A Date with Desire

by Heather McGovern

  “That’s not my fault and you know it.”

  “I can’t step up to the tourism board and demand to see their books.”

  Roark scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck and shifted his chair back. “Then let’s wait for next year, or the year after. We can participate on a smaller scale and get a feel for things before we swoop in and try to take over. Get to know the board, or better yet get on the board, so we aren’t asking out of the blue.”

  “There won’t be a festival to participate in if we don’t sponsor it. That’s what I’m saying. I’m not asking you to fund the whole damn thing. We take the lead, that’s all. Sometimes the risk is worth the reward.”

  Roark was already shaking his head before Devlin finished speaking.

  Anna knew without seeing his face, the eldest Bradley brother—and apparently the one who controlled the purse strings—wasn’t going to buy what Dev was selling.

  All the evidence was in Roark’s body language. The stiff set of his shoulders, how he went so far as to move his chair back from the table. Anna knew how to read people and knew when a sales pitch was working.

  Dev’s fell on deaf ears.

  Roark’s answer was never going to be yes. His posture was closed off and defensive from the moment they sat down together. Unless he could be guaranteed no loss, Roark was the kind of buyer who wouldn’t take chances.

  Devlin, on the other hand, leaned forward, animated, all spirit and no facts, and was totally behind the idea of this festival thing—whatever it was.

  But if he needed his older brother’s support, he’d have to find a better way to get it than mere enthusiasm.

  “I have to go.” Roark checked his watch and pushed his chair out all the way.

  Still in his seat, Devlin watched him get up, the defiant set of his chin sexier than it had any right to be. “You suggested meeting at the restaurant because you knew you were going to say no. Didn’t you? You knew you’d say no, regardless of my idea, and you knew you’d get a hell of an earful if we were behind closed doors.”

  Roark’s shoulders rose and fell, and he pushed his chair back under the table. “I’m sure I’ll get an earful regardless.”

  Devlin cut his eyes at his brother, before looking away like he wasn’t even there.

  “Dev, if you can give me more to go on than your excitement, I’m happy to help.”

  He sat stone-faced as Roark walked away.

  Their interaction twisted something deep inside her, tightening until it hurt.

  Some people would never hear you, no matter how hard you tried. Even when those people were family.

  Anna shifted her gaze to the stream of words on the page before her. She stared at the page forever, comprehending nothing.

  If Devlin left the restaurant as she read, he did so without a sound, but she was too chicken to look up and check.

  Seconds clicked by and she was cross-eyed from trying to read the pamphlet.

  The deep rumbling of a cleared throat made her jump. “You’re either studying that thing for a pop quiz later, or you’re fake reading.”

  With the most innocent expression she could muster, she met Dev’s gaze from two tables away. “I’m not fake reading.”

  “You haven’t turned the page in about ten minutes.”

  Dang it. “I’m making sure I grasp what the article is about.”

  “That pamphlet is all ads and discount coupons.”

  “There’s an article,” she insisted. Please let there be an article. “Right here, about . . .” She scanned the page. “Tube riding.”

  He lowered his chin, hiding some of his smile. “Are you planning to go tube riding?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Good. It’s a lot of fun. The locals call it tubing, though. Tubin’, to be precise, but I’m glad you’re planning an excursion. For a while there I thought you were just staring at the page, listening to me and my brother bicker.”

  With the corner of his mouth curled up, he finally sipped at his coffee, immediately setting it back down, making the universal yuck face for unintentionally drinking cold coffee.

  “I didn’t notice any bickering,” she fibbed, holding the pamphlet up a little higher to emphasize how captivated she’d been by an article on tubing. Or tubin’.

  At that, Devlin rose from his seat.

  It seemed he’d simply walk away, satisfied that she hadn’t heard a word. Instead he frowned down at his coffee cup and walked over to Anna’s table.

  “May I?” Again, he put his hands on the chair across from her.

