11
HELEN WENT OVER Luke’s accusations a multitude of times as she walked to the café later.
Thankfully, Kate had opened for her this morning. She’d called to make certain her assistant had things under control, then had tried to get herself together. For the first time since starting the business, she was late and couldn’t even work up enough guilt to care.
What was wrong with her?
Luke. Every time she closed her eyes for a moment, she saw his face. Dark eyes…broad forehead…high cheekbones…and that incredibly sexy dimple.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
She wasn’t supposed to be hurting.
She was the one who was supposed to do the leaving—and after three dates, not two—but it had been he who’d left her.
She wasn’t finished with him yet for more than one reason. Thinking that his assistant was romantically attracted to Luke, she’d meant to question him about Alexis Stark.
About the depth of their relationship.
About whether or not he thought the young woman might be capable of illegally driving his competitors out of business in his behalf.
About whether or not Alexis could have been jealous enough to hurt her romantic competition the night before.
But Luke had made it personal in a different way, ragging on her about not wanting to sleep with him or get close to him because she didn’t trust him.
Did she?
With her business, yes…but with her heart?
Luke had said he could care about her, but that she was keeping him from finding out for sure. Her and her damn rules, huh? He simply didn’t understand and she doubted he would try to, which was just as well.
Right?
Torn, Helen approached the cybercafé, which was busy but not insanely so. Weekends had more traffic in general throughout the day without the hugely busy morning rush.
Entering the storefront, she looked around. Only three people at the counter, but half the seating was taken. A few of the regulars were there—Tilda over by the windows, Sam at his preferred computer, Annie at their usual table. Her best friend grinned and waved her over.
Helen stopped to check with Kate, who was being helped by one of the college kids. “Everything going all right?”
“Yeah, fine.”
Kate didn’t exactly sound fine, but she was working as if nothing was wrong. Now feeling a little guilty—Helen knew she’d probably been relying on her new assistant manager too much lately to take over for her—she nevertheless chose to join Annie for a few minutes. She slid into the chair across from her friend.
One look at her face and Annie frowned. “Okay, what’s wrong?”
“What do you think?”
No use in avoiding the issue. She couldn’t lie to her friends, and Annie would pry the truth out of her if she had to use pliers.
“I’m not a mind reader, Helen. You need to be a little more explicit. What happened last night after you left Club Undercover?”
“The dirty deed happened.”
Behind her lenses, Annie’s eyes went round. “Yikes! Congratulations!”
“Save it.”
“I don’t think so. You never break your own rules and this is the second time—well, that I know of. And this is the big one. Luke DeVries has got to be something special.”
“He’s something, all right. He’s gone.”
Helen gave Annie the two-minute version of what had gone down between them that morning.
Annie patted her hand. “So you had words. It happens in the best of relationships.”
Relationships?
The word nearly choked Helen, but somehow she spit out, “He left.”
“He had work to do.”
Helen shook her head.
But rarely one to see the dark side of life, Annie said, “Luke’s doesn’t strike me as the kind of man who gives up on things he really wants.”
“What makes you think he wants me?”
“Despite the specs, I’m not blind. Wow, Nick was right. You did really take a tumble.”
“I never said any such thing.”
“C’mon, admit it.”
“It’s simply that I like to be in charge when it comes to calling it quits,” Helen hedged, not in the mood to examine any more truths for one day.
“And you usually pick guys who are good with that. They go with your flow. Luke has other ideas. He just might be the right man for you.”
“You think I need a man to control me?”
“I think you need a man in your life who is as strong as you are,” Annie told her. “Who else can deal with you? It’s time you stopped avoiding the possibility of having a real relationship.”
“Look who’s talking. At least I never stopped dating.”
“Let’s not point fingers. I had my problems,” Annie admitted. “But I got over it and now I have Nate. And you could have Luke if you put your mind to it.”
“You know I’m not interested in anything permanent.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And don’t patronize me.”
“No, ma’am.”
If she didn’t know Annie loved her and wanted to see her happy, Helen might have been tempted to strangle the smaller woman.
A sudden flurry of sound and movement from the corner of her eye caught her attention. Sitting in one of the upholstered chairs, a young woman was swatting at her legs.
Helen rose and moved to investigate. “Excuse me, but is something wrong?”
“Something’s biting me,” the young woman complained.
She continued to brush at her legs and people started to stare.
“Hey, something’s biting me, too.” This from the woman on the couch, who was scratching her ankle. “Jeez, I think there are fleas in this place.”
A murmur rippled through the café, but before Helen could protest that of course her café didn’t have fleas, she saw a tiny dark fleck jump from the woman’s leg and out of sight. Horrified, she clenched her jaw so she wouldn’t gape.
“It’s her.” The woman’s male companion was pointing at Tilda. “Look at the dirty old hag—she brought fleas into the place.”
“I didn’t do nothin’ wrong,” Tilda protested, looking freaked by the accusation.
