The left side of her shop had a built-in planter filled with a beautiful mix of pink and purple petunias, silvery dusty miller and top-heavy snapdragons, loaded with purple and yellow blooms. She loved the colorful display, but with the brick flower box in the way, she couldn’t move the ladder as close as it needed to be. Which meant reaching out over the planter on her tiptoes, one hand clinging to the top rung, the other grasping the bright pink banner, and—
Yes, got it!
The last little “umph” of effort scraped metal against brick, and Darcy clung precariously to the ladder, her heart pounding with triumph and potential disaster as she regained her balance once again.
She’d just caught her breath when a pair of strong hands circled her waist, swinging her off the ladder and setting her back with both feet on the ground. She spun around, her protest dying when she saw Nick Pirelli. That feeling of flying through the air and heading for a fall came back full force at she met his gaze. “Nick! You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
If possible the scowl on his face darkened further at her words, his brows lowering deeper over his eyes. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Have you lost your mind?”
Her face started to heat at his shouted criticism. Okay, so that final stretch when the tiptoes of her left foot were about the only thing touching the ladder wasn’t the smartest move she’d made, but she wasn’t crazy.
Unless...
“Is that part of the Clearville Curse?”
“The what?”
“The curse on my shop.”
The reminder of the conversation they’d had in her kitchen sent a wash of red climbing up his neck. The bit of embarrassment served him right as far as Darcy was concerned. She deserved a little lighthearted revenge even if seeing Nick with his daughter in front of the ice cream shop had diffused any lingering hurt feelings.
Darcy had known he was a single father with custody of his little girl. But knowing and seeing were two different things. Seeing Nick with his daughter made what sounded like a brush-off the night before a more legitimate explanation, even if the delivery had been completely awkward and insulting. His determination to put his daughter first only made him that much more attractive—and unobtainable.
Nick glanced over her shoulder at the still empty shop. “I told you—”
“All about how the shop has gone through a suspicious number of renters,” Darcy interrupted, keeping her expression serious despite the smile threatening to break free. “Is that what happens? They all go insane?”
Throwing up his hands in aggravation, he said, “There is no curse!”
Darcy exhaled on a big sigh. “Well, thank goodness for that. You had me worried with all your ‘doom and gloom’ talk.”
Nick stared at her, looking as though he couldn’t decide if he wanted to laugh at her...or kiss her. And suddenly Darcy knew. She hadn’t imagined the attraction between them last night. Nick might not want to want her...but he still did.
Darcy swallowed as the awareness stretched between them, announcing that attraction as obviously as the banner snapping and dancing in the breeze above her shop. Nick finally broke the tension, glancing down the street. He muttered something about collecting his daughter at The Hope Chest, ready to pull another disappearing act, Darcy was sure. Only...she didn’t want him to go.
Unobtainable, her conscience reminded her. She’d already made the mistake of diving too deep into a relationship with Aaron. She’d been in over her head long before she realized he was still standing safely on the shore. The next time she fell in love, she didn’t want to be the only one risking her heart, and a guarded, cautious man like Nick wasn’t the type to take chances.
He would keep a safe distance away while she would be the one to get too close and end up getting burned.
But that wasn’t enough to stop her from backing toward the open doorway. “Let me give you the grand tour first. I’ll only take a minute.”
Darcy decided not to read too much into the little skip of happiness her heart took when Nick followed her inside. “Right now, it doesn’t look like much,” she admitted, knowing the shop looked exactly like what it was—a small space that had been empty far too long.
“But I was sold on the store’s location and the built-ins,” she said with a wave at the rows of waist-high shelving. The displays would be perfect for showcasing products while the cabinets below would store additional inventory. “Remove the carpet, add some fresh paint on the shelves and walls, install some beadboard wainscoting along the back wall, and you won’t recognize this place.”
Nick looked around the shop, but Darcy had the feeling he wasn’t picturing the place filled with beauty products and customers the way she was. “Are you hiring Travis Parker to do the work?” he asked, his focus still on the surrounding four walls.
“Uh, no. I’m not interested in seeing Travis professionally or personally.” Darcy wasn’t sure what made her share that information, since Nick hadn’t exactly asked, but at least now it was out there. Just in case he cared. “We went on a couple of meaningless dates, that was all.”
Even if she wasn’t still dodging the grabby handyman’s calls, Darcy wouldn’t have hired him. Tackling the century-old plumbing and electrical at her house had been too risky a job for her amateur skills. But the facelift on The Beauty Mark—that she could handle. She and her mother had done their share of DIY work, a trial-and-error process that included consulting with orange-vested hardware store employees, dummy books and online sites.
Thanks to their success in the past, she’d seen beyond the run-down appearance of the space she’d rented. She’d looked at the threadbare carpeting and imagined the hardwood floors beneath, gleaming under new layers of stain. She’d pictured the pockmarked walls covered with beadboard wainscoting, topped by a row of chair rail and brightened by fresh paint.
“I’m not looking to hire anyone. My mom and I moved around a lot when I was growing up. I don’t know how many places we fixed before packing up again. This isn’t anything I haven’t done before.”
But it was all work she’d never done alone before.
