“What’s up?” he asked as he sidled up next to her.

She immediately stopped turning in a circle, peering through the crowd. “I was looking for you.”

“Why?”

“Three beers and a popcorn is a lot to carry. Besides, Joy decided she wanted a water and I started feeling hungry myself.”

He cleared his throat. “Okay.”

They filed into the concession line and stood side by side, a good sixteen inches of distance between them. He was conscious of the looks he was receiving simply for daring to stand next to this exquisite creature.

In a different world, he would have already dated and broken up with Serafine St. Romain. If she’d been just a skosh less attractive, or less spooky. If she’d made his palms sweat just a bit less. If there had been just a tiny bit less smoke in her voice, he’d have had no problem asking her on a date, texting her, sexting her, charming her, hopping into bed if and when she was into it.

The problem was, he happened to live in this particular world, where she was simply a perfectly beautiful, spooky, smoky-voiced vixen who gave him heart palpitations and made him feel like a preteen who’d never even check-yes-or-no-ed a girl before.

He shifted on his feet as they shuffled up the line, trying to ignore her and also memorize every second of standing next to her. He frowned at himself, wishing he could pour a gallon of ice water over his head. Snap out of it, Ty!

Tyler Leshuski was no inexperienced lad when it came to women, he reminded himself. When he wanted company, thanks to his extensive contacts list and the internet, it was the rare occasion that he couldn’t find it. He was good-looking and smart and funny.

He watched a man bobble his beers as he double-taked on Serafine, almost breaking his own neck like a chicken.

Tyler shook his head at the poor fool, knowing exactly how he felt. There was just something about Serafine St. Romain that made Tyler feel like his heart was wearing clown shoes.

They finally made it to the front of the line.

“What’ll you have?” asked the bored sixteen-year-old girl with a hairnet on. She was the only person in a twenty-foot radius who didn’t look entranced by Serafine or mystified by Tyler’s place in her life.

“Ah, three Buds, two bottles of water, a large popcorn, a hot pretzel, no salt. And whatever she wants.” He pointed one thumb at Serafine and didn’t chance a glance over at her.

“Mmm, chili cheese fries, please, and is there any hot sauce back there?”

The girl pointed listlessly at the condiments stand and plugged the rest of the order into the register. She held her hand out for cash. Tyler wordlessly handed over a fifty, knowing he’d be lucky to get more than pennies back in change.

They went to stand at the side and wait for their food.

“What?” Serafine eventually asked him, turning to him with her arms crossed over her chest and those bright eyes burning a hole in the side of his head.