Because of Love

by Jill Sanders

  “I’m sorry,” he said as he followed her. “I didn’t mean to keep you.”

  “You didn’t,” she said easily as she locked the door behind them. He hadn’t moved out of the way and when she turned, she bumped into his chest. His hands moved up to her shoulders to steady her.

  His eyes moved to her lips again and he cursed himself. This was Suzie. He’d known her his entire life. Why the hell couldn’t he stop thinking about kissing her?

  Chapter 3

  Suzie forced herself not to shake under Aiden’s touch. Why couldn’t she control herself when he was around?

  He was standing so close to her that her entire body vibrated. She was pretty sure that he could feel the heat coming off her skin.

  The rain continued to drench everything around them, and she was thankful Parker had talked her into adding the blue awning over the doorway of the building.

  “Are you staying with your folks?” she asked, a little nervous.

  “No.” He was frowning at her again and didn’t say anything further.

  “Then where are you staying?” she asked after a moment.

  His eyebrows shot up as if he’d been thinking about something else. “Oh, um, at your folks’ place.” She chuckled, then he cleared his throat. “I mean, I rented a cabin. I didn’t want to bother my parents by being underfoot. Besides, they turned my old bedroom into a reading room for my mother a few years back.”

  Suzie nodded and wondered if he was going to hold her shoulders the entire time they talked.

  “My old room is a guest room.” She shrugged. “Sara’s room is now a nursery for the kids.”

  His frown grew. “Where are you living then?”

  She smiled. “Patty rented me the apartment above the store.”

  “Smart.” He glanced around and, as if just realizing he was still touching her, dropped his hands. She instantly missed them and swayed slightly. He glanced back at the door of the shop. “It’s a nice place. How was opening day?”

  “Busy.” She chuckled. “I think everyone from Pride came in and got something.”

  “My mother and sister really wanted to stop in…” He shrugged.

  “Tell them I said hi. I hope your dad feels better soon.”

  He moved to step aside, but they bumped into one another again and his hands returned to her arms. Chuckling, she stepped around him.

  “Aiden,” she said as she moved past him, “it’s nice that you’re here for your dad.”

  Instead of answering, he nodded.

  She rushed through the rain and jumped in her car.

  As she drove away, he watched her from under the awning before heading to his own car.

  What was that? she asked herself as she drove the few blocks to her apartment.

  Aiden had never acted like that with her before. It was almost as if he was physically interested in her. She shook her head as she parked in her spot. There was no way he was interested in her in any way other than as a friend. After all, he’d never been before.

  She thought back to all the times in school when she’d acted like a fool and tried to flirt with him when he’d been hanging around her brother. How many times had she followed him and her sister Sara around when they’d been dating back during Sara’s freshmen year?

  She’d been the third wheel more times with them than she had with any of her sister’s other boyfriends. She knew the reason was because of her crush on Aiden. Also, he’d been a family friend, so they’d spent more time around his family as well.

  Pulling out her box of ruined receipts and orders, she rushed through the rain and let herself into the apartment above the town’s only grocery store, O’Neil’s.

  She shut the door behind her, set the box down on the table, and pulled off her shoes. She’d opted for simple black flats and had been thankful for it halfway through the day.

  Walking over to the large windows that faced the main street of town, she noticed Aiden’s truck pass by and waved as he headed towards her parents’ B&B.

  For as long as she could remember, the bed and breakfast had been a part of her family life, with strangers coming and going on the family’s large property. Five cabins sat between their house and the beach. She’d spent most of her teen years cleaning or cooking for guests. She’d loved it, and so had the rest of the Jordan clan, as they were called.

  Her uncle Iian, who owned the family restaurant the Golden Oar, had special menus for the B&B. Delivery had been available to the cabins ever since her sister Sara had taken over as manager at the restaurant. Of course, with the two little ones, she had some help from the rest of the family.

  Even though the town was now dark, the streetlights were on and several businesses were still open. Her normal hours were going to be ten to six, but today she’d stayed open later to accommodate all the townspeople.

  Kara and Robin had stopped by earlier that week to set up an account for Sunset Weddings. She’d arranged direct delivery to them and, if the event wanted to use All in Bloom for their floral needs, they would get a ten percent discount.

  Their next event was scheduled for that weekend and the flower order had already been arranged. The clients had canceled their order with her nearest competitor in Edgeview, Busy Bee Florists, and had ordered from her.

  She’d had some issues with the owners of the shop when she’d gone down to city hall and filled out her permits. Shortly after she’d paid her fees, her aunt had called her and told her that someone had filed a petition of injunction against her turning the shop into a floral shop.

  She’d read through the three-page petition to stop her business and had stewed. She didn’t know the Bergstein’s personally, but Andrew and Tammy Bergstein had claimed that her business would harm their well-established business and that the city of Pride should not approve her permits.

  Well, of course, since Suzie’s Aunt Lacey was still mayor of Pride, her permits were approved and pushed through quickly.

  Lacey assured her it had nothing to do with her being family and more to do with the fact that Pride needed to support small businesses with local owners.

