Titles by Seressia Glass
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
About the Author
ONE
Charlie O’Halloran had a plan, and today was the day to set it in motion.
The plan? Get Siobhan Malloy to notice more than his sandwich order.
He hadn’t stopped thinking about her since the day he’d delivered a floral order to the café instead of one of his injured couriers. The order was for her business partner, thank goodness. He’d been struck dumb by the blonde goddess in the “Everything Nice” T-shirt from the moment he’d seen her. Realizing that the café she co-owned wasn’t that far from his office just off the downtown square, he’d begun doing something he hadn’t done in nearly three years: take lunch out of the office.
He didn’t visit the café every day because, stalker much? However, there was nothing wrong with stopping in once or twice a week to sample the day’s specials, get the lay of the land, and covertly ogle the woman he very much wanted to get to know better.
Not that Siobhan noticed. She had never said anything beyond the standard customer–server interactions, but he hadn’t minded since she treated everyone the same—friendly to customers, warm to coworkers. She didn’t flirt, didn’t encourage attention from men or women. No rings, though that could have been because of her job. Still, the lack of a visit by a significant other piqued his interest. It made him wonder if she had someone in her life, and whether the answer was by choice. Made him wonder if her choices and reasons were anything close to his.
He would have abandoned his reconnaissance mission altogether if not for her coworkers, the baker, Nadia, and the cashier, Rosie. He’d thought he’d been subtle, but obviously not subtle enough. Nadia had boxed up a catering order for him one morning—it had been market research, not stalking—then smiled, told him Siobhan’s full name, and informed him that Siobhan handled their lunch business and had an excellent soup-and-sandwich combo that would be good for a group lunch.
The very next week he’d ordered the suggested catered lunch and as Siobhan packed it and Rosie rang it up, Rosie had quietly mentioned that Siobhan was single. With that information, de facto blessing, and meal in hand, he’d beaten a strategic retreat. Strategic because he’d done his homework. The Sugar and Spice Café had been in business for just under four years and had mostly positive reviews on the various social sites from both business and college customers. There was a gaping hole in its business model, one that he could help with. At the very least it would garner him face time with the lovely Siobhan. At the most, he’d get the girl and the business.
No other outcome was allowed. Charlie would use his brains and his charm to get what he wanted. Neither had failed him before. He had no intention of failing now. Not when it came to the gorgeous woman who’d made it impossible for him to even think about anyone else.
Yes, blonde-haired and blue-eyed described her, but that was like describing the ocean as water. She was pinup model beautiful, complete with the look that said she could be on a retro calendar winking at him while astride some missile or painted on the tail of some World War II bomber. Her hair gleamed like woven gold with sun-streaked strands of platinum. Her eyes changed depending on what she wore, transitioning from the bluest blue of a perfect summer sky to the dusky deep blue of evening, a color change so startling it made him wonder if she sometimes wore contacts. If so, they worked for her. She was doll perfect, if you like dolls with an hourglass figure of full breasts and hips he ached to hold on to.
He pushed back from his desk, then glanced ruefully down at his lap. Yeah, Junior usually piped up whenever he thought about Siobhan, which seemed to be continuously. It was his own damned fault for being too wrapped up in work to take time for anything else, especially a woman. Most especially a woman who would expect to take priority in his life.
He couldn’t meet that expectation and rather than lead anyone on, he’d decided to abandon dating altogether. Even when he found someone just as career-focused as he was, there were other factors that usually made his relationships come to an end sooner rather than later. One-night stands and quick hookups had fulfilled the need for a while, but even those became monotonous. It was just easier to go without.
Yet something told him that Siobhan was different, could be different. She took her career as a business owner just as seriously as he did. Yet she also took time for her friends. She was driven, but not blindly so. Her capacity to care was evident and hinted at her ability to be compassionate and understanding. All of that, and independent enough to not need to be with him every moment of every day. And with curves that went on for days, she had a body built for sex and a life designed for commitment-free intimacy. She was perfect for him.
He just had to convince her of that.
* * *
Jealousy was a bitch, and the bitch had claws.
Siobhan tried to choke it down as Nadia whistled while she kneaded dough. After everything Nadia had been through in the last few years, she deserved her happiness with her sexy professor, Kane Sullivan. They’d been back together for two months now, and Siobhan knew her partner spent as much time at Sullivan’s beachfront condo as she did the townhouse above their café.
It wasn’t even the love that suffused Nadia’s face that caused the bright gouge of envy. Okay, it was that too. But the fact that Nadia was obviously and repeatedly reaching the Big O courtesy of someone else was enough to turn Siobhan’s blue eyes green.
She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d gotten laid. It had been before she and Nadia had set up the café in Crimson Bay, that much was certain. That was four years ago. Before that, they’d both spent time in a drug rehabilitation facility in Los Angeles and trying to figure out their next steps. No sex while in treatment. Prior to attending court-mandated rehab, what had she done?
Gone on a downward spiral that had culminated with her breaking her husband’s heart, alienating her daughter, and making sure no one in her family would ever speak to her again.
Siobhan blew out a breath. Yeah, she was pretty sure her vagina had spontaneously re-virginized. After more than a five-year drought, your body forgot certain things. The weight of another body sliding against it. The feel of someone else’s fingers thrilling, teasing. The heat of a hot mouth sliding over her breasts, her clit.
Okay, she hadn’t forgotten. Memory and fantasy kept her pretty busy most nights. If she needed a thrill, she had plenty of opportunity when she performed with her burlesque troupe once a month. She liked letting the music transport her, liked moving into that other mindset that allowed her inner sex kitten free rein. Too bad there weren’t any decent prospects in the bevy of admirers that hung around after the shows.
“What’s wrong?”
Siobhan blinked, bringing the kitchen back into focus. Nadia had moved from kneading dough to shaping it into loaves. “Nothing’s wrong. How’s that new organic flour working out?”
“Pretty good. The flour takes the powdered matcha well, and people are raving about the green tea cakes. I think we should make the mill our regular supplier.”
“Good to know. Their sourdough is pretty good too. We’ve gotten a lot of compliments on the Crimson Bay-L-Ts.”
Nadia wiped her hands clean on the towel she’d thrown over one shoulder. “You’re not going to distract me with business talk, Sugar,” she said. “That’s the second time you sighed in as many minutes. Talk to me.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
Nadia trained her dark gaze over Siobhan’s features, and she did her best to appear blithely unconcerned. Nadia knew her too well though. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? Nothing’s happening, when something should be. Between the two of us, you’ve had more chances to get laid than I did. You should take a couple of those guys at your shows up on their offers.”
“The guys who hang around after my burlesque shows are either creepers or frat boys,” Siobhan retorted. “Neither of which are high on my list of prospects. I may be dateless, but I’m not desperate.” Not yet.
“So does that mean that you do have a prospect list?” Nadia brightened. “I thought I’d have to get you and the other girls to draw straws at the next Bitch Talk session. Not that I want Audie to even think about the opposite sex right now.” She shuddered.
Ah, a change of subject. “How is Audie doing, by the way?”
“Holding her own. The assistant district attorney told her that they’ve set an arraignment date for her assault case. I told her I’d go with her.”
“We’ll all go.” Outwardly, Audie appeared to have recovered from her assault, but Siobhan knew something like that could scar a person and those scars could bury themselves deep. Audie had almost irrevocably burned her friendship bridges in the aftermath, but she’d worked with a crisis counselor to come through more or less better than she’d been before. “We’ll support her.”
“She knows that. And I support you, which is why I’m not going to let you keep changing the subject.”
“I’m not changing the subject,” she protested, and even she heard how weak of a protest it was. “There’s no subject to change.”
“Whose fault is that?” Nadia settled her hands on her hips. “You’re miserable, Sugar. And your misery is self-inflicted. Come join me on the dark side. You know we have excellent cookies.”
Rosie stuck her head through the swing door. “There’s a hot guy out here asking for the owner.”
“Your turn,” Nadia said, turning Siobhan toward the door. “I know for a fact that my hot guy is still at work. If you’ll take care of our mysterious hot guy, I can finish up these loaves.”
Siobhan pushed through the swing door then stopped short, barely catching the door in time. Double-espresso shot, Crimson Bay-L-T was back. The first time she’d seen him was when he’d delivered flowers for Nadia four months ago, and the way his long muscular legs had filled those navy blue bike shorts was seared on her mind’s eye—and had starred in a couple of late-night fantasies. He’d returned numerous times since then, though regrettably not in biking gear. This time he wore dark khakis with a pale green oxford bearing his company logo instead of the aerodynamic bike shorts and T-shirt, and he carried a leather satchel instead of a fanny pack. She tried not to feel disappointed that she didn’t get the pleasure of ogling his muscles. He was still heart-poundingly gorgeous and nice to look at though, one of those guys who could look good in anything, thanks to the chiseled jaw, expressive blue-green eyes, and the artfully tousled honey-blond hair.
Though the business-casual attire hid it, she remembered all too well how his lean and fit body had filled his shorts and shirt. He looked to be a man who enjoyed activity, all sorts of activities, intimate and public. And young enough that those activities probably involved jet skis and kegs and strippers.
Siobhan smoothed her apron, then stepped around the counter, unaccountably glad that she’d forgone the standard work attire of Sugar and Spice T-shirt and jeans for the fifties-style pink, teal, and white apron she’d created that complemented her retro pink pedal pushers, teal button-down over a white camisole, and teal sneakers.
For a moment he stared at her blankly, as if frozen. Then he smiled, and damn, that mouth. His mouth promised all sorts of wicked delights. It was a mouth that said it knew how to kiss and do all sorts of other things to please a woman. It said this guy and I, we know what we’re doing when it comes to sex and we know how to deliver on everything we promise.
Good Lord. Siobhan blinked, attempting to gather her composure. It had been too long since she’d had sex with someone besides herself. Her immunity to the opposite sex was woefully out of date.
Maybe it was the talk she’d just had with Nadia. Maybe it was her own internal monologue for the last couple of months. Or maybe, just maybe, the man standing before her with the smile full of promise was the cure for what ailed her.
“Hello. Siobhan Malloy, Sugar and Spice Café. What can I do for you today?”
TWO
“Hello,” he said, sticking out his hand as Siobhan approached. “I’m Charlie O’Halloran with Crimson Bay Couriers. And the questions is, what can I—or rather, what can my company—do for you today?”
“What is it that you thi . . .” Her voice faded as his hand engulfed hers, her breath stolen by the warmth that snaked up her arm and went straight to her chest. Was this what a heart attack felt like? The tingling, the shortness of breath, the painfully hard nipples? Okay, maybe not the nipple part, but everything else.
