Is It Any Wonder (Nantucket Love Story #2) - Courtney Walsh Page 0,66

knowing where he was.

“Ladies and gentlemen, let’s start the bidding.”

One by one, Louisa introduced the guardsmen, and one by one, the good people of Nantucket pledged large sums of money for the chance to enter the regatta with a genuine sailor. The bidders were as different as the men they were bidding on.

One guy bid on James Conley, an “Alfred Haynes Junior Yachtsman of the Year and all-around likable guy” for his thirteen-year-old son, who, he said, was very interested in sailing (but who, Louisa noticed, seemed much more interested in his iPhone). Another guardsman was bid on and paid for by an older woman named Dorothea Quinn, who was convinced that she had what it took to win that regatta if she just had the right partner.

It went on like that until finally Louisa only had three cards left.

“Okay, big spenders,” she said into the microphone. “Only a few chances left to win the Coastie of your dreams. We are down to our final three men. Shall we see if we’ve saved the best for last?”

She glanced into the wings and spotted Cody standing there. It was difficult not to notice he looked like he’d rather be having a root canal.

Slowly he brought his gaze to hers, then tugged at the collar of his shirt. She did a quick sweep of the audience and saw McKenzie Palmer standing at the back, poised and ready to bid.

Louisa’s heart sank.

She glanced down at the card with all of Cody’s details written on it and chastised herself for not thinking this through. Surely she had to expect that Cody would participate. This was why he’d been brought to Nantucket in the first place. He was here to make the Coast Guard look good.

She turned toward him again. He definitely made the Coast Guard look good.

The crowd had stilled. Even Eric and her parents had stopped chatting and were staring in her direction.

Ally caught her attention, gave her a pointed look, as if to say, Hurry up, and Louisa did her best to get it together.

“Please welcome to the stage Executive Chief Petty Officer, and real-life hero, Cody Boggs.”

Excited applause tore through the crowd as Cody took the stage. Eric stiffened. Her parents exchanged a concerned glance.

Louisa loved looking at Cody. She always had. How many days had she sat on the beach admiring him as he tore through the waves or worked on his surfing skills? She thought she’d fallen in love with him the summer before her junior year of high school, but looking at him now, she realized she’d never not been in love with him.

Somehow that realization hurt a little more than she thought it should.

The image of his face the moment she woke up on the deck of the cutter ship invaded her mind. Fear. Concern. Worry. Followed by the realization that he’d just saved the life of the woman whose actions had led to his father’s death.

And yet he’d still pressed on. Still took his time with her. Still came to the hospital and made sure she was okay.

“Louisa?”

She found him staring at her, probably anxious to get this over with already, and here she was, mentally waxing poetic about the person he used to be. About the couple they used to be.

“You okay?”

She quickly righted herself with a stern mental talking-to and forced herself to smile, turning her attention to the words on the card Ally had given her. Thank goodness for that card or Louisa might stand here dumbly for the rest of the evening.

“Well, ladies and gentlemen, standing in front of you is my personal knight in shining scuba suit—” She looked up from the card and found Ally smirking wryly. Louisa would deal with her later. “Cody is new to Brant Point station, but he’s already making waves. A three-time state champion swimmer, honors graduate of the Coast Guard Academy, and decorated officer, Cody guarantees that with the right partner he will take home the top prize at the Jackson Wirth Coast Guard Regatta.”

She allowed a brief amount of trash talk from his fellow guardsmen. A brief moment to pull herself together and reread the card and the details he’d chosen to share. Some of which she hadn’t been aware of until that moment.

She realized how much she missed being the first to know everything about Cody Boggs.

“Sounds like fighting words to me,” she said into the mic.

Cody gave a playful shrug, but his cocky grin looked like a put-on. She didn’t even