16 Marsden Place

by Rachel Brimble

  “Are you serious about the shop?” he asked.

  Oh, God. He’s hoping I’m kidding. She screwed the towel in a ball and forced herself to maintain eye contact. “Yes.”

  Jack tipped his head back. Sienna stared at the soft hump of his Adam’s apple as guilt pressed down on her. She’d clearly taken a huge fat needle and plunged it into his happiness. His girls’ happiness.

  “But why would you do that? Why would you run a sex shop from your home?” He exhaled and met her eyes.

  “It’s not by choice, believe me.” Mr. Thomas and his damn eviction notice burned like a ball of fire inside her. “The landlord has raised the rent sky-high, leaving no choice but for me to move the shop here. It won’t be all bells and whistles, Jack. It will be low key, running from the front of my house.”

  “And the landlord is raising the rent, why?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. His prerogative, I guess. The point is —”

  “You can’t.” His eyes had turned cold. “I won’t let you.”

  “Jack—”

  “It’s not fair. Not after everything I did to move us here.”

  She instinctively wanted to reach for his hand but clamped hers together instead. “This is not the end of the world.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “I do. You’re upset—”

  He huffed out a breath. “Upset? God, I’m way past upset.”

  “It’s not as bad as it sounds. Just hear me out.”

  “No.”

  Sienna recoiled. The way he looked at her then was a million miles away from the look that had made her feel like the prettiest woman in the world. Her hands grew clammy. What was happening to her? Usually she stood up to this type of confrontation like a tower of immovable strength. She was a strong, independent woman whom her father had raised with love and support, belief and guidance.

  Now she wanted to take that horrible desperation from Jack’s eyes and make it all better. But she only pursed her lips together, trapping her confused emotions inside.

  Seconds ticked by. This was insane.

  “Enough,” she finally said. “Quit staring at me as though I’ve grown a second head. I don’t deserve it. I know this is not the best situation with children living here, but I promise—”

  “What do you promise? That my kids are going to feel secure and comfortable around sex toys and perverts walking in and out of your house?”

  “Excuse me?”

  The tone of his voice had chilled her to the bone. He was livid, something Sienna didn’t have the best level of experience dealing with. Although used to sexual frustration from her clients and maternal frustration from her mother—and even friendly frustration from Kelsey—this was entirely new territory.

  Sienna pushed to her feet, the recliner scraping across the decking. Jack followed suit. They stood toe to toe.

  “Do you know what?” she said. “I’ll talk to you about this when you’ve calmed down.”

  “I am calm.”

  “The hell you are.” She took a few steps away then stopped. Whirling around, she fisted her shaking hands on her hips. “Tell me something, Jack. You have sex, right?”

  “What?”

  “Which is it? Yes or no?” She had to get the upper hand on the conversation before Ol’ Blue Eyes and his angry stare could weaken her resolve. He was six-foot-three and built like a male model. The guy had sex. He had to have sex. If he didn’t, it was a crime against the entire female population.

  He continued to stare, a nerve leaping in his jaw. He said nothing.

  Fine, she’d fill the silence. “My point is, I run a sex shop. Big deal. People have sex, and people love my shop. I provide a service that makes my clients happy and, in turn, makes me happy. I’m not hurting anyone. In fact, I like to think I bring people closer.”

  “You like to think you bring people closer,” he echoed and tilted his head to the side as though she’d spoken in a foreign language. “Are we talking black leather, whips, the whole nine yards?”

  “What?”

  He shrugged. “It’s a simple enough question.”

  “Give me strength.”

  “Pardon me?”

  “Why do men always think of sex in such a completely different way than women?”

  “You’re not answering the question.”

  “No, Jack. I don’t sell what’s needed for a full-on bondage session. That stuff is licensed, okay? For God’s sake, if that’s the first thing that went through your mind, I understand your reaction.” No wonder the guy had looked as though he might keel over. Whips?

  Sienna looked out across the yard. Night had fallen, and the heavy darkness surrounded them. As his smell drifted softly beneath her nostrils, she sensed him behind her. Close behind her.

