Page 38 of Tempt Me

“He…you…you two were flirting. He’s your type. Don’t you want his number?”

“Flirting? We were being friendly. It’s how people are down here. We don’t mean anything by it.”

“Oh?” I wiped another invisible spot.

“And I don’t have a type,” she said. “Except for people who are smart and interesting.”

Two words that, for sure, didn’t describe me. I wadded up the paper towel and looked for a trash can.

“Your cheeks are red. Are you sunburned?” She peered at my face.

I wanted to hide, but the outdoor dining area had zero shelter. “I don’t know. Maybe.” I spotted a trash bin and strode to it to dump the wad of paper towels. I took a breath to try to cool my blush, but the air was anything but cool. Even with the sun hovering just above the distant trees by the river, it was hot and sticky.

“I forget how much stronger the sun is down here,” Jamila said when I returned to the table. “Sit with your back to the sun. Wouldn’t want to ruin your pretty skin with a burn.”

“You think my skin is pretty?” Sinking onto the bench opposite her, I touched my cheeks, which flamed at the compliment.

“Course I do.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s like peaches and cream.”

“Your skin is gorgeous,” I blurted out. Then I closed my eyes to block out her face.What a ridiculous thing to say!

But she said, “Thank you.” When I opened my eyes, she smiled at me, her eyes crinkling at the corners and the apples of her cheeks shining in the early evening sunlight.

I’d have done something silly like reach across the table to touch her glowing face if her brothers hadn’t lumbered up at that moment clutching beer bottles.

“Food’ll be a minute, but we got these,” J.J. said.

He tried to pass me a brown bottle, but I held up a hand. “No, thanks, I don’t like beer.”

“No beer? What else can I get you?”

I couldn’t imagine the shack had a decent wine list. “Water will be fine.”

“I know just the thing,” Jevin said. He winked and returned to the shack.

A minute later, he was back with a red Solo cup, a lime wedge balanced on the edge. “Ranch water with an actual water chaser.” He plunked down a bottle of water.

I sniffed the fizzy drink. The smell of alcohol and citrus rose from it. I took a cautious sip. It tasted pleasantly bubbly and limey with a bite of booze. “What is it?”

“Sparkling mineral water, tequila, and a squeeze of lime. It’s what all the skinny girls drink.”

I took another sip. “I don’t usually drink tequila, but this is good.”

He grinned, then cocked his head at the garbled voice that came from the speaker hanging from the shack’s gutter. “That’s us. Come on, J.J.”

The two men returned a minute later, each clutching two aluminum platters. The parchment-lined rectangle J.J. plunked in front of me held a paper boat full of thinly sliced beef, a square of cornbread, a smaller boat of something stewed and green, and a cup of soupy beans.

“This is for us to share, right?” I reached for a packet of wet wipes from the center of the table and scrubbed my hands.

“That’s all for you. If you’d like to trade some collards for some of my fried okra, I wouldn’t fight you.”

“Sure, and you can take the meat.”

“You’re a vegetarian?” J.J. asked, scooping up the boat of meat and dropping it on his tray.

“Yeah.”

“Sorry about that. Mila, you should’ve told us.”

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