Page 3 of My Summer Fling

At least I made Teddy laugh.

“In your dreams, Noah.”

“Oh, most definitely in my dreams, Millie-Moo.”

“Ew—” Teddy starts before Millie whips around on me and grabs my ear like I’m a whipped puppy.

“Call me that nickname one more time, Noah Alexander Harding, and I will choke you out.”

My dick likes the sound of that.

“So violent,” I say after she lets go of my ear. I make a show of rubbing it. “I like it.”

“There’s more where that came from,” she promises, her blue eyes flaring with annoyance. Her face is flushed from our verbal sparring, and it makes those cute little freckles stand out even more.

Before she can stop me, I point and shoot, capturing that little scowl she has on her face forever. She groans and shoves my shoulder.

“Okay, you two,” Teddy interrupts. “Fighting like an old married couple, aren’t they Annie?”

“We should probably go ahead and warn the bed and breakfast and maybe the hotel as well that we’ll have a lot of guests coming in,” Millie says, changing the subject. “Lord knows no one is fitting in Grandma Mill’s little cottage.”

“That’s a good idea. I can call them this week.”

“It’s okay. I’m flying back in a few days, so you may as well just let me start handling these things.”

Beth calls out for Teddy and he quickly excuses himself, crawling out past Annie and giving Millie a kiss on the head before jogging off. You could cut this tension with a knife. She doesn’t want to even look at me, let alone speak to me.

I’m not exactly sure what I’ve done to deserve this much anger. Sure, we didn’t part on the best of terms during her freshman year in SoCal, but that was years ago. So far behind us there’s no way she can still be hung up on that…

Right?

“Millie,” I start, but she’s quick to interrupt.

“Listen, Noah,” she says as she turns her body toward me. “I can handle this on my own. I don’t need your help. I don’t want your help. And I definitely don’t want you flying in next summer to take ahands-onapproach, okay?”

“Millicent Iris Buford,” I say quietly, reaching out and pushing some of the curls away from her face and behind her ear. Her eyes go a little soft, and I take the opportunity to lean in and whisper in her ear. “If you think you can keep me away from you now, you’ve lost your damn mind.”

“Oh, fuck you, Noah.”

She stands up and calls Annie to her side, storming off back to the bar.

“I fully intend to! Later tonight, unless you want to help!” I shout after her.

She whips that head around so fast I’m afraid it’s going to fly off her shoulder. Her cheeks are so bright they could be a beacon. She flips me off, and I just wink at her before she turns back around and tries to forget I exist.

But I don’t want to forget her. I watch her the rest of the night as she moves from group to group. She’s so easy to get along with, making friends wherever she goes and with everyone she talks to.

I know she can feel me watching her. I’m not trying to hide it. But she does a very good job of ignoring me. And when she takes to the dance floor, dancing with Beth and her friends, I take the opportunity to take a few more pictures.

One with her head thrown back in laughter, the Edison bulbs above catching the copper in her hair perfectly. One with her arms thrown around her brother’s neck as he laughs and picks her up.

And one as she glances my way just slightly—just enough for the camera to catch it. She quickly looks away like nothing happened, but I have it on film.

“One more thing, Noah,” she says, slurring her words as she comes up to me before she gets in her Uber.

“Yes, pretty girl?”

Her breath could singe my eyebrows. My girl is wasted.

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