“You sure can. Would you like one espresso shot or two?”
“Two, definitely.”
“Large iced caramel cappuccino,” the woman called to the older woman behind her.
Noticing that there were two young women in line after her, Rita stepped to the side so that they could place their orders.
The older woman approached Rita. “Good morning. I’m Molly.”
“Oh, so this is your café.”
“Indeed.” Strands of Molly’s grayish-blond hair hung in her face. “Where are you from?”
“St. Louis.”
“What brings you to town?” the lady asked. “By the way, do you want your coffee over ice or do you want it to be blended and frozen?”
“Frozen, definitely.”
Molly got to work preparing the drink, and Rita answered her other question. “My mom is visiting a friend here. So I decided to come and take a little break and hang out with her. She said it’s a nice spot to escape the big city.”
“That it is,” Molly agreed. “Make sure you visit the lake. If you check out the wall by the door, you’ll see information on who offers day excursions on a boat. The fees are reasonable. And it’s an experience like no other.”
Rita nodded as the blender whirred. “I’ll be sure to do that.”
Molly poured the blended coffee into a plastic cup. “Whipped cream and caramel drizzle?”
Rita shrugged. “Why not?”
Molly finished making the drink, then passed it to her. Rita had already paid, but she looked into the slot of her phone’s wallet case and was glad to see she had some cash in there, a five. She put it into the tip jar.
Molly’s warm attitude had helped to take her mind off the unfortunate incident with the man and his car earlier. The memory flooded back as she made her way to a table closer to the back where the café was less populated. The man had been the definition of gorgeous, but those cold eyes and that scowl...
She didn’t want to think about him. At least he had driven off, even if he’d been angry. He could have given her a harder time, but he hadn’t. The incident was over. No point harping on it.
Rita had about half an hour until her meeting with Keith Burke, the realtor she’d been communicating with. He had the keys for her rental unit, plus the documents she needed to sign. This was as good a spot as any to pass the time.
A solid half of the coffee shop was surrounded by windows, so Rita had easily been able to get a table with a view to the outside. Fiddling with the straw in her cup, she glanced out at the street. A woman in a flowing sundress was walking a poodle with a pink bow on the top of its head. An elderly couple strolled hand in hand. So far, Sheridan Falls seemed like an idyllic little town, one she might enjoy if she weren’t here under duress.
Rita sipped her caffeinated drink, and an explosion of flavor caused her to sigh happily. This was just what she needed, a moment to relax and center herself. She drew in a calm breath, then exhaled slowly. She would have to make the best of it. And she hoped that she still might be able to talk her mother out of this crazy idea of marrying her father.
The minutes passed, and Rita checked the time. She’d already put the navigation for the address of Keith Burke’s office into her phone, and it was only a five-minute drive from here. With twelve minutes to spare, she got up to leave. Molly waved at her as she headed toward the exit. Rita smiled and waved back.
She took another look at the front end of her car. The small scuff was hardly noticeable. Her ego had been damaged worse.
Forget the incident, Rita reminded herself. Then she got behind the wheel of her Ford Fusion and turned it on. She glanced at the dashboard clock. She would arrive at the realtor’s office at least five minutes early.
Palmer Avenue appeared to be a residential street filled with brownstones. Mature trees lined the sidewalks, and their leaves rustled gently in the breeze. Rita found a spot on the street, parked her car, then made her way to the office steps of the realtor’s building. Seconds later, she was knocking on the door. Almost immediately, she tried the handle. This was a business, after all.
The door turned, so Rita entered. In the foyer, a receptionist was sitting at a tall desk. The young biracial woman with a mane of thick curly black hair greeted her warmly. “Good morning. I’m Dana. Welcome to Burke Realty.”
Rita returned her smile. “Thank you, Dana. I have an appointment for ten o’clock with Keith Burke.”
“Ah, yes. Rita Osgood?” the woman asked, though she clearly knew already.
“Yep, that’s me.”
“Excellent. Have a seat in the waiting room, and Mr. Burke will be out to meet with you momentarily.”
The waiting room was a small brightly lit alcove. There was a coffee table with a variety of magazines. Rita sat on a high-back white leather chair and pulled her phone out of her purse. She opened up one of her social media accounts and began to peruse what her friends were up to. She was simply trying to pass the minutes. Then she opened up her texting app and sent a message to her best friend, Maeve.
Hey, Maeve! I arrived safely in Sheridan Falls. Had a small mishap. Bumped into a car in front of me as I was parking. No big deal, no real damage, but the driver was a total jerk. Anyway, I’ll call you later.
As Rita pressed Send, a male voice said, “Rita Osgood?”
A voice that sounded oddly familiar...
Slowly, she raised her eyes and looked up at the man standing at the entrance to the waiting room. Her heart went berserk, and she promptly wanted to be swallowed up by a hole in the ground.
It couldn’t be.
But it was.
The same man whose car she’d rear-ended earlier was standing in front of her, dressed in a gray suit with a coffee stain on his white silk shirt.
The realtor she was due to meet.
Keith Burke.