“No, of course not,” Helen said. Or at least not on purpose.
“My clothes are clean,” Tilda went on.
“Yeah, just look at ’em,” the guy returned sarcastically.
Helen said, “Excuse me, sir, but please refrain from—”
He jumped to his feet. “I have eyes.” And to the woman he was with, he said, “Let’s get out of here.”
“Gladly.”
They scurried out of the place, followed by half her customers, including Tilda. Those remaining appeared torn. And then a guy started scratching his legs.
“I think I’d better call an exterminator,” Helen said, “but I want to make this up to all of you, so on your way out, stop at the counter and Kate will give you a coupon for a free drink of your choice next time you stop by.”
An invitation that didn’t have to be offered twice. But not all the remaining customers bothered to get that coupon. And to her horror, Helen heard more than one person say they wouldn’t be back, that if they wanted coffee, they would go over to Hot Zone from now on.
“Oh, boy,” Annie said. “What now?”
“Now I get an exterminator.”
Suspicions aroused, she thought Tilda got a bad rap. The homeless woman being responsible for the sudden infestation, when she’d never caused any such problem before, was simply too convenient. Too convenient that this highly effective way of driving out customers happened just when Hot Zone was about to open. For the moment, however, she kept that speculation to herself.
“I can leave the shop to Gloria if you need help,” Annie offered.
“Thanks, but I think we’ll have to clear out of here, too, as soon as I can.”
“When you do, come on over.”
&nbs
p; Annie gave her a hug and headed for the door.
“Kate, would you lock up behind Annie and put the Closed sign in the front window?”
“Anything you say.”
“Then clean up and take the rest of the day off. With pay.”
Helen was already sitting down to a computer, where she brought up Yellow Pages. Within minutes, she was on the telephone trying to get one of the local exterminating services to see to her situation today, weekend emergencies always being a nightmare for a business.
But by the time Kate had cleaned up, she’d found someone who promised to be there within the hour.
“What about tomorrow?” Kate asked.
“Plan on working, although it depends on what the exterminator says about how long it will take. I’ll let you know if we can’t open first thing for some reason.”
“What a time to have this happen,” Kate said with a sigh. “If we can’t open tomorrow…well, that means Hot Zone will get our business.”
Kate’s parting observation put a knot in Helen’s stomach. She was correct, of course. Who knew how many customers she would lose over this?
“Kate, wait a minute,” she said, catching her assistant at the door. “You know Luke’s public relations director, right? Tall woman, red hair.”
“Big mouth? Yeah, I know who she is.”
“Did she by any chance stop by this morning?”
“Bright and early,” Kate said. “Both she and the other one. Short with dark hair. What’s her name?”
“Alexis.” Who’d been in and out of the place quite a bit lately, Helen thought, quickly adding things up in her mind. “The two of them were here together?”
“Cozy as you please right over there on that couch. Too bad the fleas didn’t get them, huh?”
With that, Kate exited.
Leaving Helen staring at the flea-ridden couch and wondering if Alexis Stark was doing a whole lot more than worshiping Luke DeVries from afar.
HELEN STOPPED BY Annie’s Attic later to catch her friend up on the bad news.
“You’re shut down until Monday?”
“At least.” A sick feeling passed through Helen as she remembered the edict. “And I just wonder who called a city health inspector.”
“You had a couple of highly unhappy customers,” Annie said.
“Or a highly competitive—and jealous—woman, who decided to close me down so everyone who wanted coffee would check out Hot Zone during its grand opening.”
She quickly shared her suspicions concerning Alexis.
“You think she would go as far as to try to hurt you personally?”
“I think she’s in love with Luke. And if she’s done what I think…”
“I get your point.”
“You know my cousin Julio could take on this problem for you,” Gloria Delgado said, pausing as she unpacked new product to make the offer.
Annie’s assistant manager looked so outraged for her that Helen actually bit back a smile. Good-hearted Gloria wanted to solve all the problems in her corner of the world, but her methods were a little…well, primitive.
“Thanks, Gloria, but I think you’ll have to keep Julio as your secret weapon awhile longer.”
Gloria rolled her eyes as the front door opened and a customer walked in. “Nobody listens to me, so I’ll go take care of business.”
“Thanks, Gloria,” Annie said. “Maybe we should go into the office,” she suggested to Helen.
“Great.”
Then at least she could sit down and take it all in. Helen felt as if the stuffing were knocked out of her. Problem after problem and now this.
“When did Luke’s competitors start having such bad luck?” Annie asked. “And how long has she worked for him?”
“I don’t know.”
“But there’s someone who does.”
“I’m not calling Luke, so forget it.”
“Someone has to make the first move.”
“No, actually, no one does.”
Luke hadn’t called her, after all. She’d forgotten her cell phone, but she’d checked her messages on her home phone. Besides, she told herself, you could look at it as they’d already had three dates. Look what an emotional mess she was now. Another shot at it and who knew what might happen?
