Some Like it Hotter

“Cool. Glad to have you. It’s cool what you and Chris worked out.” He looked toward the door and rolled his eyes. “Oh, brother, here we go.”

Eva swung around. A large bouquet of flowers was walking toward her on male legs.

Jinx snorted. “The dude does not give up.”

The flowers lowered.

Eva’s heart stopped. Okay, not really—that would be ridiculous, because she’d collapse—but it sure felt as if everything inside her and in the whole world had paused to note this auspicious occasion.

Thick, short, dark hair that looked as if he’d tried hard to style it but the strands refused to lie flat. Deep brown eyes under dark brows. High cheekbones, a lean jaw. Full mouth, with a faint groove on either side. The shadow of masculine stubble. A small gold stud in one ear. Expensive dark suit, subtly patterned silk tie in blue, burgundy and beige. Gold watch. Perfectly shined shoes.

That was him. Her soul mate. Her man, her One Great Love Eternal, acronym OGLE.

Or at least he was her next hot fling.

“Chris here?” Her soul mate put the flowers on the counter, glancing at Eva before he addressed Jinx. She was used to making no impression on a guy like this. But that wouldn’t last long,

“Chris is not.” Jinx beckoned over another customer. Clearly he wasn’t a fan.

The perfect man yanked an iPhone from his pocket and poked at it.

“Hi.” Eva stepped forward, her hand out. “I’m Chris’s sister, Eva.”

“Uh-huh.” He continued to peer at his phone, reading intently.

“The woman you’re going to marry. We’ll have beautiful children. I’m thinking five or six. We should get started on that soon, since I’m already twenty-eight.”

He lifted his head suddenly. Their eyes locked. Well, hers locked. He kind of glanced at her, then did a double take, like, What are you looking at? “Sorry, what were you saying?”

“Nothing important.” She smiled sweetly, held out her hand again. Just concerning the rest of our lives together. Or, more likely, the rest of the month. “You were busy.”

He made a sound of frustration. “Sometimes I’m not sure if I own the phone or it owns me.”

“What’s your name?” She’d bet this was—

“Ames Cooke.”

Yup. The pain in Chris’s lucky ass. The entitled, arrogant rich boy, who Chris had neglected to mention was devastatingly sexy.

Was he cocky businessman through and through? He certainly looked the part, but there was that gold stud glinting in one ear, and his slightly spiked hair. She was already thinking maybe a tattoo in a hidden place.

A place she couldn’t wait to discover.

“You visiting?” Ames was looking around, undoubtedly still hoping Chris would emerge from the back of the shop.

“I’m taking over for Chris for a month.”

His attention zoomed back to her. “Chris? What’s wrong? Where is she?”

Look how nice of him to be concerned. A thoughtful guy. “She’s at my place in California. We switched lives for a month.”

“You switched—” Ames was clearly having trouble processing that one. But maybe the fact that his supposed beloved had left town without letting him know would help him understand that he and Chris were not destined to be together forever.

Whereas he and Eva...

At least for a month.

“Well, crap.” He stared forlornly at the flowers, a stunning and almost laughably huge bouquet of pink roses, burgundy and white alstroemeria, white tulips, freesia and God knew what else.

“You could take them back to the shop. Or leave them here.” Eva gestured around. “A little color and life wouldn’t hurt.”

“Oh.” He stared as if he’d forgotten her. “Yeah, okay.”

“Thank you.” She took the vase into her arms as if she were cradling a baby and beamed at him. “So what are you doing tonight, Ames?”

As she expected, he looked startled, glanced at his watch, face reddening slightly. “I’m due at... I’m... I have...”

“Wow. That sounds fabulous.”

He laughed in surprise.

“I just arrived today from California, so I’m going to take it easy tonight.” She put the vase on the counter over the pastry. “Maybe order takeout, because I hear you can get anything delivered in this city.”