16 Marsden Place

by Rachel Brimble

  It was sexy, alluring, and totally inoffensive. Goddammit. He could hardly deny the woman knew what she was doing, whether or not the place was closing down.

  In case Sienna was inside, he quickly moved along the street and tried to figure out what to do next. Seeing the grocers next to him, Jack smiled. He was bound to find some disapproving busybodies in there. Some elderly lady who’d be more than happy to see Sienna’s shop close, even before he let slip she intended to reopen in a residential street. That little nugget of information he’d keep to himself until the perfect opportunity came to unleash it.

  Mentally high-fiving the devil sitting on his shoulder and urging him on, Jack strode forward. Picking up a basket from the stack outside, he walked under the blue-and-white-striped awning and into the grocers. He scowled when the various fruit and vegetables taunted him with their suddenly explicit sexual shapes and sizes. Narrowing his eyes, he studied the clientele.

  There was a pair of women who looked in their late fifties standing by the bananas. He approached them and stood staring at the produce.

  After a moment, he cleared his throat. “Excuse me.”

  They turned.

  Ignoring the particularly scary glint in the eyes of one, Jack turned to the other. “This is kind of an embarrassing question…”

  She smiled. “About fruit? How embarrassing can it be? Go ahead.”

  “Um, well, it’s not about fruit. It’s about the shop across the street.”

  “The shop…oh, you mean Sienna’s.” She winked. “You looking to buy something for your girlfriend, honey?”

  Jack laughed. “Yes, but she’s…um, how do I say this? Bigger. How I like my women to be.”

  Her gaze traveled up and down the length of him. “I like you more and more.”

  Jack grinned. “Well, the thing is, half those types of shops don’t cater for curves, do they, and—”

  “Hey, there’s no need to worry about that, honey. That’s why we love Sienna so much. She won’t have any of those stupid size twos and fours in there. She caters to us. To real women.”

  Another pang of failure shot him in the eye. Goddammit, couldn’t the woman make one mistake around here? “Great, then that’s all I need to know. Thanks.”

  He moved to walk away when the other woman grabbed his arm. “If your girlfriend doesn’t like what you fancy, you can always come back here and find me.”

  Both ladies erupted into giggles, and Jack moved away before the saucy one could pounce on him and tackle him to the floor. Who next? The young woman at the register caught his attention. Smiling and happy, probably only two or three years younger than Sienna, she would surely shop at Sienna’s place. In fact, Jack would bet fifty pounds she knew what else was behind that painted door, apart from the fairly safe underwear on display in the window.

  Tossing a couple of red peppers, some onions, tomatoes, and a bag of potatoes into his basket, Jack approached his target. He placed his basket by the cash register and smiled.

  “Hi.”

  She looked up from her notepad, a flush spreading across her cheeks. “Hi.”

  “Just these, please.”

  She smiled and started ringing up his purchases. He let a second or two pass in silence before he spoke again. “Must be kind of interesting working here with that place across the way.”

  “Pardon?” Her eyes met his. Suspicion appeared to replace the previously flattering admiration. Maybe she’d already heard him asking the other women about the place and now thought he was some sort of pervert.

  He grimaced. “That was awful. Can I start again?”

  After a long moment, she exhaled a breathy tinkle of laughter. “Sure.”

  “Not the best way to open a conversation with a pretty girl when you’re new in town, is it?”

  Her blush deepened. “No, but you’re forgiven.”

  “I moved to Potterford just over a week ago, so I’m still finding my bearings.”

  “I’m guessing you didn’t expect a shop like Sienna’s to be sitting dead-center of town.”

  If only you knew. “Exactly.”

  “It’s not some sort of illegal brothel, you know.” She laughed. “It’s absolutely lovely inside. As is everything Sienna sells.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “You’ve been in there? Wow.”

  She looked at him from beneath lowered lashes. “Yes. Lots of us have. It’s…a necessity sometimes, don’t you think?”

  Feeling like an absolute fraud, Jack quickly slipped this situation into the “Investigative Journalism” file of his conscience. “What is? Sexy lingerie?”

