and trying to get his attention.
Dare he think it? This seems promising.
He excused himself from the discussion with Beth and made his way toward Jamie, who seemed to vibrate with intensity the closer he got. He wasn’t sure whether that was good or bad, but he couldn’t postpone the Matt discussion forever.
“Hey, yeah.” He smiled at her. She was so beautiful in the darkness, all windswept hair and eyes lit up like sparklers.
“We have to do something,” she said.
Agreed.
But what?
“About Matt?” Sawyer nodded. “I think we should just…”
Send him packing.
He couldn’t say it, obviously…but he wanted to. Oh, how he wanted to…
Jamie held up a hand. “About Lucy.”
“Lucy?” he echoed.
“Lucy.” Jamie’s upturned face split into a giddy grin. “Lucy likes Rick.”
He knew it!
Thank goodness. Sawyer’s days as a wingman were coming to a close. “Hallelujah! I’m going to go tell him.”
He took a step toward the bistro booth, but Jamie’s snagged him by his coat sleeve and reeled him back in. “No! No, you absolutely cannot tell him. I made a promise, and it would be a violation of trust.”
“So.” Sawyer glanced from Rick to Lucy and back at Jamie. “What do we do?”
Jamie shrugged. “Well, we have to get them together.”
Obviously.
And yet…
“I thought we weren’t scheming,” he said.
“That was before I realized the feelings were mutual,” Jamie countered.
“I’m just going to nod like that makes sense,” he said, nodding.
“Valentine’s Day is in two days.” She threw her hands up, and Sawyer bit back a smile. When Jamie set her mind on something, there was no stopping her. Rick and Lucy would probably be engaged by the end of the night. “This whole festival is about music and romance and love and food and fun…”
Food!
Sawyer snapped his fingers. That was it.
“And food,” he said. Then he repeated himself, slower, so she’d get the idea. “Fooood.”
Jamie gasped, eyes dancing. “Food!”
Sawyer gave her a meaningful nod. He hoped Rick was ready—at least one of them wouldn’t be spending Valentine’s Day alone.
Twenty minutes later, after Jamie had told a tiny white lie in order to get Lucy to venture over to Rick’s booth, she grabbed Sawyer’s arm again—this time in order to pull him behind the trellis at the True Love Books & Cafe booth so they could hide and observe. She had a feeling that Rick and Lucy would be too self-conscious to admit their feelings for each other if she and Sawyer were anywhere in their field of vision. She didn’t want to risk anything. It was the perfect chance for them to finally admit they were crazy about each other—Rick plus Lucy forever. No more models. No more sweater guys. Just…
Wow.
Jamie crossed her fingers, and her toes, and just about everything else that could possibly be crossed and tried to resist the crazy urge to bury her face against Sawyer’s shoulder and breathe deep. He smelled like chocolate and romance—like a Valentine. Intellectually, she realized this was due to the fact that he’d been manning the Ridley cart for the past few hours, but she was having trouble thinking clearly at the moment. All the surrounding hearts and flowers at the festival were clearly getting to her.
She was supposed to be concentrating on Lucy and Rick. They needed all the positive thoughts they could get. She had a brief reprieve from Sawyer’s closeness when he leaned away to peer around the edge of the latticework wall.
But then she remembered the rules and swatted his elbow. “Hey! No spying.”
They’d already meddled enough, hadn’t they?
“They’re right out in the open,” Sawyer whispered. “Rick would totally spy.”
He had a point. Jamie had witnessed Rick’s nosy streak on more than one occasion.
She relented, albeit a little guiltily. “Okay, a little bit of spying.”
She peeked around the corner of the lattice, and Sawyer tucked himself right behind her in order to peer over her shoulder. A shiver skittered through Jamie at his nearness. He felt too good, too right, which was totally not the way she should feel about getting cozy with him.
But before she could move an inch, Lucy arrived at Rick’s booth and it was too late.
“Hey, Jamie says you need help handing out samples.” Lucy gestured toward a tray of cups filled with—what else—risotto.
Rick’s eyebrows drew together. “She did?”
Behind Jamie, Sawyer groaned.
Come on, Rick. Get a clue.
“Don’t you?” Lucy tilted her head, then her expression went from hopeful to disappointed. “Right,” she said, shoulders sagging.
She turned to go, but Rick finally seemed to realize Jamie had sent Lucy to him for a