16 Marsden Place

by Rachel Brimble

  He straightened. “I don’t add up? What about you?”

  “Hey, I add up.” Color seeped into her cheeks.

  He shook his head. “Nope. Afraid not.”

  Still standing on the chair high above him, she lifted her hands from her hips and crossed her arms. Jack didn’t think she could look more domesticatedly gorgeous. But, God, he had a feeling she’d shoot him straight in the eye if he said that out loud.

  “Let me tell you something, mister,” Sienna asserted. “I am who I am. I don’t pretend to be something I’m not.”

  Suppressed laughter vibrated at his diaphragm. “I didn’t say you were. Do you think I’m pretending?”

  She studied him through narrowed eyes. “I think you have stuff going on and that’s why you’ve moved here.”

  Shit. Jack stuck out his bottom lip and nodded a few times. “You’re very intuitive.”

  “Ah-ha.” She jabbed her finger in the air, triumphant. “I knew it. So, what I have learned so far is that as long as I don’t mention your ex-wife or insinuate you need help in any way, you’re a pretty easygoing kind of guy. Am I right?”

  Jack’s smile wavered. “You’re not exactly subtle, are you?”

  Shrugging, she said, “I don’t see the point in wasting time, that’s all. I like you, but you’ve got a chip on your shoulder the size of Mount Vesuvius. You let it linger there much longer and the thing is gonna break your back.”

  He laughed dryly. “Is that so? I think you might have some issues yourself, you know. What’s your hang-up with kids? You say they don’t like you, but Katy already has you pegged as her new idol. You’ve knocked Dora the Explorer out of the park.”

  She frowned. “Who?”

  He grinned and shook his head. “Doesn’t matter.”

  “Well, whatever.” She looked to the kitchen door as if seeking escape. “The point is, Blue Eyes—”

  “Blue Eyes?” He raised his eyebrows.

  Her eyes never left his, but Jack didn’t miss the shift of her throat nor the two spots of color that darkened her cheeks. There it was again, that vulnerability he’d have to find a way to resist sooner rather than later.

  She waved her hand dismissively. “The point is, I may have kid issues, but I don’t have any children, do I? You do. That means you need to loosen up if you want those girls of yours to be happy.”

  Jack set the screwdriver down on the counter and crossed his arms. “How exactly would you know what I should or shouldn’t be doing with Holly and Katy if you don’t have kids?”

  Her eyes softening, Sienna glanced down at her feet. “Doesn’t mean I didn’t have a daddy, does it?”

  “Ah, a daddy’s girl, huh?” Jack pushed away from the counter and stepped toward her. “Well, in that case, you must be an expert.”

  She lifted her head, and her huge eyes widened as he approached. Scrambling off the chair, she reached for another box, opening a chasm of space between them.

  “I’m not an expert.” She held the box against her like a shield. “I just know they love you and want you to be happy.”

  “I am happy.”

  “If you’re happy, I’m Father Christmas.” Bending down, she put the box on the floor.

  “Fine, I’m not entirely happy.” He cleared his throat. “Yet. You’re right, though, that’s why we moved here. I’m planning on making myself and the girls ecstatic.”

  She straightened. “In Potterford? With little else going on but a stream of gossip and the best sugared donuts in the world at Misty’s?”

  He smiled. “Absolutely. A nice quiet town away from Sex and the City. I want my girls—”

  “Sex?” Her normally olive skin grew slightly paler.

  Damn it—this isn’t the time or place to start spewing out moral standards.

  Shaking off his bitter memories, Jack lifted his shoulders. “Yes, sex. I don’t want Holly and Katy around anything like that. This small town, as you call it, is perfection as far as I’m concerned.”

  “Because of the lack of sex?”

  “Well, I’m not naïve enough to think people aren’t having it. I just don’t want it shoved in my daughters’ faces every five minutes.” He stopped. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes, of course. I’m fine.” Sienna waved her hand in front of her face. “I feel a little sick, that’s all. Hungry. I’m hungry. Right, I’d better go. Are you okay with the rest of the stuff? Yes? Good.” She snatched her bag from the counter. “I’ll see you then.”