  “Maybe. Plus other stuff. That’s seven pounds, twenty-nine pence, please.”

  “Sure.” He pulled his wallet from his trouser pocket and passed her a ten-pound note. “Do you know the owner?”

  She typed the sale into the cash register, and the drawer sprang open with a ping. “Yep, and she’s amazing.”

  “Amazing?”

  She handed him in his change. “Yep, amazing. Trust me, if you meet her, you’ll fall in love. She’s gorgeous, funny, and has a figure I’d die for.”

  Jack might not have wanted Sienna’s business next door or needed a love life right then, but even he had to concede the girl’s summary of her was spot on.

  “I see.”

  The cashier sighed and looked toward the shop’s open front doors. “Yes, she’s fabulous, and I’m going to miss her so much when she closes up at the end of the month.”

  Here goes nothing. “She’s closing?”

  “Unfortunately.”

  “Why would she do that when the place is so popular?”

  She lifted her shoulders. “There’s rumors it’s something to do with the rent, but I don’t know. I can’t see that it can be anything else. She’s always busy, but who knows?”

  Jack swallowed. So Sienna really wasn’t closing by choice. Bloody hell. Now he couldn’t even pin a bullheaded, selfish determination on her to make her less attractive. “What will she do, do you know?”

  The cashier opened her mouth to answer, but then her focus diverted to something behind him. The blush that had revealed itself once or twice during their short conversation was nothing compared to the inferno coloring the girl’s face right now. He turned around. Oh, shit.

  “Sienna.”

  “Hi, Jack.” She smiled, her eyes flashing in the most ridiculously sexy, knowing way.

  His penis twitched. God, she was so beautiful even when just wearing jeans and a tank top; her hair was pulled back in a ponytail with little bits hanging down the side of her face.

  Swallowing the ball in his throat, he at last replied, “Hi.”

  Sienna lifted her basket onto a space beside his and turned to the cashier. “Hi, Emma. How you doing?”

  “I’m fine…thanks.” Emma quickly snatched a bunch of bananas from Sienna’s basket and rang up the sale.

  Jack waited for the other foot to fall. Sienna wouldn’t let this go easily.

  After what felt like an eternity, she lifted her head and met his eyes. “You asking people about my business?” The tip of her tongue poked out to wet her bottom lip.

  He followed the movement with his eyes. “Something like that.”

  She grinned, revealing her beautiful white teeth. “Well, I tell you what. Why don’t you talk to the organ grinder and come join me for dinner tonight?”

  He stiffened. “What?”

  She leaned closer. “Dinner, Jack. Six thirty, my place. Bring the girls if you like. It’ll probably be safer.”

  Jack silently cursed. He hated the sudden need to breathe in the scent of flowers and fresh air emanating from her. He willed his brain to function as a journalist rather than a seventeen-year-old boy being asked out on a date by a centerfold model. “What do you mean ‘safer’?”

  “I’ve got a TV and a sofa. We can eat, they can play, watch TV, and crash out when they’ve had enough. I’m not asking you, by the way. I’m telling you.” She passed Emma som
e money and winked. “Thanks, sweetheart. See you later, Jack.”

  He watched the sway of her ass as she walked from the shop.

  And he couldn’t help wondering if she intended to cook his gonads and feed them to him for dessert…

  Chapter Six

  SIENNA GRABBED THE STEAMING PAN of cheese sauce from her kitchen stove and shook her head. “What the hell was I thinking, acting like some sort of femme fatale at the bloody grocers?” She poured the sauce over the pasta. “God, I wish you’d been there to kick me in the shins. Hard.”

  Kelsey laughed. “Tell me again what you said.”

  Turning to her, Sienna reenacted her line: “‘I’m not asking you, by the way. I’m telling you.’ I mean, where the bloody hell did that come from? I sounded like some big-busted chick spinning a line from a seventies porn movie.”

  “What did Emma say?”

  “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Jack would’ve been perfectly in his rights to laugh in my face and walk out of there, leaving me looking like an idiot in front of her.” Sienna winced and returned the pan to the stove. “She’s no doubt sitting in the pub right now, regaling her friends with a rerun of Sienna Lloyd’s attempt at being a woman in control.”

