Betrayal of the Dove (Men of Action)

by Montgomery, Capri

  “Yes, I have a minute.” She directed her attention back to Shane and tried to keep her mind off his possible reasons for interrupting them. Maybe she was a little grateful because she really did want Craig to move on already—not just move on out of her store, but move on as in find another woman to like. There were plenty of beautiful women walking up and down the Row nearly every day. Why couldn’t he pick one of them to fawn over? “Just let me lock up. I need to take lunch anyway.” She walked Craig to the door before locking up and flipping her window sign to closed.

  “That man likes you,” Shane said in a tone that was laced with something she couldn’t quite place.

  “Yeah, he just asked me out,” she mumbled as she picked up the coffee. “He brought me this too. Do you want it?”

  “Giving away a gift?”

  “I hate coffee,” she said. “He would have come out better bringing me a banana nut muffin. Do you want it?” She held it out toward him.

  “I’ll pass,” he mumbled.

  “Guess I’ll dump it upstairs,” she sighed. “It really stinks,” she wrinkled her nose.

  “Yeah, I can smell it over here and it smells like there’s something more than coffee in there.”

  She shrugged. “Maybe it’s one of those exotic flavor things. He did get this from Heaven in a Cup down the street. That coffee shop has the weirdest combinations of drinks, but they do have really good muffins.” She smiled coyly. “I love my sweet treats in case you haven’t noticed.”

  He laughed. “Nothing wrong with that.”

  “So what did you want to show me?”

  “Your new lock.”

  “Already?”

  “It’s just the back door, and it doesn’t take that long to fix it up. I’ll work on the upstairs while you eat lunch and then I’ll go to work with fixing up the security room. If you don’t mind, I can work after hours on the camera system.”

  “Wow,” she shook her head. “You’re quick, and dedicated. I’m glad I hired you,” she smiled at him. “You can stay as late as you need tonight, just be careful when you’re leaving.” She saw the look on his face, the one that told her he couldn’t believe she was trying to protect him, but she was. All of the robberies had happened at night, after the shops had closed and if he stayed late then there was a possibility that he could be putting himself in danger out there. “Let’s go look at that lock so I can dump this out.”

  Shane hadn’t exactly gone for style with the lock, but functionality was a ten plus, not that the look was unstylish it just wasn’t exactly a soft and subtle addition to her space. She had a salad and a turkey sandwich for lunch and fixed him the same meal. He hadn’t eaten, and she was sure he hadn’t grabbed a bite to eat while he was at home because he arrived back at the store too quickly for that—unless he had practically inhaled his food, which she had doubted.

  His first order of business was changing her upstairs front door lock before eating. She watched him work. He was so focused on his task that she wondered if he even noticed he had an audience. She was impressed at his skill, although with him being a security expert maybe she really shouldn’t have been so in awe of the work he was doing. What also impressed her was the nice set of muscles that were hidden underneath his shirt. From the tight biceps that she could see she imagined the rest of him was just as tight and even with the white cotton t-shirt covering his chest and back she could still make out a silhouette of the muscles beneath. He was solid, and if there was any un-solidified fat on the man’s body, it couldn’t have been too much.

  She could tell he liked to take care of his body. She liked that because she liked to take care of hers too. She loved going for her nature hikes up Camel Back Mountain. She liked getting into Tempe to the rock gym and climbing—it was the beginner wall, but she could still climb. She had a slight fear of heights…maybe slight was an understatement because she was extremely afraid of them. She was also extremely stubborn and she refused to let fear stop her, so she bought a few day passes at first and rented the shoes and equipment in order to face her fears. Her first few times she hadn’t gotten very far off the ground. Mitchell O’Grady had covertly helped talk her down when she froze mid-wall. She just couldn’t move and that pissed her off because it was such a silly fear to let control her. She could hike up to the top of a mountain, but she couldn’t climb up the beginner wall at a rock gym. Of course when she managed to reach the top of the mountain she never went close enough to the edge to get scared. She made sure she stayed far back, where it was safe. She could have quit going to the gym and been satisfied with just the hiking, but she wanted to get over her fear, to conquer it instead of letting it conquer her, so she bought her own shoes, her own harness, chalk and ropes and she went back. She bought a year long pass so she wouldn’t have any excuse not to go. She was still on the beginner wall, but at least she was closer to the top before panic set in so she felt as if she was making progress there.

  In addition to hiking and climbing she did Pilates every morning and Yoga every night. Maybe everything on her body wasn’t perfectly solid like she wanted it to be, there was still a little flab around her abs—at least she considered it flab, but even without the rock solid swimsuit model abs, she would still say her body looked pretty darn good. She was in shape, and she liked her men that way too. She didn’t like them too tall, mostly because she was so short and having her brothers tower over her all her life made her go for guys who were a little shorter than a lot of women typically went for—not that Shane was short in her book. He was five-nine and fine…very fine.