“Do you have a few minutes, Ms. Malloy?” O’Halloran gave her that smile again. He had to know it was a weapon of mass seduction. Even she, with her scarred-over heart and dormant libido, wasn’t immune to its charm.
She glanced around the café. He’d timed his visit well; their regulars knew what time they closed up shop, and the few stragglers who did come in were choosing to-go orders from whatever was left.
“Of course, Mr. O’Halloran,” she said, gesturing to the out-of-the-way table they used for their Tuesday talks. “And please call me Siobhan. We don’t stand on formality around here.”
“Siobhan. What a beautiful name.” He pulled out her chair for her, then took the seat opposite. “Please call me Charlie.”
“Charlie.” At least he didn’t give her the tired line about beautiful names for beautiful women. Point to him. Then again, he probably didn’t have to use pickup lines. All he had to do was lean forward, stare into a woman’s eyes as if she were the most important thing in the universe, and give that smile that promised to let her in on the secret.
Siobhan wasn’t about to let him add her to his string of conquests. She wasn’t some college coed or innocent. She’d seen too much, done much more, and pulled herself through to the other side. His charms wouldn’t work on her, as powerful as they were. In fact, maybe it was time to show him that an experienced woman had a charm of her own.
She smiled at him, knowing her cheeky grin revealed a pretty potent set of dimples. “What can I do for you, Charlie?”
His smile dimmed slightly, no less potent. “I’d like to discuss a proposition with you. A business proposition.”
Figures. Courier boy was a salesman, and a slick one at that. She smothered the minute disappointment that he wanted her business instead of her and tilted her head at him. “Are you interested in my sweet treats, Charlie?”
He blinked for a moment, then caught himself. “Actually, yes. You’re surrounded by several businesses and government offices, and I’m sure you get a majority of your business from them, with spikes in sales from students around exam time.”
So he wasn’t stupid. Neither was she. “Go on.”
“I noticed that you offer light catering services with twenty-four hours’ advance notice,” Charlie continued, withdrawing one of Sugar and Spice’s brochures from his portfolio. “But your catering is pickup only. I believe there’s a missed opportunity there, and that’s where Crimson Bay Couriers can help.”
Siobhan leaned forward, intrigued despite herself. The café’s catering business was small, but not because of lack of interest. Their foot traffic was the center of their income stream and they used it to build rapport and repeat customers. They had regulars that they knew scheduled weekly meetings, and they managed their inventory down to the last cookie, tracking which days they had a spike in sales and why. Nadia would sometimes deliver baked goods for some of their regulars using her MINI Cooper, but that wasn’t often and didn’t include any lunch orders.
“You want your courier company to take on delivery service for Sugar and Spice?”
“Yes, initially.” He handed her a presentation folder whose cover bore the logo OBS of stylized lettering with the tag line Support at the speed of business in red and navy and the phrase Sugar and Spice Café Delivery Proposal in bold, black lettering. “It’s something we’ve done for other local eateries. We would add Sugar and Spice to our food delivery family and interface our website with yours. The customer would place the order through our website and we pass the order to you after payment. On top of the charges you normally have for your items, Crimson Bay Couriers would add two: One is a delivery fee to help defray any operating costs, including fuel if a motorized vehicle is used. The other is a mandatory tip for our courier. The details of how the payment would be dispersed are included in the proposal I gave you. We also offer other services that have proven beneficial to other local small business in the area.”
Curious, she flipped through the proposal. His bosses had done an impressive job, offering up their client list for references, detailing the projected increase in revenue for the café, what the projected profit-loss calculation would be, and a list of other services including web design and social media marketing.
“You’ve presented an impressive proposal, Mr.—excuse me—Charlie,” she said, closing the proposal and placing it on the table. “I’ll have to discuss it with my partner before I can provide any sort of response.”
“Of course. I wouldn’t expect anything else. My contact information is in the proposal packet. If you have any questions about our services, anything at all, please feel free to call.”
“I will.” She shook his hand again, and it was like lightning striking twice as that same current of awareness snaked up her arms and energized her body.
He turned his wrist, and instead of shaking her hand he held it, his fingers tangled loosely with hers. Strong, callused fingers that denoted a man used to working with his hands, used to hard work. Would she feel the same electric current if those fingers stroked over other parts of her body, like her breasts, the small of her back?
Shocked at the direction of her thoughts, she attempted to pull her hand free of his. He tightened his grip instead. “Charlie?”
“You’re so beautiful,” he said then, his tone dazed and wondering. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a woman as beautiful as you.”
“How many women have you used that line on?” she asked, but couldn’t muster the heat she wanted to interject into her tone. Not when he looked at her as if she’d just appeared out of a fantasy. His fantasy.
“A couple,” he admitted, “but I didn’t understand what that meant until now. I should have saved it for you.”
She was only human. It was perfectly all right for her to take a little feminine satisfaction in knowing that she’d had an effect on such a handsome man, even if nothing would come of it. Nothing could come of it.
Still, she had to know, so she asked. “Is this how you charm all your clients, with a combination of business smarts and flirting?”
The smile he gave her was at once indulgent and self-deprecating. “But you aren’t my client yet, Siobhan.”
She took a deep breath. He was a stranger. Sure he came in an average of once a week, but they’d hardly said two full sentences to each other before now. He shouldn’t have said her name like that, all soft and sweet as if they’d just awakened from an exhausting bout of lovemaking. As if he knew her, and liked what he knew and wanted to know more. No, he shouldn’t have said it like that, and she shouldn’t have reacted the way she had, melting at the sound and the yearning it evoked in her.
“You think I’m going to be your client?”
“I think you know a good business opportunity when you see it,” he told her, his smile deepening. “I think you’ll at least discuss it with your business partner, do some due diligence. Sugar and Spice Café has successfully been in business for nearly four years, which is a lifetime in restaurant terms. That says a lot about the business and the people who run it.”
His confidence was strangely attractive. On anyone else, that confidence would have been off-putting. But with that open, easy smile and the “just between you and me” tone, his self-assurance drew her like a moth to a flame.
“Be that as it may, don’t you think your overt flirting is offensive?”
“You’re not offended.” He squeezed her hand, reminding her that he still held it. “You’re curious, intrigued even. Wondering if I can back up all the flirting.”
“Can you?” she asked, then immediately wished she could take the words back.
“You should find out for yourself.” He leaned forward, lowered his voice. “Let me take you out on a date.”
Damn the trill of pleasure that swept her bloodstream! It betrayed her resolve, her need to ignore every wish but one, to have her daughter back. “I’m sorry, Charlie. I don’t mix business and pleasure.”
“That’s not true,” he insisted. “You’re surrounded by friends here. Your business partner is your best friend.”
“That’s different.”
“How is it different? Is it different because you don’t look at your friends and imagine yourself kissing them the way you do when you look at me?”
Her nipples tightened. God, when was the last time she’d felt any of this? Anything close to this? She couldn’t remember, but it had to have been years. Years.
“Charlie, this is highly inappropriate. What would your boss say?”
“I don’t think he’d have as big a problem with it as you think he would. As for whether or not it’s inappropriate . . . maybe, but do you think it’s wrong?”
Oh hell yes, it was wrong. It was multiple levels of wrong. Because now, thanks to him, all she could think about was kissing him, touching him, everything him.
She shook her head, trying to distance herself from him, from the things he was resurrecting for her. Things she wasn’t sure she was equipped to handle any longer, if she ever had been.
“Siobhan. Give me one good reason, outside of the potential business relationship, why going out with me would be a bad idea.”
“I can think of one major reason.”
“Which is?”
She sighed inwardly. “I’m older than you.”
“So?”
“So?” she repeated. “What do you mean, so? It’s a big deal!”
He shook his head. “Not to me.”
“Well it is to me!”
“Age ain’t nothing but a number,” he retorted. “How old are you?”
“I’m thirty-five.”
“And I’m thirty,” he told her, shrugging his shoulders. “That’s only a five-year difference. You make it sound like you’re old and decrepit and past your prime.” He gave her a long, slow perusal, teal eyes alight with appreciation. “Which I can tell you, you most certainly are not.”
He’d stolen the words right out of her mouth, leaving her without an argument. “What am I then?” she asked, wanting to know how he saw her. Not that what he thought of her mattered.
“I think you’re retro sexy, like a pinup,” he said, sincerity flooding his tone. “You remind me of cotton candy—fun, indulgent, a sweet treat. But I bet you’re also a habanero hottie on the inside. Yes, sugar and spice, just like your café.”
Flummoxed and flustered, she could only sit and stare at him. Why her, why now? She wasn’t ready for anything like this. She doubted she’d ever be ready for anything like this. For all her bitching and moaning to Nadia and to Charlie that she was too old for the relationship dance, she was honest enough to admit to herself that she didn’t feel that she deserved anything like this, an opportunity like this, even though she wanted it. Not with Charlie, though. Not really.
She’d made a mess of her life before. She’d ruined her daughter’s childhood, destroyed her marriage to her high school sweetheart. Did she really deserve another shot at relationships, when the ones she’d had were still in tatters?
“Siobhan.” He turned their hands so that he could press a kiss to the back of her hand. As kisses went, it was tame, chaste even, but she felt it all the way to her toes.
He stood. “Whether it’s for business or pleasure or both, I look forward to hearing from you. My contact info is in the proposal.”
He left. She remained seated, stunned, aroused, and very confused. It was a state that continued when she opened the portfolio to retrieve his business card. As she read it, she realized what OBS stood for: O’Halloran Business Solutions. Charlie O’Halloran wasn’t a courier or salesperson for Crimson Bay Couriers.
He was the owner.
THREE
“So, Hottie McHotterson has brains to go with all that brawn,” Nadia joked as she closed the cover on the business proposal. “Your boyfriend sure is full of surprises.”
“I’m not going to rise to your bait.” Siobhan joined her business partner at the small round table tucked into their office. “But thanks for reading the proposal and letting me close the café before you started in with the innuendos.”
“Are you going to take his bait?” Nadia asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. “I gotta say, that’s some mighty fine bait.”
“Can we talk about the proposal?” Siobhan asked, wishing she’d selected a stronger tea than the rosehip currently steeping in front of her. “I’d like to know what you think about it.”
Nadia checked the brew strength of her own pot of tea, a mild rooibos. “I’m glad to know that your potential Mr. Right Now was doing more than stalking you. He did a very thorough background on our business.”
Siobhan decided to let the “Mr. Right Now” quip pass without comment. She didn’t need to encourage Nadia more than she already had. “Apparently, Crimson Bay Couriers is just one of the companies under the O’Halloran Business Solutions banner. It looks like they have an answer for anything a small business could need.”