  With shaking hands, she grated cheese over the top of the lasagna with gusto, heaping more and more on until confident it was as sinful as possible.

  Kelsey laughed again. “What’s the plan now? Death by lasagna?”

  “If I can’t get him eating out of my hand with this, I’m done for.” Sienna bent down to slide the earthenware dish into the oven and slammed the door. “Can you believe he was in town asking questions about my shop? Of all the sneaky, rude, snide things—”

  “You really like this guy, don’t you?”

  Sienna met her friend’s eyes, her heart picking up speed. “What?”

  Kelsey grinned. “I said, you really like him.”

  Cursing the psychic connection she usually cherished sharing with her friend, Sienna glared. “I don’t like him. How can I like someone who’s determined to ruin my life?”

  Kelsey drained her wineglass and placed it on the drainer by the sink. “He’s not out to ruin your life. He’s doing what he thinks is right for his kids. The problem here is you…and that stubborn head of yours. You like this guy.”

  Goddammit. Do I have an “I want Jack Beaton in My Bed” sticker stuck to my left boob?

  “I do not like this guy. He doesn’t care what’s happened to make me move the shop here. Why would anyone move their business to their home address unless they had to, huh?”

  Kelsey shrugged.

  “Exactly.” Sienna waved her hand. “He doesn’t care. That’s the bottom line. This is about what he wants and flicking the bird to everyone else. Well, sorry, but he’s the new one in town, not me. He needs to fit into my life, not the other way round.” She snatched up her glass of wine from the counter and took a hefty mouthful.

  “He needs to fit into your life?” Kelsey grinned. “Geez, this is bad.”

  Sienna narrowed her eyes above the rim of her glass. “Haven’t you got somewhere you need to be?”

  “Look…” Kelsey leaned back against the counter, clearly not finished. “So he was asking questions. It doesn’t change what’s going to happen. The shop can move here whenever you’re ready. Everything is sorted, and the ball is rolling. It doesn’t matter what this Jack whatever-his-name says about it. You’re doing nothing illegal, but—”

  “Ah, how did I know there would be a ‘but’?”

  “I kind of like the guy for protecting his kids. It’s like something your dad would’ve done.”

  The point hit Sienna’s face like a slap. She’d said the exact same thing to herself over and over again since arriving home that night. Her father would’ve had a fit if he’d known a shop selling women’s toys was moving next door to his precious four-year-old daughter.

  She shoved her guilt into submission. “Well, what the hell am I supposed to do? I have merchandise. I have customers. I have a business I built from scratch. It’s not my fault the landlord stuck such an astronomical rent increase on me. I’ll talk to Jack, make him see sense.”

  “Or strike him down via his taste buds.”

  Sienna lifted her shoulders. “Whatever it takes. He started this dirty game, not me. I’m not moving the business anywhere else, so he needs to deal with it.”

  “Why not? You should be able to find somewhere cheaper. Away from Potterford.”

  “Don’t start. This is just another blip. I’ll sort it out. Plus, there’s nothing cheaper. We both know that.”

  “Is he good-looking?”

  Heat immediately warmed Sienna’s face, and her body tingled. “He’s all right.”

  Silence. She struggled not to squirm under Kelsey’s careful study. Comprehension lit her friend’s eyes like they were damn aqua-colored stadium lamps.

  “He’s the guy.” Clapping her hands, Kelsey leapt away from the counter. “He’s the guy you’ve met.”

  “No, he’s not. I haven’t met—”

  The chime of the doorbell halted Sienna’s words. She looked to the kitchen doorway. “Oh, my God. What time is it?”

  Kelsey looked at her watch, and her mouth stretched into a wide smile. “Six thirty. Right on time.”

  Panic clawed up from Sienna’s small intestine, threatening to strangle her. “Go out the back door.”

  “What?”

  “Go. You can climb the fence.”

  “Sienna, I am not climbing any fence.” She hitched her bag onto her shoulder and smoothed her manicured hands over her sleek black pencil skirt. “I’ll just say hi at the door and leave, okay?”

