Page 32 of Side Hustle
“Wh-what—?” Poppy sputtered, shaking like a dog after a bath.
“I’m so sorry,” Ace said a little too theatrically to be believable. “I was getting water for our booth next door and tripped. My bad.”
He gave them an aw-shucks smile and went on his way, an empty bucket swinging from his hand. Ace was the youngest firefighter here in Auburn Hill and he was far from clumsy. In fact, he had the body of a highly trained athlete. I didn’t miss the way the other firefighters at the booth next door gave him discreet fist bumps. Rip snickered and I backhanded his chest.
“That wasn’t nice,” I hissed.
It only made him laugh harder. “But it was damn effective.”
I rolled my eyes. Boys and their shenanigans. Leaving Rip’s side, I got back to my booth and got busy taking the blindfold off Bobby.
“Nicely done, Bobby. Time’s up, though.”
He pouted, but left quickly once he saw a damp Poppy outside the booth tilting her head toward the parking lot and winking suggestively. I didn’t want to know.
I checked the clipboard to see that Ace’s eighteen-year-old brother, Blaze, was up next. I looked around at the people milling about, but didn’t see him. Although I could have missed him due to the distraction of the handsome dark-haired guy who wouldn’t take his heavy gaze off me.
“Hey, Ace! Where’s Blaze?” I hollered across to the firefighter’s booth, desperately trying not to let Rip distract me.
Ace shrugged apologetically and kept working on getting his own booth ready. Well, crap. Guess I was down a kisser. This whole kissing booth was getting off to a rocky start.
“Troubles?” Rip asked, stepping inside the booth.
I dropped the clipboard with a bang. “No-show already.”
Rip looked down at the color-coded schedule I’d created just so things like this wouldn’t happen. “I can do it.”
I looked over at him, the blue of the collared shirt making his skin look even tanner than normal. “Huh?”
“I can fill in for Blaze. I’m after him anyway. I’ll just pull a double.” He didn’t wait for me to answer. Standing behind the podium, he put his hands on his hips and looked entirely too yummy for words.
Startling clarity hit like a lightning bolt. Having Rip be a kisser at my booth was the stupidest thing I’d ever done in my whole life.
He was dark and mysterious. Handsome. Young. About to be rich. All the women in Auburn Hill under the age of fifty—and probably some above fifty based on what I just saw from Poppy—would be lining up to kiss the crap out of the one guy who got under my skin in all the best ways. I wanted him under my shirt and down my pants, not locking lips with everyone but me.
“Hazel?” Rip asked, pulling me from my self-flagellation.
“I’m an idiot.”
He frowned and walked over to put his hands on my shoulders. “We’ve been over this. You’re not even close to an idiot, so stop that talk.”
My heart melted at his willingness to pump me up, but there was nothing he could say to convince me otherwise right now. A giggle followed by whispers from behind me reinforced my belief.
“Nope. I’m truly an idiot.” I grabbed the black sash from the table and walked around him to tie it over his eyes. Once it was secure, I positioned him behind the podium and backed away. “Your harem awaits.”
“What?” he asked, thoroughly confused.
Maybe Rip was an idiot too. Did he really think he could man the kissing booth and not draw a shit ton of attention? Fuck. My. Life.
“Just pucker up,” I grumbled, taking the dollar from the first girl in line who might not have even been able to order a beer yet. She didn’t hesitate to run right up to the podium in her cute little espadrilles that I totally wanted to borrow had I not hated her on principle alone.
“Hey!” she squealed a second later.
She’d barely got her lips on Rip before I was pushing her away. “Okay, that’s it. Move along. People waiting.”
I shouldn’t have bothered as another girl threw a dollar bill at me and lunged at Rip before I could question her down about communicable diseases and her dental hygiene practices.
It went like that for twenty-five excruciating minutes before I turned away the remaining girls in line. “Sorry, ladies. The talent gets a quick break. Come back soon, though. Lukas Murphy is up in fifteen minutes.”