“I think his proposal is sound,” Nadia said. “Definitely something we need to consider.”
“Actually, we have considered it. We just didn’t have the infrastructure and overhead necessary to implement it.”
“True.” Nadia tapped on her tablet, pulling up their business plan. “McHotterson’s proposal would enable us to branch out into delivery and onsite catering without a hardship investment on our part. It’s a way for us to bring in more business without having to resort to extending our hours and potentially destroying the balancing act we have with inventory. If we start planning now, we could be ready to launch it when business picks back up in the fall.”
Summer was their slowest season. Not only was traffic light because attendance at Herscher, the college that anchored the town, went to less than forty percent capacity, but most tourists to their seaside town spent their time on the boardwalk, not the town square. Gatherings on the square, like concerts and movie nights, were usually at hours when the café was normally closed. They ran a skeleton crew and summer hours to offset the light business, opening at eight during the week and operating nine to noon on Saturdays.
While upping their income was always at the forefront of their minds, neither wanted their quality to suffer. Thanks to their stints in rehab, both had become control freaks. Though they both had assistants, neither would turn their kitchen duties over to anyone else in order to expand their service hours, and both had learned the hard way that burnout wasn’t pretty.
“Maybe we could do a trial period with them, and reassess at the end of the contract,” Siobhan mused. “It would be like having a soft opening. We’d tell a few of our business regulars about the delivery option and see how it goes.”
“Good idea. In the meantime, we’ll work on overhauling the website. I did a little tinkering a few weeks back, but it was mostly to keep myself occupied.” Nadia’s tone dimmed, and Siobhan knew she was thinking of the breakup she’d had with Kane before both had come to their senses. “Anyway, McHotterson’s included an upgrade in one of the options package. Seems like his company is a full-service provider, and the client list is impressive. Like I said, your man’s got a good head on those gorgeous shoulders. You should find out if he has a good head beneath those khakis.”
“You’re not going to let it go, are you?” Siobhan said with a long-suffering sigh. She knew Nadia’s heart was in the right place, but she didn’t need her business partner to become a relationship evangelist trying to convert her friends’ lives into sexily-ever-afters, no matter how nice it would be to get it on the regular.
“Just consider me your sex cheerleader,” Nadia answered with an unrepentant smile before launching into a cheer. “Get S-O-M-E—Siobhan is next, just wait and see!”
“Good grief, you’re fucking impossible!” Siobhan exclaimed, laughing despite herself. “You should be completely focused on your sexy professor. Stop worrying about me.”
“I wouldn’t call it worry.” Nadia poured tea into her mug, then added a healthy dollop of local wildflower honey. “I know you have a full life. I know you’re in a good place. That doesn’t mean that I think it’s okay that you’re just treading water.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Emotionally you’re just keeping your head above water, not trying to move forward. I wouldn’t push you if it wasn’t for the fact that you want more.”
Siobhan concentrated on preparing her own mug of tea. She decided to ignore the treading water remark. “What makes you think I want more?”
“Because you have the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever known, outside of my dads. Because you’re at your happiest when you’re caring for someone else.”
“Yeah.” Siobhan snorted. “My track record is just awesome on that.”
“I’m not talking about your daughter or your ex-husband. I’m talking about how you helped me get through rehab. I’m talking about how you helped me stay clean for the last four years. How you had my back when I faltered. How you helped Audie when she tried to push everyone away. How you staged a cookie intervention when I almost ruined things with Kane.”
Nadia reached over, wrapping tea-warmed fingers around Siobhan’s suddenly icy ones. “You have an incredible capacity to care, Siobhan, and I’m grateful you care for me and all our friends. I’m just saying that maybe it’s time to care for someone in a different way—especially someone who can care for you in a way the rest of us can’t.”
Damn. Siobhan tried to force a sip of tea past the lump in her throat. “I’m not ready to fall in love.”
“I didn’t say anything about falling in love,” Nadia said gently. “I don’t think you’re ready for that. But there’s nothing wrong with falling in lust. Particularly when you have a prime young stud apply for the job of fantasy maker.”
“You think he’s too young for me?”
“I don’t care how young he is, as long as he’s legal.” Nadia’s gaze sharpened. “Did he tell you how old he is?”
“He’s thirty.”
“Excellent! That means he’s exactly what you asked for!”
“I didn’t ask for him!”
Nadia cocked her head. “Are you sure? You said most guys interested in you are either fraternity guys or too old for you. Hottie McHotterson is a responsible thirtysomething who owns his own company. He’s also very interested in you. He’s hot, responsible, hot, a business owner, hot, good-looking, charming. Did I mention that he was hot?”
Siobhan fought a smile. “You might have mentioned it once or twice.”
Nadia cocked her head. “You don’t think he’s attractive? I know he doesn’t look anything like Mike.”
“That’s a good thing, though.” The mention of her ex-husband always caused a shaft of guilt, but at least the pain had lessened over the years. “I’m glad Charlie doesn’t look like Mike. Charlie’s surfer-god gorgeous, with the most amazing lashes I’ve ever seen on a guy. And those eyes! God, Nadia—when he looked at me, I knew I had his complete attention, like I was the best thing he’d ever seen. Like he knew the world’s biggest secret and wanted to let me in on it. It was flattering.”
“Sounds like he made quite an impression on you.”
Blood heated her cheeks. “You won’t believe what he said!”
“What?” Nadia leaned forward with schoolgirl eagerness. “What did he say?”
“He called me retro sexy.”
Nadia laughed. “He nailed you good. Not as good as the naked mambo, but retro sexy fits you. Given your whole burlesque-rockabilly vibe, I’d say retro sexy is a good description of you.”
Siobhan shook her head, still dumbfounded over the most bizarre sales pitch she’d ever participated in. “Do you also say I’m cotton-candy fun covering a habanero-hottie center?”
Nadia’s eyes widened. “He said that to you?”
“He sure did,” Siobhan answered, then blew out a breath. “Right before he kissed the back of my hand.”
“That must have been some kind of hand kiss.”
“I melted,” Siobhan admitted. “I seriously fricking melted because a guy kissed my hand. My hand! How pathetic is that?”
“I don’t think it’s pathetic at all,” her partner said, her voice understanding. A dreamy haze filled her eyes. “When Kane kisses my hand like that, I tend to get all melty too. There’s something to be said about a guy who can be charming like that without it feeling cheesy.”
“I was feeling a lot of things, but cheesy definitely wasn’t one of them!”
Nadia waggled her eyebrows. “Were you thinking about what it would be like to ride his surfboard?”
“Nadia!” Siobhan barely refrained from spewing her mouthful of tea. “Good grief, your mind has gotten dirty since you’ve been bumping uglies with the professor. I can’t believe you said that!”
“Why? Because it’s true?”
“I . . . It’s . . .” Siobhan shook her head, unable to protest in the face of Nadia’s blithe demeanor. “Okay, I thought about it, all right? How could I not with him sitting there being all gorgeous and charming and smart? I’m not dead!”
“No, you aren’t, and I for one am glad you’ve finally realized that. What you are is out of practice. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with taking your blond hottie out for a test run. Especially since he’s volunteering.”
“He asked me out on a date, so I guess that means he’s volunteering.”
“What?” Nadia’s mouth dropped open. “How do you save that little tidbit for last? What did you say?”
“I came up with reasons why I shouldn’t,” Siobhan admitted. “He shot every one of them down.”
“Hot, charming, smart, and persistent,” Nadia said, ticking off each word on her fingers. “I hope you said yes.”
“Um . . . He kinda left me sitting there with my mouth hanging open.”
Nadia cackled. Her friend and business partner actually cackled. “You are three seconds away from wearing your tea instead of drinking it,” Siobhan warned. “This isn’t funny!”
“Of course it is,” Nadia insisted, but wisely choked back her laughter. “You, my dear friend, are the only thing standing in your way. He’s interested. You’re interested, no matter how much you pretend you’re not. You should go for it.”
The idea of “going for it” both intrigued and scared her. “So you don’t think it’s a conflict of interest? If I decide to go there, I mean.”
“I’m not worried that you’re going to screw over the café, if that’s what you’re asking.” Nadia balanced her teacup between her palms. “I also don’t think Mr. O’Halloran would sabotage our business if things go sour between you two—which I totally don’t think will happen. He’s a businessman, and his business is right here in Crimson Bay. This is a small town, and the community is pretty tight-knit. We can certainly vet his credentials. He did include a client list for just that purpose.”
She picked up the presentation folder. “Professionally speaking, we need to do a trial run at the very least. Personally speaking, you do too. Let’s see what happens.”
Butterflies danced in Siobhan’s stomach. What would be the harm in having a fling, especially with someone like Charlie? She and Nadia had worked their asses off to make the café a success, and like Nadia had said before, they deserved personal lives. As long she and Charlie both took business seriously, there was no reason why there couldn’t be a little pleasure had along the way.
“If we do this, there’s got to be rules.”
“Of course there should be rules,” Nadia agreed, then grinned. “In fact, I think you should wear that schoolmarm outfit from your show when you tell him the rules. He’ll agree to whatever you say.”
“You’re impossible.”
“I’m enabling. At least when it comes to sex.” Mischief danced in Nadia’s eyes. “If you’d like to borrow my copy of The Perfumed Garden of Sensual Delights, I’d be more than happy to pass it on—with the best positions highlighted.”
Siobhan laughed. “You and the naughty professor moved on from medieval sex manuals already?”
A blush colored Nadia’s cheeks. “You could say I’ve graduated to the master class now.”
It was Siobhan’s turn to grin at her friend’s discomfiture. “Oh, really? Do tell.”
“Well, there’s this thing he does with rope . . .”
FOUR
“Charlie?”
He looked up from his laptop with a frown as his office assistant, Nance, poked her head into the room. Usually, Nance buzzed him on the phone or via IM when they had a client, or simply yelled through his perpetually open office door when just staff occupied the area. “What is it, Nance?”
“There’s someone here to see you,” she informed him in her most professional tone, which immediately raised the wariness flag. Her dark eyes sparkled behind her red cat’s-eye glasses. “I think she might be a potential client.”
That was always welcomed news. He’d moved his business beyond the point where he needed to do cold calls, but he didn’t turn away walk-in business no matter how much he preferred to do research before making his sales pitch. He reached for one of the general information packets that provided background on their complete suite of services. “Did she say what company she represents or which of our services she’s interested in?”
“No, but she already has a packet,” Nance answered. A grin split her face and scrunched it to pixie proportions. “She seems like my kinda people.”
