Hannah returns his smile, but then she feels self-conscious. She turns away, throwing her pack over one shoulder. She saunters down to the general store, wondering if the mystery man is watching her.

Her plan is to take the water taxi across the two Echo Lakes, cutting four miles off what would otherwise be an eleven-mile one-way hike. There is a kid, probably no more than twenty, with a patchy beard and acne bumps on his forehead, waiting behind the counter.

She asks him about the water taxi, and he explains that he can take her. She pays and then goes outside to wait in the taxi, a long wooden motorboat with benches along the port and starboard sides for passengers.

Today, it looks like she’s the only passenger.

The guy from the gym has one leg propped up on the bumper of his Jeep, and he’s rubbing sunscreen onto his muscular legs. He’s obviously going to hike around the lakes. No shortcut for him. Hell, Hannah thinks, he might run the eleven miles to Lake Aloha. He looks like he could do it.

The kid comes out and hops into the boat. He grabs the starter cord to start the motor but hesitates.

“Hey, man,” he calls up to the guy from the gym. “You want a ride? It’s twelve bucks.”

The guy looks up and seems to think about the offer.

“Sure,” he says. “Be right there.”

Hannah’s heartbeat accelerates. She has a strange suspicion that the guy agreed simply for an opportunity to spend time with her. She tells herself she’s being silly, but when he jogs down the pier and steps into the boat, he sits only a few feet from her.

“Hi,” he says, flashing her an electric smile and extending his hand. “My name’s Logan.”

CHAPTER 2

HANNAH’S EDITOR ONCE told her that most people in the news business tend to be introverted. Journalism is a job that forces otherwise shy, socially awkward people to step out of their comfort zones and talk to other people. Hannah never thought much of the theory, but now, sitting next to Logan, she wonders if her editor is onto something.

Under the protective cloak of her job title, Hannah never has any problem talking to complete strangers, even asking them intimate personal questions. She can handle complaints from the public about her coverage of an issue. She can go into her editor’s office and demand better positioning for one of her stories. But, if she’s honest with herself, she knows her confidence is really an act. Here she is sitting next to a cute guy, and she feels completely tongue-tied.

They are both quiet. As handsome as he is, he might be just as introverted as she is.