  Without thinking, Jack slid in front of her and gripped her forearm. “Pizza.”

  “What?”

  “You’re hungry. I want to pay you back for your help with pizza. What do you think?”

  She glanced toward the door. “I think I need to go. I said half an hour. You’ve had a lot longer than that already.”

  He slipped his hand from her arm. Unable to take his eyes from hers, Jack didn’t want her to go…despite the dangers of her staying.

  “Please stay. The girls would love it. We’ll have a picnic in my near-empty living room.” Had he lost his freaking mind?

  Sienna stared a moment longer before closing her eyes and blowing out a breath. “Look, thanks for the offer, but you’re not going to like—”

  “Come on, Sienna. We’re neighbors. Let’s start as we mean to go on. As friends.”

  “Friends?”

  Jack fought the urge to stare at her open mouth. “Friends.”

  Indecision appeared to be at war in the smoky brown depths of her eyes.

  Stay. Please. He bit back the words. It wasn’t loneliness making him do this. It was the need to get on with her for the girls…

  “Come on,” he said, “let’s just see what they’re up to.” He made for the door in the hope Sienna would follow. Hearing her footsteps on the parquet flooring behind him, Jack smiled, and together they peered into the living room. “Ah, maybe having a picnic in here wasn’t such a good idea after all.”

  Katy looked up at the sound of his voice. “Hi, Daddy. Hi, Sienna.”

  Jack’s heart twisted to see the twins looking so happy. While the adults had been busy in the kitchen, it seemed the girls had carried out a hair-band/fairy-outfit/soft-toy massacre. Pink paraphernalia was strewn everywhere, covering every inch of carpet not already taken up by a box, crate, or piece of furniture.

  “Just checking you’re okay. Pizza sound good for dinner?”

  “Yay!” They both clapped.

  Smiling, Jack pulled the door closed, and Sienna shook her head with eyes narrowed. “That was a low shot.”

  “What was?”

  “Letting me see them all cute and playing.”

  “So you’ll stay?”

  “I must be insane,” she said as she dropped her bag onto the floor, then raised her hands in surrender. “Fine. We have pizza, and then I go.”

  He exhaled. “Great. And wine.”

  She smiled back and relaxed her shoulders. “Sounds like a plan.”

  Tipping her a wink, Jack pulled his cell phone from his pocket before Sienna could change her mind.

  Chapter Four

  EARLY EVENING HAD TURNED INTO LATE, and Sienna sat comatose on a patio recliner on Jack’s decking. A pale moon appeared wispy and white far away in the twilit sky, and Sienna conveniently chose to ignore the relaxation settling over her shoulders like a much-loved, long-lost blanket. Rather than question her current state of untroubled repose, she surrendered to it. For now. It was interesting the effect Jack Beaton was having on her.

  She took a sip of wine. She’d yet to confess what she did for a living. The Sauvignon Blanc slipped down her throat, numbing a little more of her common sense. It would be a hundred times better if she told him her plans right then rather than later.

  Kelsey had set the wheels in motion for the shop’s move, and Sienna was perfectly in her rights to go ahead and convert the front room of her home. Pride bloomed inside her at the thought of it. A high-brow, classy establishment, Sienna’s
Sexy Solutions helped women achieve sexual unity with their partners…or alone. It wasn’t a backstreet porn shop, and Jack wouldn’t make her feel any differently about a business that had made a cool forty-thousand pound profit last year. More than that, the shop was the only thing she had left to hang her damn hat on.

  The smells of lavender and a neighbor’s newly mowed lawn wafted over Sienna on an idyllic, barely-there breeze. She inhaled and looked at Katy asleep beside her.

  Thump-thump. There it was again. That lurch in her chest. She darted her gaze back to the horizon, though she had to admit it: as kids went, Jack’s seemed better than most. Yet she wouldn’t fall for their identical faces and opposite personalities. It was nothing more than a scam. Kids played games…they learned from adults.

  Beside her, Katy looked gorgeous in her peaceful slumber, and Holly, despite her evident dislike of Sienna, had somehow managed to fall asleep curled up at Sienna’s feet. It felt weird but kind of nice.

