Page 21 of Cursed Luck
Mia smiled. “Need help deciding?”
Relief flashed in his eyes, and the most beautiful set of dimples appeared. “Please?” His voice was deep and evoked naughty images—or at least it should have.
She pushed aside the confusing reaction to the Adonis in her shop and nodded. “Of course! Let me set this down first while you tell me what the special occasion is.”
He followed her toward the counter and ran a hand through his recently cut hair. It was longer on top before fading. “It’s my mom’s birthday. She’s not a fan of roses, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what her favorite flower is called.”
The stress he clearly experienced over the situation endeared him to her. “Well good thing you came here,” she told him. “Luckily, I have more than roses. Now, can you tell me if she’s a fan of spring, summer, fall, or winter?”
His head tilted to the side. Her question seemed to surprise him. “Um… I think spring. She sure as hell gets excited to spring clean.”
Mia chuckled. “That’s one way to put it. How about I grab the arrangement I was working on, and you tell me if you think she’d like it?” At his nod, she pointed at the table behind him. “Grab a cookie while you wait.”
She turned on her heels and laughed at her friends. “Stop staring,” she hissed as she passed them by.
In the back, she beelined it for the arrangement. She had not lied about having one she was working on. Although, it wasn’t quite a spring theme. She pulled the roses out and set them aside before grabbing a few gerbera daisies and tulips. Adjusting the flowers took only a couple of minutes before she wrapped a bright yellow ribbon around the vase.
“Oh… that’s pretty!” Brandy called.
“What do you think about this?” Mia asked, smiling at his excited face.
“Oh my God, that’s perfect. She’s going to love it! Yellow is even her favorite color!” he told her.
“Great, I’m glad. I can ring you up over here,” she told him.
Once the door chimed at his departure, she glanced at her friends, who were munching. “What are you guys doing here?”
“Kidnapping you,” Vanessa mumbled around a mouthful of cookie.
“That’s right, but why?”
Serena pointed toward the door. “Did he really not do anything for your girlie parts? Because he was hot. I mean, I know why it did nothing for mine, but come on!”
Mia chuckled before shrugging. “No, I guess not. I mean, I agree. He was definitely hot,” she said, and her brows knit in confusion. “I guess there was no attraction there.”
Brandy grinned. “Or maybe now that you’ve found your mate, other men don’t do it for you.”
At her words, Mia’s heart stuttered, a ringing sounded in her ears, and her eyes blurred. “Mate?”
She envisioned the voice in her head nodding with its arms crossed over its chest before tossing its arms in the air. She’d had an inkling about Edward being her mate.
Liar, her mind shouted.
Maybe more like Mia had ignored the fact the goddess had paired her with the most obnoxious man on the planet. Having someone else lay it out forced her to face the facts, and she did not like it one bit.
She shook her head vehemently. “No way, I haven’t found my mate,” she replied.
After turning away from her friends, she moved behind her front counter and started cleaning up. The area was a disaster with the constant influx of customers throughout the day. If it continued at the current pace, she would need to hire an extra hand.
“Told you not to be blunt,” Serena hissed.
Brandy groaned. “Haven’t you figured out by now that I don’t know how to be subtle?”
Vanessa chuckled. “It’s okay. Some of us need tough love.”
Mia did her best at shoving them out of her mind. She was not upset at them, but she was behaving irrationally. The truth had been right in front of her since the first day she’d met him. She could see it now when she looked back.
Just because she did not like it didn’t make it any less true. She supposed there were worse options out there for a mate. He could have been a serial killer like Bundy, Gacy, or even Gein. Edward’s awkward ways she could get past. She even found them sort of cute. It was his arrogant mouth she wanted to punch—and then kiss,her stupid mind amended.
