Picture Perfect (Butler Island) (3 page)

“Alright boys, this had better be
good—I’m not playin’ waitress tonight!”

Grant immediately looked up from his
cards. That adorable southern accent had been distracting him all fucking day.

“Grant, I’d like you to meet my baby
sister, Olivia.”

Olivia reached her hand toward Grant.
“It’s a
pleasure to meet you… Grant, right?”
she asked
smiling.

Grant chuckled softly under his
breath. Earlier in the day he’d had his hands on her waist when he’d rescued
her on the beach. And on those incredibly sexy legs when he’d knelt in front of
her while applying first aid to her foot. “Yeah… Same goes.”

She removed her hand from his and
took a step back. “Alright, now that I’ve managed to meet all the new faces at
this table—you can proceed with your silly lil’
Go Fish
game!” She gave
Grant a wink and then turned and walked away.

“It’s not
Go Fish—
it’s poker!”
Ty shouted over his shoulder.

“Same difference”, she countered
before joining the women back on the patio.

Olivia closed the French doors behind
her and walked toward her seat.

“So, it looks as though you just met
Butler Island’s most eligible bachelor”, Lana Phillips announced.

Olivia took her seat and glanced
around the table at six pairs of eyes staring back at her. “Did I miss
something? Why is everyone staring at me like that?”

“Oh c’mon, Olivia—did you see the way
Grant just looked at you?—like you were the prime rib at an all-you-can-eat
buffet?” Jenny Carson asked.

Olivia tucked her honey-blonde hair
behind one of her ears. “Alright, look—please don’t take this the wrong way,
but you ladies need to get out more. And by
‘out more’,
I mean something
far more excitin’ than poker night and preferably off of Butler Island.”

The group of women got a good laugh
out of that. Most of the locals had never even left the state of Florida, let
alone the county. They had no idea about what life was like beyond the Mainland
Bridge. Olivia did, though. She’d traveled all over the continental United
States for her career. She’d witnessed real life firsthand; experienced it with
open arms and
had the scars, both physical
and emotional, to prove
it.

“I’d give anything for
that
man to look at me like that”, Tonya Woods mumbled.

“Oh, please—
you’re
married!
” announced
Jenny. “Does Mark know about your secret crush?”

“Are you kidding me?—like I would
just come right out and say it: ‘Here’s your dinner, honey. How’s your
meatloaf? And by the way, did you know that my mouth drops open like an idiot
whenever Grant walks into the room?’”

Laughter erupted from around the
patio table and when they finally settled down, Olivia’s curiosity finally got
the best of her. “So, tell me about him. What’s his story?”

“Well, he’s been at the fire
department for about five years—”

“And let’s not leave out the most
important part”, Jenny interjected. “He’s great at friendship, but he’s a lousy
boyfriend.”

“What do you mean?” asked Olivia

“She means he’s a die-hard
womanizer—a serial dater.
A
player
. I heard from Jimmy that Grant’s
never had a serious relationship before and judging by his previous dating
record, he probably never will”, Lana shared.

“Hmm, that’s very interesting…”
Very
interesting indeed.
Olivia had never had a serious relationship either. Oh,
she’d certainly come close a time or two, but every time her previous
boyfriends’ began dropping subtle hints that they were interested in something
more serious, she’d panicked. She was completely aware that her fear of love
and commitment set her apart from the other ninety-nine percent of the female
population, but she did have her reasons.

Losing her parents at such a young
age had deeply affected her. She’d never felt so grief-stricken and vulnerable
in her entire life, before or since that dreadful night. Aside from her
brother, Ty, she kept all relationships with the male species at arm’s length.
Her biggest phobia—other than heights—was to revisit the kind of pain she’d
endured then. To allow her heart to become accessible, leaving her weak and
defenseless. She liked to have complete and utter control of her life; just
thinking about losing it made her panic.

But she had to admit, she was
incredibly intrigued by Grant. Looking at him was certainly no hardship. His
light brown hair dared her to run her fingers through it; his eyes were
ice-blue, but there was nothing cold about them. His long lashes were
borderline envious. And those lips…

Okay, she was admittedly curious—even
more so
by his playboy reputation. He wasn’t
looking for
anything serious and neither was she. She only planned on
being in town for a few months and spending time with a drop-dead-gorgeous
fireman would give her a sense of adventure in this slow-paced island town.

Grant glanced at the shrinking stack
of poker chips in front of him and then at his cards.
Damn it!
There was
no doubt about it: he’d been dealt a very shitty hand this round.

 “So, what brings your sister to
town?” he asked, hoping the conversation was enough to distract Ty from winning
yet another round.

“Hell if I know—Olivia is…
spontaneous and adventurous by nature.”

“
Spontaneous
and
a
dventurous…?”

“Yep, I raised her from the age of
nine and two days after she graduated, she up and left and hasn’t been back
until now. Her being gone is partly my fault, though.”

“Why’s that?” Grant asked curiously.

“Well, let’s just say Olivia didn’t
hide the fact that she wasn’t a big fan of Cameron and Cameron felt the same
way about her. I traveled to New Orleans a couple times to visit, but she’d
always declined to come back home.”

“Ah.” He was beginning to like her
more by the minute. He wasn’t a big fan of Cameron either. In fact, he was
probably the only one on the entire island that saw through her innocent guise.

Grant placed twenty dollars worth of
chips in the center of the table; the only chance he had to win this game was
to rely heavily on distracting and
bluffing
his opponents. “Any idea how long she’s staying?”