  She tried to force her eyes to look elsewhere after he finished the lock and joined her. If he did notice her watching him then she at least had an excuse because while he was working with the lock she could just say she was focused on what he was doing, which wouldn’t be a lie really because for about thirty seconds she really was focused on what he was doing. The rest of the time she was completely focused on the man. While he was eating lunch she didn’t have any excuse for watching him, but she had glanced at him once or twice—or more. The way he took a bite out of his sandwich, possessing it completely as his, made her think about what else the man could do with a mouth like that. Those lips looked soft and inviting, and expertly skilled. She would bet he was a good kisser. She was getting turned on just from watching the man eat. And when a slither of sandwich spread attached itself to his lips, and he stuck his tongue out and licked it off, she thought she might melt right there on the spot. Oh, what she wouldn’t give to be that sandwich right now. He could hold her in those strong, masculine hands and eat her all night long if he wanted to.

  Whoa! She shook the thoughts from her head—or at least she tried to. Thank God he was going to be in that little ten by ten room all day and not out in her store because she wasn’t sure she could survive having to see him all day without pouncing on him. The man wasn’t even interested in her on that level. She was sure he wasn’t. She probably wasn’t his type either. He probably went for blonds, or bigger breasts, or taller, definitely taller. She wasn’t his type and she was sure of that, but that didn’t stop her from fantasizing about the man.

  “You know, I’m going to head back down to the store and reopen. Just stick the dishes in the sink when you’re finished and I’ll wash them when I come up tonight.” She had already washed hers, but she couldn’t stick around up there and watch him eat just so she could wash his dishes when he finished. If she stayed she was likely to find herself inviting him over to her bed—and she just met the man!

  “Are you in the habit of leaving strangers in your place alone?”

  “No,” she said. “You would be the first,” she didn’t leave people upstairs alone at all. In fact, she really didn’t invite anybody up there either. Her ex, he had been the only one and at the time he wasn’t her ex, he was her current and they were having far too much fun in the bed for her to even think about leaving him alone. Her ex was pure stupidity on her part. Or at least she blamed hersel
f. She should have known he was too perfect to be perfect. But she had never suspected that he was married. They were talking marriage themselves. She hadn’t told Eve that part of it when she ended up crying to her baby sister over the heartbreak. She had told her she was in love, but she hadn’t talked about the fact that she and the jerk-ex had been seriously talking marriage. He would hold her at night, telling her how he would find the perfect store in Salt Lake, buy it and set it up so she could run the store there. He would tell her that he knew it would be hard to leave, but once they got married he didn’t want her to be in Arizona while he was in Utah, and he couldn’t leave Salt Lake because his business wasn’t something he could permanently relocate away from. And the most pathetic part of it all, he had even set a date. “December of next year,” he had said. “We should be married by then, have a Salt Lake winter wedding with your family and my family, maybe on the side of a mountain…” He had planned it in his head, but he hadn’t exactly asked her in the exact words most people usually did, to marry him. But there she was, happy and excited and wanting this marriage. She was waiting to spring the news on her family until it was official, the ring was on her finger, the hall was booked and he had actually come out and asked, not just told her they were getting married the following year. Then she found out he was already married. That had been the crushing blow to her desire to have romantic relationships.

  She had closed her shop for the Fourth of July weekend. That was a fool move because summers were busy and holidays were even busier, but she wanted to see him. She wanted to be with him for the fireworks. So she closed up shop, packed a bag, booked a room and figured she would surprise him in Salt Lake. Yeah, there was a surprise all right—only she was the one being surprised when she was two steps into his office while his wife was kissing him goodbye at the reception desk.

  At first, she thought Berry was just cheating on her with some tall, leggy, completely gorgeous raven haired goddess, but then she saw the ring on her finger, and the look in the receptionist’s eyes as if she knew exactly what was going on, and Alyssa knew he wasn’t cheating on her, he was cheating on his wife with her. The look on his face had been one of surprise as well, but also silent pleading that she would keep her mouth shut. She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe because not only were all of the plans and dreams they had made falling apart in front of her eyes, but she was that woman, the one she never wanted to be. She was the other woman, the one who slept with somebody else’s husband—and she didn’t even know it.

  “She’s a client,” he had told his wife. “I forgot I had an appointment. This shouldn’t take too long I’ll still be home on time for dinner,” he had smiled at his wife so innocently, and sweetly. And Alyssa, instead of just saying, “hey, that’s not what you said while you’ve been in and out of my bed for the past year,” she played along. Her heart was breaking; her world was falling apart and she didn’t feel the need to rip somebody else’s apart with hers. Or more like she still couldn’t speak.