  “Hey, you’re not smiling at them, are you?”

  Snapping her head up, Sienna saw a soft smile playing at Jack’s lips. She’d been so absorbed in her thoughts, she hadn’t heard him rise from the recliner on her other side.

  “So?” She shrugged. “They’re cute…when they’re asleep.”

  “Ha-ha. Right. It’s time I got them to bed. Want a refill?”

  She sat bolt upright. It was one thing flirting with him knowing there were two four-year-old bodyguards between them, but alone? Um…no. Time for a sharp exit. She placed her glass on the low table between them.

  “No, thanks. That’s my cue. But thanks for a great evening.”

  When she stood, his mouth hovered only inches from her forehead.

  Kiss me.

  The thought had catapulted into her head from nowhere, and she stumbled backward. His hand thrust out quicker than she could catch her breath, and he gripped her wrist.

  “Got you.” He grinned, his eyes shining. Happy. He looked happy.

  “I like seeing you smile, Jack Beaton.” The tremor Sienna felt in her stomach as she said it was surely due to eating cold pizza washed down with half a bottle of wine. “It suits you.”

  “Thanks.”

  The soft, masculine timbre of his voice skittered over her skin, making the hairs on her arms stand to attention. With his fingers still grasping her wrist, surely he felt her pulse rapidly beating against them. He continued to stare, his smile slipping, his eyes darkening and dropping to her lips. Oh, God. No. He couldn’t. They couldn’t. They’d barely met…

  He then stepped back so quickly the back of his legs hit the recliner, and he wobbled precariously. After a comedy-sketch struggle, arms flailing, Jack managed to regain his balance, and Sienna giggled, trying to think of something witty to say. Something, anything to fill the God-awful silence rising between them like an invisible boulder and making her want to lunge forward and mash her mouth to his.

  Thankfully, he got there first. With words. “Um…maybe you should go, after all. It’s getting late.”

  “Absolutely. That half-an-hour sure stretched on.” Sienna brushed past him, away from his dark, gorgeous eyes saying one thing and his lips another. But when she heard one of the girls stir behind her, she turned. It was Holly, who then sighed and folded herself tighter into the fetal position. Sienna released her held breath. “I’ll leave you to it, then.”

  “Okay, once I wake this one up.” He nodded toward Holly and winked. Sienna’s stomach wound in a soft knot as he leaned down to lift Katy from the recliner and into his arms. He looked at Holly’s curled body again. “Holly? Come on, stand up. I know you’re listening to everything we’re saying.”

  Silence.

  His laugh was a low, love-filled rumble from deep within his chest.

  Sienna looked on, intrigued and impressed. This girl had some nerve.

  Jack coughed. “Holly, I’m warning you…”

  After another couple of seconds, Holly sat up, and her inherent scowl slipped into place like a favorite mask at Halloween. “No, I wasn’t.”

  “Yes, young lady, you were. Come on, up you get. Say good night to Sienna.”

  Sienna struggled to keep her smile under wraps when Holly faced her. After a long and ruthless appraisal of Sienna’s entire face and upper body, Holly thrust out her hand.

  “Good night.”

  Somehow, Sienna managed to keep a straight face and solemnly took Holly’s offered hand. “Good night, Holly.”

  Holly honored her with a curt nod before stomping past Jack and toward the back door.

  “Good job,” Jack said, and followed his feisty daughter inside.

  Sienna stared after them. Now what was she supposed to do? Creep through the house and make her escape through the front door? She considered the fence separating their yards; the hole still wasn’t patched. No. That would be insane.

  She needed to leave, wanted to leave. For all her bravado, all her knowledge of what worked and didn’t work as far as foreplay, sex, and general hanky-panky were concerned, Sienna had never felt more like an inexperienced seller of all things sexual in her life as when Jack had stood just inches away from her. She was overwhelmed with the horrible feeling of being the awkward, shy, bespectacled virgin she’d been at eighteen.

  No, she’d wait for him to come back and then say her goodbyes.

