Free Love and Rumors: A Summer Sisters Beach Reads Contemporary Romance (The Summer Sisters Book 1) by Jean Oram Page B

of an annoying burr Austin really was.
    “What’s your favorite song?” Finian asked. “Of the band’s?”
    “‘Drooping Flags’,” she said, feeling embarrassed. It was a silly song, but the depth of the lyrics got her every time. “And you?”
    He paused. “Yeah. Me, too.” He leaned on the table, arms stretched toward her. All she’d have to do was place her hands near his and he’d grasp them. Long fingers, wide palms, ready to touch her. Caress her. Lead her into sweet temptation.
    She leaned back in her chair. “Same favorite song? You can’t do better than that in your quest to get me to like you?”
    “You don’t like me?”
    She swallowed hard. “I mean, we don’t really know each other. And the odds of us prefering the same obscure song are pretty out there.”
    His eyes held a mischievous glint and she had no clue whether she could trust him. Hailey leaned forward and tipped up her jaw in challenge. “Prove it. Sing ‘Drooping Flags’.”
    “I’ll do one better.” He got up and went to talk to the bouncer on the other side of the curtain. Finian returned a moment later, grinning.
    “What did you just do?” she asked.
    “You’ll see.” He gave her a wink over his rye and Coke, lifting it toward her. “Cheers, Hailey Summer.”

    * * *

    Finn left Hailey in the crowd by the stage. He both loved and hated her discomfort and the way she was wrestling with her attraction. She’d just about swoon, then catch herself and cross her arms, giving him a stern look. And now he was about to take it over the top. He’d either crash and burn and never see her again, or he’d have her naked body panting under him in a matter of hours.
    From his spot in the wings he could see Austin at the back of the crowd, his camera at chest level, ready to take aim. Yep, this could get good. Finn could smash the guitar at the end of the show. Jump off the stage into the crowd and bodysurf his way to the bar, where he could drink right out of the keg. That would be tabloid worthy.
    He cut a glance to Hailey. Hailey .
    The way her soft dress was hugging her like a long-lost lover… The way her hair, straightened and glossy, curved over her bare shoulders… She was a vision of simplicity and understated beauty. Someone you could easily miss because of a lack of flash, but when you looked closer, you got drawn in, became lost. There was something undefinably sexy about Hailey Summer, and he wasn’t the only one who’d noticed. But it wasn’t the cocky jerks, it was the nice guys. Men he hoped to hell wouldn’t put the moves on her, because in a contest against a nice guy there was no way Finn would ever win.
    And she was his.
    Well, no, she wasn’t. But he wanted her to be—at least until he figured himself out, and where she fit into his life. Which was stupid. He did flings and relationships that lacked meaning. Hailey wasn’t that kind of girl. Hell, she might even have a steady man in her life, and Finn was leaving in a week—even earlier if he couldn’t get new dirt out into the gossip rags. He needed to push Hailey into action somehow. Which meant he needed to stop thinking and feeling.
    His shoulders slumped as he stared out at her. Somehow this had become a real date, with him trying to impress her enough she’d decide to stick around rather than get her to expose his dark side to the world. The woman didn’t even have a real camera on her. Finn had lost his focus. Again.
    He gave himself a shake and ground his teeth. He could do this. He could get back in the game. She had a camera phone, right? And there were others with cameras in the audience, including Austin, who was better than nothing—which was what Finn currently had.
    He could muck this up, like skydiving without a parachute, and it would still turn out fine. That was the best part of having a persona that was out of control: he had the freedom to do whatever he wanted to woo the object of his affections.
    Object of affections? Woo?