Now, here’s the part I wasn’t so crazy about admitting: I didn’t do any of my usual moves. I didn’t smirk or rake my eyes over her body or gather her into a one-arm hug like the tool they had taught me to be at All Saints High. I just stood there like a damn fool, feeling her kiss soaking into my cheek like poison. Why poison? Because it was going to kill me if I wasn’t careful.

This girl was an apple, all right.

But it wasn’t green. It was red and lethal and not worthy of six-fucking-million dollars.

Shadow broke the moment by barking from the back seat. Jesse stepped away. Old Sport cheek-blocked me. After everything I’d done for him. Now I knew generosity didn’t pay off.

We both hurried into the vehicle, our seat belts clicking in unison. Jesse drove us back into downtown Todos Santos, and I tried to convince myself that I wasn’t fucking up the deal, because kissing on the cheek was like a shoulder-punch in some cultures. There was nothing sexual about it, a statement that my throbbing dick didn’t agree with, but since when was I listening to his opinions? He liked everyone. That fucker and his hippie mentality.

“He’s going to be fine.” I said something aloud so that the voices in my head would stop urging me to do shit like putting my hand on hers again. Note to self: check if you did actually grow a vagina today. It started to look like I might have.

She answered, “I hope so, because he is the only one I have.”

“Flattered,” I quipped.

She laughed. “Stop doing this.”

“Doing what?”

“Offer me hope. Faith is a dangerous thing. It drives you to try, and when you try, you fail.”

I wondered if she realized that our knees were nearly touching. That we were closer than we’d ever been. That not only could we smell each other, but we could also study every individual freckle and blemish on each other’s skin.

“Aren’t you a bundle of sunshine and unicorns,” I remarked.

“My dad is dead, my mom is a bitch, and I have zero friends. My dog is dying because I was too much of a coward to take him to his annual checkups. I have no ties to this world. Setting up roots, getting out of the house…” She took a sharp breath, tapping her fingers against the steering wheel as she drove. “For the past two years, I’ve been waiting for the sky to fall on me. Wishing for it, really. I didn’t plan on giving this whole life thing another shot. That’s why I didn’t want you to give me a job.”

“But that’s why you need one,” I countered. She was rolling onto Main Street, heading toward El Dorado, and I wasn’t ready to part ways. Not on that note. “A reason to wake up in the morning. I need a barista, Snowflake.” I didn’t, but someone was going to lose their job. Probably Beck. He needed to concentrate on his surfing, anyway, and the sponsorships had started pouring in, so it wasn’t like he was going to go hungry. “It’s the easiest job in the world. A chipmunk can do it. Even worse—Beck can.”

“As much as the offer flatters me—and make no mistake, proposing I should do the job of a chipmunk flatters me beyond belief,” she paused for a second, allowing the fact she’d handed me my own ass seep in, “I’m not going to work for you. Have you been to Darren’s house? Money is hardly an issue in my family.”

“Don’t work for the money. Work for the sweat. Work for the power. Work to feel needed, and independent, and goddamn fucking productive. Work to show the motherfuckers who did what they did to you that you’re strong. Illegitimi non carborundum.”

“Is that a Kama Sutra position?” She sighed loudly. I chuckled. She was slowly peeling off her layers of fear. Now she was just annoyed, and I could work with that.

“It means ‘don’t let the bastards grind you down.’?”

For a second there, it looked like I’d gotten to her. She nodded, agreeing with the sentiment. Then she said, “I don’t even know how to make smoothies.”

“Neither do I,” I answered. “What’s the worst you can do?”

I put my hand on the wheel and steered it to the left, toward the promenade, toward Café Diem. Jesse swiveled her head and stared at me hard.

“Don’t be late to your own job interview. Officially, we started five minutes ago, and you’re already sassing.”

She smiled to herself.

This time it reached her eyes.

Another win for me.

Another win I didn’t want to share with Darren.

I let Jesse park in my spot since I didn’t have the truck or the Harley. Then I helped Shadow out on autopilot. He seemed in better spirits, but still looked like he needed a dog spa retreat or something. Jesse trailed behind us into the coffee shop, because even though she didn’t mind my proximity, she was much more comfortable without me all up in her business. Side bonus: Shadow had stopped looking at me like I was the Gestapo, so I guess we were getting places.