Despite the tender way she’d touched him down by the river, the sympathy in her gaze, he knew she wasn’t a sentimental woman. She liked things up front, out in the open, and she never, ever, intended to fall in love.
Love makes people stupid.
That’s what she’d said time and time again, and she was right.
Brady had fancied himself in love with Sally and had nearly ruined his life as a result. He knew better than anyone else the amount of brain cells that could be destroyed by falling in love.
Eden would never return his feelings. Not that he wanted her to, mind you. He’d sworn off love himself. He’d just had a major breakthrough with his grandfather. The last thing he needed was to screw things up by walking down the same path as before, which left only one thing to do.
He was keeping his distance from Eden Hallsey.
EDEN’S VOW LASTED a full week, until she ran into Brady at the Piggly Wiggly again.
“How are you doing?” Brady asked as they came face-to-face in the chip aisle.
Run. That’s what Eden’s instincts screamed. What she’d resolved to do. But her feet wouldn’t budge. Besides, she couldn’t very well be rude. “Fine. And you?”
“Fine, just fine. Busy,” he blurted.
“Me, too.”
He held up a bag of gourmet roast coffee. “We were out of French Roast when Ellie came downstairs this morning—I drank the last cup yesterday—and so I figured I’d better hightail it over here before she does anything nasty.”
“I take it she’s not a morning person.”
“Not before about five cups. After that, she’s semi-decent. If you want to get her all the way to tolerable, she needs at least six.” They both laughed and then an awkward silence fell.
“I really have to get back,” he murmured, but he didn’t budge. And neither did she.
“I heard you were living back with your family,” she finally said, eager to kill the awkward silence. “Congratulations. Your granddad finally came around.”
“Finally. He’s still got a ways to go, but at least we’re talking.”
“I’m happy for you.”
“So what about you?” He eyed the contents of her basket. “What are you up to?”
“Breakfast. Pancakes and sausage.”
“Man, I haven’t had pigs-’n-a-blanket in a long, long time.”
Don’t ask. She wasn’t going to. The last thing she needed was to see Brady Weston sitting across the breakfast table from her.
Then again, it was just breakfast. It wasn’t as if she were going to invite him back to her place for some wild, hot sex.
That part of their relationship was over. Now they were nothing more than acquaintances. Buddies. Friends. And friends ate together all the time.
Besides, at the moment, the thought of sitting across from him, talking to him, laughing with him was even more appealing than being in his arms.
“Are you hungry?”
His gaze darkened. “More than you can imagine.”
“Just so long as we’re clear on what’s being offered here.”
“Pigs-’n-a-blanket?”
“And maybe a little conversation.”
“Sounds good to me.”
In fact, it sounded like heaven. Brady had missed her so much, and while he wasn’t about to try to pick up where they’d left off—loving her or any woman for that matter was not a part of his plan—he did want to see her again.
In a strictly platonic, nonromantic capacity.
Friends.
“FOR THE LAST TIME, we’re just friends.”
“That’s not what Darlene Vagabond said when she saw you two over at the Pantheon buying tickets to see that new movie with Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts. She said you only bought one bag of popcorn.”
“So?”
“So friends buy their own popcorn, which amounts to two. You only bought one, which means you’re going to share. And one box of chocolate-covered peanuts.”
“Those were hers.”
“And one box of gummi bears.”
“Those were hers, too.”
“So you’re saying you didn’t even have one tiny bite?”
“Maybe one. Hell, maybe a few. Just because we shared popcorn and some candy doesn’t mean we’re an item.”
“Sure, big brother.”
“And just because we went to the movie together doesn’t mean we’re an item.”
“Sure.”
“And just because Darlene said we looked mighty friendly doesn’t mean we were.”
“Sure.”
“Darlene needs to mind her own business.”
Ellie eyed him. “You like her.”
“I don’t like her.” He loved her. Big difference.
“You like who?” his grandfather asked as he walked into the dining room, a plate of apple pie à la mode in his hands.
“Nobody.”
“Eden Hallsey,” Ellie piped in. “They went to the movies together.”
Brady shot his younger sister a hard glare, before turning to his grandad. “We’re just friends.”
“Good friends,” Ellie added.
“Just friends.”
She wiggled her eyebrows. “Best friends.”
“It’s nothing,” Brady assured the old man. “Nothing at all.”
“SO THIS IS WHERE you work?” Eden stared at the dark paneled office where Brady had brought her once the sun set and the factory closed for the evening. “It’s nice.”
A large oak desk dominated the center of the room. Shelves lined one wall. A row of cowboy boots, starting with the first model ever made by the Weston Boots Company, lined the shelves. There were all colors of boots, all styles. Only the familiar Weston brand tied them all together.
It was the first boot, the oldest that drew her attention. It had the old-fashioned cowboy heel, the pointy toe. The leather was soft and supple and she rubbed the sides between her hands.
“I like this one the best.”
He studied her from his place behind the desk. “Why?”
“It’s got character.”
