With This Fling (Summersweet Island 5)

Why in the hell does that suddenly feel like a challenge?

“Fucking Summersweetened…,” I mutter.

“It’s the gift that keeps on giving!” Shepherd cheers. “I give it a week until he’s filled with sugar.”

The only thing I want to do in the next week is fill some sugar of my own.

And make her laugh again, and annoy her until she tells me off again because it’s better than seeing her sad, and help take some of her stress away. And keep making her feel alive in whatever way she wants me to. Because just being near her has made me feel more alive than I have in fifty-seven years. She makes me want to be… different. Better. A man who laughs easily and doesn’t take things so seriously.

Shepherd’s wrong. It’s not going to take a week. It’s already fucking happening.

“You’re thinking about banging her, aren’t you?” Bodhi snorts.

Among other things.

“Shut up and pass me the goddamn glitter,” I mumble, unable to stop the smile creeping onto my face when I start thinking about all the ways I could possibly annoy Laura to get her mind off everything that’s stressing her out.

All I gave a shit about was having a quick, uncomplicated fling. Now, all I seem to give a shit about is chasing the high I feel every time I’m around that beautiful, complicated mess of a woman.

Fucking Summersweetened.

Chapter 8

“You’re adorable when you’re plotting my death.”

“Will you stop stalking me already?”

“Your customer service skills are impeccable, Laura.”

“Go away, Dean. There’s a line a mile long behind you of actual customers.”

“Exactly. I’ve been waiting forever. The service here sucks.”

“You suck. Go. Away.”

“Such a mouth on a professional business owner.”

“Do you actually need something, or did you just come up here to annoy me at work?”

“For your information, I came up to thank you for the delicious meal you made for me last night. And to redeem my coupon for a free cone that was in the welcome basket you delivered. Annoying you is just a nice perk.”

“The coupon expired. Too bad. Next customer, please.”

“It literally says Never Expires right here at the bottom.”

“Fine, then it’s for our other location.”

“Oh yeah? Where’s that?”

“In hell. You should go there.”

“It’s about time you got here, plus-one.”

“Stop calling me that. Just because we’re in the same place at the same time, does not mean you’re my plus-one.”

“And yet, we’ve been assigned a seat together on this golf cart tram for a fun sightseeing tour around the island this evening. If you get cold once the sun goes down, feel free to… what was that you said? Climb me like a tree? Yeah. Feel free to do that to stay warm.”

“I’m going to push you out into oncoming traffic at the next stop.”