by Susan Meier
“You’re doing it again.”
He glanced up innocently. “What?”
“Looking at my legs.”
“It’s hard not to when they’re right in front of me.” Okay, that time he’d slipped up. If they didn’t do something about this attraction soon, he would make a fool of himself. Correction, bigger fool. He hated being this out of control. The discomfort of that forced him to focus.
“Have you had any response to the ad for help at Buds and Blossoms?”
“A few.”
He tapped his pencil on the desk. “Done any interviews?”
“I’ve been a little busy.”
She was driving him crazy with lust. He was overworking her. He tossed his pencil to his desk. “All right. Here’s the deal. Make some phone calls. Set up interviews. Put ads in the papers of nearby towns if you can’t get anybody from Harmony Hills. But get that florist shop staffed by the end of the week.”
“Okay.”
He felt marginally better. “Okay.”
Isabelle left Devon’s office blowing her breath out on a long sigh. She understood what was happening. Accustomed to being totally in control, Devon didn’t like it when things didn’t happen on his timing. She’d say, “Well, too bad, deal with it…” Except she understood.
She’d never felt so out of control either. Normally, when she faced a difficult decision, she made two lists. One pros. One cons. But she didn’t have one decision. She had two. Move to Myrtle Beach with her parents. Or stay in Harmony Hills with Devon. Except, the decision Devon had put before her the night before, become his lover or…well, nothing…wasn’t as simple as it should be. The “number” of things on the pros list for just having an affair with him might not be as long as the things on the cons list, but they were weightier.
How could one quantify that surreal feeling she got when he touched her as if she were precious? How did one weigh longing? And shouldn’t it count for something that she’d waited years for him to notice her?
She went to work the next day in slacks and a dressy tee, a sparkling necklace nestled on the shirt’s neckline, her shoulder-length hair swaying when she walked, and high-heeled sandals that made her feel like a professional. But she still didn’t have a decision on whether or not she should have sex with him.
And with every day that passed, she got more confused and he got more tense.
“Have you hired anyone for the flower shop yet?” had now become his morning greeting.
She turned from her desk and walked into his office. Today she finally had an answer for him. “One of the Brats wants to run the register this summer. She likes the money.”
He sat back on his chair. “Is that good?”
“She’s a decent employee. I’m beginning to think her brother might be the only real Brat of the family.”
He smiled, but it was nothing like the real smiles he had been giving her the week before. And she wanted those smiles back. She wanted to hear about his life, his troubles.
She walked a little farther into the office. “So how are things with your mom?”
“The same.”
She laughed. “That doesn’t really answer my question.”
“So I take it you haven’t found a manager for the shop yet?”
“No, but I did notice that you changed the subject.”
“Because we’re at work. We’re both falling behind. Staffing that flower shop has to be our focus.” He held her gaze. “Everything else is out of play in these rooms. Understood?”
Disappointment tightened her chest. “Yes.”
“What’s the problem with finding the manager?”
She nodded, glancing at the chair, wishing she could sit and really discuss this, but realizing that option wasn’t open to her. At work, he worked. If she wanted to talk to the other Devon, it would be outside of work.
“I think you were right. We might have to widen our search. Advertise in papers beyond the nearby towns.”
“Okay, get that done today.”
She nodded and walked out of the room, knowing this would be the mood of her job from here on out. Not because Devon would withhold his friendship if she didn’t sleep with him, but because he drew lines. She’d know only professional Devon here. If she wanted to talk to nice guy Devon, it wouldn’t be here. But she’d probably never see the two of them in the same room again.
The private investigator Devon hired on Saturday had a preliminary report for him late Friday afternoon. Bob’s life couldn’t be any cleaner if he shined it with Windex every morning.
Not pleased, Devon sat back in his chair and told the PI to keep digging. To dig in those places where nasty things can hide. Then he hung up the phone.
Just when he would have gone to Isabelle’s office to tell her about the call, his mother breezed in, holding two chunks of fabric.
“Ellie took me to a dress shop in Pittsburgh.” She waved a pale pink swath at Isabelle. “The dress made of this material is scrumptious.” She displayed the dove gray. “This one isn’t quite as pretty, but I think the color is more dignified.”
Isabelle glanced from the samples to his mom. “How can pink be undignified?”
“People might think it’s too young of a color.”
Isabelle laughed. “To heck with what people think. Besides, with your skin tones I’m guessing the pink is perfect.”
Ellie strolled in. “I told her that.”
Piper walked in behind her. “So did I.”
Devon fell to his desk chair. Maybe it was a good thing his mom had popped in again. He’d been close to breaking his new cardinal rule—no personal conversations at work. He’d made himself perfectly clear the day before and Isabelle had complied. He should be glad his mom had stopped him.
Piper said, “Get on the phone. Order the pink. Tell them we’ll be there tomorrow for fittings.”
Isabelle asked, “What are you guys wearing?”
“Well, that’s just it,” his mom said. “With me in pink, I thought it would be nice for the girls to be in ivory.”
