My question didn't seem to merit such a nervous reaction. Unless I really was that bad at flirting? I wasn't dismissing the possibility.

"I just meant to The Rusty Hook. I've seen you here a few times."

"Oh." He shrugged and smiled weakly. "It's a bit quieter than the other pubs."

I leaned in closer, lowering my voice. "Brooks doesn't make bad eye candy either, huh?"

Color flooded his cheeks. Shoot, that was the opposite of flirting, wasn't it? His gaze darted over my shoulder to Brooks, and yep, it was a good thing I was only chatting him up to show a certain someone what he was missing—someone who was currently sitting across the pub and not looking my way, damn it—because this guy was way more into my cousin.

Too bad he was barking up the wrong tree with Brooks. Kind of like I'd been barking up the wrong tree with Hudson freaking Nash.

Cash grabbed the back of my shirt. "Okay, that's enough of that."

"Thanks for being a good sport!" I called to my latest flirting victim.

"Okay?" he said, sounding confused, and who could blame him?

I let myself be towed back to my table of friends and slumped into a chair. "The man is made of stone. I give up."

"The guy at the bar?" Poppy asked.

"Hudson," Cash clarified, saving me the trouble.

Sawyer shook his head. "That's not even close to true."

"He barely even looked my way," I complained. I wasn't whining, but it was a close thing.

"He's trying very hard not to look your way," Poppy agreed. "But I thought the point of this was to move on, not make Hudson jealous."

"Details," I muttered.

Poppy was right, though. I'd been spending a lot of effort to smile and flirt this week, but only when Hudson was in the vicinity. I was doing it for all the wrong reasons. Especially since Hudson had shown he wasn't going to be moved to a jealous, possessive act of claiming me just because I flashed my dimples at another guy.

"Maybe this is pointless," I said morosely. "I'm a terrible flirt."

"You just need more practice," Cash said. "Maybe you'd do better if you actually intended for the flirting to go somewhere."

"Maybe." I shoved my bangs out of my face and swiped Cash's beer, taking a big swallow. "I don't know how you do it."

Cash grinned. "Well, let me demonstrate."

We all watched as he sauntered straight up to Declan, who'd just come through the front door looking disgruntled.

Cash approached him, a swagger in his walk, his cockiest smile on his face, and Declan looked startled.

I pushed my chair back. "I can't hear from here."

"I'm not so sure trying to use Cash's moves is the best idea," Poppy cautioned.

"I won't." I grinned. "I just want to hear how Declan shoots him down."

Sawyer laughed. "Mean."

"Hey, misery loves company."

Cash put a hand on Declan's shoulder, and Declan took one step back, out of his touch.

"…late for you to be out," Cash was saying. "Usually you're all tucked into bed when I sneak out of the BB. Though I gotta say, you're looking good tonight."

Declan scowled. "I'm never asleep when non-guests are prowling my halls. The BB is my home, you realize."

"And since I'm already so comfortable in your home, how about we go back there and get comfortable together, if you know what I—"

"Don't you dare come back tonight," Declan said as he pushed past him. "I'm meeting someone for a drink, and I won't be unlocking the door for anyone, especially you."

Ouch. I almost felt bad for Cash, though the words rolled right off him. He smirked after Declan as if he hadn't just annihilated his come-on.

"He doesn't know what he's missing."

I opened my mouth to tell him I was pretty sure Declan wanted to be missing it. But then I saw Declan was headed directly for Hudson.

I whirled around, hoping not to be spotted, and stumbled straight into a body.

"Oof. Sorry."

I glanced up as a man's hands closed around my arms to steady me, recognizing him as a tourist who'd stopped by our fueling station a couple times recently. Noah.

"Hey, fancy bumping into you here," he said with a wide smile.

A few guys followed him through the door, talking loudly. Judging by the glazed state of Noah's eyes, this was not their first pub of the night.

But hey, Noah had been friendly the couple of times we'd talked. We'd horsed around like kids the last time I saw him, and he'd cheered me out of my funk. If I was ever going to turn fake flirting into a real date, this was my chance.

If he was drunk, my odds were even better, right?

"Hey," I said brightly. "Noah, right?"

"That's right," he said. "You remember me."

"Not just anyone soaks me with a hose," I joked. "You owe me for that."

His gaze lowered to my chest, his lips quirking. "I'd say I'm sorry, but that would be a lie."

One of his friends bumped into him, jostling him against me.

"Hey, you coming, Noah?"

"Yeah, be right there." He let his hand linger at my waist. "Join us for a drink? We could see where things go."

My heart kicked. This was the moment where I said yes, right? Except…Noah was already pretty drunk. I wanted to move on, but I wasn't sure I wanted to be some sloppy one-night stand.

"I'm not that easy," I teased.

"Oh, you're not, huh?"

"Nope. You owe me dinner at least."

"A date?" He looked surprised, and I almost backtracked, but then Noah grinned. "All right, Fisher. I can see you're going to make me work for it." He lowered his voice and leaned in. "And I like it."

I took a step back. "Great. Friday night?"

"Meet me at The Savory Swallow," he said. "I hear it's the best restaurant in town."

