Page 39 of Wicked & Wildflower

I don’t know who he’s talking to, but a moment later, there’s a light knock on my office door. “You knock as if I can’t hear you squawking out there,” I call as I stand from my desk.

The door swings open, and I’m met with that playful, wicked smirk. Brown eyes glitter at me beneath thick brows, and full lips invite me in with that smile behind his trimmed and manicured beard. Tattooed arms cross at his chest as he casually leans against the doorway.

He roams the length of my body, eyes snagging on the form-fitting black skirt that runs from just above my knee to my waist, the white blouse I have tucked into it, and the black heels adorning my feet. “You look ravishing, Wildflower.”

I try to fight the smile that wants to bloom at his words, but I can’t help it. My cheeks flush, and I duck my head to hide it. I swipe my purse off my desk as I brush past him and out the door. He follows close behind, that warm, reassuring hand on the small of my back like he held me at the beach yesterday.

“Thank you for the flowers,” I murmur abashedly. “They’re beautiful, but you didn’t have to do that.”

“You’re right. I didn’t,” he says as we make our way down the staircase. “I wanted to. You can allow people to do things for you just because they want to, Dahlia.”

I don’t know how to respond to that, so I only nod.

“Have you eaten at Surfside Fish Co. yet?” he asks.

I shake my head. “I don’t like fish.”

He laughs. “They’ve got more than fish. Soups, salads, sandwiches, burgers. The best goddamn french fries I’ve ever had in my life.”

“Okay.” I chuckle. “That’s fine. I can pay.” It’s the least I can do for him agreeing to be my fake boyfriend for the foreseeable future.

“You are not paying, Dahlia.”

I scoff as we make our way down the boardwalk. “You can allow people to do things for you just because they want to,Everett.”

“Are you offering to pay because youwantto, or because you feel like youshould?”

“I–” I pause. I mean, I’m not enthusiastic about spending money in any circumstance, really. I do feel like Ishouldpay, but it’s not like I don’twantto, either. “I don’t know. Both?”

He laughs as he guides me to the front entrance of the restaurant. “Look, I know the owner here, and it wouldn’t be very boyfriend-like of me to make you pay for our first official date.”

I roll my eyes. “Small town values.”

“My small town values and your small town values are very different, I think. I’m not doing this because of a complex or because I think I’m superior to you. I was, however, raised to be a gentleman, and if my mother knew I was making her favorite girl pay for my meal?” He lets out a low whistle. “That would be the end of me, Wildflower. Then, you’d really be fucked.”

I’m embarrassed by the cackle that escapes my throat, but the way his eyes light up in surprised amusement, eyes flaring with something like pride, diminishes it immediately.

We enter the restaurant, and the hostess, of course, knows Everett by name. She blushes when he smiles at her, and I wonder if that’s how everyone he meets reacts to his charm. I bite down the rush of nausea that floods my stomach as I think of all the pretty girls and boys Everett has smiled at the way he smiled at me that night.

I have no right to be jealous. At least, not in real life.

We’re seated at a booth near the back, next to paneled windows that look out at the beach beyond us. “So what do we need to discuss, Wildflower?” Everett asks as we look over our menus.

“Jumping straight to the point, Ramos?”

He smiles to himself behind his menu. “I just want to get the heavy stuff over with quickly so I can actually enjoy a meal with you.”

His eyes lift to mine just in time to see my face fall as those words settle over me.

“Okay.” I swallow. “Well, I guess I just want to set the right expectations and boundaries. Rules. I feel like this has potential to get…messy.”

“I don’t mind the mess,” he says.

“I’m sure you don’t, but regardless…” I sigh. “How long do you reasonably expect this to go on? This shit with my dad could last…” I close my eyes. “A while. I don’t want to hold you back from your own life indefinitely.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Dal. My life is here. My businesses, my family. Whether I’m ‘dating,’” he holds up his fingers to gesture quotation marks, “you or not, I’m here anyway.”

“Right. But what if you meet someone? I mean, you understand you’ve got to keep your hookups on the down low from here on out, right? I’ll be honest, I don’t pay a ton of attention to water sports, so I don’t know what kind of status Leo really has, but I imagine that he’s got some kind of media coverage interested in what he’s up to, especially as we get closer to his wedding. That means it won’t be hard for my dad to keep track of what we’re all doing, and I can’t have him finding photos or something of myboyfriendwith another person.”

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