  She nodded, and he sat, bringing with him a woodsy smell and something else, something she couldn’t identify. A scent with some bite.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t hear us. Me at least. I can’t keep my voice down when I get worked up.”

  She could continue the lie and insist she hadn’t heard a word, mind her own business, not have an opinion, and not open herself up to involvement. But since when had she ever done that?

  Anna laid the pamphlet down next to the basket of untouched biscuits. “Okay, maybe I overheard a little, but I was trying very hard not to.”

  He laughed as the waiter reappeared, in time to pour them each a fresh cup of coffee.

  “You mind if I take one of these?” Devlin pointed to the covered basket.

  “Help yourself.”

  He plucked out one of the biscuits, broke it in half, and spread both sides with butter. “Now that you’ve admitted you could hear us arguing, I apologize. Meeting in the restaurant wasn’t my idea, but I’m the one who raised my voice. Sorry about that.”

  She waved it off, accustomed to raised voices and bickering.

  “When are you planning on going tubing?” Dev asked before biting into one biscuit half.

  A dab of butter clung to his top lip. He licked it clean, his gaze not moving from hers.

  “What?”

  “Tubing.” He nodded at the forgotten pamphlet. “The thing you were reading all about. When are you going?”

  “Oh. Not anytime soon. Probably. I’m still undecided if I’ll go.” She didn’t have a clue what tubing was or how one did it, and the whole thing sounded suspect.

  “You have to. You can’t be up here for a few weeks and never go tubing or rafting or something on the water.”

  He knew how long she’d be at Honeywilde. Made sense, he did work at the resort, but the realization still made her smile.

  “We’ll see. I was thinking the hikes and paddleboats were a little more my speed.”

  “Oooh, paddleboats.” His voice sang with teasing notes. “Don’t get too crazy. First it’s paddleboats, next thing you know you’re hang gliding off the side of a mountain.”

  Her stomach pitched at the mere mention. “Not me. Why? Do you hang glide?”

  “Hell no. I like to get my thrills on the ground. Or on things touching the ground.”

  Anna sucked down too much hot coffee, and came up coughing.

  Dev’s eyes widened minutely. “I was talking about my bike.”

  She sputtered and reached for her water. He sat there and smiled. Not helpful.

  “I should go and let you finish your breakfast.”

  No. She didn’t want him to go. Once he left, she would eat alone, buy groceries, and go back to her cabin to read self-help books.

  The other option was Devlin. Finishing her breakfast in his company, finding out what the heck tubing entailed, staring into his swoony eyes.

  “You don’t have to leave. I’m almost done eating.” Her words jumped out like they were ready to chase him if he left. “You can stay if you want.”

  Dev picked up the other half of the biscuit, his eyes dancing with pleasure. “Thanks. I do want,” he said, and took a big bite.

  Chapter 4

  Hell yes, he was staying.

  When a woman like Anna outright invited his company, he wasn’t about to say no.

  Devlin’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He was already wired and lit up lik
e the resort at Christmas; the vibration made him jump.

  He ignored it. The call was probably from Roark, and he did not need his brother interrupting this moment.

  Conversation over breakfast didn’t warrant his reaction to her, but Anna made everything within him hum.

  She was beautiful, yes, but the allure wasn’t only about her looks.

  He knew plenty of beautiful women. They came and went from the resort, in and out of town with the tourist season, and he never gave them a second thought.

  Anna made him curious.

  She showed up at breakfast in full makeup, her hair pinned back, wearing a nice white T-shirt with some metallic graphic on the front he couldn’t make out. By all metrics, she looked like the kind of woman to turn up her nose at him for taking one of the biscuits at her table, but she hadn’t.

  Anna didn’t appear to be the type to laugh her tail off about him falling on her either, but she had.

  There was a spark of life in her dark eyes that blinked in and out, inexplicably. She was vibrant one moment, shadowed the next—and he couldn’t figure out why.

  He’d sat right down as she had breakfast, knowing he shouldn’t. He was supposed to be mature enough not to do the things he knew were off-limits. Stop tempting the devil. If Roark saw him insinuating himself into a guest’s mealtime, he’d have a fit.