Nance’s kind of people were either lesbians or flamboyant retro fashionistas. Since he hadn’t asked anyone their sexual preferences since half-past never, that left the retro fashionista. “Blonde?”
His assistant made a big deal of arching her pierced brow. “Yes. You holding out on me, boss?”
Charlie ignored her by concentrating on the silent surge of satisfaction that swept through him. “We shouldn’t keep a potential client waiting,” he told her. “Please show her back.”
Nance left, and Charlie took a moment to rein in his brain and his libido. Siobhan had come to him to talk about the proposal. That had to be a good sign. If she didn’t want to do business with him, she would have called instead—and he would have used every weapon at his disposal to change her mind. If she still said no, he’d respect the decision and not push—for a while, anyway. Sure, he wanted the café’s business. He wanted Siobhan more.
He shot to his feet as a beaming Nance entered his office and said something—he wasn’t sure what. His entire focus shrank down to the blonde woman who’d entered his office behind Nance.
Once again, Charlie was struck by Siobhan’s lush beauty. She walked in like the reincarnation of a fifties Hollywood starlet. The red-and-white polka-dot sundress fit her breasts and waist like second skin before billowing out into a full skirt. The short-sleeved white sweater about her shoulders was probably the only thing that had prevented a traffic jam on the square. Red wedges encased her feet, and good Lord, her toes were painted the same bright red as her dress and her lips.
“You need to be shot.”
Her eyes widened as she froze. “Excuse me?”
“I mean, professionally,” he hastened to add, ignoring Nance’s snort as she exited, closing the door behind her. “It would be a terrific marketing campaign.”
One perfectly arched eyebrow rose toward her hairline. “Are you talking about a photo shoot?”
“Of course.” He circled the desk to shake her hand, though he wanted to do more. So much more. Instead he guided her over to a small conference table, pulling out a chair for her. She murmured her thanks as she sat down, placing her red tote bag and his proposal packet on the table. Charlie took a moment to admire the shapeliness of her legs as she crossed them at the knees. Her legs were bare, making him wonder about the softness of her skin and the color of her underwear. Though with Siobhan, she probably wore lingerie, silky pieces that showed off her assets to advantage.
She cleared her throat, capturing his attention. “That’s pretty presumptuous of you, don’t you think? Considering that we don’t have a deal yet?”
Amusement laced her query, and he knew she was perfectly aware that he’d been ogling her. He got back to the business at hand. “Presumptuous, yes. Wrong, no.”
He took the chair closest to hers, catching the faint whiff of something light and sweet and perfectly suited to Siobhan. “Would you have come over here just to tell me no?”
Her chin lifted. “What if I did?”
“I would ask you to share your concerns so that we could negotiate. I would do my level best to convince you that we’d be the perfect fit for whatever you and your business need. Our job is to ensure that you’re completely satisfied with all that we have to offer.”
Her lips parted, and she drew in a low, slow breath. Charlie’s brain short-circuited. Did she have any clue how fucking hot she was? She had to know—those were expert moves, and he responded like he’d just discovered what his dick could do. It was almost enough to make him wonder if he was out of his league.
Goddamn, he wanted her. Wanted her so badly he’d scare her off if she had a clue. It was just her hotness, the strawberries and whipped cream lushness of her body. It was a dichotomy of care and carnality that made him want to throw her over his shoulder and stomp off to have his way with her.
“Do you think you can?” she asked then, her voice soft, her blue eyes dark with what he hoped like hell was interest in him. “Satisfy me? Give me what I need?”
Fuck yeah. “I pride myself on doing a thorough job, no matter how demanding that job may be. I have a reputation for being responsive, creative, and adaptable.”
“So I’ve heard.” After a moment in which Charlie debated whether he should press the innuendos and kiss her, Siobhan drew back. “We called a couple of your current and former clients. All of them sing your praises.”
“As I said, we believe in going above and beyond for everyone who signs with us. I promise, if Sugar and Spice Café joins the O’Halloran client list, you won’t be disappointed.”
Siobhan opened the packet he’d given her a couple of days ago. “My partner and I have discussed the options at length. We’re in agreement that you have services that we should take advantage of. The delivery service, of course, but we are also interested in the website redesign and integration as well as the social media marketing campaigns. A couple of your clients mentioned to us that those really helped their bottom line.”
He tensed. What she said was at complete odds to her body language. It seemed as if she’d bolt if he said or did the wrong thing, and that was the last thing he wanted. He sat back. “I’m sensing some hesitation. What questions can I answer for you?”
“We’re interested in a short-term contract initially, with a notice of intent thirty days before the contract is due to expire.”
“There may not be much we can do for you, depending on the length of the contract,” he cautioned. “We can certainly add the delivery service interface, since the bulk of the work will be done on our end and we’ve perfected our process over numerous sites. The marketing and website redesign timelines can vary based on a number of factors. We also have a standard termination clause, which I included in the sample contract.”
She nodded, then pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. Damn. His thoughts swerved off the road of propriety and ran into the ditch of unprofessional intent. “Siobhan—”
“Who would you assign to our account?” she asked quickly. “For the website and marketing aspects?”
“I would personally handle it,” he said, then noticed the tightening of her mouth. “Is that why you’re hesitating?”
“Considering how our conversation derailed during your sales pitch last week, I think you can understand my hesitation.”
“I do. I can also assure you that business is very important to me, and my professional reputation is everything. We specialize in the small businesses in town, so word of mouth and good client relationships can make or break us. You can rest assured that while we’re conducting business, the focus will be completely on business.”
As long as you don’t do that thing with your bottom lip again, or wear dresses that might as well have “look at my boobs” embroidered on them.
He made an attempt at schooling his features into a semblance of professionalism. Get it together, jackass. You’ve been around beautiful women before—you live in a college town, for chrissakes. He didn’t want to run her off. He wanted a chance to get acquainted with her, to know her better. He wanted to discover if she wore dresses like that on her days off or for all her business meetings, or, God help him, if she’d worn it because she was meeting with him.
“So the . . . other stuff. That won’t happen again?”
Was that disappointment in her voice? “I didn’t say that. I’m very interested in you, Siobhan. If I wasn’t before, I certainly would have been after you strolled into my office like an angelic devil. I bet you literally stopped traffic on your way over here.”
“Charlie . . .”
“You’re beautiful, Siobhan Malloy. It’s a simple fact. Should I not tell you that? That’s a nice dress made better by you wearing it. Do you think I’m harassing you when I tell you that? If so, I’ll apologize and stop.”
A blush stole across her cheeks. “I don’t feel harassed. Flustered bordering on embarrassed, yes. Harassed, no.”
He folded his arms across his chest. “I would think a woman who can rock a red dress like that is incapable of feeling embarrassment.”
“You just . . .” She gestured helplessly. “You overwhelm me, and I don’t know if this is flattering or completely inappropriate.”
“Now you know how I felt the first time I saw you,” he told her, going for broke. “And the next time, and the time after that, and every day I’ve seen you. If I understood it, I’d explain it. What I can do is tell you that I won’t be inappropriate. Being inappropriate would be me reaching for you despite the glass walls separating us from my staff and kissing you until I’m wearing more lipstick than you. Right now we’re just talking, just discussing the possibilities. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”
“No.”
Score one for the home team. “The way I see it, we have a couple of options here. You can decide not to do business with me, in which case I’ll pursue you. You can sign the contract and I’ll assign you to one of my employees so I can pursue you. Or, you sign the contract and I handle your business because I’m very good at what I do. And when business hours are over, I’ll pursue you.”
Those beautiful scarlet lips bowed into a smile. “Is there any scenario in which you don’t pursue me?”
“One. I drop dead.”
“Well. Okay then.” She blinked. “I don’t want that to happen.”
“I appreciate that.” He smiled. “The decision is up to you, Siobhan. I don’t approve of pressure tactics. OBS wants your business. I want you. I think we can make it work, but if you’re uncomfortable, we’ll come up with another solution. The choice is yours.”
He waited, watching in tense fascination as she thought through her decision. Her eyes, he decided. It was her eyes that captivated him the most. So much living swam behind that blue gaze, living that made her angelically sweet one moment and devilishly spicy the next.
“All right,” she said after a moment. “I’ve made up my mind.”
“And?”
“Let’s do this.” She held up a hand. “Business before pleasure, though.”
“Of course.” He smiled. “You’ll find I always deliver on my promises.”
FIVE
True to Charlie’s word, business dominated their biweekly meetings. He explained every facet of each action he took on their behalf, including any benefits and potential downsides to the café, not moving forward on anything until he got her agreement. Siobhan found it extremely interesting and even arousing to watch him work, enjoying the way he brainstormed ideas and got excited over the smallest of concepts. The enjoyment and pride he had in his work clearly came through and was as contagious as it was sexy. Smart, good-looking men were always her weakness, and Charlie had all that plus confidence and charm to back it up. She found herself looking forward to their Monday and Thursday meetings and getting to know more about him.
“How did you get started, Charlie?” She asked him as they prepared to test the new website enhancements. “I’m curious to know how you went from a bike messenger company to providing marketing solutions and stuff.”
“Crimson Bay Couriers is my first company, and it grew out of something I did during the summers as a teen,” he explained. Something dark flashed across his eyes, so quickly there and gone she would have missed it had she not been staring at him so intently. “At eighteen, I turned it into a full-time business because I needed money in a hurry. I was a one-man company then, but business grew and I was able to hire on more couriers pretty quickly. As my business expanded, I identified areas of opportunity that I either learned to deal with myself or hired someone to take care of for me. Mostly I did it myself because that’s just how I am.”
“A hands-on kind of guy,” she guessed. “So you saw a need in your own company, created a solution, then offered that solution to other small businesses?”
He flashed a smile. “Exactly. Through trial and error—and there was a crapload of error in those early days—we tested and perfected processes that we were then able to package for our clients. Word of mouth drove our success. It still does.”
He shrugged. “With our expanding business expertise, we couldn’t keep operating under Crimson Bay Couriers. It didn’t take much to create the umbrella company of O’Halloran Business Solutions. We know what it takes for small businesses to survive because we’ve been through it ourselves.”
Siobhan looked down at her tea, processing everything he’d told her. The man knew his business, she knew that without doubt. Everyone she and Nadia had talked to spoke of how professional he was, but also how personable he was, and how easy it was to work with him to find the solutions they needed.
None of them spoke of how hot he was, but they didn’t need to. With every concept, conversation, and accomplishment he seduced her. His sharp mind lured her as much as his easy smiles and warm glances. The play of his hands on the keyboard, so firm, so sure, made her wonder how his fingers would feel cupping her breasts, teasing her nipples, thrusting deep inside her.