Nick’s eyebrows rose, but instead of the doubt she expected to see, his dark gaze reflected admiration and a touch of...wariness. “That’s a lot to do by yourself.”
Ignoring her own doubts, Darcy insisted, “I can handle it.”
“Speaking of handling things, I saw the found dog poster you put up. You got more than you bargained for by taking in a stray, didn’t you?”
“I wasn’t expecting a houseful of puppies.” She’d thought for sure she would have heard from the owner by now, but if that call didn’t come, it was going to be up to her to see they found good homes.
“Why do you do that?”
Nick’s question checked Darcy’s reflex action of reaching for her shoulder. She instantly lowered her arm, but the catch on her watch snagged on the material, pulling the collar aside. His gaze locked on the scars, and Darcy couldn’t help feeling a little exposed, her childhood fears on display for all to see.
“It’s nothing,” she said dismissively. “When I was a kid, I was over at a classmate’s house. They started roughhousing with their dog, playing keep-away with one of those rope toys.”
It had all seemed like such a game when the older boys dangled the twisted rope out of reach and the dog leaped into the air, its snapping jaws just missing the toy. Darcy still wasn’t sure when the mood had changed, when the teasing turned into taunting and the dog turned from playful to frustrated. But when one of the boys overthrew his friend and the rope sailed toward her, she’d automatically reached out and caught it.
“Then next thing I knew, the dog was charging right at me. I pulled back my arm to try to throw the rope away, but it was too late. The dog grabbed at it—”
“And caught you instead.”
“It was an accident. I know that now, but at the time, I was terrified. I’m still a little afraid.”
“You sho
uld have said something.”
Remembering he hadn’t been too quick to believe her when she had said the dog wasn’t hers, Darcy asked, “Would it have mattered?”
“Maybe. Maybe not,” he confessed. His honesty, even when it cast him in a poor light, struck something inside Darcy.
One of the good guys, she thought again.
“Taking in the dog was really brave.”
Brave would mean overcoming her fear entirely. She’d seen toddlers climbing over enormous dogs who bathed their faces with tongues the size of dish rags, yet she couldn’t wipe away her nervousness around a six-pound poodle. She had always downplayed her phobia, doing her best to ignore it, so why on earth had she told Nick?
Shaking off the question, she fell back into familiar territory. “Anyway, it was a long time ago. I hardly ever think about it anymore.”
“Right.”
Darcy heard the doubt in Nick’s voice, only then realizing she’d reached up to her collarbone once more. Frustrated by the telltale action, she pretended to adjust her shirt. Only somehow Nick’s hand got in the way, and Darcy froze, her gaze locked on his as he brushed his fingers over the pale reminders.
Her heart thundered at the gentle touch, and she swallowed hard, trying to steel herself against the rush of desire threatening to leave her weak and breathless. “I try to keep them covered.”
“Why?”
Thinking the answer obvious, and confused by the puzzled expression on Nick’s handsome face, Darcy gave a short laugh. “So no one can see them.”
More than once, Aaron had expressed his disappointment that she couldn’t wear the strapless and off-the-shoulder cocktail dresses he preferred.
His dark eyes knowing, Nick stated, “They’re scars, Darcy. Everyone has them—whether you can see them or not.”
And Darcy was pretty sure she’d witnessed some of his earlier as he’d watched his daughter dart away from him, braids flying behind her, to disappear into The Hope Chest without a backward glance. The undisguised love and concern written on his face had told Darcy more than she maybe wanted to know. Whatever had happened between Nick and his ex-wife, the divorce had not been his idea. Darcy had the feeling he would have done anything to keep his family together.
Almost as if he’d read her mind, Nick backed toward the doorway. “I should go. Maddie’s waiting for me, probably wondering where I am.”
“I saw you two earlier outside the ice cream shop. Looked like Maddie was enjoying her cone.”
He shrugged. “Lately, it doesn’t seem like she enjoys doing much of anything.”
“I’m sure that’s not true.”
“Yeah, it is. But I keep telling myself it’s normal, right? I mean, how much did you enjoy hanging out with your old man when you were a kid?”
“I think I might have,” Darcy murmured, relieved not to hear any of the wistful longing that had wandered restlessly through the empty spot in her life. A place she’d never had a father to fill.
Shoving the old ache away, she added, “Growing up it was just me and my mom.”
His dark eyes probed hers, seeing more than she wanted to reveal. Was that leftover loneliness and longing from her childhood written on her face for him to see? Could he tell how often she’d wondered what her father would think of her if he had bothered to stick around? Did he ever regret walking away from her, walking away from her mother, to protect his “real” family?
“And look how you turned out,” Nick said finally, his tone impossible to read.
From another man, the words might have sounded like a come-on. From Aaron, ambiguity would have hovered like smoke around the open-ended comment, leaving Darcy to try to figure out if it’d been a compliment or an insult.
“Sometimes I wonder...” Tension tightened Nick’s features, muscles flexing in his jaw, and revealing the unspoken turmoil in the words he left hanging.