  His wife left, the receptionist stayed where she was, as if getting ready for the show of a lifetime. Maybe he had done this before. Maybe he had done it with her. Or maybe, Alyssa had thought, maybe she was the only one in the dark—she and the wife that is.

  “You’re married?” She had finally found her voice.

  “Let’s do this in my office,” he had tried to take her arm in his hand and she had quickly stepped out of reach.

  “Don’t see how we can have a December wedding when you’re already married, Berry.”

  He didn’t even try to smooth things over. He didn’t tell her he was leaving his wife. He didn't tell her they were having problems, nothing; not one single excuse for his actions. They were happy, and he loved her, and he wanted them both. And now that she knew about his wife, maybe she would understand why he wouldn’t be able to marry her. Oh, but they could still have fun whenever he was in town. She loved him, and he, he had used her, betrayed her, hurt her. She was just some exotic quest for him. And for her he was quickly becoming a major part of her world. She was going to close up a shop she sunk her life savings in and move to Salt Lake and start over just for him, and their wedding that she now knew wasn’t ever going to happen. She had been so blind, and so stupid, and for a long time she had blamed herself for that. When in reality she hadn’t done anything wrong, except maybe trust. She had trusted him when he said she was the only one. She had trusted him when he said he loved her. She had trusted him; and that was her mistake and she would own it. She had owned it and that’s why she was still single. Men had asked her out, some of them were right up her alley when it came to type, but when she looked at them the only thing she could think is that maybe they were married. Or maybe they had a girlfriend somewhere in the country and she was just going to be their side conquest.

  Maybe what hurt her most wasn’t just that Berry had lied to her, but that he had been her first. He was the first man she had given herself to because she really did love him and she had always told herself that her first time was going to be with the man she loved. She had been stupid on all counts and she swore she would never let it happen again. She would never trust so completely that she allowed her heart to ever be crushed again.

  She realized she was still standing there in the kitchen when Shane’s voice interrupted the self loathing thoughts racing through her mind.

  “Yeah, I’m sorry. I did answer your question didn’t I?”

  “Yeah, but you’re still standing here,” he took the sponge and washed his own dishes off before setting them in the drying rack. She realized now just how long she had been standing there lost in thought.

  “Right,” she nodded. “I guess we can both go back down together.” He didn’t push her for details on what had her transfixed where she stood, and she was thankful for that because she didn’t want to talk about it.

  “Not yet,” he said. “Here are your keys. They work, but why don’t you go try it out on the door.”

  She did, and they did and now that she had stronger, more secure locks, they both needed to get back downstairs because she needed to open her store. She usually only took a thirty minute lunch break and today it had been over an hour.

  “Time to open shop,” she smiled as she walked over to the store front door, unlocked it and flipped the sign to open.

  “I should change that lock too,” he ran his finger over the locking component.

  “Some other time,” she smiled. “Right now you need to get your area setup to suit your needs. Please feel free to move things around however you want to in there, and if you need anything please let me know. I’ll run to the office store once I close today and I’ll get you a new chair.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “You saw the chair in there right?” It was an old wooden chair that looked like it should be at the edge of a country kitchen table. There was no way that would be comfortable all day. “You know, you should come with me so we can make sure the chair is comfortable for your body.”

  “Cool,” he said. “A chair shopping date.”

  “Date…oh, uh…” The door swung open.

  “Customer,” he tilted his head toward the door, took a long look at the young woman who had entered as if sizing up her threat level before dismissing himself and going into the security room. Why had the word “date” unnerved her? He was joking, just teasing with her and there was nothing romantically implied in his tone or his words yet the word had reminded her of what she actually did want with the man—a date. Oh yes, she was in trouble, because in just a few hours of knowing the man she had already wanted to toss her dating hiatus to the wayside and take the man out for dinner already. Thomas may not have picked this man himself, but why couldn’t he ask whoever he had asked to help out, to find somebody old with fifty grandkids; somebody less threatening to a woman’s single status?

  Yes, she was in trouble and she knew it. Because if she wanted that man, desired him, this much after just a few hou
rs she couldn’t imagine what a few days, weeks or even months might do to her desire levels. “Through the roof,” she mumbled before going to help her customer. Her desire levels were going to go through the roof for a man she couldn’t even have.

  Chapter Three

  Their chair shopping date, as Shane had called it, turned out to be very much like a real date. He insisted on driving the truck. It made sense because he had far more space than she had and it would be easier if they just took the chair back instead of having to pay for a single delivery. But she also thought he needed a new desk, so in her mind she was prepared to order both. When they arrived at the store she had walked in with him, and for some reason she felt herself resisting the urge to grab his hand. She really, really wanted to hold on to the man, and she couldn’t. She was his boss. He was her employee. There couldn’t be anything more no matter how attractive he was. She kept reminding herself of that fact as she refrained from reaching out and taking his hand in hers.