Chapter 8 #2
“Honey, I’m glad you’re here, so glad. But it’s been so long since we’ve done this, spent time… I want to give you want you need, but quite frankly, I’m not sure what that is.”
“You. My mom. My family.”
She smiled, but it seemed shaky. “Well, that’s easy enough then, since that’s what I am.” Leaning in, she kissed Summer on the cheek, then left.
Summer looked at Socks. “So what do you think of this mess?”
“Mew.”
“Yeah.” Her mother’s hesitation made sense. Summer had run. Only once, but she’d kept going, and though she’d been back over the years, she’d never really put her heart into it. Which meant it wasn’t just her mom’s fault that they weren’t close, or any of them for that matter.
Summer’d had a hand in this, in driving the wedge between herself and her mother.
If only it was as easy to undo.
A large crowd showed up for the official opening of Creative Interiors II, which kept everyone on their toes.
Joe and Kenny showed up midmorning. Joe wore washed-out, faded Levi’s, Kenny dark blue trousers.
They wore their white uniform shirts with the badges on them, though only Joe’s looked like it’d never met an iron it liked.
He also wore aviator sunglasses, shoved to the top of his head, nearly lost in the mop of wild summer-kissed waves falling over his forehead.
Kenny’s blond hair was firefighter short, and he wore black-rimmed glasses.
Each was armed, looking big, tough, and dangerous as hell.
Summer was ringing up a customer at the time, an athletic woman in her thirties who had a younger sister Summer had gone to school with.
They were talking about which hiking trails were the best to take this time of year.
The morning out there had rejuvenated Summer, and she couldn’t wait to get out again, right in her own backyard.
Funny, but this hadn’t been her own backyard in a very long time, and yet there was something comforting about claiming it again as hers, something unsettlingly promising.
But then Joe stepped inside, with his see-all eyes and watchful ways, with his gun and the baffling new confidence, bringing the heat of the day and the heat from something else entirely, and she lost her ability to concentrate.
She couldn’t help it, she just stood there for a moment, her tongue glued to the roof of her mouth, every thought escaping right out of her head.
Then he turned his head and unerringly found her in one sweeping glance.
The customer touched her arm, bringing her back. “You really brought the trails to life for me, thanks so much. Is it okay to go up there alone, do you think?”
“If you can read a map.”
“Oh.” Her face fell. “I could get lost finding my way out of a paper bag.”
“I could call you next time I go.”
“Really?” She lit up and they exchanged numbers. “That’s so nice of you!”
Kenny moved into the back rooms. Joe didn’t. Summer couldn’t tear her eyes off him.
“Are you sure that wouldn’t be any trouble?” the customer asked, handing Summer the paper.
“Not at all.”
The customer thanked her again, petted Socks who was sprawled on the counter like a fat stuffed animal, and left.
Joe stepped close. His gaze searched Summer’s face, his own expression a little tight. “You’re here.”
Had he thought she’d leave because things had gotten tough? Of course he’d think that. Only she was the tough one now and was going to prove it.
“You look kinda tired,” she said, and blinked innocently. “Long night?”
“Not too bad.”
“Liar.”
That made his dimple flash, and he laughed, and she had to admit, she loved the sound.
Another customer walked in, the hanging bells over the door tinkling merrily. “That’s me,” she said, but neither of them moved. For Summer, staring up at him, she didn’t know what was happening to her, to them, but it seemed to her as if time stopped.
But Joe didn’t say a word, and with no choice, she dropped her gaze and began to move away.
Then he caught her wrist.
He hadn’t shaved again, and those light russet eyes danced with some emotion she didn’t have a name for. There was heat there, too, a carefully banked fire that stoked her own. “Red,” he said. Low. Gruff.
An odd feeling swept through her chest. She would have sworn it was hope.
“Hello?” the new customer called out and waved to her. He was an elderly gentleman with a sweet, kindly smile. “I need some help picking out a birthday gift for my wife.”
“Yes, of course.” She looked at Joe.
He let go of her wrist, then began to walk away. His long legs ate up the distance of the shop, then suddenly he stopped. Muttered to himself. Eyes fierce and hot, he strode back and nudged her around a wall partition. Actually, not so much nudged as shoved.
“What—” she started, but he put both hands on her arms, hauled her up and kissed her.
When he pulled back, he was breathing hard. “Jesus.” He let go of her and rubbed a hand over his eyes. “You’re screwing with my head.”
Her own head was spinning, her body throbbing, and she stood there wobbling on her feet. “What was that?”
“I don’t know but it’s your fault.” He plowed his fingers through his hair, leaving it standing straight up. “You gave me that taste last night, and now I can’t stop thinking about it.”
“Excuse me?” The customer was apparently looking for her. “Miss?”
Summer’s knees wobbled through the sale. By the time she’d rung up the man’s purchase, Joe was busy interviewing Braden and Chloe, both of whom had been at the warehouse in the past month.
An interview with Summer wasn’t necessary, seeing as she hadn’t been in town at the time of the fire, and that she hadn’t been in or around the property for twelve solid years.
Unneeded. Unwanted…
When Joe and Kenny were done with their interviews, Joe came back into the main room and shot her one long look that seemed to scorch her from the inside out, leaving her achy and needy all over again.
“Meow,” Socks said from the counter.
“No kidding,” Summer murmured as Joe left without another word, needing a fan for her hot face.
Or a kiss.