Isabel Sharpe - The Perfect Indulgence

“Never mind. Nice meeting you. Tell Chris I stopped by.” He tapped the counter and started walking away, trying to look cool but managing only to look too thin and fragile and rejected.

“Wait.” She gestured him back before she’d had time to think about what she was doing.

He turned, eyes hopeful. If he’d looked even remotely triumphant, she would have sent him out again, having realized he’d manipulated her. “Yeah?”

“What did you do? What did Zac have to rescue you from?”

“Only myself.” He looked younger when he smiled big like that. “I got into a bar fight. I was drinking too much, hanging with the wrong crowd. But I went to therapy and now I’m perfect.”

Summer laughed. “Yeah, congratulations on that.”

“Change your mind about coffee? I’m harmless. Just looking for a friend.”

Summer grinned. She had a thing for damaged guys, had dated a couple, attracted by their need, naively thinking she could help them. But she’d discovered that damaged guys made really poor partners. All their energy went into coping with just being themselves. “No, thanks. But I’ll see you around, I’m sure. Carmia’s a small place.”

“Yeah, maybe some other time.” He looked so sweet and hopeful she felt herself softening.

“Maybe.”

“Let me know when you’re ready. I’m a patient guy.”

She doubted that. But she did feel bad for him. She understood loneliness, how it could alter your perception of everything, from how you felt about yourself to how you felt about the weather. And she understood that impulse, when you felt adrift, to latch onto someone who was firmly anchored.

“See ya.” Luke backed up a few steps, putting his sunglasses back on. Then he gave her an I’m-so-cool thumbs-up and barely missed bumping into the door on his way out.

Summer smiled, preferring his clumsy moments to the pretentious ones. At least they were real. He was probably the kind of kid she’d be seeing on her figurative couch someday. It wouldn’t be bad to talk to him, see if she could figure out what made him tick. It would be like preparation for her university program even without more than a course or two under her belt.

And she could count on Zac to keep him in line if he ever stepped over it.

In the meantime she’d have to forget that he was, in his own cocky and slightly pathetic way, really, really cute. Her life plan included relationships, but she was looking for someone mature, ambitious, respectful, supportive and able to love openly and deeply. Gorgeous and built wouldn’t hurt, but it wasn’t as important.

Too bad Zac was out of her league. And from what she’d seen of the way he looked at Chris...not likely to change.

But his brother... She turned away from the counter, looking for something to do to keep herself occupied until the next customer came in, still feeling light and fizzy, thinking about the way Luke looked at her, how hard he’d tried to be a tough guy, yet how easily he’d admitted to his flaws and his efforts to fix them.

With Zac’s brother she’d have to be careful.

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