I met this man just a few hours ago, and so far, everything he does makes me squirm. “You are welcome,” he replies, his accent making me squirm again. “Hmm,” I murmur, but, oh, God, yes, it feels so much better. “Bill me,” he tells Charly, who smiles and nods happily, while handing me a list of hair products to try, waving at us as Eli leads me back out into the heat. “I’ll take it.” I pull my wallet out of my handbag, but Eli lays his hand over mine and shakes his head. “Looks like this is the winner,” I say with a grin. I smirk as I put the green hat on and sigh as I realize that she and Eli were right. “Oh no, dawlin’, the green one,” Charly says as she rejoins us. If he doesn’t like giving out compliments, why does he say anything at all? Eli just watches me in the mirror with humor-filled eyes and crosses his arms over his impressive chest. It looks like a box of Crayolas exploded all over it. “Try the green one,” Eli suggests, but instead I pull on one with a rainbow of colors. It’s pink, not quite as widely brimmed as the green, and makes me look like a mushroom. I’ll make a list of hair products to use while you try these on.” She jogs back to her counter as I plop the first hat on my head.

“Thank you, but this hair is about to be a curly tangled mess with all this humidity.” “I think green is your color, with that beautiful auburn hair and your pretty green eyes.” Let’s see…” She leads us to the back of the shop and pulls three hats off the wall, all wide-brimmed and pretty. “We need to keep the sun off your face and shoulders. “Oh, yes, sugar, you do,” Charly replies with a nod. “You too, Charly.” I’m pulled into another hug-the Boudreaux family is an affectionate bunch, and the middle sister, Charlotte, is no different from the rest. “Been a minute,” she replies and steps back, smiling at me. “Been a minute,” she whispers in his ear in the same New Orleans drawl.

Easy love by kristen proby