Titles by Seressia Glass
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
About the Author
ONE
Charlie O’Halloran had a plan, and today was the day to set it in motion.
The plan? Get Siobhan Malloy to notice more than his sandwich order.
He hadn’t stopped thinking about her since the day he’d delivered a floral order to the café instead of one of his injured couriers. The order was for her business partner, thank goodness. He’d been struck dumb by the blonde goddess in the “Everything Nice” T-shirt from the moment he’d seen her. Realizing that the café she co-owned wasn’t that far from his office just off the downtown square, he’d begun doing something he hadn’t done in nearly three years: take lunch out of the office.
He didn’t visit the café every day because, stalker much? However, there was nothing wrong with stopping in once or twice a week to sample the day’s specials, get the lay of the land, and covertly ogle the woman he very much wanted to get to know better.
Not that Siobhan noticed. She had never said anything beyond the standard customer–server interactions, but he hadn’t minded since she treated everyone the same—friendly to customers, warm to coworkers. She didn’t flirt, didn’t encourage attention from men or women. No rings, though that could have been because of her job. Still, the lack of a visit by a significant other piqued his interest. It made him wonder if she had someone in her life, and whether the answer was by choice. Made him wonder if her choices and reasons were anything close to his.
He would have abandoned his reconnaissance mission altogether if not for her coworkers, the baker, Nadia, and the cashier, Rosie. He’d thought he’d been subtle, but obviously not subtle enough. Nadia had boxed up a catering order for him one morning—it had been market research, not stalking—then smiled, told him Siobhan’s full name, and informed him that Siobhan handled their lunch business and had an excellent soup-and-sandwich combo that would be good for a group lunch.
The very next week he’d ordered the suggested catered lunch and as Siobhan packed it and Rosie rang it up, Rosie had quietly mentioned that Siobhan was single. With that information, de facto blessing, and meal in hand, he’d beaten a strategic retreat. Strategic because he’d done his homework. The Sugar and Spice Café had been in business for just under four years and had mostly positive reviews on the various social sites from both business and college customers. There was a gaping hole in its business model, one that he could help with. At the very least it would garner him face time with the lovely Siobhan. At the most, he’d get the girl and the business.
No other outcome was allowed. Charlie would use his brains and his charm to get what he wanted. Neither had failed him before. He had no intention of failing now. Not when it came to the gorgeous woman who’d made it impossible for him to even think about anyone else.
Yes, blonde-haired and blue-eyed described her, but that was like describing the ocean as water. She was pinup model beautiful, complete with the look that said she could be on a retro calendar winking at him while astride some missile or painted on the tail of some World War II bomber. Her hair gleamed like woven gold with sun-streaked strands of platinum. Her eyes changed depending on what she wore, transitioning from the bluest blue of a perfect summer sky to the dusky deep blue of evening, a color change so startling it made him wonder if she sometimes wore contacts. If so, they worked for her. She was doll perfect, if you like dolls with an hourglass figure of full breasts and hips he ached to hold on to.
He pushed back from his desk, then glanced ruefully down at his lap. Yeah, Junior usually piped up whenever he thought about Siobhan, which seemed to be continuously. It was his own damned fault for being too wrapped up in work to take time for anything else, especially a woman. Most especially a woman who would expect to take priority in his life.
He couldn’t meet that expectation and rather than lead anyone on, he’d decided to abandon dating altogether. Even when he found someone just as career-focused as he was, there were other factors that usually made his relationships come to an end sooner rather than later. One-night stands and quick hookups had fulfilled the need for a while, but even those became monotonous. It was just easier to go without.
Yet something told him that Siobhan was different, could be different. She took her career as a business owner just as seriously as he did. Yet she also took time for her friends. She was driven, but not blindly so. Her capacity to care was evident and hinted at her ability to be compassionate and understanding. All of that, and independent enough to not need to be with him every moment of every day. And with curves that went on for days, she had a body built for sex and a life designed for commitment-free intimacy. She was perfect for him.
He just had to convince her of that.
* * *
Jealousy was a bitch, and the bitch had claws.
Siobhan tried to choke it down as Nadia whistled while she kneaded dough. After everything Nadia had been through in the last few years, she deserved her happiness with her sexy professor, Kane Sullivan. They’d been back together for two months now, and Siobhan knew her partner spent as much time at Sullivan’s beachfront condo as she did the townhouse above their café.
It wasn’t even the love that suffused Nadia’s face that caused the bright gouge of envy. Okay, it was that too. But the fact that Nadia was obviously and repeatedly reaching the Big O courtesy of someone else was enough to turn Siobhan’s blue eyes green.
She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d gotten laid. It had been before she and Nadia had set up the café in Crimson Bay, that much was certain. That was four years ago. Before that, they’d both spent time in a drug rehabilitation facility in Los Angeles and trying to figure out their next steps. No sex while in treatment. Prior to attending court-mandated rehab, what had she done?
Gone on a downward spiral that had culminated with her breaking her husband’s heart, alienating her daughter, and making sure no one in her family would ever speak to her again.
Siobhan blew out a breath. Yeah, she was pretty sure her vagina had spontaneously re-virginized. After more than a five-year drought, your body forgot certain things. The weight of another body sliding against it. The feel of someone else’s fingers thrilling, teasing. The heat of a hot mouth sliding over her breasts, her clit.
Okay, she hadn’t forgotten. Memory and fantasy kept her pretty busy most nights. If she needed a thrill, she had plenty of opportunity when she performed with her burlesque troupe once a month. She liked letting the music transport her, liked moving into that other mindset that allowed her inner sex kitten free rein. Too bad there weren’t any decent prospects in the bevy of admirers that hung around after the shows.
“What’s wrong?”
Siobhan blinked, bringing the kitchen back into focus. Nadia had moved from kneading dough to shaping it into loaves. “Nothing’s wrong. How’s that new organic flour working out?”
“Pretty good. The flour takes the powdered matcha well, and people are raving about the green tea cakes. I think we should make the mill our regular supplier.”
“Good to know. Their sourdough is pretty good too. We’ve gotten a lot of compliments on the Crimson Bay-L-Ts.”
Nadia wiped her hands clean on the towel she’d thrown over one shoulder. “You’re not going to distract me with business talk, Sugar,” she said. “That’s the second time you sighed in as many minutes. Talk to me.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
Nadia trained her dark gaze over Siobhan’s features, and she did her best to appear blithely unconcerned. Nadia knew her too well though. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? Nothing’s happening, when something should be. Between the two of us, you’ve had more chances to get laid than I did. You should take a couple of those guys at your shows up on their offers.”
“The guys who hang around after my burlesque shows are either creepers or frat boys,” Siobhan retorted. “Neither of which are high on my list of prospects. I may be dateless, but I’m not desperate.” Not yet.
“So does that mean that you do have a prospect list?” Nadia brightened. “I thought I’d have to get you and the other girls to draw straws at the next Bitch Talk session. Not that I want Audie to even think about the opposite sex right now.” She shuddered.
Ah, a change of subject. “How is Audie doing, by the way?”
“Holding her own. The assistant district attorney told her that they’ve set an arraignment date for her assault case. I told her I’d go with her.”
“We’ll all go.” Outwardly, Audie appeared to have recovered from her assault, but Siobhan knew something like that could scar a person and those scars could bury themselves deep. Audie had almost irrevocably burned her friendship bridges in the aftermath, but she’d worked with a crisis counselor to come through more or less better than she’d been before. “We’ll support her.”
“She knows that. And I support you, which is why I’m not going to let you keep changing the subject.”
“I’m not changing the subject,” she protested, and even she heard how weak of a protest it was. “There’s no subject to change.”
“Whose fault is that?” Nadia settled her hands on her hips. “You’re miserable, Sugar. And your misery is self-inflicted. Come join me on the dark side. You know we have excellent cookies.”
Rosie stuck her head through the swing door. “There’s a hot guy out here asking for the owner.”
“Your turn,” Nadia said, turning Siobhan toward the door. “I know for a fact that my hot guy is still at work. If you’ll take care of our mysterious hot guy, I can finish up these loaves.”
Siobhan pushed through the swing door then stopped short, barely catching the door in time. Double-espresso shot, Crimson Bay-L-T was back. The first time she’d seen him was when he’d delivered flowers for Nadia four months ago, and the way his long muscular legs had filled those navy blue bike shorts was seared on her mind’s eye—and had starred in a couple of late-night fantasies. He’d returned numerous times since then, though regrettably not in biking gear. This time he wore dark khakis with a pale green oxford bearing his company logo instead of the aerodynamic bike shorts and T-shirt, and he carried a leather satchel instead of a fanny pack. She tried not to feel disappointed that she didn’t get the pleasure of ogling his muscles. He was still heart-poundingly gorgeous and nice to look at though, one of those guys who could look good in anything, thanks to the chiseled jaw, expressive blue-green eyes, and the artfully tousled honey-blond hair.
Though the business-casual attire hid it, she remembered all too well how his lean and fit body had filled his shorts and shirt. He looked to be a man who enjoyed activity, all sorts of activities, intimate and public. And young enough that those activities probably involved jet skis and kegs and strippers.
Siobhan smoothed her apron, then stepped around the counter, unaccountably glad that she’d forgone the standard work attire of Sugar and Spice T-shirt and jeans for the fifties-style pink, teal, and white apron she’d created that complemented her retro pink pedal pushers, teal button-down over a white camisole, and teal sneakers.
For a moment he stared at her blankly, as if frozen. Then he smiled, and damn, that mouth. His mouth promised all sorts of wicked delights. It was a mouth that said it knew how to kiss and do all sorts of other things to please a woman. It said this guy and I, we know what we’re doing when it comes to sex and we know how to deliver on everything we promise.
Good Lord. Siobhan blinked, attempting to gather her composure. It had been too long since she’d had sex with someone besides herself. Her immunity to the opposite sex was woefully out of date.
Maybe it was the talk she’d just had with Nadia. Maybe it was her own internal monologue for the last couple of months. Or maybe, just maybe, the man standing before her with the smile full of promise was the cure for what ailed her.
“Hello. Siobhan Malloy, Sugar and Spice Café. What can I do for you today?”
TWO
“Hello,” he said, sticking out his hand as Siobhan approached. “I’m Charlie O’Halloran with Crimson Bay Couriers. And the questions is, what can I—or rather, what can my company—do for you today?”
“What is it that you thi . . .” Her voice faded as his hand engulfed hers, her breath stolen by the warmth that snaked up her arm and went straight to her chest. Was this what a heart attack felt like? The tingling, the shortness of breath, the painfully hard nipples? Okay, maybe not the nipple part, but everything else.
