Hearing shoes scuff the Moroccan tile, Blue spun on her heels. Face set into an apprehensive frown, arms crossing over her chest and shoulders raised as though to add some height, she met the man’s gaze with a banishing statement readied. Yet slackened almost instantly. “I thought you were Richard,” Vincent decided her voice was far softer than he’d imagined. “Wishful thinking?” Slowly, he advanced, both hands hidden in his pockets, hair tousled by the breeze, and stood by the girl’s side with his shoulder delicately brushing hers. Wondering if her skin crawled at the touch as his, begging for closeness. A European accent thickened his words, lips speaking in such a way she imagined them in rather compromising places. Though she made good work of hiding it. “Not exactly the word I’d use,” “Happy birthday, by the way,” Vincent turned to face the girl after a moment of truncated silence, her eyes flickering to his own, smile warm in a way that softened his comp
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