Decidedly With Love

by Stina Lindenblatt

  “I know, but Travis told us to stay here…and you can’t tell me you’re honestly considering moving the store here.” She peered out the window again and shuddered.

  “No…but—” I didn’t get to finish the sentence. Travis returned to the vehicle, climbed back into the driver’s seat, and turned the ignition.

  “Why aren’t we going into the store?” I asked.

  He flashed me an are-you-fucking-kidding-me? expression. I was positive he would have verbalized it instead if not for his sweet old grandma in the back. “We’re going to the next place.”

  Janet’s brake lights came on and she pulled away from the curb.

  And so continued our day of checking out potential retail spaces for Aphrodite’s Boutique. How did it go?

  Fifteen locations.

  Five were too small.

  Seven were too expensive.

  Three were in a part of the city that would put me out of business in no time because no one would go there.

  The grand total of potential locations?

  A big fat pathetic zero.

  Now, you’re probably thinking, “Hey, but that’s only fifteen locations. There’s got to be more than that in San Francisco and The Bay Area.”

  You would think, right?

  Wrong—because based on my needs and my price tag and the fact that I didn’t wish to be shot or attacked, there were no suitable rental properties.

  So unless I was willing to compromise, I was up-the-creek-in-a-leaky-canoe screwed.

  Screwed—and with a body that thought lusting over Travis was a brilliant idea.

  Oh, nuts.

  It couldn’t have at least lusted over a guy who actually wanted a girlfriend, now could it?

  9

  Travis

  Are we still on for lunch? I texted Wes.

  Yes. An hour?

  Can we make that an hour and a half? At doctor’s with Granny to discuss her test results.

  Sounds good. Meet you there. Hope things are okay.

  The “there” that Wes was referring to was The Unicorn, the pub in the building he owned. The same building where Emma’s store was located.

  “How was your workout this morning?” Granny asked after she had stopped watching two kids playing in the corner of the waiting room.

  “It was good. I met up with some of the guys from the team at the gym.” Even though August was off-season when it came to hockey, that didn’t mean I got to take the summer off. And with only six weeks until the start of hockey season, my training had increased in intensity.

  “And that’s why you have the body young ladies drool over,” Granny said with a wink.

  Okaaay. Didn’t need to hear that from my grandmother—even if it was true.

  “Have you figured out who you’re bringing to my birthday party?” she asked.

  “Me and myself.” Although if I could drag Josh there, I’d gladly do it. Spending an evening alone with my grandmother and her crazy friends wasn’t up there on my list of fun ways to spend a Thursday night.

  Why was I going? Because I loved my grandmother and owed her the world for putting up with my bullshit after my parents had died. Their unexpected deaths had screwed me up to the point where I was skipping classes and had come close to being cut from my midget hockey team.

  Granny was the reason I hadn’t been. I don’t know exactly what she did, but I got the general gist that she marched into the head coach’s office and scared the crap out of him.

  And Coach Kaufman was not the type to scare easily.

  Granny smiled in the way that always got me nervous. It was the smile associated with her plotting to set me up with a female.

  Shit.

  Before I could say anything, a nurse called out Granny’s name. We both followed her into the exam room, sat on the plastic chairs, and waited for her to finish typing on the laptop before she left and we could resume our conversation.

  “Don’t even think of setting me up with another of your friend’s granddaughters for your party,” I told Granny mere seconds after the door clicked shut. “I’m perfectly capable of finding my own date if you really want me to bring one.”

  She eyed me for a moment. “You’re not bringing one of your teammates, right?” Her eyes took on a mischievous glint. “Not that my friends would complain, especially if your teammates showed up shirtless like Chippendale dancers.”

  “My teammates enjoy body checking the opposition. They aren’t dancers.” At least not professional dancers. I’d witnessed a few of them on the dance floor at the clubs we’d been known to frequent from time to time.

  Granny let out a long, disappointed sigh. “That’s too bad.”

  I groaned. “You’re almost eighty years old!”

  “That’s right, Travis. I’m almost eighty. I’m not dead. I don’t have much time left on this planet, and in case Heaven isn’t filled with hot men like I would prefer, then I’d appreciate getting to ogle them while I still can.”

  I thought about this for a second. “If I got my teammates to dance like Chippendale dancers for your birthday, would you stop pushing for me to find a girl, get married, and give you great-grandkids?”

  Hey, it was worth asking. He who didn’t ask would never know.

  Laughing, Granny patted my hand. “I’d pay to see your teammates do that. But no, I still want to see you happy. But if you have a girlfriend, then I’ll stop trying to set you up. Your teammates dancing for my birthday party would be an added bonus. But if I’m on my deathbed and there are no adorable great-grandchildren to say good-bye to me, then I’ll come back and haunt you worse than Abigail’s shrimp casserole.”

  I grimaced at the memory of the only time I’d eaten it. It took me three days to recover—and the Rock lost the game against Anaheim that I missed. Was it my fault? No—but it felt like it was at the time.

  “Point taken,” I said.

  The door opened and Granny’s doctor entered. Whereas Granny was almost eighty, I had pubic hairs older than this guy. Heck, I wouldn’t be too surprised if he didn’t even have any yet.

