Chloe gave her a mock saccharine smile back, complete with salute and Tina laughed. “Oh, go on with you. Go be free and let me be.”

“Gladly.” Chloe scooted close to Summer as Tina drifted off. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself.”

“See that guy over there?”

There was only one guy in the place. The GQ-handsome one who’d just moved behind the counter. He’d slouched on a stool, and was working on a laptop. Summer knew he was the infamous Braden, the new bookkeeper. “I see him.”

“Good. Now stop seeing him.”

“Why?”

“He’s mine.” At Summer’s long, appraising look, she caved. “Okay, maybe not yet, but I intend for him to be. So hands and mouth off.”

“It’s hard to take you seriously with green hair.”

“I mean it, Summer.”

Summer eyed Braden again. He wore loose black cargo pants and a black collarless shirt on his slightly too-lean body, and an expression that said back off. And though he was scowling at his computer, his long dark hair in his eyes, he was pretty. In a caged tiger sort of way. “Consider my hands off. But—”

“No. No warnings from you,” Chloe said with an adamant shake of her green-tipped hair. “You do as you want. You do who you want. You always have. Hell, you graduated from high school two years early, then skipped college to roam the planet. Do you know how cool that is? Now it’s my turn to do what I want, so go away before he sees how gorgeous and curvy and irresistible you are. Go save my hide and fold the new kitchen linens. They’re that way.” She gestured to the first alcove, decorated like a beach kitchen, complete with sand on the floor.

Summer didn’t go. “I’m irresistible?”

“Oh, please. Like you don’t know it. Now go.”

“Chloe?”

“What?”

“Just so you know, all the women in our family are irresistible.” She smiled. “Even your bossy, cranky hide.”

That got a smile. “Just remember, he’s still mine.”

Summer lifted her hands in surrender and moved through the store. Not exactly a warm family greeting, but she’d take it. She’d come because she’d been asked. She’d committed to staying because once she’d gotten here she’d been overcome by a desire to fit in.