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good?”
    “I feel better now that I’m with you.” She smiled into the tenderness of his kiss.
    “Hey, dude.” Cam smiled at Walsh over Kerris’s shoulder. “’Bout time you joined the living. I hope you won’t be such a drag all summer.”
    Walsh returned his smile, watching Cam lower Kerris back to the ground. She was where she belonged. He’d only just met the woman yesterday. He refused to believe the signals his heart kept sending him. Things like that didn’t happen in real life. Cam was the best friend he’d ever had. The bond they’d built over years of happiness and hurt—that was real.
    A silver-blond goddess walked up behind Cam, looking like she’d walked off the set of an Abercrombie & Fitch shoot. Knowing his friend Sofie, she might have.
    “Did you have a good nap, Walsh?” Sofie stepped close enough for him to smell her perfume mixing with the scents of the outdoors.
    He’d known her since preschool. Her father had been right beside his, building the Bennett empire. Her recent success in modeling had landed her on an unwritten “It Girl” list, and she was starting a new role as celebrity goodwill ambassador for the Walsh Foundation. He knew, though, that he was the real reason she was in Rivermont.
    She caught his hand. He sharpened the look he gave her to a fine point, hoping she knew what it meant.
    Don’t even think about it. It’s never going to happen.
    “Yeah, it was just what I needed.” He freed his hand, deliberately and gently. “You ready to meet the Walsh Foundation board on Monday?”
    “I think so.” Un-Sofie-like tentativeness filled her bottle green eyes. “I just hope I’m what they’re looking for.”
    “They’re looking for someone refined, well-spoken, and who’ll bring positive attention to our cause.” He reassured her with his smile, forcing himself to keep his eyes trained on her, rather than straying to the couple still talking a few feet away. “And the fact that your dad is my father’s right-hand man doesn’t hurt. Plus, your good looks don’t hurt.”
    “So you do think I’m pretty?” She slid a chunk of hair behind her ear and flashed a too-wide smile.
    He had known since high school that he could have Sofie whenever he wanted her. Problem was, he just didn’t see her that way. She was beautiful, with a cover-worthy body, but there wasn’t enough beyond the shiny packaging to hold his attention.
    “Look at you, fishing for compliments.” He brushed a finger down her perfect nose, keeping his tone fraternal. “Does it really matter what I think when the rest of the world is at your feet?”
    “It does to me,” she said, no smile.
    “Sof—” She stopped whatever he’d been about to say with the well-manicured finger she placed across his lips.
    “When you’re ready to give me a chance, I’ll be waiting.” She dragged him toward the riverbank, smiling like she knew what was best for him. “For now, let’s show these country bumpkins what the captain of the rowing team can do.”
    “Is it a race?” He glanced past her to where their friends were lining up canoes on the river. He was nothing if not competitive, another legacy from his father. He felt a tiny thrill of anticipation. He hadn’t rowed in years, not since high school.
    “Yeah, it’s a race,” Cam said from his canoe, where Kerris had already settled in front of him. “And we’re gonna kick your ass, Bennett.”
    Never one to leave a gauntlet on the ground, Walsh staked his claim in the canoe beside them, helping Sofie get situated. He and Cam had a time-honored tradition of competing. The more trash talking, the better.
    “You gonna kick my ass, Mitchell? That’d be a first.”
    “Would you two just load in and stop with all the talking?” Jo laughed from her canoe. “I’m ready to kick some ass myself.”
    * * *
    In the end, Sofie and Walsh triumphed, and rubbed it in mercilessly.
    “Did we forget to mention that we were both captains of our high