  She hadn’t heard from the couple since. Her aunt informed her that they had tried to file an appeal, but when they found out that her last name was Jordan, they quickly left the office and hadn’t returned.

  It paid to have family in high places, but Suzie didn’t like that someone was trying to stop her business before it had even gotten started. It wasn’t as if their flower shop was the only one in Edgeview. Actually, there were six of them that she knew about.

  Busy Bee Florist just happened to be the closest to Pride.

  Pulling off the lid to her receipt box, she frowned down at the destruction. How was she supposed to make head or tails out of the mess? The receipts that hadn’t flown out of the box and gotten soaked were now damp thanks to the ones she’d hastily shoved back in there after Aiden had gathered them up.

  As she pulled each one out and tried to dry them, she thought back to how Aiden had acted.

  Sure, the man had always been broody, but she’d never seen him as charming as he’d been to her. Rushing after her papers and umbrella like he had showed her a new side to the man.

  She sat down and started crunching the numbers from today to see how well she’d done as she thought of him. He’d always been tall. She couldn’t even remember a time that he hadn’t towered over her.

  He’d played football and basketball, so he’d spent a lot of time in the gym throughout high school. As far as she could tell, he continued to do so, since his chest and arms were easily double the size they’d been back in school.

  His hair was longer than he had kept it back when she’d seen him last. She dreamed of running her fingers through his dark locks.

  He had his father’s darker skin tone, whereas his sister, Carrie, took after their ginger mother. Robert Brogan had moved to Pride from New Mexico sometime during his youth, shortly after his mother had disappeared. Years later, he would find
out that the man his mother had dated had killed her and hidden her body just outside of Vegas.

  Robert’s aunt had lived in Pride all her life, and she’d taken the young Robert in. Shortly after Robert came back to town, the old sheriff, Aiden’s grandfather, had died, and Robert had taken over.

  She wondered if Aiden wanted the job as sheriff or if he was dreading it?

  She had never thought that it was a difficult job, as there wasn’t a lot of crime in Pride. Still, his father had always seemed busy enough. There was the small stretch of highway they had to patrol, and Suzie knew there were plenty of accidents on that small strip.

  She was so enthralled with her memories, the number on her laptop didn’t register at first.

  Clearing her mind, she double-checked her numbers and then called her mother with the happy news.

  “I made three thousand dollars,” she said when her mother answered the phone. “I know it’s probably only an opening day high, but… three thousand dollars.” She danced around her apartment as she chatted with her mother.

  “Do you know what this means?” She stilled. “I can afford to hire someone to help me out in the front of the store.” She rushed back to her computer.

  She had a list of possible employees, since several people had stopped in while they’d been doing construction and asked if she would be hiring. She’d taken down their contact information but hadn’t wanted to hire anyone until she was sure she could afford to.

  “It’s only been one day,” her mother said calmly.

  “You’re right.” She shook her head. “But still, I don’t think I could have done it without you today.”

  “If you need my help…”

  “I can’t ask you to come down to the shop every day. You have your own business and responsibilities at the B&B.” She bit her bottom lip. “What about a part-time person? I’m going to have to spend some time working in the back each day. I had planned on doing everything I needed to with floral designs before the doors opened, but what about orders?” She scanned through the names of potential employees. One jumped out at her.

  “What about Kate?” she asked her mother.

  “Kate? Kate Farrow? Sean and Becca’s girl?”

  “Yes, she stopped in yesterday and asked if I was hiring.”

  “She’s back in town?” her mother asked.

  “I didn’t ask.” She chuckled. Suzie and Kate had been friends in high school. Shortly after Suzie had left to go to college, Kate had gone to New York to attend fine arts school.

  “If she’s back in town, she would be perfect,” her mother added.

  “Then it’s settled. I’m calling her.” She held her number. “Mom?”

  “Yes, sweetie?”

  “Thank you for today.”

  “I’m so proud of you. I love you.”

  After she hung up with her mother, she dialed Kate’s number.

  Less than half an hour later, she hung up with her friend and did another booty dance as she sang, “I have an employee,” over and over.

  Then it dawned on her. There was so much she had to do before Kate met her in the morning to start training.

  She had to print out employment forms and get her accounting system ready for another user to log in.

  By the time she crawled into bed, she’d cleared her mind of Aiden, so it surprised her that he filled her dreams. His sexy voice and eyes floated in the darkness as his hands moved over her skin, lighting flames that had her gasping and gripping her bed sheets when she jolted awake.

  It took her so long to settle back down that she decided to jump in the shower and start the day early.

  She walked into Sara’s Nook Bakery at just past seven that morning. The last person she’d expected to see was Aiden, but he was standing at the counter flirting with Brook Masters. Brook had been in the grade below Suzie.

  She liked Brook, really, she did, but seeing the way the busty brunette was flirting right back with Aiden had her teeth grinding.

  “Morning, Suzie,” Brook said easily. “Isn’t it great to have Aiden back in town?” she said when she stopped at the counter.