  Not that I was about to ask him.

  After he got through the normal niceties, he sat on the padded stool.

  “So how long do I have left?” Granny asked.

  “Left?” He turned to me as though I knew what the heck she was talking about.

  “You know, before I join my maker?”

  The look she flashed me? It was to remind me time was ticking on giving her a great-grandchild.

  Maybe Josh and Holly would let me borrow their daughter and I could pretend she was mine. Of course then I’d have to explain to Granny in nine months why my new baby was already two years old.

  So strike that idea.

  “You’re not dying if that’s what you’re asking,” the kid said. “But I am concerned with your cholesterol levels, especially given your history of having a stroke. I would like to switch your meds to help manage it better.”

  “So I’m not dying anytime soon?”

  “Well, I can’t say with any certainty if that’s true or not. I’d be a psychic if I could predict that.”

  Good to know. About the dying—not the psychic part. Which meant I didn’t have to rush out and find a fake great-grandchild. Yet.

  After we finished talking to the doctor, I drove Granny to her pharmacy to pick up the new prescription, then dropped her off at her apartment.

  Wes was seated at a corner table in The Unicorn when I arrived. We didn’t have to sit for long before the waitress approached to take our order.

  “So what’s this about you turning your building into a condo complex?” I asked after she’d walked away. I hadn’t had a chance to ask him since finding out about it from Emma. Wes had been away at a gaming design conference.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “One of your tenants said her lease isn’t being renewed because you’re converting the building into a condo complex, and her store doesn’t fit the new image
.”

  Confused? Let me get you up to speed. His grandfather used to own the building. When he died, instead of passing it to his daughter, he’d willed it to Wes. Only a few people knew this. Everyone else just assumed he was a tenant in the building like they were, and he preferred it that way. But while he might have had someone else manage the building, he was still very much involved in the decisions surrounding it.

  “That’s news to me,” he said. “Which store?”

  I told him.

  “That would explain it,” he said, his tone betraying that inwardly he was rolling his eyes. “Donald believes the store is the work of the devil—or something along those lines.”

  “So he lied to the owner and told her she had to move when her lease expires?”

  “It would seem so. But thanks for letting me know. I’ll make sure my dear sweet uncle tells her the truth.”

  “So the building is staying as is?”

  “I’m planning to do some long-needed renovations to it, but nothing beyond that. And no one is being evicted.”

  Nice to know I wasted all that time driving Emma and my grandmother around for nothing.

  Or not.

  “Look, could you do me a favor?” I asked.

  “What kind of favor?”

  “The kind of favor where you hold off telling Emma—the store’s owner—the truth for a while.”

  Wes looked as though he was going to say something but then clamped his mouth shut. I found out a moment later why when the waitress placed our drinks in front of us.

  She told us our food would be ready soon and left. Wes drew a long sip of his soda—keeping me in suspense.

  “Care to explain why you don’t want Donald to tell her that she isn’t being evicted once her lease expires?” he asked, lowering his glass to the table.

  “Not really.”

  He raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

  If you think I got off that easily, you obviously don’t know Wes.

  “You remember how you told me to get a fake girlfriend to get Granny off my back?”

  He nodded. “I remember.”

  “Remember how Josh recommended I find someone who won’t fall in love with me? Someone who pretty much hates my guts?”

  “I do—although I’m not sure your acting skills are good enough to pull off dating a girl who doesn’t like you.”

  He had a point there. “I’m sure it won’t be an issue. It’s not like I’m auditioning for a Broadway show.” And Emma ran the love shop, which meant she could probably do a decent job of faking things, too.

  “True.…So what does Donald not telling her about the lease have to do with anything?”

  “Because she pretty much hates my guts.” Okay, that might be an overstatement. The dislike she had leveled my way when I first entered her store wasn’t there when I drove her to all those retail spaces over the past couple of days. But she already knew I was anti-commitment, so she would still be a good choice. “I already asked her if she would be my fake girlfriend.…”

  “And she said no,” Wes guessed.

  “That’s right.”

  “So what are you planning to do? Tell her you’ll convince the building owner not to evict her if she helps you out?” He chuckled a you-really-are-an-idiot laugh.

  “Wow, and they say you aren’t smart,” I said with a smirk. No one could claim the MIT grad lacked intelligence.

  Me, on the other hand? Yes—given my idea, my level of intelligence might be questionable.

  “You really think it will work?”

  I shrugged. “I have no idea, but right now I’m running out of options.”

  “Okay, I won’t say anything to Donald for now. But if you can’t convince her to be your girlfriend in the next three days, then I’ll have to tell her the truth about her lease. And you will owe me big-time for this.”

  That was a given.

  “Anything else I should know?” He picked up his glass and started drinking.

  “My grandmother wants my teammates to reenact a scene from Magic Mike for her eightieth birthday party.”

  I probably should have waited until he’d finished his soda before springing that on him.

  10

  Emma

  Sitting on the fountain’s ledge, I pulled on my rubber boots. Why the boots?

  You didn’t expect me to climb into the fountain in my heels or go barefooted, did you?

