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

it?”
    Seriously? This woman got off on reptiles. He’d have to remember that.
    “In the marsh back there.” He waved a hand vaguely.
    “They’re endangered. I’ve been trying to spot one for years. My sister needs to prove they’re in the area.” The photographer gave him a peeved look. “They’ve just finished nesting so don’t go stomping around wherever. You’ll squash their eggs.”
    He held up his hands. “I stay on the rocks when I’m in the marsh and on shore I follow the paths.”
    “Good.” She narrowed her eyes at him and he felt the need to prove he wasn’t some city-slicker movie star who would stomp on endangered eggs.
    “Strange birds you’ve got, though.” Finn gave a shiver. “What are those ones that look like an anorexic black-and-white duck?”
    She choked on a laugh as she took her stool again. “That would probably be the loon.” She made a quivering, high-pitched call. “Like that?”
    Okay, that sound really shouldn’t turn him on, but it did.
    “Yeah, like a scared, high-pitched owl crossed with something insane.”
    Smiling at his description, she pulled out a one-dollar coin and held it up. “The loonie. Named for the loon shown on the front.” She turned to the bartender and called, “Jamie? You got an elastic?”
    He shot one to her and she snatched it out of the air, and began wrangling her curls into some sort of bun as she gave him a look. “Honestly, Jamie, you’d think you were my brother the way you treat me. Trying to hit me with an elastic.”
    The bartender propped himself on the bar. “And that’s a problem how?” He had one of those knowing smiles that made Finn think the man might be competition if he hadn’t just received a “brother” comment.
    Jamie moved to the other end of the bar after getting a playful slap from Nature Nut and Finn studied the coin in his hand, pretending not to watch as she exposed a sweeping, pale neck. She was gorgeous. He turned the coin over and handed it back. “That’s the bird. What’s the story on the toonie? Aren’t there polar bears on it?”
    “Well, it’s the two-dollar coin,” she said, as if that explained things.
    He scratched his head, thinking. Yeah. “That makes no sense.”
    “Who said it has to make sense?” She shot him a grin.
    He let out a half laugh. Behind him, he could sense a few locals, waiting for him to turn their way so they could smile and say hi, get in on the jokes. Not now. Didn’t they see he was picking up a lady? The two of them were finally having a conversation that didn’t involve violence on her part. He was getting somewhere.
    “Show me some of your photos,” he suggested.
    She pulled out her phone, then, with cheeks flaming, tucked it into her bag and, instead, slid a glossy postcard his way.
    “What kind of photos do you do?” he asked carefully, not looking at the card, trying to figure out why she wouldn’t show him her phone. Nude selfies for a boyfriend? He didn’t like that idea. Not one bit.
    “That kind.” She nudged the card.
    “Any portraits?” He kept his eyes on hers, but she refused to look at him.
    She shrugged. “Only when I’m hard up for cash.”
    He scratched his cheek, studying her card. “This is an unusual shot.” The contrast of light and dark, the way she’d used the deer’s fur as texture. It could easily be just another photo of a deer, but she’d somehow made the buck feel real, alive, and as though he might turn his head, step out of the card and give Finn a shove with his antlers. That, he knew, took talent. Patience. Knowing your equipment. The light. The timing.
    All the more reason she should work with him. And why shouldn’t she? He’d be a great addition to her portfolio.
    She faced him more fully, her lips moist and entirely kissable. If she had been even halfway willing…
    But he had her attention. About time.
    Now he could take it home. Make the connection. Get her on his side.
    “I bet you hear a lot of ‘how