He shot me a sideways smile. “Don’t sound so disappointed.”

“I’m not. It’s just that it’s usually Luke.”

“He and Tess are busy with an installation, so it’ll just be you and me. Unless you have any objections.”

The thrill I felt shocked me. Maybe seeing him all cleaned up over the last few weeks did something to my brain, because the truth was that regardless of how gorgeous he was, we were nothing alike. I spent my weekends at events that cost four thousand a head. He spent his playing in the dirt. I had a bottomless well of ambition, and he had worked in the greenhouse since he was a teenager. I was uptight and closed off, and he was easy and open. Where I wore a mask, what you saw with Kash was exactly what you got.

The longing and quiet envy I felt struck me in the softest of places.

So I put on my work smile to cover it. “We’ll have a grand old time.”

“Plus,” he started with that cavalier smile of his, “this way, you can follow me around and tell me what to do. I know how much you like that.”

My eyes gave a turn, but I was still smiling. “Don’t pretend you don’t enjoy it.”

That smile climbed as he stepped toward me, then into me as he passed, my space and senses invaded. “Wouldn’t dream of it, Priss.”

And then, he passed, leaving me in a whirl of his scent, musky and sweet.

“Come on,” he said over his shoulder. “I’ll show you what we’ve got in the cooler.”

And blinking, I followed, straightening my thoughts as I straightened my skirt, pretending my wits were in perfect order too.

Into the workroom we went, Ivy and Tess chatting idly over their arrangements as Kash showed me the other flowers. We leaned into the open door of the cooler, shoulder to shoulder, close enough to smell mint on his breath and feel the heat of his body against the chill of the cooler.

“They’re exactly what I asked for,” I said.

“Can I get that in writing?”

I bumped him with my shoulder before we backed out. Ivy and Tess looked up from their arrangements with strange expressions on their faces. I felt bald and exposed under their gazes, and so, I offered Tess my absolute best smile and strode toward them.

“Tess, the garland is out of this world.”

She flushed prettily, her brown eyes soft. “Thank you.”

“I mean it. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“She’s got a knack for that,” Kash said, offering her a fond smile.