I smiled gamely. "Sure, it's a date."

As Noah rejoined his friends, I forced myself to keep my eyes on him and not on the man I really wanted to notice me.

That was over. This was a new chapter.

This one was titled: Fisher hooks a man who actually wants him.

Hudson

I couldn't avoid Fisher forever, and after seeing him flirt with other men all week, there was no reason for things be awkward between us. We could be friendly like always, right? Just two guys in a small town who exchanged smiles and small talk.

And no more kisses, no matter how damn good they feel.

Fisher had asked me to stop by the store to get an update on Dock Hop planning, and the last time I'd tried, I'd spotted Fisher looking like the star of a wet T-shirt contest and made a run for it. But I was done being ridiculous, so I walked across the marina on my lunch break, resolving to rip off the Band-Aid and get us back into our comfort zone.

Usually I took the boat, which better announced my arrival, so when I came on foot, I managed to catch Boone by surprise.

"You again," he said flatly.

I smiled sharply. "I do work close by. Seems silly to go across the lake for a few basic supplies."

He grunted, unimpressed. No doubt because any reference to my boating business was an uncomfortable reminder of what he'd lost. Normally, I'd avoid poking him with a stick, but I wasn't in the mood to apologize for something that wasn't my fault.

It never did much good anyway.

"Why don't you buy someone's supply store. Then you can just hog all the business on the lake."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, okay. I'll add it to the to-do list."

"You do that."

I strolled the aisles, resisting the urge to ask if Fisher was around. It wasn't necessary. Boone would do the work for me.

Sure enough, I heard him bellow, "Fisher, front counter!" before his office door slammed.

I grabbed a small bag of charcoal and rounded the end of the aisle to find Fisher standing behind the checkout.

"Hey, Fisher." I smiled nervously and placed the bag on the counter between us. "Guess Boone is giving you the job of dealing with me again."

His gaze dropped to the charcoal. "Your grill uses gas."

"Oh, uh, I know. I just…" I waved a hand aimlessly. "I came by to check in about the Dock Hop, but Boone…"

I trailed off, but Fisher was well aware of our grudge. As was the whole damn town.

"So, you're saying the charcoal was a decoy?" he guessed.

"Something like that."

Fisher smiled crookedly, and it hit me right in the chest. He really could have anyone. He could be rolling out of new beds every night, just like his friend Cash.

I'd taken it for granted that Fisher was the sweet boy next door type. That he had stars in his eyes for me.

But I'd knocked those stars right into the next galaxy, one that didn't include me, when I told Fisher nothing would ever happen.

That was good, though. That was great. Fisher should be with someone who wasn't an old boater with too much personal baggage.

"I talked with a few businesses," Fisher said. "Hold on, I've got some notes on my phone."

While he navigated through phone menus, I tried to distract myself from my thoughts. But my mind just kept returning to one fact: It had sounded a lot like Fisher had made a date with the handsy guy at the pub the other night.

Don't ask. Don't do it. You do not need to—

"So, did I hear you had a date?"

Fisher glanced up from the phone. "Uh, yeah. How did you…"

"Small town," I lied.

I'd blatantly eavesdropped while Fisher had talked to the guy, but I wasn't about to admit that.

"Right," Fisher said weakly. "We're going to dinner tonight."

"Well, have fun," I said after an awkward pause. "You deserve it."

"I will." Fisher gave me a searching look. "I guess I don't have any better offers, anyway."

Damn, damn, damn. Being a good guy really chapped my ass.

I tried to smile, missed the mark, and grimaced instead.

Luckily, Fisher had looked back down at his phone and missed that ridiculous display.

"Okay, here it is," Fisher said. "I've got stores like Tourist Trap, Decked Out, and Little Clay Pot signed on, but I'm going to need to get creative to get any of the eateries interested."

I raised an eyebrow. "Creative?"

"Well, I think they'd be more interested if there was a food festival component. And to be fair, these dock hoppers can't just eat at three different restaurants, right? But if we tied in a food festival, they could sample them all."

I nodded slowly. That was a bit outside the scope of the event, but in theory it could add a layer of interest.

"How do you envision that working?"

"They stop at the restaurants, make a post for social media and tag them, then get a token they can cash in for samples at the food festival that runs all day or weekend? We could potentially promote the food festival in its own right, too. So double the fun?"

"The social media component is smart, really smart."

Fisher looked down, a pleased smile tugging at his lips. His full, kissable—

Stop it.

"I don't know if we can pull together an entire food festival in a few weeks though."

"Well, that's easy because there's been one in the works for a while. We just need to coordinate the timing. Leave it to me, Hudson. I mean…if you trust me to handle it?"

I could see how much Fisher wanted my trust, even after everything that had happened. How much he respected me. And in the end, it was easy to give.

"Do your worst," I said with a wink. "I look forward to seeing what else you come up with."

"Well, I've already got the name," he said.

"Oh?"

"SwallowFest," he said with a grin.

Oh, hell. How was I supposed to resist this man when he was not only gorgeous, but smart and funny, too?

Then I remembered the schmuck he'd agreed to go on a date with. Resisting him wouldn't be my problem for long. Instead, I'd have to watch him move on without me.