Page 11 of Hot Girl Summer

She cocks her head to the side, and I can tell by the tone of her voice she's pissed. I follow her direction to a man with his back turned, browsing the eye care display.

“Sure,” I say. I drop the shards into the dustpan, then turn to face Ryan. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

Flustered and rosy cheeked, I stand and dust myself off, leaving a trail of shimmery pink powder over the front of my black sundress.

Fantastic.

After taking a breath to centre myself, I clear my throat, ignore the stain, and approach the customer, hoping he won’t notice.

“Can I help you, Sir?”

Heat turns my cheeks magenta as soon as he spins around and my gaze locks with the familiar glistening hazel-green hue.

“You.”

Him.

“Hi.”

Danny’s eyebrows curve, and a slow smile spreads across his face when his gaze falls to the smudged handprints on my dress.

“You work here?”

I wonder what gave that away? “No, I don’t. This is how I like to spend my weekends. Hungover, and pretending to be someone I’m not. Excuse me, I need to wash my hands.”

When I return, Danny is the last customer standing. How typical that the first quiet moment we’ve had all day at Ivy Rose is when the worst possible person is in here. Especially as the remnants of the stain is staring him in the face. I know he’ll never take me seriously.

“Sorry about that. How can I help?”

“I met someone last night.”

“I don’t need your life story.”

“She was perfectly pleasant, albeit a little rude.”

“Seriously?” Whoactuallyuses ‘albeit’ in a sentence?

“She kept implying that I was old.”

“She was onto something.”

“You think so?”

I cock an eyebrow and size him up. Still hot. Still an asshole.

“So anyway, I figured what better way to reverse the ageing process than to load up my bathroom with a bunch of fancy creams. Or something.”

“I’m good, but I’m not a magician.” I shoulder past him to the till in an attempt to create a barrier between us.

“Ego much?”

“My ego is a perfectly normal size, thank you.” I fold my arms across my chest, and remind myself of that beautiful little word, patience. “Do you need something or not? I have real customers waiting.”

“Where?”

I follow his gaze around the empty shop.

Bravo again, karma.

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