Chapter 2
Keith’s eyes widened as they settled on the beautiful woman sitting on the chair in the waiting room. Shock hit his body like an electrical current, and for the briefest of moments, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. But as the woman’s expression morphed from neutral to horrified, Keith realized that this was none other than Rita Osgood, the woman he was meeting this morning to pass over the keys to the rental property.
He should have known. He had never seen her before—and someone like her he would have noticed. That meant she was new to town, and not that Sheridan Falls didn’t have any visitors, but the likelihood of seeing a stranger this morning should have alerted him to the possibility that she was likely the stranger coming into his office.
He could see her chest rising and falling. She was nervous. And he... Well, there was a certain amount of humor to the situation. What were the chances?
“You must be Rita Osgood,” he said, stepping forward and extending a hand.
She ignored his proffered hand. “Um...if you’d prefer that I leave...”
“Why?” Keith asked.
“I can’t believe this is happening.”
He had hoped that his congenial tone would have allayed her unease, but clearly it hadn’t. “So you know,” he began slowly, “I did take a chill pill. And wouldn’t you know, I’m feeling much better.” Keith smiled to soften the comment. It was a little light banter, and surely her tension would fade now, wouldn’t it? He wanted Rita to know that what had happened was over and done with, and he was holding no grudges.
“Oh, God.” She cringed.
“Hey,” Keith said gently. “How about we start over. I’m Keith Burke, realtor. I believe you have an appointment for a short-term rental?”
Rita eyed him warily, but after a few seconds, he saw her shoulders relax. “Yes,” she said. “I’m Rita Osgood.”
“Excellent. Then come with me. I have the documents for you to sign. And of course, the keys.”
&nb
sp; She eased up off the chair, slowly, clutching her purse to her stomach. Her eyes still registered some level of discomfort, but he was hoping that she would get past it.
Keith turned and led the way into his office, and she followed him. “Take a seat,” he said, pointing toward his desk.
She did, and he closed the door. Then he rounded the desk and sat in the chair opposite her. She was biting down on her plump bottom lip, a lip that was colored in a deep auburn. His gaze moved up her round face to her thick lashes. Her hair was two-toned, a dark brown from the top and down to about her cheeks, and from there it was a blondish color. How had he not seen just how beautiful she was earlier?
Keith cleared his throat. “Let’s just find a bit of humor in what happened. I hadn’t had my coffee yet, and to be fair you hit me. I had a right to be upset, but I came across way too aggressive, and I’m sorry for that. Ultimately like you said, there is no damage. The way I see it, the whole incident is completely forgotten on my part. So no need to look so terrified of me.”
“Do I?” she asked, her voice faint.
“Pretty much, yeah.” And he didn’t want her to be afraid. Keith had a reputation of loving, not scaring, women.
He’d been far too stressed out lately. The deal he’d been working on in Buffalo had been trying his patience, and he’d just gotten the call that it had fallen through minutes before Rita had rear-ended him.
So he’d been aggravated. Not with her, but because he had lost a potentially lucrative deal. She’d been a convenient scapegoat on which to unleash his anger.
The agent Keith was working with in Buffalo assured him that there’d be another building as ideal as the one he’d lost, but Keith had really liked that one. The location had been perfect and the price right for the trendy lofts he’d planned to construct.
“All right,” Rita said. “As long as you’re sure that you don’t need me to pay for your dry cleaning or anything else.”
“It never happened,” Keith said, meaning the words. He didn’t want the unfortunate incident to influence the business they had at hand. She was a client now, and if she enjoyed the rental unit, she would be sure to tell others about it. Much of his business was city folk coming to get a little bit of rest and relaxation in the country.
In fact... An idea suddenly hit him. Rita had chosen the least expensive unit, likely without even looking at the photos he’d sent, based on her lightning fast reply, Go with the first one. But he had another property right on the lake that was vacant. Judging by the expression on her face and the reason she’d come to town—“a wedding that shouldn’t be happening and hopefully doesn’t happen” she had written in her email—he could imagine she would need a bit more of a serene setting. The lake always brought out that reaction in him and everyone he knew.
“You need me to sign some paperwork?” Rita prompted.
“Give me a second,” he told her.
On the computer, he opened up his documents for the rental, and changed the address from the unit he’d been going to rent her to the newer one. Then he pressed for the document to print. He got up and left the office, heading into the hallway where the printer was. A minute later, he was back with the revised documents.
“Is there a problem?” Rita asked. “I thought you had the documents prepared already.”
“Actually, it was the wrong paperwork,” he lied. He had a feeling that if he told her he was going to be giving her a better unit for the same price, she would raise a stink. She struck him as the kind of person who didn’t like favors. While this wasn’t really a favor, it was a business decision, she might not see it that way.
The bonus was that she hadn’t seen the unit she was originally to have, so the change would make no difference to her.
Keith gave the paperwork a quick glance, made sure that everything was in order, then presented it to her. “If you’ll go ahead and read the document, then initial beside each paragraph where noted on each copy,” he explained, indicating with his finger. “Then on the last page, I just need your signature. That’s it.”
