Tea or water?” Cosette asked Cisco.
“Milk and coffee, please.” He turned to Suz, and Suz’s heart seemed to melt inside her.
“Can we talk about the race next weekend?”
She nodded. “Talk away.”
“You don’t seem all that enthusiastic.”
“I’m not.” Suz concentrated on the scent of man and woodsy cologne, and the realization that he seemed to have no intention of taking up the space across the tabletop where Cosette and Jane had left a vacant seat. “I told you, I don’t really swim.”
He grinned at her, slow and easy, lighting a fire in her body where it hadn’t been lit before. “I’ve taken that into consideration, and I have a plan.”
“You do?” Suz stared at his mouth, completely oblivious to Jane plunking down their cake and Cosette spilling a little coffee. You couldn’t expect the matchmaker not to be a little nervous, Suz decided when she looked up and realized Cosette was mopping up coffee faster than you could say, “Cleanup in booth one.”
She went back to considering Cisco’s rugged face.
He smiled at her again, completely ruining her ability to remember that Daisy, the mean, mean girl of Bridesmaids Creek, who’d written the book on mean after her father had scribed the first chapter, had won Cisco just a few short weeks ago. No, all she could think of was why she’d never before realized that Francisco Rodriguez Olivier Grant had such a sexy, steamy set of lips.
She’d been so reaching when she’d told him she didn’t want to kiss him. Keeping distance was her specialty; she’d done it all her life. The truth was, she was pretty certain and would bet the farm—that being the Hanging H where she and her sister had grown up and currently lived—that this man knew exactly what to do with his mouth in very special, woman-pleasing ways.
He smiled at her. “I’m going to teach you. And when I get done with you, Suz Hawthorne, you’re going to be able to swim like a mermaid.”
Holding Suz Hawthorne, even in the cold, cold water of Bridesmaids Creek, was every bit as mind-bending as Cisco had imagined in his dreams, and then some. She was soft and cute and dainty, and there was a part of his body that stayed warm no matter what, just from the contact. He held her plank-style so she could rotate her arms, which she did in paddleboat-wheel fashion.
Staring at her butt in the wet suit wasn’t going to make the definitely warm area—a lesser gentleman might even term that area of his body as hard, but thanks to the wet suit it was a concealed difficulty—any less warm. She was like a slippery seal with curves, wriggling in his hands, but she was making a good-faith effort to learn what he was trying to teach. And she hadn’t complained about the water temperature once.
Which was the thing he’d always admired about Suz—she was tough. In a delicate sort of way. If she were a man, she would have been a great SEAL candidate.
“You’re doing fine. But that’s enough for today.” Cisco helped Suz from the water to the bank, ostensibly guiding her so she wouldn’t slip and fall back in, but really so he could keep his hands on her a little longer under the respectable guise of swim coach.
“So what do you think?” Suz faced him as she toweled off. It looked like she might want to shiver a little, but wasn’t going to give in to it.
Secretly, he was dismayed by the fact that Suz really couldn’t swim. “At this short-straw party that was held in my honor, did you happen to mention to anyone that you couldn’t swim very well?”
Suz shook out her hair. “No. I didn’t think I’d be short straw. I’ve always been pretty lucky.”
So she didn’t think swimming for him was necessarily a good thing. Cisco was about to move on to his next salient question, namely: Was there anything else she could think of to be done to avoid the Curse, as he now thought of Bridesmaids Creek’s very potent charms, when the nightmare of his nightmares roared up on her shiny motorcycle.
Daisy hopped off, shed her helmet and glared. “What’s going on?”
“Cisco’s giving me a swimming lesson.” Suz fluffed her hair, spraying a few final water droplets. “What’s going on with you?”
Daisy’s glare could have cut fog. “You’re cheating.”
This didn’t sound good. Cisco decided he’d best intervene, but before he could say anything, Daisy got back on her bike. “I’m filing a formal complaint with the Bridesmaids Creek committee. You know very well that you’re not supposed to be doing anything to influence the prize, Suz Hawthorne.”
Suz stiffened up like a fierce chicken. “How am I influencing the prize? Cisco’s giving me a lesson. There’s nothing else going on.”
Daisy’s gaze slid to him. “You’re not being impartial.”
“Guilty as charged.” There was no point in denying it. “Look, Daisy, I know there’s this enchantment, or airy-fairy nonsense, that appears to be pretty baked here in this town, but I don’t care how many curses you put on me, I’m just not going to be into you.” He swallowed, hating to hurt her feelings but realizing that bluntness was needed before the threat of committees got thrown around some more. He didn’t know what strength a BC committee had, but there was already enough bad blood in the town as it was. “I don’t care how many times you win me, I’m not the guy for you. I’m sorry.”
Daisy shook her head. “That’s the beauty of the charms here. Sometimes we don’t know what’s right under our noses.”
He looked over Suz’s seal-slick figure, eyeing her curves and her streaked hair. “I know what’s under my nose. I don’t need any race or contest or matchmaker to tell me.”
Daisy frowned. “I’m going to file a complaint. Once again, the Hawthornes have conspired to work things to their advantage. Suz, you’ve tampered with the race, and that’s just not done in BC. Our legends are sacrosanct.”
Suz shrugged. “File away. I don’t care. It was just a swimming lesson.”
“Just because you’ve always been the hometown princess doesn’t mean you can break the rules.” Daisy zoomed off.
“Hell, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize we were bending any contest rules.” Cisco shook his head. “I don’t want to be the damn prize. I only swam the first race because her dad was putting up a huge purse, and my buddies and I decided to win it and give it to charity. And we looked forward to putting a major thumping on Daisy’s gang.” He shook his head. “Didn’t foresee Squint, of all people, cramping up and crab-crawling into last place.”
Suz walked to his truck. “So don’t be the prize, if it bugs you so much. It’s just a moneymaker for our town. People like to come out and see the event, the same folks who frequent our haunted house at the Hanging H. Families who like family events they can go to with their kids.”
“It’s a big deal, huh?” A little guilt seeped into him.
She shrugged and got into his truck. “I told you, it’s
