Things We Never Said (Hart's Boardwalk #3) - Samantha Young Page 0,98

threw my hands up in exasperation. “Why are you doing this?”

“I’ve missed you. Have you missed me?” He avoided my question, leaning his hands on the table. “These past few weeks, have you missed me?”

More than anything.

Worse, despite not seeing him, I was becoming used to the idea of him living here, knowing he was in the same town, keeping everyone safe. Keeping me safe. I loved knowing that.

I loved it almost as much as the knot in my stomach resented it.

“Mike!”

I flinched at the voice.

I knew that voice.

I hated that voice.

Dana Kellerman’s appearance followed on the heels of her voice. He pushed away from my table to turn to her. My eyes drifted down her tall body of toned curves, and I felt stupid and childish and plump in my Snow White costume. It was my own fault. I’d made the Lycra outfit for Dana, and it fitted her athletic body like a second skin. The Elastigirl costume should’ve looked stupid. It did not. The red looked great against her tanned complexion. She usually wore her long hair in beachy waves, but she’d tied it up into a high ponytail that accentuated and elongated her feline ice-blue eyes. She had a perfect little nose and perfect lips and perfect high cheekbones, and she was sans mask because why would she hide such a perfect face?

Dana Kellerman was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever met in real life, and I’d never hated her for it before. It wasn’t in my nature to be jealous of other women’s looks. However, seeing her in all her glory, smiling flirtatiously into Michael’s eyes, I hated her.

She was so tall, she was almost the same height as him, and her legs went on forever in thigh-high black stiletto boots.

Hateful shrew.

“Mike, I’m glad I found you. I’ve got some kids from the parade at the ice cream shack, and they are desperate to meet a real-life, big-city detective. Will you come talk to them, please?”

Ugh.

Manipulative, hateful shrew!

She didn’t care about kids. She didn’t care about anything but getting into Michael’s pants.

Dana placed a hand on his bicep and tilted her head to the side, pretty much fluttering her lashes at him. “Please.”

Michael turned his head toward me. “You make all these costumes?”

Surprised by the question, I softened my scowl. “Dana’s, and a few others. The rest are rentals.”

He looked at me for a long, intense moment. “You’re so talented, dahlin’. Everyone looks amazing.”

That he had turned how fantastic Dana looked into something I had done was merely proof that Michael Sullivan was the best guy in the world. I couldn’t help my smile. “Thank you.”

He grinned at me.

“Oh.” Dana looked at me, and I saw the flash of catty calculation in her icy eyes. “Yeah, Dahlia is great. So great, I know she won’t mind if I steal you away. I know she’s not exactly the maternal type, but even Dahlia wouldn’t keep you from the kids.”

Bitch.

I gave her a pinched smile. “Of course, I wouldn’t. They’re so very, very, very desperate, after all.”

Michael coughed into his fist, and I grinned harder at him, making his dark eyes dance. He wasn’t interested in Dana Kellerman. He wasn’t interested in anyone but me, and that shouldn’t make me as happy as it did. Was there ever a woman more complicated than me?

“You should go to the kids,” I said. “They really will be excited to meet you. And thicken the accent. They’ll love that.”

His reticence was evident, but he nodded, and I watched as Dana threaded her arm through his and led him away through the crowds.

“What was that?” Bailey barked in my ear.

“Oh my God!” I nearly fell off my stool. I turned around to see her standing behind me with her hands on her slim hips. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

“Did you just let Michael walk away with Dana Kellerman?”

“Did you just pretend to be upset with Vaughn to deflect from your devious matchmaking plans?”

We glared at each other.

Then Bailey rolled her eyes and slipped onto the stool next to mine. “It wasn’t totally a pretense. Vaughn has a tendency toward high-handed. I need to remind him who he’s dealing with now and then.”

“He knows you’re up to something.”

“Of course he does. He knows me too well. You didn’t help by almost ratting me out.” She blew a raspberry at me. “He sees everything in black and white when it comes to the people he cares for. He