  “Wow, that looks like so much fun,” Hannah said, laughing. “If I didn’t have to go to work in a few minutes, I would’ve volunteered to help you. But alas…” She snickered. “Why are you doing this when there are no birds in the store to crap on the statue?”

  “Just because there are no birds doesn’t mean Aphrodite doesn’t get dusty.” I had no idea if the woman in the toga really was supposed to be the Greek goddess of love, but she looked similar enough. “Plus I need to remove the coins, and it’s a lot easier to do that by climbing in the water to retrieve them.”

  “If you say so.” The laughter in her voice was still there.

  The bell above the door jingled and I glanced up to see if I was about to be busy—or if Lisa could handle things. Several people already were milling around, checking out the merchandise or trying on the lingerie in the fitting room.

  Oh, God. Not him again.

  Travis entered the store and his gaze settled on me.

  “Oh, this should be good,” Hannah said. “Too bad I have to leave now if I want to make it to work on time.”

  I turned my head to look at her. “What should be good?”

  “The guy you were scowling at the other day is obviously here for a repeat. And this time he’s minus the senior citizen squad. On that note, I’m off now. I’ll call you later for the scoop.” She started backing away. “And have fun with your goddess.”

  Before I could respond, she was out the door, pausing only long enough to give Travis a quick once-over and wave good-bye to me.

  He wasn’t the only one to be given a once-over. Except in my case, his gaze slowly traveled up my body as if he were undressing me—removing my ever-so-sexy rubber boots; my whimsical blue floral sundress that brushed against my knees; my white lacy bra and underwear, which he couldn’t see but I was sure he was imagining on me. That, or he was imagining me in a thong.

  Once his gaze was on my face, his mouth slid up to one side. “The boots are definitely a nice touch. But I must admit I’m more a fan of stilettos.” He leaned in closer, his breath brushing against my ear…and my body decided to go rogue and ignore my brain telling it to take a step back.

  “Especially when the legs they’re attached to are wrapped around my waist,” he added. No—the girlie part between my legs did not release a longing sigh. Not. At. All.

  Note to self: add dirty talk to list of requirements for next boyfriend.

  I stepped away from him, the back of my calves hitting the low fountain wall. “What are you doing here? I thought we weren’t checking out any more retail spaces until next weekend.”

  “I came to talk to you.”

  “I figured that, but now’s not a good time.”

  “Why’s that?”

  I indicated the fountain. “I have to clean it and remove the money. So unless whatever you need to tell me can be done while I’m working, you’ll have to come back later.” Or preferably never.

  “I can wait.”

  Of course he could.

  “Don’t you have to be at work or something?” I had no idea what he did for a living, but it probably didn’t involve hanging around my store.

  He opened his mouth to answer but didn’t get that far.

  “Ohmigod, aren’t you, like, Travis Hamilton?” A tall teenage girl asked him. She was pretty, with an athletic body and long dark hair spilling down her back.

  She didn’t wait for him to reply. “I also play defense. You’re like my idol.”

  I felt my eyebrows climb north. Idol? Why would she idolize him?

 
And how did she even know him?

  Maybe I should have Googled him…like I had with some of my past dates.

  Not that I was going out with him.

  He offered her a friendly smile—not like the smiles that threw me off kilter. “Nice to meet you.”

  Her friend was looking at Travis as though she also had no idea why the girl was excited seeing him here.

  “This is Travis Hamilton,” the dark-haired girl explained. “He plays defense for the San Francisco Rock. The NHL team.”

  He does?

  She kept chatting to him, mostly about hockey. Since I still had work to do, I grabbed the cloth on the ledge and climbed in. I’d already turned the water off before putting my boots on.

  Have you ever tried walking through a fountain while wearing rubber boots? It’s not easy. And I don’t care how graceful you normally are, this sucks all the gracefulness from you in one easy swoop.

  But I figured the sacrifice was worth it. For Aphrodite’s sake…which could only help benefit the store.

  Now if only Aphrodite could help me with my lease problem.

  Splosh. Splosh. Splosh.

  “Ready for a little spa treatment?” I asked the statue in almost a whisper. No need for the customers to believe I was crazy.

  I dipped the cloth in the water and began cleaning her.

  “What are you doing?” Travis asked.

  “What does it look like?” I spared him a glance over my shoulder. The girls he had been talking to were no longer with him.

  “It looks like you’re giving her a sponge bath. Very kinky, by the way.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m cleaning her and then I have to remove the money.”

  “What do you do with the money?”

  “It goes to charity,” I said, my attention on my task.

  “What charity?”

  “A youth center for underprivileged kids where I volunteer.”

  “Why a local youth center for underprivileged kids?”

  I shifted around and glanced at him from over Aphrodite’s shoulder. “Why not there?”

  The corner of his mouth twitched up to one side. “I asked you first.” At my silence, he continued, “The Rock encourages its players to be active in the community. Some players donate large amounts of money to a charity of their choice. Some participate in various events at the children’s hospital, which are always popular with the kids. For some players, they do it simply because publicity recommended they give back to those less fortunate—because it makes the player look good. Others do it because their charity has special meaning to them. So which is it for you?”