Things We Never Said (Hart's Boardwalk #3) - Samantha Young Page 0,100

was getting serious, but the sex was so good, I hadn’t wanted to give him up. Plus, Jeff was great. He reminded me a little of Michael. However, he wasn’t Michael, and when it became clear he was developing real feelings for me, I broke things off. It wasn’t fair to Jeff, or to any man, to be with a woman who could never love him the way he deserved.

I’d returned to my serial dating, and it was a way to pass the time and deal with that pesky sexual frustration (although to be fair, my vibrator did a better job more often than not), so speed dating shouldn’t have bothered me.

Yet, it bothered me.

It bothered me greatly.

Because Kell Summers hadn’t only talked me into doing it.

Michael and Jeff were in the room.

Michael saw me as soon as I walked in, but he’d been cornered by Dana Kellerman. Surprise, surprise. He nodded at me, and I gave him a small wave in greeting. Jeff had also been talking to a woman, someone I didn’t recognize, when he saw me. Nervousness shot through me as he excused himself and strode across the room.

Jeff was tall, and there was something about the way he walked that reminded me of the way cowboys swaggered in the old Hollywood movies. He had a rangy build, not thick muscle like Michael, but lean and hard. All of that was good. Very masculine, rugged, sexy goodness. And he knew what to do with it in the bedroom. I flushed and forced those memories away.

There was gladness in Jeff’s blue eyes that told me he was happy to see me.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t happy to see Jeff. I was. I was always glad to see him. But my mind was whirring, wondering if Michael had worked out my history with his boss.

“You look beautiful.” Jeff perused my outfit.

I was wearing a vintage red pencil dress that accentuated every generous curve of my body, matching red platform peep-toes with a delicate ankle strap, and I wore my long dark hair in waves down my back. Bright red lipstick finished my not-quite-but-almost fifties pinup look. “Thanks. You look good too.” He did. He always did. “But who is manning the station with the sheriff and his detective here?”

He grinned at my teasing. “I was harassed into doing this and if I have to do it, why suffer alone?”

I bit my lip and peeked around his shoulder at Michael, who was glaring daggers at Jeff’s back. Michael didn’t throw out dirty looks willy-nilly.

Shit, he knew.

“He knows about us,” Jeff confirmed.

I studied him. “What do you know about Michael and me?”

“Not a lot. He’s pretty closemouthed. I know you know each other from Boston. That he’s here because of you. He mentioned he let you slip through his fingers once before and he wasn’t going to let it happen again.”

He’d said that? To Jeff?

“Jeff, I—”

“Is he the reason, Dahlia?”

I knew what he was asking. Was Michael the reason I’d broken things off with him? “Yes.”

“Then why are you here with me and he’s over there with Dana?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Only if you make it complicated.” He glanced over his shoulder before turning back to me with a playful smirk. “And it looks like Mike isn’t trying hard enough.” He bent his head to my ear, rested his hand on my hip, and whispered, “Maybe I should give him a little push.”

My eyes flew to Michael. His features were taut as he watched Jeff and me. Then quite abruptly, he nudged Dana aside to make his way toward us. Jeff had already retreated. My heart raced like a jackhammer.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” Kell’s voice boomed over the PA system and stopped Michael in his tracks. “Welcome to Hartwell’s first-ever speed-dating event. I’ll now ask the ladies to take a seat on this side of the room”—he gestured to the chairs that had their backs to the entrance—“and the gentlemen to take the seats opposite. When the bell sounds, you can commence flirting. When the bell sounds again, we’ll ask the gentlemen to move one seat to their right.”

I shot Jeff a worried look. “I don’t think playing games with one of your employees is a particularly good idea, Jeff.”

“Who says I’m playing games?” His expression was hot.

Oh, great. Just what I needed. More unwanted male attention.

Why the hell had I let Kell talk me into this?

I avoided Michael as I crossed the room to take one of the last seats left. The men were