Page 51 of The Best Kind of Bad

I wanted to call him all sorts of things.

Dumbass.

Man whore.

At the last moment, I pulled back, settling for the less sharpplayerinstead, but was surprised by his reaction. Like I’d hurt his feelings.

LikeI’dhurthisfeelings.

He was the one flirting with another girl right in front of me, and yet, I was the one who felt guilty.

Which, of course, just made me angry.

Whipping the eggs, I glance over at Ed and shake my head. “Your daddy is a real piece of work, you know that?”

Ed looks up from the rug by the table and thumps his tail once. Flopping onto his side, he stretches his chonky legs out and sighs. I gave him a bath earlier, and we were both a little surprised to see that his fur wasn’t dusty brown, but the color of chocolate.

A chocolate lab, as advertised.

I still don’t like the big beast.

But it’s hot outside, and he looked like he needed some sympathy. I’m settling for an emergency truce.

“You stay over there, Mr. Ed. I can’t be getting any dog fur in these cupcakes. RayAnne would never forgive me.”

He yawns, head suddenly perking up. He’s on his paws, waiting at the back door before the doorbell even rings. Wiping my hands off, I swing the door open.

The bird lady waits on the other side of the screen door, looking fresh and radiant in a floral romper. And far too perky for my current mood. “Hi.”

I push the screen door open and let her in. “Andy. Hi.”

She pauses, glancing at the array of mixing bowls on the kitchen counter. “I thought I’d come by and see if you needed any help.”

“Help?”

She blushes, those pretty apple cheeks turning light pink. “Unless I’d just get in the way…”

I did have a ton of work ahead of me. “Do you know how to use a pastry bag?”

She shrugs. “I could learn.”

“Good enough.”

I hand her a frosting bag and show her how to make the perfect swirl. Flinging a tray of cupcakes in front of her, I return to my cake batter. “Did you really just come to help, Andy? Or do you have an ulterior motive?”

She grins. “Can’t it be both?” She pauses, examining the frosting swirl on her first cupcake. “You left in such a hurry yesterday…”

“I just wasn’t feeling well, that’s all.”

She tilts her head. “Did that sudden illness have to do with a certain pretty Pierson girl?”

“The blonde?”

She nods, moving on to the next cupcake. “Her name’s Shea. You don’t need to worry about her, Marnie. Dusty and Shea might have dated here and there, but he never looked at her the way he looks at you.”

I really, really need to set her straight about Dusty and me. “And how does he look at me?”

Andy pauses, meeting my gaze. “Like a man on fire.”

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