  “Sienna?”

  She slowly exhaled. “Yes.”

  “Look, maybe I shouldn’t have overreacted…I’m sorry. Can we start again?”

  She turned, and he smiled in a soft, boyish kind of way. “You’re sorry?”

  “I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”

  “No, you shouldn’t have.” She looked to the floor before she could drown in his two blue pools of loveliness. “You can relax, honestly. I just sell good old-fashioned lingerie. You know, baby-dolls, suspenders, that sort of thing. Then there are the toys, of course.”

  “Toys?”

  She looked up and waved her hand dismissively. “Dildos, vibrators, handcuffs, butt plugs—”

  “Butt…” He didn’t finish. His throat gulped as though he’d swallowed the “plug.”

  Sienna pretended to duck a punch and raised her hands. “Whoa there, sport. I’m joking. There are no butt plugs, but everything else.”

  Jack coughed a few times, and Sienna laughed. She needed to leave and give the poor guy time to absorb what she’d told him. Maybe he’d be in a better frame of mind in the morning.

  “Right. Well, thanks for the wine and pizza,” she said. “I’m out of here.”

  “You’re going?”

  God, he looked so cute, all lost and…edible. She winked. “Don’t worry, Jack. No doubt you’ll see me again soon. Now go make yourself a cup of tea. Lots of sugar.”

  “Why?”

  “They say it’s good for shock.”

  Sienna patted him on the shoulder before turning and walking back through the house and out the front door.

  Chapter Five

  JACK STARED AT HIS COMPUTER SCREEN: Sienna’s Sexy Solutions.

  Thank God for the genius of the Internet. Jack leaned closer as he clicked on a page allowing him access to the inside of Sienna’s shop, thus saving him from the totally terrifying prospect of visiting it in person. That was the last thing he wanted to do. He’d spent a sleepless night wrestling with the dilemma of whether to march next door and tell Sienna in no uncertain terms there was hell’s chance of the shop moving there or satisfy his need to know the turnover such a shop made in a place masquerading as a “quaint market town,” as per the real estate brochure.

  It was an outrage. False bloody advertising.

  Jack frowned, conveniently slamming the door on the voice in his head reminding him of the other nocturnal dreams that had filled his mind the last night. Dreams that involved an awfully large amount of time with Sienna dressed in a basque, suspenders, and four-inch stilettos…

  He cleared his throat and shifted in his chair. Damn woman. It had been four days since he’d seen her. Their last encounter had been when they’d both left their houses at the same time and met halfway down the driveway. The fence had acted as a shield between them.

  She’d smiled. He’d smiled. Then they’d both ducked into their cars like a pair of fugitives facing an arresting cop. It was ridiculous, but necessary. They’d waged a silent war—he knew it and she knew it. And if she didn’t, she would tonight.

  Jack did realize, however, that he shouldn’t have lost his temper the way he had that night on his patio. He couldn’t igno
re the fact Sienna hadn’t lied to him. Despite her intention to bring his worst nightmare next door, she had been nothing but honest and upfront.

  That simple fact managed to tie a knot of guilt deep inside him. But as image after image flashed onto his laptop screen, anger simmered once more.

  He was afraid of what exposure to the shop—a blatant invitation for any sexual female predator in the land to come knocking—would do to the twins. Okay, so maybe he was being irrational, but he was the twins’ father. It was his job to protect them.

  They’d already watched their mother diminish in front of their eyes until she’d reeked of nothing more than cheap perfume and alcohol, wearing nothing more than short skirts, tight tops, and see-through underwear. Witnessing Martina walking around the house like that, half-dressed and drunk, talking to God knew who on the phone, or dumping them with yet another babysitter so she could go and sleep with someone other than their father could have scarred their daughters in ways Jack couldn’t see on the surface. He couldn’t have that stuff around them. Not again.

  He glared at the screen. Sienna had claimed the shop wasn’t sordid but something that did good in the town. Well, he wouldn’t be taken for a fool again. What was the word she’d used? Sensuous. That was it. Sensuous!