“Ivory,” Isabelle said dreamily. “Oh, I can see it. You’ll be in pink. They’ll be in ivory. And we’ll have bouquets filled with color for the girls and white roses for you.”
Ellie sighed. Piper gasped. His mother said, “It’s perfect.”
Devon squirmed on his chair. Having his mother in the next room talking about her wedding just reminded him of how close it was. How close his mother was to marrying a man who might be all wrong for her. A man who might ruin their family.
The desire to talk to Isabelle rose in him again. Not to get help. Not because he thought she had answers. But just to have someone listen to him, talk things out with him, make him feel he wasn’t insane for worrying.
His mom pulled her phone from her pocket. “Okay, I’m calling about the dress now. Piper, you go into the kitchen and get that margarita mix from the fridge. There’s tequila in the bar in the family room.”
Ellie said, “Even though I can’t drink, I’ll get that. And I’ll be everybody’s designated driver.”
The trio trooped out, but his mom stopped suddenly.
“Come on, Isabelle. Your work day is done. Have a drink with us. We made some serious decisions today. We deserve a break.”
She rose and followed them. But at the door, she paused and turned. “G’night, Devon,” she said, politely, like a good employee.
“Good night.”
For about ten seconds he was proud of himself for resisting the urge to ask her to stay, not to go with his mom, but stay and talk to him. But in the eleventh second, he decided that sucked. He might be her boss, but they’d become fast friends and he needed somebody to talk to.
Worse, he was ruining his own plan. How the hell did he intend for Isabelle to change her mind about sleeping with him when they never talked because they never saw each other outside these office walls?
He needed a new plan. Actually, he needed to see her. Maybe he should start with th
at.
He waited more than an hour, until he heard Ellie herding Isabelle and Piper up the hall and out the front door, before he rose from his desk and headed for the patio where his mom sat on a chaise, margarita in hand, silly grin on her face. The sun had set. Crickets chirped. He loved that about living in the country.
He bent down and kissed her cheek. “I’m going out for a while.”
“Oh Devon, I’m sorry! I forgot all about dinner.”
“I’m a grown man, Mom. I can get dinner. Besides, it looked like you were having fun.”
She beamed. “We were.”
“And it’s nice to have the patio get some use.”
“I told you that two people would never use all the space in this big house.”
“I wanted to make sure I had enough room for offices.”
“Yeah, and as a result we have a patio the size of Ohio.” She took a long breath. “This house is too big.” She shook her head. “It doesn’t even feel like a home. Bob’s house is a home.” She smiled and faced Devon. “It’s like a cute little cottage. He downsized after his wife died. So he’s got just enough space for two people. It’s cozy.”
“Well, our place could be cozy if we had people over more often.”
“I could do a girls’ night every Friday night.”
“You better ask Finn and Cade before you schedule it.”
She laughed as Devon fished his keys out of his pants pocket.
“Where are you going?”
He tossed the keys in the air and caught them. “Out to see a friend.”
“That’s good. Just don’t drink and drive.”
“Right. See you later.”
He drove into town, stopping at the diner to buy two hamburgers and fries before he turned down Maple Street. As he had the first time he came to Isabelle’s parents’ house, he hid his SUV, a vehicle a little less recognizable than his Porsche, three houses up, across the street, in a parking space surrounded by trees and bushes.
Taking the bag of food, he got out of the car, walked across the street, and headed to the Cooper house, where lights blazed in the windows of both floors of the sturdy, dependable two-story house. Glad she didn’t have a porch light on, he sneaked across the front yard, illuminated only by thin light from the big living room window, and walked up the steps of the back porch.
The door was unlocked, so he walked in calling, “Isabelle? Are you here?”
She leaned around the kitchen entryway. “In here.”
“You don’t have the fireplace on, do you?”
She laughed. “No. I’m looking for something to eat.” Seeing the bag in his hand she stopped. “Oh, I hope that’s food.”
“Hamburgers from the diner.”
“I think I love you.”
Time froze. Her gaze leaped to his.
She grimaced. “Sorry. I didn’t mean that literally. I’m just hungry.”
“No, it’s fine.” But he had the weird desire to pull his collar away from his throat again. On the heels of that came the desire to turn and run. His dad had told his mom that he loved her every day when he left for work. He’d kiss her cheek and walk out the door as if they were the happiest family in the world. It was such a lie that the very words themselves made his skin crawl.
He cleared his throat and said, “No worries,” even though every fiber of his being hummed with the weird feeling. The memories. The very reason he didn’t believe in love.
She got plates and silverware and the partial bottle of wine from last Friday night. He began to set things up on the breakfast bar, but she nudged her head toward the living room. “My back hurts. I’m tired. I think I’d like a comfy seat.”
He agreed. They carted everything to the glass coffee table and started eating.
“So your mom’s decided on her dress.”
“Yeah, I heard.”
She peeked over at him. “The wedding plans have been going on around you for two weeks without a peep. Why are you suddenly mad again?”
