Deaths Excellent Vacation

to do was see if I could help you. Dang . . . my bad.”
    “Oh,” she said with a lot less venom. “I’m sorry. I just don’t like guys I don’t know running up on me in the street . . . and I’ve been looking all over for a shop that my momma used to come to when she was alive, but I can’t find it. She never came back after the storm, but I was hoping I could remember where it was.”
    Justin nodded. “A lot of places didn’t reopen after Katrina . . . and sorry about your momma.”
    “Thanks,” Jessica said quietly. “It’s cool. It’s been a couple of years.”
    “But you never get used to losing your momma,” he said, looking at her and studying her face. “Justin,” he said in a gentle tone. “The name’s Justin.” He extended his hand for Jessica and she took it, shaking it quickly and then letting it go.
    “I’m Jessica, but my friends call me Jess.” She hugged herself.
    He had a strange feeling as he stared at her. She seemed disoriented and a little confused, the same way people look when they’re trying too hard to remember a name or to recall something they’ve forgotten.
    “You know, this heat out here ain’t no joke,” he said after a moment. “Why don’t you come back down the street and soak up some air-conditioning while I see if we have the stuff you would’ve gotten in the other store.”
    “Okay, thanks,” she said quietly, tilting her head as she spoke. “Yeah, maybe the heat is throwing me off.”
    She’d never felt like this in her life, had never been so blind to another person’s thoughts. He gave her an inquisitive look along with a brilliant smile, then turned to head back toward his store. She kept her arms hugging her midsection, nursing the mild current of excitement that flowed from his hand into hers from just a touch. He was talking to her but she was only half listening, her mind trying desperately to sort out a hundred random thoughts at once.
    Lost in her own thoughts, she tuned in to the slightly musty male scent that wafted off his body. His skin was the coppery hue that told her he had to be Creole. Beneath his bright white T-shirt she could see an extensive network of toned muscles. He was not too bulky . . . Lanky was how she’d describe him—and utterly delicious. The guy easily loping beside her was a full head taller than she was, maybe more, which made him approximately six two. However, what really captured her attention were his eyes.
    They were golden amber brown, as though someone had splashed fine gold glitter into the dark hazel of them. He was clean shaven and had a beautiful, full mouth—a mesmerizing one that made her stare at it from the corner of her eye. He’d locked his hair and had it tied back in a long ponytail, but ringlets of silky black curls had escaped the stylistic invasion. The tone of his voice was a melodic alto, and before long she realized that tiny butterflies had escaped to flutter around in her belly. But it disturbed her that she couldn’t hear his thoughts.
    Jessica forced her gaze to the ground as he opened the store’s front door. Cool air assaulted her, and she had to admit that it felt really good.
    “Okay, so, what are you looking for that you couldn’t see from out there?”
    “Uhmmm . . . you’re going to think I’m crazy,” she began slowly, hoisting her crocheted handbag higher up on her shoulder.
    “No judgments when people ask for stuff in my store. Just tell me what you want, and if I have it, you’ve got it. If not, I can get it.”
    It was hard to look at him and make words come out of her mouth at the same time. He didn’t seem that much older than she was, and he owned a store?
    “This must take a lot of work,” she said, changing the subject until she could work up the nerve to explain why she was really there. She’d expected to find an old crone minding the occult shop, not some hunk with a gorgeous smile.
    “It does,” he said with a casual shrug. “But I have to do something to keep the bills paid while I go to school at night—I’m taking up business marketing and management, entrepreneurship track. Tuition over at Xavier is hefty, but I’m not complaining.”
    “That’s really cool . . . being able to run your own business, even in this economy, and still go to school. I’ve been saving for four years to try to go . . . but I’m definitely going to register this fall.”
    Her honest comment seemed to make him stand up taller. “That’s good, real