  From the things he saw on her website, the woman might be honest, but she was also deluded. As far as he was concerned, when a place sold products called Champagne Lick and a Rabbit vibrator that had four ears rather than the customary two, she sold sex. Period.

  Jack cursed, logged off, and snapped down the laptop lid, determined to sit there and fume a while.

  He looked around the open-plan office of his new workplace. The Potterford Post ran out of a converted barn on the outskirts of town. Just a small team of eight men and seven women produced this quality weekly read for the town’s residents. And it had been only a little over a month ago that, after an interview and perusal of Jack’s credentials, the editor had offered him the job without hesitation.

  It was nearing the end of his first week working there, and already Jack’s job as a local reporter suited his new life well. Gone were the risks and late-night stakeouts of life as an investigative reporter. Although proud of the international company frauds he’d uncovered, the drug and pedophile rings he’d obliterated, Jack now had a schedule Holly and Katy could rely on. How would he have known, then, that the first danger to threaten their new lifestyle wouldn’t be a grudge-carrying felon from his past but a five-foot-seven inch package of temptation who went by the name of Sienna Lloyd?

  Maybe his investigative days weren’t over after all. She’d said the move was the result of a sudden rent increase. Who did that to loyal tenants in a recession? It made bad business sense to force people out when there was little chance of someone else taking over. There had to be more to it—and if there was, Jack would find out.

  But how could he confront Sienna again if the woman already felt backed into a corner? He wasn’t a bully.

  Jack glanced at his watch. Three o’clock. That gave him an hour to go into town and ask a few questions, do a little more research on his new neighborhood and neighbor before it was time to collect the girls from daycare.

  He stood and locked his desk. Sliding his laptop into its carrier, his pulse beat at his temple.

  “You off somewhere, Jack?”

  Jack shot his attention across two meters of desk space to his newest friend at the paper. As a father and avid soccer fan, Jack had already found common ground in both respects with Steve and didn’t want to jeopardize their burgeoning friendship by hurrying through the door without talking to him.

  Forcing the scowl from his face, Jack smiled. “Yep, I’ve…um…got a lead on something. I need to pop into town and ask a few questions.”

  Steve tapped his pen on the desk. “Anything I can help with? Lived here close on twenty years. I feel like the Potterford oracle most the time.”

  Jack shrugged. “It’s something and nothing. I noticed there’s quite a turnover of businesses on Canterdown Road and Bourton Way. Something in my gut is telling me that’s due to more than just the recession.”

  Steve arched an eyebrow. “I know one or two closed down on Bourton Way last month, but apart from that, I don’t see how one more makes a newsworthy story. Come on, Jack, level with me. What’s this about? We know you were a hotshot reporter in the city before you came here. We want to learn from you.”

  Knowing full well the “one more” Steve had referred to was Sienna’s business, Jack relaxed his tense shoulders and smiled. “That’s all behind me now. I’m just interested in the local stuff. Anyway, you know more than me right now. Who owns the latest one to go under?”

  “Sienna Lloyd.” He shook his head. “To be honest, I find the rumors she’s shutting the place hard to believe.”

  “Oh?”

  Still young enough to consider himself the “boy around town,” Steve grinned and looked left and right over his shoulders before wriggling his eyebrows. “She owns the…what shall we say? The ‘palace of pleasure’ down on Canterdown.”

  Jack raised an eyebrow. “The what?”

  “It’s a woman’s place. You know, all sexy lingerie, lotions and potions…toys.”

  In the name of male camaraderie, Jack slowly smiled. “Toys? I’m liking the sound of the place more and more.”

  “I’m telling you, mate, if Sienna closed up shop, there would be a hell of a lot of disappointed husbands and boyfriends in Potterford.”

  “Don’t you mean disappointed women?”

  Steve chortled. “Nope. It’s the men who’d have hell to pay. She’s a phenomenal lady, Sienna. She makes our ladies feel like goddesses, and that, in turn, is good for us.” He winked. “If you know what I mean.”