“Do you have a few minutes, Ms. Malloy?” O’Halloran gave her that smile again. He had to know it was a weapon of mass seduction. Even she, with her scarred-over heart and dormant libido, wasn’t immune to its charm.
She glanced around the café. He’d timed his visit well; their regulars knew what time they closed up shop, and the few stragglers who did come in were choosing to-go orders from whatever was left.
“Of course, Mr. O’Halloran,” she said, gesturing to the out-of-the-way table they used for their Tuesday talks. “And please call me Siobhan. We don’t stand on formality around here.”
“Siobhan. What a beautiful name.” He pulled out her chair for her, then took the seat opposite. “Please call me Charlie.”
“Charlie.” At least he didn’t give her the tired line about beautiful names for beautiful women. Point to him. Then again, he probably didn’t have to use pickup lines. All he had to do was lean forward, stare into a woman’s eyes as if she were the most important thing in the universe, and give that smile that promised to let her in on the secret.
Siobhan wasn’t about to let him add her to his string of conquests. She wasn’t some college coed or innocent. She’d seen too much, done much more, and pulled herself through to the other side. His charms wouldn’t work on her, as powerful as they were. In fact, maybe it was time to show him that an experienced woman had a charm of her own.
She smiled at him, knowing her cheeky grin revealed a pretty potent set of dimples. “What can I do for you, Charlie?”
His smile dimmed slightly, no less potent. “I’d like to discuss a proposition with you. A business proposition.”
Figures. Courier boy was a salesman, and a slick one at that. She smothered the minute disappointment that he wanted her business instead of her and tilted her head at him. “Are you interested in my sweet treats, Charlie?”
He blinked for a moment, then caught himself. “Actually, yes. You’re surrounded by several businesses and government offices, and I’m sure you get a majority of your business from them, with spikes in sales from students around exam time.”
So he wasn’t stupid. Neither was she. “Go on.”
“I noticed that you offer light catering services with twenty-four hours’ advance notice,” Charlie continued, withdrawing one of Sugar and Spice’s brochures from his portfolio. “But your catering is pickup only. I believe there’s a missed opportunity there, and that’s where Crimson Bay Couriers can help.”
Siobhan leaned forward, intrigued despite herself. The café’s catering business was small, but not because of lack of interest. Their foot traffic was the center of their income stream and they used it to build rapport and repeat customers. They had regulars that they knew scheduled weekly meetings, and they managed their inventory down to the last cookie, tracking which days they had a spike in sales and why. Nadia would sometimes deliver baked goods for some of their regulars using her MINI Cooper, but that wasn’t often and didn’t include any lunch orders.
“You want your courier company to take on delivery service for Sugar and Spice?”
“Yes, initially.” He handed her a presentation folder whose cover bore the logo OBS of stylized lettering with the tag line Support at the speed of business in red and navy and the phrase Sugar and Spice Café Delivery Proposal in bold, black lettering. “It’s something we’ve done for other local eateries. We would add Sugar and Spice to our food delivery family and interface our website with yours. The customer would place the order through our website and we pass the order to you after payment. On top of the charges you normally have for your items, Crimson Bay Couriers would add two: One is a delivery fee to help defray any operating costs, including fuel if a motorized vehicle is used. The other is a mandatory tip for our courier. The details of how the payment would be dispersed are included in the proposal I gave you. We also offer other services that have proven beneficial to other local small business in the area.”
Curious, she flipped through the proposal. His bosses had done an impressive job, offering up their client list for references, detailing the projected increase in revenue for the café, what the projected profit-loss calculation would be, and a list of other services including web design and social media marketing.
“You’ve presented an impressive proposal, Mr.—excuse me—Charlie,” she said, closing the proposal and placing it on the table. “I’ll have to discuss it with my partner before I can provide any sort of response.”
“Of course. I wouldn’t expect anything else. My contact information is in the proposal packet. If you have any questions about our services, anything at all, please feel free to call.”
“I will.” She shook his hand again, and it was like lightning striking twice as that same current of awareness snaked up her arms and energized her body.
He turned his wrist, and instead of shaking her hand he held it, his fingers tangled loosely with hers. Strong, callused fingers that denoted a man used to working with his hands, used to hard work. Would she feel the same electric current if those fingers stroked over other parts of her body, like her breasts, the small of her back?
Shocked at the direction of her thoughts, she attempted to pull her hand free of his. He tightened his grip instead. “Charlie?”
“You’re so beautiful,” he said then, his tone dazed and wondering. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a woman as beautiful as you.”
“How many women have you used that line on?” she asked, but couldn’t muster the heat she wanted to interject into her tone. Not when he looked at her as if she’d just appeared out of a fantasy. His fantasy.
“A couple,” he admitted, “but I didn’t understand what that meant until now. I should have saved it for you.”
She was only human. It was perfectly all right for her to take a little feminine satisfaction in knowing that she’d had an effect on such a handsome man, even if nothing would come of it. Nothing could come of it.
Still, she had to know, so she asked. “Is this how you charm all your clients, with a combination of business smarts and flirting?”
The smile he gave her was at once indulgent and self-deprecating. “But you aren’t my client yet, Siobhan.”
She took a deep breath. He was a stranger. Sure he came in an average of once a week, but they’d hardly said two full sentences to each other before now. He shouldn’t have said her name like that, all soft and sweet as if they’d just awakened from an exhausting bout of lovemaking. As if he knew her, and liked what he knew and wanted to know more. No, he shouldn’t have said it like that, and she shouldn’t have reacted the way she had, melting at the sound and the yearning it evoked in her.
“You think I’m going to be your client?”
“I think you know a good business opportunity when you see it,” he told her, his smile deepening. “I think you’ll at least discuss it with your business partner, do some due diligence. Sugar and Spice Café has successfully been in business for nearly four years, which is a lifetime in restaurant terms. That says a lot about the business and the people who run it.”
His confidence was strangely attractive. On anyone else, that confidence would have been off-putting. But with that open, easy smile and the “just between you and me” tone, his self-assurance drew her like a moth to a flame.
“Be that as it may, don’t you think your overt flirting is offensive?”
“You’re not offended.” He squeezed her hand, reminding her that he still held it. “You’re curious, intrigued even. Wondering if I can back up all the flirting.”
“Can you?” she asked, then immediately wished she could take the words back.
“You should find out for yourself.” He leaned forward, lowered his voice. “Let me take you out on a date.”
Damn the trill of pleasure that swept her bloodstream! It betrayed her resolve, her need to ignore every wish but one, to have her daughter back. “I’m sorry, Charlie. I don’t mix business and pleasure.”
“That’s not true,” he insisted. “You’re surrounded by friends here. Your business partner is your best friend.”
“That’s different.”
“How is it different? Is it different because you don’t look at your friends and imagine yourself kissing them the way you do when you look at me?”
Her nipples tightened. God, when was the last time she’d felt any of this? Anything close to this? She couldn’t remember, but it had to have been years. Years.
“Charlie, this is highly inappropriate. What would your boss say?”
“I don’t think he’d have as big a problem with it as you think he would. As for whether or not it’s inappropriate . . . maybe, but do you think it’s wrong?”
Oh hell yes, it was wrong. It was multiple levels of wrong. Because now, thanks to him, all she could think about was kissing him, touching him, everything him.
She shook her head, trying to distance herself from him, from the things he was resurrecting for her. Things she wasn’t sure she was equipped to handle any longer, if she ever had been.
“Siobhan. Give me one good reason, outside of the potential business relationship, why going out with me would be a bad idea.”
“I can think of one major reason.”
“Which is?”
She sighed inwardly. “I’m older than you.”
“So?”
“So?” she repeated. “What do you mean, so? It’s a big deal!”
He shook his head. “Not to me.”
“Well it is to me!”
“Age ain’t nothing but a number,” he retorted. “How old are you?”
“I’m thirty-five.”
“And I’m thirty,” he told her, shrugging his shoulders. “That’s only a five-year difference. You make it sound like you’re old and decrepit and past your prime.” He gave her a long, slow perusal, teal eyes alight with appreciation. “Which I can tell you, you most certainly are not.”
He’d stolen the words right out of her mouth, leaving her without an argument. “What am I then?” she asked, wanting to know how he saw her. Not that what he thought of her mattered.
“I think you’re retro sexy, like a pinup,” he said, sincerity flooding his tone. “You remind me of cotton candy—fun, indulgent, a sweet treat. But I bet you’re also a habanero hottie on the inside. Yes, sugar and spice, just like your café.”
Flummoxed and flustered, she could only sit and stare at him. Why her, why now? She wasn’t ready for anything like this. She doubted she’d ever be ready for anything like this. For all her bitching and moaning to Nadia and to Charlie that she was too old for the relationship dance, she was honest enough to admit to herself that she didn’t feel that she deserved anything like this, an opportunity like this, even though she wanted it. Not with Charlie, though. Not really.
She’d made a mess of her life before. She’d ruined her daughter’s childhood, destroyed her marriage to her high school sweetheart. Did she really deserve another shot at relationships, when the ones she’d had were still in tatters?
“Siobhan.” He turned their hands so that he could press a kiss to the back of her hand. As kisses went, it was tame, chaste even, but she felt it all the way to her toes.
He stood. “Whether it’s for business or pleasure or both, I look forward to hearing from you. My contact info is in the proposal.”
He left. She remained seated, stunned, aroused, and very confused. It was a state that continued when she opened the portfolio to retrieve his business card. As she read it, she realized what OBS stood for: O’Halloran Business Solutions. Charlie O’Halloran wasn’t a courier or salesperson for Crimson Bay Couriers.
He was the owner.
THREE
“So, Hottie McHotterson has brains to go with all that brawn,” Nadia joked as she closed the cover on the business proposal. “Your boyfriend sure is full of surprises.”
“I’m not going to rise to your bait.” Siobhan joined her business partner at the small round table tucked into their office. “But thanks for reading the proposal and letting me close the café before you started in with the innuendos.”
“Are you going to take his bait?” Nadia asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. “I gotta say, that’s some mighty fine bait.”
“Can we talk about the proposal?” Siobhan asked, wishing she’d selected a stronger tea than the rosehip currently steeping in front of her. “I’d like to know what you think about it.”
Nadia checked the brew strength of her own pot of tea, a mild rooibos. “I’m glad to know that your potential Mr. Right Now was doing more than stalking you. He did a very thorough background on our business.”
Siobhan decided to let the “Mr. Right Now” quip pass without comment. She didn’t need to encourage Nadia more than she already had. “Apparently, Crimson Bay Couriers is just one of the companies under the O’Halloran Business Solutions banner. It looks like they have an answer for anything a small business could need.”