“That’s exactly it,” he said. “That’s what we’ve lost. What I’m going to get back for us. Our character. Nobody knows who Weston Boots really is right now. Are we one of the big boys? Or do we still have our heart right here in Cadillac? We can’t be both. That’s where we’ve been missing the boat. We’ve grown and expanded. We’re bigger, but we haven’t lost our heart. We’re not cold and callus. We’re not sitting out in California or up in New York churning out a product. We’re crafting boots by hand, the old-fashioned way. The cowboy way.” He grinned and indicated the glossy ad design spread across his desk. It depicted a rough looking cowboy. A real cowboy, from his worn Wrangler jeans to his work gloves, to the frayed cowboy hat sitting atop his head. The only thing new about the picture was the boots he wore. Weston Boots. “We’re going to play up the nostalgia of our company. Its history. Its heart.”
She studied the ad layout and a smile spread across her face. “This is wonderful. You’re really good at this.”
“I ought to be. I slaved from dusk ‘til dawn for the past ten years doing just this thing.” He grinned. “Look at this.” He pulled out a pair of shiny red cowboy boots. The familiar Weston brand gleamed from the side of the heel, but there was something different about it. “It’s a new concept we came up with for the women’s line. A triple WWW to represent the three Weston women responsible. My sisters. These are the first pair of Triple W’s to come off the line.”
Eden turned the boots over in her hand, trailed her fingertips over the soft leather. “They’re beautiful.”
“They’re yours.”
She shook her head. “I couldn’t accept anything like this. These are too expensive. They are, aren’t they?”
“They’re hand-tooled so we can charge a higher price, but don’t think about that. They’re yours. My way of saying thank you for that night down by the river. You said all the things I ne
eded to hear. Otherwise I might be back in Dallas right now.”
“That’s what friends are for.” She eyed the boots again and a smile spread across her face. “This is the best surprise I’ve ever had.”
“This isn’t the surprise.” Brady reached behind the desk and pulled out a box wrapped in shiny silver paper and a matching bow. “This is the surprise. Happy birthday.”
“My birthday’s not for another two months.”
“So I’m early.” He grinned. “Go on. Open it.”
Eden tore into the package with all of the excitement of a ten-year-old. She didn’t think about maintaining her control or appearing far-removed the way she did in the real world. When she was with Brady, she lost her inhibitions. He made her feel comfortable, relaxed, loved.
For the first time, she actually entertained the idea that he might be falling in love with her. They had so much fun when they were together. They talked and laughed and…maybe.
“I can’t believe you did this.” Eden stared at the present she’d just opened and a lump formed in her throat.
“Happy birthday.”
“It’s not my birthday.”
“Then happy anniversary. Four weeks ago today you picked me up on the side of the road and gave me a lift to Merle’s.”
She couldn’t help herself. A tear slid free as she pulled the T-ball shirt from the box, the meaning behind the gift as touching as the actual gift itself. “It’s got my team’s logo.” She lifted misty eyes toward him. “Why did you do this?”
“It’s our anniversary.”
“I know that. I mean, why did you do this? Why this shirt?”
“All the other sponsors have shirts. You should have one, too. It’s great what you do for the boys, Eden. You try to act like it’s no big deal to you, but I know it is. I see it in your eyes when you talk about them, about all the games you’ve missed and all the sponsor parties you’ve forfeited because you don’t think you’re good enough for the rest of the bunch.”
“That’s not—”
“You are good enough. You’re a productive member of this community. You belong here. And you deserve a shirt.”
“This is the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.” And before Eden could stop and think about what she was doing, she walked around the desk, leaned down and kissed him.
She’d intended to stop with a soft press to his lips, a show of gratitude. A simple thank-you.
But there was nothing simple about the fierce desire that grabbed hold of her and turned her inside out. Before she could draw her next breath, he pulled her across his lap and then they were kissing, mouths open, tongues dancing.
It was a hot, deep, ferocious kiss that left them both breathless and wanting more.
“We should stop,” she said, but she didn’t stop. She kissed him again, opening her mouth, and he returned her kiss.
“You’re right. We should.” He slid his tongue along her bottom lip before sucking it deep into his mouth and nibbling. “But I can’t. Hell, I don’t want to.”
“Brady, are you still here? I’m trying to get everything off my desk before I leave next week.” The words preceded the loud creak of a door.
Brady and Eden jumped apart and whirled, coming face-to-face with Brady’s grandfather.
The old man’s gaze darted between the two of them. “What’s going on in here?”
“We were just—” Eden started, her mind racing for a plausible excuse. But Brady killed the need with his next word.
“Nothing,” he cut in. “Nothing at all. Eden just stopped by to ask me to help coach the little league team that she sponsors.” He held up the shirt. “I told her I didn’t have the time, but the company would be glad to pay for a new banner for the team if that’s all right.”
“Fine, fine. Just talk to accounts payable.”
“First thing Monday morning.” He turned to Eden. “Say, why don’t I walk you down to your car?” Before Eden could reply, Brady grabbed her by the arm with one hand and snatched up the shirt and boots with the other.