  “I think anyone would know what you mean by the glint in your eye.” Jack laughed. “What about the lady herself? Is she…?”

  “She’s hot. Real hot.”

  A stab of something Jack didn’t want to contemplate assaulted his gut. It twisted and burned and felt strangely like jealousy to hear Steve talk about Sienna that way. He tapped the side of his nose. “Good to know, my friend. Good to know.”

  “So, I’m guessing you’re going to drive there even faster now, huh? Check it out for yourself.”

  Jack nodded. “Abso-bloody-lutely.”

  “Yep, she is one hell of a girl.” Steve faced his computer monitor. “One hell of a girl who hasn’t been seen out with the same bloke more than once since her dad passed away. None of them seem to be what she’s looking for. She’s one in a million. But, man, what a waste.”

  “What happened to her dad?”

  Steve met his eyes. “He was a cop. High up the ranks.”

  “He was killed on duty?”

  Steve sighed. “No. That would’ve been easier for Sienna and her mum to deal with. He was walking past a house on Steller Way and interrupted a group of kids breaking and entering. Four of them beat the poor bloke with bats. Left him for dead. He died at hospital.”

  Jack’s blood turned cold as Sienna’s beautiful cocoa eyes filled his vision. “Were they caught?”

  “Yep. None of them will see the light of day for a while, I can tell you that much.”

  “How long ago did this happen?”

  “Five years. The two of them were pretty inseparable. He thought Sienna was the most precious thing to ever grace the earth, and he was her shining light. It was a beautiful thing to see them together, but when he died…”

  Jack stared. “What?”

  “She changed, mate. Sienna went from a girl who everyone assumed would go to London and make a fortune selling whatever the hell she put her mind to, to settling in this tiny town in a tiny shop. Took the wind out of her completely.”

  “What do you mean, sell whatever she wanted to? She’s always been a salesperson of some sort?”

  “And then some. Started young and worked her way up the ranks to become the highest-selling lingerie consultant in t
he southwest by the time others her age first completed university. That girl could convince Jabba the Hutt he’d look good in a thong.”

  Jack didn’t laugh. What was he supposed to make of that? Wasn’t it just possible she put her sales skills to use manipulating people into believing they were something they weren’t?

  But this wasn’t about whether or not Sienna was a good person, whether her life had been as crappy as his. This was about his children, and Sienna’s place would only remind them of what Jack strived so hard for them to forget. She was the enemy—even if everyone else seemed to love her. He had no choice but to pursue this.

  “Jack?”

  He jumped. “What?”

  “What are you thinking, mate? You look like you could punch someone out.”

  “Nothing. Look, I’ve got to go. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Steve raised his hand in a wave, his attention already back on the computer.

  Leaving him to it, Jack walked to the door and outside, where gunmetal clouds covered the sun that had been shining an hour before. He slid into the front seat of his black Ford Focus, and turning the ignition, he pulled on his seatbelt and slammed the car into first.

  Twenty minutes later, he pulled into a parking lot situated just behind the rank of shops running along Canterdown Road. Sienna’s place was slap-bang in the middle. The gathering clouds had since burst wide open, sending shoppers scattering left and right for cover. Jack smiled. Perfect—the shops would be overrun with customers, thus providing him the opportunity to have a subtle word with some of them.

  Crossing the street, he studied the façade of Sienna’s Sexy Solutions. Though he hadn’t noted its name at the time, he did now recall passing by the shop before moving to Potterford. But not once had he thought a lingerie shop in town would affect him out among private residences. Come to think of it, Sienna hadn’t exactly looked thrilled with the prospect herself.

  Jack contemplated the property. Had to admit it looked classy. There was nothing cheap or degrading about the gossamer curtains draped on either side of the huge picture window or the way the lingerie was laid out across pink satin-wrapped gift boxes. The absence of cheap plastic mannequins and posters of the usual near-emaciated, half-naked models told the whole world what Sienna’s business was about: women. Not men.