Page 17 of The Best Wrong Move

“Yeah, who’s this?” Rex echoes, glaring at me.

Like you have any right to be mad?

“I have no idea.” I still feel alarmed. If worse comes to worse, I’ll shove Rex into him while I sprint away down the beach.

“Dominick,” the new guy says, his voice deep and familiar. “But pretty much everyone calls me Dom.” He reaches out to shake Rex’s hand, sizing him up like a little bug, and it hits me like a ton of bricks.

“Wait. You’reDom?” I drop my hands from their defensive position, no longer ready to deck him. He holds out his hand to shake, and I let him. His hand swallows mine right up before he releases me with a little smirk.

“Nice to officially meet you,” he says.

I take a step back, staring at his face while my veins turn to ice.

“But you opened my door yesterday. And then . . . How did you not know it was me on the phone?”

“I think I mentioned that I’m not really involved with my rentals. Phil handles all my acquisitions and listings. I’m too busy with my other businesses. I didn’t even know I owned this place when I helped you yesterday.”

I hear Rex scoff, trying to sound unimpressed.

“You must own Rex’s side of the rental too then?” Juju pipes up.

“Turns out, I own both sides,” he confirms, studying Rex.

I watch the puzzle pieces all move into place for him. Then he looks back and forth between Rex and me, like he’s at a movie theater. If he had a tub of popcorn, I’d smack it out of his hands right now. Incredibly attractive or not, he shouldn’t be here watching this mess unfold.

Between the four of us, Juju is the only one who has no idea what’s going on. A small part of me feels bad for her.

“Did you at least knock before you came in?” I’m somewhat horrified that this Airbnb owner thinks he can just waltz into my rental at any moment. Although Ididtell him that he was welcome to come install the blinds at his first availability.

He holds up a stack of long, skinny boxes.

“I knocked, rang the bell, and texted you three times.”

Oh.

“Those are the new window shades?” I ask, already knowing the answer.Too little, too late, I want to add.The gig is up.I’m praying he doesn’t make this moment any more awkward than it already is, by saying something about our very recent public breakup in front of Juju. As far as I can tell, she’s completely oblivious to who I am. For now, at least. As much as I’d love to blurt it out, I’m not Rex’s girlfriend anymore. He owes her the story about our history, not me. I’m here to remain anonymous.

“They are,” Dom replies with a smirk, holding up the stack of boxes. I always found Rex to be attractive, with his shaggy blond hair and big hazel eyes. But Dom’s stature and mature charm make Rex look like a little boy in comparison. “You’ve given me the perfect reason to come over here and install them.”

Rex shifts his focus to me, looking nauseous, then back to Dom. “So, you’re just the Airbnb owner?”

We both ignore him.

I fold my arms, staring only at Dom. “I thought you said you werebusy.”

“Your phone call about the blinds seemed, ah, ratherurgent,and, since you’re here for the next two months, I figured why wait a minute longer?”

Rex chokes. “Twomonths?” He spits the last two words out likeIhad the audacity to show up athistownhouse.

“Oh, how fun!” Juju starts jumping around like she just won the lottery.

I manage to smile weakly at Juju, then kick a stray rock off the deck.

“Well, she’s signed up for eight weeks,” Dom pipes up, sounding far too pleased about it. “If she’s not enjoying herself within the next thirty days or so, we’ll discuss the second half of her reservation.”

Rex runs one very tan hand through his sun-streaked hair. His telltale sign of annoyance.

“And where is home?” Juju asks me sweetly. She’s still grinning at me like we’re all in one big get-along gang. The innocent puppy in all this, just trying to make a new friend.

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