“I think his proposal is sound,” Nadia said. “Definitely something we need to consider.”
“Actually, we have considered it. We just didn’t have the infrastructure and overhead necessary to implement it.”
“True.” Nadia tapped on her tablet, pulling up their business plan. “McHotterson’s proposal would enable us to branch out into delivery and onsite catering without a hardship investment on our part. It’s a way for us to bring in more business without having to resort to extending our hours and potentially destroying the balancing act we have with inventory. If we start planning now, we could be ready to launch it when business picks back up in the fall.”
Summer was their slowest season. Not only was traffic light because attendance at Herscher, the college that anchored the town, went to less than forty percent capacity, but most tourists to their seaside town spent their time on the boardwalk, not the town square. Gatherings on the square, like concerts and movie nights, were usually at hours when the café was normally closed. They ran a skeleton crew and summer hours to offset the light business, opening at eight during the week and operating nine to noon on Saturdays.
While upping their income was always at the forefront of their minds, neither wanted their quality to suffer. Thanks to their stints in rehab, both had become control freaks. Though they both had assistants, neither would turn their kitchen duties over to anyone else in order to expand their service hours, and both had learned the hard way that burnout wasn’t pretty.
“Maybe we could do a trial period with them, and reassess at the end of the contract,” Siobhan mused. “It would be like having a soft opening. We’d tell a few of our business regulars about the delivery option and see how it goes.”
“Good idea. In the meantime, we’ll work on overhauling the website. I did a little tinkering a few weeks back, but it was mostly to keep myself occupied.” Nadia’s tone dimmed, and Siobhan knew she was thinking of the breakup she’d had with Kane before both had come to their senses. “Anyway, McHotterson’s included an upgrade in one of the options package. Seems like his company is a full-service provider, and the client list is impressive. Like I said, your man’s got a good head on those gorgeous shoulders. You should find out if he has a good head beneath those khakis.”
“You’re not going to let it go, are you?” Siobhan said with a long-suffering sigh. She knew Nadia’s heart was in the right place, but she didn’t need her business partner to become a relationship evangelist trying to convert her friends’ lives into sexily-ever-afters, no matter how nice it would be to get it on the regular.
“Just consider me your sex cheerleader,” Nadia answered with an unrepentant smile before launching into a cheer. “Get S-O-M-E—Siobhan is next, just wait and see!”
“Good grief, you’re fucking impossible!” Siobhan exclaimed, laughing despite herself. “You should be completely focused on your sexy professor. Stop worrying about me.”
“I wouldn’t call it worry.” Nadia poured tea into her mug, then added a healthy dollop of local wildflower honey. “I know you have a full life. I know you’re in a good place. That doesn’t mean that I think it’s okay that you’re just treading water.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Emotionally you’re just keeping your head above water, not trying to move forward. I wouldn’t push you if it wasn’t for the fact that you want more.”
Siobhan concentrated on preparing her own mug of tea. She decided to ignore the treading water remark. “What makes you think I want more?”
“Because you have the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever known, outside of my dads. Because you’re at your happiest when you’re caring for someone else.”
“Yeah.” Siobhan snorted. “My track record is just awesome on that.”
“I’m not talking about your daughter or your ex-husband. I’m talking about how you helped me get through rehab. I’m talking about how you helped me stay clean for the last four years. How you had my back when I faltered. How you helped Audie when she tried to push everyone away. How you staged a cookie intervention when I almost ruined things with Kane.”
Nadia reached over, wrapping tea-warmed fingers around Siobhan’s suddenly icy ones. “You have an incredible capacity to care, Siobhan, and I’m grateful you care for me and all our friends. I’m just saying that maybe it’s time to care for someone in a different way—especially someone who can care for you in a way the rest of us can’t.”
Damn. Siobhan tried to force a sip of tea past the lump in her throat. “I’m not ready to fall in love.”
“I didn’t say anything about falling in love,” Nadia said gently. “I don’t think you’re ready for that. But there’s nothing wrong with falling in lust. Particularly when you have a prime young stud apply for the job of fantasy maker.”
“You think he’s too young for me?”
“I don’t care how young he is, as long as he’s legal.” Nadia’s gaze sharpened. “Did he tell you how old he is?”
“He’s thirty.”
“Excellent! That means he’s exactly what you asked for!”
“I didn’t ask for him!”
Nadia cocked her head. “Are you sure? You said most guys interested in you are either fraternity guys or too old for you. Hottie McHotterson is a responsible thirtysomething who owns his own company. He’s also very interested in you. He’s hot, responsible, hot, a business owner, hot, good-looking, charming. Did I mention that he was hot?”
Siobhan fought a smile. “You might have mentioned it once or twice.”
Nadia cocked her head. “You don’t think he’s attractive? I know he doesn’t look anything like Mike.”
“That’s a good thing, though.” The mention of her ex-husband always caused a shaft of guilt, but at least the pain had lessened over the years. “I’m glad Charlie doesn’t look like Mike. Charlie’s surfer-god gorgeous, with the most amazing lashes I’ve ever seen on a guy. And those eyes! God, Nadia—when he looked at me, I knew I had his complete attention, like I was the best thing he’d ever seen. Like he knew the world’s biggest secret and wanted to let me in on it. It was flattering.”
“Sounds like he made quite an impression on you.”
Blood heated her cheeks. “You won’t believe what he said!”
“What?” Nadia leaned forward with schoolgirl eagerness. “What did he say?”
“He called me retro sexy.”
Nadia laughed. “He nailed you good. Not as good as the naked mambo, but retro sexy fits you. Given your whole burlesque-rockabilly vibe, I’d say retro sexy is a good description of you.”
Siobhan shook her head, still dumbfounded over the most bizarre sales pitch she’d ever participated in. “Do you also say I’m cotton-candy fun covering a habanero-hottie center?”
Nadia’s eyes widened. “He said that to you?”
“He sure did,” Siobhan answered, then blew out a breath. “Right before he kissed the back of my hand.”
“That must have been some kind of hand kiss.”
“I melted,” Siobhan admitted. “I seriously fricking melted because a guy kissed my hand. My hand! How pathetic is that?”
“I don’t think it’s pathetic at all,” her partner said, her voice understanding. A dreamy haze filled her eyes. “When Kane kisses my hand like that, I tend to get all melty too. There’s something to be said about a guy who can be charming like that without it feeling cheesy.”
“I was feeling a lot of things, but cheesy definitely wasn’t one of them!”
Nadia waggled her eyebrows. “Were you thinking about what it would be like to ride his surfboard?”
“Nadia!” Siobhan barely refrained from spewing her mouthful of tea. “Good grief, your mind has gotten dirty since you’ve been bumping uglies with the professor. I can’t believe you said that!”
“Why? Because it’s true?”
“I . . . It’s . . .” Siobhan shook her head, unable to protest in the face of Nadia’s blithe demeanor. “Okay, I thought about it, all right? How could I not with him sitting there being all gorgeous and charming and smart? I’m not dead!”
“No, you aren’t, and I for one am glad you’ve finally realized that. What you are is out of practice. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with taking your blond hottie out for a test run. Especially since he’s volunteering.”
“He asked me out on a date, so I guess that means he’s volunteering.”
“What?” Nadia’s mouth dropped open. “How do you save that little tidbit for last? What did you say?”
“I came up with reasons why I shouldn’t,” Siobhan admitted. “He shot every one of them down.”
“Hot, charming, smart, and persistent,” Nadia said, ticking off each word on her fingers. “I hope you said yes.”
“Um . . . He kinda left me sitting there with my mouth hanging open.”
Nadia cackled. Her friend and business partner actually cackled. “You are three seconds away from wearing your tea instead of drinking it,” Siobhan warned. “This isn’t funny!”
“Of course it is,” Nadia insisted, but wisely choked back her laughter. “You, my dear friend, are the only thing standing in your way. He’s interested. You’re interested, no matter how much you pretend you’re not. You should go for it.”
The idea of “going for it” both intrigued and scared her. “So you don’t think it’s a conflict of interest? If I decide to go there, I mean.”
“I’m not worried that you’re going to screw over the café, if that’s what you’re asking.” Nadia balanced her teacup between her palms. “I also don’t think Mr. O’Halloran would sabotage our business if things go sour between you two—which I totally don’t think will happen. He’s a businessman, and his business is right here in Crimson Bay. This is a small town, and the community is pretty tight-knit. We can certainly vet his credentials. He did include a client list for just that purpose.”
She picked up the presentation folder. “Professionally speaking, we need to do a trial run at the very least. Personally speaking, you do too. Let’s see what happens.”
Butterflies danced in Siobhan’s stomach. What would be the harm in having a fling, especially with someone like Charlie? She and Nadia had worked their asses off to make the café a success, and like Nadia had said before, they deserved personal lives. As long she and Charlie both took business seriously, there was no reason why there couldn’t be a little pleasure had along the way.
“If we do this, there’s got to be rules.”
“Of course there should be rules,” Nadia agreed, then grinned. “In fact, I think you should wear that schoolmarm outfit from your show when you tell him the rules. He’ll agree to whatever you say.”
“You’re impossible.”
“I’m enabling. At least when it comes to sex.” Mischief danced in Nadia’s eyes. “If you’d like to borrow my copy of The Perfumed Garden of Sensual Delights, I’d be more than happy to pass it on—with the best positions highlighted.”
Siobhan laughed. “You and the naughty professor moved on from medieval sex manuals already?”
A blush colored Nadia’s cheeks. “You could say I’ve graduated to the master class now.”
It was Siobhan’s turn to grin at her friend’s discomfiture. “Oh, really? Do tell.”
“Well, there’s this thing he does with rope . . .”
FOUR
“Charlie?”
He looked up from his laptop with a frown as his office assistant, Nance, poked her head into the room. Usually, Nance buzzed him on the phone or via IM when they had a client, or simply yelled through his perpetually open office door when just staff occupied the area. “What is it, Nance?”
“There’s someone here to see you,” she informed him in her most professional tone, which immediately raised the wariness flag. Her dark eyes sparkled behind her red cat’s-eye glasses. “I think she might be a potential client.”
That was always welcomed news. He’d moved his business beyond the point where he needed to do cold calls, but he didn’t turn away walk-in business no matter how much he preferred to do research before making his sales pitch. He reached for one of the general information packets that provided background on their complete suite of services. “Did she say what company she represents or which of our services she’s interested in?”
“No, but she already has a packet,” Nance answered. A grin split her face and scrunched it to pixie proportions. “She seems like my kinda people.”