  Yet here Dev sat.

  His phone went off again and he bit back a curse. “Excuse me.” He dug his phone from his pocket. Seeing his sister Sophie’s face on the display, he answered right away.

  “What’s up?” He angled himself away from Anna for privacy. If his little sister called during work hours, it meant something was wrong.

  “It’s what is not up that’s the problem,” Sophie answered. “We’ve got no ferns on the patio level of the inn, and absolutely no greenery out front. We’re supposed to have hanging baskets and urns, some of those cute topiaries, and we got zip. It looks like barren stone when it’s supposed to be lush and springlike for Mother’s Day weekend. Mother’s Day, Dev. I’m fixing to freak out.”

  “Does Ms. Brenda have them ready at her shop or—”

  “Yes, and Trevor said he’d go get them for me yesterday, but he didn’t and now I can’t get in touch with him to find out what’s going on.”

  Of course she couldn’t get in touch with Trevor. Money said their baby brother had either left his phone in his room or let it die again, and was on the far reaches of the property or off somewhere, doing god knows what.

  “I can’t go because we’re having new linens delivered this afternoon.” Sophie’s voice went high and thin, a sure sign she was at her wit’s end. In the background, papers were slapped against a surface. “I mean, thank you, Madison, for the rock-star wedding and cash boom that made all of this possible, but I’ve got a million little upgrades to oversee while we still look tacky as crap outside with no greenery.”

  Last fall, Roark’s girlfriend, Madison, had put Honeywilde back on the map. Her clients had their celebrity wedding at the inn and nothing had been the same since. The change was welcome, but Dev and his family were working their asses off to keep up with demand.

  “Calm down, just let me think.” Devlin tried to soothe her. If the problem could be solved by going to Brenda’s, he could help. Unlike the rest of the folks in town, Brenda liked him.

  Then again, he’d never given Brenda a reason not to. Too bad he couldn’t say the same about everyone else.

  He checked his watch. “I’m free until later this afternoon. I’ll call Brenda and if everything is ready, I’ll go get the plants for you.”

  “You will? Oh, thank you.” Sophie let out her breath. “You’re awesome.”

  He glanced over to find Anna studying him, intent.

  “Yeah, yeah.” With the appreciation in her eyes he had to look away.

  “And my favorite brother.”

  “I better be.”

  As soon as he hung up, he called the florist his family used for everything, and didn’t look over at Anna again. He couldn’t concentrate on talking to Ms. Brenda and make eyes with Anna.

  Sure enough, everything was at the greenhouse, ready to go.

  “Are you going to have some extra hands?” Brenda asked. “And enough room?”

  “Why? How many plants are we talking about?”

  “A little over fifty.”

  “What the—Fifty?”

  “Mmm-hmm, a little over fifty.”

  “What are we going to do with fifty plants?”

  “Now that, I can’t tell you. Your sister said she wanted a lot of greenery, so a lot of greenery she’s going to get.”

  He didn’t have enough room for fifty-plus plants. He’d have to take Roark’s truck and one of the little trailers. Even then he might end up driving with a fern in his lap.

  “You better bring someone with you, hon.” Brenda sweet-talked him, as per usual. “I’m at the store alone today, and you know my back won’t let me help with all those ferns.”

  He wouldn’t expect her to do their grunt work anyway. “I’ll find my brother and get him to help me load them. I should be by in about half an hour or so.”

  “Okay. See you then.”

  Devlin ended the call and tossed his phone down, scowling at the black rectangle. When he finally looked up and made eye contact with Anna, he picked up his phone again, schooling his expression as he typed.

  “Fifty plants?” Anna rested her elbows on the table. “Sounds like a lot of work.”

  “Yeah. Sorry about that.” Guests didn’t need to hear about their operational woes. He texted Trevor, telling him to get his ass back to the inn.

