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Highness?”
    My eyes popped out. “You call her Your Highness?”
    She scrunched her button nose. “Not to her face.”
    I could see an instant friendship forming. Anyone who wasn’t kissing Rose’s feet was a friend of mine. “How did she earn such a prestigious nickname?” I assumed it was because she had money pouring from her ta-tas.
    Eyes glittering, she said, “It’s pretty obvious. If I owned an island, I’d consider myself royalty.”
    Jaw dropped, I was dumbfounded. “The whole island?”
    “Yep.” A shopping bag dangled from her fingers. “That makes you royalty, Princess. I’m Zoe, by the way.”
    “Piper.” Now it was my turn to screw up my face, but I did so less cutely. “And there is nothing royal about me.”
    She smiled. “I sensed that about you.”
    “Do you live on the island?”
    A flicker of wistfulness and sadness crossed her eyes. “Born and bred. My family owns The Black Crow.”
    Ah. The country club. “I was there yesterday.”
    Like we’d been old acquaintances, she looped her arm through mine. “I heard.”
    I groaned. “What did you hear?”
    “Your arrival has the whole island in an uproar, Rose’s heir.”
    My face paled. I never thought about that. And Zoe never did tell me exactly what was being said about me. So what if I was someday to inherit Rose’s wealth? It’s not like she was on her deathbed. The woman was as fit as a fiddle, for Christ’s sake.
    “Do you want to go to a bonfire?” Zoe sprung on me. My expression must have showed my hesitation, because she added, “Come on. It will be fun. I’ll introduce you to everyone. I know they would love to meet you. You’re all anyone around here has talked about for weeks, the arrival of Rose’s only granddaughter.”
    I scoffed, thinking this small town needed more interesting things to gossip about than me, but then again, my mom’s death had probably been headline news. “Will there be hot guys there?” Particularly one with dark hair and icicle eyes , I added in my head.
    She made a funny face. “ You might think so, but I’ve known them my whole life, so the idea just grosses me out. However, you never know, there might be a few newbies vacationing.”
    Hell, why not? What else did I have to do? “I guess I could.”
    “I have a feeling about you, Piper,” she said, grinning. “We’re going to be fast friends.”
    Fingers flying over the buttons on my phone, I sent TJ a text, letting him know I was going to be gone a few more hours. Not that I expected him to care. It was habit. I was sure he and Rose wouldn’t even miss me.
    Zoe and I walked down the beach less than a quarter mile when I started to see the smoke billow from the fire. Around a bluff, the orangey flames came into focus, popping against the blue and yellow horizon where day and night meet. It was awe-inspiring. Waves lapped, rising and falling in a lulling melody, mixing with the snapping of firewood and Brantley Gilbert’s smooth, crooning voice singing about kicking it in the sticks. Sand squished over my flip-flops, wedging between my toes as we approached a group. Bottles of beer and wine coolers were being passed around. The chatter and laughter of carefree youth filled the air. It was hard to deny this place was close to paradise.
    And I was about to trip into utopia, figuratively. A tingle skipped down my spine. My gaze scanned the many faces, flames from the fire shadowing their inquisitiveness. Who could blame them? I was the shiny new toy.
    A hasty chill blew in from the ocean, and I rubbed my hands down my arms. Lifting my head, my eyes clashed in a sea of blue, and suddenly I was drowning. I swore a symphony of violins played in perfect harmony in my head. Even my soul sighed.
    O.M.G.
    I bit my tongue to keep from moaning. It was Zane, the hose-me-down hot guy from the club yesterday. He was here. Activate internal girly scream. Holy crap, Piper. Get a hold of yourself. He is just a guy. No need to freak out.
    Zoe