“Why shouldn’t you get a muffin?”
“Because Mrs. Pineapple beats the batter too much and thinks lavender doesn’t make them taste like chewy soap.” She claps a hand over her mouth, but keeps talking. “I have to go. I really, really do.”
“Mrs. Pineapple?”
“Thank you for that being all that you’ll remember of what I just said. Is your admirer gone yet?”
“Nope. Still watching us. Probably really curious why we haven’t gotten any food yet. We should be starving after our afternoon activities. You’ll have to sit here and actually have dinner with me.”
If her lips weren’t trying to tip up despite the grief in her eyes, I’d leave her alone.
But she did me a solid.
I’m intrigued, and I feel like I owe her.
“Or we could get out of here,” I say.
Her gaze shifts to the flight of kombucha still in front of me.
“Doing good deeds is a much better partner activity.” I rise off my stool and offer her my hand. “And we’ll look like horny honeymooners, and my admirer will fully get the hint. Whereas I’ll be completely and totally at her mercy if she thinks we’re having a fight. You basically have to come with me. At least until she can’t see us anymore. Wouldn’t it be horrible if we happened to do one of your five million good deedstogetheralong the way?”
Her eyes almost light up with amusement. Almost, but not quite. “You aretrouble.”
“Not generally. This has to be you.” While she’s clearly struggling, I’m smiling broadly.
Odd sensation. My cheeks will probably hurt tomorrow.
But there’s nothing in the world I want more right now than to see where a night of doinggood deedswith a woman who’s having a bad day and trying to do better will take me.
She looks at my hand, then tilts her head to look up at me. Despite how far she’s craning her neck, she hits me with straight-on eye contact with those fascinating green eyes that makes goosebumps break out on my skin again.
Spontaneity and I are distant acquaintances. We get along fine on the rare instance when we’re thrown together—see also, I wasn’t planning on buying a mountain café, but the opportunity presented itself with thebestof timing—but neither of us go out of our way to see each other.
Nothing else about today has gone as planned.
I’m leaning into the unexpected and salvaging what I can.
Considering I intend to ruin Chandler Sullivan’s life the minute I set foot in his hometown, it wouldn’t be bad for me to do a few good deeds myself.
No matter how much he deserves it.
“The last time I took someone with me for a string of good deeds, four chickens terrorized the grocery store for a full weekend and the town council asked me to refrain from participating in Random Acts of Kindness Day ever again,” Duchess says.
I don’t even know her real name, and I am all-in on spending the rest of my time in Hawaii with this woman. “I’ve officially been warned. And I’ve had a shitty day that should be balanced with good karma as well. Would it count as a good deed if you took me out on your string of good deeds so that I can have fun and improve the world too?”
She hesitates for another long breath.
But then she slips off the stool, going back to being even shorter, and she takes my hand.
Electricity jolts through my entire body.
I don’t know who she is. I don’t know why she’s having a bad day. I don’t know how much I’ll regret this tomorrow.
“Punishment comes in all forms,” she mutters to herself.
Oh, yes.
This will be a night to remember.