  But not before telling him the nature of the business that would soon be setting up shop next door. That would cool the sexual tension between them like a vibrator dropped in water. He was a great guy. A great, good-looking guy, and as much as it pained her to admit it, his daughters were cute too. And they clearly meant the world to him, so there was no way he’d approve of what she did.

  Walking to the balustrade surrounding the decking, Sienna curled her fingers around the smooth wooden railing and sucked in a sharp breath as pressure bore down and hot tears sprang into her eyes. She knew the man had come to Potterford looking for something lacking in the city, but she had no other income—and women needed the shop open. She had to tell him.

  Although, sex shop wouldn’t be the best phrase to use under the circumstances. Sienna tilted her head in thought. Maybe female temptation palace? Sensual delight store? She shook her head. He’d see through either of those like he would a pair of lace panties.

  “When I look at that sunset, I know I made the right decision to move here.”

  At the sound of his voice, Sienna turned and saw Jack staring at the horizon.

  “Will you just look at that?” he continued. “It’s amazing.”

  She followed the direction of his outstretched hand. “It is beautiful.”

  “It’s more than that. It’s a new start for me and the twins.”

  It’s now or never. “Jack, there’s something I need to tell you.”

  “Sounds serious.”

  “It is.”

  He swiveled around and leaned his backside against the balustrade. “Okay. Tell me.”

  How was she supposed to handle this? They’d flirted pretty much the entire time they’d known each other. It was fun watching him leap from Dad to Hunk and back again—but nothing about her business moving home was amusing.

  “Okay, here goes. You need to know what I do for a living—”

  “You run a store in town.”

  She flinched. “You know?”

  He took a drink. “Sure. So what sort of place is it? A floral shop? Shoe shop?”

  Oh, crap. “Not exactly.”

  “What, then?”

  “It’s…” She moved back by the recliners, her heart thumping in her ears. Closing her eyes, she counted to three, opened them, then picked up Jack’s half-full glass of wine. “Here. Drink this.”

  He chuckled. “I need to drink before I can hear this?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Shaking his head, he accepted the glass and sipped from it, his eyes meeting hers over the rim.

  In one seamless rush, the words flew from her mouth: “It’s a sex shop, and
I’m moving it next door.”

  The wine that burst from his mouth projected directly into her eye, warm and entirely unwelcome.

  “What?” His eyes grew to the size of a bush-baby’s.

  Sienna swiped her hand over her face. “My God, just how big is your mouth to hold that much wine?” She laughed in a futile attempt to lessen the tension shooting through her body at a hundred miles an hour.

  “You run a sex shop.” He’d said it as a statement rather than a question.

  She tugged her wet T-shirt away from her breasts, thinking that now might not be the best time to enhance her assets. “Yes. Well, it’s more sensuous than sexual.”

  “And you’re moving it next door.” He stared at her for a long moment before blinking and putting his glass on the table. Sienna didn’t miss how his hand trembled. “This is insane.” He scored his fingers into his hair and held his head. “I can’t believe…how can I…” He squeezed his eyes shut. “Just…stay there. I’ll get you a towel. You need a towel.”

  He wandered back inside enveloped in a stunned stupor. Walking on rubber legs herself, Sienna sank back onto a recliner. She’d done the right thing by telling him. Honesty was the key to success. Honesty meant the two of them could live side by side just fine from here on. Therefore if they could maintain honest communication and equal compromise, there was no reason why she and Jack couldn’t still get along.

  Picking up his glass, she drained the rest of it and glanced toward the door. She’d given some sharp, honest communication all right, and now all Jack had to do was surrender to a teeny bit of compromise—and agree to the shop opening next door to where his four-year-old twins played. Yep, they were good to go.

  She sighed. “God, that doesn’t even sound moral to me, let alone him.”

  “Does talking to yourself help?”

  His voice made her jump, and she grimaced. “Kind of.”

  His stubbled jaw was set in a hard line of granite. Sienna bit down on her bottom lip, thinking it best she said no more until he’d had his turn. Jack sat as he handed her a towel, and their knees hovered millimeters apart.