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to buy if they ever decided to go to the beach again. Especially

after that kiss, because a kiss like that was dangerous. It was

the kind of kiss that could lead to an intimacy Dani had been

carefully avoiding for a very long time. Dani was proud of the

fact that she could take care of herself. She liked being alone.

Things were easier that way. She shouldn’t want Emily staying

at her place, complicating things for her. Being a temptation.

“Why would you help me?” Emily finally asked. “I know

you don’t even like me.”

“I never said—”

“No, but it’s obvious,” she interrupted. “You think that I’m

young. Spoiled. You think my problems are, what did you call

them, first world? Meaning ridiculous and insignificant. My

mom likes using clichés and she’d say that I’m making

something out of nothing, but she’d say a mountain out of a

molehill. You think I’ve been so sheltered that I can’t possibly

know what real frustration, real pain, real issues are.”

“Okay…” Dani grasped a strand of her hair and twirled it

around her index finger, something she did when she was

nervous or upset. “Yeah. I did think that. But then I heard your

dad, and no one should be able to talk to someone like that.

He’s your dad. He should want to protect you.”

“In his mind, that’s what he’s doing. That’s what they’re

both doing.”

“Well, if you won’t give it a week, give it a few da

ys. Let

things settle down. That includes your parents’ tempers. We’ll

lay low. That picture will come out, there will be a small stir,

and I mean small. Your dad isn’t a celebrity, and this is just

two people who look like they’re sharing a special moment