A wave of embarrassment washed over Darcy. Was she truly so wrapped up in insecurities from the past that she’d failed to recognize Nick’s worry in the here and now? A single dad who had custody of his daughter... He had to wonder if he was doing the best job he could, playing both roles and questioning, as any true father would, if his daughter needed the female presence she lacked.
“She’s lucky to have you.” Reaching out, Darcy touched his arm. An instant flinch of warm, male muscle beneath her hand had her sucking in a quick breath. The reminder of the attraction—unwanted attraction—between them sent a slow bloom of heat unfurling from her center even as her fingers slid away. “She is, Nick.”
But the tension in his backbone, his shoulders, his jaw, only seemed to grow, and she sensed his recoil as if she were questioning his ability as a father rather than reassuring him. “Maddie means everything to me. She’s my first priority. My only priority.”
His single-minded dedication seemed a bit...unhealthy. She opened her mouth only to snap it shut just as quickly. Who was she to give advice? Especially not words of wisdom about maintaining a balance between owning a successful business, raising his daughter as a single father and finding time to cultivate a healthy relationship.
“I can tell how much you love her.”
He took a deep breath. “That’s why last night when you...”
His voice trailed off and apology or not, she couldn’t resist filling in his thought. “Offered you coffee?”
He closed his eyes, but when his lashes lifted, the heat in his dark eyes burned away her lighthearted teasing. “Yeah, you offered me coffee, but I wanted something more.”
Those petals of heat unfurled inside her once more. Somehow she didn’t think he was talking about espresso, although from the sudden jolt dancing through her veins, she might have already had three shots of the stuff.
But hadn’t Nick just gotten through telling her how his time and energy was strictly for his daughter? Whatever more was he looking for, she couldn’t shake the feeling it would somehow be so much less than what she wanted.
“I think, maybe, we might both be better off if we were just—”
“Caffeine free?” he suggested, that wry flash of humor making him so much harder to resist, and Darcy had the feeling, when it came to Nick Pirelli, if she wasn’t careful, she could become completely, hopelessly addicted.
And that wouldn’t do. Not at all.
* * *
Stepping out of Darcy’s shop, Nick couldn’t help feeling he’d just made an unlikely escape. It hardly mattered that he hadn’t been caught by anything more dangerous than Darcy’s easy smile or the featherlight touch of her hand. Logical or not, adrenaline from a close call pulsed through him as he headed toward The Hope Chest. But beneath it all was the awareness that this was only a temporary reprieve. Because a big part of him had wanted to stay right where he was, within Darcy’s reach, held captive by the possibilities between them.
The possibility of a kiss, a touch, of holding Darcy in his arms. That was the “more” he’d wanted in Darcy’s kitchen, the “more” he still wanted now, and he didn’t know how long he’d be able to deny it.
Lost in thought he nearly ran into Marlene Leary. Good manners dictated offering an apology, but the words practically stuck in his throat as he tried stepping past the well-dressed, older woman.
He should have known it wouldn’t be so easy. Though his family and the Learys were bound to cross paths in a town so small, Marlene’s scowling presence was more than a coincidence.
“I would think, Mr. Pirelli,” she said, her chilly gaze aimed at Darcy’s shop, “that a man in your circumstances would take care to be more...particular about the company he keeps.”
Nick gritted his teeth with the effort it took to keep from telling the snobbish, hypocritical woman what she could do with her advice. The Learys had long held a grudge against his family—one that was totally undeserved. After all, five years ago it had been their daughter, Amy, who had broken in and vandalized Hope Daniels’s shop and then allowed Sophia to take the blame. Her recent move b
ack home had Marlene’s panties twisted up good. No doubt the woman would have her pointed nose stuck in all their business from now on.
But, even knowing all that, Nick couldn’t get around the aggravating fact that she was right. If he were single, nothing would stop him from taking the chance to explore the desire between him and Darcy, to see where it might lead and enjoy a few “meaningless dates” of their own.
As a single father, though, he did have to be particular. He had a woman in mind, the right kind of woman this time, and no matter what his hormones thought, that woman was not Darcy Dawson.
Chapter Six
To the Pirellis, nothing was more important than family. That bond had held them together through thick and thin, and Nick counted on his parents and his siblings in ways he wouldn’t dream of depending on the best of friends.
Friends come and go, his mother had once told him after some meaningless fight he’d had with Sam, but family is forever.
In his heart, Nick believed that to be true which had made the end of his marriage—something else he’d believed would last forever—so hard to take. It had also given him an even greater appreciation for his family who had helped him out in countless ways after Carol’s desertion.
He’d never be able to repay that or even get his parents to admit he owed them, but one thing Nick could do was to show up for family dinners. His mother strictly refused her children’s offers to hold these dinners someplace other than Vanessa and Vince’s home. But Nick made a habit to always bring something—flowers for the table, a bottle of wine, dessert. Which meant dinners at his parents’ house were often preceded by trips to the local bakery.
The bell above the door to Bonnie’s Bakery rang, and as usual, Nick thought the shop smelled like heaven on earth. Glass displays on either side of the checkout counter were filled with cookies and cakes and cupcakes in every flavor imaginable. Arranged on lace doilies and surrounded by flower arrangements, the desserts looked as good as they tasted.
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