Page 57 of Sounds Like Love

“No,” I quickly said, cutting off that train of thought before it could chug any farther down those doomed tracks. “No. It sounds like a nightmare.”

Didn’t it?

“Sure, whatever you say.” My best friend shrugged and slapped my hand away from her volume knob, and turned the song back up, belting it loud and bright. She grabbed her pepper spray from the middle compartment and used it as a microphone, coaxing me to sing along. It was almost impossible to resist. Gigi made youwantto sing whenever she did. There was just something infectious about it, something addicting. I could listen to her sing the phone book and it’d become my favorite song. So, I sang along, a little off-key, as we drove our way through town and hoped for a parking spot.

TURTLE COVE CLOTHINGhad not only her favorite tights, but a wholewallof tights ranging in shades from nude (which, despite the name,didnotmatch with most darker skin tones) to matte black. Gigi dove for the “cocoa” color and grabbed as many of them as she could. “These are even theno tearones, oh my god, I feel like I just won the lottery,” she said, coming to find me toward the back of the store.

“They’ve got some cute dresses, too,” I replied, having decided to try on a dress or two while she went tights shopping. I studied myself in the mirror outside of the dressing room, in a tea-length emerald dress. I liked the deep plunge of the neckline, and the empire waist, but was it too …green?

“I really like this store,” she said, glancing around the small boutique. The men’s section caught her eye. “Well, maybe not the unnaturally large section of Hawaiian shirts, but nobody’s perfect.”

“It’s five o’clock somewhere,” I supplied, tilting my head as I looked in the mirror. The green was deep and woodsy, and in the light a tangled ivy pattern shimmered in the cloth. It accented my paleness and the smattering of freckles across my shoulders. I twisted my fingers together, debating. It was sleeveless and hugged my body in all the ways I wanted it to, but I couldn’t imagine where I’d wear it. “Do I want to buy this?”

Gigi gave me a once-over, and then looked at our reflections. “Wow. A real green dress.”

I bit my bottom lip.

“This is cruel.”

I gave a start. My terrible, treacherous heart fluttered.Sasha?

Gigi went over to a purple midi dress hanging on a rack. “Did you see this one?” And she pulled it farther out so that I could see it in full. “Oh wow, never mind. That’s half a dress.”

“And not quite as fun to take off.”

I glanced around, but he was nowhere to be seen. “Where are you?” I whispered.

“Hmm?” Gigi asked, putting the purple one back. “Did you say something?”

“No, sorry—could you excuse me a sec?” I asked, sticking my arms through the middle of the dress rack and parting it in two.

And there, in the men’s section, looking through those garish Hawaiian shirts, was Sebastian Fell. His black baseball cap and shades couldn’t hide him that well—the fact that he dressed like a Hollywood heartthrob made him stick out in a beach town. Nothing could disguise that. Though, he was a sight for sore eyes, because—

I half thought you were gone, I thought in his direction, trying to keep my voice neutral.

He looked at another loud shirt.“I’m stubborn.”

Something strange bloomed in my chest then—something warm and soft and reassured. He didn’t sound mad.

Gigi asked, looking through the rack with me, “What’re you glaring at—oh. Oh my god.” Her eyes widened. “Oh myGOD. Is that—that can’t be—did you tell him to come here? Whyishe here? Is that actually—?”

“Gimme a sec.” I dropped my arms, allowing the hangers to fall back together, and hurried across the boutique to him. He started shuffling through another rack of awful printed button-downs until I came up to him.

“Before you ask,” he said, taking out a floral shirt and then putting it back, “I didn’t plan to run into you. I’m looking for clothes, since I only packed for a few days and I think I’ll be here awhile.”

Awhile … ? Then did that mean … My heart was in my throat.“Sebastian, I …” Why was my mouth dry all of a sudden? Why did I suddenly care that my hair was crusty with salt water and my skin smelled of sunscreen? I probably looked awful, and I felt worse whenever I remembered our last conversation. “About yesterday …”

I’m sorry, I told him.I was out of line.

He shuffled to another shirt.“I was, too. Let’s just forget about it.”

Okay …I curled my hands into fists, because was he so angry that he couldn’t evenlookat me?

“That’s not it.”

Then why won’t you look at me?

So he took a deep breath and finally turned his eyes to me over his sunglasses. His gaze was storm colored. Turbulent.“You do look very lovely in that dress, bird,”he thought roughly.

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