Rita nodded, then began to look over the document. She took her time perusing it. When she reached the last page, she made a face. “This says that you need two weeks’ notice before cancellation or changes to the reservation. We discussed a possible shorter timeframe, remember? Given the reason I’m in town, I’m not sure if I might need to cancel suddenly. You said that forty-eight hours’ notice would be okay.”
“You’re right, I did. Let me just change that from two weeks to two days.” Keith took back the document, crossed out the clause and inserted the new timeframe. Then he did the same with the second copy. “There you go.”
“It’s just that I’m not sure I will need it as long as I anticipate. I hope this doesn’t interfere with your way of doing business. We did talk about that option, though.”
“We did,” Keith said, noting that she was repeating herself. Was she still uneasy around him?
Rita went back to the beginning of the document and put her initials where required. When she got to the last paragraph, she said, “Are you sure about the forty-eight hours’ notice? Do you normally make concessions when it comes to your rental agreements?”
“I’m flexible when it comes to the weekly arrangements. It’s really based on the demand, and if you’re giving me no notice at all, etc. We’re coming up to the end of summer, when it’s busier here, so I’m sure forty-eight hours will suffice. However, if you know in advance and can give me more than forty-eight hours, that’d be great.”
Rita nodded. “Okay. Sounds fair.”
Keith opened his drawer and withdrew the appropriate key. Then he took the large manila envelope he already had on the table and slipped her copy of the signed contract into it. He passed it across the table. “There you go.”
“Thank you. I really appreciate it.”
“No problem. I appreciate your business.”
Rita waited a moment longer, staring at him. Keith stared back, wondering what the look was about. He narrowed his eyes slightly. Was she...flirting?
“Um, aren’t you forgetting something?” she asked.
“Am I?” he asked.
“The key,” Rita said, gesturing to it.
“Oh.” Keith instantly felt foolish. Why on earth would he think she was flirting with him? Just minutes ago, she’d looked terrified.
Rita pushed her chair back and stood. “I’ll just take the key and be on my way.”
Keith stood as well. Rita extended a hand to shake his, but he said to her, “We’re not finished yet.”
Her eyes widened as she looked up at him. “No?”
“I’ll take you there.”
“Oh, I can get there on my own. I’ll put the address into my GPS.”
“It’ll be easier if I take you. Besides, I’d like you to go through the unit and make sure that everything meets with your approval. That way if there are any issues, I can deal with them now.”
“Is that necessary?”
“It’s how I like to do things,” he said. Then he snatched up the keys. “I’ll lead the way.”
* * *
Rita had wanted to protest. She could find the place on her own, and she was certain it would be acceptable. As long as it had a bed, a kitchen and a bathroom, she didn’t care how it looked. She wasn’t here for the aesthetics. She just wanted the basics.
Besides, spending more time with Keith didn’t appeal to her in the least. She just wanted to get to the rental, kick off her shoes and lay her head down.
Yet here she was, following Keith’s car. Just about fifteen minutes later after leaving his office, he turned onto a road that led into a forested area. Rita made the turn as well, frowning. Where was he taking her? There was no sign of housing here.
But moments later, a row of cabins came into view. Three modern-looking buildings
formed a U-shape around a paved parking lot. One was yellow, one peach and one pale blue. The pops of color reminded her of what she’d seen when she’d vacationed in Nassau years ago. In the distance, she could see the shimmery water of the lake. It was as if they’d magically taken a road into the Caribbean.
Which Rita supposed was the point. This vacation spot seemed like a different world.
But despite the modern look of the cabins, the tall mature trees surrounding the property gave the area a rustic feel. A smile touched Rita’s lips as she looked out at nature’s beauty. The tension in her shoulders began to ebb away.
Keith pulled into a parking spot in front of the middle building. Rita parked beside him. She looked up at the peach-colored apartment, noting that there were unit numbers on the top and bottom rows.
Keith exited his vehicle, and Rita followed suit. He came around to meet her. “Your unit is on the top level. Number six.” He pointed.
Rita looked up in the direction, saw the bold number six on the door, and nodded. “Great.”
Keith walked toward the steps that led to the upper level, and Rita followed him. As she did, she tried to avert her eyes from checking out his striking form, but she couldn’t. This man was truly sexy. He had a tight behind and muscular thighs. He’d taken off his blazer and she could see the well-honed physique of his upper body. Strong biceps. A wide back that tapered down to his waist.
And below that waist, his perfect behind. As they reached the second level, her eyes narrowed on his taut rear-end again. Heat flooded her cheeks.
What was wrong with her? Shamelessly checking him out like this...
Nothing, a voice whispered in her head. You’re still a woman. You’re not immune to seeing a gorgeous man.
And there was no doubt about it, Keith was fine. Despite the fact that they’d gotten off on the wrong foot, her body couldn’t help responding to him.
“I think you’ll love this unit,” he said, turning to face her.
Rita jolted her eyes upward, her heart jumping into her throat. She hoped he hadn’t caught her checking him out. “I’m sure I will,” she said. “The area is lovely. It looks very peaceful.”
The CEO's Dilemma ; Undeniable Passion Page 18
