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He stared back at her. His face cold.
Ouch.
Just as well you’re numb, huh?
Right. Totally.
Four hours later,and she could barely keep her eyes open. Thankfully, Uncle Willy had waved her away from doing any more modeling so she no longer had to smile and pretend to be all right.
Because she wasn’t. She really wasn’t.
It was growing warmer now that the sun had risen. She glanced at the bruise on her wrist. It had faded but still looked ugly, so perhaps she’d better not take off her sweatshirt.
“Take it off,” Ian growled from behind her, making her jump.
“Pardon?”
“Your sweatshirt. You’re clearly too hot. Take it off.”
“You know I can’t.” She glanced over at Uncle Willy.
“I doubt he’ll notice the bruise, he’s too busy. And maybe he should see it so he doesn’t grab you so hard again,” he said quietly.
She shot him a hard look.
“You’re going to overheat, faint, and end up in the hospital.”
“Wow. Talk about jumping right to the worst conclusion. And what happened to you being less bossy?”
His jaw clenched. “I’ve been trying. But seeing you run yourself into the ground and risk your health is not something I can remain quiet about. If that means you hate me . . . so be it.”
She sighed. Ian was right. She was too hot. She could feel how flushed and sweaty she was, and it was pretty gross. Plus, Uncle Willy was super distracted.
So she took off the sweatshirt. Underneath, she wore a black T-shirt with a sparkly zebra on the front. Okay, so in hindsight, if she knew she was going to take her sweatshirt off, she probably wouldn’t have worn this T-shirt.
But it was done now.
Ian barely ran his eyes over her before moving them back to her face, anyway.
She knew he wasn’t interested in her. Although, it kind of hurt a bit.
Maybe this is how Jack feels. You need to apologize to him.
“I don’t hate you, Ian. Having a lack of social skills is nothing to be ashamed of. And it’s something else to mention to that therapist.” Reaching out, she patted his arm.
Instead of frowning or growling at her, relief filled his face. Had he really been worried about her hating him?
Silly man.
“And I, um, you don’t have to change who you are around me. I know it’s killing you to hold back from bossing me around. I don’t want to punish you or anything. What you said . . . it was mean and unnecessary. But I get it. I do work for my uncle and it probably looks like I skate through life?—”
“Hey, no. It doesn’t look like that at all. I made a fast judgment and opened my fat mouth. I have seen how hard you work. Too hard if you ask me. You look exhausted.”
“I didn’t get much sleep last night.” She glanced over at Jack, who was peering around their surroundings, on alert. As though he fully expected a commando to jump out from behind a sand dune and start attacking them.
“What happened? Did Jack say something to you?” Ian asked.
“No. Why would you think it was Jack’s fault? No, this is mine. He asked me on a date.”