“That was close,” he said once they were out in the hallway. “He almost saw us.”
“Would it have been so terrible if he had?”
He turned a puzzled gaze on her. “What do you mean? You wanted him to see us?”
She shook her head. She didn’t know what she wanted. She only knew that it wasn’t this. This…nothing.
“I need to get going.”
“But I thought we could go out to dinner.”
She shook her head. “I’ve got early inventory tomorrow. I need my sleep.”
“Are you okay?”
She nodded, but she was far from okay. Her stomach churned and her heart ached and she felt like a complete and utter fool.
Nothing.
That’s what she was to him, what they’d shared. She’d known there could never be more. She’d told herself as much, but over the last two weeks, she’d actually started to think that maybe, just maybe Brady was starting to have stronger feelings for her.
That maybe, just maybe he was falling in love with her. The way he looked at her, smiled at her, touched her, even though they’d shared nothing more than dinner and an occasional movie.
She’d been so certain…
And she’d been so wrong. The way she’d been wrong with Jake. Eden Hallsey had given up her own “lust only” rule and played the fool yet again.
The thing was, it hurt so much more than it had then because she didn’t just have a school girl’s crush on Brady.
She loved him.
But he didn’t love her.
“Goodnight,” he murmured as he touched a kiss to her cheek.
But Eden wasn’t just saying goodbye for tonight.
When she kissed him and murmured the one word, she meant it for good.
“PRETTY GIRL,” Zachariah Weston remarked when Brady walked back into his office to see his grandfather perched on the corner of the desk, cost spec sheets in hand.
“Really?” Brady rounded the desk and sank down into his chair. “I hadn’t noticed.”
Zachariah quirked an eyebrow at his only grandson. “You’d have to be dead not to notice, son.”
“Well maybe I noticed.” He shook his head. “I’m not interested.”
“That’s a shame. She seems nice, too. Sponsors little league and everything. Eden Hallsey, isn’t it? She comes from good stock. Her parents were both hard-working, down-to-earth people, from what I gathered. You could do a lot worse.”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were actually encouraging me.”
“Maybe I am.”
Brady forgot all about the cost sheets and eyed his grandfather who seemed absorbed in his own work. “What did you say?”
“A man should have a little fun in his life. Otherwise, he’s liable to end up old and dried up and alone.” His grandfather lifted his attention from the computer sheets in his hand and met his grandson’s gaze. “Like me.” A serious expression covered his face. “Work is important. This place is important, but it’s not everything.”
“Does this about-face have to do with this vacation you’re taking next week?”
“This about-face has to do with the fact that I’m tired of being alone and there’s a nice little woman out in California who’s expecting me. Me and her go way back.”
“You’ve got a girlfriend,” Brady stated.
“A lady friend. I’m all grown up now, boy. Old. I could have had a girlfriend a long time ago, but I kept thinking I had all the time in the world for a social life. Work was now. It was demanding. Then one day I woke up, and suddenly, I’m ordering off the seniors’ menu over at the Dairy Freeze. I just don’t want the same for you.”
“But I thought—”
“I know what you thought. It’s what I’ve always preached, but maybe I was wrong. Maybe there’s more.” A smile covered his face as he reached into his pocket for a folded Polaroid picture. “Merle’s latest grandbaby. Born just t
he day before yesterday at two in the afternoon.” He laughed. “A nice, healthy screaming baby boy. Why, you should have seen him in that nursery.”
“You were at the hospital? In the middle of a workday?”
He frowned. “I can’t work all the time. A man’s got to relax once in a while.” His gaze softened. “If you’ve ever remembered anything this old man has said, remember that, son. Remember and don’t hate me too much for pushing you the other way all those years ago. I didn’t know better. I didn’t know what it felt like to be old and all alone.”
Brady didn’t want to know what it felt like either. He wasn’t going to, not if he could help it. He was going to lay his feelings for Eden on the line.
She’ll laugh in your face.
Maybe, but he kept remembering the tenderness in her touch, the concern in her eyes, the smile she gave him whenever he glanced over the dinner table and saw her looking at him. None of that had anything to do with lust. That was something else. Something more.
Hopefully.
And there was only one way to find out.
“I LOVE YOU.”
The words echoed through Eden’s head as she stared at Brady who’d just walked into the bar with a dozen red roses and blurted out the phrase she’d been longing to hear.
The words she’d dreamed of night after night.
From the man she’d dreamed of night after night.
“I’m really busy.”
“Didn’t you hear what I said? I love you.”
“I heard you.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“And the general response when someone says that to you, is to reply in kind. If you feel the same. Do you feel the same?”
She nodded and blinked frantically at the tears stinging her eyes. “But it doesn’t matter because it’s not enough.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I don’t want to be a three-way split, Brady. I want a man who wants me and only me. I want to be the most important thing in his life. You have too many other things that mean more to you.” She nodded. “I’m not going to compete.” And then Eden walked away from the one man, the only man, she’d ever loved in her entire life.
The Pleasure Principle Page 15