  “Sure.” Suzie glanced over at Aiden, who was watching her as he sipped his coffee and leaned on the countertop. The man appeared as if he had all the time in the world and was ready for a show.

  “He was just telling me how he’s going to be filling in for Robert. Can you imagine?” Brook sighed and glanced back at Aiden. “He’s going to be sheriff.”

  He chuckled. “For a few weeks.”

  Brook waved at him. “Still.” She smiled. “My mother always gave your dad free coffee, so today’s is on the house.”

  “I haven’t started yet,” he reminded her.

  Brook chuckled. The sound caused Suzie’s back to straighten.

  “Just a black coffee and a blueberry muffin for me today,” she broke in.

  “Oh.” Brook shook her head slightly. “Of course. You are probably in a hurry to open your shop today.”

  Her friend started working on her order while she continued to ask her questions about her new shop.

  She tried to avoid Aiden, but he was a large dark mass in her peripheral view. When Brook set her coffee and muffin in front of her, Aiden stepped forward and tossed cash down on the counter.

  “This morning it’s on me,” he said.

  Brook quickly snatched up the money as Suzie frowned down at it.

  “You don’t have to…” she started to say, but Aiden turned his dark eyes towards her, and she lost her train of thought as her knees turned to jelly.

  “It’s the least I can do after keeping you so late,” he said with a slight wink.

  Suzie heard Brook’s little gasp and had to take several deep breaths to calm her temper.

  “Thanks,” she said through clenched teeth. She moved over to pour creamer in her coffee.

  “So,” Aiden said following her to the other counter, “how’d you end up doing yesterday?”

  She glanced over at him and noticed that Brook had turned to help another customer who had come in. Still, she could see her friend’s eyes darting between them.

  “Good,” she said with a smile. “I just hope the trend continues.”

  “Brook was telling me that Kate Farrow was in here earlier bragging about how she’d been hired on by you?” he asked, leaning his hip against the counter instead of pouring creamer into his cup.

  “Yeah,” she said, stirring her coffee and adding a few more scoops of sugar. She needed the extra kick if she was going to make it through the morning on as little sleep as she’d had. Come to think of it, her lack of sleep was Aiden’s fault. If he hadn’t been so damn sexy…

  “You know,” he said softly as he leaned a little closer, “I never realized how easy it was to read your emotions before.” He chuckled. “In the last few minutes you’ve been annoyed, pissed and, my favorite…”—he lowered his voice again and moved until he was less than three inches from her— “turned on.”

  She jerked back and spilled some of her coffee on her hand, since she hadn’t put the lid back on it after filling it with enough sugar to wake the dead.

  “What do you want?” she asked as her eyes darted towards Brook, who was now filling a large order for Jordan Shipping. When he didn’t answer her right away, she turned back to him.

  His slow smile had her knees going weak again as her mind played over the sexy dreams that she’d had about him.

  “I haven’t decided yet,” he said softly. He surprised her by reaching up and running a finger over her chin. “Something tells me when I figure it out, you’ll be the first to know.”

  He turned and walked out of the bakery. She thought she heard Brook sigh, but when she turned around, her friend was handing over the trays of coffee to the customer.

  “See you later,” Brook called out to her.

  Suzie waved and stepped out into the sunshine.

  Chapter 4

  After getting his father settled on the sofa in
his parents’ living room later that evening, Aiden helped his mother and sister cook dinner. Sitting around the living room with his family eating on TV trays had so many memories flooding his mind.

  When his father fell asleep after dinner while watching the game, his mother took his empty food tray and covered him with a blanket, making sure to move around the large cast on his propped-up leg.

  “It’s his meds,” his mother explained as he helped her clean the dishes. “They knock him out.”

  “It’s okay. I didn’t expect to hang around long tonight. I’ll be heading into the office first thing in the morning and needed to make it an early night.”

  His mother set down the dish she’d been drying to cup his face. “You need a shave,” she said with a smile.

  He chuckled. “Women find me more appealing with a beard.”

  “What women?” His mother’s eyebrows shot up.

  He laughed and hugged her. “All of them.”

  His mother sighed and held onto him. “There are lots of those women in town,” she said, causing him to pull back and look at her.

  “Don’t go playing matchmaker while I’m here. I won’t be here for long.”

  “Me?” She waved her hands and picked up the next dish for her to dry. “Never. But someone told me you spent some time with Suzie last night.” She glanced over at him.

  He groaned and started washing another dish. “I stopped by to see the new store.”

  “And?” his mother asked.

  “And…” He rolled his eyes. “It’s a flower shop.”

  His mother set the dish down a little too hard and glared at him. “What did you two talk about?”

  He thought back to how he’d been shocked at the attraction he’d felt between them and shrugged. “Not much.”

  “Brook mentioned you bought her breakfast?”

  “Mom.” He sighed, causing her to giggle.

  “Okay, I’ll stop. Just…” She touched his arm. “Be careful with the Jordans. They’re like family.”

  He nodded and remembered how he’d thought of Suzie as his little sister growing up. Then his mind flashed to how those sexy green eyes had heated that morning when he’d teased her, and he hid the smile from his mother.