Nance’s kind of people were either lesbians or flamboyant retro fashionistas. Since he hadn’t asked anyone their sexual preferences since half-past never, that left the retro fashionista. “Blonde?”
His assistant made a big deal of arching her pierced brow. “Yes. You holding out on me, boss?”
Charlie ignored her by concentrating on the silent surge of satisfaction that swept through him. “We shouldn’t keep a potential client waiting,” he told her. “Please show her back.”
Nance left, and Charlie took a moment to rein in his brain and his libido. Siobhan had come to him to talk about the proposal. That had to be a good sign. If she didn’t want to do business with him, she would have called instead—and he would have used every weapon at his disposal to change her mind. If she still said no, he’d respect the decision and not push—for a while, anyway. Sure, he wanted the café’s business. He wanted Siobhan more.
He shot to his feet as a beaming Nance entered his office and said something—he wasn’t sure what. His entire focus shrank down to the blonde woman who’d entered his office behind Nance.
Once again, Charlie was struck by Siobhan’s lush beauty. She walked in like the reincarnation of a fifties Hollywood starlet. The red-and-white polka-dot sundress fit her breasts and waist like second skin before billowing out into a full skirt. The short-sleeved white sweater about her shoulders was probably the only thing that had prevented a traffic jam on the square. Red wedges encased her feet, and good Lord, her toes were painted the same bright red as her dress and her lips.
“You need to be shot.”
Her eyes widened as she froze. “Excuse me?”
“I mean, professionally,” he hastened to add, ignoring Nance’s snort as she exited, closing the door behind her. “It would be a terrific marketing campaign.”
One perfectly arched eyebrow rose toward her hairline. “Are you talking about a photo shoot?”
“Of course.” He circled the desk to shake her hand, though he wanted to do more. So much more. Instead he guided her over to a small conference table, pulling out a chair for her. She murmured her thanks as she sat down, placing her red tote bag and his proposal packet on the table. Charlie took a moment to admire the shapeliness of her legs as she crossed them at the knees. Her legs were bare, making him wonder about the softness of her skin and the color of her underwear. Though with Siobhan, she probably wore lingerie, silky pieces that showed off her assets to advantage.
She cleared her throat, capturing his attention. “That’s pretty presumptuous of you, don’t you think? Considering that we don’t have a deal yet?”
Amusement laced her query, and he knew she was perfectly aware that he’d been ogling her. He got back to the business at hand. “Presumptuous, yes. Wrong, no.”
He took the chair closest to hers, catching the faint whiff of something light and sweet and perfectly suited to Siobhan. “Would you have come over here just to tell me no?”
Her chin lifted. “What if I did?”
“I would ask you to share your concerns so that we could negotiate. I would do my level best to convince you that we’d be the perfect fit for whatever you and your business need. Our job is to ensure that you’re completely satisfied with all that we have to offer.”
Her lips parted, and she drew in a low, slow breath. Charlie’s brain short-circuited. Did she have any clue how fucking hot she was? She had to know—those were expert moves, and he responded like he’d just discovered what his dick could do. It was almost enough to make him wonder if he was out of his league.
Goddamn, he wanted her. Wanted her so badly he’d scare her off if she had a clue. It was just her hotness, the strawberries and whipped cream lushness of her body. It was a dichotomy of care and carnality that made him want to throw her over his shoulder and stomp off to have his way with her.
“Do you think you can?” she asked then, her voice soft, her blue eyes dark with what he hoped like hell was interest in him. “Satisfy me? Give me what I need?”
Fuck yeah. “I pride myself on doing a thorough job, no matter how demanding that job may be. I have a reputation for being responsive, creative, and adaptable.”
“So I’ve heard.” After a moment in which Charlie debated whether he should press the innuendos and kiss her, Siobhan drew back. “We called a couple of your current and former clients. All of them sing your praises.”
“As I said, we believe in going above and beyond for everyone who signs with us. I promise, if Sugar and Spice Café joins the O’Halloran client list, you won’t be disappointed.”
Siobhan opened the packet he’d given her a couple of days ago. “My partner and I have discussed the options at length. We’re in agreement that you have services that we should take advantage of. The delivery service, of course, but we are also interested in the website redesign and integration as well as the social media marketing campaigns. A couple of your clients mentioned to us that those really helped their bottom line.”
He tensed. What she said was at complete odds to her body language. It seemed as if she’d bolt if he said or did the wrong thing, and that was the last thing he wanted. He sat back. “I’m sensing some hesitation. What questions can I answer for you?”
“We’re interested in a short-term contract initially, with a notice of intent thirty days before the contract is due to expire.”
“There may not be much we can do for you, depending on the length of the contract,” he cautioned. “We can certainly add the delivery service interface, since the bulk of the work will be done on our end and we’ve perfected our process over numerous sites. The marketing and website redesign timelines can vary based on a number of factors. We also have a standard termination clause, which I included in the sample contract.”
She nodded, then pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. Damn. His thoughts swerved off the road of propriety and ran into the ditch of unprofessional intent. “Siobhan—”
“Who would you assign to our account?” she asked quickly. “For the website and marketing aspects?”
“I would personally handle it,” he said, then noticed the tightening of her mouth. “Is that why you’re hesitating?”
“Considering how our conversation derailed during your sales pitch last week, I think you can understand my hesitation.”
“I do. I can also assure you that business is very important to me, and my professional reputation is everything. We specialize in the small businesses in town, so word of mouth and good client relationships can make or break us. You can rest assured that while we’re conducting business, the focus will be completely on business.”
As long as you don’t do that thing with your bottom lip again, or wear dresses that might as well have “look at my boobs” embroidered on them.
He made an attempt at schooling his features into a semblance of professionalism. Get it together, jackass. You’ve been around beautiful women before—you live in a college town, for chrissakes. He didn’t want to run her off. He wanted a chance to get acquainted with her, to know her better. He wanted to discover if she wore dresses like that on her days off or for all her business meetings, or, God help him, if she’d worn it because she was meeting with him.
“So the . . . other stuff. That won’t happen again?”
Was that disappointment in her voice? “I didn’t say that. I’m very interested in you, Siobhan. If I wasn’t before, I certainly would have been after you strolled into my office like an angelic devil. I bet you literally stopped traffic on your way over here.”
“Charlie . . .”
“You’re beautiful, Siobhan Malloy. It’s a simple fact. Should I not tell you that? That’s a nice dress made better by you wearing it. Do you think I’m harassing you when I tell you that? If so, I’ll apologize and stop.”
A blush stole across her cheeks. “I don’t feel harassed. Flustered bordering on embarrassed, yes. Harassed, no.”
He folded his arms across his chest. “I would think a woman who can rock a red dress like that is incapable of feeling embarrassment.”
“You just . . .” She gestured helplessly. “You overwhelm me, and I don’t know if this is flattering or completely inappropriate.”
“Now you know how I felt the first time I saw you,” he told her, going for broke. “And the next time, and the time after that, and every day I’ve seen you. If I understood it, I’d explain it. What I can do is tell you that I won’t be inappropriate. Being inappropriate would be me reaching for you despite the glass walls separating us from my staff and kissing you until I’m wearing more lipstick than you. Right now we’re just talking, just discussing the possibilities. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”
“No.”
Score one for the home team. “The way I see it, we have a couple of options here. You can decide not to do business with me, in which case I’ll pursue you. You can sign the contract and I’ll assign you to one of my employees so I can pursue you. Or, you sign the contract and I handle your business because I’m very good at what I do. And when business hours are over, I’ll pursue you.”
Those beautiful scarlet lips bowed into a smile. “Is there any scenario in which you don’t pursue me?”
“One. I drop dead.”
“Well. Okay then.” She blinked. “I don’t want that to happen.”
“I appreciate that.” He smiled. “The decision is up to you, Siobhan. I don’t approve of pressure tactics. OBS wants your business. I want you. I think we can make it work, but if you’re uncomfortable, we’ll come up with another solution. The choice is yours.”
He waited, watching in tense fascination as she thought through her decision. Her eyes, he decided. It was her eyes that captivated him the most. So much living swam behind that blue gaze, living that made her angelically sweet one moment and devilishly spicy the next.
“All right,” she said after a moment. “I’ve made up my mind.”
“And?”
“Let’s do this.” She held up a hand. “Business before pleasure, though.”
“Of course.” He smiled. “You’ll find I always deliver on my promises.”
FIVE
True to Charlie’s word, business dominated their biweekly meetings. He explained every facet of each action he took on their behalf, including any benefits and potential downsides to the café, not moving forward on anything until he got her agreement. Siobhan found it extremely interesting and even arousing to watch him work, enjoying the way he brainstormed ideas and got excited over the smallest of concepts. The enjoyment and pride he had in his work clearly came through and was as contagious as it was sexy. Smart, good-looking men were always her weakness, and Charlie had all that plus confidence and charm to back it up. She found herself looking forward to their Monday and Thursday meetings and getting to know more about him.
“How did you get started, Charlie?” She asked him as they prepared to test the new website enhancements. “I’m curious to know how you went from a bike messenger company to providing marketing solutions and stuff.”
“Crimson Bay Couriers is my first company, and it grew out of something I did during the summers as a teen,” he explained. Something dark flashed across his eyes, so quickly there and gone she would have missed it had she not been staring at him so intently. “At eighteen, I turned it into a full-time business because I needed money in a hurry. I was a one-man company then, but business grew and I was able to hire on more couriers pretty quickly. As my business expanded, I identified areas of opportunity that I either learned to deal with myself or hired someone to take care of for me. Mostly I did it myself because that’s just how I am.”
“A hands-on kind of guy,” she guessed. “So you saw a need in your own company, created a solution, then offered that solution to other small businesses?”
He flashed a smile. “Exactly. Through trial and error—and there was a crapload of error in those early days—we tested and perfected processes that we were then able to package for our clients. Word of mouth drove our success. It still does.”
He shrugged. “With our expanding business expertise, we couldn’t keep operating under Crimson Bay Couriers. It didn’t take much to create the umbrella company of O’Halloran Business Solutions. We know what it takes for small businesses to survive because we’ve been through it ourselves.”
Siobhan looked down at her tea, processing everything he’d told her. The man knew his business, she knew that without doubt. Everyone she and Nadia had talked to spoke of how professional he was, but also how personable he was, and how easy it was to work with him to find the solutions they needed.
None of them spoke of how hot he was, but they didn’t need to. With every concept, conversation, and accomplishment he seduced her. His sharp mind lured her as much as his easy smiles and warm glances. The play of his hands on the keyboard, so firm, so sure, made her wonder how his fingers would feel cupping her breasts, teasing her nipples, thrusting deep inside her.
/
