I shift on my feet as his eyes trail over my face before moving down the blonde braid falling over my shoulder.
“Um, I’m just wondering if your tiling guy can move his truck. He said to ask you.”
“Why? Do you own the street outside?”
“No,but I do own a business that relies on foot traffic and people driving past to see the store and its signs. Which they can’t do if a giant truck is blocking it for hours on end.”
Dylan folds his thick arms. “He’s just measuring up today for a new floor Iris wants to put in and bringing in some tiles. He won’t be long, but I’ll make sure he doesn’t screw around.” His gaze rakes down and up my body. “Is that all? I was just about to head out.”
To meet Cindi with an “i”?pops into my head out of nowhere.
“What are you doing with all that stuff downstairs?” I blurt instead, not sure why my feet are refusing to move. “All the deliveries…that weird thing that looks like a microscope.”
The corner of his mouth twitches. “Maybe if you’re nice to me, I’ll show you.”
My brows lift. “Niceto you?”
He runs a hand over his jaw like he’s trying to figure out what to do with me, and my eyes zero in on the black letters decorating his knuckles.
“Yeah,nice to me. But you can’t bring that jackass you’re seeing with you,” Dylan adds. “That guy’s disqualified from every fucking thing in my life.”
“Nate’s not ajackass.”
“Debatable. Actually, no. Fact.”
I shake my head with a bemused laugh, looking away.
Dylan’s fingers slide into the pockets of his jeans. His voice slips a little. “That sanctimonious asshole been telling you things about me?” He mutes just the word “asshole,” miming it instead. I have to work really hard not to smile, which would not be appropriate when he’s being unkind to Nate.
When I don’t reply, Dylan leans closer and lowers his voice, sending shivers racing down my spine. “Don’t believe everything you hear, Little Jade.”
“Stop calling me that,” I snap. “I’m twenty-three years old.”
“Such a big girl,” he replies, the husk in his tone making the back of my neck heat up, even though I know he’s only being a smart-ass.
While I can’t say I hate having this flirtatious side of him back, I take a step away, but not before catching a nice whiff of men’s soap. “Look, I’d appreciate it if you’d ask your army of minions and delivery people—or whoever they all are—to park elsewhere if they’re going to stay a while.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I go to leave, but something compels me to turn my attention back on him.
“About what Nate told me…”
Dylan’s whole face tightens, and I have no idea where I’m going with this, but I think there’s a part of me that wants to know what happened from Dylan’s side of the fence. To make sure that I’m not missing something important about the tragedy that befell Nate’s cousin. The slightly haunted look in Dylan’s eyes makes me clam up, though, and I realize it’s absolutely none of my business.
He’s probably waiting for me to finish, but when I don’t say anything, he heaves a sigh. “Whatever Nate Williams says means fuck all to me. I stopped giving a shit about people’s opinions when you were still in pigtails,Little Jade.” Dylan makes a big show of checking his watch.
I can take a hint. “Thanks for being so helpful,” I mutter sarcastically before heading back down the stairs.
For the rest of the afternoon, I fill my hours restocking the shelves and organizing a store visit with two of the artisans who replied to my email, but my mind is all knotted up.
“My dear brother tends to leave a wreckage of broken hearts everywhere he goes.”
I don’t know why those words are clinging to my brain.
I drop onto my stool, staring at the window display but seeing only the unsettling, guarded hurt in Dylan’s eyes when I brought up Nate’s cousin. I shake off a stupid wish that he’d opened up to me about it. Why the hell would he? We barely know each other. And why do I even care when I’m dating Nate?
After the sun sinks from view and I change the window sign to “Closed,” I turn around and rest my back against the wall, still seeing those long, tattooed fingers. Before I can think, I reach up to the back of my neck and imagine what they might feel like cupping the soft skin there. I imagine him brushing his knuckles down the side of my face before catching my jaw firmly in his hand and tugging my mouth forward.