Ty met his twenty dollar bet and
raised him fifteen. “I have no idea. She didn’t give me a departure date. But
knowing her, she won’t be able to stay idle for long…”

After Grant reluctantly removed
himself from the tournament, he grabbed another beer and headed outside for a
breath of fresh air. He ambled toward the pool where Olivia was sitting with
her pants’ legs rolled up to her knees; her legs swishing softly in the chilly
water. He settled down beside her, removing his flip flops and rolling his jeans,
submerging his feet into the cool water as well. “So, the man in your life you
spoke about earlier was…?”

“My brother, Ty”, she said smiling.

“And you didn’t feel the need to tell
me that the ‘man in your life’ was also a fireman because…?”

“Because you didn’t ask”, she
responded playfully.

Grant chuckled under his breath and
then gestured toward her injury. “How’s the foot doing?”

Olivia straightened her leg, lifting
her foot out of the water. “Well, it’s a lil’ tender, but I’m a tough girl.”

“I don’t doubt that for a minute”, he
said as he flashed a heated smile.

Oh, yeah. Spending time with the
island’s most eligible bachelor was going to be fun.
“I take it
since you’re out here flirtin’ with me and the rest of the guys are still
inside, playing cards, means you didn’t do so well tonight.”

She’s good—real good.
“Flirting?
Is that what I was doing?” he asked, grinning.

“Uh-huh. That’s
precisely what you were doin’.”

Grant put his hands up in surrender.
“Ok… guilty! And to answer your first question, the game didn’t go very well
for me tonight. I was sort of
distracted
.”

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?” she asked
curiously as she took a sip of red wine.

“Because… I was too busy staring at
you.”

Spoken like a true player, she
thought. This was going to be fun. He was probably used to women falling at his
feet, melting into a willing puddle of lust at the sight of his sinfully
suggestive smile, but he hadn’t had the pleasure of crossing paths with her
yet. Make no mistake, her extremities felt like a heaping mound of overcooked
noodles every time he looked at her with those eager, ice-blue eyes—the same
blue eyes sweeping across her mouth right now—but he certainly didn’t need to
know that. Guys like Grant enjoyed
“the chase”
and judging by the
reactions from some of the women earlier, he hadn’t engaged in a challenging
pursuit of the opposite sex in quite some time.

“Aw, I’m flattered—you’re worried
about me.
That’s really sweet
.”

Sweet?
He’d been
called a lot of things in his thirty-three years, but “
sweet”
wasn’t one
of them. Grant laughed in spite of himself. For some strange reason, she had
that effect on him. “So, are you going to be around for Ty’s annual Halloween
party next weekend?”

“Are you kiddin’ me?—of course! I
love Halloween.”

“Yeah? What’s your costume?” he
asked.

Olivia leaned her weight back on her
hands. “Hmm, I don’t know yet. Any suggestions?”

“Oh, I don’t know… nudist colony
member?” he suggested as he winked at her.

She felt her bones beginning to melt
into that willing puddle of lust she thought about moments earlier. It was a
good thing her feet were submerged in the chilly water; if the conversation
continued much longer she might be forced to submerge her entire body. He was
slick, but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of showing him what he
was doing to her insides right now.

“Hmm, I’ll have to keep that one in
mind…”

CHAPTER 3

Butler Island contained all of the
essentials the small town needed: a modest-sized police and fire department, a
post office, a humble grocery store and neighborhood pharmacy. The majority of
the businesses on the island were located along the boardwalk. There was an
antique shop, a delicious bakery and café, restaurants, a saloon, and several
little stores that sold everything from clothes to seashells to fishing poles.

Olivia awoke the next morning with a
clear goal in mind: find a Halloween costume. She figured she would travel to
the boardwalk and check out the Seasonal Bazaar, a small boutique that
specialized in inventory to suit every season and holiday of the year. She
loosely braided her long blonde hair and  slipped into an old pair of
comfortable jeans and a white tank top when the doorbell rang.

“Coming!” she called out as she
approached the door.

“Oh my goodness, it really is true…
You’re here!” Kendall Porter cried.

“In the flesh! How are you?” Olivia
asked as she stepped forward to give Kendall a hug. Kendall was Olivia’s
childhood best friend. They’d stayed in touch throughout the years, although
not as often as she would have liked. Kendall had left Butler Island for
college as well, but had returned after graduation to manage the small
neighborhood pharmacy on the island.

“Every thing’s been great.”

She still looked the same: Tall,
black shoulder-length hair, large amber eyes and an envious olive complexion.
She was a beauty, both inside and out.

“How did you know I was here?” Olivia
asked.

Kendall gave her a look of disbelief.
“You have been gone a long time… This is Butler Island, remember? Word travels
fast here!”

“Yeah, guess I’d
better get used to that again…”

Kendall accompanied Olivia to the
Seasonal Bazaar, in search of a costume for herself as well. They’d been
sifting through the racks for several minutes before Olivia’s curiosity got the
best of her. “I have a question for you.”

“Ok—shoot.”

“What do you know about Grant
Womack?” Kendall held up a pink princess costume, asking for her opinion. When
Olivia wrinkled her nose and shook her head in disapproval, Kendall returned
the satin garment back to the rack.

“Well, besides being the most
eligible bachelor in the county?—not much… He’s a fairly private guy. He is Mr.
Gibson’s grandson, though.”

“Really? I didn’t know that… I guess
that explains the beach house then.”

Kendall froze and looked up at Olivia
in anticipation. “You were at his beach house?—
When?
—and I want all the
raunchy details, too!”