Free Waking Up To Love (Lakeside Porches Book 4) by Katie O'Boyle Page A

I’ll be glad to introduce you.” He sat back and crossed his legs. “In fact, I’m having an intimate hors d’oeuvre party this Friday evening. Come with your favorite cheese or dip or whatever. I’ll have wine and sparkling water.”
    “I’d love that, thanks. I look forward to meeting your spouse.”
    She is so transparent . “I’m not married and never have been.” He liked the way her eyebrows lifted at that information.
    “Significant other? Special girlfriend?”
    “None at this time. I’m finding it a little isolated here in Tompkins Falls, especially since I’ve made it a policy not to date colleagues.” Let’s see what she does with that challenge .
    “Interesting, why is that?”
    “It’s a recipe for disaster.” He jotted his address on the back of a business card and passed it across the table.
    “Do you speak from experience?” She glanced at the card before tucking it in her purse.
    “Not my own, fortunately, but I’ve seen toxic fallout in the halls of academe from personal relationships gone wrong.” He stretched his arm along the back of the booth.
    “Does that mean you’d never take a date to a colleague’s wedding or join in with some of the family events I see on the bulletin board?”
    “Such as?” If it was a family thing, Tully would be there. The family had just returned from spending the summer with Marie’s parents and siblings in Canada.
    “Like apple picking in Sodus this Sunday?”
    Apple picking, seriously? His eyes swept over her. “I might drive a special colleague apple picking if she didn’t mind riding in a two-seater.”
    “Wait.” Her laugh was as pure and joyful as wedding bells. “Was that an invitation?”
    “It was, yes.”
    “But not a date?” She looked at him out of the corner of her eye.
    “Isn’t this a date, Lyssa?” His gaze probed her deep blue eyes, saw a hint of confusion, a spark of what might be excitement and, finally, a blush on her cheeks. Got her.
    “I thought I was taking you up on your offer to save my sanity during the interview process. Just a bit late.”
    He shook his head. “Some advice is in order.” He enfolded her hands in his, and fixed her with his most sincere gaze. “The half-dozen faculty and more than a dozen students who’ve passed our booth in the past twenty minutes are spreading the word that Professor Cunningham is dating Professor Doughty.”
    “You’re not serious?” She gasped, extracted her hands, and gripped the edge of the table. “I’ve compromised your policy, Rand.”
    It was all he could do not to laugh at the performance. “Then you owe me, don’t you? You must come as my date this Sunday for apple picking.”
    “Smashing.” Her eyes sparkled.
    I’ve finally met my match.
    No way do I believe he doesn’t date colleagues .
    Lyssa leaned on her porch railing, sipped her iced tea, and contemplated the choppy blue water. A lone sailboat wrestled with the wind. I held my own with his trickiness .
    Fifty feet below her, waves smacked the rocks at the base of the bluff. But do I really want to get involved with someone so devilishly clever?
    She marveled at the ease and speed with which Rand had twisted her every answer to suit him. She would make a brief appearance at his gathering Friday evening and leave before the drinking revved up.
    And she’d enjoy the apple picking. I’ll surprise Manda with enough apples for both of us .
    Somewhere to her right, a woman’s voice shouted. “Hello, Chestnut Lake!”
    My sister? Lyssa tore down the stairs and burst through the door to the street. Manda stood with her husband at the end of Lakeside Terrace, on the edge of the bluff, arms open to the windswept lake.
    “Welcome home, Manda and Joel!” Lyssa squealed with joy as she ran to them.
    The sisters wrapped each other in a teary hug and rocked to their own rhythm for a full minute before Joel made his voice heard. “Welcome to Lakeside Terrace, Lyssa.”
    “Joel, hi.” Lyssa broke