Page 31 of Death is My BFF

“Shots fired.” David tracked me like a hawk as I moved across the counter to crush the ice for his drink.

“Volunteering?” he asked. “Or is this your new career?”

“Volunteering.” I narrowed my eyes. “All proceeds from this stand go toward finding a cure for Alzheimer’s.” I set his drink on the counter, not at all apologetic when it sloshed a little onto his hand.

“That’ll be ten bucks, Mr. Star. Five, if you’re taking it to go.”

He pointed. “Sign says three dollars.”

“Oh, you mean this chalkboard?” I took a piece of chalk out of my apron, erased the current price with the back of my hand, and wrote infifteen dollars. “It says fifteen, actually.”

David bit back a smile and produced a fifty-dollar bill from his wallet.

“Why are you here, David?”

He placed the money on the counter. “I came to apologize.”

“What a waste of gas.”

“I have to disagree.” He leaned on the counter, closer to me.

“Even if you don’t forgive me, seeing you in person was well worth the drive.”

“How’d you know where I was?” I asked. “Did you plant a GPS on me?”

“My father and I are sponsoring the carnival. For business reasons, I had to give the directors my email. Now I’m getting spammed with emails listing volunteers and employees. I happened to open one of the emails this morning and noticed your name at the bottom. Guess it was fate.”

“Ill-fated,” I mused as I shoved the fifty into the register and started to count change.

“Keep it, Faith, it’s for charity,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Listen, I was a jerk yesterday. You were a fighter, and I wanted to see if you could go the distance. I’ll admit I was having a little too much fun teasing you.”

David reached over and shut the register drawer I was distracting myself with, forcing my eyes to meet his black sunglasses. “Faith, I want you to know I’m . . . ” His face screwed up, as if the words physically pained him. “I want you to know I’m . . . ”

“You’re?” I egged him on, finding this utterly pathetic.“Sorry?”

He exhaled. “Yes. Exactly.”

“Let me get this straight. You drove thirty miles to make sure I knew you were sorry? A phrase, which, you can’t even say?”

“I also wanted to update you on your car. It’s in the shop.” He scratched his jaw, although there was no stubble there. “Listen, are you free after your shift? I was hoping we could walk around, maybe grab a bite to eat.”

Seconds ticked by. Out of the goodness of my heart, I held back my laughter. “You’re asking me out now? You said you were here on a date!”

“I am, she just hasn’t said yes yet.” David’s grin was playful. “It doesn’t need to be a date. We could just talk.”

I imagined if my eyebrows scaled any higher up my forehead they’d disappear into my hairline like a cartoon. David Star, the celebrity, Greek god, and asshat, had askedmeout on a date.

“And you’re . . . serious?”

“Absolutely.”

All I wanted to do was tell this man to go pound salt, but he sounded genuine, and it threw me off.

Sigh. I’d have to restrain my inner bitch and let him down easy.

“I don’t think a date is a good idea, David.”

He cocked his head. “Why not?”