  “No need to apologize. You’ve made my morning a lot more entertaining than eating alone with my pamphlet.”

  Entertaining. That was one word for it. “You think this is entertaining; you ought to see me trying to wrangle fifty plants.”

  She tilted her head and hit him with a sparkling smile amid full pink lips. “Did you say you were going to town to get these plants?”

  He hit Trevor’s number to try calling. “The plants are outside of town, but the florist we always use is in town. I have to go by and say hello or I’ll be on her list. You don’t want to be on her list.” And he wouldn’t go into town to say hello for anyone else.

  Ms. Brenda was special enough to overrule his aversion to going into town.

  Just because he wanted to pull off the Blueberry Festival and do something right for a change, did not mean he wanted to hang out in town, risk seeing that look on people’s faces when they saw him.

  Thanks, but no thanks.

  Trevor didn’t answer his phone and Dev ended the call with a muttered curse. Roark couldn’t help out because of his meeting, plus he’d still be in a snit about their conversation.

  “Can’t find anyone to help?” Anna asked.

  “Not yet.” He’d have to make do alone. Loading and unloading would take longer, but with the trailer, he could manage.

  Might not be able to move tomorrow, but he’d manage.

  “I need to go into town too.” Anna pushed her plate away, carefully placing her napkin beneath the edge. “For groceries and stuff. Sort of learn my way around, but I have no idea where to go, so . . .” Anna let the sentence go with a shrug of her shoulders.

  He could not ask her to help him.

  Namely, because her helping him broke about five different resort policies, including the insurance policy. On top of that, he simply wouldn’t ask her to do something like haul plants and dirt around.

  Falling on her wasn’t enough; now he was going to make her do manual labor on her vacation? Hell no.

  “I’m happy to go along and help you pick up some flowers, if you’ll show me the best place to buy some groceries.”

  Offering to give him a hand was sweet—and it was an offer that meant spending a large part of the day together, away from the resort.

  No one around to make a fuss about them hanging out, no pryin
g eyes.

  It was a horrible idea with “Best Idea Ever” spray-painted over the top.

  “Thank you, but I can’t ask you to do that. I’ll be picking up a lot more than a few flowers. Fifty ferns, some large arrangements, probably plenty of extras because Ms. Brenda likes to take care of us.”

  “Oh. Then you’ll definitely need help. It’s up to you though.” Anna let her words dangle there. An open door. The invitation for him to step through and do something.

  He really shouldn’t ask her to help though. Not that he was known for doing what he should, but . . .

  No.

  Sitting together at breakfast was one thing, but moving a bunch of plants around in the blazing sun and heat? That was no one’s idea of a good time.

  “I can’t ask you to help me. I don’t mean that as a pleasantry. I literally cannot ask a guest to do labor. If you got hurt, we could get sued, and Roark would kill me.”

  Her gaze flitted away, up and around. He could almost see the wheels turning.

  “You haven’t technically asked me,” she finally said. “We’ve entered into no binding agreement that would hold you liable. And I really do need someone to show me how to get into town and where to find a grocery store. I know nothing. If I happen to be present to lend a hand with some plants, so be it.”

  He wanted to ask her why she’d do this for him. Helping someone she hardly knew with their hard work went beyond their attraction and flirtation.

  Trying to understand a person’s true motivations was like trying to catch snowflakes. Maybe she simply wanted to spend some time together, get away from the resort, stretch her legs, who knew?

  He wanted to spend some time with her too though, enough so that he’d endure a trip to the grocery store in town.

  A small voice, almost too miniscule to hear, told him he knew better than to fraternize with a guest.

  The rest of him said to hell with it.

  “Okay, but here’s the deal.” He scooted his chair in and leaned forward. “Loading plants, especially fifty of them, is dirty work.”

  “I don’t mind getting dirty.”

  He smirked at her choice of wording. “You absolutely cannot lift anything heavy or do anything that might get you hurt. Ferns. That’s your zone.” There. He’d given her every disclaimer he could think of.