Free Just a Summer Fling by Cate Cameron Page B

playing around,” Josh said firmly. “Having fun. That’s all.”
    Scott looked like he was thinking about arguing the point. Then he took a moment to look at Josh’s face. “Okay,” he grumbled with a shrug. “Fine. She’s a saint. Whatever. You still cost me twenty bucks.”
    Josh didn’t think he’d get into that. Instead, he turned to say good-bye to Abi and saw her watching him contemplatively. He had no idea what she was thinking, and figured it was best to leave it that way. “Thanks for the sandwich,” he said, and he headed out of the café. He wondered if the “O” on the list of Vermont hazards should be “overprotective.” And his first instinct should
not
have involved sharing that idea with Ashley Carlsen.
    *   *   *
    ASHLEY wasn’t stalking the man. But her pottery lesson had been prescheduled and she’d needed something to take her mind off her stupidity. Laurie had set her up with a chunk of marble on top of a rustic wooden table in the middle of the shop and was showing her how to use slabs of clay to make interesting shapes; then Ashley had glanced out the window and seen Josh striding out of the café across the street, an angry frown on his handsome face.
    Laurie noticed her distraction and glanced across the street. “Josh Sullivan,” she said as if the words were a complete and meaningful sentence. Then she looked back at Ashley. “I heard a little story about you and him at Woody’s. . . .”
    “Just me,” Ashley said quickly. “He put up with me, but just because he’s a good guy. None of that was his idea.”
    Laurie looked a little skeptical. “Make sure the seam’s tight, then dip your finger in the water and use it to smooth out the edges,” she directed. As Ashley worked Laurie peered back out the window. “I don’t know him that well. I used to be friends with Anika, one of his cousins. Have you noticed yet that he’s related to practically everybody? That’s because his mom’s a Linden, and they have big families and none of them ever move away. I used to go over to her place—they still have a bit of lakefront, which is pretty damn rare for any locals up here—and we’d hang out on the dock and I’d ogle all the handsome boys in her family. But then Anika broke the family tradition and actually did move away, so I kind of lost touch. Josh was definitely nice to look at, though. But he’s . . .” She made a face. “He’s got a bit of a reputation, you know. For . . . well, for stuff like that night at Woody’s. Going home with strangers. Especially rich strangers.”
    “He’s made it pretty clear he wants nothing to do with me,” Ashley said firmly. She liked Laurie and was pretty sure the woman was trying to warn her rather than trying to be a busybody, but there was no need for a warning. Josh Sullivan had been a brief visitor to Ashley’s life and he’d run away as quickly as he could at the first opportunity. He wouldn’t be coming back.
    She looked back down at the vase she’d constructed. It was clumsy and rough compared to the smooth grace of the one Laurie had made, but Ashley still liked it. And she liked having something under her control, something that responded to her efforts. “Should I squish this one and start over?” she asked.
    Laurie shrugged. “Your call. We can fire it and glaze it if you want, and you can still make another. Clay doesn’t cost all that much, really, so if you want to keep it, you should.”
    Ashley looked down at the rough shape. “I’m keeping it,” she said firmly. “I want to glaze it a nice deep blue andput it in my living room at home and if people don’t like it, that’s too damn bad.”
    Laurie raised an eyebrow. “Okay. Pottery as expression of defiance. Very nice. Let’s put that bad boy over there for now and you can make something
else
to tell the world to go to hell.”
    “Not the whole world,” Ashley said sweetly. She took the lump of clay from inside the plastic