by Susan Meier
“And I’d be on board with that if I knew I wouldn’t grow to like you too much.”
“I can be embarrassingly horrible and totally prevent that.”
“And if I also knew I could be strong enough, composed enough, not to say or do something stupid.”
“It’s hard to say or do something stupid during sex. Everything is relative. What sounds idiotic in public is perfectly acceptable in bed.”
“I’m talking about here at the store. No one really respects me yet. I can’t risk it.”
“And here I thought it was my lucky day.”
“Sorry. Your lucky day has passed.”
She was really sorry. Because that meant her lucky day had passed too. On the one hand, knowing he was leaving, knowing his being in Harmony Hills was temporary, she should be smart enough not to fall for him. She liked the sex. She liked being honest, asking for what she wanted, giving him what he wanted. The power of it was amazing. Yet she knew she was only at the tip of the iceberg. There was so much more he knew. So much more he could teach her.
But she couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t fall for him. And then where would she be? A puddle of despair when he returned to Montana? A woman who would lose the store she’d worked so hard for because she was devastated?
After he left for the day, Piper did a quick walk through the sales floor. Bunny had switched shifts with Maria, their usual night clerk, and she stood at the counter filing her nails.
Piper almost paused and told her to go dust shelves, but at the last second changed her mind. The store was quiet but could fill up at any second. Though Bunny should be able to watch her checkout lane from one of the many round mirrors strategically placed for that purpose, Piper didn’t want to cause trouble.
Everything had been moving along smoothly, including that there was no gossip, no sniping, no mention of Hyatt/O’Riley sensibilities.
As the daughter of a guy who’d lost his business in a poker game, best friend of Lonnie Simmons whose sins had virtually burned up the gossip mill the past few days, and a runaway bride… Well, Piper sort of liked when things were quiet.
Which just proved how much of a wimp she was…or how smart she was, not to get herself into a bad position with Cade.
Choosing smart over wimp, she returned to the office. At the desk, she opened the accounts payable software and the bank software, intending to issue payments, but the filing cabinets caught her eye.
She hadn’t ever looked for Richard Hyatt’s proof that he hadn’t cheated her dad. If Cade spent the day stacking oranges, she doubted he had, either.
She tapped her fingers on the desk, wondering if Richard really had proof, or if that was just part of the way he’d gotten Cade to stay in Harmony Hills and actually run the store. That and the money she’d pay him for his share, which would give him a down payment for his ranch.
In Montana.
She sighed, telling herself to stop thinking about him leaving next July because, in a way, it was irrelevant. The truth was, he didn’t want a relationship. Even if he planned to stay forever, he did not want anything permanent. And if she didn’t stop her feelings for him now, her heart would definitely get broken. Now that her curiosity had been satisfied, it was best just to stay away from him.
Really. It was.
…
Right after Piper arrived at work the following afternoon, Barbara Beth Rush ambled into the store with Ellie Donovan. As Piper glanced up at them, Cade walked over. After hugging Ellie, his new sister-in-law, he hugged Barbara Beth.
Even from a few feet away, she heard him say, “So how the hell are you?”
Barbara Beth laughed. The sound was light and airy and beautiful. Actually, Barbara Beth was beautiful. With her blond hair and big blue eyes and…well, perfect bosom, she was spectacular. But she was also rough around the edges. Especially when it came to clothes. It was as if she couldn’t stop dressing as the head cheerleader in high school. Short skirts. Tight tops that showed a little too much cleavage.
Still, some men liked that.
Displaying a list, Ellie said, “While you two catch up, I’ll get our order.”
Cade smiled. Barbara Beth nodded eagerly. Ellie walked up the first aisle toward the coffee.
The buxom blonde faced Cade. “So how are you holding up now that that whole Lonnie thing is out in the open?”
He shrugged. “I’m okay.” Then he winced. “Sure as hell took her long enough to let me off the hook.”
She stepped in closer. “You know what you need? A night in Petie’s Pub.”
From her spot behind a shelf of macaroni and assorted pasta products in brightly colored boxes, Piper felt something she’d never felt in her life. The desire to punch someone. It was ridiculous. It was wrong.
But it also sparked the reminder of something she hadn’t considered in her decision to stay away from Cade. He wasn’t the kind of guy to be celibate. And there were plenty of available women who’d play with him.
If she seriously intended not to have sex with him, then she had to be prepared to watch him sleep with someone else.
“Hey, Piper…Marcy Franklin’s debit card won’t work.”
The sound of Bunny’s voice startled Piper, and she guiltily jumped away from the macaroni.
Astute, always on the lookout for new gossip, especially when the store was so quiet, Bunny peered over the macaroni to Cade and Barbara Beth, who were laughing.
She smiled. “If you’re too busy watching Cade flirt with Barbara Beth, I can call the bank for you.”
Righteous indignation spewed through Piper, and she rounded on Bunny. Luckily, she caught herself before she said something she’d regret. “I’m happy to call the bank.”
Bunny glanced at Cade and Barbara Beth again and smiled knowingly. Piper hadn’t fooled her with her calm reply.
