Page 12 of Love at First Flight

As much as she didn’t want to cry or rage over something as silly as an earbud, the frustration welled up inside her chest. She did her best to tamp it down because it would only make her look more ridiculous since no one but her would understand the significance of the item.

He opened his mouth, most likely to yell at her, but then stopped as he tilted his head. “Do we know each other?”

Shit.She’d said his name, hadn’t she? Her gaze darted across his shirt in hopes of blaming her apparent knowledge on an obvious name tag or something, but there wasn’t anything visible except his last name. Her brain scrambled. “Oh, uh, nope. I just call every random guy Dex. It’s a general guy’s name—like ‘buddy.’ LikeHow’s it going, buddy?Only I use Dex instead of buddy. It’s a new thing people are doing... on the internet.”

He studied her with more intent as he rubbed one of his earlobes. “How do I know you?”

“Uh... I don’t know.” She cringed because if she wanted to remain a mystery, she shouldn’t do something obvious like drawing out heruh’sbut, of course, this thought came after the fact. Time to switch gears. “Look, I understand I’m not supposed to be over here, but, as I said, my earbud popped out accidentally. And I know it sounds like a silly thing to make a big deal of, but I’m going to feel bad if I don’t find it. Ineedto find it. I’ll promise to be careful with the habitat. Just, please, give me five minutes.”

Thankfully, his expression softened, along with his stance. “Okay, fine,” he said, approaching closer.

“What are you doing?”

“Do you want my help or not?”

“Oh! Yes. Thank you. I really appreciate this.”

He bent near her as she also returned to the search. With both of them looking, maybe they’d find the earbud quickly and she could escape any further scrutiny from those beautiful hazel eyes. She felt his gaze sliding over her again.

“Are you looking?” she asked, hoping to get his focus off of her and onto the real mission.

“Sorry, it’s just that you do seem really familiar.”

“I think I just have one of those faces.”

“Is this earbud expensive or something?”

“No, it was a gift from someone who was really important to me,” she replied, shifting to a new spot.

“It’s too bad Harper isn’t here. She’d find it quickly.”

“Is that your girlfriend?” Did he have a new onealready? She shouldn’t care, but it didn’t improve her mood.

“Oh, no, she’s a crow. You know crows are very smart and are good at finding and picking out unusual things in their environment—”

“Found it!” In her haste at grabbing the missing earbud and jerking upright, she leaned too far forward and the bottom of her head collided with Dex’s jawline with a jarring smack.

Chapter Six

“Ow!Shit!”

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry.”

Dex rubbed his throbbing jawline as he jerked to his full height to avoid any further collisions with the petite woman. Truly, no good deed ever went unpunished. This didn’t help with his already grumpy mood, a mood that had been consistently bad for three straight months at this point.

It was scorchingly hot today, and he didn’t want to deal with the public, especially when the public was stubborn, didn’t follow basic directions, and had dark curly strands that kept brushing against her pinkening cheeks.

“I didn’t crack any of your teeth, did I?” She looked at him with such genuine concern he felt bad about getting annoyed with her earlier... but she shouldn’t have been off trail.

“Are they all still there?” He revealed his teeth in a wide grimace and was pleased to see the corners of her eyes squint in amusement as she stepped closer to inspect.

“Good news. You still have a full set.”

At this distance, he couldn’t help surveying her features to take in the details. Therewassomething familiar about her. He couldn’t quite place it, and it was driving him kind of wild not knowing.

Her hair was nearly black, except for some warm brown strands mixed in, giving it added depth. Her hair also wasn’t long, based on the curly strands escaping her hair tie. Maybe it was chin length? Her shoulders were exposed, her skin a light brown glow. The center of her hairline came to a subtle V-shape at the top of her forehead, giving her face a heart-shaped impression, especially with a delicate, narrow chin.

Her mouth was mesmerizing, the top lip nearly as full and lush as the bottom. Dark-brown eyes were framed by gorgeous long lashes and paired with strong, striking eyebrows. While her left ear had a single small earring, the right one had at least three silver studs. He also noticed, while they were searching, there was a simple tattoo on the inside of her right wrist, three small circles lined in a row.

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