I eye the three-inch-high stack of invoices I’ve still got to go through. I have at least another couple of hours’ worth of paperwork, then a couple of hours of wrenching after that. Looks like it’s going to be another long night. I close my eyes and roll my neck, stretching out some of the stiffness that’s settled in.

In the darkness, the image of Jessie’s full lips and bright eyes fills the inside of my mind, like they have for the past few weeks since I met the little fireball. She’s everything I’m not, filled with unicorns and rainbows and hope. These preppy college girls love the idea of a fling with the bad boy. I’ve been played by that game before and sure as shit don’t need another go.

I have no interest in being her latest hobby. Still, there’s no denying Jessie is fucking stunning. I shouldn’t have kissed her, but those lips were too delicious to resist. I’m the king of self-control, thanks to a life spent managing the temper I inherited from my asshat father. All that self-control went to shit with the feeling of Jessie pressed against me. I wanted to own her. Consume her. Keep her. Even though I knew it’d never happen.

I forced myself to walk away, relieved I’d never see her—or those enticing lips—again. When she showed up at my shop last week looking damn appetizing, I was fucking pissed. She’s a temptation I can’t afford.

Fucking Austin. Finding the love of his life has made my best friend a matchmaking pain in the ass. I blow out a deep breath and try to focus on the paperwork standing between me and enjoying a beer on my couch.

The jingle of the shop’s bell draws my attention away from the Rorschach test that are Mikey’s scribbles. I shove back from the desk and stalk to the front. I freeze in the office doorway when I spot a perfect apple-shaped ass in tight jeans bent over behind the counter.

I enjoy the view for longer than a decent guy would, then lick my lips. “Looking for something special?”

Straightening up, she tosses her long blonde hair over her shoulder. She turns, and my chest tightens when I’m blindsided by Jessie’s tempting lips curled up in a devious smirk.

When her eyes find mine, an electric current prickles across my skin. Like the first two times I’ve seen her, I lock down the urge to touch her. Claim her.

We share the charged silence for a moment that stretches out into forever. “Aren’t we all?”

My pulse kicks up a notch at the sound of her sweet, teasing voice. I ignore it, clenching my jaw and crossing my arms.

“What are you doing here?” I demand, my voice full of vicious disdain.

“I work here,” she answers, unfazed.

“No. You don’t.”

“Yes. I do.” She points at the shop’s logo over her chest, her smirk widening into a full-blown smug smile. “Rob didn’t mention it?”