And here was another unexpected consequence. Would worrying about Cade—about her decision not to sleep with him anymore—actually make it more obvious that she and Cade were…interested in each other?
Or would unfulfilled lust make her look like some kind of crazed stalker? Cade had said fighting Mother Nature never worked. What if he was right? What if jealousy made her say and do things that would put her on everybody’s crazy list again?
Chapter Fifteen
When the store closed, Piper raced home, took the shortest shower in recorded history, and slipped into jeans and a T-shirt before walking through a spritz of her favorite perfume, grabbing her jacket and racing to her car.
She parked two blocks from Cade’s grandfather’s house and fought second thoughts as she sidestepped streetlights, trying to get to Cade’s unnoticed, and succeeding. It was after nine, in the fall, on a weeknight. Kids were inside. Parents were probably overseeing homework. No one cared that she slipped through the night, hoping to meet her lover.
A shiver ran through her, partly from the cold, partly from officially designating Cade her lover, but she ignored it as she walked up the steps of the aging house and knocked on the old-fashioned front door. It was a new day in her life. She wasn’t going to miss out on something good because she was afraid of consequences down the road. She was not going to fight Mother Nature.
“Coming!”
His yell reverberated to her. She sucked in a breath. Told herself to calm down. Though she’d never done anything like this before, it was what she wanted.
The door whipped open. Cade’s mouth fell when he saw her. “Hey.”
She lifted her chin. “Hey.”
“Something wrong at the store?”
She shook her head. “I was just…” She cleared her throat. Like her, he wore jeans and a T-shirt, but his showed off sexy tattoos and even sexier muscles. Muscles that reminded her he wasn’t just a rancher; he’d once been a arine. He was strong. Male…
Which was exactly why she was here. She was tired of being plain Piper, proper Piper, polite Piper…she wanted to be real Piper. And the real Piper wanted to sleep with him.
<
br /> “I was just in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by.”
He opened the door wider. “Well, come in then.” Closing the door behind her, he said, “Would you like a sandwich or something?”
She shook her head, noticing how dark his grandfather’s house was, and the dust. From where she stood, she could see the well-lit kitchen was clean, but dust coated the unused formal dining room table and every other flat surface. It was as if he’d cleaned the rooms he intended to use and left everything else alone.
Because he was leaving.
The indicators of his very temporary situation were a good reminder that she had to tread lightly. No falling in love. No groping for a commitment to make her inner good girl feel like she wasn’t a slut. Just fun.
She smiled up at him, feeling around in her gut for the certainty she’d discovered that afternoon. It failed her.
But he smiled, and everything inside her melted.
“You know why I’m here.”
He looped his arms around her waist and smacked a quick kiss on her lips. “I want to hear you say it.”
“Wow. Can’t you ever just go with the flow? Do I have to say everything?”
“I want to make sure there are no mistakes. No misinterpretations.”
“Okay then, I’m here to have fun, because you and I are good together. And since you’re such a stickler for no misinterpretations… I hope you dusted your bedroom.”
He laughed, put his hands on her shoulders, and turned her in the direction of the stairs. “Yes. And cleaned the bathroom.”
She started up the steps. “Then we should be fine. Which room is yours?”
“First on the left.”
“Oh, nice view of the street, then.”
“You’re not going to be looking outside.”
They stopped at the top of the stairs, and, as if he’d reached his limit, he scooped her off her feet, carried her into the room, and dumped her on the bed.
He had most of his clothes off before she’d removed her jacket and tossed it to an available chair.
She sat up and pulled off her T-shirt. He sat on the bed, turned her around, and undid the clasp of her pretty yellow bra.
“You have sexy underwear.”
“If you’d given me a minute I’d planned to do a nice striptease.”
“We’ll save that for another day.”
She laughed, but he spun her around and kissed her deeply as he lowered her to the bed. Every nerve ending in her body lit up with pleasure as his mouth made love to hers and his hands began to travel.
The right one slid down her side, tickling her sensitive skin as it caressed her. She would have giggled, but it felt too good, so damned good that she lifted her hands and gave herself over to the joy of touching him.
With total abandon, she grazed her fingers down his muscled back to his tight butt. She absolutely, positively could not get enough of the feeling of his skin beneath her palms. There was something about the supple strength, the unleashed power, that resonated through every lean muscle.
His mouth opened over hers. Their tongues entwined. And she gave herself over to the pleasure.
Nuzzling her neck, he said, “This is going to be a fun night.”
She had absolutely no doubt about it.
…
She arrived at O’Riley’s the following afternoon, working not to feel smug. She had a lover. Piper O’Riley, woman who couldn’t seem to have a relationship without getting engaged, was having sex with a man she had no intention of marrying.
It was the most freeing thing she’d ever done, and it was hard not to be a little giddy.
But with her mother standing at register one and Jenny Forsythe pushing groceries past the scanner of register two, this was the wrong time to glow.
When she reached the checkout lanes, she said, “Good afternoon,” and kept going. She calmly opened the door of the cashier’s cage, walked through, opened the door of the office, and let herself in.