  “Really? Then why the hell are you laughing?”

  The doorbell rang again. Sienna groaned as she whipped her “Beats Burning Your Nipples” apron over her head.

  “Let’s just get this over with.” Leaving Kelsey to follow her, she hurried from the kitchen, pausing at the hallway mirror to fluff her hair and smack her lips together. “No chattering. Just say hello and go.”

  “We’ll see.” Kelsey wiggled her eyebrows in the mirror’s reflection.

  Cursing, Sienna strode forward and planted on a grin before yanking open the door.

  “Jack, you’re here.” Her voice sounded far too high to be natural. What was she? Twelve?

  “We certainly are.” His gorgeous blue eyes lingered bright and intense on hers for far too long before moving to Kelsey standing beside her. “Hi.”

  Silence.

  Sienna snapped her head around. Kelsey was staring at Jack, her eyes wide, her mouth open. Closing her hand around her friend’s elbow, Sienna steered her out the door. “This is Kelsey. My friend, a lawyer, believe it or not. She doesn’t say a lot.” She nudged her down the top step. “Bye, Kelse. I’ll ring you tomorrow.”

  Kelsey waved, her eyes not leaving Jack’s face. She slowly turned and walked down the path.

  Sienna clapped her hands. “Well, you’re right on time.”

  His eyes danced with amusement. What? Did she have tomato sauce on her face? She lifted her hand to her cheek. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. You look…nice.”

  Nice? She was wearing jeans with a white slash-neck top and had flip-flops on her feet. Okay, her underwear was top-notch, but he couldn’t see that. Could he? She quickly looked down at her breasts. No, it was fine. Everything was fine. He was just being nice. Jack was nice. Kind of.

  He was nice when he wanted to be. Other times, the man was unnerving—and, considering the incident in the grocers, sneaky.

  Holly and Katy stood on either side of him. Pressing her hand to her chest, Sienna smiled. “Wow, don’t you guys look cute in your pajamas with your stuffed toys tucked under your arms.”

  Her observation earned her a glare from Holly and a shy smile from Katy. When neither of them spoke, she stood back from the door and held out her arm, gesturing them inside. “Why don’t you go into the living room? I�
��ve rented all sorts of DVDs from the store. I wasn’t sure what you liked to watch.”

  They both looked at their dad, silently asking for permission and most likely a big dollop of reassurance judging by the way their wide-eyed gazes flitted over Jack’s face. He smiled and gave a wink that knotted Sienna’s stomach.

  “Go on. Go see if Sienna has any Dora.”

  The twins sprinted past her. “I forgot about this Dora person, whoever she is. They’re not going to find her in there.”

  He laughed and whipped a bottle of white wine and a bunch of daffodils from behind his back. “For you. I know how much you like them.”

  She feigned annoyance, even as traitorous warmth stole through her. “You’re a funny guy, Jack Beaton.”

  He stepped inside. But instead of continuing down the hall as she hoped he would, he stopped. Right in front of her. So close, she had to tip her head back to meet his eyes. Her heart picked up speed as his gaze wandered over her face, coming to a stop at her lips. His eyes darkened to a midnight blue that curled her toes.

  She cleared her throat. “Why don’t we go through to the kitchen?”

  “I’m sorry about what happened at the grocers. I shouldn’t have been snooping around asking questions like that.”

  She’d expected this conversation at some point in the evening. That was why she’d asked him to dinner in the first place; it was inevitable a battle of wills would ensue after the second glass of wine. But an apology before she’d served her tomato and basil bruschetta appetizer? Before she’d even shut the front door? Any response lodged in her throat.

  Say something.

  Why did he have to take the wind out of her sails by acting the damn gentleman? Worse, why did he have to wear that aftershave he seemed so bloody keen on? Or the white shirt, opened at the neck and showing a smattering of dark hair to torment her…

  She didn’t want a gentleman living next door. She wanted an asshole she could take pleasure in pissing off by moving her business into her front room. Jack being “nice” made things a whole lot harder to settle in her continually nagging conscience.