Chapter 2
Monroe
My heart skips a beat when I glance over to see the same Murphy woman staring at me.
Her honey blond hair falls straight in a shining cascade to her shoulders. Her straight little nose keeps turning up every time she sees me like she smells something bad.
But those eyes of hers glint with something else. I’ve never seen eyes like hers. Not green, not blue. Some strange combo of the two that swirls with fire when she’s pissed.
Lucky for me, she seems to get pissed easy because when she does I can’t look away from her.
Not that it matters what I think about her eyes. She’s a Murphy and that means she’s nothing to me.
I unlock the outside door and start the process to open the register system.
It’s been a long time since I worked here as a teenager but luckily Dad hasn’t changed a damn thing in the twenty years since I left. Although he should.
Cringing, I pick up the yellow-lined legal pad that he’s got his inventory on. Total old school and definitely needing an upgrade.
But the only way that I could get my dad to let me work in the store while he was laid up was to promise him that I’d run any changes by him first.
Ridiculous. The man needs to retire and it would be the perfect time for it to happen. Now that I’m looking for my next career.
A twinge hits my belly and I rub at my left thigh absently. Fucker still hurts like a firebrand in my thigh. It’s only been three months since the incident but it’s already made me realize that my thirty-eight year old body can’t take anymore of the damage I was doing to it.
I don’t have many options open to me right now.
My phone rings and I pick it up, groaning when I see who it is. “Hello, Dad. What’s up?”
“Did you get in the store alright? Does it look okay?”
“It’s only been a few days since you were here, Dad. It looks exactly the same.”
“You never know. You can’t trust those Murphy girls.”
My eyes drift over to the see-through part of the wall, locked on the beautiful blond with the shimmering eyes.
Her eyes widen and she jogs around a corner like she’s hiding from me.
Or hiding the fact that I just caught her staring at me.
A little thrill runs through me. Does she like what she sees?
“Did you hear me, Monroe? Make sure that you lock up at night. You never know what those people will do if they get a chance!”
Sighing, I run my fingers through my hair and brighten when I see someone walking in the door. “I’ve got to go, Dad. I’ve got a customer.”
“Okay. Just remember what I told you.”
“I know, I know. You can’t trust the Murphy women. I got it.” Sighing, I hang up the phone and slip it into my pocket as an older woman comes wandering in with another woman around her own age.
“Can I help you ladies find anything?”
He spends the next half an hour talking to the tourists looking for something small to take back with them to remember the sleepy little town.
He happily finds them an antique pen set and a decoupaged tray that’s dripping with flowers.
Chattering, they walk out the door happy as clams. He finishes closing out the sales and smirks when he glances over and sees the same woman staring at him.
His dick jerks in his old broken-in jeans and he grits his teeth. Not the damn time, asshole.
For the rest of the day he keeps his eyes scrupulously locked on his own side of the store.
Until it closes down and he thinks he’s alone. He locks the door and then his eyes find their way to the other side of that clear barrier.
He sighs and wanders back to the break room/stockroom. It’s a mess but it takes him very little time to find the door that combines the two stores. He slips out into the space and then grunts under his breath when the door slams shut behind him.
Cursing under his breath, he pushes at it desperately, just holding back from kicking it with his bad leg.
“Shit!”
“Hello?”
Jerking straight, he glares at the dark corner of the room. “Hello?”
A pale figure steps out and glares at him. “What the hell are you doing back here?”
“I slipped out the door and it locked behind me. I don’t suppose you have a key to this damn door.”
Her opal eyes narrow. “I do not. That’s not supposed to be open. Ever.”
“Well, that’s all well and good. But it was.”
“Fine. But I can’t open that door. I’ll let you out my door and you can get back in on your side of the front.”
“I left my keys on the counter in there.”
Huffing, she crosses her arms over her ample chest and my eyes follow the movement like I can’t fucking help myself. There’s just something about this woman.
“You really are a mess. Well, I suggest you call a locksmith. I don’t have anything to get you in your side.”
She stomps off and leaves me standing there. I can’t help it. I follow her.
“You know…you’re exactly what I picture a Murphy woman as.”
“And you’re exactly what I’d expect of your family. We can play this game all night. But I would suggest that you start working on getting out of here.”
“Fine.” I stomp off and then I hear her gasp in shock.
Beams are tracing all across the floor and something clicks into place behind me.
“What the hell is all that?”
“We’re helping a friend test out a new security system. It kinda seems like it’s been triggered.”
“Yeah, I got that,” I mutter. I slowly slide a foot out and the beams change to a bright red and then even more of them dance around the room.
“What the hell is he trying to do? Hold off a viking horde?”
The woman snorts and I turn to stare at her sparkling eyes and all of a sudden all that annoyance at being caught drains out of me
“No. He just likes to play with shit. He’s a pain.”
“Wonderful. What do we do now?”
She plops down on the long table where she makes her bouquets and smiles. “We wait.”
“How long do you think?”
Her eyes drift down my body and that strange heat comes up inside me like a furnace firing to life. Her pretty lips curl in a smirk. “Get comfortable. I left my phone in the stockroom when I heard something weird.”
The cop in me wants to holler at her for not being more careful. “You should have called for help not come out here looking for trouble. Especially without a weapon or a phone.”
Her eyes flash molten and she growls. “Yeah. Now I remember why I don’t like you!”
She plops down on the floor and I settle on the floor a few feet from her.
Her face is turned away and she crosses her arms, fury radiating off of her.
This is going to be a long night.