No, it was better this way.
“You always were too stubborn for your own good. Without his help, how are you going to get the information you need?”
“How do you think?”
Annie raised her eyebrows. “I suppose you want to use my computer.”
“That would be helpful since I can’t go back into the café—though I could go home.”
“Help yourself.”
A grateful Helen jumped at the chance to stick around and share with Annie. Going home at this hour of the day would be too dismal. She’d never been crazy about having an abundance of alone time.
A thought that brought her back to Luke, to how much it had hurt when he’d walked out on her.
But not wanting to dwell on the foreign emotion, she forced herself to get to work and focus on finding an answer to the question uppermost in her mind. Did Alexis Stark have it in for her?
A couple of hours later, Helen had exhausted many avenues of Internet research and still wasn’t done. Annie came back into the office and perched on the edge of the desk just as Helen was following a new set of links about the Cooper Coffee Company Luke had worked for.
“Well, Sherlock?”
“I’ve done searches in every town that has a Hot Zone. As far as I can tell, Flash has been with him since he opened his second venue. I’m not sure about Alexis, since she’s more low key. But as far as I can tell, she’s been around from the beginning, also.”
Helen pushed a printout of a photo taken of the crowd at Luke’s Phoenix Hot Zone opening two years before. While Luke was in the foreground with a local celebrity, Alexis was there, right behind him, the woman behind the man.
Annie checked it out with interest. “And the competitors started closing down when?”
“Right from the beginning, Annie. So Alexis could be responsible.”
“Or this Flash,” Annie said, pointing to the tallest woman in the crowd.
“I suppose. If she had a motive.”
“Hey, fame and fortune are great motivators. Her star is hitched to Luke’s.”
“Something to consider. But I have the feeling she has so many connections that she could go anywhere she wants as a PR director.”
“What if she has a thing for Luke, too?” Annie suggested. “A successful, good-looking guy like him—a lot of women might have the hots for him.”
Including her, Helen thought, wishing the nagging feeling would simply go away and leave her alone.
“So what’s the next step?” Annie asked. “Are you going to tell him?”
“Oh, right. We fight, he leaves, he doesn’t call, then I call him to accuse one of the women he employs of trying to do me in.”
“Works for me.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You’re going to let it go?”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. This isn’t proof of anything.” Helen gathered together her printouts and slid them into her purse. “I’m hanging on to this stuff, though, until I figure it out.” Taking a look at the LCD screen, she stopped and stared at another photo of several people—employees of Cooper Coffee Company. “Whoa, what have we here.”
Annie cocked her head and pointed. “That is Luke, right?”
“A younger version,” Helen agreed, quickly scanning the article. “He was fired.”
“What?”
“From Cooper Coffee Company.”
“Why?”
“Something about his questionable business practices, according to some information I found.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
Helen frowned. “No, it doesn’t. I’m not sure I believe it, either.”
As far as she could tell, Luke ha
d too much integrity to do anything underhanded. Or even questionable. Nevertheless, she printed off that copy, as well.
She didn’t have a lot of time to think about what she’d found, though. Annie called in reinforcements, and before Helen could object, she was off to an early dinner and a movie with her two best buds. On a Saturday night, no less. Date night. They’d given up dates with their lovers to rally around her. A fact that gave Helen hope that, no matter that the rest of her life crumbled, she would always have them.
By the time she arrived home, it was nearly ten and her telephone was ringing. She checked the caller ID—Luke—and picked it up anyway.
“Hello.” She tried not to sound breathless.
“Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick about you!”
Luke…worried?
Her pulse ticked faster. “Dinner and a movie with Nick and Annie.”
Was that a sigh of relief she heard?
“There was no answer on your cell or at the cybercafé,” Luke said. “I tried all afternoon. I swung by and saw the health inspector’s notice plastered in the window. What the hell happened?”
“I had to call an exterminator.”
“I never saw any roaches—”
“Fleas.”
Silence. Then, “I’m not liking this.”
“Neither am I.”
“I had nothing to do with it.”
“I didn’t think you did.”
“Then why didn’t you call me?”
“I didn’t think you would be interested.”
He cursed softly, then said, “Helen, if you don’t know how interested I am by now…”
And Helen found herself breathing a deep sigh of relief. “I mean…you had other things on your mind.”
“I would always make time for you.”
Helen swallowed hard at the sentiment.
“That’s what I was trying to tell you this morning,” he went on.
“About this morning…”
“Can we let it go?”
“Sure,” she said, confusion flooding her.
“And let me make it up to you in person?”
The thought made her tingle all over. She could only imagine how he would do so.
Still, she asked, “Now? It’s late.”
“So we’ll go to bed.”
Nothing sounded better. That was the problem. When it came to Luke DeVries, her control slipped away all too easily.
Hot Zone Page 13