“I’m not mad. I’m just concerned.” His mom had made the wrong choice of spouse when she married his dad. Very, very wrong. It cut him to the core to think she could be wrong again. It was the first time he’d let himself actually have the thought. Up to now he’d been telling himself he was worried that Bob wanted their money. But worry that Bob might be an abuser had been hovering in his subconscious. And he’d hinted when he talked with Finn and Cade about hiring the PI. He feared for his mom. Really feared the consequences of making a mistake, because he’d lived those consequences with her.
“The deeper my mom gets into this wedding, the harder it’s going to be if my PI digs up something about Bob.”
Her gaze crawled over to his. “Your PI?”
He cleared his throat, not sure why he felt guilty. “Finn, Cade, and I decided to just do a quick background search on Bob. About the same amount of digging as someone does for a loan or mortgage. Not a big deal. Just a precaution. So it’d be good if you’d drag your feet a bit. Instead of letting her order that dress today, you could have said you needed a few days to think about it.”
Her face scrunched. “You’re asking me to sabotage your mom’s wedding?”
“No! I just…think everything’s moving too fast.”
“If I start complicating things for your mom, she’s gonna figure out something’s up and ask you why. Are you prepared to answer that?”
He sat back with a sigh. “No.” The last thing he wanted to do was dredge up memories of his dad with her.
“Okay then.”
Still, how could he not worry? “It just all feels so wrong to me.”
She sat back, too, leaning her head against the sofa the way he had his, and making him feel like they were two school kids lying in the grass, looking up at the stars.
“Want to tell me why it feels so wrong to you? Bob’s a respected member of the community. Your mother was a saint for all those years she endured. She deserves some happiness.”
“But what if she doesn’t find happiness?”
Isabelle sat up and faced him. “She glows when she’s with Bob. Trust me. That’s happiness.”
He slid his hand along the small of her back. “She told me that my dad swept her off her feet and that the first few months of their marriage were wonderful. Then the beatings started. Small at first. Just a slap across the face and pushes that grew into punches and her being tossed across the room.”
Isabelle listened to him, her eyes intent on his face. “You’re worried about her.”
“Of course I am.”
She shook her head. “No. I mean, you’re really worried about her. You’re so accustomed to protecting her that you aren’t worried she’s getting into a bad situation. You’re worried that you can’t protect her.”
“If she moves out, which I’m pretty sure she’s going to do, since she thinks his house is a cozy cottage, she’s all his. Away from me. Away from everybody again. The way my dad pulled her away from her family.”
Isabelle shook her head. “Not even close. She’s got friends now. She’s got a job with Barbara Beth. Can you imagine if Barbara Beth ever saw a bruise on her face? Bob would be toast.”
“You’d think it would be that easy, wouldn’t you?”
“I’m not saying it’ll be easy. I’m just saying it’s going to be different.”
“Everybody in school had to see my bruises. Everybody had to wonder why I wore long sleeves in the summer. Yet no one asked. No one helped.”
“Would you have let them?”
“I’d have stayed in that house alone with that SOB if someone had taken my mom and Finn and Cade out.”
She leaned forward and kissed him, softly, sweetly. “You’re a good man.”
He smiled, realizing no one had ever told him that. Especially not a woman he was trying to seduce. “Yeah, who’da thought?”
She inched a little closer. “I would. I always had a crush on you, you know.”
Taking advantage of
her sudden boldness, he rubbed his hand along the small of her back. “Is that why you asked me to the prom?”
She laughed. “Yeah.”
“But I didn’t know you had a crush on me then.” The thought pleased him enormously.
“I saw you in your Marine uniform the day after Jimmy Flannagan dumped me. And I remember thinking, ‘Oh, who needs Jimmy Flannagan when there’s Devon Donovan in the world?’”
He laughed, his pleasure doubling with her every compliment. “Really?”
She leaned down and whispered her lips across his again. “You are cute.”
“Just cute?”
“Okay, gorgeous.”
He still wore his shirt and tie, dress pants, and loafers from the day of working. She looped her fingers around the knot in his tie and loosened it.
“You cannot possibly be comfortable in this.”
“I’m used to it.”
Isabelle smiled, suddenly understanding a lot of things. Virtually living in a suit and tie wasn’t the only thing he was accustomed to. He was so used to protecting his mom and brothers that he might not know how to stop.
He might be playing a game of Office Devon/Private Life Devon, but now that they were alone, he didn’t have any trouble confiding in her. Actually, the ease with which he confided made her feel like he’d missed talking to her. He’d missed her. They’d been only twenty feet apart for five days, but he’d still missed her.
And try as he might to tell himself that the only thing between them was a sexual attraction, she knew better. Hell, the fact that he was here proved it was more. Though it seemed like her body was making all these decisions, her brain was fully engaged. She had about six weeks before her parents needed an answer on the flower shop in Myrtle Beach and one of two things would happen. Either he’d see that there really was something between them and she’d stay, or they’d have six really great weeks that she could remember for the rest of her life with the man she’d always wanted before she moved to Myrtle Beach and started a new chapter.
Either way it was a win for her.