Cade rose from the desk. “Hey.”
“Hey.” It was a struggle to keep the flutter in her heart from rising up to her throat, but she did it. Her relationship with Cade was sophisticated. Not bubbly.
But he strode across the room, caught her by the waist, and hauled her up for a long, slow kiss before he put her down again.
“That’s a much more proper greeting.”
“Not on the sales floor.”
He laughed. “You really don’t want people to know we’re sleeping together.”
“Neither one of us wants the gossip.”
“Oh, I think the store could weather it now.”
She shrugged. “Maybe. But I don’t think we should risk it.”
He pushed the hair off her neck. “Whatever you want.”
“Besides, sneaking around is kind of sexy.”
“I told you.”
She laughed and stepped away from him. “Anything I need to know?”
“Yes, don’t eat dinner. I’ll cook for you when you come by.”
She pivoted to face him. “I’m coming by again tonight?”
“Unless you want me to come to your house.”
“Two nights in a row?”
“Wow, you really haven’t ever had an affair, have you?”
“No.”
He shook his head. “I have so much to teach you.”
And he proceeded to continue teaching her that night. And every night for the rest of the week. Until the night they both fell asleep, and she awoke at a quarter till four. With a gasp, she grabbed the old alarm clock, just to make sure the big hand really was on the nine and the little hand was closing in on the four. When she saw that it was, she jumped out of bed, slid into her clothes, and bent down to kiss Cade before she left.
She put her hand on his cheek and paused, struck by how handsome he was. Just looking at his face took her breath away. She stared at him for a minute, the long black lashes so visible with his eyes closed, the square cut of his jaw.
Something soft floated through her, but she wouldn’t let it take root. She stepped back and ran out of the room, down the stairs, and out the door. As she turned away from closing it, the newspaper whipped by her nose.
She froze.
Suzie Singletary rode by on her bike, continuing her newspaper delivery.
The way Suzie tossed papers from the basket in the front of her bike, without looking, without stopping, Piper didn’t think Suzie had seen her, but it was a close call.
Close enough that her heart thudded in her chest and her feet all but flew up the sidewalk to her car.
Wide awake, she drove home and debated going in to work early that day to tell Cade. In the end, she decided not to. He really didn’t care if anyone found out. She cared.
The disconnect followed her around that morning as she ran errands, did laundry, made herself a sandwich for lunch.
She drove to work at the normal time, walked in, and said hello to the clerks before she strode through the cashier’s cage to the office the way she always did.
But everything felt wrong. Off. The fact that Cade wouldn’t care if someone saw her leaving his house rattled through her. Made her feel off, empty. Alone. What was she doing having sex with a guy who had absolutely no feelings for her? Oh, he liked her…but temporarily. Two years from now if he visited his family for Christmas, it wouldn’t even cross his mind to give her a call and say hello. He’d be done with her.
She opened the office door, and Cade didn’t even look up.
“I was thinking maybe we shouldn’t work overlap hours.”
That got his attention. “What?”
She ambled to the desk. “There’s really no reason for the two of us to be here.”
He rose. “Except we could get in a few minutes of preliminaries before tonight’s main event.”
He stepped close. She moved back. “You know what? I think maybe I need a night off.”
…
Cade studied her face. “A night off
?”
She shrugged. “I get home late. I got up early this morning.” Her gaze met his and he saw something in her eyes. An emotion he couldn’t quite identify.
“Did something happen?”
She smiled stiffly. “No.”
“Yet you want me to leave now, and you aren’t coming to my house tonight.”
“That makes me sound bitchy or bossy, and I’m not.” She took a long drink of air. “Cade, I’m tired.”
He laughed. “I get it. Five days of being up until two or three every morning can take a toll.” He gave her a quick kiss. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
But as he left the office, walked through the cashier’s cage, waved good-bye to the clerks, an odd feeling began to build in his belly. Something that told him she’d been lying. Or at least hedging the truth.
He climbed into his Silverado. But she did look tired.
He started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot, heading for his grandfather’s house, which, today, seemed an interminable distance away.
Every night she drove to his house. Every night she had to dress and go out into the cold early October air. While he stayed in bed.
That didn’t feel very gentlemanly. The woman was the softest, warmest, most interesting person he’d ever met. A smart man did not take that for granted. And if he followed that whole train of thought correctly, that was the real bottom line. He had been taking her for granted.
He frowned.
He’d never thought about that with a woman before.
It puzzled him. It sent up red caution lights all over the place. But even the thought that she might be upset with him leveled him. He enjoyed her too much to do anything wrong. And upsetting her? That would be classified as stupidity.
So instead of pulling onto the street for his grandfather’s house, he drove to the florist.
Isabelle Cooper, twenty-something daughter of Reg and Brooke Cooper, smiled when he walked into the small, sweet-smelling sales floor of Buds and Blossoms.
“Hey, Cade! What can I get for you?”
She wore a white lab coat over a pair of jeans. Her pretty red hair flowed down her slim back. A lifetime ago, he would have flirted with her. Today, worry about upsetting Piper filled him.
