Trapped in Tourist Town Read Free Page A

season was just gearing up and there would be no shortage of jobs around the beach areas. The waterfront hotels would be looking for chambermaids, restaurants needed dishwashers and wait staff, and all the little souvenir shops would hire on cashiers.
    This was her last summer in Scallop Shores. Surely she could come up with something more exciting than cleaning out hotel rooms, waiting tables, or putting out the latest stock of T-shirts with the state of Maine or a cartoon lobster printed on them.
Think, Cady, think.
What could she do to earn the extra money she’d need to get settled in the city?
    Her feet slapped rhythmically as she quickly covered the one and a half miles of waterfront that made up Long Beach. She briefly considered taking her run up to the lighthouse, but she knew she wouldn’t make it back to open Logan’s in time.
    Thank goodness she lived right above the bakery. The cranberry scones she made before her run would be cool enough to carry downstairs after a quick shower. It always amused her that at seven o’clock on the dot, Cady would find a cluster of regulars with their noses pressed to the glass door. If she were even a minute late, she’d hear about it.
    Nearing the end of the beach, she pivoted on a heel and began to head the other way, back toward her car. A tiny figure in the distance showed her she no longer had the shoreline to herself. Concentrating on the summer cottages that dotted the opposite side of the road, she forgot the person until he was nearly on top of her.
    It was City Guy! And damned if he didn’t look just as good in old sweats and a Yankees tee as he did in the fancy duds she’d seen him in before. Maybe better. He slowed his pace as he approached her, stretching his arms over his head and pulling the fabric of his shirt tight across his well-toned pecs. Yeah, definitely better.
    “Wearing a Yankees tee in Red Sox country could be dangerous to your health. You ought to be more careful.” Cady trotted to a stop, drawing her knees up to her chest a few times to stretch them out.
    “Yeah? Who’s gonna jump me? You?” His challenge thrown down, he grinned like the devil.
    Cady smirked as she pulled the ear buds from her ears and continued to walk to her car. Not bad.
    “Yankees tee, metrosexual … everything else. You’re from New York, I take it? What brings you to Scallop Shores ...” She waited for him to supply his name as he raced to catch up with her.
    “Burke. I’m Burke Sanders. I guess you could say I’m here to give your town its fifteen minutes of fame. Or try to make a smaller tourist destination a bigger deal. Anyway, I write for a travel magazine. And yeah, I’m from the Big Apple—born and raised.”
    The thrill that passed through her upon learning he was indeed from the city, she’d explore later. But for now a giggle bubbled up too quickly to be stopped and Cady let out a chortle. She gestured toward a large, flat boulder near her car and made her way over the smaller loose stones to get to it. This one she had to sit down for.
    “You lose a bet?”
    “Excuse me?”
    “Someone else get the cushier assignment? Are you being punished? What did you do to get saddled with Scallop Shores?” She sat down, drawing her legs up and patting the rock to invite Burke to sit beside her.
    “I didn’t do anything wrong. I just ... wow.” He shook his head. “You want out of Dodge in a bad way. I’m thinking yours is the better story here.” He took a long sip from a plastic water bottle and then held it out.
    The idea of drinking from his bottle suddenly seemed wildly intimate, wholly inappropriate. Her mouth got drier at the thought and she grabbed for the container before she lost her nerve. The spout was still warm from the touch of his lips. She couldn’t resist darting her tongue out to search for just a little taste of him.
    “My name is Cady Eaton. My family stepped off the Mayflower and kept wandering until they made it to Scallop