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“What? No! And I’m not a mannequin molester.”
Dakota shrugs. “Hey, pal, whatever kink you’re into is fine with me, just maybe keep that to the stock room, and don’t do it in the window. We’re working on rebranding, remember?”
My feet move closer, and she doesn’t back away. “What makes you think we’re a sex store?” Probably theClan of the Cave Bearcosplay shit that Forrest set out in the window display is my guess, but I want to hear it from her.
“Love Games? Come on, man.”
I smirk. “Love is my last name.”
“Dean Love. That’s cute,” she replies, pursing her lips as her eyes travel from my gaze to my mouth to my chest and back up again. “But a terrible name for a game store.”
“Really.”
“Yes.”
“And I suppose you have a better idea.”
She bounces on the balls of her feet and beams at me. “Plenty. My brain is on fire with ideas.”
“Let’s hear it,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest, amused.
“What about The Game Forrest?”
I knit my brow and scoff. “Forrest? He’s not the owner.”
“Right, but he totally let the cat out of the bag that he won the lottery and used some of his winnings to help you open this store. In the world of branding, that kind of dough gets naming rights,” she explains, looking triumphant.
I stew on this, but I can’t prevent the low grumble that bubbles up from my chest.
“Fine. You don’t like The Game Forrest,” she says, tapping a pretty finger against a juicy bottom lip while I try not to drool.“Your other friend had a good idea. Rhys’s Rec Room.”
“That’s terrible. Also, he’s a silent partner.”
She smiles again, like she already won this argument. God, she’s adorable. And annoying. “A silent partner who also happens to have partially funded this dream of yours with money left to him by an elderly neighbor who was a low-key distant member of the Vanderbilt family.”
“How fucking long was I in the shower? Did I go through a portal and come back eight days later? Those guys don’t talk about that shit,” I grumble.
Dakota shrugs. “They did with me.”
“Wow, did you and the boys exchange friendship bracelets too?”
“Maybe. Why? You jealous?”
I step in closer and say the truth. The whole truth about myself for the first time in four years. “Yes.”
Her eyes flash with interest, but she quickly packs that up under a mask of indifference. “How could you be jealous when you just met me? And considering you don’t seem to be a huge fan of what I’m doing here?”
“Dakota,” I say, rolling her name around in my mouth, liking how it feels. “It’s a small town, but I don’t think I’ve seen you around before,” I say.
“Nice change of subject.”
“Thank you.”
She asks, “How would you know I’m new in Fate?”
“I’d remember you.”
She blushes but doesn’t seem put off.
