Flowers on Main. Sherryl Woods

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СКАЧАТЬ was talk when you and Bree broke up, it’ll be nothing compared to the speculation that would stir up.”

      They were still debating the point when the door to the outer office snapped open and Bree strode through and straight into his office. She was wearing shorts that made her legs look endless and a halter top that made his mouth water. Strands of curly auburn hair had sprung free of the knot on her head and with the sunlight behind her, it looked as if she was on fire. The color was high in her cheeks, as well. She was not a happy woman. Jake braced himself to deal with all that heat and sexiness and walk away unscathed.

      “If the mountain won’t come …” Her voice trailed off as she spotted his sister.

      “Connie, hi,” she said. Unmistakable relief spread across her face as something else apparently registered. “Oh my gosh, you’re the one I’ve been talking to on the phone all this time. I’m so sorry. I should have recognized your voice. Why didn’t you say something?”

      Connie grinned. “Frankly, I was just as glad you didn’t. I really didn’t want to get caught between you and this hardhead over here. Now you two can battle this out between yourselves. I’m going home to cook dinner.” She gave her brother a smug look. “Shall I make a plate of humble pie for you? Or will you be making other plans for dinner?” She glanced pointedly at Bree when she said it.

      “I already have dinner plans,” he retorted. As of two minutes ago, he planned to drink it.

       6 _____

      “You’ve been avoiding me,” Bree accused, sitting across from Jake, her shorts hiking up. She hadn’t worn such a revealing outfit deliberately, but judging from the rapt gaze on Jake’s face, she was glad she had. At this point she was willing to take advantage of any edge she had. Maybe that didn’t speak well of her as a woman, but she was desperate. After a week, it had become clear that Jake was even less anxious to deal with her than she was with him. Both of them had to find a way to suck it up and figure out a way to conduct business.

      “Have not,” he muttered. “I’ve been busy.”

      “Well, you don’t appear to be busy right this second,” she said cheerfully. “So let’s make this deal now and I’ll get out of your hair. Unless you drive the delivery truck, you’ll never have to deal directly with me again.”

      His jaw hardened. “There’s not going to be any deal, Bree. Not between us.”

      She leveled a look directly into his eyes. “This is business, Jake. I’m not asking you to go out with me or to trust me or to have any kind of personal contact beyond whatever it takes to get this agreement on paper. It’s simple. I’m opening a flower shop. You sell flowers. It’s pretty cut-and-dried.”

      “Nothing with us was ever simple or cut-and-dried,” he said, walking slowly around his desk to perch on the edge. Their knees were almost touching, hers bare, his clad in faded denim. “It’s bound to get complicated faster than the ink will dry on our agreement.”

      She swallowed hard, but managed to keep her voice steady. “How so?”

      He leaned forward, oh so slowly, until her pulse fluttered wildly at the nearness of his mouth. It hovered over hers. Their breath intermingled. Suddenly she wanted his lips on hers with an urgency that took her by surprise. Memories of a hundred other kisses—deep, tantalizing, soul-stirring kisses—swarmed in her head and left her dizzy. What had made her think for a single second that this kind of sizzle could be doused by simple determination?

      As if he sensed her turmoil, he drew back, his expression smug. “See what I mean?”

      Oh yeah, this definitely had complication written all over it. But she couldn’t let that stand in her way. She wouldn’t. Flowers on Main was going to be her fresh start. She’d do whatever it took to make it a success.

      Jake had obviously made a success of his business. She’d been astonished by the size of the nursery, a little awed by everything she’d heard when she’d asked around about the best flower supplier in the region. Seeing it today with its greenhouse, outdoor displays of flats and flats of colorful plants, rows of flowering shrubs and trees, had been an eye-opener. This wasn’t the tiny Shores Nursery of old. Jake had expanded it beyond her wildest expectations. Given what he’d accomplished, surely he could understand why her new business mattered just as much to her.

      “I need these flowers, Jake,” she said simply.

      “Get them from someone else. There are other growers.”

      “Everyone says you’re the best. And you’re the closest.”

      “I’m also unavailable.”

      “Are you speaking personally now, or professionally?”

      He frowned at her flip attempt at humor. “Both, just to keep the record straight.”

      “That kiss that almost happened said otherwise.”

      “It didn’t happen, did it?”

      “All that proves is that you’ve got great willpower. I’m duly impressed. In fact, a man with that much willpower surely won’t be tempted to ravish me just because I get a few posies from him every few days, so there’s really no reason not to deal with me, is there?”

      “How about I don’t want to? Do you have an argument for that?”

      “Because you’re scared,” she accused.

      “Of you? Don’t be ridiculous.”

      “Prove it.”

      His eyes widened. “You’re making this a challenge?”

      “Why not?” she asked with a careless shrug. “Let’s see if you’ve got what it takes to stay away from me, Jake. Make this deal. Deliver the flowers personally. And keep your hands to yourself. That will suit me just fine. I can prove I only care about business, and you can prove you’re over me. Sounds like a win-win to me.”

      She saw him struggle with himself. He clearly wanted to show her that she no longer meant anything to him, that he was well and truly done with her. But he also knew he didn’t stand a chance of making good on it. Whatever there’d once been between them, it was still there. The air was practically humming with it.

      And, based on the obvious inner struggle he was waging,

      it apparently still had the power to rip his heart out for a second time. No wonder he wanted to stay as far away from her as humanly possible. She could hardly blame him. She was more than a little shaken at the moment herself. She was supposed to be mourning the end of her relationship with Marty, not stirring up old feelings with Jake.

      “Okay,” he said at last. He moved behind the desk, shoved a few stacks of catalogs and papers aside, shuffled through another one and then handed her a form. “Fill out this credit application. Drop it off with Connie in the morning. I’ll waive the payable on delivery clause that’s standard for new customers for the first year. We’ll bill you every thirty days.”

      “Don’t do me any favors,” she said.

      “I’m not. I know your credit will check out. That’s all I care about. СКАЧАТЬ